#cleaning the grave

[m-blackwell-and-associates]

Following Up pt 2

Nicky’s people had cleaned the grave well enough, now that the original mission, both true and false, was over.  Nicky had the manners to police his own.  Now it was left to her to gather what dust had fallen out of her cousin’s reach and how she could make it pay.  It would be more satisfying to have someone else pay the costs now resting in her ledger.  

“Any reason you chose…”  Angelina turned back a page to see the list of operatives that Nicky had sent. “Diana Rosselini, alias Anna Betancourt?”  

“I felt she was the best of the four.”

“What made her stand out?”  At first glance, all four seemed to be of similar quality.  Military training of one flavor or another.  Specific skills earned in vague unnamed places.  Confirmed kill lists.  All from distant branches of breeder families, probably only accidentally aware of the family business, if aware of it at all.  No one with any strong ties to any Kindred family that she could recall at this moment.  Perfect operatives for those hopefuls with nothing left to lose and willing to work for a family pariah.

Family pariahs.  

Angelina frowned slightly, perturbed at the unnecessary self-reminder, tucking that thought away for later contemplation.  Now was not the time for meditating on old injustices. 

“I feel that a Rosselini was more suitable,” Pietro gave an easy shrug, as if such an important choice was merely an afterthought.  Normally a temperate guide, she found his lack of care or worry to be irritating this evening. 

“More suitable than what, Pietro?  Do not dissemble.”

He capitulated immediately.  “The Rosselini was the only choice, donna.  I wouldn’t dare Proxy Jara without approval of the Pisnob.  I didn’t feel that you’d want the della Passaglia here, all things considered, so Durant was also not an option.”

“Your consideration of my feelings is commendable, but if he was the better candidate, I would have accepted him.  Chances are he wasn’t involved with the…current politics.”  Angelina clicked her teeth shut on the words, biting them where she couldn’t bite those that had risen against her.

Again that nonchalant shrug and easy grin, tacitly ignoring the tempest she held under thin glass  “I would not risk it and besides, the Rosselini was equally qualified and the fourth did not survive the mission.”

“Karl Koeing, alias of Gerhart Auer,” Angelina mused, putting the papers back in order and finding the small work of neatness to be soothing.  There would be very little this evening that would be considered soothing.  “Nicky removed him from the operation himself?”

“Compromised,” Pietro agreed.  “At least that was what my Rosselini has told me, though I find it all a little extreme.  The Butcher didn’t like the fact he was passing information.  I understand his reasoning, but it wasn’t as if the Koeing was speaking out of house.”

A flash of annoyance cut through her precarious calm, jaw tightening against what she wished to say.  Vincenzo. They had been contemporaries once, equal in status as one of the North American padroni.  Their cousin’s unexpected murder had given him the job and she found the timing of it suspect, as well as Vincenzo’s lack of proper familial mourning.   “And Ms. Rosselini was the one that made sure the grave was clean?”

[reineydraws]

jason is a grandpa's boy and u cant take this away from me!!! they cook together, they discuss literature together, and when jay comes back, they clean their guns together haha. ofc they celebrate their birthday together too! 😌

✨️🎂 hbd jay & alfie 🎂✨️

[cod-dump]

Nik: Would you date Graves?

Price: I’d only date him so I could steal his money and leave him ruined

Nik: I’d date him to just ruin him

Price: God, Nik-

(Later)

Price: Nik…

Nik: Hmm?

Price: I think I just want to ruin him now

Nik: Oh? What changed?

Price, who had just watched Graves dance around in shorts while washing a tank with a bunch of Shadows: I just… thought about it

[hydrossity-zone]

[5/19/2024]

[nekucreates]

Finally caught Giratina on my replay of this game! I've only played Pokemon Platinum once as a kid, as I never reset my game, so it's been great having the chance to replay with my second copy!

[s0fter-sin]

punk!soap metalhead!ghost brain blast!!!

ghost trying so hard to get soap out of the bad parts of the scene bc he's starting to get pulled in by the shadows, a group of wannabe anarchists that stand for nothing except themselves, but soap loses his shit; laying into ghost for daring to try and "save" him

no one's ever been there for him when he needed them; no one ever offered him support or a soft place to land, why the hell would he want ghost's help when he's perfectly fine on his own? (when he’s always had to be?)

"you think i can't make my own decisions? well fuck you, ghost, who needs a washed up piece o’ shite like you!"

he doesn’t talk to ghost for days, doesn’t let himself acknowledge the hole he’s left behind until he's getting pissed with the shadows one night in an abandoned house and graves starts waving around the gun he snuck through customs and it accidentally goes off, grazing soap's temple

he's never heard anything so loud, even at all the shows he’s attended and there’s so much blood; it's getting in his eyes, running down his neck and soaking into his clothes and he’s frozen. graves and all his shadows bolt after hearing the gunshot, worried about cops finding them and they leave him there; staring at the growing puddle at his feet

soap's panicking; half-blind, blistering pain lighting up his head and he can't think about anything beyond how much he wants ghost

ghost's been sulking at his flat since soap blew him off; pissed at soap for going off on him when he just wants to help but still worried about the punk. he doesn’t want him going down the same road as him; doesn’t want him to repeat his mistakes when he could save himself so much suffering and he almost doesn't answer his phone when it buzzes on the couch

he lets out a ragged sigh as he picks it up; raking a hand over his shaved head when he sees the bubble emoji and contemplates letting it ring out. contemplates answering with a growl; something a younger, crueler version of him would spit. in the end, he decides on silence and puts the phone to his ear just before it can stop ringing

he almost breaks it when he hears soap choke out, "i've been shot."

he's out the door in a heartbeat, running down the stairs because the lift is too slow; trying to get more information out of him but he can't get anything out beyond a repeated, "i've been shot."

he breaks every law there is as he speeds to soap's location; visions of his cold, bloodless corpse staining his mind's eye. the only thing keeping him calm are the strangled breaths from the other end of the line; he's not dead, he can work with not dead, this isn't tommy, soap won't end up like tommy-

ghost screeches to a halt outside a random alley and throws himself from the car when he sees soap collapsed against a garbage bin. he's covered in blood, soaked, just like that night, it's everywhere and he's not moving, he's not moving-

“johnny!”

he skids to his knees and fits his hand under his chin to check his pulse… but his heart beats strong under his fingertips and soap's eyes flutter open; flooded with blood but conscious and alive

the second he registers ghost in front of him, he’s reaching out for him; babbling apologies over and over, "you were right, i'm sorry ghost, i should've listened; i'm sorry, i'm so sorry."

ghost just gently hushes him, cupping his face heedless of the blood. "that doesn't matter now, johnny. we're gonna get you all fixed up, yeah?"

soap’s hands fist in his shirt, clinging to him. "i got shot, ghost," he says again; lost and smaller than he's ever heard from his punk and it's been years since he's felt this kind of rage but he doesn't let a drop of it touch his voice

“i know, lad. i know. gonna let me take a look at it? make it right?"

soap finally nods, his stuttering apologies coming to a halt and ghost runs back to his car to get a towel. he presses it to soap's skin, trying to soak up as much as he can so he can get a proper look; cooing assurances as soap absently hisses in pain the closer he gets to it

it's only a graze and something in his chest unravels; old fears and grief settling as the shallow wound continues to gush into the towel

ghost slumps, pressing his forehead into the top of soap's head and takes a second to just breathe. “‘s’alright, johnny; it’s not even that bad, not even that bad,” he promises, low; spoken more to himself than soap

his hand starts to grow damp and he forces himself to his feet, gathering up soap and getting him into his car. he puts the towel in his hand and presses it against the wound, trying to coax him through his shock to put pressure on it so he can drive

soap curls up in the passenger seat; eyes distant, seeing nothing and ghost has to tighten his grip on the steering wheel so he doesn't turn around

soap is the priority

he has to get him home; has to get him cleaned up and safe

then he can go hunting for the gutless shadow that hurt his punk

[shadow0-1]

Taking point

[synchodai]

You said you liked house of the dragon. Did you agree with george about maelor being cut? Because I think he can post whatever he wants but I don't agree with him about maelor being necessary for helaena's death. There are plenty of other ways to kill a character off. Idk I just feel like it was a weird hill to die on.

GRRM could have posted that Cregan Stark NEEDED to have a beard, and I would have defended his right to complain about it on his not-a-blog, even if I extremely disagree with that take and will disagree with it no matter what he says.

Similar to Maelor — I didn't think it was actually Maelor that drove Helaena to suicide when I first read F&B. I don't think it would make sense for show!Helaena to commit suicide over the death of another child given her current characterization either. It does suck if the showrunner assured him a character would be there only to not fulfill that promise, but introducing Maelor on the show now would be completely unnecessary in my honest opinion.

My issue with the drama around the post isn't so much what GRRM said; it's that people are trying to police his takes. It IS a weird hill to die on, but only because the man shouldn't and probably didn't expect to get attacked when he went up said hill. An author having a mild opinion on the adaptation of his own work shouldn't even be drama.

[m-blackwell-and-associates]

Follow Up pt 3

A flash of annoyance cut through her precarious calm, jaw tightening against what she wished to say.  Vincenzo. They had been contemporaries once, equal in status as one of the North American padroni.  Their cousin’s unexpected murder had given him the job and she found the timing of it suspect, as well as Vincenzo’s lack of proper familial mourning.   “And Ms. Rosselini was the one that made sure the grave was clean?”

“Yes.  And informed us of the body in the tunnel.”

Silence fell.  Angelina shut the file and handed it back to Pietro, musing on what Nicky had discovered, motivating him to liquidate his own operative.  The Koeing had been talking out of house.  Outside of Nicky’s house, which was a far greater sin to their mutual cousin than if he had been talking beyond the bounds of the Giovanni.  To compound that sin, the ex-Koeing had been passing on information to Padrone Vincenzo of the New World’s Central Territory.  It was more than just poor form to be caught undermining a cousin.  The late Karl Koeing had chosen the wrong personal grudge to be caught between.

No, not the wrong grudge, the worst grudge, she thought with a slight huff of pained amusement.  If Pietro heard her, he gave no indication and she leaned back in her seat to watch Grenoble through the dark tinted windows. 

Angelina wasn’t entirely sure what raw grievance lay between Nicky and Vincenzo, but she could guess based solely on her own past difficulties dealing with her former peer.  Vincenzo had been a mere annoyance when he was but a Central Territory Don and she the Padrona of the Western Territory.  Everything had changed for the worst when he stepped into Central Territory Leadership, quite unexpectedly.  She was certain Vincenzo had no hand in her demotion, but he had earned her enmity on his own for a multitude of reasons.  The silver lining of her reassignment had been that she would be far from Vincenzo’s field of influence and no longer forced to deal with his ham handed handling of family politics nor his ineffectual leadership and complete lack of boundaries.  Yet here he was.  Whatever game he had been playing had been uncovered, either intentionally or by accident by the child Nicky had sent here to pretend being nothing more than a minor investment yet to come to fruition.  It had resulted in a dead resource, one of her resources, as well as an unnamed body, with the killer - or killers - also unidentified.

It was a puzzle Angelina would have enjoyed better if not for the potential culprits.  She had no interest in hanging Nicky out to dry, although due to familial status he wasn’t technically working out of bounds, having no real bounds to speak of.  She had absolutely no wish to engage Vincenzo at all, as even logging the formal complaint with its demand for restitution would be seen as an invitation for future interaction.  Considering the mess made with the muddled struggle Vincenzo had already been involved with, a struggle with a literal child, it didn’t speak well of any future business being well handled.

She would very much like everyone to go back to their own territories and leave her alone to run Grenoble without further interference.

[autyleaves]

~we should be dancing in our graves~ ~ever onward, through the fray~

I also wanted to add in my sketch for this on because I sketch on paper and really liked the energy of this one

[martyrbat]

the batman's grave #1

[ID: Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth talking in a den. Alfred is sitting on the couch as Bruce is starting to enter a room from behind a bookcase. He announces, “I have to get to work. That unexplained death.” Alfred groans, “Here we go again. Can't you just get into the head of the killer, like those detectives on television? Seems much easier.” Bruce (dramatically) replies, “I can't think like a killer, Alfred. I can only think like a victim.” Alfred starts to pour himself another glass of whiskey as he stares at Bruce. He starkly tells him, “You immerse yourself in the dead, Master Bruce. And you come back each time a little less alive. The only thing your grave is missing is a date.” Bruce continues to walk away. END ID]

[skeletoninthemelonland]

to get the job, he'd have to abandon his mortality, which also changed his physical appearance drastically.

huh¿ how does he used to look like then hmm¿¿ 👀

Idk, I haven't thought of actually making Graveleaper's human design.

You see, he was a cemetery caretaker many years ago. Literally centuries, no way to pinpoint the exact period. He's just been alive for a really long time since Death hired him as her assistant. I don't think he even recalls his appearance back then.

He could have looked like anyone!

[thepinkhaired-rayofsunshine]

this is a half formed thought but like

danny sorta taking up residency near/in random cemeteries, like he just pops in every so often and takes care of ghosts n stuff there. and maybe if someone comes around to try to descecrate something or do bad shit in the cemetery, he or maybe one of his allies haunts the fuck outta the bad people n stuff

and maybe the cemetery hes in, is the one where jason todd was supposedly buried and he notices one day that there is an empty grave where there shouldnt be. so he starts tracking jasons body down bc hes worried jason was taken by grave robbers or smth and wont stand for the living disrespecting the dead, ESPECIALLY a kid?? and maybe it hits close to home for danny that its a kid his age that died and the body is missing

and he tracks jason down after a while but only to find out that hes with the League or maybe its been empty for a long time and he finds red hood and is REALLY confused because thats a reanimated dead guy many years past his death date

im thinking of this with like, immortal, unable to age or die danny, but i could totally see it as a king danny thing or even grown up danny just trying to catch a damn break but being constantly hounded by ghosts and stuff for help

[diana-andraste]

See That My Grave Is Kept Clean by Bob Dylan

[socialc1imb]

Some unrelated but not really all that unrelated set of clue au doodles. :)

Do NOT repost my art without asking/without credit.