#bsm2

8/8: Gates vs. Miranda

Gates, to Flint, in 108: "Lying sack of shit was Mr. Cregg. So I bought the boys a round with the pesos, traded the pocket watch for a bit of tail, and spent two weeks that winter in New York trying to deliver that fucking letter to his sister. Looked high and low. Never found her. So on the way home, I waited till we were in open water and I could see no land in any direction, and I dropped it over the side. Returned to the sea. There are no legacies in this life, are there? No monuments. No history. Just the water. It pays us and then it claims us. Swallows us whole. As if we'd never been here at all.”

VS

Miranda, to Flint, in 205: "I think you are fighting for the sake of fighting! Because it's the only state in which you can function, the only way to keep that voice in your head from driving you mad. […] The one telling you to be ashamed of yourself… for having loved him. You were told that it was shameful. And part of you believed it. Thomas was my husband. I loved him and he loved me. But what he shared with you… it was entirely something else. It's time you allowed yourself to accept that."

1/1: Mr. Scott vs. Miranda

Mr. Scott, to Madi, 306: “Those men rose to their stations because they are peerless when it comes to shaping the world to their will, in creating a narrative and wielding it to compel men's hearts and minds. But the most compelling story requires a villain at its center. And if either Captain Flint or Mr. Silver sees the other as a villain… or worse… us as that… then all is lost. They are of great value to us, but they must be managed by us to avoid that outcome. I wish… you and I had not been so separate all those years. I wish I could have found a way to be a better father to you. But over time, I was determined to leave you something behind, to give you the one thing that no one could ever take away… and that would make you strong enough to understand their world, interact with their world… wage war on their world. But if their identity lies in their stories, I wanted you to know them so that when we are ready to call them enemies, you would be ready for it. The villain makes the story. So to manage our current partners, we must ensure that we all agree at all times who our common villain is."

VS

Miranda, to Peter Ashe, in 209: "You destroyed our lives! You caused our exile! Thomas died in a cold, dark place… […] What do I want? I want to see this whole goddamn city, this city that you purchased with our misery, burn. I want to see you hanged on the very gallows you've used to hang men for crimes far slighter than this. I want to see that noose around your neck and I want to pull the fucking lever with my own two hands!"

3/4: Miranda vs. Mr. Scott

Miranda, to Peter Ashe, in 209: "You destroyed our lives! You caused our exile! Thomas died in a cold, dark place… […] What do I want? I want to see this whole goddamn city, this city that you purchased with our misery, burn. I want to see you hanged on the very gallows you've used to hang men for crimes far slighter than this. I want to see that noose around your neck and I want to pull the fucking lever with my own two hands!"

vs.

Mr. Scott, to Billy, in 208: "When Captain Flint first arrived on this island, he gained influence faster than any man I'd seen before. Or since. I heard men say it was because of the violence. I heard them say it was his charm. But it was clear to me the reason why he was so good at bending men towards his will was he knew the power of a story and how to harness it to his own ends. That man there, I would argue, may very well be his equal. […] Yeah, the story's his, the story isn't his. But the power of the telling... that is clearly his. At the moment, he's using it to help the captain. But God help us if he ever realizes what else he could use it to accomplish."

13/14: Miranda vs. Julius

Miranda, to Flint, in 303: "When I first met you, you were so… unformed. And then I spoke and bade you cast aside your shame, and Captain Flint was born into the world… the part of you that always existed yet never were you willing to allow into the light of day. I was mistress to you when you needed love. I was wife to you when you needed understanding. But first and before all… I was mother. I have known you like no other. So I love you like no other. I will guide you through it, but at its end is where you must leave me. At its end is where you will find the peace that eludes you, and at its end lies the answer you refuse to see."

VS

Julius, to the Maroons, in 407: "Fools. You're all fools if you think this road leads to where he says it does. [...] What happens when our enemy realizes that all it needs to do to defeat us is to take away that common cause? Turn one against the other. And when that happens…as it is all but certain to do… which of us standing here are likely to be the ones who benefit and which the ones sold back into their chains?”

8/14: Miranda vs. Rogers

Miranda, to Peter Ashe, in 209: "You destroyed our lives! You caused our exile! Thomas died in a cold, dark place… […] What do I want? I want to see this whole goddamn city, this city that you purchased with our misery, burn. I want to see you hanged on the very gallows you've used to hang men for crimes far slighter than this. I want to see that noose around your neck and I want to pull the fucking lever with my own two hands!"

VS

Rogers, to Berringer, in 403: “Years ago… as a privateer during the war, I was in a running fight with a Spanish galleon. Hounded her for days. By all rights, she should've surrendered long before she did. Just before her colors were struck, a shot was fired. A cheap, cowardly shot… fired with the knowledge they were about to surrender anyway and the presumption that they be entitled to quarter. This particular shot found its mark. Took three of my men… one of them, my brother, Thomas. He'd always been smarter than me. Braver. Better. Protected me when we were young. Taught me to sail when we were older. He was my closest friend. Lost to a cheap and cowardly shot. So, after they surrendered, I went aboard the ship. And I began with the captain. I was more deliberate with him. It took some time. Then I moved to his first mate. The gun captains. The gun crews. 74 men aboard that ship when I boarded her. But by the time we reached Acapulco, there was only one. The one I delivered alive to recount the tale. You asked what would happen next. My instinct is the same now as it was then. I will show them what the consequences are for threatening that which I hold most dear. I will leave no doubt about it.”

1/8: Billy vs Gates

Billy, in 310: “I've lived too long dependent upon Flint to be the one to hold our ranks together. It's time we finally had an alternative. What flows forth from this house, starting tonight, is a new story for Nassau. I've watched her follow mad men. I've watched her follow rich men. I've watched her bow before tyrants. But now it's time she had a king. When we're ready, when he's ready, he'll step into the role we've created for him… and lead an impossible army into an unwinnable war… and win it.”

VS

Gates, to Flint, 107: "I know what happened on the Maria Aleyne. You told me the man you killed was reaching for a weapon. You told me it was self-defense, but there were no weapon in that cabin. I went and I looked. And I still kept my mouth shut. I don't know why, but I know you used the crew to assassinate those people. Men died that day. Our men. And I suspect there's been other times when we've been expendable to you. And if yesterday was one of those days, then you and I have a problem, because Billy wasn't expendable to me. He was a son to me.”

2/2: Miranda vs. Mr. Scott

Miranda, to Peter Ashe, in 209: "You destroyed our lives! You caused our exile! Thomas died in a cold, dark place… […] What do I want? I want to see this whole goddamn city, this city that you purchased with our misery, burn. I want to see you hanged on the very gallows you've used to hang men for crimes far slighter than this. I want to see that noose around your neck and I want to pull the fucking lever with my own two hands!"

VS

Mr. Scott, to Flint, in 204: "I know Eleanor's argument. And I know why you think it is weak and I do not disagree with you. Her judgment about Captain Vane has never been right. But because she is compromised, it does not necessarily follow that she is wrong. I fear that to take that fort will be to divide this island in a most dangerous way. To force men to take sides against each other at a time when our very survival demands the very opposite. I fear that if we go down that road, by the time Spain or England arrive, they will find their job done for them. They will find Nassau has destroyed itself. The world changes. It is inevitable. Perhaps the only thing that is inevitable. If it were me facing this decision, I would make peace with that. I would teach myself to see Captain Vane as an unfortunate but unavoidable change in our landscape. And I would ensure that we all live to see the sunrise again tomorrow. Were it me.

1/2: Mr.Scott vs Julius

Mr. Scott, to Madi, 306: “Those men rose to their stations because they are peerless when it comes to shaping the world to their will, in creating a narrative and wielding it to compel men's hearts and minds. But the most compelling story requires a villain at its center. And if either Captain Flint or Mr. Silver sees the other as a villain… or worse… us as that… then all is lost. They are of great value to us, but they must be managed by us to avoid that outcome. I wish… you and I had not been so separate all those years. I wish I could have found a way to be a better father to you. But over time, I was determined to leave you something behind, to give you the one thing that no one could ever take away… and that would make you strong enough to understand their world, interact with their world… wage war on their world. But if their identity lies in their stories, I wanted you to know them so that when we are ready to call them enemies, you would be ready for it. The villain makes the story. So to manage our current partners, we must ensure that we all agree at all times who our common villain is."

VS

Julius, to the Maroon Queen, 407: "I have fought alongside these men. But I did it so that I might find security. But what they are now arguing for... does not sound like security to me. Nothing is lasting. But months, years, that is meaningful and it can be had here. You now have the resources to have it here. There is a treasure in the ground here. It'd purchase whatever is needed to survive. [...] No one changes the world. Not like this. Not all at once. The world is too strong for that.