😒

jackson stone, 43, blackthorne alumni.

[bernthalized]

[jvckstone]

𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝟎𝟎𝟗: 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊

jack doesn’t have summers. refer to strud’s epic post for strike team shenanigans. 

jack didn’t grow up with much so it has never been in his interest to live differently than what he’s used to. he owns a small and simple apartment in d.c. just to have a postcode. all of his belongings can fit into a bag and lives in the boot of his car. 

before he leaves campus, he keeps his word to maddox and gets scooby esa qualified. 

he drops by the apartment just to change his will. hadn’t touched it since his daughter died which is stupid but he didn’t want to deal with it. he doesn’t have much, just a lot of money which he barely spent over the years since he started working. leaves mostly everything in bash’s name, some stuff for his daughter’s mother, a few bits and pieces for francis (hi yadira) and a ‘small’ sum for allie -- he doesn’t know if she’s taken out a loan or her family has it covered. either way, he leaves enough for it not to be a problem when she graduates. all of his progress on bash’s parents’ case is stored in a heavily encrypted file. he leaves this for miles -- sorry bud. 

he calls his daughter’s mother, rhea, and asks how she is. she hangs up on him. he calls back. she answers.

“ what do you want, jack? ” rhea’s voice is strained. she knows how these conversations go.  “ i just want to talk. ” . “ i have nothing to say to you. ” “ rhea-- ”  she lets out a humourless laugh. “ i’ve heard it all before, jack. ” “ i’m sorry. ” there’s a long pause.  “ i know i should’ve been around more or not at all. know a lot of things that i didn’t back then. fucking cliche, but if i could go back i’d do things differently. less selfish. ”

they talk on the phone for about an hour or two, going over old memories so they can now look back at them fondly. whilst catching up on each other’s lives, he finds out she’s getting married soon. he sounds like a decent guy. he’s happy for her. she extends him an invite but he declines. they decide to visit their daughter sometime. 

he heads to d.c. to start working on elise’s case. doesn’t entirely trust the agency to work this out themselves. needs to correct past mistakes if he wants even a semblance of peace, which, for the first time in a while, he does. 

when roman calls, he wants to block his number but his gut tells him to pick up. jack gets roman on elise’s case. they recruit irene and naomi to form STRIKE TEAM. they spend the summer on a mission to fully disband the brotherhood, find tristan and free elise. 

from seeing elise in orange, roman’s terrible jokes, naomi’s uplifting stories and irene’s forgiveness --  turns out answering roman’s call was one of the best decisions he’s ever made.

[grayroman]

𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝟎𝟎𝟗: 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊

ROMAN GRAY in STRIKE TEAM

Roman Gray gets himself on the case surrounding Elise Park, and quickly finds himself wanting to help his friend. With the help of Jack, Naomi, and Irene, the team work to save her.

co-starring: @eliseprks @jvckstone @ofgunshy @naomipkx

Keep reading

[jvckstone]

coraxheartfield​:

Jack wasn’t a sentimental person, Cora knew that and she didn’t expect him to be just because their time at Gallagher was coming to an end. So his toast only brought an amused smirk to her lips. “To not killing each other,” she echoed before clinking their glasses together and taking a drink. “So any plans for the summer?”

jack takes a sip of his drink, letting the question sit in the air for a moment. “ yeah, ” is all he feels like saying on the topic, but he figures it won’t hurt to share a few more details. “ close this case, tie up some loose ends, ” he says in a tone that sounds similar to ‘yada yada’. another sip. “ what about you? ”

[jvckstone]

lisannach​:

looking around their shared quarters feeling defeated, lisanna reaches over and touches his hand. if not just to feel some semblance of life, contact; that it really wasn’t just her in there. not in that room, but in that situation. she remembers irene and her twins. perhaps countless other parents who were in this situation and she heaves a heavy sigh. “i hope so. i just..i’ve never been in this kind of situation where i don’t know what to do.” after a few seconds, she takes another sip of her wine, slowly turning to jack. “i don’t like feeling like this. i wasn’t raised to know nothing. but..i wasn’t raised to do a lot of things i ended up doing anyway.” she pats his hand, “i’ll give it time. i just hope i have the luxury of having as much time as she needs to process and think it through. we don’t all hold the same dibs on the thread of time, after all.”

jack remembers being in a similar situation with his daughter: not knowing what to do. except he wasn’t raised in any sort of way and figured everything out himself. perhaps that’s why he struggled so much with fatherhood. “ don’t think anyone can prepare for this, ” he echoes what someone had told him back in the day. it’d helped him. he meets lisanna’s gaze with newfound understanding. “ the books are shit. no training either. ” there are things he wishes he could’ve done better, but thinks that’s always going to be the case as a parent. “ no, we don’t, ” he mutters quietly, a heaviness to his tone. “ what more can you do. ” he was going to leave it at that, but a part of him can’t let it go. if he doesn’t have a shot at a second chance, then maybe he can help someone who does. “ i thought i could do both: be a good dad, do my job. i’d give everything to make that decision again. ”

[jvckstone]

whathebash​:

       BASH LAUGHS AT THAT,  fingers running through his dark, messy hair.   “ yeah, i do. “   obviously it goes without saying, especially considering he had told nudge he’s deepest, darkest secret, but bash is glad jack is finally starting to catch on.   “ what did you and her talk about ?   um, when you met. “   RELIEF washes through him at his uncle’s words, nodding slightly.  there’s no way he’ll ever use his phone number – probably not even for emergencies – but knowing there’s a way to reach him will provide comfort until they see each other next.  it means holding onto a piece of his old life, even if it’s just barely grasping it.   “ i’ll be fine, “   bash assures him, because he will be.  there’s no room for doubting that at this point.   “ be safe, yeah ? “ 

“ i knew her dad, ” he says, which should give bash enough information to assume how that conversation went down. past tense, because he assumes noah is dead. obviously, they briefly spoke about bash as well, but jack believes if bash really wanted to know every detail of their conversation, he would’ve asked nudge anyway. “ i know, kid. ” he truly believes it too. he wouldn’t be leaving bash if he thought otherwise. finds comfort in being able to see it for himself. “ yeah, you know me, ” he brushes off with a small shrug, then opes his arms. “ c’mon, give your old man a hug before i go. ”

[darlingshane]

Jon Bernthal in ’The Peanut Butter Falcon’ (2019)

[jvckstone]

bcketts​:

– “UH, JUST ABOUT? YOU’VE GOT TO BE CLOSE, RIGHT?” SHE ASKS, although she’s pretty sure he’s mentioned his real age before, she just hasn’t retained it, “ anywhere past forty is all the same anyways. or really past thirty-five, maybe. ” allie shoves her hands back into her pockets, but she doesn’t really think she’ll ever take the watch off. not even for sentimental reasons, but she can’t imagine herself ever really feeling safe again, not after all this. there’s always this slight, underlying feeling of anxiety that she can’t shake, and she thinks she’ll just live with it forever. but the watch helps. “ good, me too, ” she agrees, because there was a small part of her that wondered if he wouldn’t want her. she isn’t sure her own parents do. “ i’d definitely stay for monopoly. AND i’d kick your butt, i play the long game. and i’m a pretty lucky dice-roller, i think, ” after all, jack isn’t like any parent she’s ever had – hers would never say ‘shit.’ allie thinks about what it’d be like to have him over for christmas dinner or something, with her family since he doesn’t have one, and she wishes that jeremy was around, because he probably would’ve thought jack was really cool. anyways, that’s a question for later, but she thinks that maybe if she can reach him around the holidays, she’d want to give him a call. “ bye, jack. or, you know, see you later. because goodbyes suck and all. ” 

her comment earns another throaty chuckle from him. “ just you wait. ” he remembers making the same jokes, thinking he’ll never reach that age, and being told that when he does he’ll be reminded of it all the time. it’ll creep up on her, the same way it’s crept up on him. the probability of this is put aside for the moment as he hopes he’ll be able to say ‘i told you so’ when she reaches that point in life, see her hold the same bright smile and sparkle in her eyes. “ well, i cheat, so we’ll see about that. ” he’s never played fairly, and he can only imagine her horrified expression if he ever revealed his tactics. or maybe she’d have learned them from someone else by the time they’re able to sit opposite each other again. thinks she could’ve teamed up nicely with his daughter, been a good older sister figure minus the pregnancy scares. his heart feels heavy when she says ‘see you later’ because he’s not sure how long later will be, whether it’s the end of this year or after she’s lived a full life. “ yeah, see you later, kid. ” jack picks up his bag and looks at allie one last time. his gaze carries all the words he isn’t able to say, like how he’s thankful to have met her. “ get home safe, ” he says before finally leaving. 

[slayerbuffy]

‘GILMORE GIRLS’ rory’s birthday parties (1x06).

[bcketts]

@jvckstone !

[jvckstone]

madsdox​:

sometimes  maddox  just  wants  to  crack  open  people  like  a  toy  or  a  glow  stick  -  just  to  see  what’s  inside,  you  know?  that  sounds  weirdly  strange  and  morbid,  but  it’s  the  truth.  jack  is  one  of  those  people.  “dunno.  i  kinda  like the  attention,  you  know?”

“ no. not really. ” back in the day, jack hadn’t gotten into all of that trouble for the attention. more to maintain the imbalance of good to bad. at least maddox has a better reason for it -- doesn’t take a genius to figure it stems from abandonment. “ how’s that working out for you? ”

[jvckstone]

ofgunshy​:

– “IN SOME WAYS,” SHE SMILES SLIGHTLY, although she would probably say quite the opposite. coming back to being irene has been jarring, but she thinks after it all, she likes being alive more than she likes being dead, despite the ghosts of her past that have resurfaced. “ you’re never going to let that go, are you, jack ? ” she teases, tilting her head up slightly to meet his gaze. she lets herself look at him for a moment because she assumes that it might be one of the last times anyway, and even with a remarkable amount of self-control, it seems worth it to indulge, to think that this is how she’ll remember him: tired, incorrigible, and…well, still the same. there’s maybe another life, another version of herself that would call, after a couple glasses of wine when she’s weak and missing him, but she’s not that sort of woman. they both know she won’t call and that this is it. 

“ yeah, ” she sighs, “ wish i had the chance to discourage mine. ” because she really does, there’s something so unsettling about seeing her daughter hold a gun, and irene SHOULD be desensitized to most things by now. “ i just…i don’t really know if they want me to have that chance, ” she admits, “ but i’ll be around for a bit, at least. i’m staying with laura, and…i’m going to let them know the door’s open. that’s all i can really do at this point. ” 

jack wonders whether they’d be having the same conversation had irene not taken the job which spread the news of her death. would their first interaction have been the same had he not mourned her? a part of him doesn’t think so. in fact, he thinks it’s possible they might not have spoken at all. which is why: “ harder than i thought, ” he replies, blunt as always. it’s the last thing of hers he’ll allow himself to hold onto. she’s not the kind of person you let go of. if he’d been smarter then he would’ve fought for her all those years ago. 

“ they haven’t graduated yet, ” he replies but he understands that the situation is complicated. it’s not quite the same as lying about a business trip and returning several months later with new scars. “ well, from what i’ve seen, they’re good kids. ” so he hopes she doesn’t regret her decision too much. “ i better get going, ” he mutters, because this is a goodbye and not a catch up. it’s never been like them to drag things out, anyway. he picks up his bag from the floor, straightens his shoulder as he extends his hand for a final handshake. “ good luck with everything, irene. ”

[jvckstone]

bcketts​:

– “YEAH, BUT WHAT DO YOU KNOW? YOU’RE OLD. you probably had, like, a mullet or something back in the day, or platform boots, ” she remarks, but then it kind of makes her wonder what jack did look like when he was her age, and if he’s always looked as tired as he does now. it’s hard to imagine jack as anything but the way he is now. “ i won’t, i’m gonna take extra good care of it, ” she promises, flashing her wrist yet again and shaking it, like she’s daring it to come loose, “ it’s on extra tight, too. ” jack’s response makes her heart sink, because she takes it to mean that he doesn’t have a family at all, and her expression falls considerably. she liked the idea of jack having a nice wife at home who’ll put dinner on the table for him after he gets back from a busy day of killing people, 2.5 kids that run and cling to his ankles the second he walks in the door. but he doesn’t smile enough for something like that to be true. “ i won’t. or, i mean, i’m not trying to marry any of them. it’s not my fault if spies-in-training are charming and dangerous, ” she jokes. “ but, um. i know we’re going far away and probably won’t really see each other again, but…i could be your family, sort of. like an estranged cousin or something, who only shows up at random holidays and eats the food and leaves, i don’t know. but if you need anything or…you want someone to talk to, you can always beep me. ” 

“ do you think i’m sixty or something? ” but the old jokes won’t ever get, well, old. mostly because it’s amusing to calculate what years allie’s range of old spans over. he chuckles softly, closing his eyes as he shakes his head, brushing over his brows with his thumb and index finger. “ good. ” he nods approvingly, and he can’t stop his expression from softening with the way she shows off her wrist again. the quicker the brotherhood are fully disbanded, the sooner she’ll be able to take it off. he doesn’t trust them to only target legacy students and he’d rather be careful than sorry. when she brings up marriage, his expression snaps back into a frown because you don’t need a ring to be a target by association. he never got married, and yet ... then she talks about being family and there’s a pain in his chest, a reminder to everyone he’s lost, but it’s almost cathartic because he didn’t think he’d ever make room for anyone else. allie fits in quite nicely, right next to bash. “ i’d like that, ” he mutters quietly, clearing his throat. “ thanks, kid. ” for a split second, he pictures thanksgiving with allie, bash and even nudgem as if they don’t have families of their own, but it’s a thought that brings a slight smile to his lips. one day, he hopes allie and bash can meet. maybe she can help jack convince bash to do something about his hair. “ i’d hope you’d at least stay for a shit game of monopoly. ”

[jvckstone]

willoww-est​:

 SHE ROLLS HER eyes playfully at his words before looking down at her feet. willow’s dad wasn’t a good man, in fact, he really was the scum of the earth and while she felt relief the day he finally left their lives for good, deep down she still felt the sting of losing the man that was supposed to be her father. asher did the best he could and took on that parental figure but she always felt that piece missing within her. maybe that was what was making saying goodbye so hard to jack because he had become not only her mentor but someone to fill that void for a little bit. his words make her light hues tears up, wrapping her arms around her small frame. “I better or I’ll kick your ass”, she says softly finally looking up at him, “I’m going to miss you here, you’re a really great teacher and thanks uh, for you know being here.” 

his time at gallagher has taught him a number of things. all of them had crept up on him in the last few weeks, especially how helping these students somehow make him feel good. almost to the point where if he manages to tie all of his loose ends, he’d like to come back. hopefully he’ll be able to catch willow before she graduates. “ sounds like a deal, ” he agrees. ever the firecracker. it means a lot when she calls him a great teacher, even though he feels like he’s been anything but. feels like he could’ve done more had he start caring earlier on. “ i’m gonna miss you too, kid. it’s been my pleasure. stay outta trouble for me, okay? ”

[jvckstone]

coraxheartfield​:

“Well don’t you know how to act a woman feel special,” Cora chuckled as she walked over to her bar cart. Most of it had been packed away but she still had a couple glasses out and she used them to pour the two of them a drink from her gift. “Should we cheers to something?” she asked as she handed him his glass.

“ never claimed to, ” he says with a shrug. watching cora pour the drinks, jack almost protests mostly because he isn’t in the mood but he supposes he can make time for one drink. especially if it might be their last one for a while. “ to lasting the semester without killing each other? ” he asks, lifting his glass. 

[jvckstone]

whathebash​:

       HE ISN’T EXPECTING JACKSON TO MENTION HIS PARENTS,  because well, sometimes it feels like everyone else around him has forgotten about them.  not in a bad way, because with the brotherhood making themselves front and center this semester, it seemed like that’s all everyone was focusing on.  bash assumes SOMEONE is searching for his parent’s killers, but knowing jackson hasn’t forgotten does make him relax slightly.  “ yeah, i will.  i’m trying not to be nervous, “   he admits with a small laugh, arms folding over his chest. the words settling down makes hie eyebrows raise, high.   “ really ?   like… retirement ? “   that’s not a word he hears used very often.   “ i haven’t been fishing in ages, but.  that sounds like fun.  i’ll hold you to that, “   bash smiles slightly.   “ is there a way to keep in touch ?   i get it if there’s not. “   he’s praying there is.

“ wow. ” the way jack drags out the word, letting the corners of his lip curve slightly, might appear as if he’s teasing bash in that kind of embarrassing way uncles do at the news of mushy feelings towards significant others. “ you must really like her. ” because he understands what nervous means. “ something like that. ” retirement isn’t something that comes easily with this kind of job. just because he puts his gun down doesn’t mean there won’t be others pointed towards him but at least he can stop answering to other people. “ i’ll give you my new number, but until the brotherhood are fully gone, emergencies only. ” it’s both an excuse and a warning -- not only will jack be too busy but he knows how the brotherhood operates. the last thing he’d want is for bash to be used as bait. “ i’ll check up on you, ” he promises. 

[jvckstone]

naomipkx​:

“I would,” she said, her fingers going to twirl a strand of her hair. “Not sure how she’ll react to any of it, I mean, I told her that this place was the safest schools out there and tried to push her to attend. Imagine having to hear that students died while here…” The two Powell-King girls were already aware of the dangers of the spy route, you get that after losing your parents. It was because of the death of their parents that pushed Wren away, the younger sister not wanting anything to do with the world. And to learn about what happened this semester? Yeah, good luck with getting her to attend, Naomi. “Somewhere quiet… Like a farm? I can see you running your own one, taking care of chickens and cows. Away from the city and spy life.”

“ not to overstep, naomi, but if she doesn’t want to go... ” instead of finishing his sentence, jack shrugs as if to say: then she doesn’t have to go. despite everything, it doesn’t change his stance on spy schools or the way children from certain families are moulded into continue their legacy. it’s all just a bit cruel. gallagher is an improvement from blackthorne, but you can’t regulate ego. “ something like that, yeah. ” he nods. now that he thinks about it, because he hasn’t really spent more than half a thought on the concept, but a farm would be pretty ideal. there’d be no one to disturb him, just animals that can’t talk back. there’s a small twitch of his lips at the idea. “ i’ll send you some eggs. ”

[jvckstone]

bcketts​:

– “WELL, IF I SAID TACKY AGAIN, I THOUGHT YOU’D GET UPSET,” SHE LAUGHS SOFTLY, finding it hard to be sad anyway, because even though she’ll miss him, saying goodbye is a testament to the fact that this hellish semester is over. “ i am pretty good at crosswords, ” she notes, “ bummer you won’t be able to finish them any more while i’m in arkansas ! or d.c. are you able to call me on this thing ? ” she holds up her watch, “ you know, in case you need me. ” which is an incredibly naive thing to say in retrospect, that a man who has lived a life like jack’s might need help from some bright-eyed college student, but allie’s probably said crazier things. “ yeah, okay. i won’t forget it, gosh, you’re SUCH a softie, you do know that, right ? ” she teases him again. “ do you, um…do you have anyone ? ”  

“ because it’s not tacky. ” the watch he’d gotten made for his own daughter had to go through several revisions, so he’s glad allie’s decided to keep it on, tacky or not. “ don’t think i’ll be doing crosswords for a while, but if i need you, i’ll call you. so don’t lose it. ” his smile is bittersweet. thought by now he’d said enough goodbyes in his lifetime to have gotten used to it, but turns out first goodbyes with someone completely unexpected is a little tricky. “ alright, enough of that, ” he chides playfully, because even though he recognises it, he still doesn’t love being called soft. the question throws him off and he pauses for a moment. “ uh-- no. no, i don’t. the job kinda makes it hard to meet people. ” makes it hard to keep them too, so he feels obliged to add: “ so don’t you go falling for any of these boys here. not worth it. ”