#serpico prompts

[devilsrecreation]

Idea for Muppets Mayhem Season 2 (hypothetically):

So Nora’s new goal is to make the band more famous than they already are, so she starts looking for gigs they can play for. One of those gigs is at Caesar’s palace in Vegas (somehow). Since a lot of stuff happens in Vegas, Moog and Nora agree that the Mayhem may need a roadie or two to protect them. Bc it’s the Mayhem, they’re totally cool with it and Teeth brings everyone to none other than the famous Hispaniola

Enter Mad Monty, Teeth’s (unlikely) cousin. He almost immediately agrees to join his cousin (not without telling his crew-mates where he’s going) and everything is all fine and dandy, right? Except Nora finds Monty to be a lil bit…off in a way. Like, he seems TOO protective of Teeth

Moog’s also noticed that Monty may or may not be a bad influence to the band. He keeps catching him, Serpico, and Animal using intimidation skills to get the band what they want and Teeth puts him on to prank people via voodoo powers, which of course distracts them from rehearsing.

The two try to tell Monty to stop as gently as possible and he begrudgingly agrees and stops….except when he starts doing it again. Teeth doesn’t seem to have a problem with it since it’s his cousin and he loves him. But even the rest of the band agree that Monty’s anger and love for violence kills their whole vibe

It’s not until something inconvenient happens that causes Monty to lash out and suggest violence to solve the problem (in detail) that Teeth finally puts his foot down. Monty hears the stern “Montgomery” coming from Teeth and immediately stops, prompting Teeth to bring his cousin to a separate room for them to talk in. Teeth expresses everyone’s concerns and Monty finally apologizes. Turns out the reason he’s been doing this is cuz he doesn’t wanna lose Teeth and it’s just his way of protecting him (“I just got you back! Let me keep protecting you!”). Thankfully, Monty chills out for good and the gig is a success

[travsd]

50 Years Ago: Serpico

The release date of the motion picture Serpico (1973) was 50 years ago today. We went back and re-watched this classic of my youth a few months ago, prompted by Isaac Butler’s excellent book on The Method, which reminded us that this kind of quasi-documentary realistic aesthetic is just what the Method is suited to do best. I am astounded to realize how quickly Hollywood adapted and produced…

[bthump]

It was hard to pick my request but very curious what "for your sake" is about. 👀

Thank you! It's just a single short scene between Judeau and Guts on the ship. I'll post the whole thing, it's essentially self-contained and complete, I don't think it was going anywhere else.

It took two days longer than he’d expected, and three days in total, before he was strong enough to wander the ship. It was the scar on his chest that was doing it. It was like that bitch had infected him with poison - not enough to kill him, just enough to weigh down his limbs and make his heart sluggish. His injuries were mostly just surface burns; Puck and Schierke should’ve had no problem with them, but the damn scar was messing with the healing magic.

Still, eventually he managed to drag himself out of bed and haul himself up the stairs for desperately needed fresh air.

He’d been leaning back against the railing of the deck, watching the sailors climbing ropes and tying ropes and doing whatever else it took to keep the ship floating in the right direction when someone joined him, leaning casually beside him.

“Back on your feet again, I see,” said Serpico neutrally. Guts nodded. “I don’t know how you do it. I’d be a lump of charcoal if I flew through a lightning storm like that.” They didn’t look at each other, instead watching the activity on deck side by side.

Guts shrugged. “I’ve always been resilient.”

There was a pause in the conversation. The rhythmic susurrus of waves lapping against the boat was surprisingly relaxing. It felt good to just stand still and enjoy the peace, enjoy the salty breeze and the gentle rocking, quiet but not alone.

“I want to thank you,” Serpico eventually said after a minute or two. Guts glanced at him; the wind was blowing his hair around, across his eyes and out to the side like one of the sails. Griffith would’ve had his tied back in weather like this - and why the fuck was that thought in his head? Serpico’s hair wasn’t long enough to contain with a ribbon anyway, and the wind probably couldn’t touch Griffith’s hair unless he wanted it to, now. It was pointless to think about him.

“For what?” prompted Guts, hoping for a distraction.

“Protecting Farnese, and her family. It was… there are dangers out there, whether you’re around or not. I don’t… I still don’t entirely trust that armour of yours, but it seems that the safest place in the world is right behind you, more often than not.”

“Don’t want to try dueling on a ship? Might be fun,” Guts said offhandedly, then wished he hadn’t when an image of Griffith, about to lose his balance and fall off a sword and down a hill, flashed through his mind. He hadn’t thought of him a couple days ago when he’d told Serpico he wanted to fight again. He hadn’t thought of him when Serpico had stood before him in the room of pillars, sword drawn. It was like Griffith had been there on the horizon for the sole purpose of planting himself back inside of his head.

Serpico laughed a little. “Maybe when you’ve recovered a bit more. But not to the death, I don’t think.”

A thought occurred to Guts, probably spurred on by the after-image of Griffith, and the question was out of his mouth before he could reel it back in. “Is that why you stepped in front of Zodd back there?” He winced, but soldiered on. “I mean, because I can protect Farnese? It would’ve been easier to just let him take me out for you.” He kept his tone light but it wasn’t a joke, and he couldn’t play it off as one. 

Serpico turned to look at him then, eyes wide - well, visible - in surprise. “No. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.”

“Oh,” said Guts, intending to leave it at that before his mouth continued, “then why?”

“Because,” said Serpico, and for a second Guts thought that was his answer. An echo of that afternoon, so many years ago. There's no reason at all. But he continued, “Well, it was incredibly stupid to antagonize him and start a fight you didn’t have a prayer of winning. I had to say something. And he - Zodd - seemed reasonable for a monster. He was going to let you go, so I didn’t think he’d kill me.”

“You think everything through, don’t you?” If there was a hint of bitterness in the words, Serpico either didn’t notice, or didn’t acknowledge it.

“I do try.” They both turned back to face the same direction, watching the sea, sky, and ship. Another few moments passed. Then: “You have a history with him. Zodd. And Griffith. Don’t you?” Apparently their conversation wasn’t over, and this new turn hit Guts with a flare of irritation.

“You were a herald of arms. You tell me,” he answered without turning to look at him.

“Isidro’s idol, I’m sure. The Hundred Man Slayer. Hero of the Hundred Years War. Declared traitor by Midland along with Griffith and the rest of your band for reasons unknown. Am I right?”

Guts nodded stiffly. He didn’t feel all that comfortable with Serpico knowing his story, even if it was only the bare bones.

“Where does Zodd come into it?” 

He was their enemy, once. Now he was only Guts’ enemy.

Guts shrugged. “It’s complicated,” he said. 

“Ah,” Serpico acquiesced, “all right then, I’ll stop pestering you. Though… I do have one question I’d genuinely like an answer to. It affects Farnese.”

“Fine,” he said, not bothering to hide his reluctance.

“How close were you and Griffith back then, before whatever happened to make you enemies?”

“What -” Guts whipped his head around to glare at him. “What the hell does that have to do with Farnese?”

“Like I said, by now I think Farnese is safe with you under most circumstances. Whatever makes you willing to throw yourself at a stone wall like Zodd when you’re already half dead isn’t one of those circumstances. I want to know how compromised your judgement will be if you start chasing after him with Farnese still trailing behind you.”

Guts didn’t know how Serpico could stand there, leaning against the rail, cool as anything, while asking a question like that.

“She’ll be fine, all right? He was there, and I was there, and neither of us did a thing about it. He doesn’t care about me, and all I care about is getting Casca to that island.”

Serpico cast a scrutinizing eye on him, only making Guts feel more defensive, but then he nodded. “All right,” he said, “guess I’ll have to live with that.”

With that Serpico walked off, heading down to the lower decks.

[festivelyfestive]

was watching king lear for a class and a line spoke to me, prompting a doodle now turned serious piece maybe?? ignore that i was too lazy to ss my computer screen lmao

this is my take on post shootout in pompeii mario - I wholly believe that he gets shot slightly under the eye, especially since it’s a nod to serpico. he’d still have some vision issues (hence the closed eye) but this concept helps in terms of justifying his survival in the scene! i also hate drawing eye patches so there’s that too. pre pompeii mario is the kindest of the bunch but in pompeii, he goes back on his hatred of killing people by his own hands in his failed attempt on goncharov’s life, and i think that messes with him more than the viewer is led to believe. the novels go a bit more in depth on it, and i think there are some deleted scenes elaborating on his major personality shift between acts, but that’s just what i know from the rumor mill :))

anyway. have a concerned doodle of ice pick joe for your troubles, and thank you for your time

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Intros

Angel Dearly

Ariadne Blackthorn

Concordia Snow

Kennedy Quinlan

Mercy Correira

Hannah Westergaard

Mina Ambrosia

Katia McKinley

Sloane White

Jacqueline Grant

OC Birthdays

Troy Donahue-Callisto

Ava Potts

Gemini Black

Kit Holmes

Esmerelda Torres

Carrington Minkus

Olivia Wheeler

Carolyn Pevensie

Aurora Anderson

Elektra Cross

Charlotte Howard-Danes

Kathryn Keyes

Betty Fabray

Elle Winchester

Sophie Dugray

Demi July

Jo Berry

Colette Garrel-Waldorf

Abbey Baker

Blossom Talbot

Bambi Holmes

Patti Parker

Hope Matthews

Avalyn Dorsey

Allie St James

Jocelyn Gilmore

Mackenzie Grady

Percy Flowers

Abigayle Whittemore

Ilsa Gilmore-Danes

Belle Serpico

Lili Gilmore

Marilyn Pillsbury

1989

Welcome To New York

Blank Space

Style

Out Of The Woods

Misc

Ellie & Pyrah & Percy Jackson

Roxie Flores + Not Another Rockstar

Stacey & Jonathan Byers

Lili Gilmore Bio

Hunger Games OCs

Ginny Cresta Poster

New OCs

Harry Potter Fancast

Harry Potter OCs

More New OCs

Hollis Everdeen Poster

Sophie Dugray + Forbidden Fjords

Angel Dearly Poster

Hollis + The Band

Greer Collier + Lethal Woman

Corvina Karkaroff x Viktor Krum

Corvina Karkaroff x Viktor Krum Gif

Ask Games / Prompt Lists

Winter Ask Game

Job Game

Wedding Boards

Crossover Lists

Fruitcake Prompt List

Spotify Wrapped

Crossover AUs

Christmas Ask Game

Alchemical Prompt List

NSFW Scenes

Fancasts

Happy January! November / December involved a whole lot of editing so I decided to make another roundup! Ngl this is mostly to prove to myself that I actually did a whole lot even though I feel like I didn't do enough because of the countdown being late, but I'm including it as part of December anyways so that I can start January as a fresh slate!

Countdown

12 Characters

Mercedes Delgado

Adhara Black

Mina Ambrosia

Clem Wayland

Hollis Everdeen

Ilsa George

Ophelia Wayne

Kirsty Gilmore

Erin Humphrey

Caroline Fox

Aurora Anderson

Mirella Gold

11 Ships:

Eloise Quinn

Valentina Wolfe x Audrey Hope 

Reese Masrani x Emilio Contreras

Ginevra Maroni x Bruce Wayne

Adelia Kline x Quinn Fabray

Ties That Bind

Delfina Baratheon x Oberyn Martell

Summer Sol x James Coleman

Maristela Carrillo x Blaise Zabini x Theodore Nott

Aurélia Agreste x Luka Couffaine

10 Brotps:

Hollis & The Band

Topher Charming & Marnie Fitzwater-Hood

Emily & Luke Patterson

Betty Fabray & Finn Hudson

Cassia Potter & Dimitri Volkor & Sebastian Rosier

Camila Nelson & Will Byers

Luciana Davila & The LDB

Kennedy Quinlan & Alex Claremont-Diaz

Vanessa Kline & Jason Todd

Eva Nightborn & Gabriel Branwell

9 Christmas Aesthetics

Kirsty Gilmore

Cece Cartwright

Noelle Of Arendelle

Sophie Dugray

Cassia Potter

Aurora Anderson

Ivy Knight

Chessy Of Arendelle

Betty Fabray

8 Platonic Crossovers

Ava & Roni [ @thecaptainsgingersnap ]

Aurora & Sydney [ @megdonnellys ]

Thalia & Remy [ @cecexwrites ]

Dylan & HN [ @ocmerunaway ]

Jax & The Girls [ @ginevrastilinski-ocs ]

Ivy & Amelia [ @darknightfrombeyond ]

Gloria & Gabe [ @manyfandomocs ]

Kirsty & Richie [ @the-witching-ash ]

7 Romantic Crossovers

Angel x Roman [ @the-witching-ash ]

Will x Kit [ @ginevrastilinski-ocs ]

Lily x Greyson [ @manyfandomocs ]

Cassandra x Waverly [ @megdonnellys ]

Savannah x Andrew [ @the-witching-ash ]

Ariadne x Elys [ @ginevrastilinski-ocs ]

Coco x Matthew [ @manyfandomocs ]

6 Intros

Reese Masrani

Colton Cartwright

Hollis Everdeen

Ophelia Wayne

Aurélia Agreste

Nevaeh Murphy

5 Posters

Katia McKinley

Olivia Olsen

Coco Bates

Maristela Carrillo

Laura Hyde

4 Neglected OCs

Quinn Hargreeves

Briar Tyrell Stark

Caitlin Watson

Miranda Granger

3 Nicknames

Arianne Martin

Sabina Maximoff

Kirsty Gilmore

2 AUs

Sophie Dugray + Arranged Marriage

Kirsty Gilmore + Raised By Emily & Richard

1 Video

Kirsty Gilmore

[melis-writes]

hii serpico prompt : our fav hippy gets jealous when you guys go to a police event together and none of his colleagues can keep their eyes to themselves 🤭🤭🤭🤭

A Serpico prompt?! 🥵 Ooooh, it reminds me exactly of that party Serpico attended when his girl told all of her friends he was a police officer back to back, hehe. 😂❤ This has a cute little twist and it’ll be our first jealous Serpico prompt too!! 😏

A private party with entry via invitation only held in an abandoned art gallery is just a notch above your regular house party, or at least it would be if it wasn’t held only for the police officers, employees of the NYPD police department and their accompanied partners.

One could no longer tell if it was some type of art gallery after several buffet tables were set up around the room, a chocolate fountain in the center, refreshments being served around the dancefloor by waiters, and a live band playing up top on the second floor.

The artwork scattering over the walls is just the cherry on top in terms of decoration, otherwise held next to blue and white streamers celebrating another year for NYPD officers who’ve all comes dressed in their uniforms—all except your boyfriend, Paco.

As you and Paco enter the party with your arm linked around his, the first thing you notice is the glaringly obvious dress code and that Paco’s specifically ignored it, but it’s things like that you’ve come to love about unlike most of his colleagues, Paco’s never been obnoxious about his stature as a NYPD police officer.

Still, you’re dressed in a navy, thin-strapped, half-sequin mini dress with matching flats as Serpico’s in what would otherwise be his plainclothes—a khaki coloured dress shirt half unbuttoned and a pair of black slacks over sneakers.

“Ya know what the funny thing about all of this is?” Paco raises his voice over the blaring music, leaning into your ear. “I think I stick out like a sore thumb because I’m dressed like this.”

“Maybe so.” You burst out laughing, leading Paco over to the midst of the dancefloor. “That won’t be a problem, won’t it? All your buddies and colleagues are here.”

“Mine or yours?” Serpico chuckles, raising his head up momentarily to spot two of his colleagues hand in hand with their wives on the dancefloor, waving at them.

“Hey, Serpico!” One hollers, gesturing wildly. “Come on over here!! You didn’t think we were gonna miss you, huh?!”

“I’m never gonna get used to this sort of thing,” Paco exchanges a glance with you, but the smile over his lips tells you he’s more than willing to give it a go knowing his girl loves social outings but he could care less about it.

Beaming back at Paco, you both make your way through the packed, sweaty crowds and over to Paco’s two colleagues who’ve called you over; their wives familiar to you from past events and ceremonies already.

“Annie, hi!” You squeal, wrapping your arms around your friend the moment you approach—simply overjoyed to see the girls again. “So good to see you again!”

“Well, well, look who showed.” One of the officers grins at Paco, eyeing his outfit up and down. “No uniform for tonight, eh?”

“What’s the point in showing off?” Paco strokes his moustache, much less outgoing and charismatic than you in these kinds of social situations. “Don’t like my plainclothes anymore, Jim?”

“Listen, man,” the other officer whose a little tipsy chimes in holding a glass of champagne in his free hand and the other around his wife’s waist, “we’re just glad you showed up in the first place! They kept sayin’ Serpico and his girlfriend are coming and I’m like ‘damn, that’s gotta be a lie, he never shows up!’ but look at you here, proving us all wrong.”

“You can guess who convinced me, then.” Paco forces a smile, not so bothered by the party but more so by the fake enthusiasm and love of his colleagues who’ve otherwise talked behind his back or ignored him altogether.

“Hi.” You giggle, hugging onto Paco’s arm and looking up at the two officers to meet them for the first time. “Sorry, it’s a little weird I’ve met both of your wives but not the two of you formally!”

“Ah, yeah, no worries!” The officer named Jim nods, unable to pull his eyes off of you from a sudden jolt of attraction. “I think I’ve seen you at the parties before, Annie’s told me all about you.”

Paco raises a brow but otherwise remains quiet, just making sure to keep a loving arm around your waist to show whose girl you are.

“Aww, how sweet!” You and Annie exchange overjoyed smiles with one another. “It’s so nice to meet the both of you, I just don’t think I could meet all the officers in the seventh precinct.” You shake hands with both men.

“Yeah,” the second officer seems stunned, letting his eyes dart over to your bare thighs and the hem of your mini dress just barely covering your ass. “First time we’ve met, that’s for sure. Serpico, you’ve been hiding your pretty lady from the world?”

“Done no such thing.” Paco answers plainly as you kiss his cheek, smiling through it. “When you see her, you see her. She likes these sorts of things.”

“I absolutely adore your dress!” Annie squeals out, admiring the sequin finish on the lower half.

“Oh, thank you.” You blush, smoothening out your dress, but it’s not just Annie and the other officer’s shyer wife peeking at your dress but rather both of their husbands too.

Paco notices both of their greedy, interested stares and returns back a cold and monotone one, signaling he’s very well aware of wandering eyes over your body even though you’re a sight for sore eyes throughout the party.

As small talk continues amidst all of you except Paco who occasionally nods and says “yeah” and “sure”—still timid from jealousy—the more attention Paco notices landing on you from others across the room, the more provocative his grip grows over you.

Touch and physical affection if anything is your love language, and feeling Paco’s hand nearing your ass or wrapping around your lower waist and touching your upper thighs to bring you closer to his side is nothing but a thrill in its own sort of way.

“Will we get to see you both around here more often?” The officer named Jim asks Paco towards the end of their group conversation, but Jim’s eyes are affixed on you as if the question is for you and about seeing you instead.

“We’ll see.” Paco’s quick to answer, giving fake smiles to the officers’ wives. “Parties aren’t exactly my thing but, this one’s been different. Thank you guys, we’ll see you around. If you’ll excuse us—” Paco pulls you away from the group casually as if the two of you have somewhere else to be.

“Noticed that?” Paco gives your hips a gentle squeeze. “Because I certainly did.”

“How couldn’t I?” Your cheeks sting with blush as you snuggle your arms around Paco’s shoulders, stopping him in the midst of the dancefloor to embrace your boyfriend. “You make your jealousy very apparent you know, baby.”

“Not apparent enough, it seems.” Paco glances back to his colleagues who are still staring at you, and this time Paco doesn’t hesitate to give your ass a light squeeze. “You know all eyes are on you tonight, right?”

“Mhmm…” You pull away but keep your arms around Paco’s shoulders, looking at him with expectancy. “Maybe it’s my new dress. The clerk did say it was a jaw-dropping dress for a night out.”

“It is, but you’re a beautiful woman.” Paco points out, gazing into your eyes. “You could wear a potato sack and there’d still be men linin’ up to fawn over you.”

“Baby, come on.” You giggle, amused by his jealousy. “It’s party behavior. I don’t even care about it, because…” You lean in, kissing Paco’s plush lips. “I’m here for you! As far as I’m convinced, this party is for you and all about you. You think I care about the rest of the seventh precinct?”

“I’d hope not.” A grin breaks out over Paco’s face as he takes your hand in his and spins you around. “That’s my job and it’s exhausting enough seeing what these shitheads are up to.”

“Mhmm, and you work so hard, sooooo—” You lace both of your hands with Paco, stealing another kiss off your lips. “You can party just as hard and we can ignore everyone else even if they can’t keep their eyes off us.”

“They can know you’re my girl. They can watch from there then, I don't care.” Paco reaffirms, raising your hands up to his mouth to kiss them both. “Mine and mine alone.”

[clairenatural]

destiel, 2k. mafia!Cas/Kingergarten teacher!Dean from an anon prompt for mafia!dean or Cas protecting the other at all costs. I’m not entirely sure what this turned into but it was fun to write so I hope it’s also fun to read :) it references stuff that happens in 12x10, Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets.

“Sir, we have a problem.”

Castiel sighs. His five least favorite words. He glances up, frowning at Inias. “What kind of problem?” He doesn’t add that it had better be important to justify the younger man barging into his office like this, but it’s implied.

Inias takes a deep breath before stepping fully into the room, letting Castiel’s glass office door shut behind him. “The DA’s office is refusing to back down on the Ishim case.”

“And you paid them the standard amount?”

“Yes, sir. But one of the DDAs refused it.”

“Refused it.”

“He’s new. He doesn’t understand our arrangement.”

“Hm.” Castiel closes his laptop and leans back in his chair, considering both the situation and the man in front of him. They hadn’t had a problem with the DA in years—at least, not since Castiel had taken over. Their messes were less messy and they paid more generously for silence. “How much does he need to understand?”

“That’s the problem, sir. I don’t think he will.”

Castiel scoffs. “Anyone in power can be bought off,” he replies, because in all his years he’d never met someone who couldn’t be. Power corrupts, after all.

Inias shifts uneasily, and Castiel can tell he isn’t going to like how this ends.

“We’ve received word that he’s begun investigating independently.”

Castiel groans at this, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“But don’t worry!” Inias continues quickly, hurridly. “We can put our best men on the assignment, have him taken care of by tonight—”

“Wait,” Castiel cuts him off with a sigh. He forces his eyes back open. “I’m not mad,” he says before anything else, because Inias looks like a deer in the headlights and even after all this time his employees still need occasional reminding that he is not his brothers.

When he’d taken over for Michael he’d promised himself—he’d promised everyone—less bloodshed. He swore to defend his family, business, and territory from Crowley and his cronies, but he’d been determined to stop ending innocent lives. For some reason, though, innocents just love getting in the way. He sighs again. “What’s his name?”

“Sam Winchester.”

And, well. That certainly complicates things. He’d known when Sam announced he was going into criminal law that this was a possibility—in some ways, he thinks he should have expected this.

“Sir?” Inias asks, and Castiel realizes he doesn’t know how long he’s been staring at him. “Are you…do you know him?”

Castiel blinks back to reality and glares at him. “Call them off,” he orders, and cuts Inias off when he tries to protest. “Call them all off, Inias. Now.”

“But, sir, what about—”

“I’ll deal with Sam Winchester myself. Nobody else is to touch him.” Then, just for emphasis, “Until I say otherwise, consider him under my protection.”

Inias is still staring at him, baffled, but after a moment he nods, and Castiel is thankful that he’s decided not to argue. “Alright, I—yes. Understood.” He nods again before leaving the office and Castiel sinks deep into his chair, pressing the heels of his hands into both eyes.

His phone buzzes and Castiel watches as a text message lights up the screen, revealing the photo from his wedding he has set as his background. It’s a message from Dean, because of course it is, asking him what he wants for dinner and if he wants wine with it.

Castiel looks around his office, awarded to him based on his surname but paid for in blood, and he’s never hated it more.  

————————————————————-

They get half an hour into the low-budget western Dean had insisted in watching before his husband sighs, pauses the movie, and sets his wine glass down on the coffee table.  “What’s going on with you?”

Castiel frowns up at him from where he’s lying on the couch, cheek against Dean’s thigh, his own wine glass barely touched. All things considered, Castiel thinks he’s been doing a great job acting like everything is fine. He forgets, sometimes, how easily Dean can read him.

“Work was…long,” he answers, and it isn’t a lie. Then, because Dean is looking at him like he doesn’t believe him, he follows up with “How’s Sam?”

It’s both a deflection and an answer to Dean’s question, but Dean doesn’t know that. Dean thinks he manages a hedge fund. Which he does. Technically. Legally, at least.

Dean knows he’s changing the subject but he doesn’t press it, and his face lights up the way it always does when someone asks about his brother. Castiel loves him for it. Dean starts on about Sam, how he’s doing with Eileen, how they just moved into a bigger house because they want to start a family. Castiel isn’t paying attention, not really, because Dean’s fingers are playing with his hair and he doesn’t really want to think about anything else.

“—I said I’d help him out, though.”

That catches his attention. “What? Why?” he asks, a bit too quickly, because even though he’s missed most of the context he can’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Dean raises an eyebrow. “Come on, babe. I never get to use my degree anymore.” He shrugs. “And it sounds fun, you know? Helping my baby brother take down a corrupt criminal justice system. I feel like Serpico.”

“No.” It comes out more forcefully than he had intended and he sits up, turning fully to face Dean. “No, Dean, you need to stay out of it.”

Dean blinks at his husband, and Castiel immediately backtracks. “I mean, um. You don’t—you don’t have any evidence.”

“That’s the point of me helping,” Dean rolls his eyes. “I know I chose teaching five-year-olds over working in cybersecurity, but I still know my way around.”

“You’re going to hack into the DA’s office?”

“It sounds bad when you put it like that.”

“It is bad.” Castiel knows he’s being too insistent, is pushing too hard, but Dean can’t get involved, too. He can’t. “It’s dangerous. You don’t know who else could be involved.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“You should. You just don’t understand—”

“Understand what, Cas?” Dean snaps, and now it’s the fight Castiel didn’t want to have. “What could I possibly not understand that you do? A kid is dead and the DA is trying to cover it up and just maybe I can help figure out why.”

“There are things you don’t—” Castiel is already halfway through his next argument when the second half of Dean’s sentence catches up with him, and he stops. “Did you say a kid?”

Dean scoffs. “You weren’t even listening, right? Great. Yeah, some asshole killed his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend and her kid and the DA is refusing to press charges. Says there isn’t enough evidence. Sam thinks they were paid off.”

“No,” he says, quietly, because no. The daughter was never supposed to—that’s not what happened. He had been told that’s not what happened.

“What do you mean, no?” There’s less heat in Dean’s words, and Castiel thinks it’s because he himself has completely deflated.

He stares at his husband—the love of his life, the beautiful, generous, selfless man he doesn’t deserve—and realizes he’s never going to be able to talk Dean down from this. If he could, he wouldn’t be Dean.

He thinks about all he’s done to keep this part of his life safely tucked away. He cultivated a reclusive public image to keep Dean safe from being the husband of Castiel Novak, manager of the Novak Group. He expanded their territory to encompass the school Dean works at, something his family still holds against him as a waste of resources, to protect him from being the husband of Castiel Novak, leader of the crime syndacate. He’s hidden his marriage from nearly the entire family, labeling anything to do with Dean as the most privileged of information.

The only reason he’s still doing this at all, really, is Dean. He could have jumped ship when Michael died, when Gabriel left, when Lucifer took the fall and was sentenced to life, but that meant giving everything to Raphael, who promised to hunt both him and Dean down if he left. So he took the reins instead and he’s tried his best to keep his family safe while managing the business—both the above and underground aspects.

And now, despite all that, both Dean and his brother have somehow gotten themselves involved.

Dean is still staring at him, brows furrowed, and he doesn’t move away when Castiel reaches out to take both of his hands into his own. “I’m sorry,” he starts, and Dean looks taken aback but he doesn’t break the eye contact. “I love you. I don’t want you to end up in trouble.”

Something in Dean’s eyes softens. “Hey,” He squeezes Castiel’s hands lightly. “Come on. Have a little faith in me.”

And all Castiel can do, just like any time Dean looks at him like that, is smile back. And nod. And lean forward to kiss him, just once, softly.

“I do, Dean. I always do.”

Dean leans their foreheads together and Castiel can tell he’s still concerned, but he doesn’t want there to be any more yelling tonight, so instead he pulls back to lie down in Dean’s lap again. He hears Dean sigh before picking up the remote with the hand not still intertwined with Castiel’s, and then he restarts the movie, and Castiel tries not to think for the rest of the night.

 ————————————————————-

The next morning, though, he’s storming into his office, ready to lay into anyone involved with lying to him. He doesn’t get far—Naomi is sitting in his chair. At his desk. For a brief moment, he sees red.

“That’s my chair.”

His aunt regards him, cool as ever. “Is it?” she asks, and she stands, but only to walk around the desk and into his space. “And who gave it to you?” In her heels she’s taller than him but he glares anyway, refusing to be intimidated. He doesn’t respond.

“Why are you protecting Sam Winchester?” she asks after a moment of silence, still standing just as close.

“Why did you lie to me about the incident with Ishim?”

Naomi’s expression doesn’t change, but something close to surprise flickers across her eyes and she backs off to lean against his desk. “I suspect the answer to both of those questions is the same.”

“May Sunder was never supposed to die,” he presses, not backing down, and Naomi looks at him as if he’s being an unruly child.

“Yes, but her mother threatened to go to the police. Come now, Castiel, you’re old enough to understand these things.”

“I never authorized that.”

Naomi stands again. “You think you have to?”

This, of all things, catches him off-guard. “I—yes?”

His aunt steps forward, crowding him again, and he hates himself for taking a step back. “You’re a figurehead, Castiel. You’re in power because you’re Michael’s brother, people like you, and we thought you’d at least be loyal.”

“I am loyal,” he retorts, and she sighs.

“I’m not the only one who’s begun to question your sympathies, Castiel. Who are you loyal to?”

“My family.”

“Does that mean us? Or Dean Winchester?”

Castiel freezes, stunned. “How—”

Naomi cuts him off with a smile. “You think we don’t know? We’ve been letting you play house because it kept you distracted. Now, it seems, it’s making you weak. If you don’t fix this, I’ll have no choice but to cure you of that weakness.”

At last she steps away and turns towards the door. “You have an army here, Castiel. Don’t lose it for one man.”

And then she leaves.

And then, Castiel makes a decision.

In the next few hours, he makes several more—and then he’s driving home with all his family’s secrets copied onto a hard drive, the few items from his office that he actually cares about, and a plan forming on how to take the whole system down.

It’s almost funny, he thinks, the decision Naomi expected him to make—that she’d expected him to choose the family over Dean. That she’d expected him to choose anything over Dean.

She has no idea what’s coming. 

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week - 25

Was 1973 the greatest year in cinema?

Besides the ones below, 1973 was also the year of The Holy Mountain, Day for Night, Mean Streets, Badlands, La Planete Sauvage, Paper Moon, Scenes from a Marriage, Amarcord, Oh Lucky Man, American Graffiti, Enter the Dragon, The Sting, The Exorcist...

✳️✳️✳️ 1973: The Spirit Of The Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena) - one of the most beautiful Spanish films of all time.

It’s 1940, and six-year-old Anna lives with her family in an isolated Castilian village. A mobile cinema truck bring Frankenstein to the village.

Quiet, symbolic and deeply moving.

The trailer.

✳️✳️✳️ 1973: The Last Detail, written by Robert Towne, with Jack Nicholson at his peak and with cameos by Gilda Radner, Nancy Allen and Carol Kane. 9/10

“Welcome to the wonderful world of pussy, kid..”

Going to watch the few other Hal Ashby films again.

✳️✳️✳️ 1973: Critically-acclaimed Robert Altman’s anachronistic neo-noir The Long Goodbye, with chain smoking Elliott Gould as unconvincing and bumbling Philip Marlowe.

Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first movie appearance.

✳️✳️✳️ 1973! I don’t know why I haven’t revisited Don’t Look Now for at least 15 years: I always considered it to be Nicolas Roeg’s best film, but it’s actually one of the greatest films I ever saw! Cinematically, emotionally, with extraordinary sound editing (The first 8 min.! The dressing / undressing scene!)..

With Renato Scarpa as the police inspector: ”AH! MIS-ter BAX-ter!”

Simply perfect!

✳️✳️✳️ 1973: In La Grande Bouffe four friends, Marcello, Ugo, Michel and Philippe (played by Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret) decide to binge-eat themselves to death on fine cuisine. A decadent and perverted food and sex orgy, full of excess and anarchy that doesn’t end until the last one shits himself to death. But why?

Bon appétit!

✳️✳️✳️ 1973: Honest cop and whistleblower Serpico fights obsessively against systemic corruption at the New York Police Department.

With Who’s Who of the time in small parts: Hank Garrett, ‘The Mailman’ from ‘Three days of the Condor’, Jack Kehoe, Midnight Run’s ‘Jerry’, James Tolkan as Steiger, M. Emmet Walsh, F. Murray Abraham, John Randolph, Allan Rich ...

✳️✳️✳️ 1973 / First watch - The Wicker Man, a British folk horror number about a Christian copper vs. a Scottish village of pagan heathens. With younger Christopher Lee in a hippie drag.

It had a unique way of combing folk songs, sung by the characters, nearly like a strange musical.

✳️✳️✳️ 1973: Westworld, the robots malfunction and revolt at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park. Yul Brynner as the original Terminator. 3/10.

✴️                  

Queen of Hearts, a complex erotic drama by Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy. An illicit affair between gorgeous Trine Dyrholm and her stepson Gustav Lindh (From Riders of Justice!). Shockingly explicit sex and unexpected third act reverse expectations and sympathies.

Best film of the week!

✴️            

Jackie Chan’s 1985 Police Story, a “broadly” choreographed slapstick / martial arts film. With young and chubby-faced Maggie Cheung, before she became world-class gorgeous.

✴️           

This isn't a rental car - it's privately owned.

How come I’ve never seen David Byrne’s True Stories before? Written by Ned Ryerson himself. Kooky characters in small town Vernon, TX. inspired by actual supermarket tabloid stories. Like Nashville for the 80′s..

✴️                

Crimes and Misdemeanors, a classic Woody Allen nihilist drama with a dual storyline that still holds its power.

“The eyes of God are always watching us” .

Toddler Dylan Farrow appears in a cameo at the wedding, and a distinct sub-plot has Allen wooing his teenage niece by taking her to see old movies and buying her art books... So, yuck to that part.

✴️              

“It’s good to be king.”

Mel Brooks’ 40 year old class-conscience History of the world, Part 1 - narrated by Orson Welles, with cameos by John Hurt as Jesus and Hugh Hefner, who also supplied the harem of vestal virgins. While ‘The Meaning of Life’ which came 2 years later was about philosophy, this was about history.

But everybody had such pearly white teeth.

✴️                     

I started watching Jojo Rabbit 3 times before I could finish this pretentious Holocaust comedy of revisionist Nazi-chic cuteness. A ten-year-old Hitler Youth boy finds out that his mother, Scarlett Johansson, is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Kitschy, cowardly and lazy. This is not ‘The Great Dictator’ or ‘The Producers’, or even ‘Look who’s back’. It’s Hitler 101 explained to 10 year olds who never heard of him.

I wonder how they got the rights to The Beatles and Bowie songs.

Also, Hitler was not a smoker. 2/10. (Photo above)

✴️                 

Picked up a random Apple’s TV series, Home before dark, about a 9 year old girl playing a journalist. I tried to get into it, and saw 2.5 episodes, but it was so ordinary, and soul-less, and full of teenager flick cliches, that I had to quit. Even the Jason Robards quotes from ‘All the President’s Men’ couldn’t help it. PASS!

✴️               

✳️✳️✳️ Woodward and Bernstein X 2

So, prompted by the series above, I watched All the President's Men again (for the 10? time). What a masterful film! Romancing investigative journalism never looked so good.

With a script by William Goldman, cinematography by Gordon Willis, and Robert Walden playing Donald Segretti.

The sparse score by Michael Small, who was Pakula’s go-to composer (and which I already mentioned here earlier)! Compared to his Parallax View theme.

True fact: Frank Wills, the black security guard who discovered the break-in, was fired without explanation a few days later. He was out of work for three years until he played himself (one day's work) in this film, and never had a full-time job again, until his death in 2000, at the age of 52.  

✳️✳️✳️ Also, All the President's Men Revisited, a 2012 documentary featuring all the players, and just before Trump, so they all could comfortably predict that Watergate will happen again, but none of them realized how terribly soon it will be.

✴️          

The company Men is about 3 senior executives trying to survive during the financial crisis of 2010 after getting fired, downsized, becoming redundant.

The Corporate-speak sounded fake, and Ben Affleck is not a good actor, so it wasn’t too engaging. 3/10

- - - - -

(My complete movie list is here)

[cell151]

We’ve seen this bullshit over and over again with police being absolutely brutal when protest are going on. Well when protest against police brutality. It’s totally fine when a bunch of right wing fucks show up at government buildings with machine guns during a major health crisis.

I guess the cops have a lot of pent up rage after everyone has been inside for the past two months.

Not only are these cops to blame for this violence, but also the mayors and chiefs of police who authorize law enforcement to go in with military-grade hardware.

Also to blame is police unions and the blue wall of silence. Cops can not take criticism and will create headaches for the city. That’s why mayors and governors try to dance around the issue blaming protestors or blaming both sides. Today NYC Major Bill De Blasio said the NYPD SUVs that plowed through that crowd was wrong BUT it was protestors to blame.

Let’s not forget that a whole crowd of NYPD officers turned their backs on De Blasio during the Eric Garner case. So now Blasio doesn’t want to piss off the police unions again.

And it’s important for groups like police, fire, EMT, etc. to have unions but is it really necessary for all cops in a city to get all riled up and dragged the reputations of the department because a couple of assholes didn’t their job right.

Also this Blue Wall of Silence/Protection does not extend to cops who speak and do the right thing. Cops who cooperate with Internal Affairs are labeled as rats. Famously Frank Serpico, a NYPD officer, blew the whistle on police corruption in the 1970s and spoke in front of the Knapp Commission. He was ostracized in the department and during a drug bust his partners let him get shot and didn’t call an ambulance. An elderly man who lived in the apartment building where it happen was the one who called for help and stayed with Serpico as he lay bleeding in the stairwell.

This whole “we protect our own” is bullshit. It’s this “us vs them” mentality that has caused so many problems with cops over the years and the example that is being set for new cops isn’t what’s taught in the academy but in the precincts. Rookie cops are taught this by their commanders and partners when they head out onto the streets.

The prompt firing of the officers involved with the George Floyd incident and the charging of the officer who killed him is a good start but we’ll have to see how it plays out in court.

[ashwayssunny]

3 and 13 for the film asks

@bufordtannen hey thank u for sending one!!! (i swear i’ll finish ur prompt here soon i’m sorry jfsivsdkbd)

3. An actor/actress you’ve seen in more than 8 movies? Name the movies!

Oh man, eight movies is a lot. This is odd but I honestly think it’s Al Pacino. I’ve seen him in The Godfather I, The Godfather II, The Godfather III, Serpico, Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, Glengarry Glen Ross, Scent of a Woman, Donnie Brasco, and Carlito’s Way. 

13. Your favourite comedy film?

This is hard. Honestly, I wish I could say Annie Hall but W**dy Allen is a piece of trash so I’m gonna say Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe.

[witch-fox]

monster teeth

* (2) word prompts

He could see it, even from far away. That man looking intently into lady Farnese’s face, provoking a reaction from her and a reply from him.

Yes, he could see what was happening. A predator, catching sigh of his prey, carefully hiding himself and luring his victim into a sense of security before striking forward, digging his claws and teeth into his prey, sucking her dry, endangering her life.

From his perspective, lord Griffith’s handsome smiled looked more like a monster baring his fangs, charming and inviting to those unaware, yet intimidating and cautionary for other predators.

Serpico was no hunter, he wouldn’t be able to protect her beyond certain means, but he could at least fare his own fangs in warning. After all, it wasn’t unusual for foxes and hawks to fight over the same prey.

[bthump]

How have you come to read Berserk? Do you remember what your thoughts and impressions were while reading this story for the first time?

ty for your interest!

I actually watched the 97 anime first. I watched it with a friend like a decade ago and I don’t remember those first impressions very well because a lot of weed was involved lol. But I do know I thought I’d be bored by it and ended up surprisingly invested and engaged. I of course shipped griffguts and I was definitely shocked at how close to canon it was, with scenes like Casca’s cave monologue and Griff’s torture chamber monologue.

Then I found the Band of the Hawk scanlation and read that bc I wanted more, though I often found it confusing. I actually just checked and realized I still have a little wordpad doc I wrote notes in back then while I was reading it. So here’s some highlights:

- I adored both Guts and Griffith, and I called Guts “Gatts,” thanks to the scanlation.

- I found their trauma backstories really fascinating since I’d never rly seen that with male characters before.

- I hated Puck a lot lol :(

- From around the Lost Children arc: Hell, he's doing the same as Griffith did - building a mountain of bodies. I predict that he will eventually use the Behelit, and his sacrifice will be... Griffith! Because enemies can also be the most important person to you. But then he will turn it down. Also if he takes Jill, she'll be the Casca to his Griffith. Waaaiiit... if they explicitly state that it's a possibility Gatts'll use the Behelit and get all demon-y... well, obviously the temptation will be soon, and he'll say no. Not a climax as such. Just an event. Damn. Well, unless a central theme of the rest of this is Gatts' temptation to monsterize himself.

well hey I called Guts getting his own Casca parallel follower, I just didn’t know it would be Farnese.

- I was seeing Casca and Griffith parallels apparently, but I was being vague so I don’t know what parallels exactly. Maybe just the ‘shell of former self’ thing.

- very exasperated by how no man can interact with Casca without trying to rape her.

- went ham during hill of swords ofc but surprisingly not at Guts forgetting his urge to kill lol: OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS CHAPTER IS CALLED REUNION ON THE HILL OF SWORDS OMFG REUNION OMG OMG OMGOMGOMGOMGOMOMGOMGOMOGMOGMOGMOMGOD OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

- bb me still knew what was up re: Griff: He's not sociopathic, he's just so singleminded that he'll do anything for his goal. I was going to say that he's so single minded that he doesn't care what he does for his goal, but that's not true - he DOES care, he just does it anyway.

- I was getting bored with the Millenium Falcon arc and didn’t care about any of the new characters aside from kind of liking Serpico and absolutely hating Isidro. I didn’t say anything about Farnese but I do have a vague memory of getting excited that there was another female soldier character followed immediately by disappointment that she can’t actually fight. So if I didn’t like her back then that’s probably why.

- I was a little disappointed when Guts got the berserk armour because fight scenes aren’t as cool when the protag has a magic power up. I was right tbh.

- I seem to have quit writing around the beach chapters. I think I did actually drop it around there probably, I’d already taken one break and I was forgetting stuff and generally losing the thread of the story iirc.

also I believed Griffith was very likely to get redeemed at the end? Here’s my “reasoning” lol:

Consise, laid-out reasoning why Griffith will be redeemed. He'll probably die right afterwards, but he will certainly sacrifice himself in an act of redemption. 1. The slug-dude did so for his daughter in an act of foreshadowy self-sacrifice. 2. Skull-knight dude tells Gatts that he perhaps has the power to stop fate or whatever. 3. Griffith's whole friendship speech that throws everything in motion. It's super important, but one aspect that is truly important is that for him to call someone a friend, he has to be an equal - following his own dream, etc. When he becomes Femto, this gives Gatts the motivation he needs to get real. If Femto/Griffith eventually sees Gatts as his equal, this metaphorically equals friendship. Of course this will manifest in a respectful arch-enemy thing, once Femto learns to truly fear Gatts, but the metaphor is still there and it will come out when he eventually DOES sacrifice himself because he can't bear to lose his one equal/bff/etc. It will be very Final Gameish. 4. The only man who made Griffith forget his dream is Gatts. Gatts has a huge amount of power over Griffith in regards to his desire to rule everything. 5. Portions of the story are still seen from Griffith's point of view - indeed, a humanized Femto - and this gives me great hope that during these bits we'll see more greyscale characterization. 6. Also in a weird way they kind of have a child together apparently. Idk. 7. Based on the whole sequence before The Golden Age, Gatts gets dark. And ruthless. Mirroring Griffith's transformation, just a bit. 8. Also the fact that Gatts has a freaking

I didn’t fail to copypaste it properly, I just never finished that sentence. But it was probably “behelit” if I gotta guess. Final Game def references the never-made 70s Doctor Who episode where the Master was going to sacrifice himself to save the Doctor, fyi, not the Sherlock Holmes story. Me lowkey comparing every hero/villain dynamic to Doctor/Master when I was 20 is presumably why I assumed they’d get to a respectful arch nemeses vibe lmao.

I guess tbf I wasn’t talking about a redemption arc so much as a humanizing death lol, I just wouldn’t call that a redemption now. I don’t completely disagree with my past self, though I def had some dumb ideas.

It sucks that I dropped it before all the good parts of the MF arc tbh, Griffith vs Ganishka and Guts and Zodd teaming up etc. I wonder what I would’ve thought of it.

Anyway yeah lol, ty for asking and prompting me to find this lol, it was fun to reminisce!

Oh also if you want to see my more recent and technically third impressions lol I did start this blog just to liveblog my more meta-y re-read of Berserk. Here’s the tag for that in chronological order.

[yourhealthmattersblog]

My personal side individuality

Leading Chart Manga Recommendations

Remaining in the leading manga online graph, seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga pertained to me with high expectations. And also it really did. Miura utilizes this medium to bring us a tale that is engaging with well. Despite the manga, this starts to have troubles with a few troubles that are overarching, on specific factors.

The extremely initial point to observe is that seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga includes a beginning. I assume that the narrative would have been fascinating and also Suspenseful when it had started from Guts' young people.

The Golden Age Arc comprises any difficulties with the introduction. This arc is as Lots of People have found At which seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga beams. It consists of a Whole Lot of purposeful Conflicts, character communications, as well as excellent globe construction. Every one of This is paired with a great deal of overarching messages.

Miura communicates this arc splendidly's subjects such As the "Campfire of Dreams", or using nature's monologues. Utilizing a storyteller produced the show do as a book sometimes Which makes it an absolute enjoyment.

I don't feel that it's necessary to reveal any one of those subjects in seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga that itself is a portion of their reading experience.

The variable right here has actually been balancing. In the future, some experiences do not include and also drag on In basic plot. Having said world-building, the story and that of all is manga are all excellent.

The art work gets. Miura does a Superb task of juxtaposing dark and also light shades. Notably his character styles. The vision of light Griffith's character was contrasted with the vision that defines Guts. How are mirrored by this use of vision principles isn't fairly as black as well as white as it could appear. Moreover, it could be taken a comment on the pretension of idolatry and confidence. There are lots of ways to equate points. That's What Makes It wonderful to evaluate.

There is very little to whine regarding this. The style fits the tone of this series.

Despite the fact that both personalities are fascinating as well as strong Characters, some of the side personalities were stereotypical and one-dimensional. Isidro as well as Puck would certainly be the wrongdoers right here. They Provide alleviation that is unneeded as well as spoil the design of this manga.

The wide variety of unwanted characters of seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga mirrors its world's immensity. As a result of this, some characters are much more nice others. My personal side individuality was Serpico. His backstory Is made up, and also his individual advancement is lovely to see.

Griffith is the character in seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga. It is interesting to discover that the polarizing viewpoints on Griffith out of seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga fans. He's an individuality. Griffith is Everything an antagonist requires to be- he's no saying and also deepness sob tale.

seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga is a series that is extremely satisfying. The only thing interfering with my Was a few of the experiences and also the humor I alluded to previously.

I would certainly reread my components of the manga. I am upon studying it a certain I 'd pick up on a min. I wouldn't be reluctant to prompt seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga. seito kaichou ni chuukoku manga is unparalleled though it has a number of defects, during its summit. And you understand what, I actually enjoy this story. Very suggest this to any individual who likes to check out manga online. Please visit https://themangaguide.wixsite.com/manga/post/t5j11w07tqggn1zg06kwbc1637758808 to learn more related information

[melis-writes]

serpico with a beard obviously. im sorry i just dont have ideas but begging you melis 😭.

No ideas?! No problem!! 💓 Serpico with a beard… 🥵🥵🔥

“I meant to look at you like that.” You grin, massaging tenderly over Frank’s shoulders as you face him. “I thought you’d notice.”

“I noticed a lot more than that.” You see a subtle smirk forming over your boyfriend’s lips. “You don’t give mixed signals, do you?”

“To someone like you?” You wrap your arms around Frank’s shoulders, shaking your head. “Nuh uh. First it was your garden…”

“My garden,” Frank repeats, pulling you up into his lap by your hips.

“And then it was you.” You plant a small kiss over Frank’s nose. “And that’s it.”

“And that’s it,” Frank nods, pressing his forehead against yours. “That’s how you planned to…?”

“Get you in bed,” you giggle, feeling your cheeks flaring with blush.

“Then you keep that story just between us,” Frank chuckles, his beard brushing up against your cheeks as he kisses you gently.

“You don’t wanna talk about it?” You tease as Frank slowly leans your back down against the couch.

“I’ll talk about it,” Frank’s lips graze against yours. “In front of a crowd…”

“Mm,” you steal a kiss from his lips. “And…?”

“When I marry you,” Frank intertwines his fingers with yours, holding both your hands down against the couch. “Then I’ll them all—your family, mine—I met the woman of my life by talking about my garden.”

You can’t help but smile throughout the next kiss, letting your hands roam through Serpico’s tousled, dark hair.

Out of reaction from Frank’s lips colliding over yours, you moan into his mouth and find the kiss beginning to grow sloppier by the minute.

All that can be heard in your living room aside from the wet kissing is the sound of both of you shakily breathe out of your nostrils, simply lost in the deepening kiss.

You buck your hips up against Frank’s, squeezing his hands and continuing to kiss him feverishly.

It’s then that Frank lets go of one of your hands, letting it roam down your sides until his fingers clench and bunch up the fabric of your skirt to ride it up to your inner thighs.

You both only break the kiss to catch your breath, still gazing at one another with a consuming desire and passion before Frank kisses you once again.

You gladly give into him and the heavenly feeling of intimacy surrounding the two of you.

Frank’s hands rub against your inner thighs, and even the way his beard feels against your chin and cheeks stimulates you throughout the kiss.

“I love you,” is the first thing Frank murmurs to you once you both part from the kiss.

Remaining a quiet, blushing and flustered mess, you watch as Serpico parts open your lips with his finger, admiring the shape and curve of your mouth.

“I love you too,” you whisper out, snuggling upwards to his embrace.

[jyuanka]

I'm not sure if this is a good prompt, but how about a fic from Roderick's pov about what he thinks about Farnese and Serpico, I'm curious about what you think Rod thinks of him. Or how about Roderick's pov from before he met Farnese? From around the moment Magnifico suggested the engagement.

those are nice! though the latter would definitely require I go back to the manga to read that interaction between the two men on the balcony, so it would probably take longer to come out (though I already thought of some nice lines between them) and the first one, for real I think the only time Roderick addressed Serpico he did so by calling him Wind Master, and that was the only time they were shown interacting. I didn’t think Roderick meant it as an insult or offense but as genuine admiration (but maybe also out of vague jealousy?) while I do think Serpico took it as condescension, telling him: the name’s Serpico. (probably Serpico mulled over it way more than he should lol) 

[odilekuronuma]

What is Griffith’s plan?

I've been meaning to make a post about Griffith and his plan for ages now, even before I got a request to make a post about Berserk. 

I do not presume to know exactly how things will go, this is just my analysis based on facts that are known to us, especially with the latest reveal, and we might still need more information to come to a more accurate prediction. And I feel like Berserk is one of those works that aren’t easy to predict. Also I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible, since as it turns out I’m not typically a fan of Griffith, but I still view him as one of the most interesting characters in the series, and he’s at the center of the changes that are happening in the world. 

This post will be divided in two parts, the first one will cover what is known to us, and the second will be more about speculation about what his ultimate plan is.

I-Griffith's immediate plan:

First let’s have a quick reminder of  Griffith’s ambition and what he achieved so far. Griffith’s whole raison d’être  basically is to get his own kingdom. To that effect he gathered a band of mercenaries known as the Band of the Hawk.We don’t know why he wants it so bad, to the point of sacrificing the entire Band of the Hawk later on. Besides his motivations might not matter as much, considering that everything has already been decided by causality, and that IoE has already decided the outcome from the beginning, and that everything else simply lead to that moment where Griffith uses his crimson behelit. The same IoE who told Griffith in the abyss that he is free to do whatever he wants, but in the end it will all go according to his (IoE’s) plan.

So Griffith, for the sake of his dream, sacrifices the Band, and gets reborn as Femto. Later on during the events of Albion, he gets reborn (quite literally) as Neo Griffith. The latter meets with Guts at the Hill of swords, and reiterates his wish to get his own kingdom.

At this point Griffith sounds like a broken record, but as I mentionned earlier, the cornerstone of Griffith’s personality is his dream of getting his own kingdom. 

And after having brainwashed most people into thinking he is the saviour, he faces Ganishka and his armies, and fulfills his own man made prophecy, as it makes it appears as though he vanquished Ganishka, who got reincarnated as Shiva...But in reality it’s all thanks to Skullknight who attacks Femto only for the latter to deflects his attack, that ends up reaping through Shiva. Not only did it kill Ganishka,but it also prompted the merging of layers. The effects can be seen all over the world, all sorts of magical creatures who were usually only present on the astral plane, end up in the same plane as humans. But more importantly thanks to that, and to Griffith posing as the Saviour, he finally acquires his kingdom.And thus Falconia is born, from the remnants of the old Wyndham.

 So Griffith at this point of the story has already achieved his dream, of having his own kingdom. But did it really require that he causes the merging of layers? Did he really have to go to such lengths just so he can use the ruins of old capital as the basis for his newly founded Falconia? I don’t think so.

While it does appear that Griffith has achieved his goal, of having his own kingdom, things most likely aren’t going to end there. Not only do I doubt that he’ll just be satisfied with having his own kingdom, but I really see it as something that will help him achieve bigger things. Basically rather than an end in itself, it’s just a means to an end, and this is all tied to IoE and the age of darkness.

On various occasions, we’ve heard various characters talk about the “Age of Darkness’, including Slan and Schierke . Femto, who is Griffith’s real form, is supposed to bring said Age of darkness.Upon his birth  he is called the Wings of Darkness, and the prophecy of the Falcon of Darkness refers to him.

"On that day, a dying sun rose above the multitude of nations. As written in the Book of Revelations, when the sun has died five times, a red lake will emerge to the west of a city with a name both new and old. It will be a sign that the fifth angel has descended upon this world. The angel is the Hawk of Darkness. He is the master of the sinful black sheep and the king of the blind white sheep. He will usher in an age of darkness to cover the world."

If we’re to analyze it, Femto/Griffith can only be the Falcon of Darkness, as he is the shepherd of the white sheep (humans in Falconia) and the black sheep (Apostles). So there can be no doubt that Griffith/Femto’s goal is ultimately to bring the age of darkness to the world. While we don’t know what it fully entails yet, we can guess some things, just from looking at what happened after the merging of layers.

Now that we know more about the structure of the Berserk world, in particular the spiritual trees and the World tree, it is apparent that Griffith’s intention through the merging of layers was to destroy the spiritual trees, and strengthen the World tree at the heart of Falconia. And it very much looks like this will work to his advantage, and by extension the God Hand, and of course IoE.

And here I’m gonna point some similarity which I found it to be unsettling, and I can’t get all the credit for it since I saw it on reddit. But if you look at the world tree in Falconia itsbranches and roots strangely look familiar. In fact they look a lot like this.

So yep.  Perhaps it really is that the World tree is connected to IoE, and in fact its roots directly connect to the evil God of Berserk.. So Griffith is literally strengthening IoE, and that is part of the age of darkness.

As far fetched as this sounds, I really don’t think it’s concidental, simply for the fact that Miura is the kind of author who throws subtle hints at us, and is really good at reusing some elements from the early parts of the story, and make it tie in perfectly with the more recent devlopments. So while he might not have thought of the World tree (I'm just gonna call it Yggdrasil) as early as episode 109 where IoE appears, I wouldn’t put it past him to throw us a bone like that.

And I even remember some photoshoped image of IoE appearing out of the corpse of Shiva during the merging of layers.

So while it does look like Griffith has achieved his dream, it’s not an end in itself, rather it’s just a means to an end, and that it will allow Griffith, or to be more accurate Femto, to truly unleash the age of darkness, which involves strengthning the World tree’s power, which I also think is tied to IoE and that he’s pretty much strengthening its power.

In fact this is all IoE's plan, Griffith getting his kingdom is just part of it, and Griffith himself is but a pawn of IoE, and he's doing its biding. 

So in conclusion, Griffith getting his kingdom is not the end game, and it's just part of a bigger plan, IoE's plan to usher the age of darkness. 

II-Griffith's ultimate plan:

But will Griffith, assuming there’s still something left of the person he once was(other than his dream), be really  satisfied with being IoE’s pawn? I mean sure he got his kingdom, that he wanted so bad for some obscure reason, so everyone wins right?He gets what he wants, and through his action IoE’s hold on the world is strenghtened.Guts line here suggests otherwise:

Guts knows Griffith best, so according to him Griffith getting his kingdom is just a means to an end, and he plans to "soar even higher".

And I'm inclined to think so as well, and here I can't help but draw a parallel with Sinbad from Magi. Both are machievellian characters, and as it turns out Sinbad wasn't satisfied with just creating his own country, or achieve world peace, he wanted to reach new heights, and it is currently his goal and motivation for what he's doing in Magi.

So Griffith's ultimate goal cannot be to just have his own kingdom, even if said kingdom ends up covering the whole planet. Falconia is currently the only safe place for humans, so we can bet that it will grow to meet the needs of a growing population, as more humans will flock there for safety.

But what can be bigger than ruling the whole world basically? It can only be to become God itself.

This is a bit of a wild speculation but logically that can only be the higher stage. Griffith is already seen as the saviour, he used the prophecies of the Holy see Church to pose as the Hawk of light. His character is riddled with references to the Christ/Anti-christ. And he's a God Hand which is a real concept in Judaism. 

Nevermind the fact that as I said the man that Griffith was wouldn't be satisfied with being a pawn, he's the one who uses others, not the other way around. So perhaps he's just using IoE. 

Perhaps he won't outright overthrow IoE, but he could merge with it, becoming a new being, similar to the Holy Trinity in the Bible.But how does he hope to achieve that?

 It is generally believed in the fandom that Griffith will sacrifice Falconia.Let's see how much weight this theory has.

What happens if and when things don’t work out as planned in Falconia ? Already we saw Griffith fail once, and be rejected even, by Rickert of all people. We’ve seen him reject Griffith’s offer of joining him, in what has to be one of the best moments in the history of Berserk. God that bitchslap was glorious.

So he clearly can’t control everyone, especially those who were close to him when he was still human, and thus know him better. But more importantly,  what happens when his utopia is threatened, by none other than Guts?

There is no doubt about Guts ability to get people to follow him, through the course of his life he has influenced a great deal of characters, starting with the BoTH who were also loyal to him(except Corkus but he was a jerk anyway). As the BoTH’s raiding commander he managed to earn the trust and respect of his men like Gaston. And even after the loss of the Band, we saw Guts influence the lives of  Farnese namely,Serpico but also Jill, Luca and the girls,Isidro, Schierke and Flora,Roderick and the gang,  Isma and the merrows etc.He even has his own band now.And it’s pretty clear he’ll end up getting the support of the Hanafubuku king, aka Dannan which could be a real threat to the God Hand.

There’s no denying that Guts can make allies and also inspire people, just like Griffith is able to inspire people in his own way. And more importantly, Guts as the struggler might be able to create some waves that will come down crashing on Griffith’s so called utopia, as explained by Skullknight in his fish allegory. 

For that, and maybe even as part of IoE’s plan, Griffith might come yet again to sacrifice the whole of Falconia.

Also we have to consider nature of causality in Berserk, and how according to Flora it is a spiral, not a circle (cycle).

Other than the fact that this pretty much confirms that things won't have to go the same way they did with Skullknight, it means to me is that while things aren't taking place in a cycle, each spiral that is threaded by fate could see some similar events happen, and even with a bigger intensity.

We have to remember that Falconia was build on the ruins of the old Wyndham, which was destroyed when the four “angels” came down to free the “Wise man” and punish Gaiseric who had imprisoned him. And it is highly hinted that Gaiseric is in fact Skullknight, and the Wise man is Void. And if we look back at the tower of rebirth , we can clearly see human skeletons at the bottom of the tower, wearing the brand of the sacrifice on their forehead. So clearly back then an Eclipse took place, which saw the ascension of Void to the God hand. 

Guts and Griffith are basically this era’s version of Gaiseric and Void. The similarities between Guts and Gaiseric, as the supposed previous owner of the Berserker armor, are far too great to be dismissed. So those events are bound to happen again.

And seeing as how humans are flocking to Falconia, as it is one of the last “safe” places in the world, the scale of this event will be bigger than anything seen up till now. 

So what we could see is Griffith sacrificing both humans and apostles, not just because his dream could be threatened, but because that would ultimately be his real plan, that will allow him to reach new heights, which can only be something like becoming God.

And to play devil’s advocate, maybe he’ll do that to save all humanity.We can say that the fate chosen by IoE is one that more often than not leads to a bleak end, so perhaps Griffith will truly be a saviour, and get rid of an evil God. 

Well this is more of a wild speculation of my part, but I will admit that I always found his character to be a bit underwhelming, since he so easily was manipulated by the other God Hand like Ubik, and obviously IoE. So that kind of development could turn out to be interesting, but either way I do not see him being satisfied with just having his kingdom, and an eclipse might yet happen, especially if we consider the nature of causality.

So those are strong hints imo that Griffith could yet sacrifice the whole of Falconia, to become pretty much a living god, and that I believe is his ultimate plan.

 Phew this took forever to make, but I wanted to do something special for my 100th post. Thanks for reading.