#man i miss just brainstorming random fic ideas and bouncing different ideas and bits together with ppl

[izzy-b-hands]

random fic writing babbling and rambling below the cut. TW for discussions of babies, historical breastfeeding, birth, Ed's midwifery charge from his wanted poster (the inspo for these fic ideas that are being discussed below lol.)

I keep trying to write a fic based on the midwifery charge on Ed's s2 wanted poster but I keep getting hung up on the historical accuracy thing of 'where are they getting enough human milk to feed a newborn until they can get this baby to a new family.' Like. In theory, it is doable, but before I get into that:

to explain, the plot every time, even the times I've actively tried to write it differently, is that it's a thing of them choosing the worst time to raid another ship. Either they're mid-raid and hear this poor person still attempting to give birth while everyone else onboard is being killed or threatened by Ed and crew, or as in the latest draft, Ed and Izzy literally walk in to the room just as this person passes away post final push/baby fully delivered.

The baby doesn't fix jack shit between Ed and Izzy or Ed and the crew, bc that doesn't work irl and it ain't gonna work in fiction either.

But! The situation and how everyone pulls together to look after the baby does make Ed slow down and take a step back from the things that have been doing his head in abt himself and Stede and Izzy and life in general. Bc like. He didn't INTEND for this to happen, had he known someone on the ship was actively giving fucking birth, they would have passed it by and left that ship alone! That's too much extra risk/work, when he's intending to keep them on a briskly moving pace for raids. And he doesn't want to hurt a kid, so of course he's going to make their new mission finding someone or a family to look after the baby, and look after them well (god help them if he should find out that's not the case, even years in the future.)

In the latest draft, as in previous, I have it also highlighting Izzy's connection to his mum via midwifery and knowledge abt looking after kids/babies. in the latest draft in particular, Izzy is implied ftm who was absolutely being trained by his mum to take over as midwife for their village/town, had he not gone to sea with Ed instead. But it means he's still retained some knowledge of it all, so he takes on a lot of the baby care.

For example, the bassinet they steal off the ship goes into Izzy's room (which we've seen is small af, so like. He can't even close his door anymore with the bassinet there.) The bottle making kit (that was an interesting bit of research, to find out how the few bottles used might have looked if a wet nurse/someone else nursing that lived nearby/etc weren't available to just. nurse the kid directly) is in his chest at the end of his bed.

Izzy and Ed wind up, again at least in this latest draft, having a few late night, exhausted conversations as they feed the baby and take turns rocking/walking the hall with the baby, just generally so sleep deprived and focusing on the baby that they haven't noticed they're working together more again. It's still clear they have so many things to talk abt and unpack for both of their sakes, but that wax seal over their shared emotions for each other starts to crumble a little once the baby is onboard.

The conversations might not entirely evade the rest of the s2 events, but I can't say bc my drafts always falter right abt here, or when I'm trying to make it sound realistic that they are also, very much, now raiding other ships not just for loot but for anyone currently lactating to express milk for them to feed the baby

(honestly, i half wanna write at least one raiding scene in the fic simply to have Ed try and explain that demand. Yes, he's the dread pirate Blackbeard, the Kraken, your nightmare. Yes, he wants all the loot and money onboard. Yes, he's also currently an unintentional foster parent along with his first mate/husband and their crew to a newborn that needs more milk and as such, anyone currently breastfeeding is commanded to try and fill some of a bottle. Either way, you're giving up everything you have so stop thinking about it or asking questions, unless you know of anyone looking to adopt a baby, by chance. In that case, please give that information to Fang before giving up your expensive things and/or breast milk.)

There's a lot of tentative hope, among all of them re: the baby. All of them making little comments, here and there, that whether the kid winds up a pirate or not, they hope the baby will be happy. Looked after and loved, in the ways some of them either weren't or experienced a very unhealthy/dysfunctional version of.

I do know the ending pretty well, though elements of it could change.

But for sure, I'm thinking of a scene of the ship, dark, everyone quiet sitting on the deck after they've dropped the baby off with a new family (i keep hemming and hawing with it being Doug and Mary somehow having heard abt this kid some pirates are trying to unload, bc I like the idea of leaving a little room for a sequel in Mary being like 'huh sounds like this guy (Ed) is really upset over someone who sounds an awful lot like Ste-oh no' and letting Ed know what went down with Stede)

And as they sail into the night, Ed mumbles that they should consider the night as a night off, but be ready to fight tomorrow morning. He implies they can all go fuck off to bed or whatever then, but instead all of them, Ed included, wind up bunking together on the main deck. Sharing bottles of rum, taking turns at the wheel/making sure they're not about to run aground, and having conversations abt their childhoods, mainly the few happy things they remember.

Like, Archie reveals part of the reason she joined the snake cult was bc she just always has liked them. Even as a little kid, grabbing them gently and letting them chill on her arms/hands.

Ed talks abt his mum teaching him how to sew, and jokes abt him and Izzy having darned each other's socks for years, thank fuck they both sew fairly well.

That actually gets a smile out of Izzy, who mumbles out that his mum would be pleased to see he'd remembered how to keep a baby alive and that he'd maybe even done fairly well.

Fang makes a gentle, kindly meant joke abt Izzy keeping them all alive fairly well, that she'd be proud of that too, and we cut to Ed's face just. Destroyed as he realises yeah, that's exactly what he's been making Izzy do, now and before. And he's just stepped back from the Kraken and the feelings that make that up to have that make him feel terrible. They used to live for each other, each sunrise they saw a defiant, blinding medal in reward of their survival. But it hasn't been that way for a long time, has it? And he can't decide if he wants to explore that feeling or make it go away as fast as possible, or maybe both.

Cut back to Fang cheerfully telling everyone the story of how he wound up being named for his dad, becoming Kevin Jr, and we end on the implication that at least for the rest of the night, things will be calm for them.

Makes me mad as hell I can write this whole post out to discuss the fic, but I can't seem to finish a draft solidly enough to finally finish and publish lmao

#text post #long post #if anyone reads this and does wanna like #bounce ideas abt any of this or other fic ideas pls reach out to me #i don't have many folks i can talk abt these ideas with and i admit im shy to share sometimes but #man i miss just brainstorming random fic ideas and bouncing different ideas and bits together with ppl #genuinely sorry for how long this is but I did warn it was at least partially a ramble #I've had a lot of fic thoughts ive been wanting to bounce so. here we are lol