#but that's not the POINT the POINT is the HEIST

[tacotuesdaybestday]

Okay I see a lot of Batfam x neglected reader and don't get me wrong It's one of my favorites but most of it is kinda the same thing over and over.

You know the classic reader loses mom goes to live with Bat family hopes to connect it fails horribly reader either leaves and starts anew or wallows in depression, and I'm like okay this okay but I want something new and exciting something dramatic.

Okay now hear me out hear a reader who loves theater since their mother was a small time actress, a reader who was practically born to act, born to be on a stage.

A reader whose only comfort after their mother died was old time plays and their moms own acts, and the Batfam ain't no help either what with the neglect and all.

A reader who despite looking and acting as if their okay was hurting so much on the inside just wanting someone to look at them tell their loved someone to hug and hold them.

A reader who wanted a family.

Their final breaking point was them finally realising they would never be loved as much as Dick or praised as much as Damien who would never be as smart as Tim or able to read people as well as Cassandra.

So reader just kinda snaps and leaves joins a traveling theater group of unwanted individuals learns that life is pretty shitty and grows up while simultaneously honing their skills.

And what better way to get revenge than by becoming what bruce hates most, a villain and I'm not pulling any stops here were talking heists, murders, the sweet purging of corrupt political figures.

Since I think of the reader as a theater kid I would think they would take on a more jester like style while wearing the Comedy and Tragedy masks, and would take hostages and have them answer questions to determine wether or not if their free to go.

So this my take on a Batfam x neglected reader who just says fuck it and goes berserk, so tell me your thoughts.😁

[reckoning1187]

A thought I had…

What is Joker’s purpose for doing what he does? He’ll go on and on about “getting what he wants”, but what is he actually after? Fun? Chaos?

I don’t think it’s purely any of that, though he does take some pleasure in them. I think what he wants is for Batman to react. To break his moral code, to kill someone. Maybe to become someone akin to himself, even if it takes the Joker *himself* dying to achieve it. He wants to push Batman so far that he breaks.

Take some of Joker’s very first schemes and heists into consideration: he wasn’t having fun. He didn’t care if he succeeded in robbing a bank— didn’t care about the money or the fame much.

Joker is highly intelligent. He can create any device to suit his needs and can manipulate others very well. His ability to predict outcomes is incredible. Of course he’s bored! He doesn’t have something or someone to compete with. Even revealing his face and his name can’t give anyone an advantage against him. Until Batman comes along.

This man, also gadgety, intelligent and into theatrics (c’mon the whole bat-theme is a BIT dramatic), is probably the closest to his level he’s ever met. Obviously he declares Batman his rival.

Later, Joker obsesses over Batman to the point that he makes challenges that ONLY Batman can solve. To test him, see how he fares, and sees how he responds to different things. He wants to see how he works.

He doesn’t really care who Batman is under the cowl, because

1. Because it doesn’t really matter to him. And let’s be honest, he’s probably already figured out that it’s Bruce Wayne. He simply hasn’t revealed Batman’s true identity because it would take away his playmate. Batman is the kind of guy who would willingly go to prison (as long as there weren’t any rabid criminals loose at the moment).

2. He’s more interested in Batman’s mind and his ambitions.

Later in their stories, Joker almost EXCLUSIVELY targets Batman. Even if his schemes seem random or completely unrelated, his endgame is for Batman to confront him. Joker is testing Batman’s morality. Obviously Joker doesn’t care too much about casualties, but he *knows* it affects his rival. In some of Joker’s biggest schemes and crimes, he hurts or kills hundreds of innocents, or a person that is close to Batman himself.

(-SPOILER AHEAD for ‘Batman: Death in the Family’ and ‘Batman: Under the Red Hood’ and the aligning comics-) Skip to the “End of Spoiler” if you need to.

For example, Joker kidnaps Jason (Robin at the time) with an obvious goad for Batman to come after them. He beats Jason BRUTALLY— but not for fun or for his sadism, but to make Batman react. He kills Jason with the explosion, moments from when Batman could’ve saved his Robin. He WANTS Batman to be angry.

(-END OF SPOILER-)

Joker wants Batman to be pushed so far that he breaks his moral code— so that he breaks his spirit. And *Joker* wants to be the one to do it.

Through all of his testing, all of his trials, Joker truly thinks of Batman as his *one rival*, the only person who could even compete with him, let alone possibly beat him.

And even if Joker *is* killed in the process, he still wins, in his mind. HE is the one to make Batman fall. HE is the one to break him. He wins.

Anyway. Was writing something and this came to mind. I’ve been a DC fan foreverrrrrr and haven’t had anyone to rant this to that will understand wtf I’m going on about. Happy writing! (Or thinking, if I managed to break your brain. Whoops.)

[choccy-zefirka]

Letters from the year 9:16 Dragon

Magister Alexius,

We have been scoffed at by enough highborn mages in our own home country to know that sycophantic forms of address are a waste of ink, so we are just going to get to the point. If you discard our letter because there are no “Your Lordships” in between every three words, you probably were not worth contacting in the first place.

We are two apprentices of the Mortalitasi, working on a research project. In our studies, we came across several citations of a book of yours, On Novel Developments in Thaumaturgy, but were unable to obtain the full text. The subject, specifically the formulae in Chapter 4, is highly relevant to our work, and we would very much like to know if there is a way to find the unabridged version. Preferably one that does not involve traveling all the way to Tevinter and orchestrating a heist at the local library because Volkarin here is a coward we are technically not allowed to leave the Grand Necropolis without supervision.

Any helpful advice is much appreciated!

Best regards,

Emmrich Volkarin and Johanna Hezenkoss

P.S. Dear sir, please pardon any ink smudges; Johanna was highly insistent on including the opening paragraph, and my attempts at wrestling the quill from her proved unsuccessful. – Emmrich

***

Dear Emmrich and Johanna,

I trust you permit me to address you as such; and you, in turn, may address me as Gereon. In truth, I came into my magisterial seat quite recently, as it was ceded to me by my father. While I myself enjoy the privilege of being “highborn”, as you put it, I find it quite regrettable that the mage nobility of Nevarra harbors the same prejudices as my peers. I am of a firm belief that young minds should be nurtured with utmost care, regardless of the circumstances of one’s birth.

It is, therefore, my utmost pleasure to enclose the little volume after which you inquired, along with several other books from my personal library that explore an adjacent field of study and might prove of use to you. I was an apprentice less than a decade ago, so I understand the frustrations of scouring the library for the most fitting source to cite. There were days when a heist indeed seemed like the only solution!

If you wish to share any further details of your research, I would be delighted to hear from you again. Best of luck with your endeavors!

Sincerely,

Gereon Alexius

P.S. You, too, must forgive the ink smudges. I have a young son, and he gets rather fussy when he must be parted from me, thus I write with tiny hands constantly reaching for my inkwell. Consider the little handprint at the bottom an additional greeting.

[poltergeist-punk]

A Fickle Thing by Jae_Cillian

Summary:

Silco was floating. Calm. At peace for but a single moment in which his entire body was weightless, supported in the water’s gentle caress. With his next breath, though, it hit him all at once. The constriction of his lungs, the toxins searing the open flesh of his gut, his chest ablaze as he choked.

The flutter of his heart raced as the image flashed before him of water made wine dark by his blood, of large calloused hands squeezing his throat and holding him under. The shadow of a man—his friend—hung above him, but when he flailed to scrape his nails into the wrists choking him, his hands found nothing—no one—save the tendrils of blood mixing further with the waste of the river.

--

In which, unbeknownst to anyone, Silco survives being shot by Jinx. Feeling conflicted and lost—unsure if revealing himself to Jinx would hurt her more than heal her—Silco finds himself drawn to the old mining shaft. He finds more than the dusty letter with his name on it when a beast shoves its way in. Not just a beast. Vander. And when Jinx, Vi, and Isha track that same beast to the mines, what should be heartfelt reunions are clouded with the pain their decisions inflicted on each other.

(not done yet but it’s sooooo good like sell my kidney good like i adore how they wrote silco and focus on his perspective, protective dad silco im feral)

Forward - Part Two by Rimeko

Summary:

It started differenly. Worse. But maybe it means it won't end the same way - in water and blood.

Zaundads bingo event - "Rescue"

(haven’t read the first part but it’s pretty good as a standalone! the dynamic is very sweet but in an actual realistic way)

Memories of Bedrock by Renlukun

Summary:

Deep in the mines of Zaun, Silco fought every day to survive. When he crossed paths with Vander, he assumed he was just another man seeking to use him. What Silco never anticipated was how fate would reshape his life—from finding his greatest love to sparking a revolution.

Part I of a series that will explore how Vander and Silco fell in love, started a revolution before and after the Pilt River incident in the Alternate timeline.

(haven’t read the lastest chapter but it gave me brainworms, silco my princess with a disorder!!! okay but srsly i like how it characterized young silco to be more rough around the edges IM SO ILL)

Drown Me in Your Memories by starsniper

Summary:

A haze of red floods Silco’s vision. He inhales, but he can’t breathe, and when his legs threaten to buckle out from underneath him, he clings to Vander’s shoulders, desperately trying to still the tremor in his hands. The cigar he’d been holding falls to the ground, forgotten. Silco hears it splash into a puddle.

---

There are some memories that can never be buried, no matter how hard one tries to forgive and forget. Silco knows this better than anyone else.

(the characterization and the angst is just *eats dry wall* very realistic and i need to chew on them both, like the dynamic, the ptsd, the messy process of healing RAHHHH)

Undertow by ringfinger

Summary:

“Slapping me?” Vander slurred, and the grip on Silco’s hair tightened, mean enough that his scalp burned. It felt good. Silco struggled against him, pushed against his shoulder. “Like I’m some kind of dog?”

“A dog would be better behaved,” Silco shot back, and that was what earned him the sock in the jaw that sent stars scattering across his vision and blood filling his mouth. He choked on it, coughed, splattering Vander’s face with flecks of spit and blood. “Case in point.”

(THE 👏 CHARACTERIZATION 👏 i’m telling you i love when they are fucked up, like so fucked up im so sososososo normal i think i hauve covid-)

Blood and Water by Rauchendes_GNU

Summary:

See, Silco had always had a strange relationship with danger. It made him a fearless leader of riots and uprisings. When going on a heist, he was the first one in and the last one out. He’d learned to pick locks and disable simple, and later more complicated, traps. Silco was the one they sent to negotiate because he wouldn’t let anyone intimidate him, no matter if their opponents wore masks and armour and carried guns. Silco was fearless. Silco flirted with death.

(i really like the characterization and angst (again) but i have to admit the depictions of trauma and coping mechanisms i found really realistic like even the messy ugly feelings)

don’t at me about my reviews i know what i like and i stick with it, so they all sound the same 💀 also it’s not letting me embed links rn sowwy

HEY FREAKS

GIMME ZAUNDADS FICS AND MY LIFE IS YOURS

I BEG OF YOU

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

[skyrigel]

Me when I consume media with a stabbing knowledge that I'll never experience anything as mortifying, beautiful and agonizing as this, with my hands tainted my brain rotted my heart overwhelmed and for my soul to be forever grotesquely haunted ( affectionately )

[jerich0two]

Heard he was part of the mob in his prime...

Bonus monochrome newspapery version!

Maybe -- just maybe! -- this is my version of Overlord Angel.

[polarisbear]

more dweebs (Very detailed image description below.)

a drawing of grian, ethoslab, tangotek, and smallishbeans. grian is in his season 10 fishing skin and the rest are in different outfits referencing their base themes.

grian is in his fishing skin looking very tired with his fishing rod swung over his shoulder and an ear pierced with a brassy fish hook. he’s a cod hybrid with fin-ears and a stubby tail. behind him blue snail is munching on some leaves.

etho is posing with a neck sheepishly behind his neck and the other resting on his bag. he’s in the postal uniform polo with a green, canadian maple-themed yukata loosely worn and slipping off his shoulder. he has fingerless gloves on under. he is wearing dark red pleated pants and light green heeled crocs. he has a black and red messenger bag with a trellis motif. etho is an arctic fox hybrid with brown legs and streaks through his hair. doodles below show what his paws look like under the crocs and one shows him posing with a note saying “ties up sleeves.” above him another note reads “streaks bc his winter coat is shedding.”

tango is posing confidently with a wrench. he is in the postal uniform polo, with chunky brown and orange gloves and boots, topped off with red, pinstriped overalls. one strap is not around his shoulder, and on the belt around the overalls they carry a small bag, a screwdriver, and a vial of redstone. he has on brown goggles with blue lenses. tango has fire for hair and pointed ears. above him there’s a doodle of the messenger bag that’s secured on his back. it shows how the orange straps tuck over the whole outfit and lead to a dark red and pinstripe blue bag with cog detailing.

joel is giving an indignant pose like he’s complaining. he is wearing a black undershirt that fades out into his light green claws, a pink kimono with only one sleeve of cherry blossom patterns, and a dark grey vest and cherry blossom-patterned obi tie it off. the vest has a cherry blossom crest on the back. joel also has on dark pink pants with a cherry blossom motif on the bottom and on his left arm there’s a bracer with a screen built in. crawling all over the undershirt there are cybernetic patterns connecting joel’s skin through to the undershirt. joel is a tanuki, hence why he has a leaf on his head. around joel are doodles showing the crest on the back of his vest and the pattern on the sleeve.

[yeonbam]

girl joke would've slayed in the acting/modelling industry if his father wasn't suffering from STEM superiority complex (which is why he thinks anything that's not becoming a doctor is a failure 💀)

remember when joke just freehanded at the modeling gig and gagged jack so hard

he invented joker to act out spontaneous and silly little roles every week as a treat and never got caught until he let himself be seen like... imagine if this psycho was given the training and environment for honing his skills in that sphere... he would end everyone.

[neoinformer]

NeoInformer Launch Issue: December 2024

Available in printable PDF format via google drive (for now):

Happy launch day! We hope you enjoy!

[snacobie]

Jem doodles from our sesh last night

[epicfirestormer]

[stromuprisahat]

Six of Crows- Chapter 27

Kaz is confronted about his straying from the plan.

Kaz obeys.

He doesn't have to explain himself further as a leader, yet a single sentence of insistence from Inej makes him reveal more.

I've been recently reminded of the term morality pet. While I enjoy his soft spot for Inej, I don't think this particular moment is suitable for supporting the rest of the group. They're literally on a roof of Fjerdan most guarded building, barefoot, poorly clothed, and the clock is ticking.

Yeah. their history should be longer than just a year or two.

And Jesper doesn't seem happy about being left out. :(

Can't wait for the enraged crowds yelling Kaz is an awful person for LYING to his people INCLUDING the woman he'll claim to have feelings for just because he's not ready to share his tragic backstory.

Or not. I keep forgetting this is a cool teen criminal, not a survivor of hundreds of years of extermination attempts with revolutionary tendencies. [End of bitter Darkling stan rant]

He's not afraid to admit a mistake, but he won't offer the truth.

[six-of-cringe]

Something that is sad but also that I hugely appreciate about CK is that by the end, most of the systems that harmed the crows are still in place, but their relationships with themselves have grown and changed. I find this particularly interesting in the cases of Jesper and Wylan (shocking I know). Their identities still put them in danger of being exploited or harmed - Grisha indentures are still the norm in Kerch, and the auction scene made it very clear that if the Council knew Wylan's illiteracy was true, they would treat him much the same as his father did due to the culture surrounding productivity and ability. This might seem disheartening, but the hope lies in the shift in how these characters see themselves and their role in the world. By the end of the book, Jesper and Wylan are beginning to put away their internalized shame surrounding their identities. They may still have to hide who they are from the world to survive, but they're no longer hiding it from themselves - their true selves are no longer this crushing burden they have to turn away from to function. A general theme of the series is how, in accepting who they are and what has happened to them on a personal level, the crows place themselves in positions to make change on a systemic level - Inej and her ship, Nina and her mission, Kaz and his Barrel empire, Wylan and Jesper with their political, high-society empire. None of them are all the way there yet by the end - they're still healing, and both the loss of Matthias and the weight of those oppressive systems are going to weigh on them for a long time - but we get to see the very beginnings of that process. I'm going to bite someone.

[cinni-k]

I don't yet have the stamina to draw literally everyone so here's Poe and Daisy for some HEIST 2 FANART BABY!!!!!!!!!! HEIST 2!!!!!!!!

[amee-racle-ofmyown]

I've been unable to work on my longer WIPs for some reason but take this. for lack of a better title:

idiots locked in the world's most romantically charged staring contest

Heist Mark x Y/N (reader) | 628 words

You wait just around the corner, quiet and out of sight, and lightly smack Mark's arm with the back of your hand when he tries to peer around you, lest someone see and you have both your covers blown.

Your partner rolls his eyes exaggeratedly and you level him with a stare.

You understand the anticipation, but patience is crucial for jobs like this. You wait for the signal. One wrong move could cost you a lot more than just your loot.

The little nook of the building you're waiting in is, rather conveniently for means of slinking around unnoticed, out of the way, and quite narrow. Even with Mark leaning back against the opposite wall, you are mere inches apart.

He checks his watch. 'Should be any minute now,' he utters in a hushed voice.

You nod. Several seconds pass. Distant chatter echoes down the halls, muffled into a steady background ambience of rich party attendees blissfully unaware of the thieves in their midst.

You look at your partner, simply because you have nothing else to do. He's craning his neck again in a futile attempt to peek around the corner more subtly.

His suit for the night is crisp, and gives his silhouette a sharper outline than the more typical cosy sweaters and soft flannel shirts. His hair looks especially dark cast in shadow, but there's enough light from outside the enclosed space that you see it reflected in his eyes. Softly glowing white and orange and magenta specs, floating on deep brown. Pretty.

It's as he turns his head back to face you, that he notices you staring, and meets your gaze without missing a beat.

Mark smiles, faintly roguish, but gentle and just for you.

He holds your stare, and something to the way he does so makes you wonder if he sees the same lights sparkling in your own eyes, and if he finds the sight as oddly captivating as you do.

A minute passes.

Mark loosens his tie.

It's a simple, small thing, but it stirs something inside of you, and you don't know why, but your breath hitches a little and your eyes widen slightly and he definitely notices. But he doesn't say anything and neither do you. All he does is keep looking intensely into your eyes until he doesn't because his gaze is flickering elsewhere — trailing across your features, settling on your mouth for longer than can be dismissed and when you bite your lip subconsciously it's as if he's mesmerised. You can hardly recall where you are or what you're doing here, none of it matters as much as his head tilting ever so slightly and then—

A voice through your earpiece jolts you out of your stupor. You suddenly take stock of the warmth from Mark's breath on your face. Your noses almost bumping. When did he get so close?

You press a button on your earpiece to answer the call, and by the look on your partner's face, he hears it too. It's Wubba and Bubba, giving the signal as agreed, and the moment is gone and your friend clears his throat and straightens up, as a confusing mixture of disappointment and frustration and lingering excitement flutter and twist in your gut.

When he moves out of your immediate space, the inches feel like miles.

You push the feelings down. You have work to do.

Mark mumbles something over the voice channel before turning back to you once again.

'You ready, buddy?'

The corner of your mouth quirks up, matching his own eager grin.

'You know I am.'

His grin widens.

'Good,' he says, adjusting his sleeve and finally getting a better look around the corner, now that the coast is decidedly clear. 'Alright, partner. Showtime.'

[steamanband]

Son boy!!!!