Our Flag Means Death Starters

our flag means death starters

❝ you ever feel trapped, that you’re just treading water, waiting to drown? ❞   ❝ all the revenge, and rage, and anger…it ages you. ❞   ❝ there’s always an escape. ❞   ❝ weeks we’ve been out here with nothing to show for it. ❞   ❝ if you wanted…i could be your family. ❞   ❝ that was a close call, wasn’t it? ❞   ❝ yeah, i’ve heard of you. i’ve heard all about you. ❞   ❝ to think of the ridiculous rumor going around about you. ❞   ❝ what’s on your mind? everything good? ❞   ❝ you almost got us killed. ❞   ❝ i actually thought you were kind of mad at me, if i’m honest. ❞   ❝ no, that’s the worst thing you could do. ❞   ❝ what makes me happy…is you. ❞   ❝ do you know how hard it is to drive a sword through someone’s skull? ❞   ❝ did you hear that? we’re under attack. ❞   ❝ one day, all this will be yours. ❞   ❝ now sheath our swords and sharpen our knives. ❞   ❝ that’s not…is that true? ❞   ❝ this, whatever it is that you’ve become…is a fate worse than death. ❞   ❝ that’s funny. i haven’t heard much about you. ❞   ❝ i, um…i missed you. ❞   ❝ unhand me or bleed. ❞   ❝ chose your next words wisely. ❞   ❝ the point is to rest our bodies…as well as our minds. ❞   ❝ you’re a child with a toy. ❞   ❝ how does one…move past such a thing? ❞   ❝ until you resolve this guilt, you’ll continue to be haunted. ❞   ❝ i wouldn’t take it personal. it’s just that they don’t like you. ❞   ❝ surrender. you have no chance of escape. ❞   ❝ i’ve seen death. i’ve seen the cause of death. it changes you forever. ❞   ❝ this is who i am. can you see me now? you were always gonna realize what i am. ❞   ❝ some men are not built for adventure. some men should concern themselves with gentler things. ❞   ❝ sometime’s a quick death’s the best way to end a bad conversation. ❞   ❝ the only good leaders are the ones that hate being leaders. ❞   ❝ stand down now. you’re in over your head. ❞   ❝ here it is. the spoils of battle. ❞   ❝ whatever you’re going through right now, it’s none of my business. ❞   ❝ the best secret keepers are corpses. ❞   ❝ have you killed anyone recently? ❞   ❝ i understand what it’s like to live in disguise. ❞   ❝ you’re not a ghost, are you? ❞   ❝ you know, i actually thought you’d be dead by now. ❞   ❝ maybe, in your next life, you’ll be a little less nosey, huh? ❞   ❝ ahhh. you’re in love. ❞ ❝ i don’t fit here anymore, do i? ❞   ❝ what are you doing? someone’s going to see you. ❞   ❝ they put a price on your head, remember? ❞       ❝ when you kill, you die as well. ❞ ❝ why’re you hiding your face? ❞   ❝ looks like we’re gonna live after all. for a little while longer, at least. ❞       ❝ i didn’t know this place was haunted. ❞   ❝ it’s always the quiet ones. ❞   ❝ we just can’t seem to stop hurting each other, can we? ❞   ❝ we’re friends. friends tell each other these kind of things. ❞   ❝ i can’t believe you made me do this. ❞   ❝ turn your enemy’s worst fear against them, you’ll own them. ❞   ❝ i will not be trifled with, so don’t even think about trifling me. ❞   ❝ still a coward. pathetic. ❞   ❝ listen. i-i thought i was going to lose you. ❞   ❝ you seem to know everything about everything in the whole fucking world. ❞   ❝ here it is. high society in all its grotesque glory. ❞   ❝ i couldn’t help but notice that they got under your skin. ❞   ❝ all their blood’s going to be on your hands. ❞   ❝ what’s happening? am i dead? ❞   ❝ all i’ve been doing is thinking. and drinking. thinking and drinking. ❞   ❝ i just wasn’t built for sitting idle. ❞   ❝ i’m not a good person. ❞   ❝ you’re not a human. you’re a monster. a plague. ❞   ❝ you know what your problem is? you have no idea how to relax. ❞   ❝ sometimes, i think i…i’ve heard you crying. ❞   ❝ we don’t do it because we like it. we do it because we don’t have any other choice. ❞ ❝ it’s not that you deserve it or that you’ve earned it…lord knows you haven’t done that. ❞   ❝ some of us won’t be coming back. others may be wounded. ❞   ❝ look at that. you wear fine things well. ❞   ❝ maybe we can just…get away? start over. reset. ❞   ❝ at some point in a man’s life, he has to face the music. ❞   ❝ do you mind if i sleep in here tonight? ❞   ❝ well, this has been quite a blast, but i’m sure you’re busy with all your things. ❞   ❝ these are my people. i’ll deal with it. ❞   ❝ what’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen? ❞   ❝ you have any idea who i am? ❞   ❝ you were not raised to kneel, or to turn the other cheek. ❞   ❝ we’re in the middle of nowhere. no one’s gonna recognize you. ❞   ❝ i thought i’d have a cooler death than this. ❞   ❝ we’re gonna have fun today, and that’s an order. ❞   ❝ you can be a real bummer sometimes, you know that? ❞   ❝ i’m gonna try and undo some of the damage from that interaction. ❞   ❝ we are to be lighthouses for each other, remember? ❞   ❝ when you cut lose, you really cut lose. ❞   ❝ this is how you die. ❞   ❝ how does it feel to be in love? ❞   ❝ uh, no. i didn’t hear anything. ❞  

MULTIMUSE ASK MEME

send ❔ and i’ll list a couple muses that i’d like to throw at yours!

🪐 —  @destage​​​​   sent   A MEME :

❔ 

● grace hanson   —   with  birdie,  who would definitely be one of frankie’s artist friends,  or with  kariana  who could be someone she knows in the business / finance world !

● wolfgang bogdanow  —   he can try to relieve  katiana  of some of her father’s wealth,  or i could bring  izzy  into a modern / organized crime verse to work either with or against him.

● amy march  —   she should meet  margaery  in her historical verse !  or maybe it would be fun to have her meet  stede  in his dandy era for a more comedic pairing.

● arwen  —  wizard  howl  is literally begging for a lotr au,  &  i think he would be very much interested in meeting her !

● eomer  —  i can’t really explain it, but i really think he should meet  nymeria.  i could put her in a lotr au, or you could drag eomer to asoiaf, either way would work well !

● marianne sheridan  —  i think marianne needs to meet  birdie,  as a treat.  &  i think she would also really like both  sarah  &  rae !  lady friends for marianne ?  i think yes. 

● wylla manderly  —  ok but ocean goddess wylla needs to meet ocean goddess  calypso,  just for fun.  also hook her up with  nymeria  somehow some way, please !

● ally liu —  i need ally to meet  rae  like, stat.  &  i don’t even have info up for this muse yet, but i think she would really love  ola  !  

● eddie young  —  i am very curious what eddie would make of both  giovanni  &  brian,  so it might be nice to toss him in with my band boys at some point ?

— sue zhao

🪐 — EDWARD TEACH​  for  stede !

a pitiful scoff and a low grumble later,   edward complies,  brought to stillness under the touch of stede’s hand.  and it’s a damn miracle,  or near to it,  to witness such lack of movement from him  —  edward teach moves with the wind,  just like the waves now gently rolling against the hull,  and shifts like a storm even in slumber.  there’s none of that now,  while stede wipes away the mess of dried tears and smudged black paint sticking to his skin.  then a flash of gold burns at the corner of his vision,  followed by the glimpse of a wrist and edward turns his head towards it before he can stop himself.  sure,  stede had been close earlier,  when he had pressed himself almost flat to the man,  but this is different.  this sends his heart into a mad gallop,  breath halting in his chest before he has the chance to draw it out.  now that the ugly affair of crying their eyes out has ceased,  edward finally has the presence of mind to notice what he’s missed before,  what he has been missing for weeks on end:  the colour of stede’s eyes,  that gut wrenching stede-like way he has of looking at him,  like he is someone deserving of tenderness and careful touches and such alien things.  the nice stuff.  everything he has been denied for so long.  stede fucking bonnet indeed,  coming back here without even having the decency of meeting his anguished anger on equal grounds.  the mad rogue. when stede proclaims this cleaning thing done with,  voice low and gentle,  edward can’t help himself any longer,  pressing close instead of drawing away like he was meant to  —  still seated on the ground,  he wounds an arm around stede’s waist,  then rests his head against his chest with none of the desperate urgency of earlier.   ‘  you came back.  ’   he sighs,  relief and exhaustion both warring through him,  causing his body to nearly sag against the other.  for now,  until he drags his feet out there to face the crew,  this is all that matters.  all he can think of.  the rest, along with the consequences of his own actions, can wait. '  your shirt’s proper fucked.  ’   a fit of sleep deprived lunacy has his shoulders shake with barely stifled laughter,  before edward has the sense to regain some clarity.   '  oh,  right.  your auxiliary wardrobe hasn't—  everything’s still there.  summer linens and all the rest.  ’   those,  at least,  he spared from being tossed into the ocean,  refusing to let anyone beyond that secret door of his,  not even uttering a word about it. 

    IT TAKES SOME TIME  to remove the all kohl from his face, but edward is patient  &  still under the gentle touches. &  when his skin is finally clean again, stede braces himself for the inevitable absence that will come.  ed is going to leave now,  &  stede is prepared to let him.  that is what he wants, after all  —  some space between them to gather his throughts.  so he’s surprised when the other man leans against him instead, head tucked against stede’s chest  &  a strong arm curled around his waist.  &  it’s second nature to pull edward closer, welcoming him into another embrace, arms looping around his shoulders, right hand stroking comfortingly through his long dark hair.                        ❝ of course i came back —  i’m only sorry that i left you in the first place.  i’ll never leave you again, darling, i swear it. ❞  the words call to mind a day not so long ago, when stede had thought himself abandoned, only for edward to return just in time to save his life.  but it was clear that his own timing was not yet as finely honed as the other man’s  —  &  stede’s hesitation had resulted in undeniable damage not only to edward, but to the crew as well.  he could only hope that he was not too late to heal some of the hurt he had caused with his cowardice.        &  at the mention of his ruined shirt, stede cannot help but chuckle.  ❝ it’s alright, ed, really.  don’t even concern yourself with it.  after all, it’s just a bit of fabric, right ?  easily replaced. ❞  as if such a silly thing even mattered at all to him anymore.  since he had given up his wealth in its entirety to mary  &  the children, the fine silks  &  linens he had donned all his life seemed to hardly suit him.  he was no longer a man of means, but a filthy pirate, just like the rest of his crew.  in his absence, edward appeared to have gotten rid of most of the furniture, books,  &  clothing that had previously filled his luxurious cabin  —  save for a familiar fuchsia robe he spied thrown over the bed like a blanket, that is.  but at the thought of his auxiliary wardrobe remaining untouched throughout the tirade of destruction, stede feels a tightness in his chest. edward had been the only one he had ever shown that room.  &  to hear that he had protected that particular secret even after being abandoned by him, stede finds he is strangely touched at the kindness of the gesture.  ❝  well, that’s  —  that’s very kind of you.  thank you.  i’m sure that will be more than enough.  &  i would really like to put on something clean. ❞  after all, he had spent days on end in a rowboat trying to catch up to the revenge,  &  the shirt he was wearing had long ago become soiled  &  stained with sweat.