#Franchise Network Building

[franchise-guru]

Franchise Guru™: Your Trusted Partner in Franchise Success

In the dynamic world of franchising, navigating the path to success requires expertise, strategic insights, and unwavering support. Franchise Guru™ emerges as a beacon of guidance, offering comprehensive Franchise and Business Consulting Services to both emerging franchisors and franchisees. This article delves into the multifaceted approach of Franchise Guru™, exploring how it has become the go-to partner for realizing franchise aspirations.

Section 1: The Franchise Landscape and Its Challenges

Franchising presents unique opportunities and challenges, demanding a nuanced understanding of market trends, consumer behavior, and operational intricacies. Franchise Guru™ begins by acknowledging the complexities inherent in the industry, recognizing that success hinges on a delicate balance of strategy, innovation, and adaptability.

Section 2: Franchise Guru™: A Holistic Approach to Franchise Development

Franchise Guru™ sets itself apart through a holistic approach to franchise development. By offering services ranging from strategic planning and market analysis to operational efficiency consulting, the team at Franchise Guru™ ensures that every aspect of the franchising journey is meticulously addressed. This comprehensive approach is designed to empower both franchisors and franchisees with the tools they need to thrive.

Section 3: Tailored Solutions for Emerging Franchisors

For those looking to expand their business through franchising, Franchise Guru™ provides tailored solutions. From developing effective franchise development strategies to optimizing franchise systems and assisting with legal considerations, Franchise Guru™ is committed to paving the way for emerging franchisors to build successful and sustainable franchise networks.

Section 4: Empowering Franchisees for Success

Franchise Guru™ recognizes the pivotal role played by franchisees in the success of any franchise system. Through targeted business advisory solutions, market entry consulting, and ongoing support, Franchise Guru™ empowers franchisees to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship while maximizing the potential for profitability.

Section 5: International Reach and Expertise

With a global presence spanning key locations like Al Huda Building (Dubai), Mumbai (India), and Beirut (Lebanon), Franchise Guru™ brings international expertise to the table. This global perspective is invaluable for businesses aiming to expand their franchises across borders, offering insights into diverse markets and cultural nuances.

Section 6: Success Stories and Testimonials

The true measure of a franchise consulting service's effectiveness lies in the success stories of its clients. Franchise Guru™ takes pride in the achievements of the franchisors and franchisees it has supported. Through testimonials and case studies, this section highlights real-world examples of businesses that have thrived under the guidance of Franchise Guru™.

Conclusion:

In the ever-evolving landscape of franchising, having a trusted partner like Franchise Guru™ can make all the difference. From strategic planning to operational execution, Franchise Guru™ stands as a beacon of support for those aspiring to achieve franchise success. With a commitment to excellence and a proven track record, Franchise Guru™ invites both emerging franchisors and franchisees to embark on a journey of growth, innovation, and lasting success.

For more information or to explore how Franchise Guru™ can support your franchise goals, contact us today. Your success is our mission.

[dakoosuperapp]

💡 Entrepreneurship requires a range of skills that are essential for success. Some of the basic skills that every entrepreneur should possess include: 💡 Opportunity identification and evaluation 💡 Creativity and innovation 💡 Effective communication and leadership 💡 Financial management 💡 Risk assessment and management 💡 Time management and organization 💡 Networking and relationship building 💡 Problem-solving and decision-making 💡 Adaptability and flexibility 💡 Resilience and perseverance These skills are necessary for entrepreneurs to navigate the challenges of starting and running a business. By developing these skills, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of success and achieve their goals in their entrepreneurial journey. 🎢 #dakoo #franchise #business #india #entrepreneurship #innovation #leadership #success #success #opportunity #entrepreneurs #entrepreneur #networking #building #creativity #communication #management (at India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqIjWDDvDaZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[positivexcellence]

Jared Padalecki Joins ‘Fire Country’ For Guest Arc That Could Lead To New Franchise Offshoot

EXCLUSIVE: Jared Padalecki is returning to series television. The former Supernatural star, coming off a four-season run as the lead of Walker, has been tapped for a three-episode arc on the upcoming third season of CBS‘ hit drama series Fire Country, headlined and executive produced by Max Thieriot.

He will play Camden, a SoCal firefighter and maverick with a surfer swagger who is a force to be reckoned with and immediately recognizes Bode’s (Thieriot) raw talent.

The deal with Fire Country producer CBS Studios is strictly for the recurring role, sources said. Given Padalecki’s status as a popular leading man with two hit series under his belt, I hear there is a possibility for the guest stint to lead to a new spinoff headlined by him that would join the upcoming Sheriff Country.

Sources stress that the idea is still in its nascent stages. And similarly to the NCIS franchise, which originated on CBS and has generated four domestic offshoots on the network but has also expanded into streaming with the latest spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva (as well as the streaming/broadcast NCIS: Sydney), a new Fire Country spinoff could be for broadcast or streaming. Reps for CBS and CBS Studios declined comment.

Fire Country, which was the most watched new broadcast series in its freshman season, was quickly identified by the CBS leadership as a potential franchise anchor that could spawn multiple spinoffs.

“We are focused on mass-appeal franchises,” CBS President and CEO George Cheeks said in June 2023. “This season’s number one show was Fire Country, which completely lends itself to building out a whole new universe… It became very clear that not only was the show special, it really felt like this could be a great example of us building together a franchise from scratch.”

The first Fire Country spinoff, the Morena Baccarin-starring Sheriff Country, which started off as a planted spinoff episode on the mothership series this past season, was recently picked up to series for 2025-26.

Keeping Padalecki in the fold has been a priority for CBS Studios following the end of its CW drama Walker, on which he was star and executive producer, leading to creating the opportunity for him on Fire Country. Walker was canceled for financial reasons despite being the network’s most watched series.

Fire Country averages more than 10 million viewers per episode in multi-platform viewing. (Live+35-day on Paramount + and CBS TVE)

Season 1 became available on Netflix in the US August 1 and has already reached #3 in the streamer’s daily rankings. This is an additional domestic streaming window for Fire Country whose first two seasons are on Paramount+. It is designed to give the show additional exposure ahead of its Oct. 18 Season 3 premiere on CBS.

From creators and executive producers Tony Phelan, Joan Rater and Thieriot, inspired by Thieriot’s experiences growing up in Northern California, the series follows Bode Donovan (Thieriot), a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, which sends him back to his hometown.

Billy Burke, Kevin Alejandro, Diane Farr, Stephanie Arcila, Jordan Calloway and Jules Latimer also star. Tia Napolitano, who also serves as showrunner, executive produces alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and KristieAnne Reed of Jerry Bruckheimer Television.

Since the end of Walker, Padalecki also has discussed a role on the upcoming fifth and final season of Prime Video’s The Boys, developed and executive produced by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. He is repped by UTA, Industry Entertainment and Fuller Law.

deadline

[nyaagolor]

What are your thoughts on Apollo Justice (the character)?

OH BOY. OHHHHHH BOY. I have a fever and some free time lfg.

So honestly, I think part of the reason I love Apollo so much is because he runs parallel to Phoenix but also counter to him at the same time. I always saw Simon and Athena as the successors-- in terms of ideology and job and all that other stuff-- to the Phoenix-Edgeworth dynamic and status rather than Apollo and Klavier. Athena and Simon, to me, feel like extensions of the arcs of Phoenix and Edgeworth + the vibes of the original trilogy. Apollo and Klavier ( who I will not talk about bc we will be here all day)? They're the antithesis.

Apollo Justice The Game directly foils the original trilogy in so many ways, but I think even on a more base thematic level it runs counter to a lot of the ideas that we take for granted about the original trilogy, and because Apollo sits at the center of this, the things I love about the game are encapsulated in why I like him. There are a ton of themes in the ace attorney trilogy-- support networks, faith, trust, the truth-- and Apollo is defined by their limits, their failures, and their absence. He is let down, kicked around, defined by abandonment and betrayal and distrust. Apollo is defined by everything that Phoenix is not, and bc of how the timeline goes we don't really get any retribution for that, just a steady march forward, and I think that gives me a lot to think about with his character

Phoenix's arc right from Turnabout Sisters is about the building of a support network, and the ways that developing this support is integral for when things go wrong. We contrast Phoenix with Godot, Maya with Dahlia, and see how people left to stew in their resentment can chase vengeance to dark places (wow I wonder who also does this after the death of a dear friend leading to a crusade of misplaced revenge that almost leads someone they care about being killed.). With Apollo we get to stand on the precipice of resolution, but the important part is we don't get it. Apollo's life falls off the rails, and he's the one left to pick up the pieces.

We see through him how our trust can be betrayed by people of good and bad intentions, and the lingering consequences that has on one's ability to not only trust the people around them but themselves. And yeah!! That's why I adore him so much-- he's tested not by the possibility of failure like Phoenix often is, but climbing up from the reality of it. It's less "how do we make our way out of this mess before it goes nuclear" and more "things are already destroyed-- where do we go from here?". It has more of an element of recovery than prevention to me, and I think that's a fascinating avenue to explore in stories like these. Apollo pushes the envelope of the themes of the narrative and the characters-- he is the epitome of what it looks like when things fall apart, and it gives him and the trilogy characters something to reconcile

A lot of people have complained that Apollo barely feels like the protagonist in his own game, but that's honestly a huge part of the reason why I love him so much. He's defined by the spaces between, the limits and failures of things we had up to this point taken to be true, and left with a pretty limited degree of autonomy through it all. He's pushed around and puppeteered by people who mean well and those who don't, and I feel like a major theme of AA4 that I love but don't often see talked about is "what does it mean to have autonomy-- and by extension, control? What does it mean to take it back? What does it mean to lose it, and what does it mean when you'd do anything to keep it." Most of what I said is only partially resolved bc AA4 is... a game. A technically finished game. but!! Because it eviscerates our expectations of the franchise so thoroughly AND leaves open so many avenues, it makes Apollo and the rest of his crew some of my favorite characters because there's so much you can think about and do with them!!

also he's like. An insect to me. <3

[liyawritesss]

ᴄᴏʟʟᴇɢᴇ!ᴍɪʟᴇꜱ ᴍᴏʀᴀʟᴇꜱ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ

Characters: College!Spider-Verse!Miles Morales 

Type: headcanons

Synopsis: What would our lovely boy Miles be like as a grown up college student? Does he change or does he still keep his dorky, boyish demeanor?

A/N: HAPPY JUNETEENTH TO MY FELLOW NEGROS!!! In honor of Juneteenth and the release of ATSV, I'm dumping some headanons on yall, and I'm so proud of how these turned out. I was talking with my friend how we heavily believed that we would see a grown up Miles but when we found out only a year passed in Miles’ timeline for him, the topic of college!Miles came up. So these headcanons are pretty much a product of how we thought miles would be as a college student around our age.

Note: the first pic is of Shameik Moore, I just used a cartoon filter over it to try and make it look like the art style in the spiderverse franchise. The third one is not Shameik Moore but I use the same cartoon filter over it for the same effect

Warnings: Some cursing but that’s about it. KEEP IT CUTE PG-16 CUZ THIS IS NEPHEW WE TALKIN' BOUT HERE!!!

Tags: @6-noir @babyboiboyega @badass-dora-milaje @jacuzziwaters @venusdraco @mbakuetshurisprincess @shuriszn @verachii @writingintheshadowsforever @cafehyunji @lulu-network @niyahwrites @pantherheart @marsfunzon22

Sign Up For My Taglist Here!

College!Miles isn’t a complete one-eighty of his mid-teen self, but rather, he builds on the defining attributes of his youth and matures them. He’s still pretty self-effacing, modest and humble, but he’s more confident in himself and the man he wants to become. He’s selfless and courageous and loving to a fault, and anyone who’s anyone who has been in his presence can say that Miles is a great person all around.

College!Miles ends up going to study in New Jersey, majoring in Physics Engineering, but also minoring in African Psychology on the track for social work. He knows that he can only do so much good behind his Spiderman mask, and believes that he should also be putting in the work when he isn’t wearing it. It’s an obligation for him to put his best food forward for his community and his people.

College!Miles who mixes his style with 90’s black streetwear and modern day. He’s a sneakerhead, so his dorm room gradually accumulates with boxes upon boxes of shoes damn near reaching the ceiling. His room back home is much worse though (Rio can’t even clean his room anymore because everywhere she looks, it’s a box of shoes chucked somewhere. Mama has given up lmao). And similar to the first outfit we see him in in ATSV, he loves the sports-jersey-over-solid-color-shirt combo, but has a decent amount of hoodies and tee’s both graphic and plain, that he likes to throw on with a pair of jeans and shoes. He knows how to dress, and he knows that he looks good in what he wears too.

College!Miles who never steps out the house without a chain on. He’s got two specific ones that he wears primarily - a silver cuban link his parents got him for his eighteenth birthday that he wears daily, and a gold snake chain that he bought for himself with his first check from his first big boy job. There are other necklaces that he has that he’ll throw on it he wants to switch things up. He’s not a big fan of things on his wrist (he’s gotten too used to the web shooters that everything else just feels funny or wrong), but he has a watch that he only wears to be fancy and a couple of rings that go on his middle or forefingers. He also has a few pairs of studded earrings he switches between every now and then to keep up a fresh look.

College!Miles who starts to take special care in his appearance as he reaches his late teen years. He can only go to his mom when he’s on breaks or vacation when he travels back to Brooklyn, but he’s learned enough from Rio to do his own line-ups and touch ups to make him look decent. It took him a minute to get used to doing it on his own, but he was adamant on learning because he was firm on not letting anyone else into his head besides his mother. He’d recently gotten into cutting slits into his eyebrows too, as they make him feel super cool

College!Miles who knows he’s got girls & guys coming left and right waiting for the opportunity to get with him, but as much as he’s a loverboy, he’s also very intentional with how he moves and is very perceptive of people (his Spidey senses enhance it a lot more than what he wishes sometimes) that he peeps that a lot of them are only attracted to his looks. He doesn’t date for the first few semesters of college, and when his parents ask if he’s gonna bring someone home soon, he tells them that he’s too busy making gateways to dimensions to open the gateways to dating

College!Miles whose love for hip hop never dies over the years. Instead it seems to grow. He adds a few new artists to her playlist - JID, Young M.A., Tobe Nwigwe, & Kendrick Lamar from the hip hop and rap scenes (Miles uses many of Tobe’s songs as hype music to gas himself up). Though he’s also found an appreciation for other genres, like R&B and Neo-Soul. Some of these artists include but are not limited to: H.E.R., UMI, Ari Lennox, and Bryson Tiller.

College!Miles who still holds on to his art as a hobby and destresser from his many classes and double-identity. His street art follows him wherever he goes, tagging new places that have people wondering who the hell made it all the way up there to tag that. There’s a secret pride that swells in him when he sees passersby admiring the artwork.

College!Miles who, when the world gets too much and he feels like everythings going wrong, he climbs the tallest building he can find and just watches the sunrise or sunset. He lets the breathtaking view ease his mind and the warm sun soothe his worries away. Being so high up and away from people allows him to actually think about the troubles that plague him, so when he comes back down, he can address them accordingly

College!Miles who’s still very much a momma’s boy. He calls Rio almost every day, either to just talk or to rant about something silly. She’ll put him on speaker for Jefferson to hear and just looks at her husband like “Listen to your son” when he’s being silly. But it’s so sweet that Miles always has his parents on his mind when he’s away at school. He also calls his dad to have ‘guy talk’, which ain’t nothing but Miles and Jefferson either talking about sports, his academics (which Jeff is really supportive of, even if he doesn’t understand the physics part, he loves to hear his sons ideas on the psychology minor he’s taken on) or random funny shit the guys that they hang around do every day.

College!Miles who grows more confident in his Spanish and uses it more and more in his day-to-day life. He’ll speak it when he’s talking to himself, when he’s angry or if he’s hurt himself (which happens the same amount of times as it did when he was a teen), or he’ll try and surprise his mom with a conversation in complete Spanish (which he does succeed in sometimes).

College!Miles who’s barely changed from the loveable boy who we all know and love as a teen. He just grew some more and became cooler, but he still radiates the same dorky, intelligent, and loving energy he’s always had.

[invested-in-your-future]

I am new to rwde stuff, and I'm wondering why Miles is so often singled out in criticism? Like, with self-insert stuff that makes sense, but I also see people criticize the relics/gods worldbuilding as a Miles thing, without mention of Kerry. Same for similar criticisms like the plot driving them into a corner in v10, or the mishandling of the WF plot line. Is there a reason for that, or is it holdover from not liking him for the self-insert? Is he the one who talks about it the most, or has he specifically claimed responsibility for that, or he writes more than Kerry, or something? Is it because he just seems to be the more public of the two of them, doing things like his cameos? Is he simply the more unlikable one? Thank you in advance, if you answer this question.

I think it is that, yeah - Miles is the one most often putting his foot in his mouth with weird hot takes that come back to bite him.

Him being tasked by Monty to watch a bunch of anime to see what NOT to do and ending up gushing about sword art online and loving the one soul eater character he was supposed to understand about being crass?

Him going on an off-tangent rant about how Korra world building is bad only to then rip off parts of that lore and it all end up a mess.

Him ranting how on how LGBTQ+ rep in Korra has absolutely no build up only for BB ending up getting ZERO PROPER DEVELOPMENT that it SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN FOR VOLUMES (because the show was too busy queerbaiting) and only getting a desperate kiss to attempt to get the views back up... (Mind you Korra was under a LOT of network restrictions and actually doing what the show did took actual guts while the only excuse RT has for dancing around the topic is "we don't wanna")

Him watching Land of Lustrous (a show about an immortal being experiencing trauma and PTSD and dealing with grief and existential crisis) and going "I don't get it" and then delivering the absolute messy v9 nonsense that literally vilifies trauma and goes against basic mental wellness concepts.

There's a trail of Miles stepping on the same rake over and over again going back years so he kind of became the face of all the wrong decisions taken in the show.

Plus, you know, yeah, Jaune is his baby and he somehow ends up being the faux protagonist of the show leeching off the screen time of actual protagonists and getting more development and focus than actual protagonists. And him being the guy to whom "the idea of brother gods came to in a dream" and it's easy to see why he kind of became the poster child for everything bad in the show.

However, Kerry is just as guilty for a lot of aspects of the writing but people are bit more lenient because again two worst parts of the show - Jaune and brother gods both come from Miles.

RWBY having borderline nonsensical setting and offensive problematic writing is a group effort though because RT as a whole never grew out of the "edgy homophobic jokes machinima youtuber" phase - not even after becoming a company that owns million dollar franchises.

[crazykuroneko]

Mark Johnson Builds Anne Rice Universe for AMC Networks

The interesting points from this are:

And that Talamasca show hasn't been ordered to series yet. But the fact they're running a PR on Mark and the franchise should be a good sign

[namitomoon]

Honestly, I think the fact Yugioh isn't popular at all with kids in the West compared to Pokémon needs to be studied.

Most people would (rightfully) blame how overcomplicated the game became compared to the early DM/GX days with all the new meta. But I think part of the blame relies on the way Konami handled the anime too. Both the broadcasting and the core.

I read on the Wiki that Yugioh DM, GX and 5Ds were dubbed by 4Kids and broadcasted it on Saturday morning blocks. When cable and with it the Saturday morning cartoon blocks faded away, 4Kids Entertainment (and their succesor, 4K Media) were very slow in adapting to the new reality. They moved to Nicktoons, then Hulu and then for free on Pluto TV.

Compare this to Pokémon franchise which was pretty much taken away from 4Kids and handled much better by TPC, staying solidly on the same network and then switched to the much more massive and GLOBAL Netflix.

Yugioh has the dubious "honor" of being one of the few remaining anime that still gets localized and dubbed following the heavy censored 4Kids handbooks and I think I finally figured the reason: Konami (who directly handles the dubbing and localization of Yugioh through Konami Cross Media NY, which is basically the remnant of 4Kids) is DESPERATE to build a younger gen Z/Alpha audience on the West.

The average Yugioh player in the West is in their mid 20s who was hooked with the original DM and GX (and maybe also 5Ds). Konami is fine with it but they really wish their game was as popular among kids as the Pokémon TCG is. There's always the fear of the mature audience simply leaving the game because they have bigger responsibilites with work, families, etc. Heck, that's the biggest reason why they didn't bother bringing the physical Rush Duels cards.

Which is why they focus heavily on targetting their shows towards kids. They could perfectly make more loyal-to-the-original teenage/mature focused dubs and broadcast them on Adult Swim or Crunchyroll. But because of their desperation in building a new audience, they instead make kiddified dubs so SEVENS is shown on Disney XD of all places.

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

Wait I’m late to this, so I’m genuinely asking. Do Jensen and Jared secretly hate each other or something?

oh. uh...

kind of, basically, yeah. jared has been an asshole who receives special treatment from the network for a long time, while jensen has tried to keep the peace and got fucked over by the end of spn. now that he's free from having to work with jared all the time, he seems to have lost his patience with jared and has been getting noticeably more and more prickly toward him. jared seems oblivious to this, or doesn't care, because he thinks being an asshole is funny.

the punchline is, jensen now has full control of the spn franchise as it moves forward. if jared ever wants to be in a spn show again, he's going to have to do it on jensen's terms.

here's some links to further explore the drama:

the "gutted" incident + building tensions surrounding the finale

"j2 fallout theory" explained

jared's homophobic destiel rant + jensen's face listening to it, his angry body language

my jared tag, for all your "why is jared an asshole?" needs

my j2 tag, for more documentation of jensen having had it with jared's bullshit

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

The reason I typically dont concern myself with lore issues and retcons in the Fallout series(Although Fallout 76 is testing my limits on that), is that well...the series has always had that problem from the very beginning.

Take for example how Vault-Tec has become more cartoonishly evil as the series has progressed. In the original Fallout(ignoring everything to come after), its pretty clear the problems with the Vaults are the result of short-sightness and greed, Vault-Tec cut corners and didnt really think about how people would actually have to live in the vaults(possibly because they didnt really think nuclear war would happen, and were just raking in money). Theres no indication that there were experiments or that there was anything more nefarious than corporate greed.

Fallout 2 hints that there was some wider agenda, but doesnt indicate much more. Apparently the original idea was that the vaults were experiments on building a spaceship to escape earth And interplay's Fallout 3 would have revealed this. But it got canceled.

Fallout Tactics revealed that government leaders and top scientists had had their brains placed in vats networked to a supercomputer. And were supposed to use the data from the vaults to assist in rebuilding civilization, but flaws in the machinery drove them insane and caused to try to kill everything instead. (Its also questionable if FoT is canon, but I like to accept it as such)

Once Bethesda got ahold of the franchise Vault-Tec is like 'We're gonna pump drugs through the ventilation system' and other such mad-scientist nonsense.

Then the Fallout tv series reveals that Vault-tec actually orchestrated the war so they could rule the world afterwords.

[disneytva]

Ariel To Make A Splash Debut Thursday, June 27, Streaming Next Day On Disney+

Disney Branded Television announced today the premiere date for the highly anticipated animated musical series “Ariel.” Inspired by “The Little Mermaid (2023)” the series will debut on THURSDAY, JUNE 27, on Disney Junior (9:00 a.m. EDT/PDT) and air on Disney Channel later that day, with an initial batch of eight episodes available on Disney+ the following day, FRIDAY, JUNE 28.

Disney Junior has also released the theme song who will be Disney TVA 's #98 series overall.

To help build excitement for “Ariel,” it was also announced that a new series of shorts titled “Ariel: Mermaid Tales” will be featured across Disney Junior, Youtube and Disney+ beginning Wednesday, June 5. Each two-minute short will highlight a different aspect of Ariel’s life in Atlantica.

Recurring Guest Cast on ARIEL include Yvette Nicole Brown ("Firebuds", "Pupstruction") as Aquatica, Melissa Villaseñor ("Primos", Cartoon Network Studios "OK K.O Let's Be Heroes") as Navi, Ron Funches (Pixar Animation Studios "Inside Out 2") as Delfino, Kevin Michael Richardson ("The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder", "La Familia Avenúñez") as Sebastian, Parvesh Cheena (Netflix Animation "Centaurworld") as Ravi, Danni Washington as Tantie Chantale, Alanna Ubach (Nickelodeon "El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera") as Cristina Cuttles, Dana Heath (Nickelodeon "Danger Force") and Jessica Mikayla (Disney Launchpad "Project CC") play Ariel’s twin sisters Ayanna and Alanna, respectively.

The acclaimed songwriting teams are comprised of Anthony M. Jones (Tone), Sofia Quinn, Olivia Waithe, Chantry Johnson, Michelle Zarlenga and Rosemarie Tan.  Christopher Willis ("The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse" franchise) serves as composer. Sean Skeete, dean of the Professional Performance division at Berklee College of Music, is the Caribbean music consultant.

Walt Disney Records will release a digital soundtrack on Friday, June 28, and an array of dolls, playsets, role-play, costumes, apparel, books and more from Disney Consumer Products and Disney Publishing Worldwide will be available this summer.

[dakoosuperapp]

💡 Entrepreneurship requires a range of skills that are essential for success. Some of the basic skills that every entrepreneur should possess include: 💡 Opportunity identification and evaluation 💡 Creativity and innovation 💡 Effective communication and leadership 💡 Financial management 💡 Risk assessment and management 💡 Time management and organization 💡 Networking and relationship building 💡 Problem-solving and decision-making 💡 Adaptability and flexibility 💡 Resilience and perseverance These skills are necessary for entrepreneurs to navigate the challenges of starting and running a business. By developing these skills, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of success and achieve their goals in their entrepreneurial journey. 🎢 #dakoo #franchise #business #india #entrepreneurship #innovation #leadership #success #success #opportunity #entrepreneurs #entrepreneur #networking #building #creativity #communication #management (at India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqIjPDLPB7X/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[best-tv-theme-song]

Polls will start to be posted within the next week or so.

Bracket list under the cut!

UPDATE: LIST CANCELLED

*Starred shows have multiple theme songs or I have combined shows in a franchise in an effort to include as much as possible. These will have preliminaries built-into their polls on the first round. This is how it works: 1. all of the songs will go into a poll together against one other show; 2. the COMBINED votes for those songs will determine which show wins that poll; 3. only the top voted song for that show/franchise will move on, if the show has won the poll. (If you are confused it will make more sense when we start, I promise!)

The 100

30 Rock

9-1-1*

The Addams Family

Adventure Time*

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

All That

The Amazing World of Gumball

American Dragon: Jake Long

Animaniacs

Arcane: League of Legends

Arrested Development

Arthur

Assassination Classroom*

Austin & Ally

The Backyardigans

Barney & Friends

Barry

Batman*

Bear in the Big Blue House

Ben 10*

Better Call Saul

Beverly Hills, 90210

The Big Bang Theory

Big Time Rush

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Black Sails

Bluey

Bob the Builder

Bob's Burgers

BoJack Horseman

Bones

Boy Meets World

The Brady Bunch

Breaking Bad

Bridgerton

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Buffy the Vampire Slayer*

Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Charmed

Cheers

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Choo Choo Soul

Code Lyoko

Codename: Kids Next Door

Cold Case

Community

Cory in the House

Cowboy Bebop

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*

Criminal Minds

CSI*

Cyberchase

Danny Phantom

Daredevil

Dawson's Creek

Death Note*

Desperate Housewives

Detective Conan

Dexter

Dexter's Laboratory

Diff'rent Strokes

Digimon*

Doctor Who*

Dora the Explorer

Downton Abbey

Dragon Ball*

Dragon Tales

Drake & Josh

Ducktales*

ER

Ever After High

The Fairly OddParents

Firefly

The Flintstones

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Fraggle Rock

Frasier

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Friends

Fringe

Full House

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood*

Futurama

Game of Thrones

George Lopez

George of the Jungle

Gilmore Girls

Glee

The Golden Girls

Good Omens

Gravity Falls

Grey's Anatomy

H2O: Just Add Water

Hannah Montana

Hannibal

Happy Days

Hawaii Five-0*

His Dark Materials

Horrible Histories

House, M.D.

How I Met Your Mother

How It's Made

Hunter × Hunter

Huntik: Secrets & Seekers

I Dream of Jeannie

I Love Lucy

iCarly

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The Jeffersons

Jeopardy!

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure*

Jonas

Justice League

Kim Possible

The Last of Us

Laverne & Shirley

Law & Order*

LazyTown

The Legend of Vox Machina

Leverage

Lilo & Stitch: The Series

Little Einsteins

Lizzie McGuire

Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies

The Love Boat

M*A*S*H

Mad Men

Madoka Magica*

The Magic School Bus

Malcolm in the Middle

The Mandalorian

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Merlin

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Mob Psycho 100

The Monkees

Monster High

The Muppet Show

Murder, She Wrote

Murdoch Mysteries

My Babysitter's a Vampire

My Hero Academia*

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

The Nanny

Naruto*

NCIS

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

New Girl

NFL (various network themes)*

Ninjago

The O.C.

The Office

One Day at a Time*

One Piece

Only Murders in the Building

Orange Is the New Black

Ouran High School Host Club

The Owl House

Parks and Recreation

The Partridge Family

Phil of the Future

Phineas and Ferb

Pinky and the Brain

Pippi Longstocking

Pokémon*

Power Rangers

The Powerpuff Girls

Pretty Little Liars

The Price Is Right

The Proud Family

Psych

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Reading Rainbow

Reba

Red Dwarf

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Riverdale

Rugrats

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat

Sailor Moon

Sanford and Son

Saturday Night Live

Schitt's Creek

Scooby-Doo*

Scrubs

Seinfeld

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Sesame Street

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Sherlock

The Simpsons

Smallville

Sofia the First

Sonny with a Chance

The Sopranos

Spider-Man

SpongeBob SquarePants

Star Trek (instrumental themes)*

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star vs. the Forces of Evil

Stargate*

Steven Universe

Stranger Things

Succession

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody*

Suits

Taskmaster

Ted Lasso

Teen Titans

Teen Wolf

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teletubbies

That '70s Show

That's So Raven

Theory of Love

Thomas & Friends

Tokyo Ghoul

Total Drama

Totally Spies!

Transformers*

True Blood

The Twilight Zone

Twin Peaks

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

VeggieTales

Veronica Mars

Victorious

Voltron: Legendary Defender

W.I.T.C.H.

The Walking Dead

WandaVision*

Welcome Back, Kotter

The West Wing

Westworld

What We Do in the Shadows

The White Lotus

Wild Kratts

Winx Club

The Wire*

The Witcher

Wizards of Waverly Place

Wonder Pets!

Wonder Woman

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!

The X-Files

Xena: Warrior Princess

Yellowjackets

Yu-Gi-Oh!*

Yuri on Ice

Zoboomafoo

Zoey 101

[littengamer909]

What Is megaman fully charged? I know it's mm related, but what's the setting, world building, plot, Mc, that stuff. It seems really interesting!

Sorry for taking so long to answer this!

Megaman Fully Charged is a cartoon that aired from 2018-2020 on Cartoon Network. It took a Sonic Boom approach, making an reboot-alternate universe of sorts. A lot of fans were upset about this, but personally, I like it, as the Megaman lore is way deeper than it first appears and I have no idea how to approach it.

You can find the whole series - 52 episodes, each about 11 minutes long - on YouTube, because nobody cares about it enough to copyright strike it.

After the series ended, the story was continued in a comic series, which took on a much darker and grittier tone. Fair warning, you should have adblocker on if you use this website to read the comic

Hope this helped! :D

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground watch along

Because… madness, is why. Almost twenty goddamn years ago, I started writing a crossover between the absolute worst piece of Sonic media ever and the games. That fic is The Lost Prince. I am maybe like… two or three chapters from finishing it. TWENTY YEARS AND THREE CHAPTERS. And I have no motivation. You cannot understand the pain this causes me.

So I’m watching the worst piece of Sonic media again in search of inspiration.

And I’m going to talk about it while I do it.

(Normally, I do things like this over on lediz-watches, but because this is specifically to explain some of my headcanons and inspire my writing, it’s here)

So let’s set the scene, first. This has become somewhat common knowledge in Sonic Tumblr fandom these days, but bear with me, because it’s important context.

(Also, the next paragraph is going to get me more death threats because I CERTAINLY HAVEN’T GOTTEN ENOUGH OF THOSE FROM THIS FANDOM, but we’ll carry on anyway because it’s important context)

Once upon a time, there was a cartoon series called Sonic the Hedgehog, now known as SatAM for reasons mostly relating to its timeslot. Sonic the Hedgehog was perfectly acceptable grimdark 90s environmentalist children’s programming which due to classic 90s multimedia marketing strategy also gave rise to the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics. It got cancelled on a cliffhanger because that was the kind of thing that happened in the 90s where writers thought FOR SURE a cliffhanger would spare them from the dreaded 2-season contract. (It never did.)

The reason this matters is because the production house maintained the licensing rights to that particular branch of franchise. And they needed a quick cash grab.

For some reason which I will never understand, this spawned Sonic Underground, which is… an insane premise, cheap animation, surprisingly not terrible songs, and a handful of voice actors getting milked for every inch of their three-voice contracts.

Sonic is a prince! He has siblings that are TOTALLY NOT knock-off Princess Sally Acorn or Miles Tails Prower! They have magic necklaces! They save the day with music! Don’t notice the statues of King Max Acorn in the background! Knuckles’ grandfather from the comics is there! Knuckles has magic! The Floating Island has guns! Totally don’t pay attention to the fact that both the episodes and music tracks have separate licensing that will cost the networks extra! No we don’t have time to check for animation errors! ALSO let us use highly complicated political socio-economic difficulties of enlightenment and industrialism as world building BUT DON’T NOTICE WHAT WE’RE DOING just accept the ones we say are bad are bad and the good guys are good! Good? Good. Great.

It is a trashfire.

I adore it.

I have no excuse.

I do, however, have wine.

Let’s go, kids.

Sonic Underground 01: Beginnings

The plot (for want of a better word): Once upon a time, Queen Aleena of Mobius ruled a beautiful world kingdom city (?) and had three lovely babies: Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. An evil industrialist named Ivo Robotnik came out of nowhere and took over her city world kingdom (?), turning all the aristocrats evil. In desperation, Aleena turned to the Oracle of Delphi I mean Delphius who told her that she must hide herself and her children away, until they could reunite as the Council of Four and enter a glorious New Age.

This episode is about the three children growing up, realising they have siblings, magical music, and the much less exciting fact that they’re once and former royalty, and coming together through The Power of Harmony.

Now, this episode immediately showcases what I love about The Trashfire: its background worldbuilding. You are not supposed to notice the worldbuilding, but it’s there and it’s amazing.

Realistically, Aleena would have been an absolutely terrible queen. I am not in the least bit surprised her aristocrats followed Robotnik, who promoted science and industrialisation and then sold them cheap labour. Honestly. Compare that to –

The facsimile of the Hanging Gardens, right there in the first twenty seconds. The HANGING GARDENS. Beautiful, yes. Legendary, absolutely. Would I have loved to see it? Hell yes! A good use of time or resources or indeed environment? HAH. MEANWHILE –

Slums! I don’t care what your artistic imagery is telling me, those tight dark alleyways you’re running down were there before Robotnik took over, your majesty. And you’re wasting tax payer dollars mobiums on THE HANGING GARDENS.

Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family – you can tell by the clothing of the person that comes to the door. And he’s immediately stolen. Don’t question why a thief would steal a baby (there are so many things we must not question), but notice that it took all of ten seconds. The crime rate in her supposedly perfect city is CRAZY.

Side note: Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family! The triplets should have gone aristocrat-middle class-working class, but instead we skipped straight from aristocrat to working class and then down to thief, but Aleena NEVER INTENDED to teach her children about the underclass.

Is Mobius a kingdom? Is it a world? We don’t know. We will never know. It Just Is, and Robotnik rules it, while Aleena used to rule it. Stop asking questions.

Music is illegal. This is a real thing that has happened in fascist communities, by the way, usually as a way of controlling the youth. And yet Sonia and Bartleby are out looking for an illegal club. Bartleby is bitching the whole way, but he’s there and he’d looking because it makes Sonia happy and it says SO MUCH about the spineless little worm. I love him.

Anyway. Onto my episode notes:

These character designs. What are these character designs… In my fic I call the alien-looking thing mixes, and say it's what happens when too many super classes (like... canine, feline, fish, etc) interbreed, but really it's just WEIRD.

Goddamnit, I hate Sonia. Not because of her character itself – she is… fine. But I hated GRRL Power even when I was the target audience of it, because of reasons that I can and probably will eventually go on for hours about. But basically, I mostly just hate that she’s perfect at everything, and her only flaws are being bossy and over emotional. It’s not real character, it’s not real personality, and I hate it.

Oh. A thing I’d forgotten. Sonic Underground’s one and only positive influence on other Sonic media: this was the first western animation that gave the hedgehogs more than three spikes. Probably because 3D games were also coming and going to make it A Thing.

Also: Sonic’s Tragic Backstory! I make so much of these foster parents for so many reasons.

But uh… yeah, starting the first episode with the out of place smiles during emotional moments… Sonic and Chuck smiling blandly as the only home Sonic’s ever known burns to the ground in front of them…

Imagine if you’d never read the comics or watched SatAM. Uncle Chuck and his dump-base would be a such a strange thing to see…

Oh, wow… Sonic’s reaction to the Oracle of Delphius’s nonsense. “I’m a prince? Weird. I’m a BROTHER? HOLY CRAP!”

Poor Sleet and Dingo. They never wanted to be evil, but they’re… not even very good at it…

THE SONG: Someday. Meatloaf pop eat your heart out. You would never believe that this was actually a pretty good storyboard match for some legit music videos at the time.

Seriously, Oracle, you could have stopped all of this by just stabbing him instead of warning him. You aren’t a good guy. Don’t pretend to be.

The instrumental song! Legit Sonic music. In fact, this gives serious Sonic and the Secret Rings vibes… I demand more than thirty seconds.

“Oh no, my family has been captured and turned into a robot! But you say my necklace is MAGIC? Fascinating…!”

I mean, look. I can’t defend this thing. I won’t defend this thing. Even when I was a kid, I knew it was terrible.

But I’m having fun anyway.

Normally, on these posts, I'll do one at a time because I've just realised how LONG these are, but the first three episodes are really just an hour-long conjoined episode. And things like that are s why I know at least someone in the producer's studio legitimately thought the Trashfire was a good idea. They were wrong.

Anyway. Sonic Underground 02: Getting to Know You

The plot (for want of a better word): the three siblings set out as directed by the Oracle of Delphius. They encounter a trainer who teaches Sonic how to stop, Sonia how to spin, and Manic how to do cool tricks with his drum sticks that he will barely use throughout the series. Mostly, it’s an episode that introduces some overarching themes, like Sonic being impulsive and irritable, Sonia being prissy, Manic’s insecurities, the divide between proper girl and stinky boys, and that while the triplets will tease each other constantly, it’s always all for one if someone else comes after them.

…That made it sound much sweeter and better than it actually is.

Dingo… she’s not that pretty, and don’t let Sleet tell you you’re ugly. You’re both 90s villains. I’m sure someone’s made Rule 34 fanart of you.

Oh hahaha Sonia’s so out of touch, thinking there’s a maid and that a mouse is terrible ahahano. GUYS.

Look, I hate Sonia, I do, but I have to give her props that Sonic and Manic don’t. Two hours ago she was a sheltered aristocrat’s daughter, she’s stating her expectations, and when Sonic shuts her down she makes a quick joke and gets on with things. I appreciate the pragmatism. I will give her that.

Look, Sleet, you gave Dingo an instruction and he followed it. Don’t act surprised. (Spoiler warning: He will continue to be surprised.)

Okay, this is a weird thing that the show will play with occasionally. Sonic and Sonia trade off mission-focus tunnel vision all the time. Usually when they want the other one to seem flighty or impatient respectively. But Sonia loses her props for not just getting to the point when their lives are on the line.

And then the boys lose it for being Idiot Boys despite the conversation.

Ah, Sonic Undgeround’s weird timelines. How I’d forgotten them. Side note, I also have trouble with pacing and timelines when writing The Lost Prince, so I probably can’t blame it. But here, they’ve been walking for two days, and Sonia is only NOW asking what Manic did for a living.

(also, notice that even Sonia, sheltered aristocrat that she is, thinks everyone of their age should have a proper job. They are somewhere between the ages of twelve and sixteen, folks! I make way too much of this!)

Gondar. Is certainly not voiced by the same guy as Robotnik, I’m sure.

No one questions why Sonic has super speed. This is not considered to be his ‘hidden talent’. For Reasons.

Manic’s ability to make drum sticks fly around will never be mentioned after this episode, to my memory.

Three days plus however much training time… and Robotnik is only just now figuring out the map they found? Apparently the super genius can’t read.

Ahh, Manic’s insecurity. So very well founded. He’s right, I’d argue – Sonic’s speed and Sonia’s… whatever that spin thing is, they are both so much more powerful than being able to throw sticks. And this isn’t even Sokka in the Last Airbender thing, the sticks are basically useless and will continue to be so. His actual power (SPOILERS) is over the earth, to the point that the whole stick thing is a weird addition from the get-go.

I’ll be honest with you, the monks and the invisible stairs are the only things I ever remember from this episode, because it’s such a weird visual that isn’t important in any way.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Okay, so this is another running theme with the series, where they’re going to say Sonic’s impulsiveness is a huge problem, but the times when it isn’t, he won’t do anything different, it will just be that either Sonia tells him what to do, or he suddenly shows far more battle skill than he does when the impulsiveness is a problem. This is a common thread in Sonic media, actually, and it always kind of annoys me because they never do it well. Everything is always Sonic’s fault, except when it isn’t. Yes, this is why I still haven’t gotten around to watching Sonic Prime.

The SONG: Working Together, in which 60s rock would like their style back, thanks

…Wait, that was it?

Oh, yeah, in a better show this would have been the second third of a long first episode, RIGHT.

Sonic Underground 03: Harmony or Something

The plot (for want of a better word): After having discovered Manic’s power over the earth, the triplets are told Sonic’s friend Trevor is in danger. They abandon their training to rescue him, only to uncover a scheme to hunt down the Oracle of Delphius! The triplets must think quickly and work as a team to save everyone!

Once again, Sonic being cranky disrupts the harmony and causes problems. 90s Sonic was always so cranky…

A bit of world building here again, that you surprisingly are supposed to notice: elementals (of which dragons apparently count) are a thing, and apparently common-place enough that they teach it in school. Now, the way the conversation is phrased, you’re supposed to think Sonic’s stupid for not knowing about it, but Sonia is the only one that does. This is absolutely where I got the idea that she’s the only one of the three that went to school. Which would make sense in context, but I am thinking way too hard about it…

“Control of the earth can set off powers beyond your control”… this will never come up again. Manic, you could have had such an epic character arc of growing arrogance and humility… Instead I have to think too much about it and read into Manic’s insecurity and make him into A Nice Guy and ughhhh I am such a problem.

“I have also learnt that you might have the biggest heart in the world” – this is about Sonic, and while I agree with this characterisation in general, I have not seen it in this series, and certainly neither has Sonia. But we move on.

 Jeez… yeah, Bartleby’s a sleaze and a problem, but again, put a little reality on this situation and he’s actually worth his salt. He ‘walks the fine line’ as per Sonia’s words, and is immediately threatened by the sight of a woman who was his social equal (if not better) having been robbed of her sentience and turned into a slave, and he still does nothing worse than continue to walk the fine line. He’s a jellyfish, but the man’s got integrity.

Dingo, in contrast, is a creep, and Sleet’s insults make like, no sense

Once again, Sonia knows all the things. Hacking, flying jets, this will keep happening… If a skill is needed, Sonia will have it, as a good 90s female. God, I hate her character type.

Manic… seriously, man, mortal peril is not the time to play around, but Sonia, snarking at Sonic during mortal peril is also not appropriate

And the first of Aleena’s guilt tripping holograms! Hooray!

THE SONG: Birds of a Feather… oh, the… the early 90s pop nostalgia… oh ouch… it hurts…

 …I appreciate Sleet’s pragmatism. It never works out for him, but I appreciate it.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Aleena… Oracle… it… I get prophecy, but… you’re RIGHT THERE. Reunite! Save us the next 37 episodes and the unresolved ending! Or at least tell the kids to stop looking until they’re ready. Come on.

The prophecy is obnoxiously vague, by the way. In this episode, it’s… arguably implied that the triplets need to learn to be better before they can be given their rightful place as rulers, but I would argue that in 40 episodes, the show takes absolutely no steps to improve their characters and make them better leaders. And as I said last time, Aleena is implied to have been not great to begin with. So CLEARLY my solution to this whole problem is change the last two minutes of this episode.

But that was the opening movie! Ridiculously too fast-paced for what it was trying to do, terrible animation, amazing world-building, interesting characters, acceptable dialogue. Welcome to the Trashfire that I have loved for half my life.

Come back tomorrow if you want to know more!

[rriavian]

Ok so here is a snippet of today's Corintheus week fic! I do intend to post it later on but am currently struggling through the edit (and I still need to decide on a title!) so I'm sharing this a little early :)

For the prompt: Undying devotion ‘this time, do not let go’ wherein Dream agrees to take part in a charity auction.

@dreamlovescori thanks for another amazing prompt!

-

Lucienne was the one who informed Dream about the auction.

The winter celebrations had always included an event for charity, the chosen organisation rotating each year, decided by an office vote taking place at the beginning of September. Dream had implemented an early deadline to ensure they’d have time to book—rarely an issue given their standing contract with the venue—as well as time to plan the scheduled festivities. It was an evening of various events both competitive and otherwise. A paint and sip had been made popular enough that it returned year on year, karaoke was also an office favourite, and depending on the mood there was sometimes a scavenger hunt.

It always ended with an awards ceremony.

The winners were voted upon in the first few weeks of December. That part was only for employees—though select clients were invited to celebrate at least the first half of the evenings events—a light-hearted way to celebrate the years achievements. It was an important occasion, not only an opportunity to network but a time for relaxation before the end of the year.

Anticipation had been building in the office for weeks.

Jessamy had scheduled a meeting to discuss the arrangements, prompt as always, the invite reaching Dream’s inbox at exactly 9:05am on December first.

This year had been a particularly busy one, the celebrations arranged for a date right in the midst of it all. In all honesty, Dream didn’t tend to pay much attention to the preparations, just ensured the funds were available and then allowed his employees to plan it as they wished. He’d almost forgotten about it entirely, had been reminded when Matthew had quite cheerfully given an update in the most recent team meeting. The subsequent email reminder that had been sent around listed out exactly what the schedule would be for the occasion.

Dream would much rather be onboarding the new client.

A latecomer to be sure but that could not be held against them—a novelist pitching a phenomenal detective story Dream had devoured in a few hours and immediately agreed to publish—the contracting process revealed to be far more complex than initially anticipated. It appeared his client dipped into different markets the same way Dream did; this the first novel, not the first venture, one such enterprise a dabbling into a franchise of horror themed escape rooms that was going very well. It may have added weeks of work to the end of the year but that was just part of the job. There was much to be done before the year was over, all needed to ensure a smooth transition.

Yet it was also Dream's responsibility to attend his own charity event. He would not risk creating an impression that he didn’t think it was important.

Still, when Lucienne knocked on the door of his office and explained that there had been a last minute adjustment he’d been sceptical. Then when she’d elaborated on how there would now be a charity auction added to the schedule Dream had stared at her a moment too long to claim neutrality.

“What sort of auction?”

There was much he could donate.

But Dream had his suspicions that this was an occasion of another sort.

“Not one you’re used to.” Lucienne’s smile was amused, but kind, she’d seen what his concern was without him needing to say it. “For your time. A dinner, to be precise.”

Dream frowned. “Who would want to take me to dinner?”

He didn’t try and hide the perplexity in his tone. Lucienne laughed; fond, not mocking, and so it did not rankle despite how it was clear she was laughing at him. “You might be surprised about that.”

“I don’t think I will be.” Dream replied. Then nodded briskly. “Very well. May I request a favour?”

“Depends.”

“Would you bid?” He asked. “To ensure that—”

Dream trailed off, frowned as he realised how he’d intended to end the sentence, unsure where the sudden insecurity had come from. He was not worried about being forced to spend time with someone intolerable—that was already a part of his job—nor was he concerned about no one bidding at all. That was already somewhat certain. Yet something about an unknown entity had him needing to ensure he would spend the evening with someone he knew.

Further explanation didn’t end up being required.

Lucienne’s smile was soft. “Of course. I presume you’re paying?”

The tone turned sly at the end, the gentleness a cushion for it. Dream laughed quietly, tension uncurling. “I will fund your donation.”

He waited a beat before changing tact.

“Now. About the new client.”