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Greetings, Leverage fandom! I am new to your ranks but thrilled to be here.

Would anyone be interested in beta-reading a fanfic? I'm still developing the idea; it has a core plot with flashbacks interspersed. I would really appreciate both general feedback and chatting to flesh out a plot! (To be clear, I have plot ideas, but it really helps me to have a bit of back and forth to settle details.)

Some specifics:

probably 7-10k complete // ~3k written

may reference the ot3

transmasc Eliot-centric

tw for dysphoria and internalized homophobia

only original show canon as I've only seen season 1 of Redemption (which I enjoyed, it's just not part of this particular fic!)

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Respectfully adding: Jan Van Eck, who treats his wives and children like literal possessions to claim, use, and discard by his own whims. In this case they're extensions of the house, and in the same way he backhands Bajan without a second thought, well, if his son isn't adequate then perhaps a beating will help.

(I include Alys and her baby in this because although he wasn't explicitly abusive to them, it was clear he saw them as "his" in the same way he had seen Marya and Wylan.) Anyway, the important thing is that in the Grishaverse, possessiveness is a trait of villains and abusers... just like in real life!

I just saw a short on Youtube that had the title "Possessive boyfriends in fantasy 😍" and then I felt like vomiting.

But then I saw Kaz come up in the short and started to physically twitch in my seat.

The ONE time BookTube actually mentions Kaz it's for THAT??? THEN DON'T MENTION HIM AT ALL!!! He's NOT possessive! He's protective, but that is NOT the same as possessive. SEARCH IT UP ON GOOGLE IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME.

There's only one possessive bitch in the Grishaverse and it's the Darkling.

Don't get that word anywhere NEAR Kaz.

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my birthday is tomorrow.

one day after his.

but it won't always be.

I'm going to outlive the bastard.

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Eliot dices vegetables recklessly. I know that sounds a bit silly--dices vegetables recklessly? The Hitter? Vegetables are too risky?

But any decent instructor shows you how to hold vegetables before you chop them. You curl your fingers toward your palm and hold the celery or carrots or onions with your knuckles toward the knife. If the knife glances of your knuckle, it might take some meat and it'll hurt and bleed. If the knife comes down through your fingertip, you might lose that fingertip. Eliot chops vegetables with his fingertips toward the blade. He has excellent control, obviously--this is Eliot Spencer we're talking about--but he takes food very seriously.

So why is he risking adding a little cannibalism twist to his chili?

When he first learned to cook, when he was coming up from the lowest point in his life, he wouldn't have been someone who necessarily cared. Maybe he would have seen precautions as "soft" or just not for someone with his skills. Maybe he didn't have the patience. Whatever the reason, Eliot chops recklessly.

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God is listening but His aim is poor.

The reality star's health diagnosis was first made public in December

Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson has died at the age of 79

The reality star's family shared the news through various social media posts on Sunday, May 25, months after they revealed in December that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease

Phil starred alongside his family on the popular A&E series, which is expected to return to the network as Duck Dynasty: The Revival this summer

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Not reblogging this would be culturally insensitive to digital natives... when in Tumblr, you tumbl.

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

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In The Gold Job, Parker sat closer than usual to Eliot on the settee and he elbowed her to move her over. In The Radio Job (which I have just started), Eliot told Parker there was a time machine in the patent office. Given the wide-eyed look Eliot just gave Hardison, he was not prepared for Parker to fully believe him and become immediately, thoroughly determined to steal it.

The little acts of these two trying to take metaphorical steps closer are so cute. I love how Leverage isn't afraid to slow-walk these things--like how Hardison has clearly wanted more of a leadership role since season 2 and just now got a chance to step into one--it gives the small moments bigger impacts.

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Loosely Organized Thoughts about Parker & Eliot in The Cross My Heart Job

Rewatching The Cross My Heart Job has made me realize that Eliot mostly talks to Parker to tell her something he thinks she should already know and a lot about their relationship is determined by how he says it. It’s a deliberate choice—Eliot has no problem keeping his mouth shut, he’s choosing to talk to Parker—and in the first 5 minutes we see this occur several times in different ways that show how they cooperate on a job by the end of the episode. This also makes sense with where each is in terms of character development, Parker being herself but able to connect in shared activities, Eliot shifting from ‘constant guard mode’ to ‘constant guard mode with a wingman accent’.

The episode opens on the team coming down an escalator, griping about a recent job, and Parker complains that she “didn’t even get to see the emerald”. Everyone groans, but Eliot puts his hand over his eyes, then snaps at her that, “For the last time, it’s not an emerald, all right?! It’s an island!” Parker moves—she’s next to Eliot at first, but she puts Nate and Sophie between them. Yet from both perspectives, this makes perfect sense. Parker was just doing what everyone else did and griping about the job, she was participating, why can everyone else gripe but not her? And while social patience is not Eliot’s gift, he took the time to explain. He replied to her comments at face value, as he usually does.

When they’re discussing the job, Parker asks, “Can’t we just get another heart?” We know Parker doesn’t always pay the closest attention. It took her almost a whole episode to realize the potato was, in fact, a potato; and there’s a reason in The Office Job they left her out of the euphemisms. She may not actually realize that “heart” means “heart”. She might not realize requirements for a heart transplant—compatibility, health, etc. Parker doesn’t exactly have a traditional education. Eliot squeezes his eyes shut and asks, “From who?!” Even as Sophie moves the conversation along, Eliot and Hardison are both looking at Parker.  This may be when she realizes what’s actually been stolen. It’s also when Eliot shifts from snapping at Parker to asking her questions to make her think over what she said.

Eliot uses not looking at someone as a way to express frustration a lot. He does the same thing when Sophie is hamming up her twisted ankle. When Parker asks if they’re going to break Eliot’s wrist next, he squeezes his eyes shut and then opens them to glower at her.

As they’re starting to work the job, Parker asks if the kidnappers won’t just return the child. “They just stole a heart, you think they’re gonna leave witnesses?” It makes sense. Parker isn’t good with manipulating people. She’s gotten better, sure, but no one’s ever going to forget the fork incident. But they’re into the job now. Eliot’s taking lead on this team (Eliot, Parker, Sophie) and Parker honors that. She still asks questions he thinks have obvious answers, but two things have changed. First, with clear goals (first: ensure safe return of child), Parker has aligned her perspective with the rest of the team. Should she already know the answer to her question? Clearly Eliot thinks so, but it’s a naïve question from someone who fundamentally misunderstands most human behavior. Second, Eliot has a goal. He’s not burning off the frustration of a difficult prior job or waiting while everyone figures out how they’ll approach what is essentially the murder of a child. She’s more ‘normal’ and he’s less frustrated.

They might not be perfectly aligned, but Parker and Eliot work together well because they trust each other. When Sophie says they have to assume the heart is still in the airport, she just asks, “Why?” and Eliot tells her, “’Cause otherwise we’ve already lost.” He kind of growls, but that’s just default Eliot. He doesn’t snap or close his eyes or seem particularly annoyed with her—they’re working together now, and they work together well. They turn their backs and give Sophie some privacy while she changes. When Parker starts counting out cash, Eliot empties his wallet. There’s that trust again.

Which is why it’s so funny when Parker muses, “It’s a good thing we didn’t stay on that island to see those emeralds,” and Eliot just bursts with, “Parker, I just told you!”

And finally, Eliot summarizes the mook he’s just choked out: “Not a professional, lousy zanshin.” Parker interrupts, “The what?” And Eliot explains, “It means personal awareness.” There’s a parallel here between Parker and Eliot. Each experiences the world from a perspective unlike the others’. The difference is that Eliot used to be a socially mainstream guy. He understands that world, he just doesn’t know how to leave his second-world behind. But he doesn’t blame people for not knowing what he perceives as uncommon knowledge—he’s considerably gentler to explain military things. Granted, he’s also just beat someone up, and for all Eliot complains about being the hitter, he quite clearly feels more relaxed after a fight. (Presumably because he perceives the world as a place of constant danger, of course he’s less tense once the immediate threat has presented itself and gotten its ass beat.)

Here's what I find so interesting. Parker’s first comment comes from failing to realize how different her own perspective is. Jewels were mentioned, so this is about jewels, obviously. The average person likely encounters metaphorical jewels far more frequently than literal ones, but Parker loves literal jewels (I’m planning a post about this later) so it makes perfect sense that her mind goes to… literal jewels. And has a hard time leaving, because jewels and cash are her favorite things. This is so far outside of Eliot’s experience and perception. He doesn’t try to understand Parker, but he tries to bring her into the rest of the group’s understanding of the world. Parker asks questions and Eliot answers them.

…all of which is why I so love how Eliot and Parker work together. They’re so different but there’s a lot of trust between them. While Hardison hacks the national donor registry with a desktop, Eliot and Parker work together on the walkie-talkies, and there’s a lot of physical acting so they seem to be genuinely interacting with one another. They break into lockers and change into airport cosplay together. They drive around in their little airport truck together. In the final play, Eliot’s radio call is, “I’m set, Parker. It’s on you.”

The trust each other. Eliot all but says it. Parker shows it. She follows him on jobs. Even when his answers are delivered in a tactless way, she trusts the answers. He takes her comments at face value, accepting who she presents herself to be instead of trying to parse Parker.

I don’t have a full conclusion about Parker and Eliot. I just like when these two work together and within this episode there’s a nice arc from everyone being in a terrible mood and sniping at each other to the end, when they’ve rescued the heart, rescued the kidnapped girl, rescued the boy who needed a transplant. While Eliot becomes less sharp and stressed over the episode, by the end he’s back to playing wingman, getting Hardison and Parker to leave so Nate and Sophie can have a moment. The relationship is so good through… well, the series. But I particularly enjoy this episode.

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the Eliot growl spectrum ranges from, "Parker, i just told you!" to, "Don't ask me that, Parker."

(most people are somewhere in the middle, with exceptions like the sandwich incident, obviously. The spectrum, by nature, is a Parker sandwich.)

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Thinking About Gender Performance via Eliot in Leverage...

I adore how this show comments on masculinity with Eliot, and the shootout in The Big Band Job represents that perfectly. Eliot doesn’t use guns. We know he can, that’s never been a question, he’s career military until whatever shattered his illusions with that career (I don’t know if we find out, I haven’t finished the series yet). I didn’t want to really comment until I finished the series, but it’s too much of a standout not to comment. In most shows, Eliot would be armed at all times. It would become a running gag how constantly and thoroughly he is armed. He would have to disarm and pull out an inexplicable number of weapons, like Aragorn in The Two Towers or Inej in Shadow and Bone. Alternately, he might become a true pacifist—think Shepherd Book in Firefly. That’s the usual portrayal of a gunman who’s turned his back on guns. Instead, Eliot doesn’t, can’t walk away from that life. So he stays in it without relying on the easy solution. He’s a stone-cold badass because of what he can do unarmed, or scavenge-armed with a shovel or chair or whatever’s on hand. So why do I keep coming back to the scene where Eliot picks up a gun? Where he behaves like the cowboy I’ve seen a thousand different times in a thousand different media? Because the second the camera panned to the gun, my stomach clenched, because this wasn’t about how cool an outlaw is. It was about all the trauma Eliot can barely keep to a simmer that he was about to face head-on because he is still, above all, beholden to and defined by duty. And the way that scene is framed is so, so, so cool. It evokes cowboys and action heroes and The Matrix. The violence is justified: these are bad guys and Eliot is saving Nate. We literally see a handgun jammed down the front of Eliot’s trousers—he has, in the cultural parlance, reclaimed his masculinity. And that’s the toxic masculinity. The soldier. The cowboy. The myth of those roles without the hard work and dirt and early mornings. The cowboy without hardscrabble, the soldier without blood. We know Eliot can step into either role. He is, capital-a capital-m, A Man. And that scene is so, so, so cool. I can’t stop thinking about it. If it were in most shows, it wouldn’t stay with me the same way. It would be heroic and triumphant. In Leverage, what defines that scene? “They don’t need to know what I did.” It's shame. It’s a reminder that no matter how cool and justified and cowboy, this wasn’t the time Eliot took out a bunker full of mooks. This was when Eliot was pushed into such a narrow corner he defied his principles. He broke the rule that keeps everything in check. I don’t leave this episode feeling like Eliot’s a badass. Eliot’s always been a badass. I leave the episode remembering how deeply shattered this character is. In conclusion, no other show does it like Leverage, this is good stuff right here and I’m so glad I found it!

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Also, the library! Don't forget to check out your local library's collection of physical media. The more it gets used, the more it gets kept/maintained/improved.

People come into the library to check out a bunch of CDs and burn them right onto their devices. We know. We don't object. (You can do this with DVDs, too, it just takes a little more time.) If you think library DVDs or CDs would have additional safeties in check, nah. Magnetic lock cases so people don't steal them. Aside from that, it's just a normal disc.

Real talk

Stop using subscriptions

Go to a thrift store and start buying those $1 Dvds that are going to end up in a landfill

Take a friend with you. It'll be fun. Get a cd case that was gonna go in the trash anyway

Fill it with your new DVD collection

Now you OWN those and many even have digital codes so you can download the movie in case the disc breaks

Cancel your Spotify

Start burning your own cd mixes. Draw on the cd.

Remove yourself from digital reliance. Take back having power over what you experience without needing to subscribe monthly

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"The Boost Job" favorite moments

-Eliot, Hardison, and Parker souping up a car together. Weirdly wholesome? I think because most of what they do is take down the bad guys and pretend to be other people, but it's cool that they get to create something.

-Hardison realizing why Parker didn't work with anyone else for so long.

-Hardison and Eliot look at each other and Hardison says, "Shotgun," because they know who's driving!

-"Nate's gonna kill you." "I'm gonna kill her!"//"No one is killing anyone! Seriously, though, Nate's gonna kill you."

-The trio doesn't have the most character development, but this season continues to show Hardison moving into more of a leadership role.

-Family dinner at the end. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.

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"Pretzels"

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"The Inside Job" favorite moments...

The entire crew reacting to Parker's apartment. Sophie having a moment holding her teddy bear.

Parker's very autistic wall of cereal

Parker's genuine smile seeing Eliot outside the window

"What is sexting?"

Eliot's Kaz Brekker moment

The entire team on the window washer's lift. Sophie tossing her hair; Eliot tossing his hair.

"My wallet, Parker..."

I'm really enjoying this show and it's super cool that there's an active fandom for it!

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So far my favorite moment in Leverage is when Parker asks if they can kill someone and Eliot immediately replies that yeah, he can do that, before looking to Nate for confirmation.

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Can't get something out of my head after finishing Sunrise on the Reaping.

There are only two ways I can interpret this... (spoilers below)

either Beetee and his wife knew and chose to get pregnant, out of hope that they might be able to build a better word for this child or a willingness to risk it or something else entirely,

-or-

that was some Capitol-controlled IVF to force him to survive.

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Is this a TikTok challenge?

The title sounds silly, but this is a serious post. Today in the library, I saw three teenagers come in and immediately start intrusively snapping photos of patrons, specifically targeting an unhoused man. They made some pretty inflammatory accusations, got in his face, and when he got really upset with them, they started playing bagpipe music on a boombox.

I want to know if this is a TikTok challenge or something. It was just so strange and specific and horrible. Was this just them? Or is this a trend? If anyone has insight, I would greatly appreciate it.