#He did the whole “cat dead details later” thing when he was accused of killing an animal and maybe getting kicked out

[overly-hubristic-mad-scientist]

I like how in universe Hebert is somehow really good at coming up with witty quotes and insults even in extremely stressful scenarios

[vagrantblvrd]

That one AU where Ryan’s undercover, right?

Still with Narco or maybe he’s been shuffled around a bit, moved over to Robbery right around the time Homicide and Beckett get the case with Finch and Esposito’s old partner. (Or maybe a case crossed over and he’s being loaned out, idk, details and so on???)

And at the beginning of the case in comes Detective Demming in Robbery, formerly out of the 54th.

Castle is like >:(((((( because the man is just too pretty, and also probably rescues cats out of trees on his days off, and honestly, is he the only one to see this Detective Tom Demming as what he truly is?

(In his experience, someone who seems too good to be true isn’t, but clearly this Demming has bamboozled not only Beckett but Esposito and Captain Montgomery as well and it is up to the intrepid author of the group to prove it! ...as soon as he finds evidence.)

Meanwhile.

The case proceeds as usual and Lanie finds Ike’s prints on Finch’s body, which, you know Drama.

In comes Holliwell and the accusations and whatnot.

Esposito going to see Carol and Tim and asking if she knew and all that fun stuff?

But then!

Someone finds out that Finch was in contact with this guy, someone who could help them with a Thing (technical issue, get them something else they needed, who can say, right?) and of course it happens to by this guy who happens to know Demming.

Seems delighted to see him, all friendly like as they haul him in to ask a few questions and he’s got this smirk and is “hey, Demming. See you’ve moved up in the world,” and generally being a cocky little shit because he knows they can’t pin anything on him and also he has an alibi, but yeah, sure. Why not humor the cops for a bit? Should be fun.

Demming is just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because yes, okay, he knows this little weasel. Busted him a few times for minor offenses and the whatnot but he always gets out and no one can make anything stick. But. He’s got a reputation for being able to get people what they need and rumors tying him to a string of robberies in a case a few years ago they were never able to solve.

But everyone knows he had something to do with it, you know?

So they ask him a few questions and get a lead. Doesn’t pan out, but what did they expect, really? (The next time they haul him in he does have a lead that pans out, so that’s nice.)

Shenanigans and whatnot, they see the footage showing Finch’s wife and Ike casing the bank and bring her in for questioning. Esposito races to Ike’s with Beckett and he has that conversation about it that’s all about Drama.

Back to the precinct and Beckett sparring with Demming and the “stealthy” sneaking around to get Demming’s SIM card and ~reveal that oh, yeah, no.

Not a dirty cop and you should all feel ashamed about even considering the possibility because the man is an angel, okay? An absolute angel.

(He definitely rescues cats out of trees on his way to coach underprivileged kids, you know he does.)

And then!

Esposito running off to help Ike steal the ledger and Demming is like ah, yes, Esposito is totally taking “a walk” and excuses himself to make a phone call, as you do.

Beckett and the others realize Holliwell is the dirty cop and since Esposito isn’t back yet – but before they can theorize as to why that is, Demming comes back in and says a “reliable source” told him Ike’s going after the ledger as they speak and with Esposito nowhere to be found it makes sense he’d be with him, right?

There’s this Moment where Beckett and Castle do the brain-twin thing and go hmmmm because it’s a little too convenient how Demming came by that info, but no time to worry about that now, they have to get to Ike and Esposito before Holliwell does.

Holliwell showing up to catch Esposito and Ike in the act and the pew-pew shooting before Beckett and the others catch Holliwell trying to make a break for it.

AND THEN.

Shenanigans in which other cases are dealt with and every so often Demming shows up and oh, hey.

Also Demming’s little weasel buddy?

Enough that he starts in on giving Esposito and the others grief too when they bring him in for questioning?

(Kind of weird how he keeps popping up, but whatever. Demming says the guy’s just like that and you just get used to it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Eventually though, there’s a case, right?

Some murder that’s tied to drugs and robberies and homicide(s) and he’s a suspect – and then a key witness – and all the good will and trust he’s built up with his little criminal circle doesn’t mean a damn thing when someone put a price on his head and anyway.

“Wait, what?”

Because they have to protect him from the baddies – a stipulation if they want the information he’s got in that head of his – and it’s like.

Like, sure. They could do that, or they could maybe put more pressure on the guy? Beckett and Esposito could break him, just give them time, and Demming is like.

“I mean, you could, but it wouldn’t get you much. Trust me.”

And so the safehouse and Demming’s little weasel courting painful, drawn-out murderization from Beckett and the others with all the shit he gives them? Seems delighted by it like he has no idea how close they are to snapping, and does he realize they definitely how to hide a body where no one will find it, but whatever.

The thing is, Beckett and the others would rather die than admit that yes, okay. They, too, have a soft spot for the little bastard the way Demming seems to?

Such a little shit, but weirdly endearing and also he has helped them out a time or two before, you know?

He really gets under Esposito's skin, though. Because flirty little bastard and Castle is like a kid in a candy store because a criminal willing to share stories and whatnot who hasn’t (yet) threatened to kill him!

Incredible!

Amazing!

(Also, a fan!)

Beckett kind of loves the way he pushes Esposito’s buttons and he’s just. It’s hard not to like him. (She pointedly ignores the looks she gets from Demming because they’re all of the “I told you so” variety and anyway.)

And then!

After a couple of days of this the weasel disappears on them – and it’s all !!! and also >:((((((((((( because not only how, but why????

Demming goes to get answers from his people while Beckett and the others try to find out where the little bastard’s gone.

Realize, after going over what they know about the case and the little bastard that of course he’s gone to talk to someone – make a deal with his boss (the one who put the price on his head) or something and anyway -

Demming runs into them to tell them there’s some kind of meet going on...somewhere and his weasel’s involved, and then madcap race to get there before the little bastard gets himself killed.

Shenanigans in which the bad guy gets the drop on Beckett and the others, looks like the whole gang is about to be murderized, right?

Drama and Bad Guy Confessions Via Monologue, the weasel about to get murdered for real, but what’s this?

A bunch of cops in from Narco and Robbery, also Captain Montgomery and associates and all cavalry to the rescue to save the day?

Bad guys in cuffs being led off and Esposito hauling the weasel along, pissed off like you wouldn’t believe because of course the little bastard snuck out on his watch – scared the shit out of him – and just.

Very much Annoyed.

Demming takes charge of the little weasel when they get back to the station, had this odd little smile on his face as Esposito hauled him away, right? One Beckett and Castle just could not figure out and then!

Beckett and the others up in Homicide finishing off reports and whatnot and not quite ready to head home?

She gets a call from Demming, says he has someone he wants them to meet and if everyone’s still there? To which she is like yes?????

And then!

Few minutes later the elevator goes ding!

Ding goes the elevator and out comes Demming and his little weasel?

No cuffs this time, and it looks like he’s had time to clean up and get a change of clothes, which is probably for the best because of all the blood and whatnot after being knocked around by the bad guys before Beckett and the others showed up.

Which also huh, you know, huh. Like, sure. Guy’s not their murder suspect, but also other crimes and why, okay, why is Demming smiling like that? Why is the weasel smiling like that?

(He does clean up well, though. Not that Esposito is staring or anything, goodness no.)

“Thought you’d like to meet Detective Kevin Ryan.”

Shit-eating grins on both their faces and Beckett and the others like what and then attempted murder of Ryan by Esposito because that little shit, and then shenanigans?

Also going out for drinks and the telling of a story that involves undercover work and many instances of running into Beckett and the others and being like – “Do you guys ever get a normal homicide case?” because Kevin’s new here and doesn’t realize and anyway.

For some reason Kevin Ryan ends up transferring to Homicide and Esposito grumbles to anyone who will listen for forever afterwards about getting stuck with him, but it’s pretty obvious someone needs to look out for the idiot.

And then shenanigans and Castle still prying stories and whatnot out of Ryan every chance he gets – Esposito gets this look on his face when he’s around for one because they’ve all gotten to know the little idiot by now and how the hell is he not dead yet???

And perhaps, also, there is still ~flirting because Ryan is still a little shit and Esposito cannot with this moron, but also there’s a betting pool, because of course there is.

Castle has a !!! “My goodness, I never would have expected you, of all people, to take part in this,” to Demming when he ponies up some money for the betting pool on how long until those idiots figure out their shit.

(Meanwhile, Ryan gets in on the betting pool about Beckett and Castle because how do they not see it and anyway, yes.)

Shenanigans???

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[janiedean]

ooh so linked to the Brienne ask re: the kingsguard part. What are your thoughts on Aerys’ kingsguard, especially like Arthur Dayne who Jaime from what I remember has complicated feelings for but pretty much idolises him. And they’re so loved by almost everyone in universe!!! Like idk how to think about them really my feelings for them are also complicated

+ okay good because I honestly don’t see why people love them so much like most of the things we’ve heard about them are like. Objectively bad. And like yeah the idea of them is cool but well that can only go so far. also I’m sorry if these asks are a mess I’m exhausted!! ALSO I think you’re amazing for answering all of us anons with such detail I always love coming on to your blog

(putting both asks in the same place uu)

in order: the fact that they're loved by everyone in-universe and fandom actually likes them (or at least arthur dayne hahahahaha god) is like... some of george's best trolling because guess what the entire point is that they're supposed to look like amazing people/the real deal when instead they're all terrible the end - except again for the poor martell prince whom we don't know enough about and I'll give him a pass bc martell people are usually not stupid af but in order:

as I said george has made a point of stating that knighthood is a rotten institution and the kg especially aerys being like... what should be the highest honor for a knight is equally as rotten as knigthood in general and is made of people who do Not Deserve The Title - I mean again hey it's orders so marital rape is fine, hey we're leaving the 15yo to man an entire castle? WHY NOT, the king is mad? WELL WE SWORE TO SERVE HIM, like not counting martell prince there isn't one single person in the aerys kg except jaime who actually upheld the oaths they swore ie protecting the innocent so make of that what you will

the fact that jaime aka the fifteen year old is literally the only one who gets the job and then goes there like 'hey we're basically covering for marital rape what the fuck' and no one else bats an eyelid should already say everything there is to say about these people's moral standard

the fact that none of them actually stuck up for the fifteen-year old who was obviously not ready for the job nor tried to idk do anything to make it easier on him or whatever also says everything about their moral standard because honestly fuck you

the fact that everyone thinks they're amazing jaime included when they're all pretty much shitty is like... well, same as fandom does, which means that the readers bought what people in-narrative do... except that the moment you scratch the surface it's really damned bad

and I'm saying barristan is on thin ice because from his chapters you can see he's like... not a bad dude but like his reaction to jaime being in there still when he saw aerys is 'ah that fucker who killed the king and was so proud he had to try and get into it at fifteen'? like??? fuck you?? honestly the fact that all of them literally served a dude who put people on fire and was a menace/danger to the realm and then have the gall to think that jaime is the worst or who didn't like try to help him or anything while he was obv struggling with his vows and the fact that he was serving a madman says all about their moral standards, again

and honestly arthur dayne is the literal worst of all of them because like - first of all oh you knight the 15yo who goes along with you slaying bandits and you don't try to dissuade him from joining the kg? what the fucking fuck am I supposed to think - second of all you don't even warn him of what is expecting him when he joins when you've been there for a while? - but third of all which drives me insane and I hate that fandom sleeps on it and goes around happily like ARTHUR/LYANNA THE SHIP OF DREAMS... okay listen like I have literally zero investment in lyanna as a character or in r + l and I don't necessarily think he did everything - I think they had a mutual infatuation and eloped and she sorely regretted it and then it was on r. who shouldn't have like acted on it because he happened to be the 20+ year old with a wife and kids, but there's the whole tower of joy situation - in which sorry but we have arthur fucking off KL with other kg people and leaving all the others in the literal shit bc they'd have to deal with aerys and it'd be less of them than they should be, to go with rhaegar to the tower of joy to help him elope which whatever, and then lyanna was left there after r. had to go back... when her brother and father were burned alive and like if she knew that then I doubt she'd have wanted to stay and if she didn't then they withheld fairly important fucking information, so like he stayed there guarding a pregnant 15-16 yo who most likely did not want to be there and who is pregnant by his best friend whose family oh accidentally murdered half of hers........ and lyanna was there even after rhaegar died so I mean it's not like the moment he happened this dude goes and says 'hey maybe we should actually go back and see if we can solve this mess' no he kept her prisoner there anyway - on top of that... here I'm wildly speculating but: he had to know rhaegar was dead and when ned showed up if we are to believe him and idt he was unreliable on that... ned didn't want to fight him or kill him he just wanted to get his sister and leave and like he was most likely in love with ashara aka arthur's sister so why the fuck would he want to kill him right, and like rhaegar's dead and arthur has nothing to lose by letting ned up especially knowing that lyanna is fucking dying in childbirth like she's dying her brother's there just let him up and solve it later esp when the dude doesn't want to kill you....... but no ned had to kill him because he wouldn't budge and why the fucking fuck wouldn't you budge at that point? your side lost the war, the guy you were friends with that you did all of this for is dead, the girl is about to die at least let her die with her family, why? - only thing I can deduce from it: that rhaegar told him that the baby's survival was the most important thing because third head of the dragon blah blah blah and that if the war was lost to just grab the baby and lyanna if she survived and fuck off to essos until he grew up, except that lyanna didn't survive so the conclusion is that he tried to stop ned from going up there bc he'd have found out about the baby and tried to stop them and at that point who gives a fuck if lyanna died or not but he'd have liked... let her die and kill ned in the process and done that most likely, and sorry but when they knightly vows are, I would like to remind everyone, In the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave. In the name of the Father I charge you to be just. In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent. In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women…. like... what, what exactly has this dude done that would qualify as that? because lyanna would be young and innocent and a woman and he basically is letting her die, that behavior does not qualify as bravery and he'd like... deny the kid a chance of growing up with his family period if he killed ned and he didn't seem to particularly give a fuck las we checked, and that's like not counting the whole 'oh I won't tell the 15yo who idolizes me that he's signing

his life away to trauma nor I will support him for shit when he does' part of it, but the tower of joy stuff is shady whichever way you look at it and honestly the more time passes the more I'm convinced this guy is just a complete pos and the worst of them all except gregor when it comes to like 'people thinking you're a good knight and you're actually a pos instead' and I'm dying on that hill until george proves me wrong

and on that the thing is that... I ranted about it once here but basically jaime idolizes the shit out of him because he never saw that even if his subconscious kinda knows because when he had the weirwood dream his greatest fear was confronting the former kg and everyone was accusing him of stuff he couldn't have physically prevented (more ranting on the weirwood dream here) and he's there like 'ah I wanted to be arthur dayne but I became the smiling knight instead' but like... actually he is more of a true knight than arthur dayne can ever hope to be? because like in the above meta I was talking specifically about how to pia he's like... better than arthur dayne, but like not to be that person but jaime who thinks he's the gregor clegane of his time and not arthur dayne, while arthur dayne was... doing the shady toj thing with lyanna - saved an entire city from aerys blowing it up - risked his neck for brienne even if he didn't even like her as in he got himself kicked in a healing stump when he couldn't even stand up for himself so she wouldn't be raped - risked his neck going back for her at harrenhal and jumped into the bear pit without even knowing how he'd manage it - was actually being a decent person to tommen until c. forced him to leave - the moment he saw what happened with pia he gave her her rapist's head when she's like a commoner no one gaf about and took her into her service - when his squire wanted to bed her he like told him to be kind to her jfc - is per tyrion the only relative who actually loved him/freed him/actually stuck up for him (and tysha is on tywin thank you all very much and jaime feels so great about it he doesn't think about it until he can't anymore) (also he was the one chasing the bandits away in the first place so he was probably there like oH I HELPED A MAIDEN too lmao god fuck tywin) - actually stuck for his cat vow bc he took riverrun without bloodshed - sent brienne after sansa with the magic amazing sword because he wanted to upheld their shared vow to cat going against his own family - the moment brienne shows up like hey wanna blow this joint and leave the army you don't wanna lead to find sansa he didn't even like blink before saying yes and I'm supposed to think that in between him and arthur dayne he isn't the only one who actually stuck to his vows as well as he could/knows anything about them/is actually a trueknight™? because lmao the fact that jaime doesn't fancy himself one because of aerys when everyone fancies arthur dayne one when the latter did absolutely fucking nothing beyond slaying bandits to put his money where his mouth was while jaime didn't even like brand himself like that and still did all of that and half of it was acting on instinct not even like doing the math before and *he* was the one wanting to be knighted at fifteen and took his vows seriously when oh wait knightly vows are basically the epitome of selflessness is like again grrm trolling the hell out of everyone characters included but it's clear from the narrative imvho and I can't wait for the moment he serves the just desserts and a) jaime realizes it b) everyone else in-narrative realizes it c) bran timetravels to the fucking toj and we find out what actually went down there and this saint arthur narrative is burned to the ground because honestly no

there, I think I spat out almost all of my venom XD

[andthisiswitchcraft]

Familiars: what are they?

This is something that comes up every once in a while and lately has been coming up a lot, so we should discuss familiars. It is largely thanks to modern commercialization of misconceptions from the European witch trails that we get our current misunderstandings of familiars. So let's breakdown the history and perceptions of familiars to get a better grasp of them.

Familiars are a kind of tutelary spirit, a non-corporeal intelligence that a witch/magician summons and binds to themselves. In a way, they are like a servant to the witch, but under some conditions. For instance, the magician needs to appease their familiar to keep its company. If a familiar feels that the magician has violated the terms of their pact, they will leave and may even harm the magician. Likewise, if the magician were no longer happy with the services their familiar provided, or they felt their familiar was leading them into danger, they would banish them or call on another spirit to send it away forever. Ultimately, assuming a good bond has been made, the familiar will stay with the magician for the remainder of the magician's life, as familiars do not die. They're spirits, so they don't die. They will assist in magical practices, teach, heal, fetch money, fetch mightier spirits to help, et al. In return the magician will give shelter, food, water, and whatever else the witch-familiar compact may have an agreement on.

The oldest and closest thing we have to the modern idea of a familiar are the household gods of the ancient world. Even as cities developed, individual households had their own gods. It isn't until much later that we see cities and states develop their own "household gods" or gods of the city.

Prior to the Romans there does not seem to be much of a distinction between household gods and the larger religion gods. But the Romans had three different names for these sorts of spirits that give us some clear distinctions of the perceptions these people had of their gods: genius loci, dii familiares, and lares. The genii loci were "spirits of place," and were spirits that governed and protected a specific area, such as a neighborhood, a crossroad, a forest, etc. Genii loci that governed a household were called lares. These were the household gods that residents set up shrines to just inside the doorway, a common practice to this day. Then there were the dii familiares, which were something like the lares, but watched over the whole family, as the family did not always stay in the home, but expanded, moved, went to the market, etc. If these household gods were not kept happy, they would leave the house and family, leaving them unprotected, and may even come back to harm them.

We see evidence of this in the Bible, particularly in Genesis where Rachel steals her father's household idols. Eventually there would be state genii loci, lares, and dii familiares, such as Roma personified as a goddess in her own right. Hermes was also a genius loci, usually at crossroads. Enodia (Hecate) was another crossroads genius loci. However these two gods become more state religion deities with their servant spirits watching over crossroads. Jehovah is very much like this with the ancient Israelites, even having a pact, i.e. the Covenant, of which the Ark of the Covenant was a fetish object to house God.

However, truly the oldest idea of a familiar is the personal daimon or demon, a specific daimon that is assigned to each person at birth. The oldest complete example of conjuring a personal daimon is described in the first portion of the Greek Magical Papyri, a collection of magical spells and rites dating between 1st century BC to 5th century AD. This rite details how to conjure a daimon that will be bound to the magician, and will teach and guide them, dine and sleep with them, and be with them until the end of the magician's days. Socrates himself may have had something like this when he refers to his daimonion, a "divine something" that advised and guided him, but never controlling him.

This personal daimon becomes a central feature of western magic. In Byzantine magic, such as in the Hygromanteia, the daimon becomes something akin to the dii familiares, though distinctly personal to the magician and the same familiar can be passed from master magician to apprentice (such as Dr. Faustus to his pupil). All grimoires been the 13th and 18th centuries have a rite to conjure a familiar or to conjure a spirit to bring a familiar. A great example of this is in the Ars Goetia where several demons are listed as being good for bringing familiars. Similar examples are found in spirit registers such as in the Grimorium Verum. Even folk magic includes ways of gaining a familiar, and the rites are usually a lot more simple than the formal ceremonial magic of the Renaissance grimoires. These are found in various Secreti or books of secrets (see for instance Treatise of Magical Secrets and Mixed Cabala, trans. by Rankine and Skinner)

Our current conceptions of a familiar come from the witch trails of the 16th and 17th centuries. Prior to this time period magic was not exactly forbidden. Magic was usually something that was tacked onto other charges, usually treason. Since magicians held their reputations via rumors and recommendations, and rumors are what Oliver Cromwell sought to destroy, thus witchcraft enters the courtroom thanks to such rumors of magicians. As witchcraft becomes chargeable on its own in the 16th century, we see players like Matthew Hopkins enter the stage. These "witch hunters" were nothing more than opportunistic assholes who used Cromwell's methods of hunting via rumors. Anything could be used as evidence of a witch, and townsfolk often used these opportunities to get rid of someone they didn't like by accusing them of witchcraft. Most of the people, usually women, though there were plenty of men tried as well, who were accused of witchcraft were not actually witches. They could just be lonely old widows that have a dog or a cat to keep them company.

Familiars, or rather pets, were a common way of determining if someone was a witch, since that was part of being a witch. However, people back then had pets like anyone today. So these women who were seen as unusual and therefore a witch, had their pets used as evidence against them. And really, they were like many of us: they had a close relationship with their pets, talked to them, really cared for them, took them everywhere with them. This all sounds strangely like a familiar, and to opportunists like Hopkins, it was the perfect rumor to locate a "witch." But really it was just an excuse to kill a quirky old woman no one liked who lived alone and loved to talk to her birds, and someone else probably really wanted her land.

Much of this pet as a familiar has become sensationalized today. In a way, yes, you can conjure a familiar to inhabit the body of your pet. In the Renaissance, possessing an animal with a spirit was no big deal. Today that would probably be seen as unethical to your pet. But there really is no need for this, as a spirit will physically appear to a magician at their command, and can even take on familiar forms such as a dog if the magician requests it. It is not uncommon to see in Renaissance grimoires a portion of the conjuration includes the magician stating, "appear to me in a pleasing form."

Further, it's borderline animal abuse to truly treat your pet like a familiar. A lot of energy is exhausted by familiars to be your servant, but they're spirits and can usually handle it, and if they can't, they go get you a bigger stronger spirit to handle it. Pets cannot do that, and they shouldn't have to. To truly use your pet as a familiar will most likely harm them in the long run. Pets should be treated like family, not your magical teacher and conduit.

In practice, the familiar can be almost any kind of spirit. In the Abramelin rite the familiar is called the Holy Guardian Angel, a divine heavenly entity assigned to each person at birth. In the Faustian tradition, the demon Mephistopheles is Dr. Faustus's familiar. In the Christian tradition, the Holy Spirit acts as a sort of familiar to Jesus, assisting Jesus with his miracles, and according to Paul raised Jesus from death. But familiars can also be souls of the dead, such as ancestors. In fact, the lares and dii familiares may have been ancestors of that family/household that always stuck around to watch over everyone, and later became deified.

So while our pets are very important to us and can even be a bit magical, they are not the same as a familiar. And in many ways it's wrong to say they are. It takes something that was viciously used to torture and kill lonely old women and sensationalizes it into an aesthetic, rather than a way of life, a devotion, and a compact you keep and renew each and every day with the same entity. And to make your pet an actual familiar is abusive. Having a tutelary spirit (or several) is central to western magical practices, but it is not the same as having a pet. If you want to get a pet, get a pet. If you want a familiar, there are hundreds of ways to conjure one up and make a lifelong pact with it.

The reason this is important to understand and differentiate is so you become a better pet owner and a better witch.

Franklin

Image: Matthew Hopkins, "Witch Finder General" (a title he made up) investigating witches and their familiars.

[buccigang-headcanons]

La Squadra Backstories!!!! Stream of consciousnesss style!

So literally I just sat down and wrote down exactly what I thought. I have not edited these at all lmaooo. But I made long drawn out backstories for our underrated assassins so enjoy!!

T/W + C/W - idk I talk about people dying in a lot of ways. Child abuse, drugs, severe illness, dead cats. This stuff is a mess I really didn’t censor it. But nothing is described in detail cuz I’m too lazy for that.

————

Prosciutto cuz he’s at the top of my mind. Mmkay he and Pesci are brothers but not by blood. Pro was an orphan, I still wanna make him Russian, and pesci’s extremely kind and gentle family adopted him when he was like 7. They were like literally a garden catalogue family. Perfection. The parents died when pro was like 15, Pesci was 13?? Idk the age difference I’m just making shit up now. And Pesci had no fucking idea what to do, they didn’t have any other family, and pro was like “I’m still basically a hardened criminal from living on the streets of russia most of my childhood, so joining the local mafia should be a piece of cake”. It was.

Risotto..... fuck it. Polpo is risottos dad. I’ve seen that so much and fuck it I’m here for it now. Idk how I feel about the whole Mariah from part 3 being his mom that seems too coincidental. But either way, he is half Spanish. I don’t think he’s ever been in touch with his Spanish roots at all, but that’s what he is. Polpo had too much fun on vacay in Spain. But it was a once night stand and polpo, a skinny king back in the mid 70s, fucked off to do mafia stuff and didn’t know about this kid. Risotto never knew his father. Time goes by, about the time he’s 10, rizzo’s mom moves to Italy to find the man she once loved. Since the 70s, she has been married and divorced 4 times, disowned by her entire family, and she speaks only of Polpo, the man who swept her off her feet and then disappeared into the night. Leaving only this child with his matching eyes. So they live in Italy, risotto is about 13 now and his mom has been searching seriously for polpo for about 3 years. One day, she gets too close, mafia takes her out. Risotto is all alone in a country he has lived in for less than 3 years. So he decides to take revenge against the mafia. He goes to hunt them down. (I’m too lazy to write out how. Gets a gun. Basically the scene in part 5 where the kid is like “you killed my father and now I’m gonna kill you!!” But he chickens out???) yeah except rizzo didn’t chicken out, he stood firm and killed 2 of them. The other 2 surrendered, and immediately asked rizzo to take polpos test. He did. And he unknowingly met his father, the man his mother had died looking for. He stared into his fathers eyes, black sclera reflecting each other, and passed his test with ease.

Wowwwwwwwww alrighty then that was something. Let’s shake out those jitters because fuck that was intense and let’s move onto some happy shit.

Melone!! Always a bottle of joy. He was a phenomenal student, a perfect child. Perfect grades, perfect attitude, perfect looks. Onlyyyy tiny thing is he murdered cats and buried their heads in the back yard. But that was his only flaw. Aaaaaaaand mayyybe trying to use his extensive knowledge of molecular biology and genetics (even at as young as 11) to asexually breed said cats.

But, apart from that, absolutely perfect specimen of a young boy. And he kept that up until college. Until the rape accusation. Melone had no interest in having sex with her, he swore under oath in open court, he only wanted to “extract her essence” in the hopes of making her amazing genetics stay pure for centuries.

Due to his previously amazing school record, he was allowed to plead not guilty by reason of insanity (because the justice system is bullshit) and was released to his parents. During this whole process, Melone’s mother had begun to grow suspicious of her son, wondering if there was something wrong with him. This led her to explore the crawl space under the garage, more commonly known as “Melone’s childhood laboratory”. The cat skulls alone were enough to set her off. They allowed him into their home long enough to fool the court, but parole officers don’t pay attention, and they kicked him to the curb a month later. Broke, alone, and with no real skills other than his genius mind and gorgeous body, he became a prostitute. It was only a few months before he wandered up to a gigantic white haired man with angry eyes and asked if he wanted a date. Instead of declining, our good ol rizzo just knocked him out cold and brought him home. The rest is history. Literally because I can’t think of what would happen between that and Melone joining the mafia. I assume he was just their house pet for a little while before he decided he wanted a stand too.

Oh good lord these are getting insane. Better keep going. Okay I have no idea what’s about to come out of my head for ghia but oh Lordy. Might as well start. Ghiaccio wasn’t always quite as angry, but it’s actually gonna be a sweet story. Kinda. He used to act perfect, even tho he always felt the anger inside. He was forced to bottle it up and put on a happy exterior always. His mother was Belgian. (From experience, Belgian mothers (Flemish in particular) will beat you until your ass is raw if you talk back). Italian father, they lived in italy. He had 4 sisters, he was the middle child of 5. Around high school, he started acting out. Of course this was due to all of his bottled up anger from the past 15 years. 4 shattered sinks, 16 holes in the drywall, and one classroom fire later, Ghiaccio was expelled from school. His parents were too busy brimming with joy about the success of all his sisters that they didn’t take much notice to him. “If you’re going to behave in such a manner you might as well leave” his mother said. She was past the point of caring enough to beat him. So he left. 16 and with no where to go, he wandered the streets. After a year or so, Ghia had gotten used to that life, and was angry at everyone, sometimes when he wasn’t even angry. Anger had become his coping mechanism. Screaming was easier than talking. Until one day, he screamed at a blonde man in an intersection. Prosciutto was driving back to the squads hang out, boxes of takeout in the back seat of the car. He had chosen to not stop at the red light, just for fun, and nearly ran into our blue haired teenager. Ghia proceeded to cuss him out for a good 4 minutes in the middle of this intersection before pro cut him off. “Get in the back. “ he said, with his own special brand of brotherly love. “I know how you can put that anger to good use”. Ghiaccio, having no real reason to object, got in the back seat. Prosciutto was silent the rest of the drive and Ghiaccio yelled about all the take out food, now splattered on the backs of the seats due to the sudden slam on the brakes.

Y’all I don’t even remember the other la squadra members. Let’s do sorbet/gelato because they have zero backstory or personality so I can just ramble. *Clears throat* let’s begin. These fuckers. Friends since birth. Grew up together, always really close. They were both dirt poor, but because the only school nearby was a decent public school, when were able to slightly experience middle class living. They liked it. They wanted to see upper class, and once they did, they wanted to be there. These two were money grubbing bffs, I’m talking josuke and okuyasu, but like waaaaay more intense and also violent. They both left home around 14, together of course. Gelatos father had left them a few years prior, and his family were on the brink of starvation. Figuring they didn’t need another mouth to feed (and completely abandoning his post as family patriarch lol) he left with sorbet, who’s family had all died in various ways over the years. Most recently, his older sister being taken by some illness that was probably easily treatable, but with no means for a doctor, she died in days. The boys left home and school, and made a living by pickpocketing tourists and occasionally launching into larger heists. They made a decent living for themselves, but eventually started spending their money on drugs. It’s was sorbet first, heroin was really good to him for awhile. Gelato was against it, knowing it was the reason sorbets family had been so poor to begin with. His father was an addict, and despite holding down a job fairly well, spent all his earnings on drugs. Eventually he became too dependent, lost his job, and OD’d. But around this same time, when the boys were 16/17, they were starting to realize their feelings for each other. Confused teenaged minds full of budding love led to Gelato giving in, and soon their days were filled with heroin fueled ecstatic sex. They lived like this for awhile, existing in half reality, until one day they chose to set their pickpocketing targets on a short man with close cropped gray hair. The plan was perfect, sorbet bumped into the man and gelato passed by to grab his wallet, and suddenly they were the size of mere ants. In an instant, they were returned to size, left to wonder if it was real or just a hallucination from long term drug use. But they didn’t run. Formaggio introduced himself, with a loose handshake and a pause to spit out some tobacco, and promptly invited them to a “party”. Although, Formaggio was honest in his promise, this party did have drugs.

Cheese boys turn!! Seriously who am I forgetting??? Illuso my mirror man! Am I forgetting someone else too?? Idk. But shut up Kel it’s cheese boys turn.

So. Formaggio. Probably the most chill childhood. Lower middle class, pretty average, but he was quite gifted with sports. Soccer was his main, and also a fantastic competitive swimmer. (Okay I have a separate hc that Bruno is really good at soccer so hol horse up a moment so I can imagine those 2 playing soccer together in friendly competition. In my lil au where Bruno is in la squadra because I say BruPro exes rights please and thanks.) but anyway, he got really good at soccer and was offered a scholarship to play at a fancy pants private high school when he was 14. Of course his parents made him go, this has been the family’s dream for years, and formaggio’s as well. So high school is amazing, he’s starting to attract attention from universities even tho he’s barely in grade 11 by this point. And it’s all really amazing until he realizes. This isn’t what he wants. And it’s just that. He doesn’t want to play soccer anymore, he doesn’t want to potentially be famous. He just wants to be a kid. So he leaves school, he leaves home, he wants to start over. And he wanders into a diner and sees this small group of weirdly dressed men. At this point, it’s rizzo, pro, Pesci, and ghia. And he’s staring at them because they’re dressed like circus clowns but their aura is so murderous. And then the one who looks like a giant pineapple starts staring back. Pesci gets up and walks over to Formaggio. “I know you! You’re that amazing kid soccer player!!” And he just goes on and on about shit he read in the news (70% of it was false) until pro comes over and yanks his idiot brother away. Pro starts asking Formaggio questions, thinking he could be a good target. Stupid little rich kid. But to prosciuttos surpise, Formaggio is just a down to earth kid with no more money to his name than he needs to pay for this meal. Prosciutto takes him home after that. He doesn’t really offer any explanation.

(The rambling at the beginning of this paragraph actually happened lol so I paused for like 4 hrs oops)

Alright we are back. Had to leave to go to therapy and then scream at my mother and cry to my boyfriend but we are ready to go! Illuso and I really hope he’s the last one and I’m not forgetting one. Illuso was raised in an orphanage from infancy. No idea who his parents could even be. Fun fact: one of the nuns at the orphanage (cuz it’s an orphanage in Italy in 1980, they’re catholic.) nicknamed him Illuso because he was always pointing at things that weren’t there. As a tiny baby and a child, he would always be looking at things no one else can see (yes illuso is a natural stand user fight me). The nuns called him illuso as an insult, hoping to shame him into stopping. He never did. When he outgrew the orphanage, he decided to join the priesthood. He was 19, a priest in training, when the mafia came to the orphanage. They were collecting, and illuso knew they didn’t have the money this month. He tried to talk the mobsters down, but that went about as well as planned. 4 bullets to the chest, 3 open heart surgeries, and half a dozen resuscitations later, Illuso was released from the hospital. The orphanage had been shut down, and no one knew what had happened to the children or the nuns. With no where to go, illuso knew of one place that could use talents like his. The talents of steadily stealing money from the starving children of the church for a decade. It was during polpos test that illuso’s stand manifested. Not due to the arrow, but to protect its user from the other stand. Illuso was able to avoid Black Sabbath by hiding in his newfound mirror world until it was time to return the lighter to polpo (kinda cowardly but whatever.) he was assigned to risottos group by chance and was the last to join excluding Melone. But they loved him as if they had found him themselves.

[truecrimesposts]

Blueprint for Murder

Kemi Adeyoola

On June 28 2006, 18-year-old Kemi Adeyoola, daughter of a multi millionaire, was sentenced to the murder of an elderly woman after an incriminating 'blueprint' was discovered. The blueprint was written during her stint in a young offenders institution. The plan? A truly 'fiendish' crime, brutally stabbing 84 year old Anne Mendel 14 times. She was convicted at the Old Bailey yesterday and sentenced today to a recommended minimum of a least 20 years behind bars.

No one could understand why this twisted teen targeted elderly Anne Mendel, they were neighbours for a short time in North London. On first meeting Anne Mendel the first thing that you'd notice would be her size, at around 7 stone and barely 4 foot 10 she was a small woman who had spent her whole life helping others.

Kemi Adeyoola was her complete opposite. She was working at the time as a £500 a night prostitute and had served time for shoplifting. The 'blueprint for murder' that she was later found to have written while she was in a young offenders' institution was over 18 pages long, and detailed her plan to make £3 million by killing a 'wealthy, quite elderly and defenceless' victim.

The blueprint was actually discovered in her cell while she was still in the institution, but all that was done to protect te outside world was the creation of a council monitoring team to supervise her for three months after her release. But unfortunately psychiatrists decided that Kemi wasn't a risk to the public and tragically less than a month after the supervision ended, Anne Mendel was dead.

81 year old Leonard Mendel, Anne's husband, found Anne Mendel wearing blood soaked pyjamas and pink dressing gown, with a pile of clothes thrown on top of her.

Kemi who is the daughter of a property tycoon worth around £10 million, faces a life sentence. After this verdict those closely following the case stated that they believed that she was 'born to kill' and that she was a 'supremely arrogant phschopath with a total disregard for humanity'.

Kemi has since been disowned by her father Bola Adeyoola, he stated:

'Nobody is born evil but what she did was evil. She is no longer my daughter. I will never see her again, and don't want her anywhere near me. I regret the day I ever met her mother. When I saw Mrs Mendel's picture I started crying. As a Christian, I can't believe anyone would do that.'

Mr Adeyoola, a 49 year old former boxer who lived in a £2 million Berkshire home with his latest wife, had previously given his daughter free accommodation in the home as well as a £140 a week job.

Discussing this he said, 'She was staying with me until a month before the murder, when I found out she had been shoplifting. I do wonder wether this woman would still be alive if I hadn't kicked her out. At first I couldn't accept that somebody with my blood in her veins could do this to anyone - but then I saw the evidence. She should rot in hell.'

His marriage to Kemi's mother Mercuria lasted barely 4 years, and he had very little contact during the upbringing of his three children. Mercuria also has a fourth child from a different relationship.

She and her children moved to a succession of homes in places including Cheltenham and Peterborough, frequently alienating neighbours. While staying in one specific property in Gloucestershire, Kemi reportedly killed the goldfish in a neighbour's pond and blamed it on a cat.

The teenage killer briefly boarded at £23,000-a-year Wycliffe College. The independent school at Stonehouse in the Cotswolds prides itself on its academic and sporting achievements, but Kemi only lasted a few months because of a row over who was paying her fees.

The family then moved to Elmcroft Road in Golders Green for several months, living next to Mr and Mrs Mendel.

The elderly couple had been married for 50 years and lived a quiet, rewarding life. They had two children, and 14 grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Their son Yitzhak appealed for help after his mother's murder said 'My mother spent every day of her week performing good deeds and charity work. She devoted her whole life to visiting the sick, helping friends and neighbours and bringing a smile to everyone she knew - even complete strangers.'

In her youth Anne Mendel had worked as a hospital secretary and joined the Army during the Second World War, helping to track German bombers blitzing the East End of London.

While living beside Anne Mendel, Kemi locked herself out of her home and was quickly allowed into Anne's home. Anne Mendel did this despite the fact that neighbours reported Kemi subjecting residents nearby to a 'reign of terror'. Reportedly abusing young children, harassing neighbours due to their race and even smearing excrement on windows.

A resident who wanted to remain anonymous stated, "She gave a lot of trouble to one particular family. Once she lay in wait for the man, an Asian, behind a bush and punched him in the face, breaking his nose. She called his wife a "Paki lover". He said she tried to poison his dog as well.' Kemi was later arrested for this.

Other neighbours recall Mr Adeyoola sometimes turning up in his Rolls Royce to see his children, but the visits were brief and infrequent.

Kemi pretty much ignored her and by the time that she was 15 she had already fallen into bad habits. She was stealing frequently from high Street stores. She told the jury when in court that it was a skill and explained how she became adept at changing receipts to get refunds for these stolen goods.

However her arrogance outweighed her skill it seems, as after a string of convictions found herself finally facing a custodial sentence.

Her self-obsession continued and she reportedly talked to one of her siblings bragging about her acting talents when she was questioned by a youth worker. She said that she wept, mumbled and arched her back in an attempt to convince her of her 'innocence and vulnerability' to try and get herself a shorter sentence.

'It worked such a treat I could tell she was touched,' she wrote. 'I felt she sensed my anguish.'

However, her arrogance once again got in her way and she ended up at Bulwood Hall young offenders' institute in Essex for 3 months.

This young offenders institute is where she would craft her devious plan.

Her blueprint was discovered during a routine cell search, it was titled Prison and After - Making Life Again and included a shopping list and logged in detail her plan to kill dismember and dispose of a victim in pursuit of £3 million. The shopping list consisted of sharp knives or butchers knives, guns, drugs and handcuffs.

She imagined several different scenarios including stalking an elderly woman in a wealthy area, posing as a student carrying out a questionnaire.

'Run lightly and silently behind her and cover her mouth with a gloved hand,' she wrote. 'Make her so scared she co-operates. Keep calm, composed and silent. She must co-operate or take a knife to her throat. Tell her, "This is your only warning... With your butcher's knife, remove her head. Wrap it in film to contain bleeding, detach limbs one by one.'

When these writings were discovered she told her psychiatrists and prison staff that her notes were part of the draft of a novel. And incredibly, they believed her. The psychiatric assessment carried out after the document was discovered claimed that it 'did not indicate any concern that Miss Adeyoola would be pre-disposed in any way to this type of violence - nor was there any evidence of this type of violence in her past'. It described her as a 'highly intelligent and sophisticated young person . . . who with good support should make a good recovery and engage in her A level studies.' Kemi told a psychiatrist that she had accused 4 grade A GCSE's which they believed and said they felt it was a shame that she had been arrested.

However after her release in November 2004,1 education wasn't even on her radar. She moved into a flat with another teenager, telling the court that her job as an 'escort' easily paid for her £800 a month flat. She claimed that 'It is a completely legitimate and professional business. We earned up to £5,000 a week.'

In March 2005 her first month without any supervision at an end, Kemi turned her words into action.

Mr Mendel left the home for just an hour to pick up the plane tickets for their upcoming trip to Israel, and within this hour, Anne Mendel was dead. Kemi attacked the elderly woman in her home, inflicting deep wounds to the victims torso, right arm and blade with a blade that was proven to be at least 1 inch wide and 5 inches long.

A spokesman for the Barnet Youth Offending Team said: 'There was nothing in the file that would have predicted homicide. The psychiatric report did not predict any likely occurrence of this.'

Kemi appeared at her trial dressed in a pinstriped suit pink trainers and spangly belt, and she reportedly seemed completely unmoved by her crime. She was smiling and actually exchanging text messages during court recesses.

She lied to the police over the nature of the DNA evidence that had been found on Anne's body, claiming that she had actually visited the pensioner the day before the murder and that the elderly woman has scratched her hand as she helped her across the road.

Kemi then used a 16 year old girl, who can't be named, to try and construct herself an alibi for her brutal crime.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Morris called her 'a callous and devious young woman', adding: 'Her cold, calculated use of extreme violence beggars belief.'

The police investigating the case believe that Kemi never intended to stop there. In fact, they believe that Anne Mendel may simply have been a 'dry run' before targeting a wealthier victim. Detective Sergeant Paul Belsham said: 'If she had got away with this then God knows what she might have done. She is very very dangerous.'

Mr Mendel, who has moved to Israel to live with his daughter, described his wife as someone 'whose life was taken up with kindness and giving up of herself to others The unjust end she met, having so much taken away in such an undeserving manner, left us in total shock.'

[vios-rockland-corner]

Rockland: Zeitgeist pre-release thoughts PT 17

The date of this post is 10/13/19.  Please note that information revealed at this time via Patreon or any of the creator’s blogs may be subject to change after this date.

Here I’ll be talking about a Patreon exclusive spoiler script involving a conversation between Cain and the MC about Damien.

(Spoilers below for BTD2 and the Zeitgeist Demo)

Wow.  There was a LOT packed into this conversation.  Unfortunately it came right off the heels of another spoiler script, and I neither had the time or energy to sort my initial thoughts together and put them out right away.  The problem with this is I don’t think I’ll get everything in here from my first impressions (simply because I forgot initial connections I made).  Still, there’s plenty I can bring up now.

You heard me right though, the conversation here is between Cain and the MC talking about Damien, or more specifically why Cain didn’t like that you seemed to have taken to Damien.

Now before this spoiler script, if you had asked me why I thought Cain had violently took you away after your interaction with Damien earlier, I would have said “jealousy.”  It seemed like a solid guess.  Heck, the biblical version of Cain supposedly killed his brother Abel because he was jealous/envious that God preferred Abel’s gift over his.  I thought it would actually make a lot of sense to for that to be a continuous flaw of Cain’s.  It would help to explain why he could be a kind and caring person, but at the same time is still dangerous due this character flaw of his.  A flaw that could cause him to act violently and even sadistic.

But guess what happened in the script?  Apparently, the MC and I think very alike and they blatantly accuse Cain of being jealous that they got to spend time with Damien (both ways actually, which is a little funny especially how Cain reacts to the insinuation that he wanted to have a romantic night with Damien- spoiler, he’s not amused).  But Cain blatantly tells the MC that he is NOT jealous.  Not only that, he says the reason he pulled you away from the possibility of a second date (well, technically he pulled you away from many things, but let’s stay on topic here), was because he was worried about you getting hurt.

Oh yeah.  Cain is actually claiming that Damien isn’t all he’s cracked up to be, and that he could be somewhat of heart breaker.  He doesn’t describe Damien in a way though that says he’s evil or abusive or even an a-hole or anything.  More like Damien just has a habit of dropping off the grid and being distant.

Now, one could say that perhaps Cain is lying here in order to gain more of the MC’s favor over Damien.  Yes actually, this spoiler script further supports my theory that Cain really wants you to like him.  This sure sounds like the classic, “make the other guy seem like the bad guy and while I’m the one who REALLY cares about you,” and even the MC is a little skeptical with what Cain is saying.  Another small detail I noticed is that the MC seems a little more...comfortable I guess?  With Cain in this conversation.  I can’t tell if this is still a conversation you have early on in the route, or later in the game.  It might be a little later because the MC makes quite a few jabs at Cain verbally.  I feel like the MC that we got in the previous spoiler script would be way too frightened and cautious to make some of the suggestions they do here or act the way they do without fearing upsetting him.  Cain in turn either rolls with what you say/do, or acts very...”real” towards what you say.

Getting back on topic, I actually do believe Cain is being genuine here when he says he was worried about Damien breaking your heart.  The first is that during the demo, Damien actually hints or outright says he doesn’t really have lovers.  He does get comfortable with you, and even a little romantic with the piano, but Cain’s quick to point out how people can make a good impression in a short amount of time.  This is actually really funny to think about considering how you first meet Cain in BTD2 and then see what he’s actually like.  First impressions are important, but not always the truth I guess is what’s best to say here.

The other reason I guess is because I don’t think Cain’s talking smack about Damien out of hate.  There’s small things that get revealed in this script that show Damien and Cain have a MUCH better relationship in the Rockland universe than the BTD universe.  Cain isn’t possibly sending pictures of tortured victims (not confirmed, that was an old guess of mine) to Damien, but cat photos.  Cat.  Photos.  Cain also claims Damien doesn’t really even hate him.  So, they probably aren’t in that whole “good vs. evil for the fate of the world” kind of deal they were back in BTD.

Now are the siblings super close?  Well, not sure.  If the what’s said in the demo by Damien stays in the game for the final product, we also know that Cain used to make fun of Damien for playing the piano like a human.  That and it was a “general consensus” that he was not a good brother.

It’d be interesting to compare how Cain talks about Damien vs. how Damien talks about Cain.  That would reveal how the two view each other, and we’d get to see if either is a liar, misconstrues certain information or really just misunderstands their brother.

I don’t know how to segue into this, but I just had a very random thought pop up into my head.  I think it just came to mine thinking about how questionable Cain’s character is at times, and then how there are some things that MIGHT need to be questioned about Damien:

Cain wants to bond with people, but doesn’t know how.  Damien knows how to bond with people, but doesn’t want to.

I guess this came up because I still question SO many of Cain’s actions.  The last spoiler script on tumblr definitely still made you wary of the guy, and he just seemed livid to me during the demo ending where he pulls you through the mirror.  This whole Patreon spoiler script was Cain being either down-to-earth, playful or concerning.  Nothing in this script made you fear Cain whatsoever.

Now I also have the problem where I would have originally thought getting together with Damien or Sam at the beginning puts you on the road to just “get through” Cain’s stuff (because he’d be more of an antagonist) until you get to the other characters.  Now, not so much.  

This script is clearly exclusive to if you met with Damien at the beginning.  What’s more, it makes me feel like Cain isn’t going to just dump you for no reason.  He’s actually...going to try to get you to stay and like him.  He’s not miffed enough that you went on a date where he’d throw you in a torture chamber or something until someone comes to rescue you or you escape.  He’s putting more effort into conversing with the MC.

It makes me slightly frightened actually because...what exactly happens that causes you to get abandoned by Cain?  Either you completely break his heart (which oddly is sad for me despite what I’ve seen this guy do in the past) or you act in a way that REALLY gets on his bad side.  Even if Rockland Cain is a kinder version, I’d still be concerned what he’s like when he’s p*ssed off.  I mean, if he breaks your face on a mirror when he’s NOT jealous of you and is in fact trying to protect you....I think you get it, haha.

Oh boy.  All my preconceptions are getting thrown out the window and I’m back to not being sure if we’re completely safe yet.  Rockland Cain is definitely going to be difficult to dissect without seeing all the interactions.

One more thing to add.  You get the mirror break demo ending when you talk to either Damien or Sam more intimately.  So if Cain is concerned that Damien will leave you in the dust...what’s his beef with Sam?  I suppose it could be a similar reason.  Like...Sam IS a reaper, and perhaps Cain will think it’s not such a great idea to date some who works so closely with the dead (wait, then what do you do Cain? XD).  Perhaps Sam is friendly outside of work, but is rather cold when on the job, which can be frightening.  I don’t think the reasons for why Cain didn’t like you talking with Damien vs. talking with Sam will be EXACTLY the same, but those are two completely different characters.

Maybe he has an entirely different issue with Sam than he does with Damien.  Cain might not hate Damien, but I don’t know how well he gets along with Sam either.

I think I did a decent job recapturing most of my older thoughts.  But trust me, it got REALLY complicated in my head trying to connect the jovial (but still questionable) Cain from the last strict and the one here that seemed more at your eye-level (and even a little vulnerable).  

Luckily, I think I am the only one going insane over trying to figure this out :P 

[alindakb]

Letters to my Parents - Sunday 20 February 1994 - by Alinda

Sunday 20 February 1994

Dear mom and dad,

My Patronus lessons aren’t going as great as I would like. Draco has no problem conjuring his Patronus. The Tigress is beautiful and always drives the Dementor away. I, on the other hand, are only capable of producing an indistinct, silvery shadow that won’t do anything. It just makes the Dementor hover in place, draining me until I almost pass out. Draco gives me disappointing looks after each lesson. I think he knows that I secretly desire to hear your voices again. Professor Lupin is really proud of both of us. He told me that it’s a huge achievement for a thirteen-year-old wizard to produce an indistinct Patronus. He had complete confidence in me, that I would be okay during the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. Well, I was, but not thanks to my Patronus, no it was Draco that saved me.

Professor Lupin told us about the Dementor’s Kiss. I don’t think he really wanted to, but I asked him what was under the hood of a Dementor. When a Dementor kisses you it sucks out your soul. It sounds horrible. You won’t be dead, just soulless. You’ll have no more sense of self or any memories. And your soul will be lost forever. Hermione once said something about the importance of souls, that our magic is connected to our souls somehow. I can’t remember it correctly anymore. Lupin said that the Ministry plans to give Sirius Black the Dementor’s Kiss when they find him. I told Lupin he deserves it. Lupin was really shocked when I said that. Draco took my hand and squeezed it tightly then, forcing me to shut my mouth. I was not supposed to know about how Black had betrayed both of you.

That same day I also got my hands again on my Firebolt. Professor Snape told us that there was nothing wrong with it at all and that I have a very good friend somewhere. I couldn’t believe it when it was in my hands again. Draco was stroking the twigs at the end, just as in awe as me. We took it down into our common room. The moment I stepped inside I was flooded by people wanting to see my Firebolt. Marcus asked if he could just touch it, to know that it’s really real. Adrian was sure we would win from Ravenclaw now with no problem since they are all on Cleansweep Sevens. It took forever, with the Firebolt being passed around and admired from every angle by the crowd before Draco and I could get to our dormitory.

Madam Hooch, who’s still overseeing our practices to make sure I don’t get killed, was also impressed with the Firebolt and gave us her professional opinion. She kept on going on about different brooms until Marcus asked if I could get my broom back so we could practice. Marcus informed us that Cho Chang was fit enough again to play as seeker in the game and that me being gay was a great advantage. I won’t be distracted by her good looks. I think Marcus thinks she’s pretty. She’s a fourth-year, so maybe a little too young for him, but the entire team agrees he has the hots for her.

After Marcus his little speech I could finally mount my Firebolt. And it was better than I’d ever dreamed. It turns with the lightest touch and seems to obey my thoughts rather than my grip. It’s so fast that the stadium turned into a green-and-grey blur. It was so easy to catch the snitch now that I had a broom this amazing. The other members of the team also seemed inspired by the presence of the Firebolt and performed their best moves faultlessly. After I got the snitch for the third time I just hovered in the air to see Draco fly and practice his moves. Because I braid his hair only at the front it still sweeps behind him when he flies and he looks so beautiful when he does. I wanted to fly up to him and jump him right then and there.

I’ve been thinking about it, touching Draco, seeing him without his clothes. Ever since Christmas. And during our Valentines date, I found out he thought about it too. We had a lovely picnic beside the lake. Draco had managed to get an order in for picnic food from Hogsmeade. It was lovely. After we finished the food we took a walk around the lake until we ended up at the Quidditch changing rooms. Draco pushed me inside and we started snugging. And before I knew it Draco was pushing my sweater over my head and stroking his hands all over my bare torso. Well, I’m sure you don’t want to read all the details. It ended with Draco’s shirt on the ground too and his hand down my trousers, wrapped around me. Fuck, that felt good, to have his hands on me. I repaid him the favour after the match against Ravenclaw and I can say it’s just as hot as having his hands on me.

On the day of the match, Marcus placed my Firebolt on the breakfast table. Most students loved how the other house stared at it jealously. Marcus was most pleased with Wood’s disbelieved reaction. They are both so determent to win the cup this year it’s has become a dangerous rivalry. I believe professor Snape had to stop the two from fighting in his class the other day. Wood thinks it’s unfair I fly a Firebolt, that it gives Slytherin an unfair advantage. Diggory, the team captain of Hufflepuff is a lot nicer. He came by to congratulate me on my new broom. He even apologised again for not realising I fell off my broom when he caught the snitch in our last game. I told him it was fine as long as he would lose all his other games. He laughed and said he couldn’t promise anything.

Nott and Crabbe had to say so stupid things before the match, asked me if the new broom came with a parachute, just in case the Dementors come near me. Draco told them to shut their mouth and pulled out his wand. Adrian and Miles also took out their wants and said it would be fun to hex them back into the dungeons. I’ve heard that Nott wanted to try out for the team this year for the seeker position and was that he’s been angry about me getting the spot without any try-outs.

The game started out good. Lee Jordan, a friend of Fred and George was commenting and had to be reminded a couple of times to stop advertising the Firebolt and focus on the game instead. I just flew around, looking for the golden snitch. Chang was a good flier and followed me around the pitch. The most fun in the game was every time I passed Draco, seeing he was in possession of the Quaffle and he would blow me a small kiss. He scored the first goal of the game and most of the goals for Slytherin after that. He’s really the star of our team and I’m so proud of him.

It was hard to find the snitch. Every time I saw it and tried to go for it, either a Bludger or Chang would block my way. Marcus yelled at me to stop being a gentleman and just knock Chang of her broom. His crush completely forgotten. I followed his advice and did a nice dive, Chang followed me and struggled to get out of the dive when I did. Then I saw the snitch and accelerated towards it. Chang was falling far behind and I knew I was going to get it. Then Chang screamed and I looked around quickly. There were a couple of Dementors looking at me and without thinking I pulled out my wand to perform the Patronus charm, only Draco beat me and his beautiful Tigress charged at the Dementors. I turned back to the snitch, didn’t even wait to watch what would happen to the Dementors. I just wanted to win this match, so I reached out and grabbed the snitch. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and in seconds Draco’s mouth was on mine. He kissed me midair to loud chairs of all the Slytherins. I knew they chaired because we had won, but still, it was amazing. The rest of the team joined us in the air and they all hugged me. Marcus kept yelling that he knew the gay duo was the best.

When we got down to the ground the Slytherin supporters came sprinting towards us, all shouting and chairing. Blaise was so happy because he had a bet going with Luna on who would win. Professor Snape was also between the students and congratulated us on the win and told Draco he showed some proper spell work with his Patronus charm. His eyes kept flickering between me and Draco and it felt like he was worried. I said the Dementors didn’t even affect me this time and that’s when Professor Snape showed us who the Dementors had been. It was Wood, the team captain of Gryffindor, together with Nott and Crabbe. Professor McGonagall was shouting at them and gave them all detention. Unfortunately, she also took 100 points from our house because of it. When Marcus saw Wood struggling to remove himself from a long, black, hooded robe he just stormed away, screaming something about that Wood was a pussy for trying to sabotage the Slytherin team.

After that day, Nott and Crabbe avoid the common room and sit alone during meals. None of the other Slytherins like it that they almost destroyed our chances to win the Quidditch Cup this year. Draco says it’s deserved after everything they did to me, but I feel sorry for them. I know how hard it is when the rest of your house hates you. I hope everyone just forgets about it soon and things go back to normal.

On our way back to the castle Hermione came to congratulate us on our win. She told me her friendship with Ron is totally history now. She never wants to talk to Ron again. He accused her cat Crookshanks of eating his rat Scabbers. She had a whole speech for Draco and I that Ron has no proof that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers and that Ron has been prejudiced against her cat ever since Crookshanks had landed on Ron’s head in the Magical Menagerie.  When I later talked to Neville, he explained that Ron hasn’t found Scabbers as of yet and that he has solid proof. It turns out his sheet had blood on it, and Crookshanks’ hairs were found at the scene. I told Hermione that maybe Ron was right and she just yelled at me. That off course all of it was her fault and that I should just leave her alone. I think her massive workload is catching up with her. She didn’t even want to join the party we had after the Quidditch match, said she had to read a book for Muggle studies before Monday. So after our last Transfiguration lesson this week, I waited till everyone left the classroom and told Professor McGonagall that I’m worried about Hermione taking on to many classes. She said she would have a talk with Hermione and make sure she’s fine. I hope Hermione won’t hate me for looking out for her, I just miss my best friend. Remember that I was supposed to meet up with her after my last letter, well she never showed up. She had fallen asleep on her books in the Gryffindor common room.

The day after the match we heard that Black and broken into Gryffindor tower. He had torn Ron’s bed hangings. Neville told us all about it, said Black had a knife and that it was all his fault. He had lost the piece of paper with the passwords for that week and that is how Black had gotten into Gryffindor tower. He’s banned from any more Hogsmeade visits this year. I felt really sorry for him when he got a howler from his grandmother.

Ever since that night, there are more security measures. Filch is boarding up every little crack in the walls he can find. It’s kind of funny to watch. Also, we had a little meeting with our Slytherin friends. We didn’t invite Hermione and Luna, not sure if they will agree to help or even keep their mouth shut. We are working on a plan to find Black and give him the punishment he deserves. Daphne and Greg had some very good ideas and Blaise wondered if he could get some tips from his mother on how to best kill Black. Really, Blaise and his mom their relationship is a mystery to me. Who would ask his own mother on tips of how to kill someone? But more to the point, we have a plan at the ready, we just need to get all our supplies during our next trip to Hogsmeade.

Draco is really confused as to why Black went for the Gryffindor tower and Ron. Keeps muttering there needs to be an explanation as to why Black isn’t going after me. That by now Black most have realised I’m not in Gryffindor but in Slytherin. He’ll figure it out soon enough and enlighten me about it all, until then I know it’s best to just let him stew on it.

I’m going off to bed now. Love you both,

Harry James Potter.

[dailyaudiobible]

07/08/2019 DAB Transcript

1 Chronicles 5:18-6:81, Acts 26:1-32, Psalms 6:1-10, Proverbs 18:20-21

Today is the 8th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a great to be here with you today as we dive into our work week and as we kind of come off of the Daily Audio Bible long walk yesterday. And those pictures are still coming in, and I love it. I hope you had a wonderful time and were able to participate. If you weren’t, I mean, you can do this anytime. You can go for a long one with God anytime…actually…hopefully what's happened is you just modeled for yourself what kind of peace could be available if you slowed the world on and actually just mark off a day. So, hopefully it was a wonderful time for you. It certainly was rich. It is every year that I…that I draw that circle around a day and set it aside. So, it's good to be here with you refreshed and ready to go into this week. We’re working our way to the genealogies in first Chronicles at this point. We are also working through the drama that is in the apostle Paul's life now that he's been arrested. The Hebrew people, his own people want him dead. They’re trying to find some sort of way, either through the Romans or through an ambush, through some way, to kill him and he’s actually now being protected because he's incarcerated. So, as things stand in the book of Acts, there’s a new governor in town. The religious leaders of the Hebrew people are petitioning for Paul to be executed. The governor asks if Paul will go to Jerusalem to stand trial and Paul appeals to Caesar. And we will pick up with that story when we get to the New Testament, but first we’re reading from the New International Version this week. First Chronicles chapter 5 verse 18 through 6:81.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in our reading from the book of Acts today. Paul again, and this is becoming a theme, he had the opportunity to share the gospel while he was defending himself against the accusations of the Jewish religious leaders, and he was doing this in front of very, very powerful people, people that Paul would not have been able to get a meeting with, right? So, in this case he's in front of the Roman governor of Syria, so like a province of the Roman Empire and his name was Festus, but he’s also speaking in front of King Herod Agrippa the second and the king's sister Bernice. And their together, but I mean there's a ton of historical speculation that their together because they have an incestuous relationship, but it goes deeper. Agrippa and Bernice, they were both siblings of Drusilla. So, Drusilla was the wife of the previous governor, Felix. And as we read in the book of Acts, Felix would call Paul and talk to Paul on a continual ongoing basis for a couple years. So, Paul is like intimately sharing, like not just like a passing message, but intimately sharing the details of the gospel and his testimony to high ranking Roman officials as well as royalty while being protected from assassination by the Romans. It's pretty incredible. And, so, he's giving this testimony today in front of Bernice and Agrippa and King Agrippa's like, “do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” And Paul's like, “you know, like, quick or not isn't the point. I just pray that you and everybody else here comes to know Jesus. I pray that you would be like me except for the chains.” So, it’s important to see what's happening here. Paul was told by the Holy Spirit to go back to Jerusalem off of his missionary journeys and he was arrested, right? So, things look bad and people want to kill him, but Paul is also being allowed, and even in invited to speak the truth of the gospel to the most influential people in the entire region, in the whole world at that time. So, he openly shared the gospel of Jesus with two different Roman governors, with the entire Jewish high Council, with the King and two of the king's sisters. That's pretty big, like that's pretty far up the ladder but Paul wasn't starstruck by any of them. He didn’t try to bribe, he didn't blubber, he didn't try to mastermind his freedom or manipulate the situation. He just shared the good news even though he was a prisoner and it was his imprisonment that opened the door to this kind of interaction. And, so, what we have in the example of the apostle Paul is a pretty good look at…it’s a pretty good look at what complete devotion to Jesus, the kind of loyalty that could only be borne out of being fully convinced, right, and involved in an intimate relationship. He was willing to die over this and that is pretty devoted. And Paul's testimony brought…I mean…it brought disruption everywhere he went, because it was forcing a reinterpretation of ancient customs and rituals. That was the problem. Paul wasn't trying to say, “we all need to do away with Moses. We all need to forget about Abraham and just move forward. Let's figure something new out.” He wasn't trying to do that. He was a trained scholarly Pharisee who was looking at his own religion and then looking at his own religion through the eyes of a rabbi, right, with the Messiah, what Jesus had been saying and it was clicking, it was making sense, but it was disrupting everything because it was a reinterpretation. But in that reinterpretation, God's loving heart and personal interests in restoring humanity was revealed. And it's so weird, right, because we has believers, we can be like, “why…why wouldn't the whole world want this kind of peace? Like, why wouldn't the whole world want God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.” But we see that Paul experienced the same kind of things Jesus faced. And all we can really conclude from that is that Jesus was right. The light came into the darkness but people like the cover of the darkness better because they can hide. And, so, the disruptions we see around Paul are really simply the byproduct of what awakening does, like when a person sees the light and opens their eyes and can see. So, let's remember again that it's…it’s the same Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, same Holy Spirit that compelled Paul to bring light and good news even in spite of the circumstances which is the story we’re reading now. It's the same story for us, we’ll bring light into the darkness. We’re supposed to be bringing light in the darkness wherever we step foot. Is that true of our lives??

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. We’re seeing examples of the formative years of the church, we’re seeing the kinds of things that people were dealing with and the kind of culture that they were in while they were dealing with it and we can begin to realize, yeah, “it's a bit of a different, it’s a different part of the world and different customs, but not as distant as we might think” So, Father, we invite You into all of the things that we’re reading. Every day You're bringing up something within us, every day Your touching something about us. And, so, we invite You into this. We’re watching the bravery and the courage but we’re also watching the conviction and the intimacy of the apostle Paul with You that would cause him to do this and we think of ourselves and we invite You to show us the entanglements, the things that would keep our loyalties divided, the things that would keep us from surrender to You. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what is going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

Don't forget to go onto our Facebook page facebook.com/dailyaudiobible and just kind of look in on the long walk. Some pictures are still coming in from yesterday. Just look in and enjoy. Enjoy the fellowship of community, just being able to look into each other's lives and look into each other's part of the world and enjoy the beauty that God bestows upon us every day. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we move through and navigate the summertime, thank you. Thank you humbly. There’s a link on the homepage. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253, is the number to dial.

And that is it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB family this is Lori from __ North Carolina, now traveling North America with my husband John, our cat Rosie and a truck __ . This is for Laura Lee from Boynton Beach who called on June 12th about her mom’s salvation, about the wounds that can be inflicted between a mother and daughter. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to respond but I wanted you to know the story of my mom. I became a Christian in 1975 and began praying for her salvation from that day forward. But it seemed my prayers did nothing and in later years she developed Alzheimer’s and she lashed out at me in anger and hatred where I had once been the one closest to her and the heartache was almost intolerable. But we kept on praying for her salvation even though the disease ravaged her memory and her personality and eventually she stopped eating, began to lapse into delusions, and long comatose periods as if she wasn’t going to be with us much longer. Then the Lord moved the heart of a friend of ours who offered to come and pray. And I told him she’d likely wouldn’t even know we’d be in the room, but he came anyway. On that morning we walked into a room and were greeted by the miraculous sight of her sitting up in bed eating a hearty breakfast and fully coherent. Our friend shared the gospel with her. She asked questions to make sure she understood and to show that she just wasn’t just being polite for her visitors and she gave her life to Christ. She was born again 39 years after I began praying for her salvation. Even though it had appeared that Alzheimer’s had already stolen her away. Several days later my mom died in her sleep. I just wanted to share that story with you to let you know she’s with Jesus now, to encourage you and everyone else that’s been praying for a loved one for very long time. So, please don’t ever give up even when it looks like all has been lost. Our God is faithful and awesome and His word will never return to him void.

I’m struggling trying to find God’s will for my life. I feel like giving up. He tells us…the word says to not worry about what I’m gonna eat or what I’m gonna do but He doesn’t seem to answer my prayers. He seems far away and I’m giving up hope. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

Hi family this is his little Cherry in Canada and I would like to request prayer for myself. I don’t feel like I’m doing very well. I’m still full of gratitude for the miracle of the wedding weekend. I’m so grateful to God for how He answered all of our prayers for my daughter’s wedding, but I am really struggling now. I’m not even sure how they articulate exactly. Of course, I’m feeling sad that…that I have an empty nest. I’m feeling tired, which is to be expected after such whirlwind wedding after the last nine months of preparation but I’m also feeling really discouraged about my health. I’m having real trouble with my lower back and tailbone. I haven’t been able to sit, not for long anyway, for the past few weeks and I’ve had to give up driving because I can’t sit. It’s really hard to get comfortable. My lower tail…back and tailbone have been sore for, oh, probably over six months but it’s just getting worse and no one seems to know why. I went to the doctor today and she was very unhelpful. And basically, just said, “hmmmm…I don’t know.” So, I’m feeling really discouraged. I’m feeling down because I just don’t feel like I have much purpose anymore. All of the ministry stuff that I have been involved with previously, I’m not doing anymore mostly because of my health. So, I just would really appreciate prayer that God would encourage me. Thank you so much family. Bye for now.

Hi Daily Audio Bible, this is Rebecca from Michigan. It is 4th of July. Happy 4th of July everybody and happy birthday to Jill. Hey, you know what you guys? I was going up the elevator and this guy, he put something in my heart. Like, some people…it’s like an older guy…and he said, “like some people don’t know where their sleeping tonight, what they’re eating tonight”, all this stuff, “some people don’t have a place to put their head on a pillow.” So, like I was so like God has that on my heart like people that are homeless He has…like…once in a while I see this one guy with a dog, he’d even trying to get support for his dog and the dog and him are homeless. So, it’s like I always wonder how people get that way, how they end up homeless. And, you know, I didn’t think about it but it’s something to thank God for, that if you have a roof over your head, a meal every day, I car to take you to work, gas in it to take you there, and if you have cloths on your back, you basically are rich. I mean I know it’s like not millions of dollars, but you have things that you need, basic needs. And it’s like, wow! There’s something to thank God for, the fact that you have these things that get you where you need to go, to make an income, to put a roof over your head, and food in your belly, and cloths on your back, and a car to get you to work, and gasoline to put in it. This is amazing that God has truly blessed us lots of times.

Hi family, it’s Shannon from Texas and I have the very best news. The best day of my life happened about a week ago. Jadrian my son that I have been calling in for for about four years since I started listening to the Daily Audio Bible, I’ve called in for him many times. We have had…I could write a book about __. I shouldn’t even talk about it at this point but just leading up to what happened the other day when I felt compelled to…I’m sitting and talking with my boss and…there’s just so much going on we’re I felt like…and even my son has mentioned he’d felt like he had these demonic attacks lots of times. And so much has gone on that I’ve called in about before about my son __ , about murder and __ practically proclaiming that, you know, he hated God and, you know, just even talking about Satan and the things that __. Too much to tell right now but I just prayed and prayed and prayed that my son would give his life to and his heart to God and I just didn’t happen the way that it just did out of the blue because I didn’t see anything happening. And the other day, my mom and I were talking and all of a sudden, I felt compelled to call in…not call in but get on the Facebook page and put my son on there. And literally a few minutes later he came in and sat down and said he wanted to pray and gave his heart to the Lord. My time is up. I love you guys. Thank you. I love you, love you. Bye-bye.