#larceny from a building

[emile-hides]

So like... running Immy theories? I'm thinking she's a failed attempt at a Bio Weapon.

[zuhaii]

moonlight larceny

tags. gn! reader, implied nsfw?, thief!wanderer note. inspired off the epic the musical song, "would you fall in love

...

the moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting a sliver glow across the room. you lay in bed, closing your eyes as you felt the cool summer breeze brush against your cheek.

"sleeping?"

a voice broke the stillness of the night. from the window, he appeared- scaramouche, the thief whose presence had become as regular as the turning of tides.

you stayed silent, pretending to be asleep, as you did every night, listening to the soft rustle of his clothes, the near-silent footfalls mastered with years of experience. the mattress dipped slightly as he sat at the foot of your bed.

you tensed slightly as his fingers brushed your face. "idiot. i don't even like you, you know." he whispered- though the venom you were met with on the first night now dulled by the tenderness with which he tucked back a stray lock of your hair.

"but here i am, night after night."

you opened your eyes a sliver, just enough to glance at him- he looked ethereal, his eyes mirroring the night sky- the richest of blues flickering with the barest hint of vulnerability.

"why do you keep coming back?" you murmured, finding slight amusement in the way his eyes darted back towards you. you propped yourself up on your elbows, the thin fabric of your nightgown slipping off one shoulder.

scaramouche's gaze lingered on the exposed skin before meeting your eyes. "i wish i knew," he admitted, voice betraying a hint of confusion that was uncharacteristic for the unusually confident thief. how could one person like you stir up feelings inside him that he'd rather keep buried?

the air between you crackled with a tension that had been building for nights uncounted. the space that separated you was a chasm that begged to be crossed, and tonight, the pull was irresistible.

"stay," you whispered, the word a soft plea that hung in the air, a challenge and an invitation all at once.

a shadow passed over scaramouche's features, a flicker of indecision that was quickly replaced by his familiar smirk. "only if you can catch me," he teased, hand withdrawing from your frame- he was going to disappear again, leave you in the dark- make you wait until the next day to see him, another dance in the dark that you had come to know by heart.

bu tonight, you were done with games. you swung your legs over the side of the bed and gave chase, your steps not as quiet as his, not as agile. by any means, he could've gotten away.

but maybe he wanted you to catch him.

you cornered him by the window, the moonlight revealing the pink that dusted his cheeks, a slight stutter in his breath as you pushed him backwards, pinning him against the wall.

"got you," you breathed.

...

© 2025 zuhaii — do not repost, copy, translate, modify, etc my work on any platform !

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Blue and Fire Engine Red, Pt 5

Special thanks to @magicalstripedhorse, who helped keep this installment on track. :)

-----

“Oh no,” Kara drawls the moment she steps out onto the stoop of her building eight days later. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Lena smirks, leaning casually against the side of an old beat up pick up truck. The red ball-cap on her head is just as worn, its frayed bill extending backwards from Lena’s head.

“Flannel? Really?” Kara eyes the shirt in question where it’s tied around Lena’s waist. “Can you be any more of a lesbian?”

Lena spreads her hands. “We’re going to a farmer’s market,” she says. “What did you expect? An LBD?”

“Hm,” Kara hums, bouncing down the steps to greet her girlfriend with a kiss. “Maybe for dinner later.”

She definitely wouldn’t mind seeing Lena in a little black dress. Her mind conjures up an image that very nearly makes her pull Lena back upstairs, but the call of fresh fruit and vegetables proves to be too strong.

“All right, Tegan and Sara, let’s get going.”

The drive is somewhat familiar, as Kara has been to the farmers market before, but it’s been a while and it takes longer than Kara remembers. She’s not mad about it though– it gives her time to catch up with Lena about their weeks, which are relatively tame for a week in the life of first responders.

Lena had a few oven fires, a serious case of whiplash during a fender bender, and not one, but two cats stuck in a tree. Definitely tops Kara’s days of petty larceny, jaywalking, and a single wellness check. But she knows better than to comment on the relative slowness– the moment it’s acknowledged is the moment the sky starts to fall.

Just when the city gives way to suburbs, Lena turns the truck into a graveled parking lot. Kara takes note of the cars already there, and the thin stream of people already circulating through the stalls. It’s only mid-morning, and she expects the crowd will only grow as the day progresses. 

“Come on,” Kara calls as she hops out of the truck, slamming the dusty door behind her. “I need asparagus.” 

She gets her asparagus, and much more. She snags an artichoke and some lettuce as well as some strawberries she makes a note to prep for the next time Lena comes over. Lena splits away for a short moment, and comes back with fava beans and a joke about a nice chianti that makes Kara laugh.

Produce leads to cuts of various meats out of coolers. Lena nudges her. “You like steak?”

Kara’s mouth waters. “Oh, yeah.”

Lena requests two prime ribs, and tucks them and a slab of bacon into her tote alongside her fava beans. By the time they get to the baked goods and crafts, Kara’s own bag is sitting heavy in the crook of her elbow. She moves it to her shoulder instead, and has just prodded Lena towards a live herbs vendor when a call splits the air.

“Hey, Sarge!” 

Kara turns on instinct, and to her surprise Lena does as well. The expectant set of her features strikes Kara as odd, but she focuses her attention instead on who might have called for her. She doesn’t recognize any of the oncoming faces, which makes her frown.

“Sarge!” 

The crowd parts just long enough for a man in a wheelchair to roll out from the throng of people. His face is round and creased with joy as he coasts towards them, but Kara pulls back slightly when she doesn’t recognize him.

Lena steps forward. “Hey, Gonzales.”

Kara watches stunned as she extends her hand and engages in a sort of handshake with the man– palms, backs, and a fist bump top and bottom. Clearly, Lena is more than familiar with the man. Kara’s gaze darts back and forth between them, taking in Lena’s easy smile and the man’s eager countenance, which had yet to dim even when he turned his gaze to Kara.

“Yo,” Gonzales says with a grin. “When Jess said you stopped by the bar with a new lady friend, I knew she must have been a looker, but damn, Sarge–”

“Watch your mouth, Corporal.”

Kara steps up to introduce herself. “Sergeant, huh?” she says, smirking. Lena has yet to return to the subject of her time in the service, so Kara is thrilled to have even just her rank. “Who’d’a thunk?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Gonzales confirms. “The sergeant here was the best damn medic in the company. Saved our unit’s ass more than a couple times.” He rolls forward a few inches to offer a handshake. “Hector Gonzales, ma’am. Pleasure to meet one of the Sarge’s lady friends.”

“Police Sergeant Kara Danvers,” Kara returns. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Corporal.”

The man waves her off. “Please, it’s just Hector or Gonzales now. Gotta get used to the civvie life now. Right, Sarge?” 

Lena rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Sure.”

“You said you’re Jess’ brother?” Kara briefly scans Gonzales and notes an above the knee amputation and a serious burn scar on his right arm that stretched from his wrist to disappear under the sleeve of his t-shirt. 

Hector nods enthusiastically. “Yes, ma’am!” He shoots a bright look towards Lena. “Did she tell you she got early admission to NCU? Honors track.”

Lena beams. “No, she didn’t! That’s wonderful!”

“First choice and everything. She’ll be the first one in the family to go to college, you know.” 

“What is she planning to study?” Kara asks.

Hector’s grin is infectious. “Art. Our mother wanted her to be a lawyer, because that girl argue like nothing else, but she's had her sights on art from the beginning. Sarge has seen some of her drawings, when she sent some to me overseas. Remember Sarge?”

Lena nods. “They were pretty amazing.” 

Kara smiles, but a tug of sadness pulls at some of her joy for Jess. She’d almost gone to art school once. That had been the goal, before the shooting. After everything that happened… well, she hasn’t picked up a brush in a long time. 

“Hey,” Hector says, pulling Kara’s attention back to the conversation. “I’m getting some friends together to watch the game next weekend. You guys should come!”

Kara has no idea what game he means, or even what sport, but Lena nods. “Yeah, shoot me the details and we’ll try to make it.”

“Wilco, Sarge. Oh! And you can invite any of your folks from the firehouse too. I can tell them how lucky they are to have you.”

Lena’s cheeks flush pink. “Gonzales, I swear to god–”

“Hector!” A young hispanic woman calls from further down the aisle. “You were supposed meet me at– oh!” 

“Cecilia!” Hector waves at her, beckoning her closer. “C’mere, this is the Sarge!” 

Cecilia’s go wide. “Oh! Sergeant Reilly! I’ve heard so much about you!”

Lena’s easy smile widens. “Uh oh,” she groans comedically. She reaches for Kara, drawing her forward into the conversation. “This is Kara.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Kara offers gamely. They exchange handshakes, with smiles all around. Kara revels in being included, but even more so in the sense that she’s being allowed a further glimpse into who Lena is. 

Hector and Cecilia are sweet together. Hector is engaged and enthusiastic, while Cecilia is a little more reserved. But Lena converses easily, laughing and grinning, totally at ease in the presence of her fellow soldier. Eventually, Cecilia reminds Hector that they’re almost due to be somewhere else. 

“Right, right,” Hector nods. He prepares to roll away, but pauses to peg Lena with a stern gaze. “Game, next weekend. You’ll tell your crew?” 

Lena nods with a laugh. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll let ‘em know. Good catching up, Gonzalez. Take it easy.”

“You too, Sarge! Rolling out!” 

Lena watches them head off, then turns back towards Kara with a chagrined roll of her eyes. Her mouth opens, but Kara cuts her off. “Don’t you dare apologize,” she warns. “He was delightful.”

“Yeah,” Lena agrees. “He’s a good guy. Him and Jess both. They’re good eggs.”

“And besides, anyone who adores you like he does is definitely good in my book.”

This time, Lena’s roll of her eyes are directed at Kara. “Ah yes. Remind me to not let you two in a room alone. Who knows what shenanigans you’d get into–”

Suddenly a cry further down the aisle breaks through the buzz of people. Without conscious thought, or even a look between them, Kara and Lena both begin to push towards the call. Breaking through the circle already starting to form, they find a young woman seizing on the ground. 

Lena immediately kneels beside her, smoothly untying her flannel and folding it as a pillow to pad the woman’s head against the pavement. “Calling a bus,” Kara says briefly, already pulling her phone out to dial. 

“Hold up,” Lena calls, her voice firm with easy authority. “Got a medical alert bracelet here.” She flips the silver tag to read the inscription, then nods to herself. “No ambulance. Known condition.”

Kara nods her acknowledgement, pocketing her phone as she crouches. “What do you need?”

“Some water would be good, if you can find it.”

“On it,” Kara confirms, rising back to her feet. But the time she returns with a bottle of water from a nearby vendor, the girl’s seizing has stopped. She answers Lena’s questions with slurred, mumbling responses, but Lena doesn’t look concerned.

“Okay, Lydia, you’re doing great. Just take your time.” 

Kara kneels to one knee, handing over the bottle of water. “Any chance she hit her head?”

“I’ll evaluate once she’s a little more with it. So far nothing concerning.” She glances towards the lingering crowd. “Could you get us some space?”

The remaining onlookers moved on once Kara started waving them away, assuring them the situation was handled. When the last resume their shopping, Lydia is blinking up at Lena with eyes rapidly sharpening with focus.

“Welp. That’s embarrassing,” she delivers drolly, pressing a hand to her forehead.

“There you are,” Lena says, gently giving Lydia’s shoulder a pat. “Lydia, my name is Lieutenant Riley with the National City Fire Department. Do you feel ready to sit up? I’ve some water here I’d like you to sip.”

Lydia manages to sit upright with only a little bit of an assist from Lena. She accepts the open water bottle with both hands, which tremble as they lift the water to her lips. She takes several long gulps before groaning.

“Do you mind if I check your head for bumps?” Lena asks. “We want to make sure you didn’t hit your head on the way down.”

Lydia nods her consent, and holds still as Lena begins to investigate the back of her head with expert fingers. “Anything hurt?”

“Just my pride,” Lydia quips. When she catches Kara’s sympathetic gaze, she continues. “It’s still relatively new. My doctor says it should get better with medication, but… ugh! All I wanted was some asparagus!” She sighs. “At least I felt this one coming on– managed to sit down before it hit.”

Lena pulls away, placing her hands on her knees as she gives her patient a warm smile. “Well, I didn’t find any bumps or lumps, so it looks like that did the trick. Good thinking.”

“Oh god,” Lydia groans. “You didn’t call an ambulance, did you?”

“Nope.” Lena nods towards the girl’s wrist. “Medic alert did its job.”

“Thank goodness,” Lydia sighs in relief. “I seriously can not afford another trip.”

Lena chuckles, rubbing Lydia’s back. “I can imagine. How do you feel about trying to stand? I’d feel better if we got you to some shade.”

She gives Lydia a hand up, who seems steady on her feet. Once satisfied the girl wasn’t about to keel over, Lena nods towards a small patch of trees. “How about that bench over there?”

Kara hovers, adrift without a way to help. She carries hers and Lena’s bags of goodies along with her as they all move towards the bench. 

“How are you feeling?” Lena checks in once they’re seated.

Lydia pauses, taking stock. “Just tired, I think. Always feel like I got hit by a freight train, but it usually goes away.” She glances at Lena. “You guys seriously don’t have to stay.”

“I’d feel better if we did. Just until you feel well enough to finish up and get yourself home.” 

“Okay.” Lydia stares at the open water bottle resting on her thigh, then looks back to Lena. “You said you were a firefighter?”

“And medic,” Kara offers, unable to keep quiet. Lena’s eyes flash at her, but in affection or irritation, Kara can’t tell. 

Lydia’s eyes spark with interest. “I want to go to med school after undergrad. I don’t know what discipline yet, though.”

Kara listens to them converse for several minutes, propping herself up against the nearest tree. Closing her eyes against the sun, she breathes deep the smell of spring blossoms and fresh cut grass, letting the hum of their voices lull her to a state between waking and sleeping. Well, maybe more asleep than not, considering the bench is empty when she next blinks her eyes open. Lydia is nowhere to be found, and Lena is sitting on the ground beside her, scrolling through her phone. 

“You could have woken me up,” Kara gripes half-heartedly. 

“But it’s such a nice day to lean against a tree,” Lena returns, half teasing. 

Kara reaches over until she finds Lena’s hand, lacing their fingers together. Neither of them move to rise. 

“You were amazing just now.”

Lena merely shrugs. “Anyone in my position would have done the same.”

“We both know there aren’t many people who can do what you do.”

A hum answers her, but Lena refrains from saying anything else. Kara bites back a frown. She knows Lena doesn’t feel comfortable sharing anything about her time overseas as a combat medic– not entirely unexpected. Some of Kara’s veteran coworkers feel the same. And not all first responders respond well to positive recognition, which isn’t uncommon in the first responder community either. But Kara can’t shake the feeling in her gut that she heard a note of shame in Lena’s voice.

Whatever it is, Kara resolves to know it better, no matter how long it takes. 

“Wanna get out of here?” Lena asks quietly. “I think I hear a steak dinner calling your name.”

Kara grins, but closes her eyes and leans her head against the tree behind her once more. “Just a few more minutes.”

She hears Lena smile, then a rustle as Lena leans back as well. 

A good day indeed.

[wren-beowulf]

[DISCONNECTED] Arc

Into The Wren-verse

As Above, So Below: 0 1 2 3 4

______________________________________

The collected Files: Lurcher Jackdaw

Associated Files: Other Accounts :3

File 84 - Code ###### [OPEN]

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Download Complete. Click to Open

PROFILE

File Name: Lurcher. Jackdaw

Birth Name: Wren Alexander Beowulf.

Location: Gotham.

Years Active: 8 I'm new in town

Gotham Location: Crime Alley. Has many outposts, not all have been identified. You'll never find them lmao

Species: Halfa, guess 'cause I'm halfalive? Danny says I ain't human no more... stupid Lazarus pit...

CRIMES [All Have Multiple Accounts]

Shoplifting

Pickpocketing

Larceny

Robbery

Armed Robbery

Burglary

Auto Theft

Grand Theft

Petty Theft

Government Theft

Trespassing

Destruction of Property

Destruction of Private Property

Destruction of Government Property

Cybercrimes

Cyperespionage

Piracy

Inciting Malware Attacks

Unlawful Possession of Firearms

Unlawful Trafficking of Firearms

Assault with a Deadly Weapon

Terrorism

Homicide

First Degree Murder

Second Degree Murder

Squatting

Death Threats

Stalking

Organized Crime

I'm a good boy who's never committed a crime ever in my life~

IDENTIFIABLE APPEARENCE (Costime):

- Modified Motorcycle Helmet. Sleek Back, light blue ring light on center. Light occasionally changes shape and colour. Suspected modification:

Thermal Vision

Night Vision

Info Scanning

Voice Changing

Image and Video Projection

- Kevlar Suit [Stolen] permanently borrowed Colours primarily black with some light blue.

- Straps on thighs, waist, chest, and back. Straps hold many weapons and gadgets, caution is advised.

- Shortened black Leather Jacket. Sleeves typically pulled up.

- Metal Plated Tech Armour of Unknown Origin. Located on Arms/Hands and Legs/Feet. Primary colours light silver with some light blue. Suspected abilities of Unknown Armour:

Extreme Durability and Impact Absorption.

Enhance and aid physical abilities

[Hands] Hacking and Information Downloading via touch.

[Hands] Capable of producing whips from wrists. Whips do not seem to be fully physical, formed from some kind of unknown energy.

[Feet] Anchoring feature to surfaces via clamps.

[Feet] Magnetically walking up metal surfaces.

IDENTIFIABLE APPEARENCE (Physical):

Subject approximately 5'7 in height, stronger build. Hair longer, black in colour, typically seen done up and now with an undercut too, it looks good right?. Eyes pale blue, darker outer circle (has been compared to a husky) They also glow now, so that's somethin' . Skin is fair with many moles, beauty mark under left side of lip.

Subject has many scars from many different things, too many to catalog. Though notably a rather large scar going from his left thigh, inner hip, around the length of his back, and around to his right shoulder. Newer scars include thin lines across his left cheek, a bullet scar on his ribs, and a long slash across his collar bone. And now I got one where some FUCKER cut off my arm and fingers. Now my arm looks a lil different too... all modified 'n kinda blue 'n stuff... ain't all that different from my tattoo tbh but with lighter colours. And also my blood glows and is blue. I'm made of glowstick juice hehehe.

Subject dresses in a way that is described as "Alternative", typical work attire consists of a black tank top and tan jumpsuit around waist. Yeah but I also changed now, got those tight shirts and pants too. I know you're checkin' out my ass, ya peepers. And now I started wearin' shades too 't hide those glowin' eyes from ya.

Subject has many piercings, including three in each ear, and snake bites on his lips. Subject used to have piercings in left eyebrow and nose, but no longer. Also nipple piercin's can't forget those~ Oh! And a got a tattoo now! Full sleeve on my right arm~ Looks cool right?

Has been called "Hot" and "Handsome" and "Attractive" on multiple occasions. Because I'm an A grade hottie~ I keep makin' people turn gay!

NOTABLE EQUIPMENT:

Subject Lurcher JACKDAW has many staple pieces of equipment that allow for further identification. However, the origin of these pieces of equipment is unknown, and any attempts to identify them have come back negative. They seem to all run of some kind of foreign power source made of an unknown material. They all act in a strangely organic way, reacting to Subject Lurcher's JACKDAW subconscious rather than to automated commands. Subject Lurcher JACKDAW seems to refer to this equipment as "Magi-tech" implying them to be mystical in Nature.

Yeaaahhh so turn out that Magi-Tech was actually tech made by this secret underground group who were makin' weapons powered by Lazarus water that I accidentally purified after I stole it. They were... not very happy 'bout that.

Known "Magi-tech" Equipment includes:

- "Argo", a rather large hoverboard with extended capabilities. Coloured primarily black with some silver and light blue. Known Extended Capabilities Include:

Flight

High Durability

Shifting parts to extend size as a shield

Shifting parts to form a dome type shield

Seems to be highly connected to other "Magi-tech" Equipment, capable of "absorbing" such other equipment into itself as a form of transport.

- Railgun, seems to be used primarily for long distance. Primarily Black with light blue.

Gun fires off energy rather than bullets. This energy can change in power to either stun or kill.

- Twin Pistols. Most commonly used by subject Lurcher JACKDAW. Primarily black with Light Blue.

Pistols have the unique ability to teleport into subject Lurcher's JACKDAW hands. This seems to only work with the Subject.

- Glaive. Least commonly used, only seen when firearms or other common weapons and gadgets are unavailable. Yet shows a high proficiency with it. Primarily black and silver with some light blue.

Blade of Glaive is able to extend. The length of extension is currently unknown.

Leg/Feet and Arm/Hand Armour. [See Identifiable Appearance for more info]

METAGENE ABILITIES:

Subject Lurcher JACKDAW is a metahuman with the ability of duplication. Self-named ability "Divide and Conquer".

This duplication manifests as an exact replica indistinguishable from its original, working on both organic and inorganic materials.

Subject is able to duplicate an object many times, the limit--If it exists--is currently unknown.

Subject is able to duplicate aspects of himself such as eyes, teeth, limbs, organs, or even create a double of himself in its entirety. Subject also seems to be able to control this self-duplication to the cellular level, creating a somewhat excelarated healing effect. It is unknown if he can do this on other people as well.

Subject can retrieve the memories of their doubles after they either dissappear or die. This includes the memory of the death itself. When making doubles of other people, the same rule seems to apply but to the doubled person rather than the subject.

Subject seems to know when a duplicate is being touched or not, implying some sort of connection between the subject and the duplicate. Subject does not describe this feeling as a physical one, but rather a mental one.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

- Subject has many ties with various organized crime groups, termination or long term capture of the subject may have lasting effects. That's what I'm countin' on~

- Subject is very highly intelligent with unknown skills. Proceed with caution.

- Subject often has equipment of those he works with, this includes things like the Royal Flush's playing cards and Fear Gas. Proceed with caution.

- Subject uses Meta abilities to never run out of bullets. Proceed with caution.

THREAT COOL LEVEL: Extreme

THREAT POTENTIAL: Unknown

CUTENESS LEVEL: Adorbs

[redeemers-and-dragons]

Redeemers: Greenest in Flames! Prologue

Narration: A caravan of brightly painted carriages cuts through the verdant hills, heading for town of Greenest. The air is thick with the scent of pine trees and the chirp of birdsong, and the warm breeze blows through the leaves, creating a tranquil atmosphere. The travelers are eager to reach the sanctuary of Greenest before day’s end, hoping to enjoy a peaceful respite after their journey.

Among these travelers they are joined by a peculiar party of adventurers, newly formed and heading to their first mission together…

Reese: (Goblin Artillerist Artificer. Crime: Mass Destruction of Public and Private Property.) Are we there yet???

Party: *Groan in annoyance*

May: (Dark Heritage Half-Elf Gloomstalker Ranger. Crime: Vigilantism and Murder.) Reese, I promised you already. The second we are there, you are the first I will be telling. Now please… shush.

Reese: But we’ve been traveling forever!

Adam: (Minotaur Champion Fighter. Crime: Insurrection and Banditry) *Growls* It’s only been three days. 

Cinder: (Tiefling Fiendish Pact Warlock. Crime: Soul Racketeering and Organizing a Cult without a Permit.) It probably only feels so long because of your incessant whining.

Neon: (Tabaxi Kensei Monk. Crime: B&E and Assault with a Deadly Weapon) You should, like, totally take a note from Neo's book. She’s barely said anything this whole trip.

Neo: (Changeling Arcane Trickster Rogue. Crime: Grand Larceny and Identity Theft) *Flips Neon off.*

Reese: *Grumbles* Well maybe next time Sir Shiny-Pants should pick a closer quest! Where is he anyways?

May: I think he went off to pray.

Cinder: *Chuckles* Pray for mercy, maybe. Who ever heard of a knight with motion sickness?

Neo: *Makes some mocking dry heaving motions and then conjures an illusion of sparkles flying from her mouth.*

Adam: *Huffs* To think, our fate is in the hands of that human. My soldiers would never let me live it down.

Neon: Meh, at least he seems harmless enough. We could have been put with a real hard ass. I give it a week before we bully him into releasing us early.

Party: *Snickers and jeers amongst themselves*

Jaune: (Human Oath of Redemption Paladin. Duty: Redeeming the Party Before the Eyes of the Law and the Sovereign Gods.) *Jogging up after meditating to calm down his motion sickness* Hey everyone! Did some tell a funny joke or something?

Cinder: Oh just the usual banter. Nothing you’d find amusing I’m sure.

Reese: KNIGHT ARE WE THERE YET?!

Cinder: See?

Jaune: Actually, yes Reese. We should be there in like 10 minutes. *Points over pass them* Should be just over that big hill.

The Party: *Various sighs of relief.*

Reese: See?! I knew it was a valid question!

May: So, what are we going to be doing here?

Neon: Yeah, and how exactly is this “Redemption Quest” even supposed to work? Are we, like, building karma points or something til you let us go?

Neo: *Casts Minor Illusion to create a scoreboard with 100 points above her head.*

Jaune: Well, to complete a Redemption Quest, you six will have to complete a good deed with pure of heart in order to make up for your past sins. I’ll be there to watch over your progress and help usher you to the path of good and get you pardoned for your crimes.

Cinder: And so you’re sending a bunch of convicted criminals to do quests for the state.

Adam: Yeah, what are we, some kind of Suicide Sq-?

Jaune: NO! No. We are “Adventurers”. A group of adventurers who most of which just so happen to have darker paths…

May: That still doesn’t answer the question of why we’re going to Greennest. Is there a quest already decided for us?

Jaune: There should be. We’ll be meeting a man in Greenest that goes by the name Qrow Branwen. Apparently he needs help with an investigation.

Neon: What is he investigating?

Jaune: I’m not too sure. Something about bandits I think? But don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing too dangerous. The Church wouldn’t give out something big or important for a “Redemption Quest,” or to a squire of my level. All you will probably have to do is help out however you can and we will get you all pardoned in no time! Simple as that.

Narration: Sundown is approaching just as the caravan crests the hill and spots the town of Greenest just a few short miles away. But instead of the pleasant welcoming town they expected, the Party sees columns of smoke rising from burning buildings, running figures that are little more than dots from this distance, and a dark winged shaped wheeling low over the stone keep that rises from the center of town. The red skies of sunset turn a violent purple as the far off dragon breathes lightning bolts down onto the town.

The Party: …

Jaune: …Well. This may be-

Adam: *Bellows at the top his lungs and charges off towards the town.*

Neon: *Runs after him* I’m getting that pardon first!

Reese: *Runs* Jokes on you shitheads, I’m getting DOUBLE pardoned!

May: *Rolls her eye and chases after them* That’s not how pardons work.

Cinder: *Rushes forward* If you see any extra souls lying around, save them for me!

Neo: *Gleefully runs towards the town to start looting.*

Jaune: *Stands there watching as his half a dozen criminals run into a burning town.* …Boldrei give me strength.

[ourfag]

A made-up fic title for you:

✨All That Glitters ✨

ok so my first instinct is to follow the too-good-to-be-true appeal/deception theme—modern au, ed’s a scammer who singles stede out online for his immense disposable income, establishes contact over text/internet, finds it astonishingly fun to build a rapport with him, and starts siphoning money earlier in the game than he ever has before. it’s a personal record. izzy’s chuffed. ed’s kind of meh about it.

unfortunately: this is a gentlebeard fanfiction and ed is falling in love with the mark.

he works independently and he’s good at what he does, so he’s not in any kind of debt; at this point in his life he’s scamming for scamming’s sake. he doesn’t need stede’s money for anything, he’s just kind of accumulating it and not using it. the thought of spending it doesn’t make him feel good. no particular reason.

izzy’s getting on him about extracting some higher figures from this guy already, and ed knows he’s right, he’s stalling. he’s gonna bleed this guy out. it’s what he does. it’s who he is. he doesn’t get to just walk away from it.

….stede, though. now, if stede walked away, well, not much ed could do about that. it happens. it would suck, but ruining stede’s life would suck more.

there’s two directions i can see things going from here and i’d probably decide based on which one lends itself to funnier problems:

1. ed starts accidentally-on-purpose getting sloppy. irreconcilable inconsistencies, weird places he’s asking stede to wire money, slipping in hints that he’s not legit, with increasing blatancy because as far as he can tell, all of these things are flying over stede’s head. they’re also flying over izzy’s head because he’s not good enough with people to notice the drop in quality.

2. they live in the same city, or at least the same general region of the country, so ed Coincidentally happens upon a Chance Meeting with stede in real life. totally randomly and not on purpose and good luck proving otherwise. stede has no idea who ed is but they hit it off immediately (again) and if ed had any doubts that he’s utterly in love with this guy then those have been obliterated by stede’s 100000 watt smile. they grow close. ed expresses some skepticism about jeff, stede’s very good friend jeff, who maybe seems a little sketchy? maybe he’s not who he says he is? but the thing is ed’s really good at what he does. so he’s having a hard time finding holes to poke in jeff’s story. and if he’s too unduly critical towards jeff then he’s just gonna look jealous—

actually now that i think of it option 2 followed by option 1 could work nicely. maybe i wouldnt have to choose

anyway. while all this is going on stede’s had his suspicions that his money was not going where jeff said it was going but he’s been going along with it anyway because jeff is really nice to talk to and because stede thinks it’s important that criminals work to uplift one another (in his spare time stede has been committing larceny.)

[hedarose]

Jackie x Shauna

Watching and Waiting

—————————————————————————

Ah the sky sure is beautiful from where Jackie is leaning back watching it set, she’s definitely not on top of a roof overlooking Shauna’s apartment building… again. She just likes to be close enough that if she feels her spidey senses go off she can swing down and help her “best friend.”

Misty must also be stalking her though, because the blonde poodle haired girl that demanded she make her computer guy comes through the intercom in her suit. “Uh Jackie, your suit says you’ve been static for five hours… are you actually sitting above Shauna’s apartment right now or are you dead?” Jackie munches a chip especially hard and makes sure her mask is pulled down enough that her microphone is right next to her lips. “Oh god!” Misty yells as she rips her headset off, “okay you’re alive I got it. Uh… what are you doing though?”

Jackie finishes her chip before responding, “Shauna hasn’t texted me back since school ended so I was just, ya know checking up on her. All good over here Mist.” Jackie shrugs nonchalantly even though Misty can’t see her. She picks her phone up off of her lap and tries to text the girl again.

jax: hey I know i’ve like quadruple texted but are you still alive shipman?

“I’m sure she’s just doing homework or something Jackie, have you patrolled at all since school ended?” Misty asked pointedly through the speaker.

Jackie looks down at the empty chip bags scattering the roof near her, “uhhhhh yeah. I got a guy earlier that was trying to slip a beer into his jacket. I stopped a grand larceny basically.”

Misty rolled her eyes unbeknownst to Jackie, “Jackie that’s not really…”

“Ya know Mist I actually think I hear something, I gotta go.” Jackie stuffs the chip bags into her back pack before pulling her mask over her face. She hops up and peaks over the ledge where Shauna’s fire escape is, she did in fact hear heavy footsteps clomping on the metal. What the fuck. There were three men dressed in stupid all black outfits, with ski masks pulled over their heads.

They didn’t belong she knew that for a fact, she slid her bag behind a pipe and stepped up on the ledge watching for a second. When one of the men came close enough to reach for Shauna’s window Jackie shot a web towards his hand and startled him. He looked around for a moment before all three men looked up and caught a glimpse of Spider-Man standing on the edge of the building with the sunset to her back. She took a second to feel cool before she shouted, “what are you guys doing?” While lifting her arms in an exaggerated manner questioning them.

“Mind your business you piece of spider shit,” one of the masked men shouted back up gruffly.

“Spider shit…? That’s literally not even clever, doesn’t even make sense.” She mumbles the last part as her eyebrows furrow and she tilts her head. “Anyways I’m gonna kindly ask you to get away from that window one time, before I do have to do something about it.” She says with a laugh.

They all just look at each other confused before attempting to rip the webbing off of their accomplices hand. Jackie crouches down into her spider pose, “I didn’t hear anything, are you still gonna try to break in there once he’s free or are you gonna leave?” She puts a hand behind her ear sarcastically.

The two men who aren’t currently webbed to the brick wall reach for the window in an attempt to either complete their mission or get away from Spider-Man she’s not sure. But they clearly have zero brain cells, she webs one in the back before ripping him off the fire escape and plastering him to the opposite wall 7 floors above the ground. As he screams the other man pushes his way into Shauna’s room, what the fuck is wrong with these men. She’s had enough of these people and she jumps across the gap landing nearly on top of the man stuck to the wall by his hand.

She dives through Shauna’s window and does a flip on her hands. Jackie stands to see the man who clearly expected this to be an empty apartment at the expression on this his face. “What you got bad intel or something? Thought they weren’t gonna be home?” She mocks him before shooting over to block off a shaking Shauna who just woke up from a nap. It’s obvious from her sleep mussed hair and the bunny stuffed animal she’s clutching in her arms.

The guy looks between the window and the door leading deeper into the apartment, but he stays silent. “Oh you seriously have nothing to say now? Are you deaf?” Jackie asks as she paces back and forth in front of Shauna, antagonizing him.

“If I go out the window you’re gonna throw me off the building like my friends that’s why I went in the apartment in the first place.” He tries to explain.

“No no no no, listen to me pal. I said get away from the window or else I’d have to do something… it’s not my fault we don’t have our listening ears on today, okay? You went inside the apartment. You did the breaking and entering.” Jackie said with a huff while pointing her fingers to explain.

Shauna raised a finger and said, “actually you are both breaking and entering into my home right now… I’m just saying.”

Jackie flips around so fast - absolutely betrayed by this statement, “What?! Sh… Uh no ma’am! I-I just was trying to stop this burglar…” she argues with disgust as she points to him without looking behind her. He takes his chance with Spider-Man’s eyes being off of him to sneak over to the window. “Please ma’am, I was just patrolling the neighborhood. Ya know being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?” Jackie says as she begs Shauna “with her adorable little head tilt” to understand why she’s standing in her room right now.

Shauna afraid to argue just meekly points out, “I think he’s trying to escape.” With a little smile as she points her stuffed bunny towards the man.

“Oh shit,” Jackie flings a web out and stops the man as he tries to climb out the window. “You’re not getting out that easy. Who told you to come to this apartment?” She questions as she picks the man up by his shirt collar.

He just shakes his head back and forth adamantly, “no no no, I really can’t say please don’t kill me.”

Jackie looks disgusted and shakes her head back and forth, “kill you? You were told I kill people? Who said that?”

He just shakes his head, Jackie starts smelling a foul odor and glances door to see that the man has soiled himself. Jackie sighs and then lets out a gagging sound, “do you know how much it is to replace this carpet?? That was disgusting. I’m gonna throw you out the window now.”

“Spider-Man wait!!” Shauna screams as Jackie tosses the man like he weighs nothing. Of course what Shauna doesn’t realize is Jackie has him webbed and she just tosses him enough to scare him. She quickly puts the other end of the web on the fire escape and lets the man dangle. Shauna peaks out her window and looks down at the man swinging in the air, “oh okay… I definitely knew you were gonna do that.”

Jackie looks back at Shauna from her stance on the fire escape, she says with an air of disbelief, “ehhhh I don’t think you really believed I wasn’t gonna kill him. By the way you got some uh.” Jackie points to the smooth top of her mask where Shauna has a flyaway sticking straight up.

Shauna looks at her questionably before walking to the mirror, her face flushed before she pats her hair down aggressively. “Well I was napping before I was so rudely interrupted.”

“Looked like a good, long, hard, long nap.” Jackie mumbled putting emphasis on the long parts of her sentence. She pretended like she was dusting a fuzz off of her suit and mumbled to herself.

Shauna huffed irritatedly at this random stranger in a skintight suit who barged into her room and interrupted her nap, “okay what are you the nap police? Are you and your friends done here? I have business to attend to.”

“First of all, not my friends.” Jackie points to all of the men who are webbed in some fashion. “Second of all, if by some chance I did have magically have friends, I would probably text them back and not leave them on delivered for five hours.”

Shauna thinks that is an incredibly targeted statement, but she ignores it and goes to shut her window to ignore the vigilante before she looks down and remembers… the carpet. She sighs, “what am I supposed to do about this? Is there some Spider-Man discount I can get since you brought them in my house?”

Jackie gasps and stutters, “I-I didn’t, I did not! I did not bring them into your house… but I’ll call a cleaner.” Jackie mumbles as she falls backwards off of the fire escape and swings away. Misty is her next stop… she needs her to call a cleaner for Shauna. And call the cops on the would be robbers. Great.

——

I am obsessed with Spider-Man AUs so this was completely self indulgent. If it sucks I’m sorry forgive me lol.

[niuttuc]

Hand Over the Spoons!

My latest paper deck isn't the most original, but it's a blast to play. We're doing a theft!

Gonti is an incredibly fun card, but they're a bit slow in today's environment. Lobelia here offers the same kind of gameplay but a taste of EVERYONE's decks, as well as free casting of the stolen spells, though requires a bit of effort to build around to have artifacts to keep feeding her. Gonti still has a place of honor in the 99 though.

Because we're in black, and it makes people slightly less miffed, most of our theft in the deck is from the opponents' decks or graveyard, cards they aren't actively using or used resources to deploy. But to add some spice, the deck as at least one card capable of stealing from most zones, so that nowhere is safe from being yoinked.

As a result of stealing from the graveyard, we also have some reanimation package, nothing groundbreaking here. Note that not ALL our reanimation can target other people, the stuff that can only target our graveyard tends to be repeatable, to sac and bring back Lobelia, as she can easily run out of good cards to cast and need to be killed and brought back for a new batch of larceny.

Wincons are important in any deck, and if ideally this deck prefers snagging an opponent's wincon and using that as OUR wincon, in practice sometimes opponents aren't cooperative in their deck choices. As a result, we have a few finishers of our own to turn the very act of thievery into a threat, and also Rise of the Dark Realms which DOES steal all opponents' entire graveyard as part of winning the game.

Another important things is generating artifacts to fuel Lobelia. Here, we mostly morph our generic choices around that fact to have a critical mass of them. It's not really difficult to do so in a world of treasures and clues and food and blood.

The theft itself is exactly what you'd expect. Though the benefit of being mono-colored is that you can dig a bit deeper as far as fun cards for the theme.

Even our interaction package has a tendency to nab things along the way!

All in all, I'm very happy that I assembled this one in paper, so far it's been a blast, and keeping secret the cards stolen face down by Lobelia or others can lead to very funny moments. The big advantage of these kinds of decks is that every game is fundamentally different, since you'll be stealing from different decks every time.

[vahalia-cress]

What does your heart look like?

Iced over Out of the sun

Your heart is very lonely, isn’t it? Is your fortress of ice self-made? Are others afraid of you, or are you afraid of them? Are you afraid of hurting them, or of being hurt?

Vulnerability and connection can be frightening, but that’s no reason to shy away from their light, to tuck yourself small into corners, to build up frigid walls to keep yourself from feeling. You will heal when you allow yourself to draw closer to the flames and thaw.

Tagged by: @hex-xiv Tagging: @adrienvalmont - @belgravexiv - @cyrus-black - @charm-in-spades - @galla-xiv - @kodie-ffxiv - @luck-and-larceny - @oiraiko - @dreadfulhowls-xiv - @promethea-silk - And anyone else who would like to do it!

You can find the quiz here!

[ciaossu-imagines]

Do the 07-Ghost characters have a criminal record of any kind?

Just to have a little more fun with this question, I decided to, like most things I write for 07-Ghost, go AU! with this. In this AU!, instead of the canon setting, it’s something like Nanbaka – everyone is an inmate in this gigantic prison. The prison is segregated to a separate island, in the middle of nowhere, with the location so secret that only the highest up’s of the highest up’s know it. The prison is completely inescapable, though that doesn’t stop people from trying of course.

And while imagining this AU!, where fun and sometimes wacky hijinks happen, much like Nanbaka, I decided to give it a little bit more of an edge by actually stopping and thinking about what crimes would have gotten all of these character’s imprisoned. Some crimes are more on the minor side, some more on the major side, but it was interesting to think about.

Ayanami is actually the most feared criminal in the building. A war criminal, his crimes are seemingly endless. He’s been charged with inciting domestic and international terrorism, various war crimes, numerous counts of murder, identity fraud, arson, grand larceny, and treason. There’s various countries fighting to have him and his group of mercenaries extradited to their respective countries to face charges there. However, for the sake of public safety, it was agreed that this inescapable prison would be the best place to put him, down on the absolute lowest levels, where he could never be in a position to expose the world to more danger again.

That group of mercenaries that acted along with Ayanami I mentioned? Of course it’s Hyuuga, Konatsu, Kuroyuri, Haruse, and Katsuragi. All of them share their leader’s various prison sentences for the exact same crimes. Hyuuga holds more murder convictions than the rest, though, while Konatsu has additional charges for money laundering, general fraud, and other white-collar crimes.

Labrador is in prison for various eco-terrorism charges. He shows genuine repentance that anyone was actually harmed due to his actions, as it was never something that he meant to happen. He was just really passionate about helping the earth and the environment that means so much to him. All of his protests and actions were meant to harm only company buildings or factories, to hurt corporations, to bring awareness to the evils these companies were doing to the environment. He led a group of people who shared his same love for the environment and shared his same passion. Unfortunately, some members of his group, those who truly looked up to him and almost worshipped him, either thought he was being a little soft and they needed to do something bigger, more impactful, or simply wanted to gain his praise and attention, and things got out of hand, bringing mass civilian casualties. He lives with that guilt and shame every day, as it was never what he wanted.

There are two prisoners who are actually completely innocent for the most part. It’s not that they’ve never done anything unlawful ever, but it’s simply that the crimes they’re imprisoned for are not their own. These two both took the fall for other people. The first of these people is Hakuren Oak. Born into an extremely prestigious family, he was given the best from a young age. Very intelligent, he graduated early and his father gave him a job managing one of the company’s many businesses. This particular business, like many of the family’s other businesses, was mostly a front to launder mass amounts of money though. His father hadn’t figured on Hakuren figuring this out so quickly, especially since he had placed his son as head of the company to be mostly a figure-head type of position. When Hakuren did, indeed, find out about it, his father also assumed that he could either buy or threaten Hakuren’s silence about the issue. He thought he’d even succeeded, after a very tense atmosphere. All was quiet for about a month, and his father assumed that all was good. Except that within that month, Hakuren was gathering evidence of the money-laundering, which he then anonymously turned over to the police. When the police came down on the company, to avoid prison time himself, Hakuren’s father placed all the blame on his son. After all, it was his son who was head of the company and there’d never been any issues before he was put into that position. Torn between deep betrayal, hatred of his father for many reasons, but loyalty still to his family, not even Hakuren’s really sure why he just quietly allowed himself to take the fall.

The next innocent person within the jail? While this is a bit of a story, one of two best friends and the true strength and bond of their friendship. Teito Klein was a victim of human trafficking as a very, very young child and while he managed to escape by the age of ten, living homeless for a bit before he was caught by the police and taken into foster care. It was at one of his school’s that he became really close to Mikage Celestine. They became best friends, completely inseparable. Mikage knew there were things that Teito kept from him, especially about his past, but he never pushed Teito to tell him. He was one of the few, though, that Teito did tell about his past, though only a little, enough for Mikage to know that Teito was basically a human slave – bought and sold to various people who did unspeakable things to him. Teito, despite trying to live a new life, just couldn’t erase the things that he'd live through. They tormented him, especially since he knew that other people were still going through it. He trained himself, devoted himself, to finding ways to help either people who were still being bought and sold in human trafficking rings or in finding young kids who were being sold to pedophiles. Teito would find ways to help those victims and I’m not going to lie, sometimes that would involve a little (or a lot) of bloodshed. For years, the police weren’t able to solve the string of murders, disappearances, kidnappings and such. They eventually got some clues that, strangely enough, led them to the high school that Teito and Mikage were in together. The presence of the police spooked Teito, but not enough for anyone who wasn’t really close to him to realize. Mikage, who was really close to him, did realize though. There was a confrontation between the two boys and Mikage knew that Teito was the one doing these things, though he knew Teito had very good reasons for doing so and that Teito was only trying to help those who couldn’t help themselves. Unable to bear the thought of his best friend not only being taken away from him, having to live in a prison for the rest of his life, unable to help those who needed Teito’s help, Mikage took the fall for him, giving the police evidence and information in his confession taken from his conversation with Teito that clinched it in the police’s mind that Mikage had to have done it.

Teito was heart-broken and absolutely guilt-ridden over what Mikage had done. He loved Mikage a lot; that was his best friend. He couldn’t take the thought of Mikage rotting away in a prison for him so Teito allowed himself to get caught during a crime and kept kicking up a fuss, inciting prison riots, attacking other prisoners, whatever he had to do to get sent from prison to prison until he landed at the island prison where Mikage was. There was a lot of tears when the two reunited at last, though the guards do their best to keep the two apart as ‘punishment’ for their crimes.

Castor was, for all extents and purposes, an amazing genius and a very law-abiding person. He had a mother who was precious to him, someone he loved and treasured, a successful business making dolls. Then he hit a string of the worst luck one could ever get. His mother died in a car accident and he took it really hard. He was almost consumed by his grief and he was finding it hard to really carry on. It was only his beloved who kept him going…but only a couple weeks after his mother’s death, during a home invasion robbery gone wrong, his beloved was murdered. Castor was the one who came home and first found her in a pool of her own blood, throat sliced and, not going to lie, he might have slipped a little into insanity at that point. Well, maybe not a little. He slipped completely into insanity at that point. Grief, hatred towards those who took those precious to him away from him, all consuming rage…he just couldn’t handle it. His mind shut down, went into denial mode. To him, he had to find ways that he could pretend that his mother and his beloved were still with him. He did this by making dolls…very human dolls. He was caught and charged with kidnapping and murder. While in prison, he has received a lot of psychiatric help and is doing better, returning to the mostly kind and sweet person he naturally is…of course, it helps that part of his therapy is art therapy and they’ve allowed him to make large puppet-like dolls, which he lovingly crafts to resemble his missed loved ones. He talks to them often. A lot of the other prisoners find it more than a little creepy.

Frau was the closest you could get to a modern-day Robin Hood. A con man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, he was arrested on multiple counts of identity fraud, grand larceny, online fraud, fraud, money laundering, various petty crimes, and two murders that he refuses to admit to. He actually seems to not mind prison life.

Roseamanelle Ouka Barsburg is not a prisoner. Rather, she’s the Warden of the prison who takes her role very seriously. She genuinely cares about the prisoners in the prison, learns all of them by name and keeps up to date on their behaviour. While she realizes that all of them have sinned deeply, that they all must make up for their crimes, she also knows that they’re all still human beings, worthy of being treated with, if not respect, dignity.

[diazsdimples]

Fuck it Friday!

Doing this on a Sunday cause I just got back from my cousin's wedding, whoops. Tagged by @wikiangela and @fionaswhvre. Here's another snippet of dad!Buck!

Buck and Eddie leaned against the kitchen counter as they watched the gaggle of toddlers playing in the lounge. Aidan was a blur of ginger hair as he raced from one end of the room to the other, hyped up on the cake he’d eaten. Buck shook his head fondly as he watched his son run circles around a little girl. “He’s a little energiser bunny, that boy” said Eddie with a smirk as he watched Aidan screech to a halt in front of the little girl, panting slightly before holding out his hand for the toy dinosaur she had clutched to her front. “Maddie says I was the same at his age; always on the go and unable to stay still for more than 5 seconds” Buck replied. He intercepted the cookie Eddie was bringing to his mouth and plucked it delicately from his fingers, popping it into his own mouth while ignoring Eddie’s yelp of protest. “Hopefully he doesn’t inherit your kleptomaniac tendencies too” Eddie frowned as Buck licked his fingers clean, smacking his lips appreciatively. “’M not a kleptomaniac” Buck protested, his mouth full. “Juss apprefiate da finer fings in life” Unfortunately, it seemed Aidan had inherited Buck’s propensity for larceny, as Buck looked up just in time to watch Aidan snatch the dinosaur from the little girl’s arms. “Ah shit” Buck said, swallowing the cookie hastily before striding across the room as the little girl began to wail. He crouched down in front of the two toddlers, pulling the sobbing girl into his arms and turning to face Aidan. “Why did you take Hailey’s toy, Aidan?” Buck asked calmy. Aidan looked at him defiantly. “Mine” he said. Buck raised an eyebrow at him. “Hailey was playing with it before you, wasn’t she?” he said, watching as Aidan squirmed under his gaze. “It’s not nice to take things without asking, bud”. Aidan looked down at his feet. “Mine, Daddy” he repeated, his voice small. Buck could see his chin wobbling slightly. Hailey, who until this moment had had her face tucked in Buck’s shoulder, reached out to grasp onto the tail of the dinosaur and gave it a quick tug. “Hailey, wait!” Buck protested, trying to stop the little girl from snatching the toy back but it was too late. The dinosaur slid from Aidan’s grasp and Hailey was off like a shot, giggling as she sped towards another group of toddlers. Buck could only watch in dismay as Aidan’s face crumpled. Aidan turned on his heel and fled towards the kitchen, running headfirst into Eddie’s leg as he wailed. Eddie let out a noise of surprise and reached down to pick up his crying son, swinging him up onto his hip. “What happened, mijo?” he asked, rubbing Aidan’s back as he sobbed into his neck. “Lee took dino, Papa” Aidan said between sobs, his voice muffled. Eddie tutted sympathetically as he swayed back and forth. He caught Buck’s eye across the room and sent him a playful eyeroll. “Life falls apart so easily when you’re two” Buck complained as he joined his boys in the kitchen. He pinched between his eyes, feeling a headache building. Whoever thought holding a birthday party with a group of 10 toddlers was a good idea was clearly some sort of sadist. It felt like him and Eddie had been putting out fires all afternoon, even more so than in their actual jobs. Eddie checked his watch. “Only an hour to go and then we can herd them out the door and get some peace and quiet”. “Couldn’t come soon enough” Buck agreed. He reached over to rub Aidan’s back and pressed a kiss into his hair. “Shall we go back and play?” he quietly said into the boy’s ear. Aidan lifted his head from Eddie’s shoulder, his face red and tear stained. He let out a pathetic sniff and wiped his nose with the back of his hand before nodding and reaching out to Buck. “Daddy play with me?” he asked quietly. “Daddy will play with you” Buck confirmed as he carried Aidan back into the lounge, setting him on the floor among his friends.

Tagging (feel free to do this next friday lmao) @thewolvesof1998 @theotherbuckley @watchyourbuck @callmenewbie @housewifebuck @eddiebabygirldiaz @darkangel2792 @evanbegins @cal-daisies-and-briars @thosetwofirefighters and anyone else who wants to do it!

[khanhannahlewis]

Devil You Know 1

Elie leans against the side of one of the prefab buildings making up the temporary village the invaders had set up. Over the last two days, it has become something of a refugee camp. Now the sun sets on just over two-hundred (as of the 3rd official census an hour ago) political dissidents, victims of the loyalty squads, and just those down on their luck, desperate, or wanting any ticket off-world. Elie falls into that last category, her parents killed in a car accident at 11, and with no family to go to and unwilling to spend her life under the government’s care, spent the next seven years on the streets, stealing, dealing, and occasionally killing, just to stay alive. 

The Clans had been the ultimate boogeyman of all Helios growing up, now here they were, offering lodging and food in exchange for helping out and moving off-world once they’re done here. Ellie thinks loyalty needs to be earned, but that Khan won a lot of loyalty in this play. In Ellie’s experience, squats and camps like this are breeding grounds for chaos, but apart from some small larceny and minor fights, the new security forces drilling in the center of the camp are barely needed. The Khan is a charismatic, if brutish and ineloquent woman, the material of hundreds of dictators throughout history, but the civilian council seems intent to make good on her promises. Ellie takes a drag from her cigarette, squinting up into the dense snow clouds. She’ll show her loyalty, make herself useful, and get off this Blake-damned rock. Help out with the kitchens or building some housing, pledge her fealty to the Clan, and get her citizenship. Maybe she can even use her ‘skills’ for something, surely even the Clans need less reputable skills. Maybe she’ll even make it big here. She’s done hustles before, gotten in on the ground floor of some operations, but never anything with quite the scale of goal as this, a Blake-damned interstellar empire. Glory to Clan Blood Spirit for all she cares, whatever’s best for her one-and-only, herself. She always thought red was her color anyway.

[beardedmrbean]

A local Democratic Party chair in North Carolina resigned this week after he was arrested for allegedly ripping out and stealing roadside signs supporting former President Donald Trump. 

Lowell Simon, the now former chair of the Moore County Democratic Party, who is also running for North Carolina House in November, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor larceny of political signs. 

The Moore County Democratic Party announced in a Facebook post on Monday that 68-year-old Simon had resigned as chair "following recent allegations and arrest related to the theft of political signs." 

The Moore County Sheriff's Office said a deputy working in the West End area observed Simon removing campaign signs from the roadside along Seven Lakes Drive at approximately 5:25 p.m. Thursday. 

"The deputy, who was responding to an unrelated call at the time, later followed up at Simon’s residence, where the signs were found in his vehicle," according to the office. "Simon admitted to removing the signs, which were then recovered and returned to their original owner." 

A warrant for Simon's arrest was issued Saturday. He was released "under a written promise to appear in court," according to the sheriff's office, and his first court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 30. 

"While we appreciate the hard work and dedication he has shown to the Democratic Party and the community, the Moore County Democratic Party cannot and will not condone the tampering of political signs or any other illegal activity," the local party wrote on Facebook. "Mr. Simon has offered an apology for his actions, as well as his resignation, both of which have been accepted by the MCDP."

WRAL, the outlet that interviewed Simon over the phone after his arrest, said the local chair complained that signs he had already placed in support of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein, the state’s current attorney general running against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, were obstructed by new signs later set up in front of them that read: "Trump low taxes, Kamala high taxes." 

"My worse angels got the better of me and I removed the signs," Simon said. "I shouldn't have done that. I didn't do it in the stealth of night or anything. I did it when it was five o'clock in the afternoon."

"We believe in the importance of freedom of expression and speech, and hope that local law enforcement will continue to enforce such laws that protect those freedoms fairly and without bias across party lines," the local party added. "As we move forward, our focus will remain on electing Democrats up and down the ballot in this critical election. Together, we are committed to promoting the values of justice, fairness, and freedom that our Party holds dear, and we look forward to building a better future for all in Moore County."

Last week, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields, a Republican, also issued a reminder to the public after Simon's arrest "that the removal or theft of campaign signs is a violation of North Carolina General Statute § 136-32(e), which protects the lawful placement of these signs during election periods." 

[punderdome]

Infernal Jurisprudence: Chapter 2

Summary: Raphael keeps a watchful eye on his investments.

Rating: 18+

[AO3]

Chapter 2: The Mirror

Raphael had tasked Korrilla with following the Little Mouse and learning as much about her as possible.  Each day she reported back small pieces of information she learned from following the infected companions.

The Little Mouse's full name was Tavara Aureum, and she originally hailed from Baldur’s Gate.  She worked as a researcher of some kind at the university.   Now that he had better direction on her origins, it would be much simpler to find information about her and her history.  He tasked other warlocks with investigating her by both legal and illegal means.

Raphael paid close attention to how his prized adventurers were doing.  There was some kind of confrontation at the river’s edge with a flock of harpies trying to eat a foolish child.  The cambion preferred to keep informed of the plight of the refugees.  The odds were favorable that many of the adults would be willing to sign contracts to save their children, despite having just been freed from Avernus.  One of the older Tiefling children was a young girl who was thieving from the druids and scheming to run a crime ring.  She seemed of the reasonable type to take the unsavory path into his service, being the very being that sent the foolish child to the harpy nest.

Raphael picked up his scrying mirror and viewed the camp of his band of infected adventurers and observed quietly, looking for information he could use to his benefit.  

The Gith, Lae’zel of creche Kliir, was frustrated by their lack of any progress towards finding a useless Githyanki creche that would certainly only reduce the number of competent members of the little group.  The naive warrior had never known the actual fate of any who had experienced a zaith’isk.

There was the sanctimonious Warlock, son of Duke Ravengard, who wore hypocrisy on his horned head after sparing the Tiefling and then demanding some kind of sympathy for it.  He knew which agreement he signed and the consequences for default.  The least he could do was to stop pouting over his own foolishness.

There was a poorly-concealed Sharran cleric brooding in the camp.  She carried the Astral Prism on her person and smugly demanded complete privacy while also wearing Shar’s sigils on her armor. Shar’s worshippers were supposed to be more subtle than that.  That lesson was something that the cleric apparently had also forgotten.

The vampire spawn was pretending to be a magistrate while also displaying an aptitude for larceny.  The courts in Baldur’s Gate were not quite so corrupt as to demand both of those skill sets.  

The burning Tiefling was generally unproblematic, despite her lack of trust in Infernal beings.  

The former chosen of Mystra, Gale of Waterdeep.   He was much diminished in power but not knowledge, and could be a powerful vessel if tamed for an Infernal purpose.  Should he prove malleable, he could present a stronger Warlock than whatever pitiful pact the ‘Blade of Frontiers’ was offered.

Tavara Aureum.  Draconic ancestry.  Researcher.  Speaks Infernal.

Raphael took out his scrying mirror to check on his investments.  Tavara and the Warlock had managed to talk down a decrepit village full of goblins.  The pathetic little wretches fled from the broken buildings without much fuss after inviting some wrathful threats.  A second group of goblins was keeping their camp up by the windmill, gleefully torturing a Deep Gnome by affixing him to the windmill blades.  The Gnome's screams and calls were sweet and delicious.  Raphael pondered this version of torture for his own dungeons.  Spinning screaming debtors around and around, faster and faster.  He would make sure to save that particular punishment for the debtors with acrophobia.

How many revolutions of the mill would it take before his debtors screams would cause their vocal cords to hemorrhage?  Blood flicking from their lips with each turn of the grindstone.

The ridiculous little band of fools and the sorceress found the dark below the village and the arachnids lurking down in the dark.  Raphael wondered which of them feared spiders and how many of their limbs would appear black from poison.  Those unlucky fools would have fouled and melting flesh while they screamed trapped within the sticky silk of a spider's web.

The matriarch was a fearsome creature, turned by Lloth.  Many of the Archdevils of the Hells had sought out their own spiders for their dungeons.  Giant arachnids made for extremely efficient torture devices and allowed for exquisite punishment of debtors en masse.  Fearful debtors would crush and tear each other to pieces, provided it meant they escaped their own encasement in web and slow desiccation into husks.

It was amusing to watch the mortal band as they battled the giant spider, sticking to the webbing below them as other smaller spiders clicked and danced around them.  Sprays of poison had infected the wizard and Tiefling, leaving them coughing and gasping for breath.  The band of adventurers had so much promise, but Raphael could and would not do all of their work for them.  They would have to regain their powers on their own.

The matriarch bit deeply into the Little Mouse’s shoulder, and the Little Mouse squeaked in agony as the poison spread through her veins.  Raphael found those noises to be less agreeable than he expected.  The spider recoiled in pain as shards of ice shredded her exoskeleton in decisive retribution.

Before long, the little band of fools had slain the matriarch and each of her spiderlings.  The sight of gore, charred web, and splattered hemolymph were all that remained of the beasts in the dark beneath the well.  The dark, dank cavern had fallen silent once more.

The Little Mouse was hunched over in agony from the force of the bite and the poison spreading through her weak mortal form.  One of the other fools thrust a potion of antidote into her hands as the ridiculous Sharran cleric assisted in mending the bite from the spider’s fangs on her shoulder.  Many of the others had also looked weary and in pathetic shape, bearing wounds and scratches of their own or reeling from the aftereffects of spider venom.  Raphael cared little for their wounds but as long as the Little Mouse was healed first, the Sharran could waste her energies on the others as much as she wanted.

Seeing that order had been restored to the cavern, Raphael went back to work.

****

Raphael paced through his study, with several contracts unfinished.  His gaze occasionally went back to the scrying mirror, wanting to see how his investments had fared.  Not well, for some of them but presumably better after forcing healing concoctions down their fragile mortal throats.

The Little Mouse had been bitten by a spider instead of a cat.   Raphael snapped to summon Korrilla.

“I have updated instructions for you,” Raphael informed the trusted Dwarf.  “Continue to surveil Tavara Aureum, but if the sorceress appears in mortal peril, intervene by either eliminating the threats or bringing her back here to the restoration pool as a last resort.”

Korrilla’s face was blank.  “Of course, Master Raphael.”  She snapped and disappeared to resume her duties.  Raphael sat back at his desk to resume his work.  Korrilla was ever the diligent employ, unlike her contemptuous sister.

Raphael continued to work on his schemes but found the sorceress constantly coming into the forefront of his mind.  He occasionally took quick breaks from his contract work to see the Mouse in his scrying mirror, hoping she had cleaned up properly following the spider’s bite.  It would be such a pity for the puncture of fangs to have permanently marred her form.  Even if the bite had left scarring, Raphael could easily fix it for her for a simple price of a peek at the bare flesh.  Tavara had just stepped out of a bath in the river that evening and was barely covered up, rivulets of water still trickling down her arms that glittered like the scales on her cheeks in the setting sun.  He watched the gooseflesh appear on her arms and legs as she shuddered.

The odd little creature appeared so different with her hair disheveled and weighed down with the damp.  She seemed much smaller to him than when she had stood in front of him in the House of Hope and so very soft.  It was a much appreciated change from her defiance and Infernal challenges that she had presented to him at their feast.  How much discipline would it take to tame a Little Mouse?

Tavara was pulling a wooden comb through her curls, the ragged cloth serving as her towel slipped slightly to expose another small area of flesh around her breasts and a patch of scales between them.  Her nimble hands worked diligently over her long hair.  Her nipples were hard from the chill, barely covered by the cloth she had covered herself with.

Raphael watched her for some time.  He pondered where else on her body she had scales.

One Little Mouse in evening light

The sun shines brightly upon each scale

Readies herself for a peaceful night

Sleeping bare under a moonlit pale

Raphael set the mirror down and paced around his study.  He was half-hard and slightly straining in his trousers.  He walked swiftly, trying to burn off the energy and arousal.  He needed to get back to work, but the image of Tavara barely covered was seared into his mind.

The contracts could wait.

Raphael snapped and arrived in the Boudoir in a swirl of embers.  Haarlep was laying on the bed, writhing like a cat atop the red silk sheets.  Their fingers traced seductively over the black leather harness and slipping beneath the straps to stroke their warm skin, trying to lure in their master.

“Master, have you come to play?” Haarlep purred, stretching and arching their back.  They wore the Archduke’s form, but Raphael had no interest in that today.

“Change into the Archduchess,” Raphael ordered, and the incubus complied without complaint.  Haarlep perched neatly on the bed awaiting naughty instruction.  Raphael snapped and his clothing disappeared.  He laid down on his back next to the waiting incubus, his wings splaying over the sheets.

Raphael said nothing else and merely motioned to his cock.  Haarlep took the invitation greedily and lowered their mouth, eagerly taking the Master and licking their forked tongue up and down Raphael’s entire shaft, flicking cheekily at the head and making him groan.

The cambion closed his eyes.  He pictured a soft, wet mortal tongue pleasuring him.  He wanted to fuck into the sorceress’s wanton mouth.  He imagined fucking himself deep into her throat until she was gagging on him as punishment for her disobedience in his dining hall.  Raphael pulled Haarlep’s head further down by their hair until they took him into their throat.  Haarlep let out a frisky, excited moan, nothing like the Little Mouse would have sounded like.  Haarlep seemed to be enjoying the roughness, but Raphael wanted the sorceress to be taking his punishment obediently, so he could reward her with his pleasure.  He pulled Haarlep’s hair harder and thrust quickly into their mouth, trying to get the incubus to elicit the gagging noises of punishment that he expected from the Little Mouse.  Every tug only seemed to make Haarlep more excited.  Raphael twitched slightly, wanting to hear lewd little sounds from the Little Mouse.

The Little Mouse would want mercy, begging for it with her big green eyes.  Raphael was nothing if not humane.  When the Mouse was gagging on him, he would stop and let her please him more gently.  Her gentle mortal mouth would need to be given a gentler punishment or else he would accidentally break her.

Raphael felt Haarlep’s feminine hand wrap around his shaft and give firm, pleasurable pumps.  He opened his eyes and the spell was broken.  Clawed incubus hands.   Haarlep looked up at his gaze, their look filthy and lusting.  Raphael moaned in pleasure again as his incubus took him deeply into their throat.  If he wasn’t being so rough and pulling on her, the Little Mouse would eventually adjust to the depth he found most appealing.  Such an obedient little creature.

Raphael closed his eyes and savored the Little Mouse’s warm, sweet lips around him.  He gripped the sheets in his clawed hand as he felt his orgasm approaching.  Her green eyes were looking up at him, eagerly awaiting his pleasure.  Haarlep hummed gently with his cock deep down their throat, and Raphael felt himself starting to lose control.  She would enjoy it as much as he did.   Haarlep kept a firm, consistent rhythm.  Her desire for him was wound into every thrust of him deep into her mouth.

“Little Mouse,” Raphael grunted as he spilled himself down Haarlep’s throat, drunk on the intense pleasure that her tongue was continuing to coax out of him.   The Little Mouse obediently swallowed all of his seed and cleaned up any excess left on his cock.  Her sweet little tongue licked him gently and rapidly, igniting every nerve near the tip of his cock, and made Raphael’s eyes roll back in his head.

Raphael opened his eyes and saw the incubus grinning up at him.  “Master, you really enjoyed yourself,” they purred.  “Would you like some venom, so we can continue to play?”

Raphael rose from the bed in the Boudoir and snapped again, redressing quickly.  He ignored Haarlep’s pathetic pouting and returned to his study without another word.

He grabbed the scrying mirror and summoned the image of his Little Mouse.  She was sitting by a campfire, completely dressed in a comfortable set of loose pants and a white, linen shirt.  They were both too large for her and hid her form far more than he liked.  Raphael imagined her in an elegant nightdress made of white silk.

Silk.  Soft.  Just like her tongue.

A/N: This fic is definitely going to be significantly smuttier than the sister fic. I'm pretty sure no one thinks that's a problem. Raphael, our favorite Archdevil Supreme, has a Tav surrogate, and he is definitely not going to be constantly using their Archduchess form. I also think it could be fun to explore the other little details from Fine Print like Raphael's reaction to Astarion stealing Tav's panties from her laundry basket, his absolute disdain for Gale, how fucking tired Korrilla is of Tav, and lots of other machinations and schemes that you'll learn about from Tav's perspective later.

[dumb-hat]

roots: Is your OC's look inspired by any specific style of clothing or fashion trend? What are the roots and/or inspiration for their look?

(I'm coming back to that Exalted one, trust me.)

So, I guess this is another good place to talk about the out-of-character origin of Evander.

Ages ago (like, 11-12 years!), he got his start as a Bard with the Archaeologist archetype in a Pathfinder game that @luck-and-larceny ran for me, @irascibleblackguard and @kalencook. As an archaeologist, he had to have an Indiana Jones-style hat. Other than that, he was a short, scruffy looking guy of... around 5'7-5'8, I think? I'm pretty sure he ended up gaining an inch when I made him in Final Fantasy XIV, but he was a contrast to a lot of the other characters I had played recently, which were mostly taller. The point is, a lot of his visual traits (general color palette, height and build) and habits (hedonism, a tendency to go to great lengths to make it look like he went to no lengths at all... The guy loves "artfully disheveled" in all his forms) got their start there, in a tabletop game that happened well over a decade ago. I dug around and even found some art from waaaay back when:

I honestly don't remember why he has a pimp cane, but I kinda love it. Also, no, that's not actually, technically a proto-Malika stealing his money pouch. It's a completely different troublesome, dark-haired girl.

(He may have a type. I may have a type.)

Anyway, when I first made him in FFXIV, I was mostly playing on Gilgamesh and just kinda made him because Mal pointed out that Balmung was open and this was the old nightmare days when you could, like, almost never make a character on Balmung. So I made him, did the seasonal event (I think it was the 2014 Moonfire Faire, but don't quote me on that) and logged out on him for like... years.

I didn't start actually playing on Balmung until like... right around Shadowbringers, and I figured I might as well play Evander since he was like... Right there. He didn't really sit right with me, though. I went through a few fantasias and hair changes and stuff, and he just didn't click until I went to the market board and started looking at the low-level glam stuff and saw the beloved dumb hat. It wasn't a jaunty feathered cap, and it wasn't an archaeologist's fedora, but... It was perfect. I looked at it. I tried it on. It was dirt cheap, so I bought it. I chortled and guffawed, and told Mal "Hey, look. Look at him. Look at this dumb hat. I'm gonna wear it with everything.

And so I did. The hair still didn't look right, and wouldn't until I'd eventually cave and buy Aymeric's whole damn look just for his hair, but god, the hat helped. Everyone just immediately assumes he's a cowboy, which is kinda funny, but other than that? Worth it.

Ask me stuff! oc asks: character design edition

[bizarrelittlemew]

ooooo I love this game, for the fic titles, "eat, pray, larceny"

modern au: Ed is a traveling food critic and one of the most highly regarded, but originally, he only became one to have a cover for traveling around the world and carrying out heists, usually of expensive art pieces. he has grown weary of both and is considering retirement when one night, he is suddenly faced with a competing robber going after the same piece, and who tricks his right-hand man Izzy and gets away with the prize (but not before Ed manages to unmask him and get a look at his very distinct face and golden hair).

the very next day, Ed is supposed to sample a new restaurant in the area - Dutch-Caribbean fusion - while still fuming about the fiasco the night before, but he is taken aback by how much he enjoys the unusual dishes and eccentric surroundings, so much that he forgets to grumble about the other robber (and his stupid beautiful hair and dumb cute dimple and broad build that Ed definitely doesn't want to climb like a sexy sturdy tree). that is until he wants to give his compliments to the chef by the end of the meal, and it turns out he is none other than Ed's golden-haired rival.

much to Izzy's chagrin, Ed and Stede team up for Ed's final heist, and the reason Stede started his robber career: a priceless piece owned by Stede's father that he tricked from a young, struggling artist (Lucius) who didn't know the worth of the small painting gifted to him by his old instructor before his death. along the way, Stede realizes that he can never return to his old life after this, and also that he is very, very in love with Ed <3

send me a made-up fic title and i'll tell you what i would write to go with it