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 Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 10:48 am
 Stede was baffled as he watched Ed trying to keep himself together and not break down into full on tears as he saw the rowboat ride up onto the sand. A tall woman with long dark golden hair stepped off and stared at Ed, taking the entirety of him into her gaze. Stede pushed down the feeling of jealously that popped up at this, which he found ridiculous to be occurring. Why would he feel this way about the woman when Ed was his?
"Mary Anne?" Ed finally whispered out.
"Hello there, sweetheart," replied the woman.
"Sweetheart?" echoed Stede, under his breath.
Ed finally broke into a run towards her and she jogged over to meet him. They met in a big embrace, Ed towering over her and almost lifting her off her feet. When they did lean apart, the woman took Ed's face into her hands and occasionally brushed stray locks of hair back behind his ear.
"Look at you!" she said, smiling. "It's been ages since I've seen you so happy."
"And you!" said Ed. "Gorgeous as always!"
"Careful now," laughed the woman. "You might make your... hmm... Co-Captain, is it? Your Co-Captain jealous."
"Jealous? Why would Stede be jealous?" asked Ed, stepping away from her in confusion.
"And still just as innocent as ever," she chuckled as she stepped past him and up to Stede. She held out a hand towards him. "Pleasure to finally meet you... Gentleman Pirate. I'm Mary Anne Townsend."
Stede took her hand into his and slowly shook it and stared at her in awe. "Mary Anne Townsend? As in the Captain of the Odyssey? The Pirate Queen?"
"Yes, to the ship," said Mary Anne, "but the title of Pirate Queen really belongs to another. I prefer Sea Queen."
"I've heard and read about you!" said Stede. "You are really quite amazing! And maybe a bit of an inspiration."
"Inspiration?" said Mary Anne, stepping back. "For what?"
"For leaving aristocratic life behind and going to sail the sea, disregarding what society thinks!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 10:52 am
"Yes, well..." said Mary Anne, shrugging. "You didn't do so bad yourself, inspiration or not."
"He did, didn't he?" said Ed, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in close.
"So, retirement and running an Inn?" she said, looking up at him.
Ed shrugged. "I needed a change of pace. I was getting tired of the constant rat race of trying to chase down the next big treasure and all that."
"Not all treasure is silver and gold, dear," whispered Mary Anne.
Ed simply smiled in response.
"I'm... I'm sorry about Izzy," continued Mary Anne.
Ed's smile faded and nodded, before leaning over to place a kiss on her head.
"I'm sorry too," whispered Ed into her hair. "He's up the hill a ways, if you want to see him."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 10:59 am
After more conversation, a tour of the Inn, and finally a shared meal, the pair left Mary Anne to spend the rest of the evening on her own to pay her respects at Izzy's grave on the hill as Ed had earlier indicated. She had smirked seeing the unicorn leg making the base of the cross and Izzy's original cravat tied around it.
She sat down on the sand next to it, watching the sun set in the distance.
"Look at how far we've come, Izzy," said Mary Anne. "Me a big-time pirate captain and you... well..." She glanced over at the Inn. "You made sure your Captain was happy, didn't you?"
She sighed as she briefly laid her head on her knees before looking back up at the setting sun.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to come back together and... and..." Her voice broke as the tears finally escaped down her cheeks. "You weren't supposed to be dead!"
She heard a seagull in the distance but she didn't pay much mind to it. It was common to hear them on the shores.
"We were supposed to sail off into the sunset together... like we promised if things didn't work out with other desires."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:22 am
Mary Anne jumped as a seagull landed right next to her. She looked over at it as she wiped the tears from her cheeks with her coat sleeves.
"Why hello there friend," said Mary Anne. "Come to pay your respects to your fellow sea adventurer?"
The seagull turned its head to allow it to gaze at her more closely with its eye and let out a slight call.
"He was pretty great, wasn't he?"
The seagull let out a full call in response before turning to waddle away. It stopped a distance away, turned to look back at her and called again. She chuckled as she watched it do this before looking at it more directly after seeing it do this several different times.
"What? Are you wanting me to follow you or something?"
She thought she saw the bird nod its head in response as it let out another call. Mary Anne shook her head as she got to her feet.
"Oh, what the hell," said Mary Anne. "It's not like I have anything else better to do. Plus I'm sure the two love birds back in the Inn will need more time to iron out any ruffled feathers caused by my appearance."
She followed the seagull as it led her towards the nearby forest.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:30 am
"Are we there yet?" teased Mary Anne.
The seagull looked back at her with an unamused gaze.
"I'm kidding!" said Mary Anne, shaking her head.
"Talking to seagulls again, are we?" said a raspy voice.
Mary Anne came to a halt in her steps hearing the voice. The seagull took off flying back the way they had come, brushing her shoulder with its wing tip.
"You... This..."
"Speechless? I've been known to have that effect on people."
"You're supposed to be dead!"
"Aren't we all?"
Mary Anne couldn't believe her eyes. Izzy Hands was standing before her in his standard black leather ensemble, a mischievous smirk on his face. The one that she loved so much.
"This... this can't be real," said Mary Anne. "It must be a side effect of the grief. Or... or I'm just dreaming or something."
"It would be a lovely dream though, wouldn't it?" said Izzy, stepping forward and wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
Mary Anne's breath caught at the gesture. The brush of the leather glove against her cheek felt so real. She quickly brought her hand up to grasp onto his wrist and it was solid. Definitely not a dream; her dream versions of her loved ones never gave this same sense of realness when she touched them.
"You're really here..."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:38 am
"Mary Anne..." said Izzy, as he pulled her into a hug as she started crying. "I'm so sorry."
"I don't understand. How is this possible?" said Mary Anne, when she was able to gather enough composure to talk. "I was just sitting next to your grave watching the sunset!"
"A little bit of this, a little bit of that... and some crazy bird-brained man's... I don't know... magic, I guess," said Izzy.
"Bird-brained man?" said Mary Anne, leaning back to look at his face.
"The seagull."
"The seagull was a man?"
"Buttons. He was one of the Revenge's crew members. Always was an odd one. Never expected there to be real substance to his ramblings."
"You're saying a man-turned-seagull brought you back from the dead?"
"From what I can make sense of it... yeah." Izzy shrugged. "Don't strain yourself over it.
"And what exactly do you plan on doing now that you're back from the grave?"
"I was trying to figure that out just as your ship rolled in."
Mary Anne lifted a hand to weave it into the hair at the back of his neck.
"What are you saying?"
"Well..." said Izzy, taking her other hand and placing a kiss on it. "With your permission of course, I hoped to sail with you on your ship."
"What about Ed?" asked Mary Anne, gesturing with her hand over her shoulder in the direction of the Inn. "You going to tell him about your miracle?"
"No," replied Izzy. "Not now anyway. The era of Blackbeard and his First Mate is over. It's a new chapter for him now. Let him enjoy it without me messing it up for him... again."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:43 am
"Well... in that case then, I suppose it would be nice to have you aboard my ship," said Mary Anne.
"You suppose?"
"Okay, it would be an absolute relief!" exclaimed Mary Anne. "This latest batch of sailors I got from the last raid are absolutely driving me nuts. If I wasn't so intent on sticking to my guidelines and needing the crew to sail my ship, I would have killed them all by now."
"So, you want me to kill them?"
"Izzy!" said Mary Anne, smacking his chest.
Izzy chuckled, grabbing her hand again and placing another kiss on it. "Don't worry, I won't. But I definitely help with getting them into order. At least until we can dump their asses at the next port."
"Bless."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:46 am
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:48 am
Don't mind me. Just trying to pass the time with some OFMD AU-ending scenarios. xd
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:49 am
And Izzy would totally be a cheeky little b*****d with Mary Anne if such a scenario like that happened. sweatdrop
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:52 am
*sighs* My mood is down now after having a resident yell at me for no reason when I was trying to handle a situation. Hoping the rest of my shift goes by quickly and uneventfully because I'm ready to go home.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:56 am
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:57 am
Alright, I'm off to lunch.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 2:32 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 2:33 pm
Only a couple more hours until I'm off work.
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