GRAHAM // CRACKLE

Dash-Only Gray of Netflix's Carmen Sandiego. 

[craackle-blog1]

I'm still alive just... putting my blogs on hiatus

[crmen-deactivated20190724]

                                      “     HEY ! I NEVER GOT YOUR NAME.    ”                                                            “     CARMEN.     ”                                            “     YOU ARE A CHEEKY ONE.     ”                                                                  penned by sheepie & sophie

[craackle-blog1]

Paper Star

—                    ❝ take this then.  a gift. ❞   plucking the origami bug up off the floor, star tosses it towards him.  whether he catches it or not, she’s not paying attention to see, instead starting on a new little paper figure.  at his words, a smile quirks on her painted lips.   ❝ you sound worried, maybe that’s because you don’t bring anything to the table. ❞   she took risks, yes, but she’d at least come back with something.  the acme card.   ❝ maybe i’m on thin ice, but a cold wind is blowing in.  the ice i’m on won’t stay thin. ❞

They wouldn’t get rid of Gray that easily ( so he believes )  ---  not with his connection to BLACK SHEEP.  He’s safe so long as they have a use for him,  even if that use may be  as  bait. PAPER STAR however, is expendable. How does she not see that? She got lucky last time, bringing something of value back, but she failed her mission.  

A raised eyebrow, and the cicada he’s caught is thrown back at her.  “ They have a USE for me. ”

[craackle-blog1]

Yo, my power went out at college for d a y s but it’s hopefully?? back on for good now??

[sanabakkouh]

#friendship goals

[crmen-deactivated20190724]

@craackle

[craackle-blog1]

"You were like the big brother I never had”

[crmen-deactivated20190724]

                                      “     HEY ! I NEVER GOT YOUR NAME.    ”                                                            “     CARMEN.     ”                                            “     YOU ARE A CHEEKY ONE.     ”                                                                  penned by sheepie & sophie

[wnq-writers]

“You touch me and suddenly I feel a little less war torn. I’m not sure what peace is supposed to feel like but I think it may feel a lot like you”

— anatomy-of-rains 

[craackle-blog1]

@crmen

[craackle-blog1]

crmen‌:

               “    well… yeah,    ”  her voice wobbles with a touch of incredulous laughter, squeezing his shoulder gently before letting go. there’s a weight off her chest, one less stone of guilt weighing her down because she hadn’t REALLY left him behind -    - not if he was coming with her. “    I told you, we’re not like V.I.L.E, no tests … no nothing,    ”  she assures him, and just to show how serious she was, she held up her hand, pinkie extended. the solemn oath.  “    PROMISE.    ”   if it came back to bite them in the ass, then that was on her and she’d know better but until then …  carmen was more than happy to give gray the benefit of the doubt. 

pinkie’s wrapped around one another and she can’t help it, the blush rises from neck to the roots of her hair. because she’s never had someone say that to her, never actually told her how much they meant to each other, affection was limited. so very limited. 

“    SHUT UP.    ”  she’s smiling though. 

He doesn’t hesitate to wrap his pinkie finger around hers, a grin slowly spreading across his face. 

“ Well now it’s official. ”  he laughs, giving her pinkie a little squeeze with his own before letting go and leaning back.  “ I’m officially in league with the one and only CARMEN SANDIEGO. ”

 There’s a soft tinge of relief in his voice. Now he’s free to travel the world with the one person he loves most. He won’t outright tell her, but he missed Carmen more than she will ever know and while they are far from the V.I.L.E. trainees they had once been, their days at the academy will long remain some of his fondest memories. He hopes things can be like that again sometime soon, minus the villain part of it all. Just him and Carmen, maybe a few others, and a container full of water balloons. For now, he is content with her company. 

“ Really. I’m not leaving your side again. ” 

[craackle-blog1]

punkstockings‌:

—                    ❝ you are a cicada, annoying and buzzing in my ear. ❞   after putting the finishing touches on a complicated origami cicada with it’s wings out, she places it on the ground between where he stands and she sits.   ❝ le chevre should’ve just told me what i wanted to know.  it was his own fault. ❞

“ I happen to LIKE cicadas. ” Not much of witty comeback, but Gray doesn’t care. He’s not here to talk about bugs or the noises they make --  however ill-advised it may be he’s here to warn her. 

“ These missions aren’t fun and games, Mate. Deviating puts us all in danger. I heard coach Brunt and Shadow san talking. You’re walking on thin ice. ”

[craackle-blog1]

crmen‌:

the ropes loosening feel like a joke, like a trick and seconds later, a charge is going to run down her spine -    - she’s used to that, it’s something she can DEAL with. because as much as she joked about being able to talk her way out of anything, she didn’t really think she could talk through his THICK SKULL. maybe he’d finally listened ? maybe it was all an elaborate plan which V.I.L.E had concocted just for the sake of capturing her but in that moment she didn’t really care. 

“    no more missions,    ”  she promised him, shrugging off the burnt chunks of rope and rubbing the red skin of her wrists. “   we do what we wanna do, go where WE wanna go …  yeah ?    ”   that’s on the assumption that he’d come with her, maybe he’d want to strike out on his own ?  the skies were the limits when you weren’t shackled down by the organisation. “    no more punishments, no more rules.    ”  she placed a hand on his shoulder like she wanted to do, a small tentative smile curling her mouth. hoping, PRAYING she was making the right choice. 

Wait,  was she inviting him along? Asking him to join her just like that? He liked the sound of it, the two of them finally getting out in the field and doing things together, but why? Why was she offering something like this after he’d done so many bad things? Carmen always was the one with a kinder heart, and while he’ll never admit it, he’s glad she failed her exam. The things the organization made him and the others do? Carmen could never get behind. 

“ Why? I mean... You’re gonna let me join you, just like that? No test or anything? ”

A pause, and a smile when she places her hand on his shoulder. It doesn’t really matter why. He’s just happy to have Carmen back, and with her, a chance at freedom. 

“ I’ll go wherever you want ” 

[craackle-blog1]

@punkstockings  liked.

“ I mean, did you really have to do that to his hands, mate ? Now we’ve got one less operative on the field and Black Sheep made off with the target. ”

[craackle-blog1]

crmen‌:

          “     professor maelstrom used to threaten to use it on me whenever I misbehaved,    ”   not that he ever did, coach brunt was always there to protect her and she felt a wave of fondness wash over her. something which quickly soured into guilt, something she pushed away and tried to ignore, as per usual. “   thankfully that never happened but … but I saw what it did to people … what it does to them.   ”   she looks up at him, really looks, because there’s moments for jokes and banter and playfulness. 

and then there’s gray, sat there in front of her and she just wants to grab him by his shoulders and SHAKE HIM.   “   so don’t fail a mission,   ”  she told him and carmen want to place a hand on his shoulder like she used to but her hands are tied. LITERALLY. “   no more missions, don’t go BACK. don’t go back to them …  please.   ”

He’s seen it firsthand too. They kept him locked in one of Bellum’s cells for well over a week, a time during which he was forced to watch Tigress’ memory wither away in seconds. It was the first time Gray really saw how little the graduates really meant to V.I.L.E. He knows they kept him alive because of his bond with Carmen. Any other person, Maelstrom had said, would have been punished by death in the wake of a capture. If they’re willing to go to such extremes for an operative’s mistake, who KNOWS what they’ll do to Carmen.

 There’s a moment’s hesitation, eyes flicking between Carmen’s and the ropes, and then the Crackle is pulled from his side and jabbed against her bindings. The setting is low, a charge just barely strong enough to eat through them and free her. 

“ No more missions. ”  For her sake, and his.

[craackle-blog1]

crmen‌:

          “     I’m doing what they taught me to do, to push boundaries and to take what I want,    ”   maybe that’s not what they taught her, word for word but it was HEAVILY implied. maybe she would’ve been fine with going along with all of this, with what V.I.L.E had planned if it wasn’t for the collateral… the disregard for other peoples safety. there was things carmen could live with but knowing that she hurt someone ? an innocent bystander ? it wasn’t one of them.

“    y’know, you don’t owe them anything,    ”   she offered because it was true, gray didn’t owe them jack shit. and maybe part of her hoped that he’d see ‘the light of day’ or whatever you wanted to call it. as much as she was enjoying her freedom, she’d left them behind. god, she missed them… as much as she didn’t want to admit it. “    what’s the point in going back to a place which won’t EVER be happy with what you give them ?    ”

She’s right. He doesn’t owe V.I.L.E anything. Back in their youth they’d been taught the basics, but the skills they have come from their own hard work. V.I.L.E just provided the tools for them to begin. Gray’s growth was his own doing. Same with Carmen’s. He knows he could stand alone just fine without V.I.L.E, steal what he wants when he wants like Carmen does, but he just doesn’t have the same freedom. Doesn’t she get that? Can’t she see that V.I.L.E operatives don’t have a choice in the matter? Like it or not, he’s been assigned a mission and if he comes back empty handed...

Gray leans forward, and for the first time there is no confidence in his eyes. No cocky attitude is thrown her way, no smile, just a quiet wavering tone.

“ Carmen. Do you know what they do to us if we fail a mission? ”

[craackle-blog1]

crmen‌:

          “    sometimes, words are all you NEED,    ”   an eyebrow arched because it worked the last time, why wouldn’t it work this time ?  lets be honest though, carmen was more action than words. she didn’t like sitting down and staying quiet either. and then there’s that word, home. he says it like it means something. “    it’s not just about A FAILED TEST.    ”   there’s a bit more bite to her words and she strains against the ropes, hoping that the knots weren’t too tight. “    if you think this is REALLY about a shitty failed test …  then maybe you don’t know me as well as you thought you did.    ”

Deep down, Gray already knows it’s not about the test. It’s about far more than stealing or proving her worth, it’s about MORALS. He’d admire that, if he hadn’t thrown those out the window a long time ago. If he had morals he wouldn’t be be delivering his BEST FRIEND to V.I.L.E, now would he? 

He knows she will be unhappy on the island. She made it clear last time, how much she despised it. It bored her. Disgusted her. He can’t fault her for that. How suffocating it must have been to return after a taste of freedom the night of the caper. Still, he has his orders, and they must be obeyed. 

“ Test or no test, you’re playing with fire. V.I.L.E isn’t happy. With either of us. ”

[hopefulshipper]

[craackle-blog1]

@inspectoriimbecile

“ CRIKEY, not you again ! ”

He recognizes the french buffoon from the Paris train debacle, the way his hands grabbed onto his shirt and how he ( practically spitting on his face ) DEMANDED to know WHERE IN THE WORLD Carmen Sandiego was.

“ Listen mate, I don’t have time to explain my innocence to you. ”