Good

Izzy must be a good person. He is always grumpy and has an evil grin, never misses an opportunity to talk trash. Sometimes Stede thinks that Izzy's vocabulary consists of 50% slurs and curse words. Izzy's words are abrupt and harsh, like gunshots. Thankfully, blank. Perhaps, Izzy defends himself with these. His fear of the unknown is horrendous but honest. That unknown being something he doesn't understand or considers a weakness. Izzy seems to be a good guy. He smiles with irony, but finds surprisingly correct words, pushing you to the edge. But is seems as though he manages to push you off of it, he may fall there with you. Maybe, Izzy believes that he removes a threat to his existence by impaling Stede with a rapier. But he looks as if he drops the sky down while doing that, so Stede might as well consider himself lucky to not get any vital organs impaled. Perhaps, Izzy was misjudged. He makes mistakes, breaks things then tries to fix what he just broke. And then hoplessly observes the outcome, that always happens to be worse than it was before his actions. And Stede believes that this is what they have in common. After Stede returned to his ship after resolving his problems with his ex-wife, Izzy had that "dropped sky" look. Which made Stede glad that Ed managed to survive. Izzy gotta be a nice person. At the very least, he is trying to be one. He is hot-tempered, cruel, unkind. Unable to correctly express what and how he feels. And he's got a lot of feelings. Sometimes Stede thinks he hears these feelings boil under Izzy's skin. That sometimes looks like awkward kindness and care. And Stede, being kind and caring by nature, can only appreciate the fact that he understands Izzy's attempts to be nice towards others, despite the fact that his compliments make you want to kill yourself. That kinda reminds him of the first time they met, when Stede tried his best at being agressive, while Izzy wanted to strangle himself (or even better, strangle Stede). There's no way Izzy is bad. Like a rapier in professional's hands — he moves precisely with no redundancies. And that's what he is all about. Stede doesn't need anything greater, he accepts Izzy as is. Even with his peg leg and no weapon in hand Izzy is no less dangerous than he usually is. And so Stede is thankful, that their training on the deck ended with just one kick in the gut. Guess, Izzy's good. He's like a source of sudden artistic talents, dropped on you out of the blue, bringing weird wishes along with it. He looks much younger and happier when singing. Stede geniunely believes that their first meeting should've gone differently. They should have met in a bar, drinking rum untill getting extremely drunk and then singins something brutal (or sentimental). Izzy still looks at Stede like he's an idiot. Thankfully, he cannot read Stede's mind. Now he definitely won't be. And Stede doesn't have the time to share his thoughts. Perhaps, Izzy was, in fact, a good person. This "good" and "perhaps" pierces the soul. "You were a good... pirate," Stede says, changing the last word, as if Izzy could hear it and respond with something sarcastic. His voice has some melancholy in it. That melancholy gives way to the grief of not saying everything he wanted. The sky above Stede has bursted into rain. It cools Stede down, as if trying to tell him something, calm him down, wash that feeling off of his soul. He can go home and make a cup of tea with 7 spoons of sigar, thankfully he didn't run out of it. But, after all, it's the same attempt to fix what's broken and then observe the outcome that makes it all even worse. This makes Stede and Izzy this alike. They both have a hidden "Pandora's box", they both prefer to walk the broken bridge a few more times before finally burning it. They both are ubiquitous and inseparable, like good and evil inside anybody's head. They probably are insane. They had a (missed) opportunity to open up to each other and Stede thinks it would have been worth it. And he is glad that he is crazy enough to walk the broken bridge one more time before burning it down. Stede uses his ability to buy himself more time with dirty and ridiculous tricks to the fullest. Even now. Izzy didn't have the time to teach Stede a more straightforward way, and Stede hadn't had time to teach him this way. "I will avenge you, Izzy. I promise." The smile on Stede's face is blinding, along with the flash of lightning. The storm is coming.