#But that's just next level on his evil scale

[chaosandwolves]

I can't believe this silly movie broke my heart so badly that I put on one of my biggest comfort movies and that I'm staying on the couch to sleep...

How do you just f*ck over your own fans like that?

Derek deserved to be finally at ease and happy.

Derek deserved better but so did we.

I'm truly heartbroken cause they didn't need to do that. They said this is for the fans but then pull that... Wow

[leoascendente]

PAC/ Intuitive messages III

Hi my loves! Welcome to this new pac, again with intuitive messages for you to lift up your energies and see what Universe has in store for you 💕

As always, take a deep breath before choosing your pile, take what resonates with you and leave the rest.

All pics are from pinterest

For private readings click here

I love you all 🥰

Pile 1:

✨️ A soulmate connection is on it's way, there's a lot of romance here for you so be open to love

✨️ You are connecting with your soul tribe, you are attracting caring and honest new people into your life

✨️ If you are already in a relationship your person is going to take things to the next level. If you are in a no contact situation with your person they will communicate soon with you giving you some king of explanation

✨️ Your psychic gifts are growing, you can suffer from headaches or cold hands and feet, it's all because of energies

✨️ If you got online bussiness they will grow massively in the next 3 months

✨️ Cleanse your energies once a week and invest 5 minutes everyday to meditate

✨️ Keep your dreams and goals to yourself at least for the moment, someone around you has the potential to block your roads with evil eye

✨️ If someone annoys you just walk away, don't argue with anybody, keep your energies to yourself

Pile 2:

👑 Marriage or serious commitment is about to happen, depending on your case

👑 For singles, you are going to meet your FS between Libra and Sagittarius seasons, for a little amount of you the time extends until Taurus season

👑 Wheel of furtune is moving at your favor, you enter in a lucky time of prosperity and abundance

👑 You are aligning with your soul purpose so you'll be receiving a lot of signs and synchronicities, try to rest to don't get overwhelmed

👑 A physical glow up will be happening in the next 2 months

👑 Someone feels a lot of passion for you, they are fantasizing about you in very intimate terms

👑 You'll be feeling more emotional, let those feelings flow and don't try to repress them, you cam learn a lot because of them

👑 A better and healthier relationship with your physical body and appearance, even with food for some of you

Pile 3:

☀️ Money on your way!!! And more than what you expect😏 you'll have the chance to get something nice you couldn't afford before

☀️ The prosperous fulfilling of a project you have in hands

☀️ There's a call or message you were expecting/wishing for that's going to happen very soon, it will feel like a miracle

☀️ Your goals in life start to take a more grounded and stablished point of view, dream big honey because you are leading to success

☀️ Someone has a surprise for you, probably a gift you will love

☀️ You'll be gaining energy and power to achieve your dreams, everything is moving into a positive direction, follow your inspiration

☀️ Your guides will have a more intense precense in your life, thank them for the work they are doing behind the scenes to help you

☀️ Keep being perseverant with whatever you are doing to attract abundance, it will really pay off in a big scale

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

One thing I love about the Hatchetfield Cycle is that, even though they are fun and camp and deeply moving, they do not have happy endings. In TGWDLM and NPMD it's a classic bait-and-switch, we think we're getting a sweet ending and then someone bursts into a song that makes you go "oh. They're evil now." And BF presumably ends in nuclear winter but we do see a moment when everyone is reunited and preparing to escape the mall.

There's also levels of self-awareness and breaking the third wall. TGWDLM is obvious, but BF has General McNamara chastising the audience for being obsessed with their phones in "Monsters and Men" as well as Tom and Lex moving boxes for a scene change. NPMD has the least instances of this, and less obvious, but in "Hatchet Town" the crowd sings about how singing is simply creating opportunities for their children to get attacked, but they keep singing.

This is incredibly Brechtian and all three musicals are in the tradition of epic theatre (epic being the school of theatrical theory and not in reference to scale). A hallmark of epic theatre is denying the audience catharsis. The end of the play is not supposed to be tied up into a neatly packaged message, and you're not supposed to get lost in the story of the play. You are supposed to remember yourself so that the commentary that is happening on stage (and there is always commentary, epic theatre is deeply political) and see how it pertains to your life, the world around you. I'd argue all of Starkid's major musicals have a political point and rarely is it as subtle as it is in NPMD. I can think of three songs right now that are explicitly about being American and American cultural hypocrisy.

They also look at government, and how government fails us (very Brechtian).

Utilizing the audience and the entire theatre is often funny, but it keeps the audience from getting complacent. One of the actors hands you his half-eaten apple, that's jarring. The world of the play isn't separate from your world as an audience.

It's easy to be taken with the lore of the universe (I have theories about the Black and White, let's talk) and how great the songs are, and it's easy to say that they're good. But like. They're not just good. They're absolutely incredible modern examples of epic theatre or the next stage of epic theatre (because they do give us moments of catharsis, they just don't close with it). I don't understand how colleges are not frothing for rights to perform these plays. I have a lot more thoughts but I just wanted to get that out. It makes sense since they're all theatre kids--even if they aren't thinking "Brecht Brech Brecht" the entire time, that cathartic denial and incorporation of the audience are absolutely purposeful and not just because it's fun. These shows are amazing.

[dragon-business]

Y0 antagonists ratings/opinions

Mister(s) Shakedown(s) + Amon

Didn't get to Amon in Y0, because we didn't finish these quests. One of the few that we didn't do in full, actually. Didn't seem as fun at the moment. Amon gets a pass, because he gets more screen time in later games. 

Evilness: 4/10 robbing people is bad, I heard Forgetability: 7/10 hard to forget, when Amons are in each game Iconic level: friend of a mutual tells me they’re cool/10 memes Free slot: ????too hard to get through to the good parts

2. Helicopter-car chases

These sequences was pure torture. My hands were cramped even when I wasn't holding the controller. Every minute lasted an hour. The fucking bazookas? Infuriating. Worst survival horror game.

Evilness: 9/10 fuck this shit, let me out of the car Forgetability: 1/10 still feel the cramps .__, Iconic level: 0.5/10 “look, just like in the movies, right?” Free slot: 1,5/10 on enjoyment scale 

3. Cult leader from the substory

Pretty funny scam artist, all the later games character development got him on the list. We love us a lil fucked up reoccurring character.

Evilness: 8/10 doing terrible things to vulnerable people Forgetability: 4/10 forgot about him each time until the next appearance Iconic level: 4/10 will never forget that dance Free slot: retirement home for one million years for the grandpa

4. Dojima captain guy 1

????????

Evilness: 7/10 he’s a yakuza, after all, he’s done some bad stuff, probably Forgetability: 10/10 who? Iconic level: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Free slot: forgot he existed

5. Dojima captain guy 2

Purple suit guy with the boxing/dancing ring in the basement was pretty fab. He gets extra points for the drip. Otherwise idk what he- wait he saved Majima that one time? Huh. You keep learning things.

Evilness: 7/10 normal yakuza guy doing yakuza things Forgetability: 9/10 I know he was there, I guess Iconic level: 3/10 purple suit points Free slot: purple suit, that’s all I remember

6. Kuze

First fight with him was pretty tough. And then he just kept coming back, again and again. With desperate determination. And Kiryu got stronger and stronger between each encounter. And Kuze stayed on the same level, just looking more and more beat up. And that's amazing storytelling through game mechanics, but also really iconic, ngl. 

I mean, man rode a dang motorbike in the sewers. He got the motorbike in the sewers, positioned it in the right spot to start the chase (did he get help for that?), and then rode it down there, through the nasty Kamurocho pipes, hunting down an annoying twunk like a medieval baron chasing a boar. All this while already beat up by said twunk. And he gets beaten again. Rolling in that sweet sewage water in his bandages. 

Evilness: 6/10 he’s out there vibing to his own tunes Forgetability: 1/10 he Will Not Let You Forget about him, even if you’d want to Iconic level: 8/10 meme icon Free slot: he seemed like real threat at the start, but by the chase in the sewers he was our pal, our failmate bro, all the respect to his dedication o7; 4/10 on actual fights and smartness

7. Kashiwagi 

He's on the list for what he did to Nishiki. Just sent the brother of his son to kill, uhh, his son. Just like that. Like, I get that he had his reasons, he really thought he was doing good, he thought he's saving Kiryu from suffering. Because of course it is all about Kiryu and what he supposedly (probably) (maybe) needs.

Evilness: 7/10 good intentions on the way down Forgetability: 0.5/50 look at him slurping cold noodles in his first scene, he’s stealing the show Iconic level: 7.5/10, again, look at the man eating noodles like a dad Free slot: 2/10 top tier dad, bless. 

8. Sagawa

He's such a masterfully done abuser. Partially because he acts so nice. But there's always an unnerving feeling underneath it.

He only resorts to violence when everything's gone to shit. But it always feels like he's capable of it at any moment. It's like a rock constantly looming over, waiting to drop.

Evilness: 8.5/10 on the creep scale, very good for the story Forgetability: 2/10 he’s in your walls, he owns your walls, your balls, and your paycheck Iconic level: 6/10 smartly dressed Free slot: 1/10 as a person, would deck him on sight; thank g-d Majima's away from him now

9. Shimano

Smart, playing the long game, but really, in Y0 he seemed smarter than he is. 

Long distance threat to Majima's safety, the threat he has trouble seeing as one. And that's the real kicker, that's the horror of it all – Majima striving to get back in the family, back under Shimano's thumb in his self-destructive last mission quest. Majima deciding to come back/stay even after the Hole, after y0, Majima getting so close to freedom but not being able to grasp it, and rationalising staying near Shimano for years, rebelling, but never separating in full.

And Shimano perfectly understands the power he has over Majima, and is always ready to use it. To break him at a moment's notice, if it will be useful for his plans. And this is way more uncomfortable and terrifying than Sagawa's brand of underlying threat.

Evilness: 12/10 made us start the “save Majima” movement Forgetability: 0/100 burned into my brain in the worst way possible Iconic level: 3/7 fashion sense is kinda bland, but he does have a presence Free slot: again, would deck on sight, but still – amazing character writing, very cool points for Majima’s story

10. Oda

Big oof moment, amaright?..

Such a fascinating character. He's not stereotypical, and has a compelling, layered personality, which is amazing for a gay man in the big hit game. But also. Ooof. Such a big oooof.

But, surprisingly in this day and age, it's not being gay that made him a piece of trash awful man who died. He was all that on his own, it was just his shit finally catching up to him in the end. And the love for Tachibana was actually his saving grace in life, a point of growth as a person (albeit small). So not denying him that, no. Even one-sided, it made him more human. 

Idk if writers did all that on purpose, but these points felt very distinct in the story.

It's fascinating how Oda's character is a (terrible) person first, and he just happens to be gay. But also, him being gay is ultimately important. We played y0 before all the gay shows took over the screens, and this storyline hit us like a train. Can tell you a lot about the state of queer media at the time.

– Me, after we've met Oda: hehe, he totally has it for the boss The plot: 

– Me, after seeing them interact on screen: hehe, Tachibana is making him suffer :3c Me, when plot: .___.

Evilness: 9.5/10 the 0.5 is from his love for Tachibana  Forgetability: -100/10 I lay awake at night thinking about this bitch Iconic level: 1000/5 look at him, man’s shining Free slot: Bidoof

11. Nishitani

Hated him at the start, because he's a creepy cat, because of the noises, and also because of that one slide on the ground with the knife wiggle, you know the one. Unironically love him now, because the world out there is full of far worse people, and he sure did his attempt at surviving it.

(He totally crawled away at the end, no body no finale, I stan by this)

Evilness: 7/10 he's pretty fucked up, ngl, bringing corpses to Majima like a stray cat Forgetability: -10/10 lives rent free in everyone's head Iconic level: 9/10 man's been on the screen the least but made an impression of a lifetime (on all of us, and on Majima) Free slot: yet another normal cat that everyone think is a "mad dog"; honorary Knife Guy

12. Dojima

Organized a wholeass hunt for Kiryu, got Makoto shot, planned a big power grab, put it all on the table… and lost it all. To Sera.

Respecting him for the effort, he didn't let us rest once. Not respecting what his drinking (and other life choices) made him into later, but even before that I struggle to see what Yayoi saw in him. Apart from maybe her being a young girl from a yakuza family that arranged a political marriage for her when she wasn't even 20 yet. And there is a story here that can be very interesting, like, did you know that (according to rggo) at this exact time Sera was a student that was often arrested on protests? In this essay I will-

Evilness: solid 8/10 he do be scheming Forgetability: 1/10 dragon of who, you say? (Kiryu is very much the dragon of Daigo by this point, but yeah) Iconic level: 5/10 dressed good and has big presence, but derails down the line to a total (not hot) mess, so no respect  Free slot: you know, right? Daigo is totally Seras' so- *gets gutted by Yayoi*

13. Knife guy

When Kiryu went through his (and ours) first Long Building™️ to get to the (first) fight with Kuze, we encountered Him. The guy with the knife. 

It was already tough going through room after room of generic enemies when Kiryu wasn't that strong yet, and we weren't that skilled with the controls. And the Knife Guy was the first recurring enemy, a small mini-boss with a stabby knife that would bleed us dry and leave us savescumming. And he kept coming back. Again, and again, and again, and-

Before Kuze. Before Majima Everywhere. Before everything. There was an unkillable lil freak with a knife that just wouldn't quit until you literally threw him out of the 2nd floor window.

And I think it's beautiful.

Evilness: 5/10 man’s just doing his yakuza job, and doing it well Forgettability: -10000000000/10 who could ever forget this man the- *checks notes on the hand* Tomoda Iconic level: ∞-1/10 there is a knife guy shape forever imprinted in our hearts but there is still free room left, because Free slot: in this world only Majima surpasses him, because Majima is, of course, The Ultimate Knife Guy

- before / navigation / next

[monstersdownthepath]

HEY

Have you ever wanted an excuse to hurl your players into a meatgrinder, or you just want to have a 2~5 session adventure through a horrible, hostile environment for no real prize and with no purpose but to torture them?

Please direct your eyeballs and/or the closest analogues you have to this gentleman

This is Shax, Demon Lord of Envy and Murder, and his Abyssal layer, Charnelhome, is a sprawling, city-sized manor absolutely loaded floor to ceiling with traps, poisons, hazards, and monster encounters of every shape and description, imported from all over the Great Beyond for the express purpose of causing pain and misery.

Shax will invite both his greatest enemies and most devoted followers into Charnelhome and release them like rodents into his maze and carefully watch them, taking notes on how they progress through his evil lair and making his tricks and traps even more deadly for the next gaggle of guests.

He has access to Wish 1/day as well, and thus can technically snatch up to 28 victims he’s aware of from anywhere he wants at any time he wants and pop them right into his doom lab, if you wanted an even flimsier reason to get your players kidnapped by a Demon Lord. EDIT: misread Weird as Wish; ignore this. He can still use Miracle while inside his evil murder fort, though! It’s basically an excuse to go completely ape with whatever hostile architecture you desire. And the best part? It’s fun for all levels! You can scale it from 1st level all the way to 20th because Charnelhome is so huge! And if one of your players dies, well, a new character can be found right in the next bend!

If you’re going to have a fatal death dungeon of death and doom anyway, why not have it be a canon death doom dungeon, overseen by a malevolent stork man?

[homestuckreplay]

hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!

(page 424-430)

8/2/2009 WHEEL SPIN: being silly :3c VERDICT: incorrect :(

The lore dump concludes!! Personally, I could listen to Nannasprite exposit all day, but it's probably for the best that John doesn't keep Rose waiting too much longer. I really love that her face is now angry in the notification bubble. Does this mean she's officially gone Rancorous?

New information about the light vs dark war really changes the dynamic - the forces of light are destined to lose, so it's not an equal fight. More importantly, Nannasprite - who is in part guided by the game - encourages John to head for the light, and Sburb provides gates that go up, but not down. Fighting on the side of the forces of light is seemingly the intended gameplay path for the player, and it seems like John will follow this path - although not because he's deeply invested in being a good person, he's just focused on saving his dad. I think John is focusing himself on the smaller scale goal to distract himself from the idea that Earth is beyond saving, and because whatever else Sburb has in store for him is way too huge to fathom right now.

But what about Rose? What about Dave? They're much edgier people, and if Dave does find his brother's discs and become Rose's server player, I can totally see them going evil mode together, forgoing building upwards and instead trying to explore the mysterious fog below.

We learn that when four kernels land in four spires in both the castles of light and darkness, then things really begin - I guess this means the first four players to reach this point in the game? Which suggests John is the first person in the whole world to reach this point and to beat the meteor level? I'm actually so proud of him, he and rose are really true gamers 🥹 Four spires feels like a narrative choice made so that John's four-person friend group can be the first four players, except GG doesn't have a copy of Sburb, so it would be funny if the game was John, Rose, Dave and some random guy Todd from Missouri.

It seems like the imps, as the lowest level and most common enemy, represent the pawns on the chessboard. So what's next? Will we meet a different boss type for all the pieces? Will we get harlequin horses for the knights to ride on? Will we also meet the white pieces, the counterparts to the black who John might fight alongside?

Nannasprite says that John's journey is t̸̲̿̄h̴̡͓̐̂ͅe̸͔̦̓ͅ ̸̖͖̎u̸̜͒l̴͓̮͚͋̈́̍̊t̸̜̟̎͜ḯ̷̝̟͂̏ḿ̴̻͍̒a̶̟̎t̵̲͊́͊̚e̴̱͙̠̟̊̚ ̴̢̥̪̪͊ŕ̷̨̗͕̜̑̂i̸̩̗̳̼̋̔͊d̶͙̲͓̯͘d̸̤̦̿͆̿̕l̷̗̯̆͐ḙ̷̢̘́ so to help John out I've looked up the top rated riddle on riddles.com, which is probably the ultimate one? But only look up the answer if you want big homestuck spoilers, because this answer reveals everything.

When Nanna floats through the wall, she leaves ectoplasm dripping down John's Con Air poster which is 1. exactly like a real ghost and 2. kind of rude, John loves that poster. But for sure this is going to tie into John's paranormal lore and ectoBiology. In fact there's a bucket right there for him to collect the slime and do experiments on.

Nanna is EXACTLY like dad. She bakes cookies instead of cakes, and maybe is into a different flavor of clown (perhaps she loves mimes?) but they share so much in common. It really positions John as the odd one out in the family for Not liking clowns and baked goods.

[salllzy]

Holiday in Hell #2

Sarah DeCoux was a petty, vindictive, workaholic although granted she never used to be a workaholic. She was also difficult to work with. She was wild and untamable, many had tried and many had failed. She prided herself on the level of standards that she had and she made sure that everyone who worked for her? Worked to the same standard. She was just as harsh on herself as she was on them, she was aware that mistakes could and would happen and she didn't punish people for making honest mistakes. She never would. Honest mistakes? Everyone made them. It was when it was malicious that she had a problem. So when her papa dragged her off on holiday and her network did nothing to stop him? She had decided to be a Petty Bitch, complete with capital letters. She had taken to sending photos, she had only been on holiday for a few days. She knew that it was petty, sending photos of herself on holiday with colourful drinks that had tiny umbrellas in them and wearing a wide-brimmed hat with sunglasses. Her papa was in the background as a static blur, her papa's shadow would hold up a drink in a mocking fashion. Was it petty? Immesnly. Did she care? No. Every hour, she posted a new photo. New positions, new drinks, but each time she would be with her papa as they posed. Not that she would be able to capture him in a photo, not unless he wanted her to. That didn't mean that she hadn't captured him on camera, she had, there was a full photo album dedicated to the pair of them.

But when she was doing something like this? Then he wouldn't allow himself to be captured. Not that she blamed him. She could only interfere with it on a small scale but in this case? She wasn't. She smiled as she sent off yet another photo, she sipped her drink and relaxed on the lounger. She glanced over at her papa and noticed that he was reading a book, not that she blamed him, the red of his hooves glinted in the sunlight. There was a glass of rye next to him and for the first time in months? He looked at peace. He looked unbothered. She wished that he could look like this more often, but the stress of running the hotel was not something that she could lift from his shoulders. But she could help to ease his burdens. She disliked those who lived at the hotel, they enjoyed his protection and yet? They spat on everything that he did. He was not a good man or demon, she knew that, she knew he had killed, he had tortured and he was a cannibal, people assumed that because he had manners that he was good. He wasn't and he never would be. She knew that, she accepted that. That didn't mean that he was completely evil. He wasn't. Her papa had always been a murky shade of grey that others didn't like, they would never like. But that was on them and he shouldn't need to try and fit into their stupid rules and standards. You can't force a triangle into a circle hole. But they were determined to do it, regardless of whether or not it was right to do so. They all thought that he wanted to be redeemed, that he wanted to go to Heaven. He didn't and he never would. She had no intention of looking for redemption and leaving Hell, she knew that she would never fit in with the angels, that neither of them would. So why should they bother? There was no point in trying of they were going to get shunned. Her papa had practised voodoo when he had been alive and he had taught her what he could. It wasn't something that he had picked up from any family member, the only family that they had? Was each other, so why did they think that he would abandon her?

It was entirely possible that they didn't know about her, she wouldn't be that shocked if it was the truth. Overprotective, worry-wort just a few words to describe her papa. Although not everyone would agree with her and truthfully? That was fine, she didn't need them to agree with her, she knew that truth and that was all that mattered.

[zahri-melitor]

One amusing aspect of my current Bat books read is because I have not been reading Super Sons alongside the rest of the comics (because I bounce off it quite easily and have to take it very slowly) and I also have not been reading Teen Titans, and those are the titles that Damian appears to have been spending most of his time hanging out in, Damian just sort of...occasionally shows up to say he's on the outs with Bruce, because ??? (presumably whatever is going on over in Teen Titans that is part of the push to make him go evil that is about to get sharply derailed by Didio getting fired).

But it's actually quite funny, because every time Damian does show up he's...working just fine with Bruce? Damian had a lot of feelings over the whole marriage with Selina and Dick getting shot in the head, and then he's his usual crotchety self with Tim's return from the dead, and then Bruce asks him to help investigate what's going on with Leviathan and Damian's like 'well obviously it's Leviathan and Talia's involved, I am here to help, Father, and fully suspect Jason of having gone off the rails and tried to take over Mother's pet project' (ahhhhh canon Damian and Jason interactions, you have absolutely nothing to do with random theories about Damian and Jason meeting in the League, which makes sense as your timelines mean that Damian was almost certainly off on training elsewhere while Talia was busy trying to work out the way to make Jason as annoying as possible, okay digression over). And then after that Damian again turns up for all the times Bruce calls in help over his fight against Bane and Flashpoint!Thomas Wayne, which I might add Jason is 100% not bothering to do (and since I am also not reading RHATO I have no idea of why Jason isn't bothering to show up. Presumably for Jason sucks-related reasons) and has to deal with Alfred getting executed in front of him and STILL handles his part in the plan with aplomb with all of the other Batfam who turn up (Tim, Duke, Babs and Helena, aka the other real mvps here).

And Tom Taylor just had a story in Detective Comics #1017 where Bruce took Damian with him to solve the problems of some runaways from the Martha Wayne Orphanage, which is obviously a matter of principle because Bruce didn't like to go visiting it when he was a kid with his mother, but since it has Martha's name on it he obviously feels strongly about it now, and so he invited Damian for some family bonding involving the next generation ALSO feeling awkward getting dragged off to visit an orphanage that has Martha's name on the building. And Damian emotes that he's feeling awkward around Bruce right now, but clearly tracking down these runaway and trafficked kids is obviously more important, and they get to bond over the runaway kid they tracked down together in the snow, and Tom Taylor, you live in Melbourne, I know you spent all of your time translating the Fahrenheit temperatures you put in this issue through google from Celsius to work out what temperature it should be. And also you live in Melbourne so your calibration of 'cold' and 'deadly cold' is set at Australian levels, which is why there is a raging snow storm starting on panel at (I just fed this through google myself to work out temps in a scale I understand) 0℃, which drops over a week to... -2℃, and then over the course of the NEXT week to -12℃, and while the first week of temps for this is "freezing clear morning in Melbourne", the second week is a whole TEN DEGREES COLDER, which is why Taylor's designated it as unsurvivable and this kid freezing to death from exposure. Which I cannot tell whether is realistic or not, because again, both Taylor and I live in Australia and not in the tiny couple of towns that experience regular temperatures that allow snow to settle, but I also fully know that TAYLOR would also be unsure on because if he has ever experienced -12℃ it was in the normal manner for Aussies to do that (a ski trip to Japan).

But the point of this entire digression is to point out that Damian's current difficulties with Bruce or fight or whatever is going on is ENTIRELY ABSENT from Batman or 'Tec and is purely inferred characterisation from Damian just not being around very often and when he appears going 'you've been brooding a lot and unpleasant to be around' to Bruce.

[eroguron0nsense]

Eustass Kidd in Modern AUs

I see this trend in fics where Kidd isn't part of a main ship depicting him as either a weird rival to one of the characters or a genuinely disgusting person, and don't get me wrong, I like rat bastard aggro asshole Kidd who's either genuinely unpleasant to be around or truly execrable as much as the next guy–I think it's true to his character in many ways–but I also have a soft spot for modern AU interpretations of Kidd just being Luffy or Law's kinda annoying buddy? Like very much their friend or at least someone they're okay with hanging out with even though they snipe at each other constantly, or just like, an annoying ex you can't help but argue with, rather than a truly shitty person. Egotistical and confrontational and definitely pushes some people away, but in a way that doesn't make it impossible to be his friend

I think it might just have something to do with me scaling down a character's negative traits in my own modern AUs just because their circumstances are less drastic, the stakes of living in a modern world are generally lower (unless it's like, a very action packed thriller or horror thing that's as drastic/requires a similar level of suspension of disbelief to the anime) so I tend to avoid things like having someone be genuinely murderous, and canon Kidd's tendency to annihilate everything in sight and kill people who upset him doesn't translate well to the comparatively low stakes of coffeeshops or college settings. Generally I scale a character's level of potential shittiness to match the world I construct for them, and it throws me sometimes when I'm reading a perfectly cute modern au and people keep certain really drastic plot elements (e.g. Kidd's extreme violence, Doffy killing Cora in front of Law, elements of certain other backstories etc) or interpret the character's evil in ways that feel less plausible in that context (e.g. making an antagonistic character a sexual predator or physically aggressive/dangerous person, especially in bashing fics). This is fine, but again, it can feel out of place if other plot elements aren't similarly drastic in scale or if it's just a minor part of the AU and we get back to regularly scheduled pining or wish fulfillment right after.

[katyspersonal]

Flora and Laurence GOT something in common...

Something a friend shared with me this morning made me think of an interesting possibility with Flora / Moon Presence, and parallel with what Laurence did? Here is what he sent to me:

Good gnostic moment! But it made me wonder if a similar interpretation could apply to Flora?

She is "insidious", and known as that for a good reason! She is rather beastlike herself, especially in the second stage of her battle. The cycle of hunt and pursuit for ascension are both two sides of the same cycle, and, indeed, name 'Paleblood Moon' applies: she 'becomes' red from consuming the blood! It doesn't matter if it is the bloodshed of the hunt, or it is giving away the free will in worship (the Kin associated with stars and moon have grey/yellowish blood, devoid of red cells). She governs the cycle that benefits her no matter which way it is approached, but...

Isn't it possible that she was the one leaving humanity (and maybe Pthumerians too) with enough resources to one day comprehend her evil and overcome it? Did not she leave people enough eldrich augurs and means to obtain enough Insight / Cords to, eventually, defeat her?

(Internal filenames here ( x ))

So what if whatever befell Flora that made her become more monstrous and beastly, made her attempt last ditch effort to leave the people means to see what happened and undo her if things go too far, before corruption completely engulfed her?

But this just reminds me of how Laurence has been acting. My favourite bit is that initial prayer of the Healing Church did not have the 'seek the old blood' bit that Emelia recites! You can hear it is missing if you compare a prayer read by the woman in the Nightmare cathedral (Research Hall one) and Emilia's!

The prayer certainly got extended later down in Healing Church's history! But also,

Laurence was aware of the risk of failing and becoming corrupted with blood - he knew what dangerous thing he was meddling with, and seems like he left the tools for future generation to undo the Clerics if he ever loses his wits, or if the whole institution grows corrupted for that matter. And, well, of course that happened...

I just find it rather deep that whereas Laurence was familiar with the Moon Presence (maybe that's why Ludwig was too) and could summon her, they also share fate despite large gap in the scale between Great One's and human's fate. I personally have a headcanon that upon first descent (or at least first in a long while) to communicate with mortals, Great Ones will be more prone to choose a person they feel is a kindred spirit, someone who "understands". What if Flora could subconsciously feel as though Laurence is like a little or a younger version of her, meddling with something dark and being doomed to get corrupted, but also being precautions enough to leave resources to comprehend his corruption? Both reckless fool and next level thinker, hahah.

(Sidetracking for a second. We can't know why Kos chose Rom specifically, but in continuation of this thought it could be a similar reason - maybe Rom just shared a similar 'spirit'. Both Sea and Lake are bodies of water guarding people from cosmic horrors they are not ready for, so what if both wished to not dump more than necessary on humans? Rom has many "children" and worshippers of Kos were assimilated into fish/snail people, so what if there was a similar mix of motherly attitude but also the craving of protection and admiration by many? Great Ones being more prone to those who "understand"!)

These are just my thoughts on the matter! ..spawned by a screenshot.

[talesmaniac89]

Charity Heist 1 - aka. The Pre-Coffee Preamble

A Supernatural Heist AU - Masterlist

Pairing: Hitter!Dean x Thief!Reader

Summary: The Singer & Winchester Retrieval Agency is the best group of con artists in the world. But even though Y/N can crack safes, scale buildings and infiltrate even the most secure locations, she still can't find a way to deal with her all consuming feelings for the group's greek god of a hitter; Dean Winchester. How will she handle their next big heist, when she's forced to get up close and personal with the man of her dreams?

Warnings: Idiots in love, smutty thoughts, a lot of swearing and a ton of bad jokes.

Watch the trailer here

A/N: This story is 50% jokes and 50% dirty thoughts. No deep angst, just fun and action! Inspired by the series Leverage.

Y/H/C = Your Hair Colour

Next

“Settle down idjits. We’ve got a new mark,” 

Bobby Singer’s voice was clear and all business over the speaker phone in the middle of the table as the rest of your little ragtag group sank into their seats in the War Room. The gruff voice of your leader easily stopping the early morning squabble for the best breakfast bagels that was a daily occurrence at the Winchester brothers’ hideout.  

The old abandoned Cold War bunker turned high-tech heaven was the collective home and base of operations for your little group of reformed criminals. Better yet, it was comfortably swanky and freaking massive too. Clearly the work of some paranoid 1950s millionaire fearing that someone would set their claws in his bank account in the midst of a possible nuclear war. 

Choosing to instead squander the millions away himself, if your fully kitted out home was anything to go by. As the ridiculously massive underground palace not only had enough bedrooms to house a damn village, but also a random assortment of rec rooms. Ranging from understandable for an apocalypse (a gun range and gym) to just straight up showboating, like the replica Cold War operation room you were currently sitting in. 

Hell, even after living there for years you were sure there were still rooms you’d yet to explore. 

Still, the bunker was your home and workplace, all rolled into one big ball of concrete, high tech gear and enough weapons to arm a militia. Though your job was a little less ‘The Office’, and a hell of a lot more ‘Ocean's Eleven’...

Just with better intentions, actual skills and a higher level of tech. 

In short, your little group was in the business of cons, heists and all things criminal. Though you were far removed from common criminals. No, your marks weren’t the average Joe down the road with too much money lining his pockets. You had your eyes set on bigger fish, or… 

Sharks. 

As a group made up of mainly former criminals and up-to-no-gooders, you all put your skills to good use. Taking on cases from normal folk and the more righteous side of rich who’d been scammed out of their hard-earned cash. Scamming the wannabe Don Corleone’s and other evil bastards who did it right back. Usually with the added benefit of emptying their bank accounts of all their ill-gotten gains. And, as Bobby kept speaking, this seemed to be just the kind of case that would end up adding zeros to your bank account.

You might be fighting the good fight, but that didn’t mean you had to do so for free. After all, what was the point of the swanky bunker life if you couldn’t live it in relative style and comfort?

“This is a good one, real money up for grabs. So, listen close...” He added once the room quieted down. 

As always, the retired military officer was the man with the plan and the guy who decided on your cases. And, as usual, he was locked away somewhere doing God knows what, communicating with you solely via phone. By now your image of Bobby Singer was more speaker than human, or possibly Charlie from Charlie’s Angels; though you weren’t exactly spies. Well…

Not all of you anyway.

Hell, you didn’t even know where he lived. There had  been mentions of your very own kingpin owning some impressive real estate tied to the US military's automotive research and development sector once. Though, if that was true, you wished he’d put some of those resources to good use making you a batmobile. 

You really wanted a batmobile. 

Still, batmobile or no, either way, Bobby was your mastermind. He handled your debriefs, found the connections, got you in the door and more often than not left the legwork to your less-than-family-friendly Scooby gang.

Not that you minded. You loved the action that came with being one of Singer’s little foot soldiers. You got to snatch up some shiny goodies, break into places others saw as impenetrable and, overall, just kick ass. All in the name of doing good. 

Though you’d probably never admit to it in fear of sounding sappy, deciding to work for the Singer & Winchester Retrieval Agency was the best career jump you’d ever made.

Grinning into your coffee at the thought of a big payday, you kept your eyes glued on the speaker in the middle of the fully kitted out breakfast littering the table. With a new case on the horizon, you didn’t even really need the extra shot of espresso in your usual morning double. 

Pent up adrenaline was already coursing through your veins prematurely and leaving you bouncing your leg under the large briefing table. If only to have some outlet for your energy until you could get past the necessary, but boring, planning part of the con and get a piece of the actual action. 

It’d been a quiet month, and damn it… You’d been going stir crazy waiting for another case.

You needed a chance to flex your muscles and ensure your skills were still sharp. There was only so much time you could spend training in the bunker’s gym before you needed real field training again. Your sticky little thieving fingers were itching for something to snatch. 

But first, you had to do the groundwork. No matter how much the little daredevil on your shoulder was ready to shoot first and ask questions later. 

Which meant you had to begrudgingly accept the manilla folder from Sam. Throwing him a small smile that grew wider as the tall man rolled his hazel eyes at you from the way you were nearly bouncing in your seat. The big guy was the youngest of the notorious Winchester brothers, who both topped more than one international most wanted list, and your intelligence guy. 

Information and data gathering were Sam's areas of expertise. Which was why he always helped Bobby with the planning and was the task leader on the ground when the big boss wasn’t there. Which was, honestly, most of the time. 

More than anything else though… Sammy loved his folders.

Every new con had at least one for each of you. Filled to the brim with everything you needed to know to make your next heist go off without a hitch. Yours even came with highlighted sections; color coded by importance and marking the sections you had to read. Since Sam knew you had the attention span of a toddler filled to the brim with sugar and high on a particularly strong strain of mischief. 

Though, truthfully, you did read the info in his precious folders. Every single word. After the briefings. But you’d never tell him. Even under the threat of torture.

Because, even though you loved it when you actually got to stretch your muscles and test your skills, there was no question you’d be dead and buried if it wasn’t for Sam Winchester. His thorough plans and backup scenarios kept your group alive and made you one of the most dangerous con agencies in the world. Hell, before you’d met Sam, your shoot first ask questions later attitude to your own thefts had nearly gotten you killed time and time again. 

Better yet, you were also less likely to be locked behind bars with him on your side.

Having graduated top of his class from Stanford Law, he was more than qualified to keep your not-exactly-legal little group out of trouble. Putting his skills and knowledge to good use; he kept  your plans airtight and made you impenetrable to any possible retribution. Legal or otherwise. 

Judges hated him, lawyers wanted to be him and criminals wanted to hire him. But he was all yours, and by that you meant your group’s. You yourself just saw the big lug of a man as a little brother. One with a massive collection of hair products, flannels and most importantly; one you just absolutely adored annoying. 

Which was why you’d take the fact that you appreciated his folder obsession to your grave.

---

“These guys are real monsters,” 

Bobby’s voice booming over the speaker system shook you out of thoughts as you quickly skimmed the pages detailing the target of your next heist. Grimacing down at the pictures of angry looking men that filled each and every page. All looking as if they’d been typecast for some typical mobster movie; fully equipped with glaring eyes, designer suits and not-so-pleasant dispositions. 

This group seemed to be European, and industrious in their crimes based on what you’d skimmed through so far and what Bobby was saying over the phone. Focusing on white collar cons, scams, money laundering, blackmail and whatever else could net them the biggest profit. 

Which in turn equaled big money for you. Score.

You liked big money. 

It was why you’d decided to become a thief in the first place. Or at least it was why you’d stayed in the business once you ‘broke out on your own’ as you chose to think of it. 

In reality, you’d never really had a choice in the matter, having been forced into a life of crime since childhood. Kidnapped before you were even old enough to remember your parents by a group of men and women in suits who looked suspiciously similar to the ones in the manila folder. Coerced into stealing to stay alive ever since you were old enough to swipe your first piece of candy. And by candy you meant the wallets and documents your adoptive ‘family’ asked you to swipe.

Once you managed to shake them off however, you’d stayed in it for the money. Since your lack of any formal education, or hell, an actual social security number or otherwise registered identity, made it hard for you to walk the straight and narrow. Then, since partnering up with the Winchesters, there was of course also the added benefit of getting most of that cash back to the folks they’d taken it from.

Just like the real-life vigilantes you were. Minus the capes, masks, and superhero names.

Dealing out your own special type of justice to the scumbags that operated just outside the grasp of what the judicial system was capable of tackling by handling the cases that somehow bypassed punishment. Either due to the bad guys having more lawyers, taller stacks of money or the right politicians in their pockets. 

On quieter days, you’d occasionally also steal from bad guys just to, well... Steal from bad guys. Take down a ring of pervs, cause a bit of financial ruin for a mobster or maybe just make life a little bit harder for a dirty politician. ‘Cause the days, and sometimes weeks, between jobs could get boring. 

Not to mention the fact that you were one of those weirdos that loved your job, and annoying baddies just made you all… 

Tingly.

You got to go scaling buildings, play around with high tech toys, trick the best security systems in the world and totally outshine Catwoman. Which wasn’t all that hard really. You were a hell of a lot better at your job than the feline comic book character. Even without the catsuit.

For the first time in your literal life of crime, you were happy. You were doing good. 

Though, as with every vigilante, the authorities most likely wouldn’t agree with you. However, what they thought didn’t really matter in your book... Your little agency of the best fighters, specialists and con men in the world were just too fucking awesome to ever get caught. 

As Bobby would say (sometimes repeatedly while you rolled your eyes at the speaker phone); in your business, confidence was everything. It was literally in the job title. You were confidence men (and women thank-you-very-much), or con men for short. 

You could walk into FBI headquarters, knock on the head honcho's door and easily gain control of the task force out to catch you if you wanted to. It was simply a matter of pushing the right buttons, putting pressure on the right paycheck and threatening the biggest, baddest guy there. 

Actually, rumors in the bunker suggested that Bobby already had the InterPol taskforce out to catch you in his back pocket. And you knew, with 100% certainty, that you’d helped out the Brits by acing your latest case up in New York. So, the MI5 kinda owed you… Big time.

This case, however, was definitely you doing good. And you doubted any government agency out there would stand in your way of taking down this particular group.

These greaseballs were digging their filthy paws into pockets they had no business being in. They’d set up a pretty basic charity scam; tricking money out of the pockets of good samaritans only to line their own and fund their criminal activities. All while actually being the monsters behind the problem they were raising money for. 

After creating the new highly addictive drug plaguing the streets of small-town America, they started the charity “combatting” the very addiction they caused. Raking in the cash from both sides.

It probably also doubled as a money laundering scam if you knew their type. And you did… Intimately. Their type had beaten everything you knew about infiltration and retrieval into you for years. 

Frowning at the words printed on the white paper, you pushed away thoughts of a ruined childhood that you’d rather not linger on just as your hacker and the beautiful brain behind most of your high-tech toys gasped across the table. Dragging you out of your own skim reading and rambling mess of a pre-caffeinated brain with her indignant grumble. 

“Kids? Really? Those soulless bastards are actually targeting teens and kids with that drug?”

Your best friend, Charlie, was the first to speak up past Bobby’s briefing. The words laced with disgust and seasoned with a frown as she devoured the information. Your brainiac best friend was, as always, one step ahead of Bobby’s own slower briefing across the speaker and nearly a full page in front of everyone else due to her speed reading.

The girl was a genius. A kinda scared and slightly neurotic genius, but a genius all the same. And you adored her.  

“They’re mafia… I don’t think they’re too worried about the morality of their scam,” Dean, the older of the two Winchester brothers, shot in. 

Though he was considered your ‘muscle’ and the group’s hitter, Dean Winchester was so much more. The trained mercenary, weapons specialist, mechanical engineer, and possibly also the sexiest man alive, was your group’s proverbial jack of all trades. Though he didn’t know you added that final item to his long list of qualifications in your mind. 

You were an expert at infiltration and retrieval, not an idiot. 

But damn it, that man should be illegal. And not only due to the little fact that he topped more than one most wanted list for his days as a mercenary, his qualifications, and his deadly skills. He was also hot as hell, and you might just maybe have the tiniest of crushes on him. 

Alright… So, the 50% of your brain that wasn’t occupied with thinking of your next con, was fully dedicated to thoughts of the sinfully sexy man. Both the innocent daydreams and the very, very dirty thoughts you indulged in behind closed doors. 

Whenever he was around, you were pretty much mentally tongue-tied like some pre-teen in a coming-of-age B-movie. Minus the bad prom plot, awkward jokes and high school stereotype ensemble cast. 

It wasn’t like you hadn’t been in relationships before, even if they’d mainly been covers for some persona you were playing… But, damn it, none of those men came even close to Dean Winchester.

And as luck would have it, he always sat in the seat right next to yours around the war room table. Which often made it damned near impossible for you to focus on the briefings and debriefings which were kinda integral to your safety and pocketing some not-so-hard-earned cash. 

Hence the need for highlighters, in different colors to boot, and a second read through in the safety of your own room. Far from the reach of his absolutely sinfully delicious arms. 

But heck, how were you supposed to focus on entry strategies when your eyes were constantly drawn to his perfectly proportioned and expertly trained body? 

It was impossible and also very, very mean to ask you to even try.

Especially when it came to those strong arms that you’d spent more than one night in your room dreaming about having wrapped around you. Caging you in his embrace and crushing your heated body against his; hard and soft in all the right places. God, what you wouldn’t give to have those big, calloused hands that were busy leafing through the case details work their magic across your body. Shaping you against him with a hand sliding up your spine or making you his good little girl with a hand wrapped around strands of (Y/H/C) hair… Or...

“Also means this is gonna be dangerous Bobby, these guys don’t mess around,” Dean’s follow up snapped you back out of your own dirty mind as you caught the briefest flash of forest green eyes looking your way. 

Your eyes barely caught his before you forced yourself to look back down at the papers in your own hands. Refocusing on a section that Sam had highlighted in yellow, underlined and circled. Yellow was good, it was bright and definitely not penetrating forest green.

Down girl….

“Neither do you son,” Bobby shot back over the speaker system. 

The heartfelt nickname still felt strange to your ears even though you should’ve already gotten used to it. Bobby raised the Winchester brothers; they were practically family. The rest of you had joined the group later, all scouted by either Bobby or the boys during particularly hard cases or through friends of friends. 

You’d joined two years ago. When they’d needed your particular skill set for a case. And, after nearly having ruined another case of theirs and them saving your life during one of yours, you’d kinda owed them one. The repayment had been a favor for one of Bobby’s friends; stealing back a family heirloom belonging to an older woman from a stereotypical dirty businessman. 

It was almost too easy. A simple pressure-based security system, that you’d completely bypassed by scaling the side of the building and descending in from the ceiling. The nice old lady had even baked you cookies when you went to drop the shiny rock off on behalf of the group. 

They were damn good cookies too. Chocolate chip, none of that raisin bullshit.

Sure, you knew Sam had somehow been behind it all. Talking the nice old lady into baking, in some sugary attempt to bribe you into joining the crew. Since your intelligence expert had put his skills to good use and somehow found out about your one weakness: baked goods. But still, it was the nicest theft you’d ever been part of, so you’d decided to stick around. Not because of cookies or owed favors, but simply because you wanted to use your powers for good instead of evil for once. 

“Mobsters usually also have some pretty good security, but nothing my toys shouldn’t be able to crack. So, if you crack their skulls, you can leave their passwords to me,” Charlie mused, smiling over at where Dean was looking ready to prove himself worthy of his foster father’s words of praise. 

She wasn’t lying either. Even without knowing their full layout, you knew her toys could crack any security system. 

You’d brought Charlie in after about a year with the team. Tagging her in when Sammy had been unable to hack a particularly secure government database over in Iceland. With a promise of getting her a specific limited-edition action figure she’d been eyeing if she helped you out. 

The girl was like an artist with a keyboard and a good WiFi connection. She’d been white-hatting it for most of her life. Though you knew she’d hacked a good few government databases, just to prove she could, even before she took the dive and became your literal partner in crime. Past her skills with a keyboard, she was also your first real friend, and you loved her like a sister. 

She wasn’t really cut out for a life of crime though, considering her skittish personality. So, for most of your decade-long friendship, you’d always kept her out of your more illicit schemes. But what Singer & Winchester Agency was doing... That was right up her alley. What with her massive love for anything vigilante. Especially if it came with capes, superhero costumes and secret identities. All the things you’d rather do without. 

In many ways she was your opposite; the angel on your shoulder where you were the daredevil on hers.

She’d readily decided to help you. Always willing to help a friend in need, especially if it came with the added bonus of mint condition collector items. Even if said promise included speaking to people she didn’t know. 

Which was possibly her least favorite thing in the world to do, other than public speaking to crowds larger than three. Especially when said strangers were, like you, some of the most wanted criminals this side (and likely on the other side too to be honest) of the Atlantic.

Once she’d seen the tech the boys had set up in the bunker however, she’d been sold. Enough to tell you to keep your bonus bribe. Especially since Dean was always there, ready to help her build whatever crazy gadget she dreamed up. As always, your nefarious group of con men always knew which goodies to use to lure someone into joining the agency. With you it had been home baked goodies, and with Charlie it was a literal tech lair. 

That… And the figurine had still made its way to her as an early birthday gift just a month later anyway.

And so, your group had gotten a little bigger. All of you being glorified criminals with hearts of gold had of course made for a weird group dynamic. Yet, you somehow made it work. Even when the newest member of your group joined not all that long ago.

“They’re quite the mixed group. Swedish, French and… Russian huh… My Russian might be a bit rusty, but if I brush up on it I should be able to pull it off,” Your latest recruit, Castiel, shot in as he looked at the papers with his usual tell-tale frown of concentration. 

The guy was more or less still a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a trench coat to you. Though you were pretty sure his name was fake. 

Castiel, or Cas for short, was your grifter. The man with the face of an angel, who could trick basically anyone into trusting him unconditionally. 

So of course, though you liked the fella, you didn’t really trust him. Especially not since he’d dropped in from out of nowhere only a few months earlier. Pulling your collective asses out of a hellish case at the last minute and helping you put a crime lord behind bars.

He’d apparently worked for the big guy before… As in, working for the president in some manner. Secret Service, CIA, FBI, or one of those, if not all of ‘em. But since he quit and now worked in the law’s gray area, he was considered a threat.  At least that’s what he’d told you and what Charlie had managed to confirm through some very secret databases. Even if 80% of the documents were redacted.

He was nice however. And you’d grown close to him over the last few months since he was normally your partner on heists. Or, mainly, you’d taken a shine to watching Charlie get more and more frustrated as he shrugged off her pop culture references, not understanding any of them. 

Apparently, working for the president left little time to Netflix and Chill, since half of your best friend’s references went straight over the grifter’s head. If you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought he’s spent the better part of his life somewhere off-world on a spaceship. 

Actually…. You didn’t know better. Considering his language skills, the man was nearly otherworldly. Easily emulating any character perfectly once he had his role to play.

---

That was your team.

Bobby, the big boss. Sam for intel & planning. Dean for combat and security. Charlie for anything tech and hacking. Castiel if you needed someone’s pants charmed off. And you; the reformed thief turned infiltration specialist, with sticky fingers that could easily retrieve whatever the baddies of the week had stolen.

Even if you might not know everything about each other. They were your friends and your only family in this messed up world that was filled to the brim with mobsters and other monsters. Each one worse than the one before, and every single one of them so much worse than what hid under people’s beds at night. Because your monsters were very much real. And very much out to kill you. 

All in all, you were a ragtag group of master criminals turned modern day Robin Hoods. Stealing from the criminal underbelly of the great US of A, and giving to the… Well, most of your clients were wealthy enough to hire you. And some might even have their own skeletons hiding among the designer shoes and dresses in their closets. But they were all law-abiding citizens who didn’t deserve the hand life dealt them. The rest was just semantics.

Plus, the boys always insisted that a cut of your earnings went to some charity or other. Normally some organization that stood in juxtaposition to the bad guys you’d just taken down. Just to pour an extra ounce of salt into the wounds of the bastards.

“So, if you’re all done adding your little color commentary and reading the briefs, let’s move on,” Bobby’s gruff voice sounded slightly exasperated across the speaker. 

Which honestly wasn’t anything new. 

It was hard enough to get one of you to listen; all of you at the same time was a freaking miracle. Unless you were out on a job that was, then you were a well-oiled con-machine.  

None of you spoke up, simply nodding at the phone, though you knew your boss couldn’t see you. At least you were around 75% certain he couldn’t. Though you wouldn’t have put it past him to equip your hideout with some hidden cameras. Either way, he was sure to interpret the silence for compliance. 

“Good. The plan is to steal back the money, get the drive where they keep all their sales records and personnel files and preferably also financially cripple their organization just enough to stop them from trying anything like this scam again. Cherry on top would be to put the Al Capone wannabe running the whole show behind bars,” He summed up over the slight crackle of the speakerphone. 

All in all it was pretty simple, as far as plans went. You wouldn’t have to break into any top-secret government facilities this time around at least.

“So, what’s the next step, boss?” You asked, grinning at the rest of the group in anticipation of the next heist. Letting the folder drop unceremoniously down onto the big mahogany table, you kept your eyes on the speaker. Though you knew it would annoy Sam to see you treat his little manila baby so poorly.

“First… We bring in the bad guns,” Bobby said, causing Dean to groan. The rest of your party joining in like an exasperated chorus only a split second later. 

That nickname could only mean one man… Sure, you all had your own backgrounds in the not-so-law-abiding, but that guy easily made each and every one of you look like perfect little angels. 

“Crowley… Really?” Sam asked with a tired sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Confirming what you’d rather have him deny just as the groans died down.  

Big bad was coming to play. 

Fan-fucking-tastic… 

---

Next

Charity Heist: @foxyjwls007 @seppys-return-to-madness @stoneyggirl2 @ladysparkles78 @twinkleinadiamondsky @tmb510 

Dean Winchester Tags: @ria132love @woodworthti666 @defenderrosetyler @akshi8278 @justanotherwinchester @lyarr24 @torn-and-frayed @all-will-be-well-love @wearesuchstuff1 @thefridgeismybestie @adoptdontshoppets @starsandmidnightblue @screechingartisancashbailiff @septixtrash @punof-agun  @deandreamernp @justagirlinafandomworld @sexyvixen7 @justrealizedimmascifygurl @globetrotter28 @siospins2 @iprobablyshipit91 @mrsjenniferwinchester @leigh70

Forever tags will be added as reblog. Crossed through names can not be tagged.

[cattatonically]

Moonstruck - Onley James (Necessary Evils, book 3)

Synopsis

Atticus Mulvaney is the eldest son of eccentric billionaire, Thomas Mulvaney—a role he takes very seriously. Atticus takes everything seriously. Like his brothers, Atticus is a psychopath, raised to right the wrongs of a broken justice system. Unlike his brothers, he’s not very good at it.

Jericho Navarro is no psychopath, but he is a vicious killer. Like Atticus, he also has a secret life. To most, he’s just a mechanic. But to a ragtag group of social misfits, he’s Peter Pan, teaching them to eliminate those who prey on the weak with extreme prejudice.

When Atticus and Jericho come face to face over a shared enemy, their accidental meeting ends in an explosively hot hookup neither can forget. But they have nothing in common. Atticus is a buttoned-up closeted scientist and Jericho is a man on a mission, determined to find and punish those responsible for the death of his sister. Still, Jericho can’t stay away. And, truthfully, Atticus doesn’t want him to.

As Jericho’s mission begins to bleed into Atticus’s life, two separate but equally brutal families will need to learn how to fight together to take out a common enemy. But no amount of brute force can show Jericho how to scale the walls of a psychopath’s heart. Can Jericho convince Atticus that, sometimes, the couple who kills together stays together?

Moonstruck is a high heat, intense psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a fumbling, sexually confused maniac and the dominating, unapologetic gang leader who can’t stop tormenting him. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, more killers than you can count, and enough explosive chemistry to level a city block. This is book three in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.

My Thoughts

As the oldest Mulvaney son, there has been a lot of pressure on Atticus to excel; to be the best. But Atticus isn’t quite like his brothers. He doesn’t enjoy the thrill of the kill. But lucky for him, Jericho does.

Jericho is his own brand of vigilante justice. Mechanic by day, merciless killer by night. Along with his brother Felix, they have their own crew of vigilantes who go after those who get away with atrocities. So when Atticus and Jericho meet unconventionally, it’s only natural that they’re drawn to each other.

Atticus fascinates me. He’s not at all like Adam or August, from the previous books. While he is also a psychopath, he’d much rather use his laser-focus on other ventures – usually involving his lab, research, and grant applications. So when his attention is wrapped up in the mystery behind Jericho’s sister’s disappearance and death, he does what he can – work behind the scenes to get answers.

But Jericho isn’t a man who needs to be taken care of or protected. He can do that for himself. Instead, Jericho needs someone he can take care of, and that someone is Atticus. Slowly, but surely, Atticus trusts Jericho with the parts of himself he’s hidden away – some of those softer parts he hides from his family. And it works well, because Atticus and Jericho communicate, every step of the way.

As the Mulvaney’s team up with Jericho and his crew to unravel the horrific truth behind Jericho’s sister’s death, it’s pretty clear that this is going to continue into the next books in the series. As the cast of characters continues to grow, so to do all the connections, and potential for shenanigans.

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

[claggorstuff]

Claggor with a reader who is super good at parkour! Like reader can easily hop from building to building and can climb like crazy. reader can be fem! or gn! Irdc. :) thx!! <3 (also would you mind if I send more than one request? It's only 1 or 2 more that I have an idea for)

Yeswaplease request all u want omgomgomg

Claggor x parkour master fem s/o

As Me and Claggor sat on the roof of the last drop, I smiled and watched him stare down at the lights of the undercity, "hungry?" I questioned, he sighed "a lil.." and scratched the back of his neck, where his beautiful brown locks ended, I stood up, "Well, why dont we go get something to eat? I know just the place!" He looked at me and shrugged "affordable?" "Duh." I giggled and held my hand out, he took it and stood a little wobbly, I smirked. "Keep up!" I ran and jumped off the roof of the building, he gasped and ran to the ledge and looked down at me as I scaled the apartments nearby and hopped around the vendors, he tried his best to follow but ended up running after me on the ground, I laughed and jumped building to window to balcony to roof, he needed to take a break to sit, as I hopped down to him crossing my arms he huffed "Warning?" I smirked "I'll give vanders eldest son a warning to follow me on a quick route around the UNDERCITY of all places when it crumbles to the ground." I blabbed, he sighed and shook his head "pure evil woman, pure evil.." as I waited for him to catch his breathe I admired his features shining in the dim light of the brothels open door, people walked in and out, in and out, seemingly bored. I suppose thats why anyone goes there, I turned to stare at the stained glass and when I noticed claggor had caught his breath I began climbing. The brothel. He yelped and followed as quick as he could, "wait up-!" He hollered, I laughed loudly "Nahh!" I began to scale faster and stood at the top of the structures slanted roofs, sliding down to the next, much smaller building, he growled and began to try and catch me, jumping at me as if he were an animal and I, the prey, I began to squeal in excitement, now that this had become a game, I was able to show my full skill level, and, well, naturally as my boyfriend, he was quite excited to play this game. I jumped and swung, and he did the same, naturally raised with vi mylo and powder he'd learnt all these undercity skills, but not to my level, I was a trained acrobatic, and he was just a simple boy. But he really loved watching me go.. adleast, thats what hes always said and, what reason would such a beautiful boy have to lie.. I love him so much, so at last we had gotten to the place, but now he was quite out of breathe and so.. of course, we sat for a bit, I was too, but Im quite too happy Id beat him to admit it, as I sat and looked around I'd just realized. This is a game. And sitting here, I could be c- "GOTCHA!" he wrapped his arms around me swiftly as I squealed, he chuckled and kissed me all around "You're such a show-off babe. I love it." He smirked, I stared into his eyes and tilted my head "...stop bein pretty. Ya big oaf." "Dont blame me babe." He chuckled and after we'd caught our breaths, we got some food, a long night followed which included.. well.. vander. Being not so happy we left without telling him, and well. The little jump around left a bit of a mess around, so, not so different. At the end of such a long day. I was after a while of begging vander allowed to sleep next to claggor, he held me ever so close and softly. And as i drifted off he chuckled "Love my acrobatic girlfriend.."

SORRY IF ITS SHORT 🔥🔥🔥

[bornitereads]

The Unifying Force - James Luceno

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order book 19

Reread: Jan 2024

The finale!! Luceno really popped off with this book wow. So much action. The big battles were sometimes so confusing because there was a lot going on but it all came together at the end. It starts with the scales tipping in favour of the bad guys, like really badly, but the living planet really saves their asses. Nothing like religious turmoil to ruin what should have been a victorious battle. The good guys rally and bring the fight to the Coruscant system, where Zonama Sekot has made its glorious apperance. Troops are landed on Coruscant to retake it, including the Skywalkers and the Solo twins. The way Luke goes into a Force trance and just murders his way to the Yuuzhan Vong throne room is wild. Same goes for Jacen who becomes a conduit for so much pure Force energy that he ages five years in minutes. But he also just fucks up the power behind the throne guy so hard that way. Lots of weird Force things here to go through which I enjoyed.

And let's not forget the Galactic Alliance deploying biological weapons against the Yuuzhan Vong. Some of the government wanted to genocide their way out of the war. Sadly this turned into a weapon against the good guys when the Yuuzhan Vong realized that Zonama Sekot's life was genetically similar and thus susceptible to the agent. Luckily it didn't all end in tragedy.

The war is won and Zonama Sekot reveals that it's the child of the real Yuuzhan'tar (not Coruscant, but the actual homeworld of the Yuuzhan Vong) and it claims it's wayward children? Siblings? Anyways, it wants to rehabilitate the Yuuzhan Vong and reconnect them to the Force, since Yuuzhan'tar cut them off from it when it exiled them for being evil.

It was a fitting end to the series. Tragic on lots of levels. But our heroes overcame many, many hardships to get to the end and most came out stronger. And Leia realizing she needed to formally finish her Jedi training, but that's in the next book(s) I just like it a lot haha. I think many people were hoping for a more crushing victory against the Yuuzhan Vong, but I think this way made more sense. And involved a lot less slaughter. Three cheers for the Galactic Alliance! Now to pick up the pieces.

Info: Del Rey; 2003

[burningtacozombie]

I need to vent

for the most part I like exploring new fandoms, meeting new people with the same interests, and just have a fun time. but every fandom has that one faction. that one group of people you mention to others and everyone instantly starts rolling their eyes. that group of people who, for whatever reason, seems to have completely lost touch with reality. they are happy among themselves but no one in the larger scale of the fandom as a whole wants anything to do with them, and for good reason. and here is what I have witnessed the last 3 days, the reason I need to vent before I pick up boxing gloves and buy a plane ticket:

it started when Dan went on The Voice Ukraine as a coach in 2019. the producers of the show thought it would be good for ratings if he and Tina, the only woman among the coaches in his first season, played it like they were a couple. or more like, becoming one over the course of that season. they didn't have much of a choice in the matter so they did, and well… the producer was right, it was good for ratings. people started shipping them, worshipping them actually, as if the two as a couple are some godlike deity. they've been doing it ever since.

and while Dan and Tina did become close friends, having to deal with the utter madness of it all together, he explicitly explained that it was the producer's idea in the first place. over the course of two seasons they did two duets together, interviews and a bunch of performances and they, still today, talk about how close they are BUT they never confirmed an actual relationship. for all we know, they've never been together to begin with. but these worshippers don't want to hear it. these "fans" act like a straight up cult, celebrating the "couple's birthday" with cake and parties, at separate concerts they give Dan and Tina gifts that they want them to pass on to each other, they write fanfics about them (I'm sorry, fanfics about real people generally creep me out) and create fake images and videos with AI of the two with babies and whatnot. and anyone who says anything against the couple is evil. I'm serious, it's a cult at this point. there are literally hundreds of accounts on social media with AI pictures like this: and that's a harmless one…

cut to the Christmas concert: his pr manager brought a female plus one to the show who's an influencer on social media or something. that woman happened to be sitting next to Dan on the couch in his dressing room after the show, in a video he posted himself. his band, his mom, his also female pr manager, his opening acts were all there too but for whatever reason, 3 days ago people found her personal account on instagram and started insulting her for sitting next to him!!! these people started assuming he's in a relationship with this woman out of fucking nowhere and now they're dragging all three of them. her for breaking up a couple that for all we know never even existed, Tina for "letting it happen" and Dan for "allowing himself to do that". they're taking it personal as if someone killed their dog, they're so fucking offended… and all of that because SOME WOMAN SAT NEXT TO HIM!!

worshippers within this cult are sending messages to "regular" fans to get them to discuss the situation, they are literally mourning the death of the couple and the wording in this one screenshot alone has me at a loss for words. like… oh my god the man sat next to a woman who is not Tina, the audacity! (translation isn't perfect but it gets the point across)

they also demand all three of them make a statement because the fans deserve to know what's going on! with the exception of clarifying the show producer's ratings idea, Dan NEVER ONCE made any statement about his current love life, not 20 years ago, not anywhere in between. I'm not even getting into how incredibly invasive it has been for him and Tina and their private lives all these years but the insanity has reached a whole new level over the last few days and it is fucking infuriating.

these people are so obsessed in a straight up disturbing way, I'm not joking when I say they're insane. and I feel so horrible for Dan and Tina and this random woman who just happened to be there. none of them deserve any of that bullshit, recent or otherwise.

there is so much more to say but this rant did exactly what it was supposed to, I'm calming down. for the moment anyway.

[eighteenoheight]

The vague stories of Mia Winters

Thought I’d go for a punchy title for this here tirade. Because much like any conversations Ethan tried to have with her, Mia as a character is all half-answered questions.

I’ve seen a lot of fans of the Resident Evil series really dislike Mia. For being a bio-terrorist, what her lies and deceit did to Ethan, never giving a straight answer. There’s so much drama surrounding her but we still haven’t gotten much of an explanation. Shadows of Rose concluded the Winters’ story for now, yet as is now common for Mia, I have a lot of questions. I haven’t been given enough information or backstory to know exactly or even partially what Mia’s deal is. Where does she fall on the morality scale?

The Connections are a gross organisation that, despite being a huge player in the last two games, has been flying under the radar this entire time. As someone working for these bitches, Mia would have absolutely spilled the beans on every last detail to the BSAA, otherwise there’s no way she would have gone unpunished to live in “safety” with Ethan. She clearly knew way more than we do at this point in the series for whatever reasons. Maybe we will find this out at some point, but as it stands now where is the truth?

Another part of why it’s hard to get a read on Mia’s character is we still don’t know what her motivations were, or her level of involvement in The Connections and the creation of Eveline. Did she know Evie’s true purpose? It’s a slightly rhetorical question because she most likely did but Mia girl, you’ve had enough time to tell us what’s going on. Stop keeping secrets ffs. And as for the BSAA keeping quiet about her involvement, she must have given a LOT of details in order for them to not only give her a free pass for bio-terrorism, but also keep Ethan in the dark about how much she truly knew about what was going on. She was a risk to his life, and ultimately paid that price in the end. And because they never let him know, his blood is on their hands. And I want to know for sure, did the BSAA relocate the Winters’ because the connections were after them because they got infected and experienced all that, or because Mia worked for them and needed to be dealt with? Will we ever know the truth? And if my theory is correct that the BSAA were using them as bait for The Connections, would this be revealed in the next game and how would Mia react to this after it cost Ethan his life? Sure she has her responsibility in what happened but, again, the BSAA played a huge role.

Despite the Winters’ story allegedly being over, I can’t see how this era of the story is going to continue without Mia. She has to be around in some form, likely through files or recordings. She’s the only link to the illusive company that we know of so there has to be more to her story than what we’ve been given. Because fans are still stuck on whether she’s a villain, a hero, an anti-hero, whatever she is, answers need to be given, otherwise we’ll be stuck wondering forever.

Also big shoutout to Katie O’Hagan because her voice acting was phenomenal and I don’t think she gets enough credit because Mia’s character is so confuddling.

Did I repeat myself in numerous places because I put this dissertation away a few times and add bits when they popped into my head? Probably most likely. We’ll just say I’m trying to heavily emphasise what I’m talking about even though we both know it’s because I don’t read what I write out and forget. I like doing these kind of word vomming essays on an interest because while writing this out I had another big thought. Very excited.