#like at the heart of the Cain and Able story there was envy

[ohmigoshiloveu]

So like, in VTM the story of Cain and Able is REALLY important, like Cain became the first vampire as punishment for killing Able, and Kindred can also be referred to as Cainites.

Allusions to Cain and Able in the Suckening aren’t particularly forthcoming, but we do have two brothers, with one who’s being postured as innocent and beloved and the other one is violent and considering war crimes. All I’m saying is that Condi was onto some good shit with trying to make Emizel resent Shilo.

[diveronarpg]

Congratulations, GREY! You’ve been accepted for the role of EDMUND with a faceclaim change to Daniel Sharman. Admin Rosey: “You are born unwanted, unloved and you have never worked out, not once, why you were kept; why your mother carried you, grew you, bore you just to immediately hand you off to a father for whom you were little more than a curse.“ Never before have I witnessed something so potently Edmund from the first. You bring a vitality and earnestness to him that makes him so incredibly endearing, even though there’s always that hint of the monster that lies beneath. Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias | Grey

Age | 32

Preferred Pronouns | She/Her

Activity Level | Currently I’m off work on extended medical leave (unknown end date), so mostly don’t have any major claims on my time and should be able to be around most days. With that said, medical issues and meds will crop up from time to time however I believe things have settled down enough to allow me to return to the rp.

Timezone | Sydney AEST (GMT+10)

How did you find the rp?  | Blame Rogue. Always.

Current/Past RP Accounts | I briefly played Benvolio here last year until health issues got in the way!

IN CHARACTER

Character | Edmund/Easton Craven.

Easton - You have to wonder, don’t you, what they thought when they picked your name. Easton. Town in the East. A name basically devoid of meaning, of hope for what you’d grow into. They didn’t wish you valor or prosperity or happiness or any of a hundred actual meanings, oh no - that all goes to your brother the brave boar. Of course it does – you were never wanted, so why should they want anything for you?

Craven - Oh, you know it’s origins in the Gaelic Ó Crabháin (Son of Crabháin) , or perhaps the far less noble Welsh Craf (garlic) but you can’t but help take a certain vicious, raw and ironic pleasure in the fact that it’s co-incidentally also a synonym of coward. In your mind you hiss it, hurl it at the portrait of your father – but all that escapes your tight throat is a quiet whisper, with a tinge of longing for the way the name sits so tidily on Gabriel and Everett’s shoulders ( but then, it was never made for you ).

Edmund - This name fits far easier on your brow than the two before – but then, this one was chosen with you in mind. This one you have earned with blood and pain, whatever cost they asked was met to carve out this space, this place where you belong. Rich Protection is what you are now, guarding the Capulets with whispers, with secrets, with blood and bullets.

(I’d like to request a face claim change to Daniel Sharman if I could!)

What drew you to this character? |

You are born unwanted, unloved and you have never worked out, not once, why you were kept; why your mother carried you, grew you, bore you just to immediately hand you off to a father for whom you were little more than a curse. He keeps you out of the same twisted sense of honour that your very existence besmirches –  does that “honour” do anything except ruin lives?

So much pain caused for one man’s already shredded virtue. In taking you in, Gabriel put his own selfishness above his family a second time – his play at penance means more to him than the hurt it costs his wife, the happy life you might have led if he had simply allowed you to be adopted by another family who actually wanted you. But then, how could he pat himself on the back about having done the right thing? In birth, you have learned a lesson you will not understand until you are grown – honour is simply a pretentious word for hubris.

( You are never wanted, never fitting; a jigsaw piece mixed into the wrong puzzle. )

You grow up chasing scraps of approval and warmth the way a donkey chases a carrot on a stick – in your mind, always close enough to grasp in another step and in reality always out of reach. Time and time again you take your pictures, your books, the homework your tutor praised to him and are met each time with the closed door of his study. Sometimes, if you wait long enough ( back aching from the perfect posture your father demands of you ) he will glance at one briefly, and you feel the warmth of the sun on your face, but it is quickly chased away by the cloud of criticisms that invariably follow. Each time you swear to yourself that next time your father will smile and tell you you have done well, and each time you return as empty handed as the last.

Your step-mother is never cruel, only distant and cold, but you are too young to understand the difference, to see that she walls herself off from you only to protect herself from what you represent ( and later, you will see it, the way they all protected themselves without worrying about protecting you and you will learn it well and hard that people look out only for themselves ). You are four when you call her ‘Mama’ for the first time, crying over your grazed knee, and her sweeping exit from the room is perhaps the clearest of your young memories, the words ‘Non sono tua madre’ falling dead and flat over her shoulder as she goes.

( You have been cold for so long that you start to think that even the slightest warmth might burn you to ash. )

Want curdles into bitter envy in your stomach as you realise what bastardo truly means: that the light that shines so brightly upon your brother will never fall upon you. That nothing you ever do will be enough to remove the bloody stain of your birth from the spotless white carpet of the Craven family. The acidic green bile burns through you, a sharp chemical taste in your mouth for years as it hollows you out, echoing caverns of craving in its wake until you think if you don’t have something then your very foundations will crumble into nothing.

Just when you think the last of your supports is washing away with the caustic tide you find something new to fill you to the brim. Liquid molten rage cascades into those raw-cut caverns, tumbling flames through your veins that leave scorch marks on your heart and fill your lungs with choking smoke. At first it’s all-consuming, over-whelming, an inferno that threatens to devour you in its intensity and you lash it out at everything around you; venting the hurt and pain of it at anything within reach. In time you manage to leash it, harnessing the Pyrrhic power of it to your own ends, channelling it in your own directions until you forget what it’s like to not be scalded and scorched from within, until you forget that fire is never meant to be played with.

( You set yourself alight to stop anyone else from striking the match and laugh as your victory pyre consumes you. )

Tl;dr: Fucked up, messed up boys are my brand yo.

( I feel I can pretty much perfectly encapsulate what cleaved my attention so firmly to Easton with that one time where my character inspo boards led pinterest support to send me a concerned email asking if I was okay.)

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |

Obviously these are all contingent on the plot, other writers agreement etc etc, and are just ideas.

i. you were destined for the glory / the honor and the fame. / i was destined for the bullet / to be the gun with no name.

Everett has everything Easton has ever wanted, from parents who care to wealth to power to a circle of friends he can fall back on. He has everything that should of been Easton’s, if only Easton had had the sheer luck to have been born to the right woman. Easton never had a chance to shine as he should, buried since birth in his older brother’s darkest shadow, and now he’s clambering for the sun.

It’s the oldest tale in the world, this Cain and Abel fable, and yet Easton seems to be the only one who knows which page they’re on. Everett extends his hand and as much as the elemental fury inside wants to slap it away ( as much as some buried corner of his soul cries out to grasp it in earnest ), Easton rests his palm reluctantly in his brothers for now – after all, how much easier to put a knife in the back of someone who has invited you inside their guard?

ii. the moral of the story is / i will gut you if i need to. / i will carve my way out / with only my teeth.

It’s not that Easton isn’t loyal – in his own way he’s unswervingly loyal to the Capulets. Would he kill for them? Without blinking an eye. Would he die for them, on the other hand? And yet in many ways he defines himself more as Capulet than he does Craven; this allegiance, this new family that he has chosen for himself. When it comes to alternate allegiances, there are none he would so much as waver from the Capulets for; he has chosen the best player in the game and for now he’s content to ride their rise.

The problem is that, at the end of the day, Easton craves power and he craves control and the freedom that he believes comes with being at the top of the pyramid. He doesn’t see the chains that come with it, that bind Rafaella, Tiberius and Juliana with duty; only the way people jump to their words, scrape bows in their direction. And the Capulets may be a metaphorical extended family but at the same time they’re also, at their core, a very specific blood family and he can see the ceiling above him that his half-blooded Craven name will never let him rise past. Even the most loyal dog can bite and one day the Capulets may find that the dog they thought trained is actually a wolf - and that when you unleash a dog on your enemies it’s not always willing to be re-collared.

iii. when you are not fed love / on a silver spoon / you learn to / lick it off knives.

Affection is a difficult concept for someone who’s experienced so little of it in his life. On the one hand, he hungers for it; a deep insatiable need for the way his father’s hand rests proudly on Everett’s shoulder, the way Margherita had looked at her son, for soft hands to stroke his brow when he’s sick or a shoulder at the end of the day. But those are things for people who are worthwhile, who matter, and if Easton’s life has taught him anything it’s that he is deserving of nothing ( as much as he tries to yell into that void that he is deserving of everything ).

On the other, he approaches affection with the same wary fear as a dog that’s been kicked a time too many; to feel affection for something is to expose a vulnerable point to his enemies, a weakness for them to exploit – to say nothing of the self-destruct code he would hand to object of said affection, that he may as well be baring his throat to their blade when they inevitably realise how unworthy he is.

And so he tries to lock it away, snaps and bites at anyone who gets too close to keep a clear arms length around himself, and allows the loneliness to eat at him unabated.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Absolutely! I live and breathe for angst so as long as it comes at a time that makes me and everyone else bawl about it, go for it!

IN DEPTH

January 2012 (19 years old) Munich

Easton wonders what he’d expected, all those times he’d typed her name into google, deleted it and re-typed it a few days later. Whatever dream had prompted him to finally follow through, whatever holes he might have hoped to fill, he’d known it was a mistake the moment he’d stepped out of the airport.

Now, seated in this bright, cheerful kitchen, he’s sure of it.

“ So you’re him then. The child. ” Her hand closes for a moment around the golden cross that hangs around her neck, knuckles whitening for a moment as though gripping it tighter might ward off his presence here, in her life.  How many rosaries had she said to absolve herself of his birth, to absolve herself of him? ( And he knows that they both know it will never be enough. )

Her throat bobs for a moment as she swallows. “ You have his eyes. ”

His jaw clenches a little at the reminder, at the way she’s already dissociating herself from him, abstaining any responsibility. Not my, but the. As if she’d had nothing to do with it. With him.

“ Yeah. ” The silence thickens for a moment, suffocating the room until he can almost feel it straining his lungs. “ You’re her then. you’re… ” What? My mother? Gabriel’s ex-whore? The one who abandoned me?

He’d always assumed he must look like his mother; the only comments he ever got about Gabriel were his eyes. But at this moment, the most familiar thing about her face is the same closed, guarded expression that Margherita and his father had always worn when they looked at him.

“ They told me you were dead. ”

Ingrid nods, as though she’d expected as much. and her eyes flick to the clock on the wall behind him. Past her, on the door of the fridge, he can see the bright primary colours of a child’s painting, photos of her with a man and three small children, and for a minute it’s a kick in the gut that he struggles to draw breath past. In Verona he’s nothing but the one who destroyed a family and here he’s just the ticking time bomb waiting to do it again.

He stands abruptly, the chair clattering back loudly against the tiles. “ This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come. ” His fists clench at his sides, nails digging into his palms to counteract the ringing rush of hurt and anger. “ Sorry. ”

“ Easton. ” It’s the first time she’s called him by name, and he stutters in place, nails digging harder into his palms. “ I assume you want answers and I suppose - ” She won’t meet his eyes. “ - I suppose I owe you that much. ”  

EXTRAS

Headcanons:

- Easton secretly likes to paint, and its one of the few things he has that provides him a sense of peace. Still, it feels like a vulnerability, a crack in his armour, and he guards the knowledge of it fiercely and warily, trusting it to no one. He scrubs his skin almost raw after each session, getting off every trace of oils that he can, because it’s far far easier and safer to explain blood in his knuckles or under his nails than paint. It’s so ingrained that the scouring ritual is almost a vital part of the process, a cleansing of more than just the paint. The vast majority of his paintings end up destroyed upon creation, because for all the peace he manages to find in creating them, when they’re finished he sees nothing but the flaws picked out in Gabriel’s voice.

- Pinterest Board

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Winner’s Curse Ch. 8

CJ stalked the cold, gloomy alleyways that lined the street to the docks with a brazen whistle and jaunty step. A proverbial sore thumb compared to the adults and small Vks who scurried about with shuffling steps using the shadows as cover from the watchful eyes of the Coven.

“As if they would care about the doings of cowards and sidekicks.” CJ thought to herself. She had only been back in the Isle for a few days, possibly weeks, time was never a sure thing for CJ, and she had pieced together a little of what had happened when she was gone.

Some big name villains had gotten their magic back and were ruling the Isle with an iron fist, no one was allowed to do anything without their permission, children and sidekicks were punching bags for others, some sort of new hierarchy, etc.

CJ didn’t particularly care. She wasn’t going to stay here for long anyway. She was meant to live on the high seas and after seeing all the booty that she could plunder from places like Camelot Heights and Charmington, she had a growing desire to return to Auradon. A land filled with gold and magic and all sorts of princess to scare and seduce unlike this island of delusional madpeople.

And she was going to plunder and steal on the Seven Seas on the Jolly Roger. Her birthright.

Just as the golden compass that she took from its’ hidden, crocodile-ridden vault on Neverland that used to belong to the once glorious Captain James Hook, that Jolly Roger was another piece of her great legacy. It would aid her in her acts of treachery and it would be a sign to all her future enemies that her scourge was coming. iT would strike fear into their hearts even before they saw a glimpse of her.

She wanted to be the most vile, bloodiest pirate that ever lived. More dangerous than her father, more wanted than Calico Jack, people would say Blackbeard was the male CJ Hook. She was dangerous in her own right despite what these idiots on the Isle thought. She was always third. Behind Harriet even though Harriet hardly did anything but keep up the Jolly Roger and occasionally entered a bar brawl, and behind Harry who was practically Uma’s whipping boy.

Voluntarily Uma’s whipping boy and first mate. It was disgusting.

When she was young she had envied and idolized her brother for his fierceness and the hook he used to slash people’s throats for daring to not follow his orders. But ever since he fell for Uma and pledged his life to serve her, she lost her respect for him. Why be a first mate when you could be a leader and take the best share of booty for yourself.

It was a universal rule not to fall for anyone on the Isle. It made you dependent and weak. Yet Harry was clearly hook over his head devoted to Uma and that seemed to make him stronger. Harry fought like an untamed animal with Uma by his side whenever someone treaded on their turf or insulted their gang. People feared him more now than ever, not daring to speak a bad word about Uma or him. They said he was insane. They said he killed for fun, a true sadist.

She hijacked her way to Auradon, she stole a whole roomful of treasure, she’s been living the good life on the seas without a tie to anyone, a leader unto herself. And she was still second-place to Harry, a pirate who was no leader, just a first mate.

It was just like that when they were kids. Her father treated Harriet more or less with respect or left her alone since she took care of things when he was off drinking until he could see and defeat his hallucinations of Peter Pan. He more or less ignored Harry seeing too much of himself in the boy, seeing his failure in the future. Her, she was his favorite, she knew that. Sure, he didn’t like it when she talked to him, he wasn’t a fan of kids talking or kids in general, but he would treat her mildly better like teaching her the proper way to stab someone. But it was clear that he had no hopes for her to grow into her pirate legacy or any of her capabilities. 

Apparently, he thought her siblings had more raw skill and she had too much of his obsessiveness.

Fine, he was right she was obsessed. Obsessed with treasure, with being a pirate, with being great. She was going to get her own treasure. Steal it from her own father. Like a true treacherous pirate.

He would hate her.

Good, she hated him.

Hook was a greedy man. Wouldn’t be such a fearsome pirate otherwise. He refused to give up any of his possessions to his children. They hadn’t “earned” it. Or as he usually yelled at them, “You’re supposed to be fucking pirates! Get your own treasure!” That declaration led to the bitterest resentment in her piled near the times he forgot her existence in favor of talking to her siblings, doubting her, agreeing with the rest of the Isle. Placing her fourth behind the rest of the family.

She would prove them all wrong, and make them pay.

Her angry thoughts echoed with her pounding footsteps as she kicked the hollow wooden wall behind Madame Medusa’s casino that had formerly been the diamond plunder’s basement, now Lady Caine’s lair.

CJ would have liked to make a dramatic entrance, much like the one she did at the Auradonians silly Neon Lights Ball  but she sadly didn’t not see any vines or ropes to swing from so she settled for bounding down the stairs and brandishing a sword.

Brandishing her sword in a dark, empty room apparently, the only light coming from a small window.

The basement was much larger than she thought basements were supposed to be until she realized she was in a small entrance room and she had to go through another door. The door led through a stone hallways, it’s only light coming from the cracks of the wooden ceiling which CJ figured must be the floor of the casino. Some stones had been chipped and the place reeked with mildew and dust but it was also decorated to intimidate.

There were blood splatters and spare limb joints wedged in corners of the walls, rusty swords bent with decay that had been stuck to the wall and unable to be removed. Posters buxom female pirates and males with broad chests holding knives in their mouths were crudely tacked up alongside “Wanted” signs of Lady Caine’s gang.

CJ recognized some of the pirates from the stories Harriet used to tell. The heartless Blackbeard, the infamous Davy Jones, and CJ’s favorites, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Grace O’Malley, Ching Shih..

“Hmmm I like her too.” A female voice purred, sidling up to her side. It took most of CJ’s composure not to jump at the sudden presence of whom she instinctively knew to be Lady Caine and forced herself to smooth her face into a wicked grin as she faced the self-proclaimed “Queen of Thieves.” 

The older pirate was a bit shorter than her, reaching to her nose but that didn’t lessen her intimidating presence. In fact it just made CJ even more on guard knowing that it was likely Lady Caine would find a sneaky advantage like hitting her in the crotch or some other unprecedented move using the dagger at her belt. 

The rest of her body was less intimidating since toll of the Isle showed. She was skinnier than CJ so it made her corset look like it was hanging limply from her body rather than pushing up ‘the goods.’ Her hair was limp too, and straggly from lack of clean water and constant sea mist.There was an uneven spread of muscles on her arms tempered with some new and healed-over scars, one that even went through her skull and roses tattoo on her right shoulder. Her left leg was clearly injured since she favored to lean on her right and CJ could see the spread of blood seeping through her tent-canvas pants. The one piece of jewelry, a skull necklace was cracked and rusting over making it look more like a demented clown. 

What really brought the scare factor was Lady Caine’s face. Her mouth was set into an unnerving casual smirk. The kind that implied she was the type of person to arrange for someone ‘to swim with the fishes’ simply because she needed something to do to fill her time. Yet her smile didn’t reach to her eyes. No, her eyes were too guarded, menacing, immediately telling CJ that if she tried to double cross her, than Lady Caine would return the favor. Ten-fold. 

“Yes, she has quite the treasure chest.” CJ commented. 

“Heh, I meant I wouldn’t mind taking over her nine hundred squadron fleet to raise a little hell,” Lady Caine raised an eyebrow, her brown and shoddily red-dyed bangs brushed against CJ’s cheek as the older women got into her personal space. “But I can share your admiration for her figure too. Would she be any competition for that voodoo sorceress you’ve been with?”

CJ forced herself to breath normally through her mouth despite her sudden wildly thumping heart. Unexpected and unwelcome memories filled her mind, pushing the faded poster of Ching Shih away. 

Freddie’s dark lips, stained with purple berries that brought out the highlights of her kelp green eyes. Those same lips who created enticing and persuasive arguments with her ‘velvety’ voice coaxing new sounds out of her as they glided across her body. 

Her nimble hands easily able to pickpocket and grope with none the wiser than she, but CJ always knew because she knew that girl. Her tricks of trade, her facial tics, what sent her over the edge in the most pleasurable sense of the world.

That was until CJ had been totally blindsided when Freddie decided to become independent. She knew Freddie had a stubborn streak, which Freddie would retort that she wasn’t stubborn, she was practical, not carrying the obsessive Hook madness. But for Freddie to abruptly tear away from her to have her own dreams was something CJ never thought would happen. Freddie had always seemed to content in helping her with her own schemes, she said she found keeping CJ under control to be entertaining which would be followed by a night of dark magic and ecstasy.

“Of course not.” CJ barked out a hearty laugh and tried to move the conversation to safer, less complicated, emotional areas as well as keep her mind off the stunning spawn of Facilier.

“The girl is my sidekick. My pet. My Auradon pet since she insists on becoming a famous singing star for those goody goodies. She’s not at all like Ching Shih. What I would give for a nine hundred boat squadron which brings me to the important thing. How am I getting the Jolly Roger?”

“We’re getting the Jolly Roger.” Lady Caine corrected leading her toward a bigger room which CJ could tell had used to be used for storage due to the familiar musty smell of aged alcohol. The large boxes had been shifted and carved to form makeshift chairs, weapons were hung or stabbed haphazardly around the place and in the center was a wooden throne which Lady Caine lazily slouched upon, looking at CJ up and down with amusement.

CJ pulled out her sword again, glaring at Caine threw slitted eyes. “Not the deal. The Jolly Rogers mine.”

“Relax. I don’t want that ship, I have my own. I just have my own plans for your father once we steal it in front of bloodshot eyes.” Lady Caine smirked malevolently, “He still drinks, doesn’t he?”

CJ faltered a little when she realized that wasn’t a rhetorical question, “Uh maybe. I don’t associate with him. I’ve been Auradon.”

“I’ve heard about that. Now that is something people should talk about more. You got into Auradon on your own. No pitying help from Prince Furrball. No ‘turning good,’ turning their backs on us so we could rot in hell while their mushy goodhearted brains sleep on pillows. You lived up to your wickedness, CJ.” Lady Caine cocked her head, looking oddly at CJ. Her eyes glinted with a strange happiness and her mouth curved in a genuine smile like when Captain Hook envisioned himself killing that dratted green boy. So proud of his imaginary accomplishment.

Proud. That was what Lady Caine looked like. Not proud of herself but proud for CJ.

CJ’s staggering realization that someone was actually proud of her was tempered by the words sinking in, “No one talks about me and my accomplishments? I have stolen loot from Merlin!”

“Exactly. They still speak of your brother and his violence, but not your greatness. It’s ridiculous. Descended from two great pirates..well I’m a great pirate, your dad-” Lady Caine waved her hand as if she couldn’t quite describe the numerous fatal flaws of Captain Hook in words.

“Yeah…” CJ wasn’t sure how to continue, another odd feeling, she had always remained sure and in control most of her life, “How did-How are you my mother? Dad despises you. He has dreamed of you and Pan being crushed under his stern.”

“And I despise him as well. It’s complicated. I wasn’t in the right mind when I did it. I was drunk, we were fighting, his Hook slipped and instead of scratching me it kind of went the hot and sexy route..huh? That actually wasn’t very complicated now that I say it out loud.” Lady Caine shrugged, wiping a hand over eye and smudging her heavy eyeliner. It sort of reminded her of Harry. 

Truthfully as she looked longer at Lady Caine she found it difficult to see the resemblance between her and her supposed mother. Lady Caine’s brown hair matched more with Harriet and the eye-liner, totally a trademark of her brother. Maybe..just maybe if Lady Caine ate more and filled out, CJ would be able to see if they have the same slender figure, and if she wiped away the magenta lipstick, maybe they had the same lips.... 

“And you’re not Harriet’s or Harry’s-” “No.” Lady Caine vehemently denied, “I would remember if I slept with that son of a bitch more than once, especially if I was pregnant afterwards. Just once is enough for me. What else do you think the C in your name means?”

CJ hadn’t meant to look so shocked but she lost her control, her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped, “The C is for Caine?!”

Lady Caine burst out laughing, getting off her chair and back to CJ’s side, “No again. Your dad named you and he would never choose something that referenced me. You should have seen the look on your face though. Ha!”

Once CJ’s heart resumed its normal rhythm, she managed a weak laugh, “Okay great. But seriously, the Jolly Roger. What’s the plan? I want that boat.”

Lady Caine looked like she was about to laugh again, but she refrained seeing the seriousness in CJ’s eyes. “There’s no official plan...yet. But you will be in charge of it since you know Hook’s turf better than I do.” A part of CJ’s gut pinged at Caine’s words. It felt wrong somehow. Too easy that the “Queen of Thieves,” known for her hard will and controlling way would just hand over the plan to CJ, even if she was her child. Yet CJ swelled with ambitious excitement. She was finally getting the respect her reputation deserved. She could totally plan and execute a way to take the Jolly Roger.

“What do you want with all this?” CJ questioned, giving in a little to her gut feeling and eyeing Lady Caine warily.

“Like I said, I have my own score to settle with Hook. And a small favor. I want to use the Jolly Roger to storm Corona.” “You see, CJ, long before you were born. Before Auradon or the Isle or any of this existed. I lived in Corona. My father was a petty thief that King Fredric jailed because he couldn’t stand any sort of criminal. Murderers in cells with domestic abusers and first time offenders. It was Corona’s own version of the Isle. The first one. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Beast took the idea from him.

My father died in that prison since he couldn’t compete with the big guns. I grew up on the streets which was for the best I suppose ‘cause look at me now.  

But that self-righteous King Fredric has the balls to send me with common criminals and louses all over again. Off with his head along all the rest of those do-good bastards.”

“Off with their heads?” CJ laughed, giving the moment some levity, “You sound like the Queen of Hearts.”

Lady Caine glared at her, visions of anger and blood quite evident on her face, “Tie them to the rack, firing squad, crucifixion. Whatever you want. The point is those Auradonians will suffer, and they will not live.” 

———————————————————————————————————

Jordan inhaled deeply before knocking on Ben’s office door.

This was it, today was the day, no turning back.

After getting those cliches out of her head, Jordan paused to make sure that the rumbling of her stomach was just hunger from being too nervous to eat dinner and not impending throw up out of nervousness.

Yet before Jordan could knock on the door, Ben flung it wide open. She was starting to wonder if Ben was some door opening psychic for the past five times she visited this week to go over Operation: Defeat the Coven (official more badass title still in progress), he always opened the door before she knocked. Either she was a very loud presence or Ben was always waiting for someone to bother him.

She had a feeling it was the latter since he was King of Auradon and all, which seemed sad. She knew she would go crazy if she had people constantly knocking on her lamp all the time asking to fix some crisis or other.

Well, people used to do that to her lamp, but after sending those people off in a sandstorm, almost everyone learned to leave her alone. Just how she liked it.

"Hi, Jordan! Are you ready to beat some baddies?" Ben enthused, sounding unusually chirpy and breathless.

"Baddies? Really? No wonder you got caught so quickly on the Isle." Jordan shook her head with amusement.

"Yep, that's me." Ben said, pushing her back so he could close the door behind him, smiling way too brightly and nervously swishing his bangs out of his face as if that would make him look more casual.

Yeah, he was hiding a girl, or he was watching porn. She had seen Aziz act with this sort of bad nonchalantless plenty of times whenever she popped by his room unannounced. And since Ben was way too innocent to even know of the dark side of the internet and he did possess a girlfriend, she could bet he and Mal were having some alone time.

Ben leaned firmly against the door in a move that would prevent anyone from being able to open the door without getting through him, "Do you need any last minute supplies?"

As he said this, Jordan finally spotted the tell-tale bite mark on his neck that confirmed her suspicions.

Jordan was tempted to make a comment about how it looked like a certain purple dragon had marked him as part of her hoard, but refrained. Auradonians were still on edge about Vks even though they had been around for a year, and even more were up in arms about Ben promoting Mal to be his future queen. 

If anyone had gotten wind that Mal was in Ben's room, alone, giving him love bites and who knows what else when he was supposed to be doing kingly duties, the scrutiny would be worse than ever on Ben. She might as well let them have their private moment.

Even though that private moment just showed how relaxed Ben was about Operation Defeat the Coven while she still wanted to throw up.

And that's exactly why she needed to talk to Ben. It was clear he had too much faith in her and her abilities and so he needed to be given a reality check of how they could all die and the world that they know it would be taken over by every villain on the Isle imaginable.

"Ben, I promise I'm not backing out. I mean, it is really too late for me to back out anyway so I can't. But I don't feel prepared for this at all. I'm a genie. I'm a sidekick. I don't really make tough decisions, I just entertain people with my magic powers, not fight them. The Coven have a millennium of experience over me and in dark magic which a completely different sort of power, and-"

"I understand how you feel." Ben put a comforting hand on her shoulder while her mouth dropped rather unattractively.

"You do?"

"Hey, I turned king when I was 16. I read a lot about politics and policy making, but it is completely different when I was thrown into ruling. It was like everything I studied and read meant nothing at all when it came to dealing with people and trying to listen to all their problems and think of plausible solutions on a deadline. I can't say I know what I'm doing most of the time."

Well that was very reassuring knowledge.

"But one major thing I have learned when it comes to leadership is that we all develop our own style. You can't prepare for it, you can't learn it. It just comes to you as you learn and grow. You just have to take your time."

"But I CAN'T take my time!" Jordan retorted, "This mission has a short deadline with snap decisions. I can't grow from this."

"It's adventure. People always grow and develop during an adventure like all our parents in their stories." Ben answered back with irritating calmness.

Jordan felt her eye twitch. She should have known that knocking some reality into the eternal optimist wouldn't work.

At least the eternal optimist had eyes so he could see her clear annoyance and distress because Ben said something else, "Besides Jordan, you may be the leader of the mission, but you have your friends to help you. That's why I have a Council. I don't know everything, but I surround myself with people who do and who will help guide me to making the right choices. You're not alone in this."

Jordan exhaled, surprised by how that little nugget of advice actually eased some of her nerves. She did feel pretty confident about her team. Aziz and Jay were excellent with parkour and other athletics so they could be counted on in the case of an attack, and Calix had the magical skills to go up against the sorcerers with her. Plus she had adventured with Aziz and Calix enough times to insticively know when to act in sync. It was too bad Jay was left in the cold in that respect, but he knew his way around the Isle so he had an advantage over all of them.

Additionally, Ben, Carlos Jane and Evie volunteered to alternate in keeping contact with them via magically-enhanced ear chip so they could research useful information in the library if needed.

She trusted them to know what they were doing, and she supposed with so much back-up if she did make a mistake then they could resolve it quickly before any real damage ensued.

"Thanks, Ben. I think I'm ready to go." Jordan said, brushing his hand off her shoulder.

"Right. I'll meet you there. I should go get Mal." Ben said, fixing his collar and rushed into his room.

Jordan sing-songed to the door before leaving, "Ben, I'm pretty sure Mal's room is on the other side of the castle."

She walked quickly to the front of Auradon Prep by the Beast statue where Evie, Aziz, Jay and Calix were already waiting and the moon was high above them all.

Since Ben had arranged the excuse to FG that she, Jay and Aziz were taking a field trip to Agrabah for a week to research illusions in connection with desert mirages so the two boys were dressed in loose pants and shirts that concealed the thick leather body armor underneath as well as the shafrah and scimitar strapped to their legs.

She had copied that look in a flowing black sundress with a two straps filled to the teeth with daggers criss-crossing her chest.

Truthfully, she never used a dagger before, but like with leadership, she hoped she would catch on. How hard could it be to stab someone?

Calix, on the other hand, was looking far too casual with a one shouldered toga that showed off most of his chest and no way to hide weapons anywhere on his body. Apparently he ignored her lecture that you can’t flirt someone to death in mortal combat. 

"Good luck." Evie hugged Jay once she saw Jordan arrive. "Avoid Harry and the Gastons. And any of your exes."

"I don't have exes. We didn't date on the Isle, remember." Jay said, mock punching Evie on the shoulder, "I just have enemies that I slept with and never talked to again."

Ben and Mal joined the group before anyone could comment on that topic, not that Jordan knew exactly what to make of that piece of information, and they started their official goodbyes.

"We're only an ear chip away." Evie said handing each of them a small metallic chip that Carlos had made to place in their ear drum, "All you have to do is press and it turns on and off, and since Mal spelled it. It is guaranteed to work even when you close the barrier."

"Alright. Now where are we going first? Maleficent's castle? Ursula's fish and chips?” Jay clapped his hands together, clenching his fists for the undoubtedly upcoming fights.

"The jungle." Aziz, Calix and Jordan said in unison.

What?" Jay, and Mal looked utterly confused by the answer.

"Do you not check the group messages?" Jordan snorted derisively, "Anyway, we are going to the jungle first to fix some of the holes in the barrier. Since Evie said the jungle is unoccupied by humans, we won't be noticed and attacked by the Vks immediately. Calix and I will fix the holes so the Coven won't be able to have an escape route. Then we'll work our way inland to the Coven's laier and do battle."

"Oh, okay. But you’re wrong though on the jungle being unoccupied. Some people live in the jungle. Mainly hunters who wanted some fresh meat rather than the leftovers you give us." Jay corrected.

All the Aks tensed at that and Ben looked shamefaced to the floor.

Jay hadn't said the comment in a bitter or accusatory way, but matter of factly. Which made it sound worse. It was simply a fact of the Isle that if one got tired of rotten and disgusted food from the overprivilged that you had to face the dangerous wild jungle and kill for raw meat.

"You’ll fight those VKs off we meet them." Jordan instructed after an awkward silence. Then nodded to the others. "We're going now."

Aziz took the cue and rubbed her lamp that was snugly strapped to his hip. She hated the fact that she had to bring it to the Isle, but she had no choice. While she could do magic to in transporting herself places, when it came to performing magic on others it required a wish.

"I wish to transport to the jungle of the Isle."

Shimmery pink smoke enveloped them, wind rushing past their ears and moving their bodies even though it felt like their feet were still firmly on the ground. Once the smoke cleared, all they could see was shades of green and brown.

The green came from the leafy canopy and thickets of thorns that blocked the view of the sea while the brown was the dead grass that crumpled underfoot, the dead trees that fallen over to their left in a small pile and the holes of dirt.

Jay crouched by one of the holes, studying the edges. Standing up he informed them a hyena probably created it.

"Are hyenas nocturnal?" Calix eyed the hole nervously, looking around as if to find some sort of protective cave even though there was nothing but trees.

"Yes, but I wouldn't worry. Usually the leapords take care of them." Jay said ignoring Calix’s more distressed look and motioned for them to follow him into the trees. "Since we are near the coast, the cliffs should be close by here."

And so their journey began. 

[hopevoiceacting]

I REALLY WANT TO ROLEPLAY VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE!

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

 [This RP takes place within the Vampire: The Masquerade universe,based on the game of the same name. Where the Main Character is a newly sired vampire introduced into this underground world of Vampires settled within Los Angeles, with their own government and factions, meeting all different kinds of vampires,ghouls,monsters,etc. This type of vampire is somewhat similar to the traditionally seen vampires of lore, paler skin, fangs (though not particularly noticeable), sunlight can kill, but here is where things differ, Garlic does nothing for obvious reasons, running water does nothing, crosses do nothing,while smaller firearms don't do much, higher grade firearms will harm a vampire, members of different clans have different attributes, like Nosferatu can go invisible and look more monstrous, while Tremere can use magic,etc. I am looking for CANON characters of the series to interact with, I highly recommend checking out the game and wiki. I am also looking for Romance to take place in the Roleplay. I hope we can have a bit of fun together! OH! I have another prompt where it follows the story of Caine, the Father of Vampires returning to The Masquerade, check it out below.]

 Ya know, when you think of the lair of a vampire, you'd probably think of a dark cave or a big mansion, not some crappy apartment in Los Angeles. He could remember the night it all happened, when he was turned into a vampire...He was hanging out with his girlfriend, they had been going pretty steady for a little while, ya know,meeting up for nightly dates, going on long walks, making out, the kind of thing. But it all changed one night, he could still feel the sharp press of her fangs pushing into his flesh. When his transformation was complete, the first thing he recalled was being stabbed in the heart with a stake. When he awoke, he was in front of a audience of vampires, next to him? His girlfriend. Some rich asshole going on about how unofficial siring was something they couldn't have...So they cut off her head,killing her and leaving me in this unknown world of monsters called Kindred (it's what they call Vampires,it's more 'polite'). The man was named Prince LaCroix, he seemed in charge of the faction called the Camarilla, he let Xander live 'mercifully' so he says...Tch.

 From what he's learned so far,there were plenty of different factions, the Sabbat, The Anarchs, the Camarilla. There were also plenty of Clans, he was part of something called the Tremere Clan, the Mages of the Vampires. To Xander all of this was a pain, a life he hadn't asked for, he didn't ask to watch his girlfriend get beheaded and become some Prince's little bus boy. Having to go around trying to increase influence or go blow up a warehouse, beat down on human, go into clubs, deal with crazy women with duel personalities, the fucking Sabbat always hounding him. Ugh, it was such a pain. Apparently there was something big coming as well and he was smack dab in the middle of it all. 

 The Fledgeling(new vampires) sighed as he just moved into The Asylum, a club run by 'sisters', but he soon found out that the sisters were actually the same person with duel personalities. Or maybe they were spirits in the same body. He didn't know, nor did he want to get wrapped up in all of that. He just needed a bit of time to clear his head. He sat down at the end of the bar, looking down into his glass of water. God damn this sucks. He had been taking a sip from his glass of water until a familiar scent came through to his nose, his head suddenly looking to the side to see who it was that coming towards him...Oh, it was them.

Vampire: The Masquerade - The Return of Caine

 [This RP takes place within the Vampire: The Masquerade universe,based on the game of the same name. Instead of following the main premise of the game, I'd love to play one of the mythical characters of the game, Caine, the Father of all Vampires returning. It shall be centered in this underground world of Vampires settled within Los Angeles, with their own government and factions, meeting all different kinds of vampires,ghouls,monsters,etc. This type of vampire is somewhat similar to the traditionally seen vampires of lore, paler skin, fangs (though not particularly noticeable), sunlight can kill, but here is where things differ, Garlic does nothing for obvious reasons, running water does nothing, crosses do nothing,while smaller firearms don't do much, higher grade firearms will harm a vampire, members of different clans have different attributes, like Nosferatu can go invisible and look more monstrous, while Tremere can use magic,etc. I am looking for CANON characters of the series to interact with, I highly recommend checking out the game and wiki. I am also looking for Romance to take place in the Roleplay. I hope we can have a bit of fun together!]

 The Legend of Caine had been spread throughout all of vampire-kind since it's birth, the Biblical son of Adam and Eve who slew his own brother Abel, cursed by god to walk the earth for the rest of eternity, the Father of All Vampires. With many of the texts regarding Caine having been destroyed by time, many did not know of his first sire,Enoch, the slaughter of the second generation by the third, the curses he placed upon the Kindred Race so many years ago..But most did not know if the being even still lived, or had simply faded with time...Becoming a simple myth. 

 For over two hundred thousand years, he had walked the face of this world. He's explored the depths and peaks of this dimension and further beyond. He has seen the Abyss and the Light...He had ruled his own paradise, along with watching it's destruction along with the slaughter of his childe. But now? He was drinking. Prying the bottle of wine from his mouth, he ran his tongue along his tan lips. Sighing in satisfaction, he looked himself over,making sure none of the wine got onto his form. He didn't exactly wear the most extravagant clothing, a sky blue button up shirt with a gray coat over shoulders, matching dress pants covering tan legs. Though, the oddest part of his attire was the cloth that he wore around his forehead, it seemed to be held tight against his skin as if to conceal something. Looking to the young bartender, he smiled a bit,running his fingertip along the other's chin,meeting their gaze. "Thank you for the drink,hun. I'll be off now, but don't worry. I won't be a stranger." He muttered to them,his voice having put the bartender in a trance,making them Caine's slave until he left.

 Los Angeles, he's heard quite a lot of buzz going on around that area, The Camerilla, the Anarchs, the Sabbat. Three groups he had been watching quite closely, he must say, he was a bit disappointed in his children, having hoped they would of come together long ago after the slaughter of his childe. But he supposed that deep down, they were all human, that humanity comes with conflict,greed, lust, envy. He knew of the masquerade creation, but did not care about it. He sighed as he stood in front of the Cinema, one he knew was the home for the Kindred's meetings, simply prying the door open, he moved inside silently. He could feel the life force of the undead nearby,with each step, he could feel himself growing more and more eager to meet the kind he had created after so long! How had they changed? Were they different? How did they evolve? Had the government change much? Entering the theater, he remained in the back,pressing his back into a corner as he listened to the Prince go on about what they could do. Spotting many different leaders of different factions in their seats up front.

 A faint breath leaving him, he had concealed himself from his own kind for so long, this is what they had made of themselves? He simply wished to let himself be known, he was not here to get into politics...Consider him...Stirring the pot a bit. He sat himself down right behind a Malkavian and a Toreador. He was sure they might be able to feel the eerie air that came off of himself. He listened to the Prince go on and on about some boring topic, not that he had any interest in what he had to say in the least. He decided that now it was best to stir the pot, he smiled as he brought his thumb to his lips, bringing his canines down on the skin, piercing it and letting the beautiful crimson liquid flow,the scent hitting the air around him,causing him to smirk.

 "Daddy's home..."

[seekfirstme]

The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2020. Don's website is located at Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org

Meditation: Do you allow sin or anger to master your life? The first person to hate his brother was Cain. God warned Cain: 'Why are you angry? ..Sin in couching at the door; it's desire is for you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:6-7). Sin doesn't just happen; it first grows as a seed in one's heart. Unless it is mastered, by God's grace, it grows like a weed and chokes the life out of us.

Do not allow the seed of anger and evil to grow in your heart

Jesus addressed the issue of keeping the commandments with his disciples. The scribes and Pharisees equated righteousness with satisfying the demands of the law. Jesus showed them how short they had come. Jesus points to the heart as the seat of desire, choice, and intention. Unless forbidden and evil desires are uprooted and cut-out, the heart will be poisoned and the body become a slave to sin and passion.

Jesus illustrates his point with the example of the commandment to not kill. Murder first starts in the heart as the seed of forbidden anger that grows within until it springs into words and actions against one's brother or neighbor. This is a selfish anger that broods and is long-lived, that nurses a grudge and keeps wrath warm, and that refuses to die. Anger in the heart as well as anger in speech or action are equally forbidden. The Lord Jesus commands by grace - take away the anger in your heart and there will be no murder.

Only God's purifying love and mercy can free us from bitterness and anger

What is the antidote for overcoming anger and rage? Mercy, forbearance, and kindness spring from a heart full of love and forgiveness. God has forgiven us and he calls us to extend mercy and forgiveness towards those who cause us grief or harm. In the cross of Jesus we see the supreme example of love and the power for overcoming evil. Only God's love and grace can set our hearts and minds free from the tyranny of wounded pride and spiteful revenge. Do you harbor any anger towards another person? And are you quick to be reconciled when a rupture has been caused in your relationships? Ask God to set you free and to fill your heart and mind with his love and truth.

Eusebius, a 3rd century church father, offered the following prayer as instruction for his fellow Christians:

"May I be no man's enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides. May I never quarrel with those nearest me: and if I do, may I be reconciled quickly. May I love, seek, and attain only that which is good. May I wish for all men's happiness and envy none. May I never rejoice in the ill-fortune of one who has wronged me. When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never wait for the rebuke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends. May I win no victory that harms either me or my opponent. May I reconcile friends who are angry with one another. May I never fail a friend who is in danger. When visiting those in grief may I be able by gentle and healing words to soften their pain. May I respect myself. May I always keep tame that which rages within me. May I accustom myself to be gentle, and never be angry with people because of circumstances. May I never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done, but know good men and follow in their footsteps."

Do you seek to live peaceably and charitably with all?

"Lord Jesus, my heart is cold. Make it warm, compassionate, and forgiving towards all, even those who do me harm. May I only think and say what is pleasing to you and be of kind service to all I meet."

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2020.

 

TURN OUT RIGHT IN THE END

  "If the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil, ...can he do this and still live? None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered, because he has broken faith and committed sin; because of this, he shall die." —Ezekiel 18:24  

The years 2002 and 2018 were notable for the uncovering of sexual abuse scandals involving certain Roman Catholic priests. Upon hearing the breaking stories, most people reacted like God did in the above passage. Any good deeds done by these priests were forgotten. They were generally condemned by the public because they had turned from virtue to commit evil.

Most people who have experienced their spouse leaving them for another person would have a similar reaction. Most good memories of the marriage would be forgotten because the departing spouse turned from faithfulness to break the covenant.

If we humans can react like this to the bad endings of others, then we can't accuse God of being unfair when he uses a similar standard to judge us (Ez 18:25). God holds us, His children, to the highest standards of holiness and faithfulness (Mt 5:20). Yet God pours out unending supplies of grace so that we can repent and not only meet His standards, but flourish and grow in holiness (Eph 1:3).

If you are falling short of God's standards, turn back to Him (Is 45:22). "Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day" (Sir 5:8). "When you have sinned, show repentance. Delay not to forsake sins, neglect it not till you are in distress" (Sir 18:20-21). "Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!" (2 Cor 6:2) Turn and return to the Lord.

  Prayer: Father, I throw myself on Your mercy. Cleanse me of sin. Promise: "With the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption." —Ps 130:7 Praise: Once a drug dealer, Big Jim repented and converted to the Lord. He now mentors youth.   (This teaching was submitted by a member of our editorial team.)  

  Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") for One Bread, One Body covering the period from February 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020.

†Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 8, 2019.  

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

[itsiotrecords-blog]

http://ift.tt/2st4gLS

For all us movie lovers out there, there is nothing better than a surprising plot twist. As we settle down to watch a great movie which we think is going along in a certain direction, then bam! The movie completely changes and everything we thought was happening is very different. Heroes become the villains, people who are seemingly alive are in fact dead, or these people and characters don’t even exist at all. Unfortunately, plot twists have become so common in movies these days that, more often than not, a shocking or surprise ending is tacked onto a movie just to make it a bit more interesting. This makes the movie seem false and even overly complicates things in some cases, which is not the point of a plot twist. A plot twist should be a subtle undertone to a movie and the revelation at the end should have us talking about it with excitement for weeks afterwards. Some movies get it right and now we look at 15 movie plot twist that we all still talk about to this day. Warning: If you haven’t seen any of these movies, this article contains huge spoilers.

#1 Now You See Me  The first entry delves into the realm of magic and illusions. Now You See Me follows an FBI agent, played by Mark Ruffalo, who is on the hunt for four magicians who pull off daring bank heists in front of live audiences. The four magicians, led by Jesse Eisenberg, have been put together by a mysterious master magician who wants to get back at a rich insurance tycoon, played by Michael Caine. The magicians go about taking the tyrant’s money as the FBI get closer and closer to them until it looks like the magicians will be caught. The twist in this movie is that the mysterious magician that put these guys together is Ruffalo’s FBI agent. He had been pulling the strings all along, both magicians and FBI agents. And his reason was for revenge.

#2 Seven When you have Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Spacey in a movie together, you know it’s going to be good. Seven definitely didn’t disappoint us. When a serial killer starts killing people that match the seven deadly sins, two detectives work together to try and stop him before he kills again. After coming close to catching the killer, they realize that there are still two more murders left in order for the killer to finish his deadly sins. With a few leads, the detectives are getting close, but to their surprise, the killer hands himself in to the police. But he has a request: the detectives have to take him to a certain place and then he will confess to everything. When they get to this place, a delivery driver drops off a package. The twist for this movie is that, inside the box, is the head of Pitt’s wife. The last two sins are of wrath and envy. The killer is envious of Pitt’s character and the killer wants him to shoot him in order to be wrath. Once he finds out his wife was also pregnant, Pitt blows the killer away and completes the sins.

#3 Psycho Next, we come to a classic piece of movie horror history in the form of Psycho. When a young woman is on the run for embezzling money from her boss, she comes across a hotel and decides to hide out. There she meets Norman Bates, who runs the hotel with his mother. Then comes that infamous shower scene in which the woman is killed by Norman’s mother. Following this, Norman starts to lose control as he can’t contain his mother and her crazy actions. Most people know the twist to this movie, even if they’ve never seen it. Norman Bates’ mother is long dead, in fact he killed her years ago. But he keeps her body in his room in a wheelchair and takes on her personality in some seriously messed up multiple personality disorder episodes. This movie has become synonymous with shocking twists and paved the way for many horror movies to do similar twists.

#4 The Others Our next entry is a clever play on the traditional haunted house ghost story. The Others sees Grace, played by Nicole Kidman, become a recluse in the aftermath of World War II. Along with her children, who are severely photosensitive and can’t go outside at all, they stay in their house and live out a quiet life. That is until some servants turn up and then some strange and spooky things start to happen. Grace is convinced there are things living in the house which she refers to as “The Others.” To top things off, Grace’s dead husband suddenly returns. With all the strange things happening, Grace is pushed right to the edge. It turns out that Grace and her kids are “The Others” and the spooky goings on are new tenants moving into her house. The war and loss of her husband were too much for Grace so she smothered her children and then killed herself a long time ago.

#5 Planet Of The Apes (1968) The original, and many will say the best, version of The Planet Of The Apes is our next entry. As a group of astronauts, led by Charlton Heston, awake from a hibernated sleep, they discover they are on a different planet.  What’s more interesting is that the planet doesn’t seem to be able to support life, but they’re wrong as Heston get’s captured by Apes, the dominant species of this planet. He’s put on trial, tortured, and treated like an animal until he escapes. Once he escapes he’s desperate to learn about where he is and tries to find a way home. While running along the beach, Heston discovers the ruins of The Statue of Liberty and realizes that he is in fact on Earth, but just in the future. Mankind had destroyed everything a long time ago with a nuclear war and the apes are in charge now. This movie spawned several sequels, TV shows, and reboots but this movie, and its twist, is still the best.

#6 Angel Heart Mickey Rourke plays a private detective, Harry Angel, who is hired to track down a missing New Orleans musician named Johnny Favorite. His employer is a strange man known as Louis Cypher, yes, we know how obvious that name is in hindsight, but at the time we didn’t make the connection! Cypher, played by Robert De Niro, drops a lot of clues to Angel about where he should start looking. Angel uncovers all sorts of crazy things and also, all the people that have information, keep showing up dead. It turns out that Louis Cypher is the Devil and Harry Angel is Johnny Favorite. Favorite sold his soul to the devil but then stole the identity of Angel in order to hide from the Devil but now the Devil is here to collect what is his. It also turns out that Angel/Favorite killed all those people, had sex with his daughter, but then forgot about it.

#7 The Sting Following on from the huge success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Robert Redford and Paul Newman teamed up once again to give us this classic tale of conmen. Set during the depression era, Redford and Newman play conmen who go after a crime lord and try to take his money. They set up a scam which involves rigging the outcome of horse racing, which in those days was announced over the radio. However, they get caught out. The crime boss isn’t happy and the cops come knocking on the door. Redford’s character is forced to betray his friends to the police, which Newman doesn’t like. A big shoot out occurs in which Newman is shot dead and the bad guys escape scot free. From the very outset of this movie, twist and turns, bluffs and misdirections are everywhere. The final showdown has all been faked in order for the bad guys to think that they are dead. So no one really betrayed anyone, everyone’s alive and they get to keep all the money without any repercussions.

#8 Primal Fear Defense Attorney Martin Vail, played by Richard Gere, is hired to defend an altar boy, Aaron Stampler played by Edward Norton, who is being tried for murdering an Archbishop. During their meetings, Vale is convinced that Stampler is innocent, that is until a tape surfaces that show’s the Archbishop forcing Stampler to perform certain sexual acts. When Vale confronts Stampler with this evidence it’s clear that Stampler has a split personality and an angry and violent version of himself, Roy, comes out and confesses to the murder. The case goes to trial and the judge finds Stampler Not Guilty for reasons of insanity. At the end of the movie, Vale visits Stampler in a hospital to inform him that he’s due for release. Stampler then tells Vale that he made the story up and he has no split personality and he killed the archbishop in cold blood. Vale then asks “There was no Roy?” To which Stampler replies “There was no Aaron.”

#9 Shutter Island A dark and gothic tale with our next entry, Shutter Island sees Detective Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, go to a remote island that is a prison for the mentally and criminally insane in order to find a missing woman that has killed her children. Once Daniels is inside the prison, other patients start to go missing and something just doesn’t seem right to him. He soon stumbles upon conspiracy after conspiracy which results in him finding a lighthouse in which lobotomies are carried out on the patients. The twist in this movie is that Daniels is actually a patient in the institute. He had been put there when he killed his wife, he killed her because she killed their children. Daniels being a detective was all a charade so the doctors could see what he does and if he could begin to accept what he has done. It turns out that he can’t and he heads off to the lighthouse.

#10 Empire Strikes Back  The second movie in the original Star Wars trilogy saw Luke Skywalker go off to find Jedi master Yoda in hopes that he will train him to be a real Jedi. Han Solo and Princess Leia head off for the city in the clouds. However, it’s a trap for Luke and Han and Leia are held prisoner. While training, Luke has a vision that his friends are in trouble and rushes off to save them which leads to the ultimate showdown between Luke and Darth Vader. While they are fighting, Luke loses one of his hands and it looks like the end for Luke Skywalker. But the ultimate movie twist is about to come as Darth Vader confess to Luke that he is in fact his father. He wants Luke to join him on the dark side and rule the galaxy. Luke can’t take it any more and dives off the hanger and into a shaft, only to be rescued by Han.

#11 The Crying Game The Crying Game focuses on members of the IRA and their fight against the British. IRA foot soldier Fergus captures a British soldier, Jody, and is ordered to kill him if he doesn’t meet the demands of the IRA. Fergus however can’t go through with the killing and actually starts to befriend Jody. Jody confesses that he has a person in his life that he loves, Dil, and if anything happens to him, he makes Fergus promise that he will find her and tell her that Jody is dead. Jody dies by accident and true to his word, Fergus tracks down Dil but as soon as he meets her he falls in love and wants to leave the IRA. The twist in this movie is a big one, no pun intended, and had us all open mouthed with shock.  The twist in this movie actually comes early and the rest of the movie deals with it. So what’s the twist? Dil is actually a man.

#12 The Sixth Sense “I see dead people.” The movie that made director M. Night Shyamalan a star, The Sixth Sense followed a child psychologist as he takes on a new patient: a young boy that can, not only see dead people, but these dead people haunt him as they don’t realize they are dead. The two become close as he tries to help the young boy through what he feels is a psychological breakdown. The movie is full of subtle shocks and scares and draws us in to the ultimate conclusion. Considering that Bruce Willis’ character was shot in the very first scene of this movie, the ending still had everyone talking about it for months, and years, after. The twist with this movie is that Willis has been dead for the entire movie.

#13 Fight Club First rule of fight club: No one talks about fight club! An unhappy office worker, played by Edward Norton, becomes addicted to support group meetings for terminal patients. Soon he meets a girl, Marla, and then Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt. The three of them become close, and with Durden in particular, he builds a close friendship. The two of them form an underground Fight Club in which men basically beat the crap out of each other. Durden then turns the club into a terrorist organization before he disappears. We all know the twist in this one: there is no Tyler Durden and he is in fact a figment of Norton’s imagination and broken mind. Another one for the multiple personality twist. But it’s a great twist.

#14 Momento Momento focuses on Leonard, played by Guy Pearce, as he tries to track down the people that killed his wife. Unfortunately for him, the attack on his wife was so severe that he lost his memory and can’t form new ones. Because of this, the movie actually runs backwards with each scene being the one after the next rather than the one before. It does make sense when you watch it, honestly. So with the help of a cop, Leonard manages to track down his killer and take his revenge. Because of the way this movie is shot and the story is told, there are many twists and turns but the biggest reveal is at the end. It turns out that his cop friend has been using his memory loss as an excuse to take out a load of bad guys and Leonard was actually the one who killed his diabetic wife.

#15 The Usual Suspects The number one entry on our list is one of the best movies ever made with arguably the greatest plot twist of any movie. The Usual Suspects sees a group of criminals that are constantly hounded by the police and pulled in for line ups. On one such line up, the gang get together and decide to do a job for the master criminal, and illusive, Keyser Soze. However, the heist goes wrong and Kevin Spacey’s character Kint, the dimwitted crook with a limp, gets called in for questioning. He tells the officers the story of what happened and who was to blame and then leaves the police station. The twist here is the most famous twist in any movie as the officer who questioned Kint realizes that everything in his story is on bits of paper around his office and in fact none of it was true. As Kint walks away from the police station, his limp is gone and he jumps into a car and is gone forever.

Source: TheRichest