#I feel like Danny would become a full staff member and get used to the family

[op-sys-chaos]

“Damian?” Bruce asks as he walks into the art studio. “Care to explain why there is a complete stranger in the batcave?”

“Ah, you’ve met our newest employee, I see.” Damian doesn’t even look up from his painting.

“Employee?” Bruce asks, trying to keep his composure and not shout at his son about the obvious security risk.

“Yes. You see, he is a homeless boy who is quite good with animals. I have interacted with him on more than one occasion. I offered him food and shelter on the condition that he care for the animals here. I’ve already discussed it with Alfred, and a room has been prepared for him in the servants’ quarters,” Damian explains.

“Damian. This is a MASSIVE security risk. You let a stranger who none of us have vetted into the cave and jeopardized our identities. You do see how this is a problem, right?”

Damian scoffs. “Of course I see the apparent issue, Father. But he found out my identity - quite by accident - and kept it a secret for weeks with no incentive to do so. I believe he will not share our identities with anyone. Especially not since he now relies on us for food and shelter.”

Bruce sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Damian. Even if that is the case, you still need to run it by the rest of us in the future, okay?”

Damian finally looks up, a small bit of regret on his face. “My apologies, Father. I shall endeavor to communicate more thoroughly in the future.”

“Thank you,” Bruce replies. “So. What do you know about him?”

“His name is Danny, and animals like him to the degree that I might guess that he’s a meta, except all of our interactions have been within the bounds of human limitations.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bruce asks.

Damian outlines the incidents where he came into contact with Danny, from the raccoons Danny defended to the bird who stole Damian’s wallet. By the end of it, Bruce is inclined to agree with his son; while strange, the incidents aren’t behind human capabilities, especially since Danny didn’t seem to be actually ordering the animals around in any capacity. Damian had said that Danny had seem surprised to find Robin each time the animals brought them together. But Bruce suspected that something was up nonetheless, and vowed to investigate.

~~

“So,” Duke says the moment they’re alone. “What’s with the green glow around you?”

Danny blinks. “What?”

“I can see weird light stuff,” Duke explains, trying to tell the truth without giving a complete stranger the full details of his meta power. “But most people don’t have lots of neon green light surrounding them. I figured it’s the kind of thing you’d know about since it’s very, very strong.”

Danny gives a small smile to Duke. “I assume it’s from the ecto exposure,” he says. “My parents were scientists who studied ectoplasm, which is a neon green substance. They weren’t exactly big on lab safety, though, so I got exposed to it a lot.

Duke is fairly certain that that’s not the full story, but he lets Danny get away without further prying. “So how’d you end up as a… bat caretaker?” he settles for asking.

Danny laughs. “Animals like me, and apparently, they like Robin too. So they teamed up to get their favorite animal lovers to meet.”

Duke chuckles. “How so?”

Danny recounts the tales of how he and Robin met, much to Duke’s amusement. By the time he’s done, Duke has a better idea of who the teenager is. He’s smart and funny, and very caring about others, human or not. If Bruce had met him first and was in need of a Robin, he very well might have asked Danny. He’d fit in well here, and he even had the Robin looks as a bonus. (Not that the looks were a requirement per se, just look at Steph. But he still fit the pattern of the majority of the Robins.) As it is, Duke is confident that Danny will do well in Wayne Manor if he gets to stay.

“So. Damian told me about the animals, but he didn’t tell me much about their personalities. Are any of them mean to strangers?” Danny asks after a moment of silence.

“Nah,” Duke replies. “If anything, they’re indifferent to new people - that is, unless the new people try to harm others. Then you’re looking at a squad of badass animals who will kick you into next week.”

“Got it,” Danny says with a grin. “We should be fine then. Animals like me.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Duke asks.

“They like dead things,” Danny replies with a shrug.

Duke’s brain short circuits. “What?”

“I told you that my parents studied ectoplasm, right?” he asks with a frown.

“Yeah?”

“Ectoplasm is essentially concentrated death energy,” Danny explains, like this is something obvious.

“Oh,” Duke says, starting to get it. “So with how much of a death aura you have, from all that exposure-“

“Yeah. The animals flock to me like I’m Cinderella.”

Duke nods. “Okay, that makes a lot more sense.”

Bruce comes down the stairs a moment later. “Danny, you may stay. I assume Damian already briefed you on the care and keeping of the animals, since you came prepared. You may begin your tasks.”

Danny nods. “Cool, thanks!” He begins his chores without a further word, and Duke turns to Bruce to share his findings.

Disney princess Danny

It’s known that animals can sense death. Instances where pets gravitate to someone on their death bed and dogs barking at ghosts. Danny already knew this from before he half died, so he was expecting animals to rat him out with their sixth sense or become aggressive or cower from him. Instead, they all behaved the complete opposite than he anticipated.

Stray cats come running to rub against his legs, dogs nearly pull arms out of their owners sockets to get close to him, birds bring him trinkets, raccoons lead him to trash cans full of food, and even squirrels and rats get close to just sit on his shoulders. It’s… weird, but not unwelcome. He always loved animals.

Danny had come to semi-trust the animals that come to him. They know where the good food is and drinking water, they know when to steer away from a certain area right before something happens, and they always know when a person is bad or okay. So when an animal leads him somewhere, he follows. Sometimes they need help and he’s the one they go to. He’s helped plenty of raccoons out of garbage bins and cats out of gutters to have a good relationship with the animals of the streets.

What he isn’t expecting is to be led to Robin again and again.

The first time it was a cat. A mangy old Tom cat that rubbed against his torn up jeans and looked back with - Danny swears- a raised eyebrow. Danny follows and soon enough he finds himself standing a few paces away from Robin who is kneeling down to give clean water to the momma cat and her three kittens.

Robin freezes and so does Danny. They stare at each other.

“Um, hi?”

Robin straightens immediately, leaving the water on the ground where the cats can drink. Tom cat swaggers over to guard them.

“Civilian. Is there something I can assist you with?”

The dude is probably a year or two younger than Danny himself and he has to suppress a smile at the formal tone.

“Oh, uh, no? The cat just led me here.”

He can see Robin glance at the Tom cat who was now licking himself.

“Is that so?”

“Yea. Sorry to interrupt. Animals just like me for some reason.”

The three kittens one by one all totter over to him on unsteady legs after they had their fill. The orange one starts trying to climb his pant leg with its short and sharp claws digging into the jean material.

“They really like me.”

He carefully sits down crossed legged so the others could also climb all over him. Robin watches for a moment silently and when he sees Danny react well to the little pricks from tiny claws, he seems it safe enough to return to patrol.

The second time it’s a couple of rats that lure him away to find Robin fighting off more thugs than he probably should by himself. So taking the rats’ movements as encouragement, he takes the closest thing, a piece of plywood, and hit the nearest guy over the head with it. The guy crumbles like a wet sock and Danny is moving on to the next thug.

They sweep the floor with these guys with only a few splinters and a twisted ankle.

“It was dangerous to intervene,” Robin tells him. “I had it handled.”

“Yea, I know.”

The vigilante didn’t seem to be expecting that response from his stunned silence. He straightens as much as he can with bruised ribs.

“Well, I’m glad you know your mistake. Don’t let it happen again.”

Danny neither agrees nor disagrees, just shrugs and allow the rats to climb up his leg to his shoulder. Robin looks at them curiously. Danny gives a salute before leaving. Robin gives him a nod.

The third time it happened the roles are reversed.

Some people from the local gang are bullying the lonely, homeless teen to run drugs for them. They don’t seem to understand the word ‘no’. It gets to the point where Danny finds himself with his back against the wall and all his exits blocked with a guy shoving him again and again.

“Stop it!”

“I’ll stop if you agree.”

“I’m not doing it!”

Frank the raccoon and his buddy Bobby launch themselves at the guy’s ankles. The guy shrieks and pulls a gun.

“No!”

Before Danny can dive for it, a projectile comes out of nowhere to knock it out of his hands. He can’t even process what happened before the three are running away, two raccoons chattering at their heels before coming back to crowd him in worry.

Danny looks up to see Robin with a sword out threateningly, staring at where the three fled. He sheaths the sword after a few seconds.

“Are you okay?”

Danny realizes he’s breathing a little heavy and slows down a bit as he leans over to pet the top of the two heads.

“I’m- yea, I’m okay. Thanks for the save. Those guys were jerks.”

“I’m inclined to agree.”

Robin is staring at the raccoons and it takes Danny a long moment to piece things together.

“Did- did they lead you to me?”

Robin doesn’t answer right away.

“You have loyal friends.”

Danny smiles at the weird compliment. Looking down at the two heroes of the evening Danny is also inclined to agree.

The fourth time is funny in a way Danny doesn’t know how to describe.

It was the pigeons. They were at fault of course for how Robin’s secret identity was outed. By pigeons.

The grey birds swarmed Danny and settled in a cloud of feathers. One holding something in its beak before plopping it down in his lap like a golden retriever. It flaps off as Danny picks up the obvious wallet clip holding quite a bit of cash and a student ID. The card says Damian Wayne from Gotham Academy. Just then Robin comes skidding around the corner, clearly out of breath and freezes.

Danny looks down at the clip in his hand and back up at the vigilante. He looks at the crazy amount of birds around him and again at the vigilante.

Said vigilante straightens and approaches like he called Danny there.

“If I could have that so I could return it to its proper owner.”

He holds out a hand with false arrogance, but Danny can see the nervousness in his stance. Danny looks down one last time before putting the clip in the outstretched hand without a word.

Robin nods once, pockets the ID and money, and immediately leaves.

The fifth time just cements what Danny had already figured out.

He was at the park. Not Ivy’s park of course, the one where people actually like to go. He was helping the squirrels find and hide acorns when he’s nearly knocked over by a massive black dog.

“Titus!”

The end of the Great Dane’s leash is a familiar face. Damian Wayne’s eyes widen in recognition as he finally sees who Titus was so excited to get to.

“Uh-“

Danny has to close his mouth quickly or else the massive tongue on his face would have turned into a French kiss.

“Titus! Heel!”

Danny laughs at the embarrassed blush on the other’s face, obviously not used to his companion going off the rails like this.

“It’s alright. We both know how animals like me.”

Damian narrows his eyes to analyze the teen. Danny wasn’t about to pretend and Damian looked like he was debating whether to follow his lead or not. There was literally no one within hearing distance.

“Have you told anyone?”

Danny thought about redirecting, but thought better of it. He actually liked Robin and what he did.

“Nope. I haven’t and I won’t. I swear.”

Damian tilts his head and then looks down at Titus. He seems to come to a decision before looking back at Danny.

“You’re homeless, are you not?”

Didn’t think they were being that direct but sure.

“Yea?”

“I will pay you in food and shelter to take care of my animals.”

Danny blinks. Then actually considers the offer.

“What kind of animals? How many we talking?”

Damian grins.

The family finds out pretty quickly when a teen they’ve never seen before walks into the Batcave with two pails of food for the bats, Titus at his heels and Alfred the cat perched contently on his shoulders.

Duke stares and Bruce short circuits.

“Um, who are you?”

“Hi! I’m Danny. Damian employed me to take care of the animals.”

“O…kay?”

“And where is Damian?” Bruce sounds like it physically hurts to ask and Danny does not envy Damian’s position right now.

“Upstairs. I think he said he was going to his art studio.”

Bruce marches past the boy to the stairs before stopping abruptly and turning to Danny and Duke.

“Don’t touch anything. Watch him.”

Duke and Danny blink at each other for a moment as Bruce disappears up the stairs.

“I’m Duke by the way.”

Danny grins.

[rip-a-dip-dip-you-potato-chip]

what have I created?

idk if yall like this, but they just exist not i guess :/

ok the the first one is Royalty AU

first things first, when I say Royalty AU, I don't mean the classic shit we've all become accustomed to. Im talking about the good old Chinese royalty! And I want to emphasize that these guys will/should be dressed in century appropriate attire. As someone thats read a handful of 'marinette, princess of china' fics from the ML Fandom, I've noticed a common trend. Marinette wouldn't be in the culturally appropriate clothes, always ballgowns. Not that there's something wrong with it, its just most of if not all these fic are set in China, so I'd expect Chinese royalty to dress as THERE dress code calls for. And since this AU takes place far in the past like, it won't make sense for any of the characters to be in royal clothing that wasn't from there region. I'm not trying to white knight/gatekeeping. Im Guyanese not Chinese. But since JTTW and Monkie Kid take place in China, it's only right. In my opinion that it. You don't have to outright agree with me.

With out of the way, it's time for that good old AU crack

- Wukong is the king of the Flower Fruit kingdom(or a different one if you'd like, again I'm only familiar with what western culture has taught me, but I'll try my hardest) 

- he’s single but rumor has it he used to/still is dating the Vigilante/thief The Six Eared Macaque

- *chants ShadowPeach violently* 

- no one know whether it true or not

- On of his wanders around the kingdom he finds an abandoned baby in a basket. 

- and no shit sherlock it's fucking baby Xiaotian 

- I think we all know where this is going because i'm a simp for Monkey Dad & Monkie Son shenanigans

- Xiaotian becomes prince

Shit, ill be referring to Xiaotian as Mk from now on, I mentioned this before in a fic I wrote for lmk that Mk's a nickname for Xiaotian for some reason- wait i don't have to explain my self to you people!

- Sun loves his son

- MK is treated differently by staff and others because he's not blood related to the king

- no one mistreats MK per say, because there King loved his adopted son, but words are said behind his back

- Sometimes MK hears what’s said, and he feels as if he won't live up to his dad’s legacy.

- He meets Mei during a festival

- Mei is from a noble family, that wouldn't mind if they got a connection into the royal family.

- but it becomes hella clear to Mei’s family very fast that the two are just friends, and will always will be. but hey there daughter is bffs with the prince so that's a plus.       

_

- the Demon Bull Family is rules a kingdom as well, I dont/am not creative enough to think of a name I leave that to you.

- It's a common misconception that DBK is a tyrant, when he’s not. 

- most of the time...

- they have been at war with the Monkey King for some time now and settled for a peace agreement.

- that agreement being there sons to marry

- oooo original i know

- MK and Red Son are roughly the same age, Mk being 20 and RS 22

- RS is revolted/disgusted at the idea of being wed to the Monkey Kings child, even more so when he realizes MK is adopted,

- but, that all changes the second he meets MK while he meets him by accident when he gets kinda lost in the palace when he and his parents go to discuss the arrangements.

- the second he looks at MK, he's instantly in love. MK less so, he's nervous and honestly kinda bummed he's not marrying someone he loves but it's for the good of his ppl, and he'll do anything for them.

- RS isn't even aware that MK is Suns adopted son until MK walks him back to the meeting room.

"Oh There you are MK! I was about to have a servant go fetch you!" Sun Wukong says, gesturing for his boy to come sit with him.

"S-sorry for keeping you waiting I got caught up in my lessons with Mr. Tang" MK responds, sitting next to his father. Red Son looked gobsmacked. The beautiful young man he had bumped into, was the prince of this land? Damn, life truly blessed him. Or cursed him depending on how you looked at it.

- the two are left alone in a separate room for a while.

- And MK straight up tells RS why he's agreeing to this union.

"Look Red Son. I've dreamed about meeting my one true love for a while. And I would give almost anything for that dram to be real. But I wouldn't ever dare give up my people, for as there price they mean more to me. I'm doing this for them, no other reason" MK says, his back straight and hands folded neatly in his lap. The look in his eyes was a mix of sadness, but that was drowned out by loyalty and determination. It just made Red Son fall for him even harder. Clearing his throat Red spoke.

"I understand, for im doing this for the betterment of my people to. But I propose a wager"

"A wager?"

"Yes, if i can make you fall in love with me by years end, before our marriage, we can live together like in the fairy tales from far away. But if I fail, in a years time afterwards you will be permitted to find your own path in life" Red Son stated. MK took a moment to process what was happening.

"So, if you succeed in making me fall in love with you, before our marriage we can live happily ever after?" Red Son nodded in response, letting the younger continue.

"And if I shouldn't fall for you, in a years time after our union, im free to leave?" Red Son nodded once more.

"So, what do you say?"

...

"Deal"

In the end, your free to choose their fate, should Red Son win the hart of Mk? Will he fail? Or will he let him go, and let him travel the country, after all Mk's a free spirit and keeping him trapped in a big house is like keeping a cannery trapped in a cage only for its song, only for it to dul. Or will the unthinkable happen and will both boys find their freedom? together or appart? I don't know, because that's all up to you 😉

personally, I’m partial to where MK and Red Son both find freedom together. Like they straight up run away together to somewhere far away and just live out there lives together. 

this could also be genderbent thing as well. MK or Red as their respective counterparts. Again it doesn't have to be, but it’s whatever bro. im just spitting out the idea. 

Also, there is a main side plot that they fight the WBS throughout the year as well, along with other shenanigans you wanna throw in.

____

The second is a My Hero Academia/BNH/MHA AU

truth be told i'm not a big fan of MHA i think it to over hyped(this is also coming from the same person that’s a Fairy Tail fan lol), and the fandom i don't even know how to describe that mess, but I will admit not the whole of its toxic since every fandom has some toxic members, some even more so. 

I just sometimes find myself enjoying MHA AUs like the Fullmetal Alchemist, Danny Phantom, Evil!Deuk AU and several others. 

to make it clear I don't see this AU taking place the same time as the main plot of the actual Anime/Manga. This could be either like 6-10 years before or after the plot idk bro. But i’ll do this after the main story plot of MHA, so keep that in mind ya? another thing, the gang is still in China, the top hero school in the world just so happens to be in Japan, and it’s only ever mentioned by Sun wukong and other pro heros. So MK never attended AU. in short it’s only ever mention/ reference.  

_

- Mk was considered Quirkless as a kid. 

- he was just a late blumer, i swear  

- Mai’s Quirk is called Dragon. 

- it pretty much works the same way as it does in the show(duh)

- Tang’s got a knowledge Quirk, 

- my man can retain information and he’s basically an archive of information drawback being his personality lol 

- Piggsy is a Animal that gained a Quirk

- in cannon to my current knowledge, there are two other characters that can confirm animals can become sentient. the characters being Fumikage Tokoyami, & Nezu the principal at the school UA.  

- Sandy is just Conner Kent, aka he like superman but can't fly, or shoot lasers from his eyes. And blue.  

I have two scenarios for Macaque and Wukong  

*- The first one is that, Sun Wukong & Macaque are brothers. twins to be exact. 

- they where legit people, but have mutation quirks that made them too like monkeys. 

- the added powers were just a boues. 

- Sun and Mac are close growing up, like there brothers but also best friends.

- the draw back to there quirks could honestly be whatever you want bro idk, same with the others tbh. Personally I like to think Sun just has lack of motivation, and Macaque needs to draw on other people's energy.

- Sun is a hero, Monkey KIng and Mac is a villain Six Eared.

- Sun was always treated has the golden child in the family, Mac always resented that, but there shitty up bring didn’t stop the two from being good brothers to one another.

- soon tho the resentment became hatred when Sun was able to attend UA in Japan, while Mac didn't.

- Mac be angy 

- so he became a villain, and joined the Chinese branch of the LOV(league of villains)

- Sun doesn't know this till he finds out during the all out war during the main story. and by that time he’s a full on hero with is own agency(The Flower Fruit agency)    

- when the hero's ultimately win and Mac is arrested 

- This ultimately hurts Sun a lot, his brother was in jail now, arrested for his involvement and wrong doings, he knew nothing about this! this brother, his blood. A bad guy? why? he hadn't seen his brother since he left for UA, he hadn’t seen him when he came home, and started his agency. 

- this just puts Sun into a funk so he’s not as active as he used to be, and he starts thinking he might need a successor 

*- The second one is that they were two separate people that had similar quirks and both attended UA but Sun ended up in the hero corse. so 1A.

- Both Macaque and Sun have similar quirks, Sun’s is obviously more light based while Macaque’s is more shadow based(this applies to the first one as well)    

- Macaque was placed in class 1B, U.A.’s High's Heroics Department, I believe, you can correct me. 

- In cannon Class 1A and 1B both went to the training camp. I can see the teachers pinning Sun and Macaque against each other to hone their skills. 

- And because of that they become great friends    

- In fact when they graduate they both co-found there hero agency together in China and are a duo.

- But due to Monkey King’s popularity and Six Eared's association with shadows(people sometimes saying he has more of a villains quirk than a heros) the public see’s Macaque as Sun’s sidekick when thats far from the truth. 

- now it’s up to you whether you think that Wukong and Macaque would be in a relationship together, but knowing how cooked we all are, ShadowPeach is a thing here more than likely. 

- If you do or don’t support/ like the ShadowPeach aspect, the two would be living together regardless since its more cost efficient. 

- They my be heroes but living costs are expensive!   

- I would imagine there would have been a huge fight/argument between the two in privet of course, at there home.(or in there shared office if you want the extra angst of the other people they work with hearing them fight)   

- If the two are dating, then this would either lead to an out right breakup, or Macaque just up and leaving with Wukong thinking he’ll come back once he’s cooled off. But after a week, with no sign of his partner, or him answering texts or calls, not even coming into work. Wukong gets worried that something might have happened to him. so there wouldn't be a confirmation if they were still a thing or not. 

- But Wukong remains hopeful, despite the nagging at the back of his head, and gut telling him to go find Macaque, or atleast make a public statement, or even just tell another pro hero about it.   

- on the not so shippy side, Macaque and Wukong still have there argument, and much like the ShadowPeach esc side, Macaque up and leaves, and isn't seen for weeks. the only difference here is that when Wukong comes home one night to there flat, most if not all of Macaques stuff is gone. 

- where as if this was the ShadowPeach side, Macaque leaves all of his possession in the flat he and wukong share. for the simple reason being, he still loves him and wants to go back, but Macaque being Macaque can’t bring himself to do it, especially after seeing just how hurt Wukong looked when he yelled at him just before he left.  

- in other words, ANGST DIALED UP TO A 10 BABY  

- in either case, its a news report that confirms Wukong's suspicions that he desperately didn’t want to believe, and that is Macaque turning into a villain.

- much like if the two were brothers, Wukong just can’t take it and is no longer as active as he once was, and is thinking about, either A) Retirement  B) Saying, “Fuck Society, Be Gay Do Crime” and join Macaque as a villain himself, or C) find a successor, and a way to bring Macaque back to there side, but most importantly, back to him.    

- also extra points if you're after people's hearts and want to make them suffer;  - If there dating, Wukong curle’s up in the bed he and Macaque shared, holding/wearing something of great value to Macaque and just crying himself to sleep, where as Macaque is getting wasted on alcohol, as he stumbles out of the bar he’s in, he either see’s something that reminds him of Wukong or while he’s trying to put his wallet back into his pocket, a photo of them on their first date fall’s out. and Macaque just cries in a nearby alley way. And it’s there where he gets indoctrinated into the League.

       - If there just friends, macaque heads to the nearest forest and just levels it, where as Wukong just gets engrossed into his work, trying not to think about it. you could add you own spin on this, again i'm just spitballing.             

- NOW BACK TO MK! :D     

- Obviously MK is a huge Monkey King fan     

- at Twenty MK has come to terms he's quirkless (HE’S NOT)

-for ANGST reasons MKs fokes kicked him out at this realization at 13.

- he works at Piggsy's Noodle shop, and has been since he was 14.

- don't need a quirk to drive or cook!

- the boy lives a content life with his new family, till DBK happens :D

- DBK runs a Mafia(in conjunction with TLOV) and has been in jail for like 5 years thanks to Monkey King, PIF and RS brake him out one night when MK's out making a late night delivery since Piggsy had the bright idea to go 24/7 service!

- one thing leads to another and Mk somehow manifest what looks like the Monkey King's staff, but its not, it’s MKs powers, it just so happens to be the same power the Monkey King has. And it practically goes down the same way in the pilot. 

- but unlike the pilot Mk and Mei go straight to the FF Agency, after making a panicked call to Pigsy and Tang.

- one way or another Mk are lead into Wukongs office. Mei being forced to stay in the lobby.

- they have there convo, butterfly monkey squishing included.

- "And so, I want you do be my success-" BOOM 💥

- from there they rush downstairs and see that the lobby has been infiltrated by the DB fam, and you know fight.

- once the DB family seems like there down, PIF wisks them away. Much to Monkey King’s displeasure.

From there stuff kind plays out like cannon, the calabash ep is just a conjoint quirk the Demon bros have. As for EP9, ill have to script that one out myself lol. I'll get onto it as soon as my will to commit stabs me in the face. Till then have a dancing Kermit the frog.

Now if you'll excuse me, am about to Kermit a felony :D

(For legal reasons thats a joke)

Psst @writingamongther0ses its done

[twoidiotwriters1]

Written In The Stars XCV (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: TODAY IS THE DAY I SEND MY LAST ESSAY PLS PRAY SO I CAN BE FREE -Danny

Words: 3,601

Series’ Masterlist

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Chapter Thirty: Through a Darker Standpoint.

"Is something on your mind, dear girl?" Dumbledore asked attentively.

Mel was writing down their last lesson before going back to her common room. Dumbledore told her this was the final class they'd be having that trimester, and she was deep in thought, her eyes fixed on Fawkes.

"No..." She said. "Well, yes..."

"You want to ask me–?"

"Did you mean it when you say you'd help me to become an animagus?" She looked away from the bird and directly into his eyes. "Or were you just humouring me?"

"Was I humouring you when I agreed to give you lessons?"

"No," She pointed to her notes. "Clearly..."

"I'll help with your education as animagus as much as I'm helping you with this," Dumbledore looked at her over his glasses. "Patience is a virtue, and learning will often require for you to wait."

"I know that it's just..." She shook her head. "I don't know, maybe I'm exhausted. I could use a break."

"I hope you find it refreshing. Anything else?"

Mel gave up, she closed her notebook and put down her quill.

"Is the third task harder than the others?"

"I see," He smiled. "Harry's done a remarkable job, Mel. I wouldn't worry about how things will turn out, the task, once over, it's over for good."

"But are you sure?"

There was a glint in Dumbledore's eyes that gave away his amusement. "You care a lot, don't you?"

"Some may say more than what's necessary..." She grumbled.

"There's no such thing as caring too much about a loved one's safety. I would've done anything to keep my sister safe. Wanting our family to be happy is the main reason why we do the impossible, isn't it? You more than anyone should know, dear girl."

There was always that uneasy feeling questioning how much was she truly prepared to face danger. One day, there was going to be no Albus Dumbledore to tell her what to do, just her and her skills. Mel could only hope that'd be enough.

"You two are to go down to the Quidditch field tonight at nine o'clock," McGonagall told them after the last lesson of the week. "Mr Bagman will be there to tell the champions about the third task."

When Harry and Mel made their way to the entrance, Cedric and Erick appeared from their respective passages. The latter threw a knowing smile their way that she ignored.

"What d'you reckon it's going to be?" Cedric asked Harry as they all went together to the Quidditch Field. "Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure."

"That wouldn't be too bad," Harry shrugged.

"Guess?" Erick nudged her arm playfully.

"Your brother moved out?" She ventured.

"I wish! No, my grandad wrote to me yesterday. He's coming to see the third task!"

"Oh... I didn't know others could come to see it!"

"I don't know if it's exactly allowed," Erick looked ahead, frowning a little. "He used his 'this is my last chance' speech, Dumbledore welcomed him with open arms."

"What've they done to it?" They heard Cedric's voice ahead, Mel finally looked toward the field and let out a tiny gasp.

The Quidditch field was no longer smooth and flat. It looked as though somebody had been building long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction.

"They're hedges!" said Harry, bending to examine the nearest one.

"Hello, there!" called a cheery voice.

"If you ask me," The corner of Erick's lips were up, holding back a smirk. "This is an improvement."

Mel hushed him before Harry could hear him, the boy was a huge Quidditch fan and still didn't like Flint, so Erick had to be careful.

Ludo Bagman waved at them to get closer, Krum and Fleur were there. As they grew nearer Mel noticed the radiant smile Fleur was giving Harry. She knew this was mostly thanks to Harry's act during the second task, Fleur was showing a new attitude of camaraderie that Mel thought it suited her. If she could keep it up and not complain about Hogwarts and their food, Mel figured she could even be a great friend.

"Well, what d'you think?" Bagman inquired as they finally reached them. "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry, you'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over!" Erick gave a quiet 'hurray' that sounded nothing but sarcastic, Harry heard it. "Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

"Maze," Krum replied lowly.

"That's right! A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

"We seemply 'ave to get through the maze?" said Fleur.

"There will be obstacles. Hagrid is providing a number of creatures... then there will be spells that must be broken... all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start into the maze. Then Mr Krum will enter... then Miss Delacour. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending on how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

Harry, Mel and Erick shared a knowing look, Hagrid's creatures didn't sound fun at all when you were acquainted with them.

"Very well... if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly..."

"I have one," Mel said. "How are we going to keep a record on the champions, I mean, what if one of them gets hurt?"

"Members of the school's staff, as well as Mr Flint and you, will be helping around the maze, there's no use on explaining everything now but rest assured, Miss Dumbledore. There won't be any major risks."

Bagman attempted once again to have a private word with Harry, but Krum got there first. Mel came into a halt a few feet away, as well as Bagman and Erick.

"Could I haff a vord?" She heard Krum ask.

"Yeah, all right," said Harry, his brow raising a little and glancing at her for just a second.

"Vill you valk vith me?"

"Okay..."

"I'll wait for you, Harry, shall I?" Bagman frowned, a little nervous.

"No, it's okay, Mr Bagman, I think I can find the castle on my own, thanks," said Harry, trying to keep as a straight face, then turned to Mel. "Really. You and Flint can keep going too, I'll see you back in the tower."

Mel nodded, Erick grabbed her by the arm gently and pulled her along.

"C'mon," He said quietly. "Probably just looking for relationship advice..."

"From Harry?" Mel snorted, her arm slipping from the boy's grip. "Why would he do that? No one knows about us, not even Hermione so I don't see how Krum would–"

"'Oh, I have a question Mr Bagman, how will I know my boyfriend's safe?'" Erick mocked her. "'How can I physically walk away without having a crisis?'"

"That's not how I sound! And that was a fair question!"

"All I'm saying is that everyone knows, or at least suspects, that there's something between you two. You look insufferable happy all the time, I guess Krum wants to know how you do it."

"Because we're friends," Mel rolled her eyes at the expression on the boy's face. "I mean, we were best friends before we... I don't know, before we became this."

"Before you started dating," Erick nodded.

"I don't know if we're dating," Mel replied stiffly. "We don't go out alone, and when we do we have to be discrete so Skeeter can't have a reliable source. According to Harry, this is so I don't get myself in danger as it happened to Hermione. According to me... well, I can't help but think it's a bit like in my novels, you know?  Keeping things between us kind of makes it more romantical."

"I think I puked a little in my mouth," He scrunched up his nose.

"Hey, you asked!" Mel argued. "What were you expecting me to say? 'Oh yeah, kissing Harry is the most boring thing I've ever done in my life'..."

"I can't take that image out of my mind now, thank you."

"Stop being so whiny," She protested. "Is not my fault that you–"

She stopped short, knowing it was a sensitive subject and it could cause a big fight if not treated carefully.

"That I what?" He halted. "Say it."

Instead of finishing her sentence, Mel sat down upon the front steps of the castle's entrance and sighed. "I'm tired of arguing with you, Flint. If I'm honest, I'm sick of having to walk on my tiptoes and hold back my comments every time we speak."

"This is you holding back?"

"I mean whenever we talk about you," She raised a brow. "I don't have a problem telling you to sod off, but when it's about you it's like you don't want me to know anything. I almost had to force out your Grandad's name out of your mouth!"

"I don't understand. What is your problem?"

"Every wrong thing I say you immediately take it as an opportunity to run off and cut the conversation short. You know everything about me, why are you still acting like I'm not a safe person to talk to?"

For a moment he did look like he was about to ignore her question. His shoulders tensed and he looked away, reluctant to speak. Then, after ten awful seconds, he sat down beside her and let out a quiet groan.

"Think I liked you better when you were tinier and afraid of me..."

"I wasn't afraid," She stated. "I did think you were a bit intimidating, though..."

"S'not that I don't trust you. I've never... I'm not used to talking about what upsets me and when you insist that I should tell you– I... I get frustrated. It's exasperating, not knowing how to express my feelings."

"You, at a loss of words?" Mel smiled shyly.

"Yeah, shocking," He chuckled. "I made bad some decisions and now I'm surrounded by a bunch of gits. I know you want to see it as this endless world of possibilities, that if we try hard enough and live our lives how we want to, no one can hurt us– but is not like that... not for the most of us. You want to live in a fairytale, but all we have is this," He gestured around vaguely. "You and I, and a few people that don't think we're crazy."

"We should be allowed to live as we want, do what we want, and be with who we love! I don't get it– why is it so hard for the rest to understand?" Mel replied heatedly.

Erick stared at her with a funny look in his eyes. "You know, I did tell Joseph you're the smartest witch in school. I know you are, but sometimes your emotions stop you from being even better."

"You sound like my uncle," She scoffed. "I know I'm fickle and impulsive–"

"I didn't mean it like that," He interrupted. "You try to see everything through a gentle perspective, which makes it impossible for you to have a clear view... growing up sucks Mel, I know it as much as you do," He stood up and offered his hand, "we have to do it anyway though, and if you do it, you'll see how hard it's to choose based on how you feel instead of what's suitable."

The Slytherin gazed at her with a hint of something she'd never seen before, almost... pitiful. Mel took his hand and stood up, she felt disheartened by their talk, but there was no easy way to convince Erick to change his mind and there was certainly no way she would change hers. She figured that eventually, one of them would be proven wrong.

It was hard to see this nostalgic version of Erick as the same cold, sarcastic boy she was used to, it was hard to look into his eyes and see how much he looked like he was thousands of years older.

"You and Anne..." She mentioned as they reached the marble staircase. "You've made up your mind, then?"

"There's nothing to decide," He shrugged. "She'll do her life and I'll do mine, if I find a way to be together I'll take it but if not... I'm not going to regret a thing."

Mel wanted to say that he couldn't be sure about that but decided to keep it for herself, there'd been enough discouraging words that night for the both of them, and she didn't want to give him a reason to keep going.

Just as she was reaching the second floor Harry came rushing towards her, he didn't slow down when he saw her, just yelled 'Mr. Crouch appeared!' and kept going.

Mel ran after him without hesitation, she and Harry reached Dumbledore's office and yelled the password, however, it looked like it had changed since the last time she and Dumbledore held her last lesson because the gargoyle didn't move at all.

"C'mon!" Harry yelled in exasperation, running a hand through his hair.

"Harry, what's wrong?" She asked in alarm.

"The staffroom," He said in quiet realization, turning around and starting to run once more.

They were midway to the stairs when Snape found them.

"POTTER! DUMBLEDORE!" He ordered them to get closer and so they did. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to see Professor Dumbledore!" Harry, gasping for air. "It's Mr Crouch... he's just turned up... he's in the forest... he's asking —"

"What is this rubbish?" said Snape. "What are you talking about?"

He looked at Mel for an explanation but Mel didn't know what was happening either, Harry insisted in an angry tone.

"Mr Crouch! From the Ministry! He's ill or something — he's in the forest, he wants to see Dumbledore! Just give me the password up to —"

"The headmaster is busy," said Snape, smiling as if denying Harry of a simple favour was making him happier than it should.

"I've got to tell Dumbledore!"

"Didn't you hear me, Potter?"

"Look," Harry continued, almost growling, "Crouch isn't right — he's — he's out of his mind — he says he wants to warn —"

"Is there a problem?" Dumbledore appeared from behind Snape, looking at them curiously.

"Professor! Mr Crouch is here — he's down in the forest, he wants to speak to you!"

"Lead the way," Dumbledore said.

Mel was thankful Dumbledore was Headmaster and not Snape, even if she didn't know what was going on, she figured Snape would rather see them in distress than tend their emergencies.

"What did Mr Crouch say, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as they approached the staircase again.

"Said he wants to warn you... said he's done something terrible... he mentioned his son... and Bertha Jorkins... and — and Voldemort... something about Voldemort getting stronger..."

"Indeed," Dumbledore walked faster alongside them.

"He's not acting normally, he doesn't seem to know where he is. He keeps talking like he thinks Percy Weasley's there, and then he changes and says he needs to see you... I left him with Viktor Krum."

"You did?" He sounded almost alarmed now. "Do you know if anybody else saw Mr Crouch?"

"No, Krum and I were talking, Mr Bagman had just finished telling us about the third task so Mel and Erick were long gone as well, Krum and I stayed behind, and then we saw Mr Crouch coming out of the forest —"

"Where are they?" Dumbledore looked blindly in the darkness.

"Over here," Harry guided them to the edge of the forest. He called out for Viktor, but no one answered. "They were here... They were definitely somewhere around here..."

He sounded worried and scared, Mel got closer as Dumbledore conjured light from his wand and looked around. There was a body there. Mel stopped breathing for a moment while Harry and Dumbledore reached forward to check on Krum.

"Stunned," Dumbledore said simply.

"Should I go and get someone? Madam Pomfrey?"

"No," Dumbledore turned to look at her and said. "Stay here. Wake him up."

He pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin with his wand. The faint shape of a phoenix made its way through the air as Mel kneeled next to Krum and whispered 'Rennervate'. Krum tried to sit up, but Dumbledore put a hand on his shoulder to keep him on the grass.

"He attacked me! The old madman attacked me! I vos looking around to see vare Potter had gone and he attacked from behind!"

"Lie still for a moment," Dumbledore ordered gently.

Hagrid appeared, carrying his crossbow.

"Professor Dumbledore! Mel! Harry — what the — ?"

"Hagrid, I need you to fetch Professor Karkaroff. His student has been attacked. When you've done that, kindly alert Professor Moody —"

"No need, Dumbledore," said a voice from behind them. "I'm here. Damn leg! Would've been here quicker... what's happened? Snape said something about Crouch —"

"Crouch?"

"Karkaroff, please, Hagrid!" Dumbledore repeated.

"Oh yeah... right y'are, Professor..."

"I don't know where Barty Crouch is," Dumbledore told Moody, "but it is essential that we find him."

"I'm onto it," Moody headed off into the forest.

Mel stayed next to Krum and checked the back of his head for injuries, fortunately, he was completely fine, just a little dizzy from the fall.

"What is this?" Karkaroff walked up to them, his eyes blazing with anger. "What's going on?"

"I vos attacked!" said Krum. "Mr Crouch or votever his name —"

"Crouch attacked you? Crouch attacked you? The Triwizard judge?"

"Igor..."

"Treachery! It is a plot! You and your Ministry of Magic have lured me here under false pretenses, Dumbledore! This is not an equal competition! First you sneak Potter into the tournament, though he is underage! Now one of your Ministry friends attempts to put my champion out of action! I smell double-dealing and corruption in this whole affair, and you, Dumbledore, you, with your talk of closer international wizarding links, of rebuilding old ties, of forgetting old differences — here's what I think of you!"

Karkaroff spat onto the ground at Dumbledore's feet. In one swift movement, Hagrid seized the front of Karkaroff's furs, lifted him into the air, and slammed him against a nearby tree.

"Apologize!" Hagrid snarled as Karkaroff gasped for breath, Hagrid's massive fist at his throat, his feet dangling in midair.

"Hagrid, no!" Dumbledore shouted, his eyes flashing.

Hagrid removed the hand pinning Karkaroff to the tree, and Karkaroff slid all the way down the trunk and slumped in a huddle at its roots; a few twigs and leaves showered down upon his head.

"Kindly escort Harry and Mel back up to the castle, Hagrid," Dumbledore told him sternly.

"Maybe I'd better stay here, Headmaster..." Hagrid said, glaring at Karkaroff.

"You will take them back to school, Hagrid. Take them right up to Gryffindor Tower. And I want you two to stay there. Anything you might want to do — any owls you might want to send — they can wait until morning, do you understand me?"

"Er — yes," said Harry, staring at him.

Mel felt a bit of a chill run up her spine at the idea that her uncle could read their thoughts. Because she was certain that Harry had been planning to write Sirius about this.

"Very well," Dumbledore looked directly at her then. "You did a good job watching after Mr Krum, Mel. Now watch after yourself." She nodded, too shocked to speak against him, her nerves completely messed up after that experience.

"I'll leave Fang with yeh, Headmaster," Hagrid said. "Stay, Fang. C'mon, kids."

After a while walking in silence, Hagrid spoke up again.

"How dare he accuse Dumbledore. Like Dumbledore'd do anythin' like that. Like Dumbledore wanted you in the tournament in the firs' place. Worried! I dunno when I seen Dumbledore more worried than he's bin lately. An' you!" He turned to them angrily, they stepped back in surprise, Mel holding tightly onto Harry. "What were yeh doin', wanderin' off with ruddy Krum? He's from Durmstrang, Harry! Coulda jinxed yeh right there, couldn' he? Hasn' Moody taught yeh nothin'? 'Magine lettin' him lure yeh off on yer own —"

"Krum's all right!" He exclaimed. "He wasn't trying to jinx me, he just wanted to talk about Hermione —"

"I'll be havin' a few words with her, an' all," said Hagrid not listening. "The less you lot 'ave ter do with these foreigners, the happier yeh'll be. Yeh can' trust any of 'em."

"You were getting on all right with Madame Maxime," Harry said in a bad mood.

"Don' you talk ter me abou' her!" Hagrid yelled. When he saw the look on their faces, he lowered his voice. "I've got her number now! Tryin' ter get back in me good books, tryin' ter get me ter tell her what's comin' in the third task. Ha! You can' trust any of 'em!"

Harry and Mel shared a grim look without saying anything. He reached for the hand that was still firmly closed around his arm and held it, squeezing a bit to calm her down. It worked until they reached the tower, where Hagrid finally left them safe and sound. As soon as they were in Harry dragged her to where Ron and Hermione were sitting.

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha​ @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @stardusthigh @mikariell95 @vernon-dursley @thesuitelifeofafangirl @tomshollandz @kylosleftbuttcheek @reverse-hxlland @bloodorangemoonlight @omiwashere​ @t-rexs-world

[ukulelekatie]

The Sappy CarmillaCon Appreciation Post You’ve All Been Waiting For

It’s been a week since CarmillaCon, so now that I’ve had some time to relfect, it’s time to share my recap of the convention. Buckle up, creampuffs—this is gonna get long and emotional. 

Wow, where do I even begin with this? Perhaps at the beginning would be ideal. I remember, over a year ago, when CarmillaCon was just a hypothetical. A simple “We need a Carmilla con.” Watching it unfold over time was such a journey, and it’s incredible to look back on that moment and know how things turned out. 

Last weekend was a weekend of firsts for me. As a convention newbie, all my previous knowledge of how conventions worked was all learned through secondhand accounts of other cons. It was also my first time planning an entire trip and traveling by myself. And let me tell you, I was nervous. But my trip to Toronto, especially CarmillaCon, turned out to be such an overwhelmingly positive experience. And from the people I’ve spoken to, that sounds like a common theme. Everyone involved in the planning process should be very proud of their achievements.

And now is the part where I give some shoutouts to the people who made CarmillaCon the spectacular time it was.

Natasha Negovanlis. I don’t know anyone who puts as much love and care into getting to know their fans as much as Natasha does. And she remembers so many details about each of us! I’m always impressed by that. She truly makes everyone feel special and loved, whether she’s meeting you for the millionth time or the first.

Elise Bauman. I’ve heard dozens of people talk about how easy it is to interact with Elise, but getting to experience it for myself was an entirely different level. Her meet & greet felt like chatting with a long-time friend. She’s so genuine, quirky, and downright hilarious.

Kaitlyn Alexander was just as excited to meet their fans as we were to meet them, and that is so beautiful. I also really admire them for working through social anxiety and talking openly about it, because it was nice to know that I wasn’t alone in feeling anxious. They deserve all the good things.

Annie Briggs is absolutely SAVAGE. She goes from talking profoundly and professionally to dropping the most absurd and crass quips. Quite literally the embodiment of the “hi sir nice to meet you”/“your daughter calls me daddy too” meme.

Nicole Stamp is an incredibly sweet person, and I admire her so much for her friendliness and ability to make everyone around her feel appreciated. We ran into her in passing a few times, and even when she was in a hurry to get somewhere, she still stopped and said hi.

Matt O’Connor is a real sweetheart, and during my autograph we talked about his trip to Boston last year. I love being able to connect with the actors over personal details like that! Also, his Carmilla impression in the cast panel was hysterical!

Sharon Belle’s ability to just be goofy is so precious! I would totally watch a spin-off of Danny solving petty crimes and returning lost library books. 

Aaron Chartrand seems so nice and thoughtful, and an all around cool guy. I wish I had interacted with him more during the con!

The Carmilla Creators. Jordan, Ellen, Steph, and Melanie (and Spencer, in spirit) are legends, y’all. Everything they said in the Creators Panel was super empowering, and I left feeling inspired to create and tell my original stories to the world.  And of course, getting to chat about fandom and fanfiction with Steph and Ellen at the Fanfic Meetup was wonderful! The thing that makes Carmilla so unique is that its creators are privy to the world of fandom, having participated in it themselves, which allows them to really know their audience and tell us the stories we want and need.

The Moderators: Dana, Belinda, and Angie made the panels so entertaining and so unique! They are an integral part of this fandom, and I loved getting to witness their shenanigans in person.

The CarmillaCon Staff and Volunteers were just lovely! I applaud them for how smoothly everything ran, and for how much thought the organizers put into the logistics. I swear they thought of everything! Writing down your names on sticky notes before autographs so the guests can spell your name correctly. Ensuring that the convention was accessible. Making sure none of the panels coflicted with autos, photos, and meet & greets. Placing the vendor tables right outside the panel room to get us as much exposure as possible. It’s one thing to listen to feedback from your own convention’s attendees after the matter, but it’s another to listen to the greater fandom community’s experiences with other cons and be proactive. Any time I had a question or issue leading up to and during the con, I was assisted quickly and compassionately. Everyone was also extremely generous! Several staff members gave out extra autographs and photos to attendees throughout the event, which I loved.

The Vendors—I greatly enjoyed spending time with them! This was my first ever convention both as a fan AND as an artist, so I really appreciated learning from them and being able to support each other. I’d also like to give a shoutout to @learntodefygravity for becoming my assistant and running my table when I was participating in other parts of the con.

Everyone who stopped by my table! Whether you were there to get something or just to chat, you really made my weekend. I’m still so full of feels from all the sweet things everyone said about me and my art last week. Sometimes it’s difficult to take myself seriously—I often feel like I’m not a “real” artist because I draw primarily fanart, and for such a tiny community of people at that. But my CarmillaCon experience proved to me that there is an audience for my art, and I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting me over the past 4+ years. And yes, there will be more art in the future! I’m working on setting up an Etsy store as well as researching how to print my own lenticular bookmarks since the ones I brought were so popular! I’ll keep you all updated.

All the friends I spent time with. Some of you I’ve spoken to online every day for the past year. Others, I’ve interacted with occasionally on twitter or discord. A few of you I had never spoken to directly until the con. No matter what category you fell under, it was a pleasure to get to spend time with you, and I miss you all so much. Why do you have to live so far away from me? Why isn’t teleporting a thing yet?! (What I wouldn’t give for another minty group hug right about now.)

And lastly, thank you to everyone. Despite how much I fangirl about it online, I’m not one to talk openly about Carmilla and how much it means to me outside of the internet. I’m afraid of being judged for loving it too much. But this past weekend I got to meet several hundred people who are just as passionate as I am about the little webseries that could, and I’m so grateful for that opportunity. I’m not alone, and I never was. This fandom has helped me step out of my comfort zone in so many ways. I may be outgoing and outspoken online, but take me our from behind a screen and I’m very shy and self conscious. Just two years ago, taking public transportation alone in my own city seemed scary to me, but last week I had the courage to travel on my own and experience new things. I thought I would be overwhelmed and anxious all through CarmillaCon, but the second I found my people, I felt comforted and energized. I’ve grown so much over the years, and I owe a lot of that progress to the fandom and the encouragement I’ve received. You’ve all been by my side and helped me grow up and grow into myself. Here’s to Carmilla, and here’s to the creampuffs!

[dulcetgames]

Recap & Thank You Letter - 2017

Hello Scholars, 

As 2017 reaches its final hours, the staff and I would like to take a few moments to look back on this year and reflect on Sweet Elite’s future.

This has been a very important year for us. It might not seem that way because of the relatively low number of updates this year, but behind the scenes, the staff has been hard at work to push itself closer and closer to the demo release every day!

I think it’s fair to say that we started this year with a bang! The release of the Main 10′s sprites continues to be one of our most successful updates and has built itself a special place in my heart as I remember how thrilled I was to see your reactions (seeing them live from the fan Discord chat was especially exciting!)

The official introduction of Lady Arlington has also made waves...although I will still not forgive the part of the fandom that has begged me to make her a dateable character...

And let’s not even start to talk about Coach Davis. Yeah...Let’s try to put this fandom trend behind us for 2018.

On the bright side, we have gained three staff members during the year! Nadine, Koda and Danny! And with a video team now in full swing, our YouTube Channel has finally been launched! We are still working very hard to make it grow and bring you more video updates! Thank you to everybody for subscribing and attending/watching our summer Meet and Greet! 

Along with a complete revamp of the Sweet Elite website, An has completed all of the Sweet Elite backgrounds needed for the demo, giving us the gorgeous completed set of backgrounds! 

And of course, let’s not forget our all-time most popular update (and our most controversial in some ways)... The Scholar Sprites reveal! We were very excited to finish and present them to you and we were overall very happy with your feedback. The scholar generator remains very popular and used by the fandom to this day. It makes us very happy to see YOU happy :)

However, there is still some work to do and opportunity for growth. All of our fans have been so helpful and supportive, and we really cannot find the words to express our gratitude. Every like, reblog, fan art, fanfic and fan blog brings us one step closer to making Sweet Elite a success. You guys are absolutely vital to that.

When I first announced Sweet Elite, I marketed the game as “An Otome Game Made and Designed for You” . This was back in 2016, almost two years ago! Back then, I had absolutely NO idea how much impact this post would create.  But even as the years went by, the core message of this post stays the same: It really is about you.

Sweet Elite’s development has taught me a lesson that I sort of already knew by instinct, but that carved itself further into my heart as I grew as a person: Nobody can make it all alone. The staff and I owe it to you guys. Sweet Elite has become a part of our lives and heart, and it’s really thanks to YOU.

We are so so grateful. 

Our Request

As we head into 2018 and into the demo release (Yes! We are

that

close!), we would like to remind all of you that now, more than ever, is the time to help spread the word about Sweet Elite.

That means reblogging and talking to other fans is going to be extremely important. Participate in the fandom, write theories, encourage and support other fans, make scholars to your heart’s content, post screenshots and commentary of the game once the demo is out (hell, even record your own playthrough if you’re that is what you like! We 100% support that!), etc. 

We are counting on you, and we appreciate it so much. 

The Future

The priority has and will keep being the completion of the demo. However, since we are really really close to finishing, here is the list of things left in order to give you context:

Finishing the last illustrations & final sprites (45% completion)

Wrapping up the coding of the game and website (around 65% completion as of now)

Going into beta (Not yet started)

The moment the demo is released, I will release a massive marketing effort to get as many people to play as possible. This will obviously take a lot of time and effort.

If you follow me on my own personal SE blog, you have probably seen that I have started making plans for Sweet Elite merchandise! This is lower than the demo on my list of priorities, but know that we are working hard to put up our own official store where you can get some sweet SE merch!

Conclusion

In all, this year has been very fun for us. We have had the pleasure of talking to new fans (and in my case, meeting one of you in person!), releasing some pretty important stuff and overall getting extremely close to wrapping up the demo!

I feel like I am repeating myself, but this really is important. There is no words that can express our gratitude towards you Scholars. None. 

So, thank you. 

Have a happy new years! See you all in 2018 :)

Love,

Serena, Project Manager

Game Site | Development Blog | Staff Antics Blog | FAQ  | Join the Team

[usashirtstoday]

I'm A Simple Woman Coffee Hr Paw Dogs T Shirt

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I’m already in my third trimester but I haven’t posted many bump photos because in all honesty i’ve felt like this pregnancy I don’t feel pretty my stretch marks have become super visible and my pregnancy ‘glow’ is really just sweat from it being a I'm A Simple Woman Coffee Hr Paw Dogs T Shirt furnace outside i’m embarrassed to admit i’ve spent far more energy focusing on my woes than my blessings this morning I was staring at myself in the mirror feeling like I was looking at a foreign object I wondered if my stretch marks would ever go away if my loose skin would ever tighten if i’d ever feel like ‘myself’ again whatever that means all the sudden ryah walked up to me reached up to kiss my belly and said ‘mama pretty ‘ I instantly started crying thanks hormones yes my body has changed and it’s resulted in one of the biggest blessings of my life i’d choose stretch marks and loose skin every day if it means I get to embrace the joys of motherhood ryah I love being your mama thank you for reminding me of the true definition of beauty today cami jane bumpday. Awhc staff member mary koncel spent a great day on the pryor mountain wild horse range with steve cerroni from the pryor mountain mustang center last week the pryor herd is one successful example of the blm using pzp to keep these beautiful horses wild and free. From new nudes to rule breaking reds iconic velvet matte lip pencil reaches a new saturation point with 10 new shades of full coverage color bold versatile effortless now shading full spectrum lips See Other related products: Paw dog and shirt

[engagedpractx]

What viral horror can teach us about quarantine and elimination

Content notice: disturbing and graphic content, spoilers for both films.

Today, news of New Zealand’s first new cases of Covid-19 in 102 days have prompted an immediate return to Stage 3 lockdowns for an initial 72 hours. Needless to say, people are asking how this could happen. Vocal commentators like Bill Bowtell claim NZ as a case study for ‘elimination’ — applying the strongest possible measures for as long as it takes to get to zero cases. 

In fact, just as Australia did with our own first wave, NZ ‘turned off the tap’ of international arrivals, applied a moderate lockdown, and undertook aggressive test-and-trace to identify offshoots from travel cases. The difference between Australia and NZ is not a matter of strategy, it’s that Victoria used untrained casual security staff to manage its hotel quarantine program. But New Zealand’s success gave us hope. So what happened?

The Danny Boyle film 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later can give us some answers. If you haven’t seen them, think carefully before watching them now — they’re both pretty dark. Also, SPOILER ALERT for this whole post. I might come back to twitter for a watch party with some epidemiologists, who can explain this better than I’m about to.

28 Days Later (2002, dir. Danny Boyle, hereafter 28DL) is an end-of-the-world film. Shots of empty London streets convey a properly apocalyptic feel. Animal rights activists attempt to free monkeys in a lab, get bitten and lose their shit. The lab has been exposing monkeys to 24/7 footage of human atrocities in order to create a ‘rage virus.’ The virus spreads via droplet transmission and with an incubation period of 10-15 seconds, the infected become extremely fast, blood-eyed zombies, who will chase and attempt to tear apart and consume the living.

[SPOILER:] After a chilling encounter with some military officers gone full Lord of the Flies the protagonists Jim and Selena discover the infected starve and die within—you guessed it—28 days. And that’s the temporal logic of the spatialising strategy of quarantine. Without testing people, we isolate them (or separate them from susceptible people) for long enough for infection, if present, to run its course. With Covid-19, based on extensive experience of test-and-trace efforts in China, the WHO recommended 14-day quarantine periods for possible cases, and for confirmed cases, minimum 14 day isolation. This guideline was subsequently confirmed by studies of the timeline of infection, viraemia, symptoms, and immunity. Of course, not everyone with Covid-19 does becomes immune; people who don’t get very sick and die.

In 28DL infection is so widespread, it’s not possible to quarantine the infected, so it’s the vulnerable who go into isolation as best they can. The dramatisation of the spatial logics in popular culture is a particular interest of mine as a scholar of the culture of governance and the social governance of health. It is central to the plot of 28 Weeks Later (2007, dir Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, hereafter 28WL). The film graphically illustrates the danger of sheltering in a rickety cottage in its opening scene, creating a striking contrast to the hyper-militarised ‘clean zone’ of the rest of the film, where susceptibles are contained within the symbolic sterility of corporate London and managed under a heavy military presence with heavy-handed warnings of pandemic risk.

Don, who abandons his wife Alice to the infected in order to escape the cottage, is reunited with his kids in the clean zone 28 weeks later. They are escorted by heavily armed military figures to pick up personal belongings from their old home in the suburbs, where they find Alice, hungry and dirty but very much alive. Heterochromic like her son Andy, one of Alice’s differently coloured eyes has turned blood-red. Alice is put into enforced isolation, but Don manages to get in, kisses her, and then shit goes massively sidewise.

Whereas the apparent safety and security of the clean zone implies a spatial logic of walls defended against dangerous outsiders—the social arrangements that literally gave rise to our notion of community—transmissible infection overturns the insider/outsider distinction. As foreshadowed by all the zinc and glass, the zone is more like a laboratory that can, in the event of contamination, be sterilised by fire.

28WL highlights the fatal (sorry) vulnerability of the elimination strategy and a major weakness of the quarantine strategy. Simply put, the long tail of the timeline of infection and immunity will fuck you up. Bodies are incredibly complex, and there are so many humans (and possible animal vectors) that even incredibly rare genetic variations will crop up with some frequency. The timeline of immunity may be affected by such variations in the host, or even by pure accident, such as the body generating an immune response that can suppress but does not eliminate the virus. In these cases, you have a person who remains infected but unharmed and quite possibly unaware of their status for much longer than 14 days.

Normally, a lockdown period lasts for longer than the timeline of a single infection. A person could be told to isolate at home without a test, and on day 14 of their illness, they transmit to a housemate who is not required to isolate — and the clock starts again. We call the minimum gap between getting infected and being able to pass the infection on the ‘generation interval,’ and for Covid-19 it’s estimated at around five days.

We’re interested in the minimum period of time because it tells us how long we need to wait before we might start seeing the effects of newly-introduced prevention strategies. But when evaluating the possibilities of an elimination strategy we’re interested in the long tail of that estimate — the upper bounds of the timeline, the longest someone could go with asymptomatic infection and still transmit the virus. In the example above, eventually you’re going to run out of housemates, but extensive transmission networks can emerge if you have gatherings of family members across multiple households — which was a key factor in the Victorian outbreak.

Thinking about the NZ cases, this discussion suggests a couple of possibilities:

Just like Alice in 28WL, someone had a genetic variation or immune accident that left them asymptomatic carrier for longer than 14 days; (and/or)

There was a transmission network of asymptomatic cases that was not detected via testing and contact tracing.

For a long time we’ve been working on the rough estimate that about 20% of all cases will need major medical intervention, which would preclude #2 as an explanation unless there were a little of #1 at play as well. But our trust in that estimate may shift when we start getting reliable information from serosurveys; we may find much higher infection rates masked by the ‘streetlight effect.’

Although sobering, the NZ cases are, like the cases we’re seeing reported in New South Wales, a success story for the test-trace-and-isolate strategy. Given the long tail on the timeline of infectivity, society-wide lockdown will do nothing to identify and contain those ‘edge’ cases. Of course, lockdown might be an important strategy for containing the clusters and outbreaks that could be sparked by those cases. But there may always be a hidden reservoir of cases among people who don’t get sick but don’t clear the virus, either. This suggests that spatial logics — insider, outsider; private, public; and ‘bubbles’ — have important limitations as metaphors for thinking about epidemic control.

[easyfoodnetwork]

Fuku’s National Expansion Plans Could Hinge on Ghost Kitchens

Ryan Sutton/Eater NY

David Chang’s fast-casual chicken spot teams with Reef Kitchens to sling sandwiches in Portland, Miami, and Brooklyn

In March 2015, culinary celebrity and media mogul David Chang stood on a stage at Austin’s SXSW festival and announced his new fried chicken restaurant, Fuku. “We’re going to try to make the best fried chicken sandwich possible, and work with smartest people out there to make the best tech stuff for it,” he said. He wanted the fried chicken sandwich shop to feel experimental and high-tech, and likely dependent on mobile apps. The goal was always to grow: Starting in the former Momofuku Ko space in the East Village, Chang would test out the brand, exploding the company into a chain spread across several cities.

The fast-casual option from David Chang was his first move into the easily scalable, more-casual dining model exemplified by Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack. And five years later, Fuku has locations across the country, with gleaming brick and mortar restaurants in Boston and Los Angeles, concessions stands in sports arenas, and a location coming to Rockefeller Center. When Fuku comes to a city, it usually arrives with at least a little fanfare: Eater Boston knew about the impending arrival months in advance, and Eater LA showed off its stall within the SocialEats food hall in Santa Monica on the day it opened its doors.

Last week, however, Portland’s online-trawling masses started noticing Fuku on delivery apps sourced from different locations around town — generally parking lots and food cart pods. It was surprising, considering the fact that no real announcement of a Portland-area Fuku had been made; the company was officially in six cities and Washington D.C. according to its website, where there was no mention of a Portland location.

Instead, Fuku’s (very real) Portland presence is as the result of a three-month contract with Reef Kitchens, a branch of the larger Reef Technology brand, which runs delivery-centric ghost kitchens across the country. And the delivery-only growth plan is an unexpected one: David Chang’s fried chicken sandwich chain is the most prominent brand to actively pursue the delivery-only model as a way to expand nationwide. It follows the Momofuku brand’s previous two unsuccessful attempts at getting into delivery: Maple, the meal delivery start-up that counted Chang as an investor, ceased operations after two years, while Ando, a delivery-only restaurant under the Momofuku brand, stopped serving food after just under two years of operation.

“I imagine there are a few people in Portland, New York, or Miami who might be unfamiliar with David Chang or have never seen a Fuku chicken sandwich,” Reef spokesperson Padden Murphy says, noting other cities where Fuku will be available delivery-first. “To be able to bring that to people is huge.”

The choice to debut the partnership in Portland is especially significant. In Miami and New York, Fuku has some sort of presence, even if it’s just in stadiums. In Portland, delivery-only Fuku is the city’s introduction to the Momofuku brand, and under circumstances that deviate from traditional expansion methods. Instead of testing the market slowly, doing on-the-ground beta testing, quality control, and promotion, Fuku is sending refrigerated trucks full of commissary-made sauces and chicken cutlets to trailer-based kitchens, trusting Reef employees to make a Fuku sandwich based off of training videos and recipe cards.

In all of the planned delivery cities for the three-month test run, Fuku’s commissary will send pre-butchered, brined, and dredged chicken, fries, and sauces out on refrigerated trucks to Reef Kitchen locations. Then, employees at the kitchens will assemble orders locally and send them out for delivery. If the launch in Portland, Brooklyn, and Miami is successful, the company would commit to scaling upward or sticking to a delivery-only model in cities with existing brick and mortars.

Alex Munoz-Suarez, the CEO of Fuku, played with the idea of delivery-only, cloud-kitchen-style service in other cities, but he was trying to be methodical about it. “Over the last six months, as restaurateurs — especially as restaurateurs in the fast-casual space — we’ve seen rapid growth in off-premise business; I’m talking about lunch delivery orders, and/or pickup orders,” he says.

For Munoz-Suarez, it makes more sense to partner with a company like Reef as an inroad to a new-city expansion. “The planning it takes to learn a city, find a site, secure a space, secure the funding, build the space, all of that — our partner Reef has done for us. Obviously it’s delivery only, but the beauty of what they’re doing [is that] they have the ability to move a vessel,” he says, referring to what Reef calls the physical space of its ghost kitchen. “You have little to no flexibility going the previous route. Portland is a city I know a little bit, but chatting with local real estate people, that takes a lot of time.”

If Fuku seeks to expand without the hassle of building brick and mortar locations, Reef is an expected partner: It operates about 5,000 parking lots and parking garages across North America, and spokesperson Padden Murphy says that developing ghost kitchens in these spaces reinvigorates the property and gives it separate uses. “Something like 50 to 60 percent of all downtowns are all dedicated to cars, parking, on street off street,” Murphy says. “Our entire view of urban renewal, we’ve built our cities around cars, but in doing that, we built this essential infrastructure that we can re-imagine.”

Connecting with larger brands isn’t totally out of Reef’s wheelhouse, either; the company’s other big win was a partnership with Rachael Ray, with menus designed by the celebrity chef delivered in cities like Chattanooga, Tennessee and Dallas. Similarly to Fuku, the partnership was a short-term model, running through the end of 2019. However, according to Murphy, Reef may start using the company’s “vessels” to help tap local talent and help them grow their businesses. “It’s also important for us to figure out who is the next David Chang in Portland — how do we make accessible the ability to scale? We believe that this is a trend that is early, that will become normalized.” For now, however, more people can try Fuku than ever before, even if they can’t walk into an actual restaurant.

Disclosure: David Chang is producing shows for Hulu in partnership with Vox Media Studios, part of Eater’s parent company, Vox Media. No Eater staff member is involved in the production of those shows, and this does not impact coverage on Eater.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2VBhkhs https://ift.tt/3bgbWXY

Ryan Sutton/Eater NY

David Chang’s fast-casual chicken spot teams with Reef Kitchens to sling sandwiches in Portland, Miami, and Brooklyn

In March 2015, culinary celebrity and media mogul David Chang stood on a stage at Austin’s SXSW festival and announced his new fried chicken restaurant, Fuku. “We’re going to try to make the best fried chicken sandwich possible, and work with smartest people out there to make the best tech stuff for it,” he said. He wanted the fried chicken sandwich shop to feel experimental and high-tech, and likely dependent on mobile apps. The goal was always to grow: Starting in the former Momofuku Ko space in the East Village, Chang would test out the brand, exploding the company into a chain spread across several cities.

The fast-casual option from David Chang was his first move into the easily scalable, more-casual dining model exemplified by Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack. And five years later, Fuku has locations across the country, with gleaming brick and mortar restaurants in Boston and Los Angeles, concessions stands in sports arenas, and a location coming to Rockefeller Center. When Fuku comes to a city, it usually arrives with at least a little fanfare: Eater Boston knew about the impending arrival months in advance, and Eater LA showed off its stall within the SocialEats food hall in Santa Monica on the day it opened its doors.

Last week, however, Portland’s online-trawling masses started noticing Fuku on delivery apps sourced from different locations around town — generally parking lots and food cart pods. It was surprising, considering the fact that no real announcement of a Portland-area Fuku had been made; the company was officially in six cities and Washington D.C. according to its website, where there was no mention of a Portland location.

Instead, Fuku’s (very real) Portland presence is as the result of a three-month contract with Reef Kitchens, a branch of the larger Reef Technology brand, which runs delivery-centric ghost kitchens across the country. And the delivery-only growth plan is an unexpected one: David Chang’s fried chicken sandwich chain is the most prominent brand to actively pursue the delivery-only model as a way to expand nationwide. It follows the Momofuku brand’s previous two unsuccessful attempts at getting into delivery: Maple, the meal delivery start-up that counted Chang as an investor, ceased operations after two years, while Ando, a delivery-only restaurant under the Momofuku brand, stopped serving food after just under two years of operation.

“I imagine there are a few people in Portland, New York, or Miami who might be unfamiliar with David Chang or have never seen a Fuku chicken sandwich,” Reef spokesperson Padden Murphy says, noting other cities where Fuku will be available delivery-first. “To be able to bring that to people is huge.”

The choice to debut the partnership in Portland is especially significant. In Miami and New York, Fuku has some sort of presence, even if it’s just in stadiums. In Portland, delivery-only Fuku is the city’s introduction to the Momofuku brand, and under circumstances that deviate from traditional expansion methods. Instead of testing the market slowly, doing on-the-ground beta testing, quality control, and promotion, Fuku is sending refrigerated trucks full of commissary-made sauces and chicken cutlets to trailer-based kitchens, trusting Reef employees to make a Fuku sandwich based off of training videos and recipe cards.

In all of the planned delivery cities for the three-month test run, Fuku’s commissary will send pre-butchered, brined, and dredged chicken, fries, and sauces out on refrigerated trucks to Reef Kitchen locations. Then, employees at the kitchens will assemble orders locally and send them out for delivery. If the launch in Portland, Brooklyn, and Miami is successful, the company would commit to scaling upward or sticking to a delivery-only model in cities with existing brick and mortars.

Alex Munoz-Suarez, the CEO of Fuku, played with the idea of delivery-only, cloud-kitchen-style service in other cities, but he was trying to be methodical about it. “Over the last six months, as restaurateurs — especially as restaurateurs in the fast-casual space — we’ve seen rapid growth in off-premise business; I’m talking about lunch delivery orders, and/or pickup orders,” he says.

For Munoz-Suarez, it makes more sense to partner with a company like Reef as an inroad to a new-city expansion. “The planning it takes to learn a city, find a site, secure a space, secure the funding, build the space, all of that — our partner Reef has done for us. Obviously it’s delivery only, but the beauty of what they’re doing [is that] they have the ability to move a vessel,” he says, referring to what Reef calls the physical space of its ghost kitchen. “You have little to no flexibility going the previous route. Portland is a city I know a little bit, but chatting with local real estate people, that takes a lot of time.”

If Fuku seeks to expand without the hassle of building brick and mortar locations, Reef is an expected partner: It operates about 5,000 parking lots and parking garages across North America, and spokesperson Padden Murphy says that developing ghost kitchens in these spaces reinvigorates the property and gives it separate uses. “Something like 50 to 60 percent of all downtowns are all dedicated to cars, parking, on street off street,” Murphy says. “Our entire view of urban renewal, we’ve built our cities around cars, but in doing that, we built this essential infrastructure that we can re-imagine.”

Connecting with larger brands isn’t totally out of Reef’s wheelhouse, either; the company’s other big win was a partnership with Rachael Ray, with menus designed by the celebrity chef delivered in cities like Chattanooga, Tennessee and Dallas. Similarly to Fuku, the partnership was a short-term model, running through the end of 2019. However, according to Murphy, Reef may start using the company’s “vessels” to help tap local talent and help them grow their businesses. “It’s also important for us to figure out who is the next David Chang in Portland — how do we make accessible the ability to scale? We believe that this is a trend that is early, that will become normalized.” For now, however, more people can try Fuku than ever before, even if they can’t walk into an actual restaurant.

Disclosure: David Chang is producing shows for Hulu in partnership with Vox Media Studios, part of Eater’s parent company, Vox Media. No Eater staff member is involved in the production of those shows, and this does not impact coverage on Eater.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2VBhkhs via Blogger https://ift.tt/2xyhBd6

[elevenhoursinfront-blog]

17th September 2017

My alarm went off at 0600. We were now starting at 0700 so an extra hour lay in was a gift from above. I couldn't get out of bed. I had about 4 hours sleep, if that. I sneaked out and started getting ready. Steve was asleep but woke up every now and then. He's a very light sleeper so there's nothing I can do. Lexi knocked and asked if I was ready. I went outside and we left at 0640. Lexi was stupidly hungover. She got to bed around 0400. She told me that loads of people were absolutely hammered. I can believe it! I was watching the snapchats from some of the people and it looked like a crazy night. Nick was trying to smash a glass beer bottle over his head because he's a moron, Louisa couldn't stand she was that drunk. Everyone told her to go to her room to get water. She disappeared for 2 minutes and returned with a wok full of water. Everyone laughed at her. They all poured beer into it. She also tried to make scrambled egg and cracked them all outside her bedroom door. She starts work at 0800 today... We got to work and Lexi showed me round. There are 4 girls from our hostel that work here, Myself (now), Lexi, Lisa and Lucy. All the L's. Apparently, Seaview cafe is extremely unorganised and I don't believe they know how to run it properly. I mean, it obviously works for them but in my eyes, it's a stupid way of running it. I would change so much. You don't have a specific member of staff on one bit... So, I had to clear the tables, serve at the till, become a barista and try to make the coffees using a proper machine, make milkshakes, fruit juices and smoothies, be pot wash and put away all pots and pans. You can to do as much as possible, all at once... I just don't understand why you wouldn't have one person doing pot wash, one person doing the coffee, one person on the tills... It's just plain stupid. I started clearing the tables, which has to be done with a basket. Then I had to jump onto making coffees which I have never done in my entire life. I was shown how to make the coffee's once someone ordered it and then I was expected to be able to make them from then on. It was really busy between 0700-1000. After that, it died down. The travel busses always stop outside Seaview in Cardwell for their half an hour breaks. Seaview is open 24/7 so I presume I'll be on the late at some point soon. When the busses arrive and the 20+ people get off, they all order food and coffee. I hate it. We get about 3-4 busses every shift and it's a nightmare. After the 4-5 hour rush of pretending to be everything I'm not, I then become the toilet cleaner... Seaview has one room for the female toilets, one room for the male toilets, one room for the mixed gender toilets and showers, and one single toilet. I washed and scrubbed 8-10 toilets and 3 showers. Swept, mopped and hosed down. It took just over an hour to do them all. Apparently, the evening shift is basically just cleaning which I like the sound of. Although, they should probably just hire a cleaner. They should immediately make me supervisor and let me change everything for a much smoother service. I finished at 1400. At weekends, they pay you $27 an hour which is brilliant. It's $5 more an hour than the banana farm so I may end up better off anyway. Weekdays is about $24 I think, which is still good and $2 more than bananas. It's just a hell of a lot to learn. A bit overwhelming, but I suppose everyone feels that way about a new job. I got home and Steve didn't complete the two tasks requested. Put the wash on and tidy the room a bit. I text saying I was on my way home and he sprang to life and tried to tidy as much as he could within the 15 minutes it took me to walk home. We'll see if he can manage the washing tomorrow. I laid on the bed straight away and felt like dying. My feet were blistered and I was starving. Anything you eat at Seaview comes out of your wages so obviously I didn't eat. There's no point bringing lunch because they don't allow you to have breaks. Steve made me a ham, cheese and lettuce sandwich straight away which was great. I hadn't eaten all day. He also made me a cup of tea which was a dream because I haven't had tea since Tasmania. Steve put the film Ice Princess on for me that I picked in Leonie's office and I chilled out for the next half an hour or so. Danny and Sarah needed dropping off at Seaview to catch their bus to Cairns. They were going to hitchhike but Leonie wouldn't let them. She offered to pay for one of their tickets to make sure they wouldn't hitchhike. It's so nice of her to do that, but they should've just paid the money themselves. Poor Leonie. We dropped them off, said our goodbyes and drove back. We put the film back on and I could continue chilling. After the film, I had my shower and got onto finishing off my blogs. Steve said he had a nice relaxing day. He went down to the pool around 1300 to do a fair few lengths. We're hoping that he has work on Tuesday at the watermelon farm as they need a few workers to help them out. I listened to music whilst writing my blogs and Steve jumped in the van with Fraser and Rory to IGA. He said that he was going to cook me dinner and surprise me with it. He got back and he couldn't be bothered to cook anymore. That'll be tomorrows dinner then... It's now 2121 and we're both going with food due to laziness, for the 10,000th time. I'm back in work tomorrow at 1100 and I've had a cry about it. I have no idea why. I feel a little homesick and undecided about what to do. Everyone has left and we're practically the only ones left. Should we be leaving? I'm emotional about the job purely because I don't know what I'm doing and it stresses me out. I get too nervous. I don't like change.

[etraytin]

A Fish Fic for (not) Friday

It wasn’t until I went to write that title that I realized I should’ve saved this fic back till tomorrow, but it’s already posted and I am not a patient woman anyway. Oh well! Here is a short West Wing standalone fic about my favorite mystery: what benign force is in charge of Gail’s fishbowl? Personally I still believe it’s magic, but this is a somewhat more mundane explanation. Hope you enjoy! 

“So what's going on in here?”

Carol jumped at the sudden voice from behind her, water slopping over her fingers as she tightened her grip on the glass bowl. She turned to glare at the interloper, now leaning in the doorway as though he had not a care in the world. “You're not supposed to be back here, Danny,” she accused. “Margaret's going to eat you for breakfast.”

“Hey, ease back there, Galatea,” Danny implored, raising his empty hands. “I've got a note from the boss, I swear. We're meeting for lunch.”

Carol looked at him skeptically. “Galatea?” she repeated. “Like the statue?”

“No, no, no,” he insisted. “Like the sea goddess. You know, with the fish, and the shooting lightning from your eyes at me... never mind. The name of the statue came from the name of the goddess.”

“You are way too educated, Danny,” she told him flatly, turning back to her work. “She's in the sit room, I don't know if she's going to make it back anytime soon. You might be stuck with the Mess today.”

“I can deal,” Danny replied easily. “You're a little outside your stomping grounds as well, aren't you? Last I heard you were pretty much running things in the press office.”

“I'm a woman of many talents.” Carol set a doily down on the polished mahogany desk, then carefully placed the fishbowl down on top of it, right next to the other one.

“You're messing with my fish,” Danny observed. “Or with one of them. Why are there two fish?”

“Because I'm changing out the bowl,” she explained. The bowl on the right contained royal blue gravel, a little plaster menorah, and a goldfish. The bowl on the left contained red and green gravel, a little plaster Christmas tree with plaster presents beneath it, and a goldfish. Carol pulled a folded length of gold ribbon from her pocket and secured it around the rim of the  Christmas bowl, tying a puffy bow.

“I always wondered who changed the decorations,” Danny admitted. “But that doesn't really answer the question at hand. Which one of those is my fish?”

“Neither of them are yours,” Carol replied immediately, volunteering no further information. She was a pro at dealing with troublesome members of the press corps, and Danny Concannon definitely counted after all the trouble he'd caused last time he'd come to town. Nobody got to make CJ that happy, then that sad, then that aggravated, then up and leave again, thereby ushering in the godforsaken Era of Ben without making it onto Carol's semi-permanent shit list. He could stay there as far as she was concerned.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. Which one is CJ's?” He obviously read the answer she was about to give on her face. “...Both of them are CJ's. Right. Which one is the one I gave her? The original?”

Carol bent to look into the bowls with a critical eye. “Neither of them,” she decided after a moment. “This is Gail Two and Gail Five. Gail One's in the tank.”

His eyes widened a little. “Five? Is this some kind of illicit goldfish-smuggling operation? And me without my notebook.”

She gave him a withering look. “You gave CJ a goldfish in a bowl without so much as a piece of gravel in it. You know what the life expectancy for a fish like that is, in an environment like the White House? I've had headaches that lasted longer. But CJ likes her, and she reduces the workplace stress around here. And somebody has to keep the bowl clean and decorated anyway, so we got a system going.”

“Who's we?” Danny asked, looking fascinated almost in spite of himself.

“Me and Henry at first, and some of the interns. Jack actually knew something about fish, so he set up the little aquarium downstairs in the supply closet back of the Press Office.” Carol smiled dryly. “We told him being assistant deputy would require a wide skill set.”

“But why?”  

She shrugged. “Being the fish on CJ's desk is a stressful gig. They each have a week or so at a time, then get four weeks off to recover. Works pretty well, we've only lost one Gail in six and a half years. And the original is still doing fine,” she assured him.

Danny approached the desk, looking slightly awestruck. “A true White House conspiracy right under my nose, and I never suspected a thing,” he mused. “I should just turn in my credentials now.” Carol smirked, but refrained from making any helpful remarks. “Does CJ know?”

“No, and don't tell her, either!” Carol insisted, stepping closer to the desk.“She needs Gail more than ever, so you just leave well enough alone, Danny Concannon. Anything that reduces her stress level is good. And if you're sneaking in here again because you've got some kind of story to drop on her head or there's something you want to get from her-”

“Hey, hey,” he protested, taking a couple quick steps back. “I've got no ulterior motives here! I'm trying to take an attractive and interesting woman who I have strong feelings for out to a nice lunch, and the fact that she happens to be one of the most powerful people in the world is less a perk and more something we have to work around.”

Carol just glared at him, letting her expression say clearly what she thought of his assurances. There'd been a time, years really, when she'd liked Danny very much. He'd started following the campaign right about the time she'd come on staff, and she'd liked his deadpan humor, the words he used to describe their days that made them more vibrant than actually living them, and the way he flustered and exasperated and amused and bewildered CJ. They hadn't had much time for entertainment on the campaign, and it had been a lot more fun for her and Margaret and Donna to gossip about CJ and Danny than about Leo's slowly disintegrating marriage or the never-ending vale of tears that was Josh and Mandy. When they got to the White House, he ingratiated himself with little bribes, enough that Carol found them charming, nothing to make her feel cheap, and she felt fine about it because he wrote stories that were fair and secretly CJ wanted to see him. Even when CJ was punishing him, Carol was usually on his side, just a little bit.

Then there was that horrible night at Rosslyn, when CJ had come back to the White House injured and shaken down to her very bones, and all Danny could talk about was the 25th Amendment. Carol had wanted him to help her take care of CJ, but he'd only made things worse because that was his job. It occurred to her for the first time that maybe his job really was the obstacle CJ and everyone else said it was. He could've moved up, taken a promotion, become an editor, and been much freer to be with CJ, but then he hadn't done that, either. (Carol hadn't known about that for another full year, not till the sad, arid days after Simon Donovan, when she'd finally taken CJ out and gotten her drunk enough to talk about her love life.) The last straw had come when Danny had staged his Christmas comeback, when Carol had bought into the romance and excitement enough to help sneak him into the White House dressed as Santa Claus so he could surprise CJ. Surprise her with a bombshell of a story he was working on, more like, and give her nothing but more headaches and sleepless nights. As far as Carol was concerned, as far as she hoped CJ was concerned, Danny and his lack of ulterior motives could go pound sand.

Danny seemed to grow a bit uncomfortable with the glaring after a moment, though he was professionally immune to people who were annoyed with him. He turned his attention back to the fish. “So, um, what happened to the one Gail that didn't make it?”

“Turkey-related mishap,” Carol replied shortly.

“Ah.” There was another moment of silence. “So, I think I'll just stop by later when CJ's back in her office. Nice to see you, Carol.”

Carol waited till he was almost at the door to the hallway. “Hey, Danny.” He turned back to look at her. “You be good to her, okay? No more games, no more stories.” She cradled the Hanukkah bowl and Gail Two a little closer. “If you hurt her again, nobody's ever going to find your body.”

Danny's eyebrows went up as he studied her. He seemed to understand how much she meant every word of that, to judge by the way he shifted his weight and ran one hand nervously through his hair. “Right, gotcha. And I'm just not gonna ask what kind of fish food you're using down in the press office these days.”

She gave him a thin smile, letting him make his escape into the hallway. Once he was safely gone, Carol lifted Gail Two's bowl to face height, peeking in at its golden occupant. “Men are totally not worth it, Gail,” she announced with great feeling. “If you want somebody to keep you company, you're better off with a fish.” Tucking the bowl back into the crook of her arm, she headed back for the press office, leaving Gail Five swimming lazy circles in her Christmas bowl.

(This fic is also archived at AO3, same author name, under the title “Fish Story.”) 

[newyorktheater]

Paul McGill, a Broadway veteran since the age of 17, kicks up his heel on 45th Street, as part of a terrific video (see below) by the cast of “A Chorus Line” 2006 Broadway revival. This is just one of the many steps that members of the theater community are taking to raise morale, keep busy, and kick start a whole new era of theater-making in the face of devastating challenges.

Free Shakespeare in the Park has been canceled, for the first time in its 58 years – news that hits hard, and the sharpest sign that New York theater is unlikely to reopen until the Fall at the earliest.

  The Public Works musical adaptation of “As You Like It,” one of the two productions planned for Shakespeare in the Park that the Public Theater has canceled. “This is something I mightily resisted,” said artistic director Oskar Eustis. But the timing just didn’t work.

This includes Broadway, which even the head of the Broadway League now concedes. In an interview this past week, the trade association’s Charlotte St. Martin said: “As late as two weeks ago we were thinking that with any luck we might be up by July and that a worst case scenario might be September. Now the best guesses are that unless there’s serious testing and information that we don’t currently have, we’re probably looking at September or later.”

Once theater officially returns, the question becomes: Will audiences?

A survey of DC-area theatergoers found that “around half (49 percent) suggest they will probably wait a few months or more before returning while only a quarter (25 percent) think they will attend right away.”

“Constraint Breeds Creativity”

In the meantime, theaters are responding in creative ways. A survey of 168 theaters across the country conducted by TCG, found that 67 percent are “exploring performance alternatives and virtual programming,” which helps explain the explosion of online theater. (See my Where To Get Your Theater Fix Online and Calendar of April “Openings”)

Other findings from the survey:

Cancellations: 88 percent had cancelled performances that had already been scheduled (It’s surprising that 12 percent had not; perhaps they didn’t have any scheduled in the Spring?)

Compensation: “56 percent had committed to some kind of compensation for artists, production staff, etc. involved with cancelled performances; 18 percent had committed to full compensation, and 38 percent had committed to partial compensation. Thirty percent of respondents expressed a desire to provide compensation but were not sure they would be able to do so in light of revenue losses, and 13 percent expressed a desire to provide compensation but knew they would not be able to do so.”

One of those answering the survey was quoted as saying: “There’s a strong feeling that we’re all in this together. And I do believe that some creative solutions for how we make and share art will emerge out of this. Constraint breeds creativity.”

Another way to look at it: “We’re all in intermission right now….everybody loves a second act,” Lin-Manuel Miranda says in a radio spot sponsored by the Broadway League. “If there’s one thing we can be sure of, Broadway will be back, and New York City will be back and the world will be back.”

In the meantime, to donate money, supplies or time — Coronavirus.health.ny.gov

To help theater people in need, Broadwaycares.org

https://www.theproducersperspective.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Only-Intermission-Video.mp4

Awards Season Begins

New York Drama Critics Circle Awards:Heroes of the Fourth Turning. Strange Loop. The entire theater community for perseveranceThe

Lucille Lortel Award Nominations 2020, Off-Broadway’s Best: “A Strange Loop” NS “Heroes of the Fourth Turning” lead nominations

The nominations for the 65th annual Drama Desk Award will be announced on Tuesday and for the Drama Leagues’ newly named Gratitude Awards on Thursday.

Despite a truncated season, more than half the major theater awards are going ahead in one form or another. Check out my guide to New York Theater Awards 2020

Fighting the Virus

Danny Burstein as the impresario Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge

Broadway star Danny Burstein on his harrowing experience with COVID-19, which he recounts straightforwardly, and with lots of humor. (He’s now out of the hospital, recuperating) https://t.co/UR3YSPTGNE pic.twitter.com/BPh4IM76xv

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 13, 2020

Nick Cordero

Nick Cordero’s fight against COVID-19 has been more up and down, as his wife has recounted on her Instagram account over the last several weeks. More than 6,000 people have donated a total of more than $350,000 to the  Cordero’ family‘s GoFundMe account.

Nick was without question the best thing about “Bullets Over Broadway.” Here is in 2014 re-creating “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” for Broadway in Bryant Park:

  A Dissident Company Celebrates 15 Years Underground The Belarus Free Theater had ambitious plans for its anniversary. The coronavirus stopped them, but the troupe is used to finding ways to keep going in tough times.

For Kicks

A Chorus Line in Quarantine

Broadway Alphabet Series continues

Happy 150th birthday, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thanks for the 5,000 years of artwork about actors and the theater., by Picasso, Renoir, Degas, and by artists whose names are lost to history

Broadway Night 1929 by John Marin

Spanish Music Hall by Everett Shinn, 1902

Kabuki actor around 1849

The Old Actress 1926 by Max Beckmann

One World Together At Home Highlights: Watch Paul McCartney. Elton John. Stevie Wonder. Lizzo. Taylor Swift. Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello

Top 10 Pandemic Parody Song Videos

Rest in Peace

  Dennehy, with Elizabeth Franz, in Death of A Salesman 1999

Dennehy in Long Day’s Journey Into Night on Broadway, 2003

Dennehy with Nathan Lane in The Iceman Cometh directed by Robert Falls at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre

Inherit the Wind in Chicago

with Mia Farrow in Love Letters

Brian Dennehy, 81, a versatile performer on stage and stage, winning Tony Awards for “Death of a Salesman” in 1999 and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in 2003.

I saw four of the six productions in which Brian Dennehy performed on Broadway, the last “Love Letters” in 2014 with Mia Farrow. He was always so… solid is the word, I think.

  Wynn Handman, 97, co-founder of the American Place Theatre, and revered acting teacher. “The list of theater artists who worked at the American Place or were students in Handman’s classes (or, more often, both) is a Who’s Who of the American theater. Actors in the company roster included Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rául Juliá, Michael Douglas, Olympia Dukakis, Faye Dunaway, Mary Alice, Richard Gere, Marian Seldes, Robert de Niro, James Caan, Joanne Woodward and Joel Grey. Bill Irwin, Eric Bogosian, Cynthia Heimel, Roger Rosenblatt, Aasif Mandvi and John Leguizamo all developed and performed in early shows there… “A celebration of Handman’s life will take place when groups of people are again allowed to gather in theaters and other American places.”

  Faith Dane, 96, who “starred for many years in a stage show that spanned burlesque, jazz, dance, calypso, comedy and performance art. She hit it big in the Broadway and film productions of “Gypsy,” for which the lyricist Stephen Sondheim created a role based on her long-standing cabaret act. She went on to run for mayor of D.C. nine times

Louis Johnson, 90, genre-crossing dancer and choreographer, whose career spanned Broadway (“Damn Yankees”), film (“The Wiz”), opera (“Aida”) and the stages of the Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem companies.

Shakespeare in the Park Canceled. See You in September…or Later. Awards Season Kicks In. #Stageworthy News of the Week Free Shakespeare in the Park has been canceled, for the first time in its 58 years – news that hits hard, and the sharpest sign that New York theater is unlikely to reopen until the Fall at the earliest.

[clobov]

RENO, Nev. -- Rep. Mark Amodei was not prepared for the backlash from his fellow Republicans when he said Congress needed to "follow the facts" and look into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached.Newspapers declared he was breaking ranks. Conservative constituents branded him a traitor: "I'm Brutus, and Trump's Julius Caesar," he said. In short order, he was forced to explain himself to the Trump campaign's political director, top House Republicans and the acting White House chief of staff. All had the same question: "What the heck are you doing?"As evidence mounts that Trump engaged in an intensive effort to pressure the leader of Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Amodei is one of a growing number of Republicans who, while not explicitly endorsing the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, are at least indicating an openness to it. None have said Trump should be impeached. But neither are they defending him.It is a politically delicate but increasingly common approach among independent-minded lawmakers like Amodei, who are working to balance their fear of inviting Trump's wrath -- and that of the party base -- with a deep anxiety that there is more to be revealed about the president, some of it potentially indefensible, and the knowledge that history will hold them accountable for their words and actions.In Michigan, Rep. Fred Upton told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club that while he did not support an impeachment inquiry, "there are legitimate questions" about Trump's interactions with Ukraine, and he had no problem with Democrats' efforts to get more information."We need to know what the answers are," he said.In Texas, Rep. Will Hurd -- who is retiring, and therefore perhaps feeling liberated to speak his mind -- has called on the House to investigate the "troubling" allegations against Trump, though he cautioned against a rush to impeachment. In Pennsylvania, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said he thinks law enforcement should investigate. In Illinois, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said, "I want to know what happened here."In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican whose seat is seen by Democrats as especially vulnerable, also criticized Trump's decision to call on China to investigate a political rival. "It's completely inappropriate," she told the Bangor Daily News on Saturday.And in Utah, Sen. Mitt Romney, who has emerged as a lonely voice criticizing Trump's dealings with Ukraine, and last week called the president's appeal for foreign help investigating the Bidens "wrong and appalling," appears to have company. Before a whistleblower's complaint against Trump was made public, a fellow Utahan, Rep. John Curtis, introduced a resolution calling for the White House to release it, and he has said he is "closely monitoring the formal inquiry."On Saturday, in a warning shot to Republicans who might cross him, Trump lashed out at Romney on Twitter, calling him a "pompous 'ass' who has been fighting me from the beginning" and using the hashtag IMPEACHMITTROMNEY."As they distance themselves from Trump, these Republicans -- some in swing districts in tight reelection races -- are also taking care to distance themselves from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who they say rushed into the impeachment inquiry. For the most part they are refraining from directly criticizing the president, who has branded the investigation a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."But neither are they adopting the language of their leaders, whose strategy centers on attacking Pelosi, branding the inquiry politically motivated and changing the subject to Biden and his son Hunter, whose work for a Ukrainian energy company fed Trump's accusations of a nefarious web of corruption involving one of his top political foes. More than a dozen House Republicans have remained silent."It's a matter of following their conscience and saying what they will be happy defending to their children in later years," said Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist, adding, "Some of them are following the rule that if you can't say anything good about your president, you should not say anything at all."These Republicans still account for a small minority of the 197 in the House. But their comments, at a time when polls show public support for the impeachment inquiry is growing, are the first hint at cracks in party unity. They also offer echoes of the path the party took during the impeachment proceedings against Richard M. Nixon, when even the staunchest defenders of the president eventually abandoned him."My sense is that if there were a secret ballot vote on impeachment it would garner significant Republican support," said David Wasserman, who tracks House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, citing "my private conversations with Republican members of Congress who believe he is wildly unfit to be president. "But, Wasserman added, "They can't say that in public, or else their political careers would be torpedoed by one tweet from the Oval Office."Here in Nevada, Amodei, 61, a garrulous former federal prosecutor who led Trump's 2016 campaign in Nevada, is choosing his words carefully.During a candid hourlong conversation that included a tour of his lovingly restored red-and-white Chevy Silverado flatbed truck (model year 1988 -- the same year he switched his party registration from Democrat to Republican), he sounded mystified at the uproar he created. He votes with Trump nearly 99% of the time, but described himself as a "process guy" who believes in congressional oversight."I just think you have to respect the process," he said. "I think you need to be transparent, and you need to tell the truth."He said he was not a fan of Pelosi's process and said she should have put the inquiry up to a vote of the full House. And he lamented that the word "inquiry" has become politically toxic for Republicans -- a lesson he learned after he shared his views with local reporters, one of whom wrote that he backed the House inquiry but was withholding judgment on whether Trump "crossed the legal line."The characterization was accurate, Amodei said, but it sparked an uproar when news media outlets (including The New York Times) called him the first Republican who had broken ranks to support an impeachment investigation. He quickly recalibrated, issuing a statement making clear he did not support Trump's impeachment."I now know 'inquiry' is a special word in the impeachment thesaurus," he said wryly, "which I'm still looking for on Amazon, but I haven't found."Still, anti-Trump voices within the Republican Party have been emboldened by comments like Amodei's. Republicans for the Rule of Law, the main initiative of the conservative anti-Trump group Defending Democracy Together, is spending more than $1 million to run television ads on Fox and MSNBC, calling on Republicans to "demand the facts" about Trump and Ukraine.The campaign began last week with ads in five districts -- including Amodei's, Upton's and Fitzpatrick's -- and will expand this week to target 12 Republican senators and 15 members of the House."Given where they've been, for congressional Republicans to say, 'Well, we need to see all the facts,' is a pretty important step forward," said Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator and a founder of Defending Democracy Together.Polls have shown a steady rise in support for the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, with a majority of Americans approving of it. But sentiment is split along party lines. A recent CBS poll found that nearly 9 in 10 Democrats approved of the inquiry, and two-thirds strongly approved, as compared with just 23% of Republicans."Overwhelmingly, Republicans oppose the impeachment inquiry," said Ayres, the pollster. "They want their Republican elected officials to defend the president and protect him from his many enemies."But for Republicans in swing districts who have tight reelection races, like Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, defending Trump at all costs is not an option. In Washington state, for instance, Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler, who represents a district Democrats have targeted, has echoed Amodei, saying that while there is not yet evidence of impeachable offenses, for the "sake of this nation, we should all follow a process that does not put conclusions before facts."Here in northern Nevada, though, sentiment runs strong in favor of Trump. Amodei's district stretches south from Reno, past the cattle ranches and casinos that line the road to the state capital, Carson City, and into largely rural areas like Douglas County, where members of the local Republican women's club were having their monthly luncheon last week."I think it's a scam and it's a witch hunt, just like Trump says," said Gloria Darrington, 77, expressing the views of many here when she said she believed Democrats were simply continuing a long-running quest to undo the results of the 2016 election."He lives in a very Republican area, and he ought to be listening to his Republicans," Elinor Lindberg, 83, said of Amodei.Amodei, the only Republican in Nevada's congressional delegation, is not in danger of losing his seat to a Democrat. But he is in danger of drawing a Republican primary challenger from the right, and already some well-known Nevada names -- Adam Laxalt, the former attorney general who ran for governor last year, and Danny Tarkanian, a businessman -- are being bandied about.Amodei sounded unworried. He said some Democrats in his district have been thanking him for his open-mindedness."I am a member of the legislative branch -- I defend that institution," he said, adding, "Quite frankly, if you don't believe in the processes of your own institution, what are you doing there?This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8870618 https://yhoo.it/31SY40Z

[myeclecticcollectorblazeus]

RENO, Nev. -- Rep. Mark Amodei was not prepared for the backlash from his fellow Republicans when he said Congress needed to "follow the facts" and look into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached.Newspapers declared he was breaking ranks. Conservative constituents branded him a traitor: "I'm Brutus, and Trump's Julius Caesar," he said. In short order, he was forced to explain himself to the Trump campaign's political director, top House Republicans and the acting White House chief of staff. All had the same question: "What the heck are you doing?"As evidence mounts that Trump engaged in an intensive effort to pressure the leader of Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Amodei is one of a growing number of Republicans who, while not explicitly endorsing the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, are at least indicating an openness to it. None have said Trump should be impeached. But neither are they defending him.It is a politically delicate but increasingly common approach among independent-minded lawmakers like Amodei, who are working to balance their fear of inviting Trump's wrath -- and that of the party base -- with a deep anxiety that there is more to be revealed about the president, some of it potentially indefensible, and the knowledge that history will hold them accountable for their words and actions.In Michigan, Rep. Fred Upton told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club that while he did not support an impeachment inquiry, "there are legitimate questions" about Trump's interactions with Ukraine, and he had no problem with Democrats' efforts to get more information."We need to know what the answers are," he said.In Texas, Rep. Will Hurd -- who is retiring, and therefore perhaps feeling liberated to speak his mind -- has called on the House to investigate the "troubling" allegations against Trump, though he cautioned against a rush to impeachment. In Pennsylvania, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said he thinks law enforcement should investigate. In Illinois, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said, "I want to know what happened here."In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican whose seat is seen by Democrats as especially vulnerable, also criticized Trump's decision to call on China to investigate a political rival. "It's completely inappropriate," she told the Bangor Daily News on Saturday.And in Utah, Sen. Mitt Romney, who has emerged as a lonely voice criticizing Trump's dealings with Ukraine, and last week called the president's appeal for foreign help investigating the Bidens "wrong and appalling," appears to have company. Before a whistleblower's complaint against Trump was made public, a fellow Utahan, Rep. John Curtis, introduced a resolution calling for the White House to release it, and he has said he is "closely monitoring the formal inquiry."On Saturday, in a warning shot to Republicans who might cross him, Trump lashed out at Romney on Twitter, calling him a "pompous 'ass' who has been fighting me from the beginning" and using the hashtag IMPEACHMITTROMNEY."As they distance themselves from Trump, these Republicans -- some in swing districts in tight reelection races -- are also taking care to distance themselves from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who they say rushed into the impeachment inquiry. For the most part they are refraining from directly criticizing the president, who has branded the investigation a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."But neither are they adopting the language of their leaders, whose strategy centers on attacking Pelosi, branding the inquiry politically motivated and changing the subject to Biden and his son Hunter, whose work for a Ukrainian energy company fed Trump's accusations of a nefarious web of corruption involving one of his top political foes. More than a dozen House Republicans have remained silent."It's a matter of following their conscience and saying what they will be happy defending to their children in later years," said Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist, adding, "Some of them are following the rule that if you can't say anything good about your president, you should not say anything at all."These Republicans still account for a small minority of the 197 in the House. But their comments, at a time when polls show public support for the impeachment inquiry is growing, are the first hint at cracks in party unity. They also offer echoes of the path the party took during the impeachment proceedings against Richard M. Nixon, when even the staunchest defenders of the president eventually abandoned him."My sense is that if there were a secret ballot vote on impeachment it would garner significant Republican support," said David Wasserman, who tracks House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, citing "my private conversations with Republican members of Congress who believe he is wildly unfit to be president. "But, Wasserman added, "They can't say that in public, or else their political careers would be torpedoed by one tweet from the Oval Office."Here in Nevada, Amodei, 61, a garrulous former federal prosecutor who led Trump's 2016 campaign in Nevada, is choosing his words carefully.During a candid hourlong conversation that included a tour of his lovingly restored red-and-white Chevy Silverado flatbed truck (model year 1988 -- the same year he switched his party registration from Democrat to Republican), he sounded mystified at the uproar he created. He votes with Trump nearly 99% of the time, but described himself as a "process guy" who believes in congressional oversight."I just think you have to respect the process," he said. "I think you need to be transparent, and you need to tell the truth."He said he was not a fan of Pelosi's process and said she should have put the inquiry up to a vote of the full House. And he lamented that the word "inquiry" has become politically toxic for Republicans -- a lesson he learned after he shared his views with local reporters, one of whom wrote that he backed the House inquiry but was withholding judgment on whether Trump "crossed the legal line."The characterization was accurate, Amodei said, but it sparked an uproar when news media outlets (including The New York Times) called him the first Republican who had broken ranks to support an impeachment investigation. He quickly recalibrated, issuing a statement making clear he did not support Trump's impeachment."I now know 'inquiry' is a special word in the impeachment thesaurus," he said wryly, "which I'm still looking for on Amazon, but I haven't found."Still, anti-Trump voices within the Republican Party have been emboldened by comments like Amodei's. Republicans for the Rule of Law, the main initiative of the conservative anti-Trump group Defending Democracy Together, is spending more than $1 million to run television ads on Fox and MSNBC, calling on Republicans to "demand the facts" about Trump and Ukraine.The campaign began last week with ads in five districts -- including Amodei's, Upton's and Fitzpatrick's -- and will expand this week to target 12 Republican senators and 15 members of the House."Given where they've been, for congressional Republicans to say, 'Well, we need to see all the facts,' is a pretty important step forward," said Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator and a founder of Defending Democracy Together.Polls have shown a steady rise in support for the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, with a majority of Americans approving of it. But sentiment is split along party lines. A recent CBS poll found that nearly 9 in 10 Democrats approved of the inquiry, and two-thirds strongly approved, as compared with just 23% of Republicans."Overwhelmingly, Republicans oppose the impeachment inquiry," said Ayres, the pollster. "They want their Republican elected officials to defend the president and protect him from his many enemies."But for Republicans in swing districts who have tight reelection races, like Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, defending Trump at all costs is not an option. In Washington state, for instance, Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler, who represents a district Democrats have targeted, has echoed Amodei, saying that while there is not yet evidence of impeachable offenses, for the "sake of this nation, we should all follow a process that does not put conclusions before facts."Here in northern Nevada, though, sentiment runs strong in favor of Trump. Amodei's district stretches south from Reno, past the cattle ranches and casinos that line the road to the state capital, Carson City, and into largely rural areas like Douglas County, where members of the local Republican women's club were having their monthly luncheon last week."I think it's a scam and it's a witch hunt, just like Trump says," said Gloria Darrington, 77, expressing the views of many here when she said she believed Democrats were simply continuing a long-running quest to undo the results of the 2016 election."He lives in a very Republican area, and he ought to be listening to his Republicans," Elinor Lindberg, 83, said of Amodei.Amodei, the only Republican in Nevada's congressional delegation, is not in danger of losing his seat to a Democrat. But he is in danger of drawing a Republican primary challenger from the right, and already some well-known Nevada names -- Adam Laxalt, the former attorney general who ran for governor last year, and Danny Tarkanian, a businessman -- are being bandied about.Amodei sounded unworried. He said some Democrats in his district have been thanking him for his open-mindedness."I am a member of the legislative branch -- I defend that institution," he said, adding, "Quite frankly, if you don't believe in the processes of your own institution, what are you doing there?This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2VhzW5T

[bigbirdgladiator]

RENO, Nev. -- Rep. Mark Amodei was not prepared for the backlash from his fellow Republicans when he said Congress needed to "follow the facts" and look into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached.Newspapers declared he was breaking ranks. Conservative constituents branded him a traitor: "I'm Brutus, and Trump's Julius Caesar," he said. In short order, he was forced to explain himself to the Trump campaign's political director, top House Republicans and the acting White House chief of staff. All had the same question: "What the heck are you doing?"As evidence mounts that Trump engaged in an intensive effort to pressure the leader of Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Amodei is one of a growing number of Republicans who, while not explicitly endorsing the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, are at least indicating an openness to it. None have said Trump should be impeached. But neither are they defending him.It is a politically delicate but increasingly common approach among independent-minded lawmakers like Amodei, who are working to balance their fear of inviting Trump's wrath -- and that of the party base -- with a deep anxiety that there is more to be revealed about the president, some of it potentially indefensible, and the knowledge that history will hold them accountable for their words and actions.In Michigan, Rep. Fred Upton told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club that while he did not support an impeachment inquiry, "there are legitimate questions" about Trump's interactions with Ukraine, and he had no problem with Democrats' efforts to get more information."We need to know what the answers are," he said.In Texas, Rep. Will Hurd -- who is retiring, and therefore perhaps feeling liberated to speak his mind -- has called on the House to investigate the "troubling" allegations against Trump, though he cautioned against a rush to impeachment. In Pennsylvania, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said he thinks law enforcement should investigate. In Illinois, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said, "I want to know what happened here."In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican whose seat is seen by Democrats as especially vulnerable, also criticized Trump's decision to call on China to investigate a political rival. "It's completely inappropriate," she told the Bangor Daily News on Saturday.And in Utah, Sen. Mitt Romney, who has emerged as a lonely voice criticizing Trump's dealings with Ukraine, and last week called the president's appeal for foreign help investigating the Bidens "wrong and appalling," appears to have company. Before a whistleblower's complaint against Trump was made public, a fellow Utahan, Rep. John Curtis, introduced a resolution calling for the White House to release it, and he has said he is "closely monitoring the formal inquiry."On Saturday, in a warning shot to Republicans who might cross him, Trump lashed out at Romney on Twitter, calling him a "pompous 'ass' who has been fighting me from the beginning" and using the hashtag IMPEACHMITTROMNEY."As they distance themselves from Trump, these Republicans -- some in swing districts in tight reelection races -- are also taking care to distance themselves from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who they say rushed into the impeachment inquiry. For the most part they are refraining from directly criticizing the president, who has branded the investigation a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."But neither are they adopting the language of their leaders, whose strategy centers on attacking Pelosi, branding the inquiry politically motivated and changing the subject to Biden and his son Hunter, whose work for a Ukrainian energy company fed Trump's accusations of a nefarious web of corruption involving one of his top political foes. More than a dozen House Republicans have remained silent."It's a matter of following their conscience and saying what they will be happy defending to their children in later years," said Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist, adding, "Some of them are following the rule that if you can't say anything good about your president, you should not say anything at all."These Republicans still account for a small minority of the 197 in the House. But their comments, at a time when polls show public support for the impeachment inquiry is growing, are the first hint at cracks in party unity. They also offer echoes of the path the party took during the impeachment proceedings against Richard M. Nixon, when even the staunchest defenders of the president eventually abandoned him."My sense is that if there were a secret ballot vote on impeachment it would garner significant Republican support," said David Wasserman, who tracks House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, citing "my private conversations with Republican members of Congress who believe he is wildly unfit to be president. "But, Wasserman added, "They can't say that in public, or else their political careers would be torpedoed by one tweet from the Oval Office."Here in Nevada, Amodei, 61, a garrulous former federal prosecutor who led Trump's 2016 campaign in Nevada, is choosing his words carefully.During a candid hourlong conversation that included a tour of his lovingly restored red-and-white Chevy Silverado flatbed truck (model year 1988 -- the same year he switched his party registration from Democrat to Republican), he sounded mystified at the uproar he created. He votes with Trump nearly 99% of the time, but described himself as a "process guy" who believes in congressional oversight."I just think you have to respect the process," he said. "I think you need to be transparent, and you need to tell the truth."He said he was not a fan of Pelosi's process and said she should have put the inquiry up to a vote of the full House. And he lamented that the word "inquiry" has become politically toxic for Republicans -- a lesson he learned after he shared his views with local reporters, one of whom wrote that he backed the House inquiry but was withholding judgment on whether Trump "crossed the legal line."The characterization was accurate, Amodei said, but it sparked an uproar when news media outlets (including The New York Times) called him the first Republican who had broken ranks to support an impeachment investigation. He quickly recalibrated, issuing a statement making clear he did not support Trump's impeachment."I now know 'inquiry' is a special word in the impeachment thesaurus," he said wryly, "which I'm still looking for on Amazon, but I haven't found."Still, anti-Trump voices within the Republican Party have been emboldened by comments like Amodei's. Republicans for the Rule of Law, the main initiative of the conservative anti-Trump group Defending Democracy Together, is spending more than $1 million to run television ads on Fox and MSNBC, calling on Republicans to "demand the facts" about Trump and Ukraine.The campaign began last week with ads in five districts -- including Amodei's, Upton's and Fitzpatrick's -- and will expand this week to target 12 Republican senators and 15 members of the House."Given where they've been, for congressional Republicans to say, 'Well, we need to see all the facts,' is a pretty important step forward," said Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator and a founder of Defending Democracy Together.Polls have shown a steady rise in support for the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, with a majority of Americans approving of it. But sentiment is split along party lines. A recent CBS poll found that nearly 9 in 10 Democrats approved of the inquiry, and two-thirds strongly approved, as compared with just 23% of Republicans."Overwhelmingly, Republicans oppose the impeachment inquiry," said Ayres, the pollster. "They want their Republican elected officials to defend the president and protect him from his many enemies."But for Republicans in swing districts who have tight reelection races, like Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, defending Trump at all costs is not an option. In Washington state, for instance, Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler, who represents a district Democrats have targeted, has echoed Amodei, saying that while there is not yet evidence of impeachable offenses, for the "sake of this nation, we should all follow a process that does not put conclusions before facts."Here in northern Nevada, though, sentiment runs strong in favor of Trump. Amodei's district stretches south from Reno, past the cattle ranches and casinos that line the road to the state capital, Carson City, and into largely rural areas like Douglas County, where members of the local Republican women's club were having their monthly luncheon last week."I think it's a scam and it's a witch hunt, just like Trump says," said Gloria Darrington, 77, expressing the views of many here when she said she believed Democrats were simply continuing a long-running quest to undo the results of the 2016 election."He lives in a very Republican area, and he ought to be listening to his Republicans," Elinor Lindberg, 83, said of Amodei.Amodei, the only Republican in Nevada's congressional delegation, is not in danger of losing his seat to a Democrat. But he is in danger of drawing a Republican primary challenger from the right, and already some well-known Nevada names -- Adam Laxalt, the former attorney general who ran for governor last year, and Danny Tarkanian, a businessman -- are being bandied about.Amodei sounded unworried. He said some Democrats in his district have been thanking him for his open-mindedness."I am a member of the legislative branch -- I defend that institution," he said, adding, "Quite frankly, if you don't believe in the processes of your own institution, what are you doing there?This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

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RENO, Nev. -- Rep. Mark Amodei was not prepared for the backlash from his fellow Republicans when he said Congress needed to "follow the facts" and look into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached.Newspapers declared he was breaking ranks. Conservative constituents branded him a traitor: "I'm Brutus, and Trump's Julius Caesar," he said. In short order, he was forced to explain himself to the Trump campaign's political director, top House Republicans and the acting White House chief of staff. All had the same question: "What the heck are you doing?"As evidence mounts that Trump engaged in an intensive effort to pressure the leader of Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Amodei is one of a growing number of Republicans who, while not explicitly endorsing the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, are at least indicating an openness to it. None have said Trump should be impeached. But neither are they defending him.It is a politically delicate but increasingly common approach among independent-minded lawmakers like Amodei, who are working to balance their fear of inviting Trump's wrath -- and that of the party base -- with a deep anxiety that there is more to be revealed about the president, some of it potentially indefensible, and the knowledge that history will hold them accountable for their words and actions.In Michigan, Rep. Fred Upton told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club that while he did not support an impeachment inquiry, "there are legitimate questions" about Trump's interactions with Ukraine, and he had no problem with Democrats' efforts to get more information."We need to know what the answers are," he said.In Texas, Rep. Will Hurd -- who is retiring, and therefore perhaps feeling liberated to speak his mind -- has called on the House to investigate the "troubling" allegations against Trump, though he cautioned against a rush to impeachment. In Pennsylvania, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said he thinks law enforcement should investigate. In Illinois, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said, "I want to know what happened here."In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican whose seat is seen by Democrats as especially vulnerable, also criticized Trump's decision to call on China to investigate a political rival. "It's completely inappropriate," she told the Bangor Daily News on Saturday.And in Utah, Sen. Mitt Romney, who has emerged as a lonely voice criticizing Trump's dealings with Ukraine, and last week called the president's appeal for foreign help investigating the Bidens "wrong and appalling," appears to have company. Before a whistleblower's complaint against Trump was made public, a fellow Utahan, Rep. John Curtis, introduced a resolution calling for the White House to release it, and he has said he is "closely monitoring the formal inquiry."On Saturday, in a warning shot to Republicans who might cross him, Trump lashed out at Romney on Twitter, calling him a "pompous 'ass' who has been fighting me from the beginning" and using the hashtag IMPEACHMITTROMNEY."As they distance themselves from Trump, these Republicans -- some in swing districts in tight reelection races -- are also taking care to distance themselves from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who they say rushed into the impeachment inquiry. For the most part they are refraining from directly criticizing the president, who has branded the investigation a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."But neither are they adopting the language of their leaders, whose strategy centers on attacking Pelosi, branding the inquiry politically motivated and changing the subject to Biden and his son Hunter, whose work for a Ukrainian energy company fed Trump's accusations of a nefarious web of corruption involving one of his top political foes. More than a dozen House Republicans have remained silent."It's a matter of following their conscience and saying what they will be happy defending to their children in later years," said Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist, adding, "Some of them are following the rule that if you can't say anything good about your president, you should not say anything at all."These Republicans still account for a small minority of the 197 in the House. But their comments, at a time when polls show public support for the impeachment inquiry is growing, are the first hint at cracks in party unity. They also offer echoes of the path the party took during the impeachment proceedings against Richard M. Nixon, when even the staunchest defenders of the president eventually abandoned him."My sense is that if there were a secret ballot vote on impeachment it would garner significant Republican support," said David Wasserman, who tracks House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, citing "my private conversations with Republican members of Congress who believe he is wildly unfit to be president. "But, Wasserman added, "They can't say that in public, or else their political careers would be torpedoed by one tweet from the Oval Office."Here in Nevada, Amodei, 61, a garrulous former federal prosecutor who led Trump's 2016 campaign in Nevada, is choosing his words carefully.During a candid hourlong conversation that included a tour of his lovingly restored red-and-white Chevy Silverado flatbed truck (model year 1988 -- the same year he switched his party registration from Democrat to Republican), he sounded mystified at the uproar he created. He votes with Trump nearly 99% of the time, but described himself as a "process guy" who believes in congressional oversight."I just think you have to respect the process," he said. "I think you need to be transparent, and you need to tell the truth."He said he was not a fan of Pelosi's process and said she should have put the inquiry up to a vote of the full House. And he lamented that the word "inquiry" has become politically toxic for Republicans -- a lesson he learned after he shared his views with local reporters, one of whom wrote that he backed the House inquiry but was withholding judgment on whether Trump "crossed the legal line."The characterization was accurate, Amodei said, but it sparked an uproar when news media outlets (including The New York Times) called him the first Republican who had broken ranks to support an impeachment investigation. He quickly recalibrated, issuing a statement making clear he did not support Trump's impeachment."I now know 'inquiry' is a special word in the impeachment thesaurus," he said wryly, "which I'm still looking for on Amazon, but I haven't found."Still, anti-Trump voices within the Republican Party have been emboldened by comments like Amodei's. Republicans for the Rule of Law, the main initiative of the conservative anti-Trump group Defending Democracy Together, is spending more than $1 million to run television ads on Fox and MSNBC, calling on Republicans to "demand the facts" about Trump and Ukraine.The campaign began last week with ads in five districts -- including Amodei's, Upton's and Fitzpatrick's -- and will expand this week to target 12 Republican senators and 15 members of the House."Given where they've been, for congressional Republicans to say, 'Well, we need to see all the facts,' is a pretty important step forward," said Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator and a founder of Defending Democracy Together.Polls have shown a steady rise in support for the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, with a majority of Americans approving of it. But sentiment is split along party lines. A recent CBS poll found that nearly 9 in 10 Democrats approved of the inquiry, and two-thirds strongly approved, as compared with just 23% of Republicans."Overwhelmingly, Republicans oppose the impeachment inquiry," said Ayres, the pollster. "They want their Republican elected officials to defend the president and protect him from his many enemies."But for Republicans in swing districts who have tight reelection races, like Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, defending Trump at all costs is not an option. In Washington state, for instance, Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler, who represents a district Democrats have targeted, has echoed Amodei, saying that while there is not yet evidence of impeachable offenses, for the "sake of this nation, we should all follow a process that does not put conclusions before facts."Here in northern Nevada, though, sentiment runs strong in favor of Trump. Amodei's district stretches south from Reno, past the cattle ranches and casinos that line the road to the state capital, Carson City, and into largely rural areas like Douglas County, where members of the local Republican women's club were having their monthly luncheon last week."I think it's a scam and it's a witch hunt, just like Trump says," said Gloria Darrington, 77, expressing the views of many here when she said she believed Democrats were simply continuing a long-running quest to undo the results of the 2016 election."He lives in a very Republican area, and he ought to be listening to his Republicans," Elinor Lindberg, 83, said of Amodei.Amodei, the only Republican in Nevada's congressional delegation, is not in danger of losing his seat to a Democrat. But he is in danger of drawing a Republican primary challenger from the right, and already some well-known Nevada names -- Adam Laxalt, the former attorney general who ran for governor last year, and Danny Tarkanian, a businessman -- are being bandied about.Amodei sounded unworried. He said some Democrats in his district have been thanking him for his open-mindedness."I am a member of the legislative branch -- I defend that institution," he said, adding, "Quite frankly, if you don't believe in the processes of your own institution, what are you doing there?This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

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Ryan Sutton/Eater NY David Chang’s fast-casual chicken spot teams with Reef Kitchens to sling sandwiches in Portland, Miami, and Brooklyn In March 2015, culinary celebrity and media mogul David Chang stood on a stage at Austin’s SXSW festival and announced his new fried chicken restaurant, Fuku. “We’re going to try to make the best fried chicken sandwich possible, and work with smartest people out there to make the best tech stuff for it,” he said. He wanted the fried chicken sandwich shop to feel experimental and high-tech, and likely dependent on mobile apps. The goal was always to grow: Starting in the former Momofuku Ko space in the East Village, Chang would test out the brand, exploding the company into a chain spread across several cities. The fast-casual option from David Chang was his first move into the easily scalable, more-casual dining model exemplified by Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack. And five years later, Fuku has locations across the country, with gleaming brick and mortar restaurants in Boston and Los Angeles, concessions stands in sports arenas, and a location coming to Rockefeller Center. When Fuku comes to a city, it usually arrives with at least a little fanfare: Eater Boston knew about the impending arrival months in advance, and Eater LA showed off its stall within the SocialEats food hall in Santa Monica on the day it opened its doors. Last week, however, Portland’s online-trawling masses started noticing Fuku on delivery apps sourced from different locations around town — generally parking lots and food cart pods. It was surprising, considering the fact that no real announcement of a Portland-area Fuku had been made; the company was officially in six cities and Washington D.C. according to its website, where there was no mention of a Portland location. Instead, Fuku’s (very real) Portland presence is as the result of a three-month contract with Reef Kitchens, a branch of the larger Reef Technology brand, which runs delivery-centric ghost kitchens across the country. And the delivery-only growth plan is an unexpected one: David Chang’s fried chicken sandwich chain is the most prominent brand to actively pursue the delivery-only model as a way to expand nationwide. It follows the Momofuku brand’s previous two unsuccessful attempts at getting into delivery: Maple, the meal delivery start-up that counted Chang as an investor, ceased operations after two years, while Ando, a delivery-only restaurant under the Momofuku brand, stopped serving food after just under two years of operation. “I imagine there are a few people in Portland, New York, or Miami who might be unfamiliar with David Chang or have never seen a Fuku chicken sandwich,” Reef spokesperson Padden Murphy says, noting other cities where Fuku will be available delivery-first. “To be able to bring that to people is huge.” The choice to debut the partnership in Portland is especially significant. In Miami and New York, Fuku has some sort of presence, even if it’s just in stadiums. In Portland, delivery-only Fuku is the city’s introduction to the Momofuku brand, and under circumstances that deviate from traditional expansion methods. Instead of testing the market slowly, doing on-the-ground beta testing, quality control, and promotion, Fuku is sending refrigerated trucks full of commissary-made sauces and chicken cutlets to trailer-based kitchens, trusting Reef employees to make a Fuku sandwich based off of training videos and recipe cards. In all of the planned delivery cities for the three-month test run, Fuku’s commissary will send pre-butchered, brined, and dredged chicken, fries, and sauces out on refrigerated trucks to Reef Kitchen locations. Then, employees at the kitchens will assemble orders locally and send them out for delivery. If the launch in Portland, Brooklyn, and Miami is successful, the company would commit to scaling upward or sticking to a delivery-only model in cities with existing brick and mortars. Alex Munoz-Suarez, the CEO of Fuku, played with the idea of delivery-only, cloud-kitchen-style service in other cities, but he was trying to be methodical about it. “Over the last six months, as restaurateurs — especially as restaurateurs in the fast-casual space — we’ve seen rapid growth in off-premise business; I’m talking about lunch delivery orders, and/or pickup orders,” he says. For Munoz-Suarez, it makes more sense to partner with a company like Reef as an inroad to a new-city expansion. “The planning it takes to learn a city, find a site, secure a space, secure the funding, build the space, all of that — our partner Reef has done for us. Obviously it’s delivery only, but the beauty of what they’re doing [is that] they have the ability to move a vessel,” he says, referring to what Reef calls the physical space of its ghost kitchen. “You have little to no flexibility going the previous route. Portland is a city I know a little bit, but chatting with local real estate people, that takes a lot of time.” If Fuku seeks to expand without the hassle of building brick and mortar locations, Reef is an expected partner: It operates about 5,000 parking lots and parking garages across North America, and spokesperson Padden Murphy says that developing ghost kitchens in these spaces reinvigorates the property and gives it separate uses. “Something like 50 to 60 percent of all downtowns are all dedicated to cars, parking, on street off street,” Murphy says. “Our entire view of urban renewal, we’ve built our cities around cars, but in doing that, we built this essential infrastructure that we can re-imagine.” Connecting with larger brands isn’t totally out of Reef’s wheelhouse, either; the company’s other big win was a partnership with Rachael Ray, with menus designed by the celebrity chef delivered in cities like Chattanooga, Tennessee and Dallas. Similarly to Fuku, the partnership was a short-term model, running through the end of 2019. However, according to Murphy, Reef may start using the company’s “vessels” to help tap local talent and help them grow their businesses. “It’s also important for us to figure out who is the next David Chang in Portland — how do we make accessible the ability to scale? We believe that this is a trend that is early, that will become normalized.” For now, however, more people can try Fuku than ever before, even if they can’t walk into an actual restaurant. Disclosure: David Chang is producing shows for Hulu in partnership with Vox Media Studios, part of Eater’s parent company, Vox Media. No Eater staff member is involved in the production of those shows, and this does not impact coverage on Eater. from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2VBhkhs

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