rarepairexchange | 2023 Ship Promo Post!

We know most of you have been looking forward to this post, so without further ado, here's your chance to share what you love about the rare ships you've nominated and will either request and/or offer! Some of the rare ships in the tagset belong to rare canons. If you're someone who loves trying new canons or is currently on the hunt to become obsessive about something else, this is a great post for you!

You can use the form below to get started. (You don't have to if you don't want to, but we advise trying to make your comment easy to read.)

Canon:

Ships:

Media:

A summary of the canon:

What do you love about this ship/these ships?:

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:

Content warnings:

A few things to consider:

Please try to keep your thirst to one comment.

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You can also use this post to ask for canon recs. We recommend advising what you're looking for (a particular medium or a canon that's so many hours long?)—and it wouldn't hurt to mention what kind of ship dynamics/tropes you're into since that's why we're here!

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Thanks to

yuletide for the inspiration for the form.

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Canon: Our Flag Means Death (TV)

Ships: Black Pete/Fang/Israel Hands/Lucius Spriggs, Fang/Israel Hands, Fang/Israel Hands/Ivan, Fang/Lucius Spriggs, Fang/Roach, Frenchie/Roach, Israel Hands/Spanish Jackie, Oluwande Boodhari/Frenchie/Jim Jimenez

Media: Television (10 half-hour episodes)

A summary of the canon: Our Flag Means Death is a historical workplace/romantic comedy set in the Golden Age of Piracy. Very loosely based on real events, it follows what happens when wealthy landowner Stede Bonnet has a midlife crisis in 1717 and embarks upon an eccentric career in piracy that soon brings him to the attention of famed pirate Blackbeard. It's a show with silly humour but also a lot of heart, with an interest in relationships and a bent toward finding love in unexpected places.

The romance between Stede and Blackbeard is a focus of both canon and fandom, but the show is packed with interesting supporting characters from Stede and Blackbeard's respective crews who are just trying to survive their bosses' mad courtship, as well as folks from places ashore, all with their own intriguing canon dynamics or promising possibilities.

A quick rundown of the characters featured in these ships (with linked photos).

Fang - A veteran of Blackbeard's crew who can hurt people when necessary but reveals his teddy bear side on Stede's ship (as well as the rest of his form when he's flattered into posing nude for artist Lucius).
Frenchie - Musician and songwriter, conman extraordinaire, and hopeless klutz. Knows that cats are scary because they're witches and have knives in their feet.
Ivan - Another member of Blackbeard's crew, and Fang's partner in crime. He thinks Stede's crew are a bunch of weirdos but appreciates that his captain is more open and available in Stede's company.
Izzy Hands - Blackbeard's exhausted and tightly wound right hand man who goes from the frying pan of a failing partnership to the fire of having his life upended when his boss meets Stede. Nominally an antagonist, but 90% of the time only succeeds in making things worse for himself and bringing Blackbeard and Stede closer when he tries to separate them.
Spanish Jackie - Owner of a tavern in the Republic of Pirates, a badass wooden hand, and a jar full of the noses of those who've crossed her. She has twenty husbands. Well, eighteen now, thanks to some recent downsizing.
Jim Jimenez - Surprisingly well-adjusted for an orphan raised by a nun to be a killing machine.
Lucius Spriggs - Artist, scribe, former pickpocket, and constant mood. Is fantastic at breakups and also at drawing certain parts of his crewmates' anatomy.
Oluwande Boodhari - Pretty much the only sensible person on Stede's ship, for all the good it does him. Jim's partner, and the kind of man who will take away the scissors right before someone get stabbed.
Black Pete - Totally a real pirate who used to work for Blackbeard before working for Stede. In actuality, an excitable braggart who stops overcompensating quite so much after getting into a relationship with Lucius.
Roach - The cook and surgeon on Stede's ship. As he says, knives are knives and meat's meat.

What do you love about this these ships?:

(Grouping these where possible and trying to be brief.)

Black Pete/Fang/Israel Hands/Lucius Spriggs and Fang/Lucius Spriggs
Lucius has a lovely canon relationship with Black Pete, the sweetest flirtation and affection with Fang (Lucius drawing him naked and admiring his body, and Fang in turn protecting Lucius when he was hurt and calling him "our beloved Lucius"), and a power struggle with Izzy full of sexual tension and what looked like one moment of weakness on Izzy's part away from being a kiss. In turn, Izzy and Fang have a longstanding working relationship and Izzy almost made Pete his First Mate. I just want Lucius to have more devoted older men in his life, and maybe for those men to be his own little harem who also get together with each other thanks to having him in common.

Fang/Israel Hands and Fang/Israel Hands/Ivan
I mean, just look at them. Here too. They might not always have the best relationship, but they have a shared history and knowledge of each other as those who came over to Stede's ship with Blackbeard, and I love a henchman/henchman romance.

Fang/Roach and Frenchie/Roach
These are both based on very small moments and general vibes. For Fang/Roach, it's this picture of a season 2 spoiler and this picture of the actors looking adorable together. Fang and Roach share a fondness for roughing up naval officers and both balance a violent side with a capacity for camaraderie and gentleness. For Frenchie/Roach, it's mostly based on this shot of them cozied up at storytime, their moment of agreement over the science of gender and crystals, and their shared survival instinct that manifests in two very different ways. We haven't seen all that much of them together, but what there is makes me want more.

Israel Hands/Spanish Jackie
It's the way Izzy ran his hand through his hair before approaching her with his plan to take down Stede, and the way she looked him up and down in consideration before letting him in. Izzy's the type who loves to serve, and Jackie has an opening in her collection for a new favourite husband.

Oluwande Boodhari/Frenchie/Jim Jimenez
Oluwande and Jim have a wonderful canon romance, and Frenchie and Oluwande had fantastic chemistry when they were pulling off a con together and Frenchie was calling him "babe." Throw in the fact that Jim and Frenchie may well be having a shared experience next season, and I just want to see what these three could get up together.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Anything and everything, as long as it's got a happy ending. Backstory, far future, AUs, cozy vignettes, high drama, intimate moments, humour, hurt/comfort, D/s, it's all good.

Content warnings: The show includes scenes with cartoonish gore, a lot of profanity, and some isolated moments of male nudity.

Fanvid: it's the hard-knock life by

nokke (one of the best videos I know for showcasing footage of the ensemble cast)

Edited (fixed broken link) 2023-05-27 05:03 (UTC)

2023 Ship Promo Post!

Our Flag Means Death - Multiple Pairings