James Barnes ;

🪐 — james barnes​ ;

             ❛  I don’t give a shit, @musecraft​. i have a gun.  ❜

    ❝  yeah, but did you ever consider the fact that they probably have guns, too ? ❞

🪐 — lucius spriggs​ ;

@musecraft​  (   as izzy   )  says:  I can’t take that from him. not even if he’s happier like this.

the thing with lucius is that he is good with other people’s feelings.   he might not look it,  for all his sarcastic remarks.  so he is quick enough to wipe the silly grin from his mouth and drop the urge to just tell that impossibly angry little man to just ask the two lovebirds for a threesome and be done with it.  lucius rolls his eyes,  and shots out a hand  (   which stops before actually touching izzy,  because he doesn’t want to lose his whole hand,  thank you very much   )  before izzy can scoff and leave.  they might not be friends,  but lucius is not a dick,  alright? 

❛  okay,  okay,  wait.  are we really doing this?  it’s fine  —  good.  just thought you were a more bottle it up type.  ❜   god,  this pirate gig is getting weirder and weirder and he hadn’t really thought he would have to become a relationship councilor,  but here he is.   ❛  you know what’s your problem,  izzy?  you’re here talking to me when maybe,  just maybe,  you should be talking to him about what’s bothering you about it?  i mean,  really talk to him.  ❜

     HE SHOULD HAVE THROWN HIMSELF OVERBOARD rather than let himself come to this, his thoughts just spilling out before he could stop them.  &  he would have given himself to the sea, if  blackbeard  edward had not explicitly forbidden it. he had considered doing it anyway, but in the end he found couldn’t disobey his captain’s orders. control was everything to israel hands; it was how he had survived this long, after all. but here he was, baring his heart to lucius without so much as the slightest provocation  ( aside, of course, from catching a glimpse of edward  &  stede taking their morning tea hand-in-hand ).  he had even lost the ability to take his own life into his hands — for even this had been given over to his captain in the end. his captain said that he still needed him here, so here was where he stayed.                             ❝ oh would you shut the fuck up, ❞  he spits,  &  it’s to himself  &  the boy both.  how had he come to this ?  izzy hands, reduced to a pitiful fool moaning about his feelings like the rest of bonnet’s ridiculous crew. love had ruined edward,  &  so it seemed love had ruined him, too. maybe he belonged here, among this pathetic lot. still he glares at lucius, trying to muster whatever remained of his formidable presence. ❝ you don’t know anything about us, you got me ?  you don’t understand what we had. ❞  still, an undeniable element of truth rings in lucius’ words as izzy glances over to where edward  &  stede are standing astern, en rapt in a conversation, an easy intimacy about them. it’s a flagrant display of their affections that izzy can barely stand to look at,  &  certainly can’t imagine himself participating in. moments like that simply aren’t meant for someone like him.

🪐 — lil starter for  @praeludio​​​  ( garlan )

       KING’S LANDING WAS UNLIKE ANY PLACE  margaery had been before. rather than a large keep with bountiful farmland surrounding its walls, this city was a sprawling metropolis, its homes  &  shops  &  marketplaces crowded tightly into the narrow streets beneath the red keep’s great shadow. it was a far cry from the elegant pathways of highgarden, winding leisurely through hedges  &  trees laden with flowers  &  fruit. but at least they were outside of the castle, margaery  &  her small host meandering through the busy marketplace. she had been warned countless times that red keep had ears in its very walls,  &  to speak with great caution while within, but surely no one could overhear a few words spoken between siblings within the clamor of the smallfolk. ❝ the city seems very grateful for our presence, ❞  she spoke aloud, reining her horse up beside her brother’s. ahead of her, a washerwoman held up a calloused hand for the future queen’s blessing,  &  margaery reached out her own graceful one for her to clasp briefly as they passed along, a kind smile perfectly positioned upon her lips. ❝ if only her grace felt the same way. ❞ her head inclines toward garlan in a gesture of secrecy, though she is comforted by the commonfolk shouting her name, shrouding her words in their cacophony.  ❝ would that i could do something to gain her trust. ❞

🪐 — lucius spriggs​ ;

@musecraft​  (   as stede   )  says:  there’s more, there’s something you’re not telling me, I deserve to know.

❛  okay,  fine.  he was  —  um.  ❜   grimacing,  lucius turns briefly around.  as if blackbeard himself could appear behind him..  and what?  toss him overboard again?  that's ridiculous.  so of course stede wants to know more besides the obvious blackbeard's gone off the rails bit,  he is too clever not to read it off lucius guarded expression and well,  he could also tell with the state he had found his crew in,  obviously.  lucius finally heaves a sigh,  gathering air that doesn't make him feel like he is nearly enough ready to deal with this whole situation  —  he might be fantastic at break-ups,  guys,  but this is something else and it's stressing him out  (   and pete,  and everyone else   ).   ❛  he was crying,  captain.  and wearing your,  uhh.  robe?  the red one?  i think he was really having a hard time.  but he wasn't,  well  —  acting like an evil lunatic yet.  please tell me you can fix this.  ❜

            ❝ HE — ED WAS REALLY CRYING ?  OVER ME ? ❞  the image of the last time he’d seen edward in tears comes to stede’s mind unbidden. he’d been in the bathtub, only a few weeks ago though it felt an entire lifetime apart. he had needed absolution then. but this time it’s stede that needs to be forgiven. at the idea of edward clad all in soft red velvet, a picture of beauty even in his sorrow, stede feels his heart lurch painfully in his chest. &  the horrible truth was that the damage to edward wasn’t even all that weighed on his conscience. he had hurt so many with his cowardice  — his loyal crew punished on his account. lucius himself had been tossed to the sea to drown, only saved by sheer dumb luck. stede rests a sympathetic hand on the boy’s shoulder, inclining his head closer. ❝ i’m trying lucius, ❞ he breathes, his voice low, half worried that edward ( or worse, izzy ) might be lurking around the corner, listening.  ❝ he hasn’t run me through or tossed me overboard yet, after all — i think that’s a rather good sign. ❞

Ruby Barker as Marina Thompson in Bridgerton 1.06 “ Swish”