[klankthetank]

Hey y’all I’m trying to work through/clean out my HUGE queue of likes so I want to apologize ahead of time if I bother y’all with a lot of notifications popping up.

[wetsocksinbed]

the most unrealistic part of star wars is the fact Jango, Boba and the Clones didnt at any point have Tā Moko, and that Omega didn't get Moko Kauae.

Like it is canon that there are aspects of Māori culture on Mandalore, and that the Clones did the haka to boost morale. Yet youre telling me that at no point did anybody get a meaningful tattoo that expressed their ascent into adulthood, as well as their strength and power as warriors? Jango Fett, one of the most skilled and feared bounty hunters in the galaxy didnt at any point get a culturally important tattoo? You're telling me that Rex, a man who is in the top 5 best fighters in the GAR, didn't get a traditional inking on his face to symbolise his ancestry, achievements, and status?

Imagine how cool it would've been if Hunter had had ta moko instead of the half skull.

Anyway here is Temuera Morrison wearing ta moko, so we can see what our beloved clones would look like in traditional Māori tattoos

[klankthetank]

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him, but if you look closely at his chin, it kinda look like he’s got one.

[klankthetank]

Has no one else seen Tim Burns in Furiosa? Cause I’ve not seen anything about it on here. He play a character called “hungry eyes”. Anyway here’s pics…

[officialprydonchapter-deactivat]

Can you do something for me, please?

I want you to reblog this if you believe that two people can be very close and physically affectionate with one another, but still have a completely nonsexual, non-romantic relationship. 

Even if the two people in question are capable of being sexually or romantically attracted to one another. 

Because the friendship I share with someone I consider family in a way that transcends blood has been typecast as a romantic relationship ENTIRELY too many times, and I’m beginning to get sick of it. 

[fuckyesbritishcinema]

Stephen Graham and Paul Bettany in Blood, 2012

[loose-talk-and-stupidity]

This sketch I did make Basta and Capricorn look like they're about to drop the album of the century.

Track listing:

Read Me Moneys (so I can buy more suits)

Set Fire to the Ones You Love

Stab my Heart

"IN" are the only letters I can read (the alphabet song)

Silvertongued

Why U so Vain

Shadowless

We Started the Fire

Red Rooster

Black Like my Jacket

Evading the Law

Love isn't an emotion (that I feel)

[manletbasta]

Basta should have shanked Orpheus in prison and saved everyone the trouble of having to deal with the most annoying man on earth

[manletbasta]

ok I have some thoughts about of these two bozos as cellmates, because the real punishment was each other:

- like these are two men who will not shut up ever! 

- Basta loves to annoy Orpheus, and is overly “friendly” with him and Orpheus can’t escape this.

- Orpheus read a dog out of a book…instead of like something they can use to escape apparently? I would drag him too 

- what if they both tried to join a prison gang but nobody wanted them

- Basta makes them both get the shittiest matching prison tattoos

- The guards and everyone probably hate Basta so much and that’s why they made Orpheus his cellmate, it was not “luck”.   

- It never mentions what they got charged with, but it would hilarious if Orpheus  was in for breaking and entering, while Basta was in for like…tax evasion or hundreds of unpaid parking tickets

- Basta makes a knife out of ramen noodles, it’s not very effective.

- Orpheus tries and fails to dig an escape tunnel with a spoon, hidden behind a giant Reading Rainbow poster. Yeah he read Shawshank Redemption.

[inkworld-mirrorworld]

why do i love this duo now lmao

[lillytimetravel]

Random Headcanons (Ink-Triology)

- the Black Jackets appear all gangsta and evil book burning badasses in public, but they still gather around the tables in the Red Church every morning like school boys to eat their cereal and I think it's hilarious (everything about them is darkly hilarious, lol)

- in the first time in the village, many of the Black Jackets were sleeping in the church, on some old mattresses they found in the abandoned houses or something, and they also didn't have the two long tables we read about in the book, but a colorful mix of chairs, banks, coffee tables, beer benches and whatnot, they also had an old record player and whatnot... it was very, very chaotic, but also a lot of fun, but eventually, Capricorn was fed up with the trash and the chaos, threw everyone out and installed the situation we are presented with in Inkheart

- y'know that scene in Inkblood, where Resa mentions that evil smile of the Piper, which he always used to show when an execution was coming up in Capricorn's fortress? Well, he uses the same smile when he managed to successfully seduce somebody

- contrary to popular belief, I think that Basta is actually in quite good terms with some of the new recruits; I mean, being respected and admired is very important to him, and he enjoys it that he knows so much more than them and that they listen to him and don't make fun of him like that idiot Cockerell; and also, I've mentioned earIier that he secretly wishes to have a son - and when he's interacting with these kids, he sometimes imagines he does (not that he would ever tell anybody, of course)

- Flatnose is actually such a funny character, I mean, he seems to be kinda the only one who willing to constantly put up with Cockerell's bullshit, and he's such a careless, uncomplicated guy in general, I mean, he even tried to have some friendly smalltalk with Meggie - despite being involved in her kidnapping

- also, he's superstitious too, not more superstitious than Basta (is that even possible), but superstitious enough for Cockerell to make fun of him

Uh, here are some more headcanons... It's kinda messy, but I couldn't get them out of my head or write enough for one single person.

If you have any additions, opinions etc, pls tell me, I'm desperate for Inkheart and bored :3

[kyra7]

I’m 99% sure I have the answer to Basta’s name debate! The name Basta likely comes from the Egyptian Deity of Warfare Bast/Bastet, who had the form of a cat. The warfare part is a direct match to his character, and there are many instances in the series that Basta is called ‘catlike’ or directly compared to a cat in the way he moves and sneaks up on people.

Bast is also the protector deity and the guardian of the Pharaoh, and even later, the defender of the chief male deity Ra himself, which also fits in with Basta being Capricorn's second in command, and how even when Capricorn is dead, he can only be a second in command (or assistant of types) to others as we see in Inkspell instead of a leader, himself.

Bast is also a protector against evil spirits and contagious diseases, which we see in his superstition and beliefs, and some of his meticulous behaviors

Some other trivia about Bast - the deity Bast was actually female and had a city (Bubastis) that became a cult center for worshipers of Bast. Also, depictions of Bastet were often created from alabaster, which is how the material got its name (alaBASTer).

AAAA you have no idea how much this analysis made my egyptian nerd self happy! These are some really interesting info, thanks for sharing them!

You know, I've always been a big fan of Egyptian culture and deities and I've somewhat thought about the cat goddess Bast having some similarities with Basta's description.

But aside from that, I've never put much research into it since italian culture seemed like the main inspiration for Inkheart.

I didn't know about Bast's role as the protector of Ra, and yes it could really fit the description of his relationship with Capricorn very well!

Also, Basta mentions how unlucky it is to kill cats, if I recall correctly, I think it could be somewhat related to the cult of Bastet and in general of cats in Egypt. Cats were considered sacred mainly because they kept away mice from food supplies and prevented them from spreading diseases.

[c4p7ch4]

Basta's got the disorganized attachement style!

-a small rant

soo...I've partaken in a course about attachement styles, and I've come to the conclusion, that Basta probably got the disorganized/anxious attachement style

so, here's some of the information I've learned on the disorganized attachement style + my personal headcanons on how it shows in his personality and his relationships/way of dealing with others

DISCLAIMER: English is not my first language, errors might arise, also, I'm no professional on the matter, feel free to correct me or add your own thoughts!

How does the disorganized/anxious attachment style form?

this attachement style forms, when a child experiences (mainly/solely) abuse and neglect by their primary caretaker (for example, when the parents/the mother suffer/s from mental ilness [anxiety, depression, dissoziative disorder, etc.] alcoholism, unprocessed grief or being abused themselves)

->so the child doesn't experience the kind of bond it should have with their caretaker, its craving/need for safety and relationship stays unfullfilled, instead it experiences hurt and trauma and is conditioned to believe that this is normal

while I've seen many headcanons imagining that Basta's trauma stems from his abusive father, I actually imagine his mother being at fault:

I imagine that her husband/Bastas father died [maybe he was a soldier and died in battle, that would explain Basta's craving for a father, because his own was always away] and she couldn't cope with it, which has driven her into alcoholism which (paired with the overwhelm of being a young mother) made her neglect her small child, at other times she'd be short tempered because of intoxication and beat him up because he wouldn't stop crying and bothering her

Basta's unfullfilled desire of being loved by his mother later turned into his obsession of being loved by a woman (as seen in him constantly hitting on the maids in Capricorn's village, relentlessly trying to be liked [e.g. starting to chew mint leaves so he won't have bad breath like this one girl once told him when he was being vulnerable and tried to kiss her- like??! can I have a turn if she's too sensitive??] his obsession with Roxane, etc)

I also imagine his mother suffering from anxiety and clinging to superstitious rituals (good luck charms, avoiding bad omens, etc), that's where Basta got his superstitiouns from

Symptoms/ways in which this attachement style shows

very characteristic for this attachement style is the fact, that the person craves intimate and loving relationships, but they're scared of them because they expect to be hurt and abandoned at some point (because that's what they've learned relationships are like), which is why they tend to sabotage the relationship themselves and end bonds prematurely- in order to avoid being hurt, they want to have the control

people with this attachement style also tend to distrust others by default, they prefer to keep a distance and won't let people get too close to them, again, they want to have the upper hand and need to control how vulnerable they are

if they do have some kind of relationship with another person, they always question their true feelings and doubt that they truly like/love them (even if the person shows no signs of dislike whatsoever)

also they tend to think that every action of another person is somehow related to them, they (mis-)interpret the behavioir of others and believe them to be hostile towards them (even some innocent accident can be seen as a personal attack)

there can also be signs of lowered cognitive functioning, problems concentrating, lowered tolerance to frustration and heightened stress levels

so, how does this fear of being hurt line up with Basta's obsessive relationship with Capricorn, even though the latter isn't being all to nice to him?

someone who is desperate for any kind of attention and bonding doesn't have high standards, so even negative attention is an improvement to not being seen and interacted with at all

my headcanon: after Basta's mother died [some totally preventable accident, like a fall to the head due to the intoxication], he was all alone on their little farm, left to fend for himself, until one day Capricorn's men came to scalvage, just that they barely found anything usable except for this starving child, which they put into their black bag and dragged before their master, who decided to make use of that small boy, the rest is history

soo, since Basta is craving for (female) attention, he's getting crushes pretty easily, but he couldn't word out why he likes this person - because he doesn't actually like them, he just sees what they could give him: the love and safety he never got from his mother, what he is liking is not the person, but the fact that they could fullfill his needs, the use they could be to him (ofc, this is only subconciously, what he believes to be love is actually his survival instincts, trying to fill out his social needs)

if one of the girls he's flirting with would actually engage, his inner warning bells would flare up, which would result in him distancing himself in no-time (and the girl being confused af)

or maybe he would even start getting closer to the girl, but his constant distrust and accusations against her (like accusing her of being unfaithful or claiming she's just pretending to like him to gain some kind of advantage) would really damage their relationship and result in driving her away

so yeah... it would take a lot of time, patience and energy for someone to get through to Basta to the point, that they can live in relative harmony

the following hcs have arisen in my AU, where I ship Basta with my OC Zera (she's trapped in the village like the maids, but her job isn't chores, she used to work as a paramedic, so she was chosen by Capricorn to be the village doctor, most days she doesn't do much but patch up some cuts and scratches)

when Basta starts to crush on her, she engages in his flirting because she hopes to get to a better position with more freedom by dating him BUT she didn't consider Basta's brain stopping to work when he experiences positive and friendly interaction for the first time

it's scaring him a lot, but he can't help but be curious, he's starting to make up excuses to see her, most of them being medical-related (like cutting himself on purpose, claiming it was an accident and having her patch him up [that sneaky bastard feeds on those soft and brief touches, when Zera is putting band aids or bandages on him, checks his skin tissue or cleans a wound] )

-Zera sees right through him, no one can be this clumsy, at one point he comes to her daily, she let's it pass without calling him out on it, because at this point, she's already suspecting that he is just craving touch and company (that's when she slowly starts to actually care for him- she realizes that, as awful a person he may be, he's just a human [well, as human as a fictional character can be] with a lot of problems)

Basta starts to get extremly jealous whenever Zera is giving attention to anyone but him (even though they're nothing official [yet])

he's also mocking everyone, who comes to see Zera for treatment, for being 'sensitive' (but heaven forbid if anyone calls him out on his daily visits to have his band aid renewed or his sore neck checked out)

there's stuff happening in between, but at one point later in the story, one of the blackjackets stirs things up by telling Basta that Zera's just being nice to him to get herself an easier life, Basta confronts her and she does admit that, in the beginning she was leading him on for selfish reasons, but that she's grown to know and like him

-but Basta doesn't even properly listen to that last part, he gets furious and almost hurts her in his rage, but he retreats and stays out of her way from this point on, all attempts to get him to talk and listen to her fail

until Basta and some other blackjackets have to deal with some rebelling local famers and get caught in the crossfire

Basta gets shot in the arm and Zera has to treat him (but not without a fuss, even in this state, he is putting up a fight, she's escalating the situation by retreating with him to a seperate room while the other maids take care of any other injured men)

that's when Basta has to expose his burnt arms (the shot wound itself isn't that bad, but the fact that he has to reveal his horribly scarred arms while he's been trying to hide them all these years is traumatizing)

and Zera can sense how uncomfortable he is, so she's not making much fuzz about it and just focuses on treating the wound while making the situation as comfortable as possible for him (locking the door so no one barges in, working under a cover, getting him to talk and making stupid jokes [not that Basta is in a mood for a laugh, but it helps lighten the mood])

after she is finished with treating him (and after she managed all the other blackjackets too), she insists on staying with him in his house for the night, in case he's getting worse or anything

she settles down on an armchair across his bed after she tucked him in, and in the cover of the darkness, they have a real heart-to-heart and Zera can convince him that she does in fact love him and that she doesn't care about his scars (which she proves by kissing down the lenghth of his bare arms

and after that, they develop a somewhat stable relationship, sure, Zera still has to reassure him a lot and treat him like the attention starved baby he is (someone on here stated it before: Basta needs all the five love languages), but they start to grow together and learn to manage each other

[silver-words-and-inky-secrets]

Do you have any thoughts on the relationship basta had with other blackjackets? I mean, it's as clear as day that he held authority in our world and how it's been nothing but business type of shallow, but what about Inkworld? Do you think he holds someone in high regard back there, someone who made an impression on him when he was young and new(excluding caprisun)? Hearts of ash arose some trivial questions and it's been on my mind everytime I revisist ao3

Well, I like to think that there was someone he liked. I know Basta is shown to not like anyone aside from Capricorn, but I can really well imagine him secretly wanting to be liked. He enjoys bragging about his evil deeds. When he locked Meggie and Elinor into the stables in Inkheart, he apparently said something to the boy he had with him that made the boy laugh. You don't have to interpret it that way, it's just sort of my little pet theory. Maybe he wants to be liked, and when people don't do so, he can still go all "I don't need you anyway". And if people hate him - perhaps negative attention is better than being ignored. He was an unhappy child after all.

It's all a little difficult because we know so little about the villains' backstories.

Basta certainly had some attachment to Fulvio: Basta goes out of his way (he risks Capricorn's disapproval) to tell Mo that he will pay for accidentally disappearing Fulvio. Granted, Basta never follows up on this threat, but... My idea is that Fulvio might have been some sort of mentor for Basta; however, I've also seen the theory that Fulvio could have been a boy from our world who Basta mentored - that's also a cool theory! (I've spent the last half-hour looking for the post and couldn't find it though -.- Does anyone know which one I mean?)

I'm also wondering about his relationship to Firefox. We don't see them interact, but the Piper mentions they're both unhappy with serving the Adder. So, do these two get along? Complaining about their new boss over a beer in the evening? XD And Firefox was Capricorn's second in command back in the original Inkheart. Maybe Basta would also hope to get Firefox's approval?

And finally, while writing Hearts of Ash, I also thought that maybe his relationships to Cockerell and Flatnose and the others might have been better back when they were in the book. Not exactly good, but a little better, and it got worse when Basta suddenly was in charge of them? I honestly don't know...

So, long story short, I think it's perfectly possible that there is someone Basta holds in high regard aside from Capricorn, but who knows...

[halseyquinn-deactivated20260509]

@silver-words-and-inky-secrets​ Love these theories! :) I totally agree that Basta is the type who actually seeks approval and acceptance a lot - but if he doesn't get it, he'll pretend he never wanted it anyway. This immediately reminded me of this one fable by Aesop (?) about the fox and the grapes - the fox would like to eat some grapes, but when he finds that they’re too high up for him to reach, he goes “Nah, I bet they’re sour and don’t taste good anyway”. I think that’s basically Basta. I also think he’s “learned” that people won’t accept him - and therefore he shuts himself away as some sort of precautionary measure, in order not to be disappointed (again). And I think he genuinely dislikes at least some of the other blackjackets - he seems to view himself as being “better” than them (e.g. Flatnose, Cockerell). So I totally agree that it’s hard to imagine that Basta really was friends with the other blackjackets back in the Inkworld. He seems to be extremely loyal once he decides to trust someone (this is especially noticeable when it comes to Capricorn) - so I think, if he had genuinely been friends with e.g. Flatnose or Cockerell in the Inkworld, him getting into a position of power in the “real” world wouldn’t have really changed anything about that. I also think that he might be afraid that Capricorn will eventually prefer someone else instead of him. He seems to be pretty aware of how precarious his position of “power” really is. And Capricorn definitely encourages these “power plays” between his subordinates and likes to manipulate them, which would definitely make it even harder for any (!) blackjacket to make friends (and keep them)...

Also, the idea of Basta and Firefox drinking together and complaining about the Adderhead LOL :)

[silver-words-and-inky-secrets]

That is a really good point about Basta and the other Blackjackets!

[peppermintfreak]

You guys are bringing up some good points which pique my interest! I always speculated that in its dawning days capricorn's villiage was nothing more than a bunch of troubled teenage boys taken under capricorn's wing, and like you said with a flock of impressionable people he definitely encouraged their power plays and mental behaviour to come to surface in order to shape them into what he wanted. Which is why it made me think how basta had managed to survive in such environment long enough to, well, grow up. Being young, new and known as the small reclusive one at capricorn's doesn't seem too productive to me, and knowing capricorn he probably set him aside when he burnt his arms, not out of care but because he couldn't exploit his devotion to him efficiently anymore. His ability to network wasn't the best but i believe he hung around some before his blind loyalty and the games which caprisun encouraged between everyone dissociated him from them

[takahero]

some descriptions of Basta in Inkheart if you’re interested!! spoiler warning just to be on the safe side, in case u haven’t read it. and my unsolicited commentary here and there

“Rasping cat’s-tongue voice” pg.125

“(Basta’s face) was thin, sharply angular, with close-set eyes…Basta was not a tall man, and his shoulders were almost as narrow as a boy’s, but Meggie held her breath when he took a step towards her…He had an aura of fury about him, or something keen and biting—” pg.126

“Only Basta wore a snow-white shirt, just as Dustfinger had said, with a red flower in the buttonhole of his jacket, a red flower like a warning.” pg.131

“He caught her eye, and with a twisted smile kissed the blade of his knife.” — pg.173 (I JUST HAD TO ADD THIS)

“‘Oh, Basta can’t write,’ replied Capricorn calmly. ‘None of my men can either read or write. I’ve forbidden them to learn.’” — pg.176 (literacy rights for Basta 2k21)

“She could see the trepidation even on Basta’s face, although he was doing his best to hide it by assuming a particularly bored expression.” — pg.185

“‘Abduction!’ Basta savoured the word. ‘Sounds good to me. Really good.’” — pg.192 (ok but if u read it a certain way. unofficial evidence that basta would enjoy reading if he could LMAO)

“Basta was still standing in the road. His face was sharply outlined when he lit a cigarette with a lighter.” — pg.215

“And he bent down to cut through the leather thong that Basta wore around his neck. It had a little bag tied with a red drawstring hanging from it.” — pg. 231

“‘Ah, Basta!’ Fenoglio smiled. Each of his separate wrinkles expressed self-satisfaction. ‘One of the best villains I ever thought up. A rabid dog, but not half as bad as my other dark hero, Capricorn. Basta would let his heart be torn out for Capricorn, but his master is a stranger to such loyalty.’” — pg.264

“Basta emphasised the word, putting his foxy face so close to Meggie’s she could see herself reflected in his eyes.” — pg.301

“‘You’ll do no such thing!’ he spat at Flatnose, as the grey cat disappeared under the wardrobe. ‘Killing cats is unlucky. How often do I have to tell you?’” — pg.303 (friendly reminder that the last time he appeared, he kicked a dog in the ribs 😐)

“Basta was walking just behind her, and she heard him quietly cursing the rain.” — pg.304 (irrelevant but i kind of hc basta to like the rain, since it would dampen dustfinger’s showbiz LMAO)

“Basta’s eyes always narrowed when he smiled.” — pg.305

“‘You wear long sleeves,’ Fenoglio continued very slowly, as if giving Basta time to take in every single word, ‘because your master likes playing with fire. You burned both arms right up to the shoulders when you obeyed his orders and set fire to the house of a man who had dared to refuse his daughter to Capricorn. Ever since then, someone else has laid the fire, and you confine yourself to playing games with knives.’” — pg.308

“‘Oh, I know all about you, Basta,’ he said. ‘I know you’d give your life for Capricorn any day, and you’re always hungry for his praise. I know you were younger than Meggie when his men picked you up, and ever since you’ve loved him like a father. But shall I tell you something? Capricorn thinks you’re stupid, and despises you for it. He despises you all, his devoted black-clad sons, although it’s his own doing that you’re still so ignorant. And he wouldn’t hesitate to set the police on to any one of you if it was to his advantage. Are you quite clear about that?’” — pg.308 (FENOGLIO…..RUTHLESS)

“Basta winked at Meggie.” — pg.310 (wink 1)

“Basta’s car had not been in the car park at all since they’d come here. It was unusual for it to be gone so long, because Basta didn’t like to be away from the village for any length of time.” — pg.318 basta is a homebody guys

“Almost all the women in the village kept away from Basta, but he didn’t keep away from them.” — pg.337

“‘Take him, for instance,’ he said, pointing to Basta. ‘I always knew he was a very unhappy boy before you picked him up. As it says in another very fine book, it’s terribly easy to persuade children that they are worthless. Basta was convinced of it. Not that you taught him any better, oh no! Why would you? But suddenly here was someone to whom he could devote himself, someone who told him what to do — he’d found a god, Capricorn, and if you treated him badly, well, who says that all gods are kindly? Most of them are stern and cruel, wouldn’t you agree? I didn’t write all this in the book. I knew it, that was enough.’” — pg.345 (this is really the part that made my stance toward basta change. like PHEW. that’s a lot to unpack)

“Basta was notorious for his silent tread.” — pg.363

“Basta’s breath smelled of mint, fresh and sharp. Apparently a girl he’d once wanted to kiss had told him he had bad breath. The girl had regretted it, but ever since then Basta chewed peppermint leaves from morning to night.” — pg.364

“He whistled softly through his teeth, then held the book close to Meggie’s face.”— pg.374 (i was rendered speechless)

“Basta’s lips quivered with annoyance, but he bit back his reply and, without a word, put his hand under the black cloth.” — pg.377 (ugh I loved this. like we know he worships capricorn like a dog, but earlier fenoglio flat out told him capricorn couldn’t care less about what happened to him. more than that, capricorn asked basta to bring meggie and fenoglio — prisoners — into his home. later dustfinger says that basta would’ve slept on the threshold of capricorn’s room if he could but none of the men sleep there. so with all of this fresh in his mind, you can imagine him feeling quite hurt and betrayed. UGH I wish he had a greater arc surrounding capricorn…like even if we saw a few hints that his loyalty was starting to show cracks…idk what his arc is in inkspell so maybe I’ll sit tight for that)

“He was in a hurry to get back to the light of day, away from the dead and their ghosts. His hand shook as he hung his lantern on a book and opened the grating over the first cell.” — pg.409

“Dustfinger was always surprised to find how easily you could scare the man with a few words.” — pg.409 LMAOOOOO

“‘That notion of burning us isn’t a very new idea, Basta, but then you were never fond of new ideas.’” — pg.422

“His teeth were almost as white as his shirt.” — pg.442

“Meggie saw from his face that everything in him felt revulsion, but he came closer and took the creature. He held the scaly body well away from him as it wound and twisted in the air.

“‘As you see, Basta doesn’t care for my snakes!’ said the Magpie, with a smile. ‘He never did, not that that means much. As far as I know Basta doesn’t like anything but his knife. He also believed that snakes bring bad luck, which of course is pure nonsense.’ Mortola handed Basta the second snake. Meggie saw the viper’s tiny poison fangs when it opened its mouth. For a moment, she almost felt sorry for Basta.” — pg.446

“‘Basta likes to use snakes to scare women who reject his advances. It didn’t work with Resa. How did it go exactly — didn’t she finally put the snake outside your door, Basta?’” — pg.446 (10/10 resa & snake well-deserved)

“Basta did not want neighbours. Indeed, he wanted no other company but Capricorn’s. Dustfinger knew Basta would have slept on the threshold of Capricorn’s room if he had been allowed to, but none of the men lived in the main house.” — pg.478

“Basta was probably the only man in Capricorn’s village who locked his front door.” — pg.480

“They said in the village that whenever Capricorn had a house set on fire Basta took away a brick or stone, even though he feared fire at other times, and clearly that story was true.” — pg.480

“(Everything in Basta’s house was scrubbed clean, as spotless as his snow-white shirt.)” — pg.481

“Once or twice, footsteps approached, but each time they passed by the house. What a good thing Basta had no friends.” — pg.482

“Basta was not in a good way. Whenever they looked at him they saw his hands clinging to the bars, knuckles white under his sun-tanned skin.” — pg.503 (BASTA’S SUNTANNED?!?!)

“Basta in particular was the object of enough scorn and derision for ten men, and from his failure to react at all one could only guess at the depths of his despair.” — pg.503

“For the fraction of a second life came back into Basta as his former lord and master stopped by the bars; he raised his head, his eyes pleading silently, like a dog begging for forgiveness…Basta only bowed his head and stared at the floor. Elinor thought he looked like an oyster with the flesh and life sucked out of it.” — pg.504 (i honestly still can’t wrap my head around his behaviour in this chap. i mean yes, the gladiator-style death sentence looming over his head can’t be understated. but i think for me it was how rapidly his spirits deteriorated from screaming for help in the cell to becoming a husk of a man before he even saw capricorn again? how?? was it all because of dustfinger spooking him so bad in the crypt?? 🤔🤔)

[schleierkauz]

(raises hand) did you leave out the fact that he *purrs* a solid third of his dialogue or did the translation dare to omit this crucial detail?

[justarandombooknerd]

A solid third might be an understatement honestly. 

Basta purring in Inkheart/Inkspell compilation because why not!!

“‘I really didn’t expect you to venture here again,’ purred Basta, pushing him against the grating with the flat of his hand.” 

“‘Well, how do you like my new knife?’ Basta purred into Farid’s ear.”

“‘Well, my lady bookworm,’ a man’s voice purred in her ear. Elinor had so often heard that voice in her dreams, and every time she found herself fighting for breath at the sound of it! Even in broad daylight the effect was just as bad. Basta pushed her roughly back into the house.”

“‘Surprise, surprise!’ purred Basta. ‘Aren’t you glad to see us, Stumbletongue? A couple of old friends come to pay you a visit!’”

“‘Sorry, but he must have overlooked me, shut up in that cage as I was,’ purred Basta in his catlike voice.”

“‘Yes, they are!’ purred Basta. ‘The little witch, and the fire-eater into the bargain.’”

“‘Yes, poor Cloud-Dancer was far too slow,’ purred Basta, as he tossed his knife from one hand to the other.”

“Basta went up to Mo with a vicious smile. ‘Well, Silvertongue,’ he purred, ‘didn’t I say you’d all fall into our trap yet?’”

[schleierkauz]

He didn't have to be like this. And yet.

[peppermintfreak]

Basta's a certified furry

[libblyster-deactivated20231011]

Inkheart (2008) production stills  dir. Iain Softley

[inkweaver]

A Dog Pays a Visit

Rating: E

Category: F/M

Length: 2k oneshot

Warning for dubious consent!

A small guarded mouth. Black eyes like the night. It looked too much like him. Even the pleading underneath it all begging: please love me. Please, take care of me. Once upon a time he had looked upon Capricorn with pleading eyes, and Capricorn had responded with setting his childhood on fire.

[silver-words-and-inky-secrets]

Hey! It's been a while, right? I hope you're doing well! I haven't been active in the fandom for quite some time, but still enjoy scrolling through the "Inkheart" tag from time to time. Yesterday I had this idea and wanted it to share with you: I only just now realized that Basta being able to throw his knife with a good deal of precision is actually pretty "artistic"...and if I remember it correctly, he knew Dustfinger before he met Roxane...and the Black Prince and his people seem to often take in orphans... - so what if Basta spent at least some time with them, too, before he was taken in by Capricorn?

Hey^^ I'm doing fine, thank you. I hope you're good as well?

I think this is a really interesting idea! It's absolutely possible, too. I wonder what happened to make him join Capricorn instead... I could imagine that the Blackjackets would have a certain appeal - power, of course, but probably also more pragmatic things like food and security? While the Motley Folk are poor and not allowed to protect themselves. (Obviously, they do anyways, but I still suppose they are in a more dangerous position than the arsonists.) And perhaps Basta had trouble connecting with the other people at the Motley Folks' camp, and someone noticed a lonely boy who was good with knives...

Also, I love they implications of betrayal this idea has!^^ Maybe the Prince and/or Dustfinger did take a liking to Basta, and then he disappears, and then turns up on the side of their enemies. Maybe the betrayal is a two-way street as well? Basta might feel that the Motley Folk wronged him somehow, even if it's questionable if that "wrong" was real or just what he perceived...

[halseyquinn-deactivated20260509]

@silver-words-and-inky-secrets​ Thank you, I’m doing fine, too - and thank you for your reply :)

Yes, the question of why Basta ended up joining the Blackjackets instead remains...I remember that Fenoglio says something about Capricorn having picked up Basta from the streets - so maybe there was some kind of prior disagreement (I hadn’t even thought about the betrayal-aspect before - but you’re totally right about that!). Basta seems to have a hard time, even later in life, to really fit into a group - he’s always some kind of outsider, even with the other Blackjackets; he’s only fiercely devoted to Capricorn as this kind of father-figure. So, maybe he once had a similar father-figure at the Motley Folk, too - maybe even the Black Prince himself? But then Dustfinger became the new favorite...and this made Basta feel betrayed and he left??? To be honest, I’m not sure if this still is canon-compliant (I haven’t read the books in a while) - but somehow I’ve always felt that this animosity between Dustfinger and Basta has to go deeper than them having both fancied Roxane?! I mean, Dustfinger has a very good reason to dislike Basta - but the other way round? For example, Cockerell also seems to go on Basta’s nerves constantly and also kind of tries to make him look bad - but still Basta never has this kind of animosity towards him...

[takahero]

basta calls his partner his "good luck charm" change my mind.

i will NOT be changing your mind i stand by this. in fact this thought alone will be keeping me up at night

[onedayinsunlight]

another idea. Bastas partner calls him their good luck charm

[sniperkillerr]

((Dustfinger))

[schleierkauz]

new tcor theory

what if the child-eating witch orpheus meets is capricorn’s secret lover cornelia refused to acknowledge in inkheart……… and the reason basta was always so afraid of magic and curses was because he kept witnessing the freaky shit she got up to………….. but the rest of the blackjackets acted like there was nothing wrong because gaslighting basta was more important than health and safety and maybe a few kids here and there…..