wren_smith44•3mo agoMost Upvoted

My barista mentioned a 'reverse heist' story idea and it's stuck with me all week

The prompt was about a crew that has to secretly return a stolen item without getting caught. Anyone have a good character flaw for someone who'd be terrible at putting things back?

3 comments

3 Comments

ben4363mo ago

Oh that's a great idea, it really gets you thinking. I knew a guy who would be the worst at that, a total perfectionist about everything being just right. He'd spend twenty minutes trying to line up a picture frame instead of just getting out of the house. For a reverse heist, he'd probably get caught trying to dust the item before he put it back.

piper_green3mo ago

Actually used to think that was a good trait, but now I get it.

pipera502mo ago

Wait, but wouldn't that perfectionist thing actually work in their favor if they were trying to make sure the item looked exactly like it was never touched? Like, you see a lot of heist movies where the pros obsess over leaving no trace. Is the problem that they can't move fast enough under pressure, or is it more that they get so caught up in the tiny details they forget the big picture? Because there's a big difference between someone who's careful and someone who's paralyzed by anxiety (and trust me, I've seen both). Honestly, I'd be way more interested in the person who has the opposite flaw - the one who's so confident they think they can just waltz in and out, but they end up putting the artifact back in the wrong spot entirely (like, in the vending machine instead of the vault).