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#hair down no beard white shirt no cool facade and having just explained his feelings and kissed stede
lemonlimetoast · 2 years
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Ok so like many people have been like "oh the way ed looks at stede, the way stede looks at Ed, the way the look at each other" etc and yes very true
BUT it's important to me that they look at each other differently.
Everytime stede looks at Ed with love, it's like a look of relief and calmness and belonging (which fits with the theme of him not really feeling like he belongs as a fancy lad or as a pirate until he meets Ed).
Everytime (or a lot of the time) Ed looks at stede with love, it's a look of amazement and also just like idk how to describe this... But it makes sense because he's amazed at how much stede can bring into his life and be so new and genuine and how someone like that could care so much about someone like him.
#finally tagging this one properly bc i have no personal post attached to it#ofmd#our flag means death#stede bonnet#ed teach#i dont know what to tell u guys im seriously deep in this show#and i took lit in hs#i forgot what was actually called#i think it's also interesting how stede presents himself as emotionally mature he still has a lot to learn about himself#and how he often doesnt do what he tells his crew which is to talk about it#like a lot of his convos w ed have undercurrents of him having background feelings#like the iconic tub cry scene hes very much there for him but also like ur not still gonna kill me tho right#which is fair#and the kiss scene where ed talks about running away he seems hesistant even before he gets threatened in the woods#and we as an audience know its his own insecurities but thats ed at his completely most vulnerable#hair down no beard white shirt no cool facade and having just explained his feelings and kissed stede#and he obviously perceives it as wow stede saw me at my most me and decided that he didn't like it and left#anyways I'm feeling so many normal emotions about this show its crazy /j#midnighttalk#BTW hair up is his fancy lad mask/shield/presentation and beard is that for pirating#which is why he starts hair down then as he wants to get fancier and esp for stede its up#then abandons it for stede and to be really himself#then down again bc hes fallen apart then down still because of his emo era and him not wanting anything to do with him anymore#beard is shorter bc he abandons jt fully for stede in 9 then gets stubble following that so its like piracy slowly creeping back#then w the makeup he forces it back on amd goes whole hog for piracy again#andd then cries jt off because he doesnt want to go back to who he was and in many ways cant#ok i keep adding onto these tags my bad but it also has to do with how ed ties sm of his self worth to stede after the fine things scene#and like in general but THATS really the pinpoint yk#and stede doesn't really change like that outwardly i think#also has to do w how for stede its about belonging and and for ed its about who he is fundamentally..... and for both its about living
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e350tb · 4 years
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Steven Universe: Marooned Together - Chapter Fifty Two
(thanks to @real-fakedoors for proofreading)
Predominantly blue and green, the tropical world looked almost like Earth from a distance, a sight that brought forth nostalgia that wasn’t entirely unwelcome, but it stirred something that had been dormant for long years—something painful.
It didn’t really matter; the facade dropped as the Crystal Avenger drew closer anyway. 
There were no oceans, only great lakes and wide rivers snaking across the single, giant continent. Parts of the surface were obscured by enormous clouds, and there was a small ring of snow around both poles.
Of greater concern was the old Homeworld transport ship, slowly rotting away in orbit. It was beyond salvaging; much of the hull was gone, sheared away by asteroid impacts. There were no signs of life on board, but a quick scan revealed that the escape pods had all been used - the ship had been abandoned.
“There’s no technology down there,” mused Peridot, frowning. “As far as I can tell, this is just a normal tropical planet.”
“Can’t even be used as a kindergarten?” asked Amethyst.
“No,” replied Peridot. “The mineral composition of the crust is of poor quality. It’s not even optimal for farming, not that gems need produce.”
Stevonnie gazed out the window at the planet, scratching their chin.
“And yet something down there knocked Jenny out of contact with us,” they said.
Amethyst furrowed her brow.
“I don’t like this,” she declared. “Zircon, contact Peedee. Tell him we’re here.”
Zircon nodded, pressing a button on her console. She frowned, pressing it once more, then shook her head.
“Something’s jamming our communications, Captain,” she replied.
“That can’t be right!” exclaimed Peridot. “The Crystal Avenger is a… mostly up-to-date corvette. It should have advanced anti-jamming software!”
“Maybe someone down there invented a really good jammer?” suggested Stevonnie.
“Stevonnie, there’s nothing down there that could invent one of those human ‘chicken sandwiches,’” snapped Peridot. “Never mind a state of the art… huh.”
Amethyst raised an eyebrow.
“Huh?”
“There… is a jamming signal,” said Peridot, looking over the scan on her screen. “It’s coming from the planetary core, but… that doesn’t make sense!”
She stood up, shaking her fist at the planet below.
“Stupid cloddish mystery world!” she snapped. “Make sense, damn you!”
“Well, we don’t really need to stop the jammer,” Stevonnie shrugged. “We just need to find Jenny. Do you know where she is?”
“I’m still scanning for traces of the Kofi,” replied Peridot. “So far I’ve triangulated her transponder to a two hundred square kilometer area around the south of the planet, near the river that comes out of that lake that looks like Peedee’s head.”
She pointed. Stevonnie squinted.
“No, I’m not seeing it, it looks more like Bismuth.”
“The noodle hair! It has the silhouette of the noodle hair! It’s blindingly obvious!”
“Nah, the head shape is too big, it’s definitely…”
“Okay,” interrupted Amethyst. “Let’s get down there and look around Lake Peedeebismuth until we find something, alright? We can work out who it looks like later.”
Peridot blinked.
“We’re… we’re not actually gonna call it Lake Peedeebismuth, are we?”
----
The Crystal Avenger soared over Lake Peedeebismuth, slowing to a hover as it reached a clearing just below its southernmost shore. Down below sat an old, familiar shuttle - the Kofi.
Carefully, the Crystal Avenger touched down, the cargo ramp opening. Slowly , Stevonnie advanced out, sword and shield ready, but they could hear nothing else besides the strange, shrill sounds of the planet’s birds.
It wasn’t at all dissimilar to Earth - it resembled the jungles of South America, with tall grass and thin, spindly trees. They could feel a cool precipitation in the air, and could just about smell rain on the wind, but the sky above seemed blue for now.
“I think it’s clear!” they called back.
The other gems (save Zircon, who remained on the bridge) followed them out. Peridot immediately marched over to the Kofi, planting her hand on the metal surface. She let out a long “hmmmm…” and scratched her chin.
“You sure you should be touching that?” asked Lapis, walking up behind her.
“Please, Lazuli, I’m a technician,” sniffed Peridot. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Yeah, we’ve seen a bunch of ships in our time, Laps,” added Amethyst, swaggering casually over. “We’ve ridden in ‘em, slept in ‘em, ate in ‘em, we’ve even f-”
“Yes, thank you Amethyst,” interrupted Peridot. “Hmm… no sign of damage. It’s like she landed and just walked away…”
“Maybe she was following that distress call Peedee mentioned?” asked Stevonnie.
“Possibly… but why wouldn’t she come back…”
Not far away, Garnet watched the trees for any activity, arms crossed and face impassive. She barely reacted as Bismuth walked over, looking similarly wary.
“Future Vision picking anything up?” she asked.
“A few things,” Garnet replied.
“Hmm.”
Bismuth was about to say more when she saw a glint in the grass - something metallic reflecting sunlight. Slowly and carefully, she knelt down, picking up the little object and turning it over in her hand.
Her brow shot up.
It was a bullet casing, slightly rusted and clearly spent. Did the people of this planet have guns? Hadn’t Peridot said they had no technology?
She turned it over again, looking at the bottom of the casing. The writing was old and stained, but she could just about make out bits of it.
...RSAF Enfi...303...British…
“Garnet,” she whispered, “this thing’s from Earth…”
There came a quiet series of clicks from the trees.
Garnet reacted quickly, shooting into the jungle with such ferocious speed that she resembled little more than a blur. Seconds later, she was back, clutching a large human man by his ragged collar as she slammed him into a tree trunk. An old rifle fell from his hands.
“What the-” Stevonnie turned and gasped. “A human!”
“Yeah, no kidding,” said Amethyst flatly.
The human was covered in long, grey hair; his face nearly completely obscured by a white beard that stretched down to his stomach. His nails were long and yellow, and his clothes were strips of cloth and leaves fashioned together to make a very crude shirt and pants. His eyes were sunken, and his skin was weathered. He snarled and growled, almost like an animal, as he saw himself reflected in Garnet’s visor.
“Tell me who you are,” Garnet growled.
The reply was hoarse and halting, as if the man had not used these words in a very long time.
“Back off… gem…” he spat.
“We got you six to one, Gandalf,” said Amethyst, drawing her whip. “Why don’t you…”
“Wait!”
Stevonnie stepped towards Garnet, hands up.
“Wait, let him explain himself!” they said. “He’s been here for a long time, he’s probably confused!”
The man turned to Stevonnie and stared. His jaw dropped.
“You,” he wheezed. “You… Stevonnie.”
“Honey, does everybody in the universe know you?” asked Lapis wryly.
Stevonnie stepped forward.
“Yes,” they said, slowly and kindly. “I am Stevonnie. And you are?”
The man stared further, his eyes unfocused. For a moment, Stevonnie was sure they were watering.
“Put me down,” he said. “And I talk.”
Stevonnie glanced at Garnet. Slowly and reluctantly, Garnet did as asked, gently setting the man down on his feet.
“Okay,” she said. “Your turn.”
The man licked his dry, cracked lips.
“The water,” he said.
“What?” Stevonnie tilted their head.
“Don’t… drink water.”
He turned to Garnet. For a long time, the fusion and the hermit stared at each other, neither making so much as the slightest move.
Suddenly his arm was a blur, reaching swiftly under his shirt and pulling a rusty old pistol - in the same instant, Garnet was moving too, extending her arm to grab the weapon. They met in the middle, and Stevonnie winced at the slight metallic grind as the barrel of the gun scraped the gem on her hand…
Bang. The sound was like a clap of thunder.
The man had no time to see what he had wrought - an instant later Bismuth’s fist was colliding hard with his face, sending him physically flying backwards. His head slammed hard against the tree - there was the sound of cracking wood - and he slumped down, out cold.
“Whoa, Bis, I think you killed him,” said Amethyst, impressed.
“Nah, he’s still breathing,” replied Bismuth, almost sounding disappointed.
“Garnet!”
Stevonnie ran over to Garnet, who’s form was flickering dangerously. Her visor disappeared, and she gazed at her fellow fusion - her blue eye still firm, but her red eye flickering violently, and her third eye unable to focus.
“Stev- S̸̢̡̟͎͔ţ̷̩͔̦̯͙̙é͈̻̭̭̺v͚͡͡o̴̵̴̘̱̮͇̦̠̣͉̰n̡͎̠̪̫͕̺̰̗͡n̦͍i͇̮̭̗͇e̘͔͈̲͜…̻͍̯̪̣̞” she stammered.
Then, quite literally, she came apart.
Sapphire was holding Ruby in her hands, gazing in horror at her gem - it was cracked, with an enormous hole in the middle where the bullet had struck. Ruby seemed woozy, her vision unfocused. Stevonnie knelt down next to her, putting their hand on her shoulder/
“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll fix it!” they said. “Let’s get you back on the ship, okay?”
“I̸͎̳͚͙͉͞h̝̕p̴̴̱̤̱͇̦̰p͕͚̠̟̹͎̝̼͙͘a̡̰̩̰̦͎͔̯̺̺͡s̼̲̩͙͞͡?̶̨̤͇̠͉͇ͅ” whimpered Ruby.
“I’m here.” Sapphire squeezed her hand.
By now Bismuth had raced over - she swept Ruby into her arms and made a run for the ship, Sapphire close behind. Stevonnie made to follow, but was stopped when Amethyst called out.
“Yo, ‘Von? What do we do with Tom Hanks here?”
Stevonnie walked over - Lapis, Amethyst and Peridot had gathered around the unconscious man, the latter poking him with a stick.
“We should take him inside,” replied Stevonnie. “Maybe find out who he…”
They squinted, taking a closer look at the stranger’s face - his nose, his features, the colour of his skin (distorted as it was by decades of sunburn.) Their brow shot up, and they gasped.
“It’s him,” they whispered.
“Who?” asked Lapis, putting a hand on their arm.
Stevonnie swallowed.
“Kevin.”
---
Every day, they changed up the guards in charge of looking after Lewis. It was supposed to prevent any one of them from forming a rapport with her - yet there were only so many crew aboard the Tartarus, and she had long recognised a pattern.
Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays she was guarded by humans. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays were gem days, On Wednesday, it was a combination. (Or at least that was how she worked it out - she was no longer sure if New Earth used the old, proper working week after the Human Resistance had been overthrown.)
She’d learned particularly the roster of the guards assigned to feed her. It cycled over ten days, and she’d even come up with mental names for them. Today, for example, she’d be fed by Clumsy, a somewhat uncoordinated brute of an Amethyst. Under her rule, such incompetence would not be accepted, but these soft Home Guards seemed to like her. Likely she’d come in, drop her food, apologize about it and then leave, same as always.
Except that wasn’t the case this time.
The guard that fed her today was hard to identify - they wore a scarf over their face, and spoke to nobody. But as she dropped her tray, a note fell from her sleeve, tumbling over her porcelain white hand and onto the floor.
When she was gone, Lewis picked it up.
Thirty days.
Lewis chuckled silently and sat back. Good things came to those who waited, she thought to herself.
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