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coolcattime · 3 months

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Mianite D&D AU/headcanon ideas inspired by this ask from @licantropa and the tags by @syndianites and @kiwibirdlafayette

Jordan - Aasimar Paladin (Judgement)/Artificer (Artillerist)

The recently chosen champion of Lady Ianite.

He ran away started his journey away from home to find the answers of his mysterious goddess’ whereabouts in the middle of the night with only basic adventuring supplies and a small robotic companion/pet he’d crafted himself. He ends up finding an abandoned temple turned prison, which it seems his goddess had thankfully escaped from, but he quickly found himself locked in it as a group of opportunist bandits decide to try and get a ransom.

He ends up rescued by Tom, Tucker, and Sonja, a very slightly more experienced group of adventurers which happens to include the champions of the other two gods. They had been hired to rescue Jordan by his (non-biological) brother, and are surprised to hear about Jordan’s quest to find the lost goddess, but all happily join on the quest for their own reasons.

Tom - Tiefling Barbarian (Zealot)/Warlock (Fiend)

The not-quite-undead champion of Lord Dianite.

Once upon a time, Tom was just a normal barbarian, though he doesn’t remember those times very well. As far as he knows, he was once a part of an adventuring party that ended up running into a monster far beyond their own skill and ended up dead. However, his own skills ended up catching the attention of Lord Dianite, who brought him back to life as his champion -- as well as giving him a few more bonuses.

He’s the champion with by far the closest relationship to his god, having a lot of communication with him compared to Jordan (whose goddess is missing) and Tucker (whose god might as well be missing). However, his communication with Dianite has become a double edged sword as the god seems very against him helping Jordan find Lady Ianite, instead telling him to get the man to join their side. He’s happy enough to do the task, but can’t help but get nervous as they start to find more evidence that Dianite might have something to do with his sister’s disappearance and what that might mean for his friends with his loyalty to his god.

Tucker - Human Cleric (Forge)

The champion of Lord Mianite.

Tucker has always been especially loyal to his god, having grown up in temples surrounded by clerics and paladins of the highest respect. He trained and duelled with the best throughout his childhood, though a lot of his training ended up being spent in the forges creating weapons for heroes older and more powerful than himself. Most expected Tucker to become a Paladin, but his divine blessing came a lot more directly and his skills with metalsmithing became his very connection with the god he's a champion for.

He was the first person in the adventuring party after he went out into the world to prove himself as Lord Mianite's champion, meeting Tom when the two were hired for the same job. He's happy enough to help Jordan, though he's never heard of Lady Ianite before, as he believes that it might finally be the quest he's looking for to prove himself as a champion.

Sonja - Shifter Bard (Lore)/Warlock

An Archivist of the Gods.

Sonja has always been a gatherer of information, making sure to collect and tell the tales of great heroes. She was able to gather great crowds to listen to her spin tales into songs and performances. Though showy, she rarely bends the truth of the tale, giving a far more accurate tale even if it does not give the best reflection of the heroes or gods she is telling the tale of. She's popular with the people and can typically charm those who don't like her to get them on her side. However she's banned from a fair number of libraries and museums dedicated to heroes who would prefer their tales be told the way that they're currently being told.

If anyone asks, Sonja is a follower of Lord Mianite. And in fact that's what the other members of the adventuring party believe this to be the case, as in the most technical sense it is true. While definitely not as devoted to the gods as any of her fellow party members, she has a more powerful than most connection to Lord Mianite; she just also happens to have made a pact with an ancient god eating entity for more magical knowledge, but that's really her business and no one else's, even if she can feel her patron tugging to ruin their quest for the lost goddess at every opportunity.

Capsize - Half-elf Rogue (Swashbuckler)/Paladin (Crown)

“The Paladin of Ianite” / The messenger of Ianite

A pirate captain on her own quest to free Ianite who the main party find and join up with by apparent coincidence. They ordinarily meet in a tavern where Jordan, Tom, and Sonja all try flirting with her, only Sonja being in any way successful. However, said first meeting is cut short by a group of armed individuals entering the tavern, demanding a meeting with “the Paladin of Ianite” alone that evening and to make sure she actually shows, they have her brother. As the thugs teleport away, Capsize dashes out to try and find Redbeard as she recognised them as lackeys of one of her less trustworthy clients. The main party doesn't see her panicked reaction due to them all panicking themselves, believing the threat to be directed towards Jordan.

Due to the mix up, the main group end up breaking into the back and freeing the prisoner who it turns out is not Jordan's brother, but Capsize's. They quickly rush to help Capsize, who is holding her own in the meeting turned fight but severely outnumbered until the others show up. After the fight, introductions are done properly. Upon learning of Jordan's quest and title, Capsize and her brother both burst out laughing but offer to take the group to Ianerea to meet the other champion of Ianite as a payment for their help.

#and everyone but tucker is a charisma caster!#that is extremely funny to me how that has worked out #i do also have some ideas for andor (Jordans brother if you couldn't tell) and redbeard #andor as tempest cleric with a possible martial class as well #and redbeard as a swashbuckler/storm sorcercer because redbeard being a magic user is funny to me #but i have so much less of a concrete idea about them than i do with others #also i know Sonja's warlock subclass is missing that's because i don't know which one she should have #but i hope you like this mess that's come from working on my heavily d&d like oc verse #mianite #Mianite d&d #jordan captainsparklez #tucker iijeriichoii #tom syndicate #sonja firefoxx #captain capsize

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thedeaddandy · 11 months

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Traffic Life who

#captainsparklez #tom syndicate #Mianite #my art

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transandor · 7 months

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title: hurt like hell; gonna be well wc: 10,739 notes: for @voidandradiance as a spiritual successor to this fic. i started it forever ago and just never finished until now oops

summary:

there is a reunion. it has been a very, very long time. there’s plenty more to worry about when tom and jordan get home. or; ghosts return, but time changes all things, for good and for bad.

ao3 link

#mianite #captainsparklez #andor conway #tom syndicate #lady ianite #writing #girl idk anymore this took forever

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artylinds · 4 months

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Quick before I forget to ever post this.

Here's the oblivious pining fools

#jordan is someone who talks with his hands #i will die on this hill #captainsparklez #tom syndicate #syndisparklez #theyre in love your honour #mcyt #mianite #my art

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darubyprincx · 4 months

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after a full night's sleep after watching the finale, i have decided that tom is my favorite character in mianite s1 because:

[huge mianite s1 spoilers under the cut]

here's the thing, ok? the server was tucker's baby and he and sonja were mianite. jordan invented a whole goddess out of spite. but the rest of them stayed loyal no matter what. their gods let them peacefully coexist with their friends and form alliances.

tom? Tom didn't get any of that.

tom was always desperate for dianite's approval from the get-go. throughout the series, he went from "being on team dianite means i get to be an asshole with no consequences" to "i am literally chilling with everybody and we're all buds here wait who said that" but even with that, he still slingshotted back to dianite's side the second the god came online, doing everything he said at the cost of his reputation and burning the bridges he'd built.

he turned on them mid-fight several times despite showing visible hesitation later on in the season, was the first one to snitch on furia at dianite's behest, and still didn't earn his trust because dianite knew that when he wasn't watching, tom was actually forming his own relationships with the other players and characters.

and then i got to the finale and lost my mind because ok

right before the fight, when dianite initially joined, tom went right back to that familiar pattern of being all like AYY MY MAIN MAN HE'S HERE and everyone else was IMMEDIATELY on guard. jordan reminded him that they were all on one side against Furia here. tom even pretended like he was going to betray them all, however, i think that he was legitimately conflicted about it because he Says It Himself that he only got halfway through eating the apple before changing his mind. and you can hear the uncertainty in his voice when he's like "haha got you all it was a joke i would never do that"

when dianite dropped the "Homie? Pfft. I'm no homie to you!" and everyone was like "wow, Tom, he just totally abandoned you" without ACTUALLY TURNING ON HIM FOR IT, just acknowledging it and moving on, i think that was the moment where it finally clicked for Tom that oh. dianite never actually cared about me at all. i was just a means to an end and this is the end.

'cause he'd gotten all of this armor and this epic gear. he'd basically been dianite's main man down on earth, carrying out every single thing he asked of him dutifully, but he'd never actually gotten anything... back? hell, dianite had told JORDAN he was proud of him before he'd told TOM.

so when THIS happened

I LOST MY SHIT.

This was slowly being built up to the ENTIRE TIME and I hadn't even NOTICED it.

like, I just want to highlight here that it wasn't Tucker who struck the last blow, or Sonja, or even Jordan. that would have made sense right because all of them were allied AGAINST dianite. actually, i would have expected tom to be fighting For him, but no-

it was tom who killed dianite. his own god. and he got the last key. they couldn't have done it without him. he was important the entire time because he got out of the bear trap and decided at the last second to fight for the ones who actually mattered to him: his friends and allies.

hell, jordan actually asks him how he's doing a few moments before he realizes the mantle has been passed onto him and tom responds with "pretty upset, actually" because what does he do now? where does he go from here? i imagine everyone else celebrating that dianite's gone, jordan sorting through his stuff, and tom just sort of standing there staring at the spot where his god's body was lying a mere second ago, his bow lying on the ground where he dropped it, just Processing what he just did.

of course that doesn't last for very long because tom soon realizes that dianite's power was passed onto him,

but like even This has implications. tom's name is still red. he's still loyal to Dianite but if you think about it, this means he's on his own side now. i kept watching closely even after this waiting for him to betray everyone else and mess the whole operation up, but he never does! he sticks with them.

even during the finale, tom remains the only person to have been killed by all three gods, and he's the only person who ever killed one himself.

so yeah. Character of all time. According to my friend Jupiter who's seen the entirety of all three seasons, this entire thing is never addressed again, so I'm gonna go like. get dressed do some embroidery and make myself a cup of tea then watch the first episode of jordan's s2 just so that i can see how it starts and go fix that by writing something about it 👍

#ray's tag #mcyt #mianite #synhd #tom syndicate #in summary: that finale had so much that could be improved on but holy shit guys. Holy Fucking Shit #im looking at this guy with huge autism eyes

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hypn0ticas · 4 months

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My first Minecraft fanart in a while and it’s mianite man flipping you off have fun

#artists on tumblr #art #fanart #original art #mianite #dianite #tom syndicate #syndicate #mianite fanart #Hypnoticas art

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adammonter · 9 months

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Haha, what if I made a Good Omens Mianite AU

(I've been sketching out some sences of season one and two, might post them tomorrow or something, but I haven't stopped thinking about it since I posted it)

#mianite au #mianite good omens au #captainsparklez #tom syndicate #my art #fanart #mcyt #fan art

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grailknightmonty · 2 months

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happy valentines day a few days later since being late is kinda my thing atm C: I mostly just wanted to draw isles era syndisparklez (since im collecting moments of em) but i drew some ethubs too since ive been seein a lot about em lately haha

also feel free to save this to use on people next year if ya want xD

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kiwibirdlafayette · 3 months

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this reminded me of Tom at season 1 finale to the start of season 2

YESSSS THIS IS SO REAL

i had an urge to draw it thank u for the wicked prompt haha

bro literally went from “holy fuck i killed the guy i was so undyingly loyal to i cant believe this” to “hehe im a god now guys #epicgaming #gnargnarbro"

#mianite #mianitefa #mianite fanart #mcyt fanart #tom syndicate #mcyt #tom syndicate fanart #mecha dianite #gkm arts #lafakiwi draws #artists on tumblr #asks #licantropa #i spent way too long on that first draw i was hellbent on getting the bg right i fully went back to toms pov to rewatch the moment LMAO #in case. you wondered why i took so long to reply haha #this is the secret third thing from my last post btdubs hehe

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zipas · 3 months

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It's me, back again with more wing designs for the mianitian isles boys because I was unhappy that my other ones were just wings with their main colors.

I'm pretty happy with Tom's, I think their very fitting. The embers are only when flying or fighting and when fighting can ignite small fires but thats not super common. Potential alt. design under the cut

Jordan's were SO HARD! I had like 3 other potential designs for them, which are under the cut, I eventually decided on just black with purple and pink iridescent that shines in the moon or under water. Mostly because the plain black can be seen as plain and boring, hiding the true beauty beneath which, to me at least, seems very akin to Ianite and Jordan.

Karl's wings are next, this time I stuck with the color pallette of the older design cause I think it's very fitting (plus a slight yellow/gold hue over the whole wing). His wings (when fighting) can have lighting arching off the flight feathers, it's mostly used as an intimidation tactic as they reach into the sky, but they can be used for battle, like fly by electrocution. He also has alt lighting color cause I couldn't decide

Tom's alt design (doesn't have the blackish hue cause it was a last minute add on) color under the feathers is off but eh I didn't feel like fixing it, should be more firey orange

Jordan's alt designs. Really wanted the purple stripes but they clashed to much with the iridescences which I really wanted. (Also doesn't have pink hue cause that was last minute addition)

Karl's alt. Lighting color

#larkindas #mianitian isles #mianite #captainsparklez #tom syndicate #wings #ianite #dianite

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kittyplayz1cantmsg4somereason · 10 months

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Still love that one old headcanon that was flying around a while ago that DSMP!Tubbo is the child of Mianite!Syndisparklez. Because it makes so much fucking sense. Where did Tubbo learn how to make nukes? His insane father! Why is he such a little gremlin sometimes? His other insane father!

#mcyt #captain sparklez #captainsparklez #mcytblr #tom syndicate #Mianite #dsmp tubbo #syndisparklez

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coolcattime · 18 days

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Under the New Moon [Mianite Noir AU]

Relationships: Discussed Syndisparklez and Foxxsize

Characters: Sonja Firefoxx, Tucker Jericho, Tom Syndicate, Captain Capsize, Skipper Redbeard

For the past six months, a new body has been found in the city. Each killed in the gruesome sacrifice to Lord Dianite a fortnight after the victim disappeared off the streets without a trace. Not a link between the victims, or at least that’s the story the public have been told. In reality, the police force has long since come to the conclusion that the murders have been committed by Tom Syndicate, the cities’ most infamous mafia boss, and written off investigating rather than deal with the man with the city in his pocket. All expect for one detective.

Having stolen the case files, Detective Sonja Foxx is attempting to come up with any lead on the case as with the current pattern the next victim is due to disappear any day. However, even with the help of Private Detective Tucker Jericho, no clues are appearing, and she may need to cross the line she has desperately been trying to keep for herself if she wants to prevent another victim from suffering a terrible fate.

AO3 Link

Mianite Magical Noir AU Tag

The darkening light as the sun set behind the horizon gave the already grim city an atmosphere that caused even the most relaxed soul to look over their shoulder at whoever was walking behind them. Such an action wouldn’t be questioned given the growing fears of the general population that had been slowly but surely mounting throughout the past few months. This had never been the safest city, what with the rampant crime and corrupt police force, but at the very least it was safe enough that the average citizen could shake off their fears of any of those terrible things affecting them. As long as they kept their head down and their nose clean, they could avoid ever getting tangled in the messy web of crime that ran the city and they could live their lives unconcerned. It had been the sort of fear that people could live with. However, a darker threat had begun to fester. People were disappearing, criminals and law-abiding civilians alike, the only connection being that each disappeared when walking through the streets at sunset. That and that each of their bodies had appeared weeks later in gruesome scenes that previously would’ve only appeared in the deepest parts of the criminal underworld for the worst of traitors.

Murders, of course, had never been unheard of in the city. In fact, they were worryingly common if you actually counted them all rather than writing off the disappearances and accidents that occurred to those that needed to be taught a lesson, however none so gruesome had ever infested the city like this. Ritual sacrifices were the best way to describe the scenes, and that was in fact how they were being described by any of those talking about them. Each victim was seemingly an offering to Lord Dianite. Typically, with a killer like this, one that targeted seemingly average civilians, one that the papers were nicknaming and turning into a bogeyman, the police force would be investigating despite their corrupt nature. However, in this case the nature of the scenes, and the only seeming connection that the victims had, had made them back off. It wasn’t public knowledge, of course, but the minimal investigations had revealed that, even if completely tangentially, each of the victims had some connection to The Syndicate. Of course, the same could be said of nearly everyone in the city, but Tom Syndicate was an infamous worshipper of Lord Dianite. Thus, the Chief of Police had decided that the man had surely just taken a religious turn, and that the murders were very likely just messages for his underlings to stay in line while showing his god favour. That was more than enough reason to not look into the killings any further. After all, it was only one a month, it was barely a concern as long as police weren’t being targeted. So, each case was officially declared closed and unlinked, and not a single officer had noticed that the case files were missing from where they were meant to be filed.

On a not frequently travelled street, down a set of stairs on the front of an old townhouse, was the door to the basement office of the Jericho Private Detective Agency. It was the sort of place that one would never find unless they were actively looking for it, and it was also the sort of place that only needed clients that would put in the effort to seek it out. Inside the currently illuminated office were two people. The first sat behind an oak desk nursing a flask was the private detective that the office was named for, Tucker Jericho. His presence was hardly a surprise as if he wasn’t there, the lights would be out. If he could have his way, they would currently be off as he would’ve far preferred just a lamp to better soothe his growing headache. The lights, however, stayed on at the insistence of the other person in the room as she paced between shifting through the files she had snuck out of the precinct and staring at complete annoyance at the growing mess on the pinboard they had set up. It was looked at oddly for a police officer of any ranking, let alone a detective, to be working with a private investigator. It was frowned upon for them to give out confidential information to them, and it was getting a write-up and forced time off territory to give case files that were decidedly not being investigated to them. Yet, despite all of that, here Sonja was, with half a dozen ‘closed’ murder case files she had been slowly gathering since the third murder, attempting to actually do some work.

The two made an odd pair. Tucker was, to put it simply, pessimistic, even compared to the attitude of a normal private detective. The city was a cesspool of crime kept in place by the very people who were meant to prevent it. The number of times someone had come to him directly because the police had failed to even look into a crime was enough to make anyone bitter. The fact that he often had to work within the underworld himself to get anything done just felt like further kicks. Sonja, meanwhile, was more optimistic than anyone in her position ought to be, even if said optimism was slowly, if still far too quickly, being drained from her. She had truly joined the force originally because she wanted to make a difference, but that wasn’t how things were done. You arrest the unimportant petty criminals or whatever patsy was being passed off as having done a major crime. You take bribes, look the other way, force a confession out of an innocent party and witnesses to keep their mouths shut. Actually trying to do good ended up with all the actual criminals she arrested walking free anyway unless they wanted to be locked up in the first place, and herself very much the odd-one-out of the police force. And she was fine with her status of being the uptight idiot that needed to relax and understand how things were done, but she wasn’t going to let these murders be ignored because of who was doing them, and if Tucker was willing to investigate them, she would happily take any help she could get. If only the two of them were actually getting anywhere.

“There has to be some clue as to why they’ve all been killed, something that actually connects all of them,” Sonja said, beyond frustrated that so far even the apparent mafia connection was so thin that it gave absolutely nothing to actually investigate. It was the only loose connection between them all, but none of them had a strong enough connection to The Syndicate to actually finger it as a motive. Sure, it was completely possible that all of the victims were just people that had unfortunately managed to annoy the mafia boss, but not a single one of them were important enough to warrant being killed like this, let alone all six of them. Not that being murdered was warranted for any reason, but Sonja was really trying to understand the mafia boss' theoretical logic. “Has he just started a cult? Because I can’t think of any possible mistake that a waitress could’ve made that he’d need to make this sort of example of her.”

“No, if he’d started a cult, he’d never shut up about it,” Tucker muttered, trying not to get lost in his annoyance at how open the mob boss was about all his illegal activities. Why keep quiet about your criminal empire when you have every high-ranking person in the police force and city government in your pocket? It was what, to Tucker at least, made the murders so puzzling. Despite them all being attributed to him, Tom hadn’t said a single word about them. No claims of gaining Lord Dianite’s favour, no open bragging about how he’d gotten one over on those who had tried to cross him. For once, it appeared that the man was playing things close to his chest. It was infuriating, somehow more so than if he was openly taunting them.

“Well, he must’ve told someone about all this. It’s too much for him to be doing by himself, so one of his underlings must know something.”

“Great! We just need to figure out which of his trusted capos he told and somehow get them to spill despite the very real risk of them being murdered,” Tucker said, not hiding his sarcasm as he took a swig from his flask. His tone caused Sonja to glare. Obviously, she knew the futility of getting confessions from those loyal to Tom, they’d be more likely to confess to the crimes themselves than sell him out, but she wasn’t suggesting that. Arguably what she was suggesting was worse, not least for their wallets, but it would almost certainly get some sort of results.

“None of Tom’s guys will talk to us, but Capsize will,” Her words almost caused Tucker to choke. Not because the idea was unbelievable, but because her suggesting it was. Sonja, the one who did things by the book and recoiled from the idea of even remotely working within the underworld, had just suggested they go and buy information from a woman whose trade other than information was black-market goods. Sonja tried to look confident, despite knowing the delicate path she was treading. She had never made a deal with Capsize, her finding out about her ‘business’ had been an accident in the first place. The women were friends, a word carefully chosen by the two each time it was said as if they wanted to say something else but couldn’t quite come to terms with that fact. They’d met in a bar on one of Sonja’s off days and begun talking and quickly began meeting up more. And Capsize had been easy to talk to and interesting, if remarkably mysterious about her own occupation. An occupation that Sonja only actually discovered one night due to her brother dragging away a belligerent customer that she definitely wasn’t meant to see. Apparently, the reluctance to talk about her business had been Capsize’s attempt to protect her from the moral issue that she’d become friends with a black-market merchant and information broker. And Sonja had, despite what most would call her better judgement, decided that this was okay as long as their relationship stayed strictly personal and never strayed into a professional one, but right now people’s lives were at risk if they didn’t find a lead.

“Sonja, do you understand what you’re suggesting?” Tucker said, unable to say that the idea was bad but still in complete disbelief that she had suggested it. Honestly, if anyone could have information about Tom committing the murders and not be too scared of him to tell them it would be Capsize. It would certainly be trouble, as he was one of her clients and – worse – one of her friends, so her asking price for information on him was always ridiculously expensive compared to her already stupidly expensive fees. However, given the seriousness of the situation, money wasn’t exactly the thing he was worried about. Rather, his reasoning for questioning was far simpler. “I know that solving cases with me isn’t exactly by the book, but making a deal with Capsize, that’s actually dealing with a criminal. Are you actually okay with that?”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t know the implications and I’m fine with them,” Sonja said, tone subdued. She had always been told that eventually she’d reach a point where she did something because ‘she didn’t have a choice’, though the detectives that said so mockingly had obviously been referring to taking bribes or something else for her own personal good, it didn’t make the idea feel any better about what she was going to do. However, she really truly didn’t see another choice in this situation. One murder a month. By the pattern another disappearance was due any day now, their body to be discovered in another two weeks. How long could she let that keep going because she didn’t want to break her own moral code? It was just some information, that was all, then she’d never need to think about doing anything like this again. She tried to ignore the tiny scratching thought that this was how it started. It always started as a case of just this once. Well, that was something to ponder on another dreamless night of regrets and worries that were becoming far too common for her. “I’m more worried she’ll turn me away as a customer.”

“She can’t turn us both away, I’ve dealt with her too many times for that. But, if you’re actually sure, meet me here tomorrow evening. We’ll head to the Titled Scales together. Hopefully we’ll still have money left for drinks after paying her.”

🌑 🌑 🌑

A few hours later, on the far end of town, the docks were quiet as all save a handful of people had left hours before. There were few workers that remained, those that took the extra pay to be on the lookout for emergencies and to wait for the few ships that arrived by night. All but the newest of them knew to stay clear of the one warehouse still lit up at this time of night, the most experienced on the shift dragging away and lecturing those green enough to try and approach those entering. What they were meant to do was repeated until every person who worked the night shift knew the rules. Ignore the warehouse and its owner and those who go to see her, deny it having occupants to anyone sniffing around asking questions, and don’t interfere with the unmarked crates carried inside. Do that, and you had nothing to worry about from the woman and her bodyguard. Most found that working the docks was dangerous enough without a powerful enemy, so the warehouse tonight, as it did every night, went undisturbed.

Inside of it, a large office with a window overlooking the main floor glowed with light bright enough that anyone looking through from below would easily be able to describe in detail the two sitting inside. One was a man in a suit far too fancy for his current location, though the office itself was far too nice for a warehouse on the docks. It was pinstriped in shining thread and custom tailored, the type of thing that one would only wear somewhere it was so likely to get either dirty or ruined if they knew it’d but a trifle to replace. The other in view was a woman, dressed in a less flashy way, though only because her long navy coat decorated with embroidery was currently draped across the armchair she was relaxed in. Her trousers, shirt, and waistcoat were still custom tailored, she had a professional appearance to keep up, but they were the type she didn’t mind getting messy – today had been a business day after all. Hidden from such a view would be the bodyguard sitting just beyond the office door, leant relaxed against the wall reading as his shotgun sat on his lap. There was nothing he would be needed for, he was just there in case they needed cover for a quick exit, though he still kept an ear out for his sister in case the meeting did somehow turn sour. Most would expect that it would be possible at any moment for something to go wrong in a meeting between the city’s most feared mob boss and its most respected information broker and black-market dealer, but such an assumption would be wrong for this pair. While yes, this was a business deal, that was entirely a technicality as they were acting far more like friends having a casual drink while the newly unsealed box containing a pulsing gem sat on the low table between them.

“You seriously don’t want to know why I want it?” Tom Syndicate asked, his tone more akin to an annoyed teenager than a feared mob boss. His question was odd. Most criminals would be begging this woman for privacy, accepting any price she asked to make sure she didn’t ask questions and that she would protect their secrets rather than selling them on. He, however, had long since passed the need to keep his criminal activities a secret. Yet here his friend was, not even remotely interested in his reasoning for his latest purchase.

“If I questioned you every time you wanted an unusual artefact you have no reason for wanting, I’d be making a lot less money, Tom. I’d probably need to start selling dirt on you to make up the difference,” Capsize said with an unbothered shrug. She had her guesses as to what he might want with sealed magic, but actually knowing would be less than ideal if only half because she’d likely feel some need as his friend to talk him out of whatever he was planning. The other part was, well, she liked not selling information on the few people she called friends, so she liked having enough plausible deniability about Tom’s activities to say that she simply didn’t know when people offered her their life savings to try and get dirt on him. He, however, liked to make this extremely hard as he liked sharing in explicit detail every crime he had and was planning on committing. “Tell me in a week when you’ll have done something else, and no one will care anymore.”

“You’re the worst sometimes,” Tom said, almost sulking. She was always up to date on all the criminal secrets in the city, but always insisted on waiting to hear his. It was, in her own way, a compliment, but it rubbed unpleasantly against his impatience. At least a week wasn’t that long. “But, if you insist, let’s have another meeting in a week. We can call it a date and make Jordan jealous.”

“Jealous of which of us?” She said with a knowing laugh. Tom took a swig of his drink and pouted, refusing to admit out loud that he wanted the bar owner to be jealous of her. Seriously, why was it so hard to win the man’s attention? He was the most powerful person in the city and, frankly, he was being very obvious with his flirting. Capsize resisted rolling her eyes, understanding the troubles of being in love even if she questioned his taste in men. What kind of friend was she if she couldn’t help? “If you really want to make him jealous, I think we can pull it off.”

“Wait, are you being serious?” He perked up almost immediately and she almost laughed at the suddenness of the change. If anyone was listening in other than her brother, they’d think they had gone mad seeing a man so feared pining like so many love-struck idiots. Capsize might question his taste, but she supposed men weren’t exactly her forte in the first place. If her friend needed help, she could provide it.

“Course. You dress up all nice and go to the bar tomorrow evening. After I’m done with customers, we can get a private booth and have a very loud, very unsubtle romantic rendezvous that even Jordan won’t be able to miss,” She said. It shouldn’t be too hard. Even if the man was oblivious, the two of them knew how to command attention and the idea of them dating would be enough to turn heads, especially that of the bartender they’d be ordering drinks from. Honestly, it was worth trying just to see the look on the man’s face, but that wasn’t actually enough for her to do this for free. “And in return you can pick up Red’s bar tab for the night.”

“That’ll be more expensive than the gem!” He exclaimed, embarrassment hitting as he heard laughter from outside the door. Capsize merely smiled.

“I’ll be ruining my reputation. There’s plenty of people that I don’t want to think that we’re dating,” She said. It would take a good month to clean up the mess, she was sure. Again, totally worth it for the look on Jordan’s face, but it would be headache inducing. A night of paying for her brother’s bad habit seemed like a fair enough trade to her.

“Oh, you mean one goody two-shoes cop?” Tom truly meant to ask the question jokingly, as he was more amused by the two’s friendship (as Capsize insisted it was merely friendship) than anything else but Capsize tensed. It was only for a split second, but it was enough to worry him since it was a very un-Capsize-like reaction. She trusted their friendship enough to know he didn’t care, so why did she flinch at a joke? “Who’s said something to you?”

“No one.”

“No, you don’t flinch at jokes about this. We’ve been making jokes for months about your frankly unbelievable crush on the only cop in the city that won’t take bribes. Who’s said something?”

“The capo you sent to oversee the last delivery,” She said quietly, not liking how precarious the memory made her feel. She liked to keep her genuine fears hidden, between herself and Red behind closed doors, because even if she knew and trusted that Tom wasn’t going to have her disappear, his underlings had power themselves. One wrong move and her body wouldn’t be found, though that had been the exact opposite of what she had been threatened with. “He said you should sacrifice me to Dianite like you’ve been doing with the other traitors, gut me like a fish so people know what happens if they get close to that…”

Capsize took a sip of her drink rather than repeat the insult. She knew, obviously, that the sacrifice-like murders weren’t actually being done by Tom. They’d laughed at the idea when the papers had suggested it a few months back. If he was going to sacrifice someone to Dianite he’d made sure to sign his name in bold letters so he could get the credit, but it didn’t make her take the threat any less seriously.

“He tried suggesting he might do it himself, though Red managed to spook him off that idea.”

“Oh, it seems like someone needs to relearn their place in the hierarchy,” Tom spoke darkly, his whiskey glass held with a white-knuckle grip. People thought they could work for him and just run their mouths. Did they really think they were going to get away with threatening his friend and potentially ruining the gang’s relationship with his go-to black-marker dealer and information broker. Even without the personal side, if he ever lost favour with Capsize the number of secrets she could sell would be enough to ruin his empire. Someone going on an ego-trip and possibly causing an issue like that was an unacceptable liability. “Promise you, by tomorrow night he won’t be around to threaten you again.”

“Efficient as always.”

“I can’t have people getting too big for their boots,” They both spoke as if it was strictly business, as if Capsize hadn’t been genuinely scared and Tom wasn’t genuinely angry. It was easier that way. They both knew the lives they lead. That a single slip up could be all it took for their businesses to come crumbling down around them. But why worry about the endless possible ways things could end? The night was still young, and they were friends. So why stress when they could discuss their upcoming fake date the following night? It wasn’t as if anything terrible was going to happen anytime soon.

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