#I wanted to include more pictures but I had to forgo them in favor of the actual necessary quotes

[glassautomaton]

What Is the First Magic, Anyways? (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love FGO Spoilers)

Out of the five instances of True Magic, the Second and Third are known about in some detail, the Fouth is a total unknown from what I can gather and simply hasn't been expanded upon in the lore quite yet, and the Fifth being shown, but not explained in detail, which is its own post. The First Magic falls somewhere in the middle here, where a few vague things are known about it and the person who attained it, but not much in the way of details.

What we do know for sure is that the Magician of the First Magic was Yumina, the First Witch, who founded the Meinster lineage and used the First to create Ploys, which were passed down to Alice Kuonji, considered to be the last pureblooded Meinster by 1989 following the 'death' of her mother. Based on some information about Witches and the Meinsters in particular from the FGO collab from back in April, I think I can hazard a strong guess as to what the First Magic actually is: authority over Mystics/Mysticism itself.

Some spoilers for FGO's Lostbelt 6, though nothing critical to the plot, as well as this translation of Alice Kuonji's FGO profile.

First off, some basic information about Witches and Yumina that was dropped a solid decade after Witch on the Moly Night first came out, because Nasu's a fucking comedian:

This establishes a few things, first and foremost that Alice is actually Yumina's descendant, that Witches aren't human and are instead closer to faeries (although I'm not sure if they can be considered true faeries as this is phrased like they were created by an individual rather than born from the land or the Inner Sea), and that the daughters of Witches are essentially the next vessel for a singular consciousness, such that lineages are more like a single individual with several reincarnations. Not all of this information is actually completely relevant to this point but how insane is it that Alice got a lore drop for the first time in a decade and it was buried in the ass-end of a six-year-old mobile game? I just needed to get that off my chest.

Alice's profile reinforces this by seeming to allude that Alice's mother and her ancestors were all the same person, as well as the third paragraph using similar wording to how True Magic is often explained.

Crucially, the final line also states that Meinsters stand in defense of Mystics from humanity's constant march towards order, which inevitably destroys Mystics by coming to understand them, as is one of the overarching themes in Type Moon in general. Yumina's lineage seems to be actively pushing back on this.

Knowing Nasu, I could stop right here. See, it's thematically cohesive with the Meinsters and Alice's character arc of growing past the reminders of her family's past and learning to appreciate the present, and thematic cohesion is really all you need in Type Moon, established lore and rules be damned.

However, I think that my point is supported by the Ploys, which are all products of the First Magic. We'll start off with the Three Great Ploys, which we know were created by Yumina proper and not any of her later descendants/incarnations.

Flat Snark, Oil of the Moon, is the Great Ploy that's featured most prominently in Mahoyo. This is pretty straightforward - the prose in the scenes that feature it describe it as Magic, and it functions by transforming the world inside of its domain into a landscape of fantastical insanity. It is, quite literally, draping the landscape in Mystics once again. Even the air becomes dense with mana, similar to the atmosphere in the Age of Gods (as shown in Absolute Demonic Front), when Mystics were at their most common and well-integrated, before humanity had begun to push it back as much as they had.

The Thames Troll is the second of the Great Three Ploys, and one that, at first glance, seems to be by far the most simple - it's a massive golem that can get stronger based on what it's built out of. Alice states she has poor compatibility with it, and therefore can only use its first two forms, that being wood and clay/brick/stone, with its final two forms being iron and steel, then silver and gold. Thames uses the environment to create its body, be it the woods the first time we see it or the brickwork in the park during Alice's fight with Touko, which would mean that further forms would likely do the same. As Alice says that the final form would overshadow even London, this would mean that Thames is capable of annihilating entire cities. However, considering it would need iron and steel nearby to do so, it could likely only become so powerful when being used within a more advanced human settlement, likely for the express purpose of destroying it. Therefore, Thames is the Ploy that most directly serves the Meinster's goals of opposing humanity and safeguarding Mystics.

The final of the Great Three Ploys, which isn't directly stated in Witch on the Holy Night but instead FGO, is Wandersnatch, which frankly could and probably should be its own post. There's a whole hell of a lot going on with that thing.

The long and short of it is that the Ploy consists of a dense fog, and numerous entities within it. Only by glimpsing Wandersnatch's true form in the fog can one escape, which makes the Ploy itself act as a microcosm for Mystics in general - it's an impossible, insurmountable obstacle that can only be weakened and overcome by observing it and learning more about it. It's little surprise, then, that Yumina herself choose Wandersnatch to inhabit while her current descendant doesn't yet harbor her consciousness - much of Wandersnatch’s presence has to do with Yumina attempting to exert more control on Alice in order to possess her and incarnate.

Ultimately, though, the smoking gun for me isn't one of the Three Great Ploys, but the most common one we see used: Diddle Diddle, Alice's favorite Ploy. This one has a simple function, that being that it strengthens Mystics in a certain area when dropped on the ground. Which is simple, yes, but also just absurd. You mean she can just crank out little Christmas tree ornaments that can singlehandedly counteract the one consistent force present in every single Type Moon property? She can just do that? Alice, and only Alice, can just say "nuh uh?" That's not attainable through normal magecraft, and has got to be an application of the First Magic through the Ploy. Considering how straightforward the effect is, it seems to pretty clearly point towards the First Magic being tied to Mystics.

As a final note, I also think this makes sense of Nasu's note that the First Magic was discovered after the Third but named as such for a special reason relating to its nature (although this is from an unofficial translation from the Fandom wiki so take this with a grain of salt). It would be very in keeping with what we know about mage society for them to say Mystics are more foundational and important than souls.

[stormyrainyday]

Am mostly on board with this post but I have a bone to pick with the BMI section. The cited BMI article is not a reputable source; it is an opinion piece that does not cite any sources, is titled "Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus" (and includes "it embarrasses the US" as a reason), is from 2009, and was written by a mathematician and not a doctor. Being from NPR doesn't automatically make it correct or reputable. Misinformation and inflammatory comments like "it hangs around because of fatphobia and insurance companies" just enable people to ignore their weight as an important indicator of health. (Note that I said important; not sole. Any medical professional worth their salt knows better than to take weight in a vacuum. However this does not mean that it should be ignored entirely either).

I will start by saying both being too fat and too skinny are bad for you. However since the post specifically pins the longevity of the BMI on fatphobia, I will address that more.

Nobody wants to hear this but being obese is in fact bad for you. Not just in terms of added risk of acquiring other diseases (though you definitely ARE at increased risk for cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and more-- it is even a well known cause of infertility and other reproductive disorders), but obesity itself is a state of chronic inflammation and a disease process in its own right.

Of course, there are still issues with the BMI; as the above poster said, it was not originally intended to be used as a measure of health, and the original study overwhelming featured Caucasian men and no women. Different races have different levels of body fat at the same BMI-- and it's more widely agreed that percent body fat is the important indicator of the diseases listed above, not necessarily your exact weight or BMI. Additionally, it's widely known that women need a higher body fat percentage than men, and that BMI misclassifies people who are pregnant, very athletic, etc because, as we know, BMI measures weight, not fat.

(As an aside, it's commonly cited that a mortality is lowest at an borderline overweight BMI of 25, but the study reporting this notes that smoking and diseases that cause severe weight loss such as cancers had a large effect mortality in lower weight ranges).

So why still use BMI? In short: it's a good starting point.

Height and weight of an individual are exceedingly easy to attain in any doctor's visit. The formula is simple and calculators are easily available, and it is easy to plot changes over time. At the population level, BMI correlates with levels of body fat and obesity related diseases; combined with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of attaining it, that makes it a good initial screening for obesity. Furthermore, there have been race-adjusted BMI cutoffs created to help make screenings for said diseases more accurate. It's also very useful in a research setting, again because of its easy attainability, but do note that research done on a population does not apply to every single individual and therefore it's important for doctors to be educated about such limitations and use their clinical judgement. Treat the patient, not the disease, if you will.

Some articles (including ones I have cited above) do say that because of its limitations it might be better to forgo BMI altogether in favor of more accurate assessments, like waist circumference or body composition measures. These measures have their own respective pros and cons that you can read about here and therefore also require clinical judgement and patient and physician education on how to implement them appropriately.

My personal opinion remains that these should be used alongside BMI, especially the simple ones such as waist to height ratio, and use all as needed to make a complete clinical picture. Both patient and physician education is important when doing any medical testing or screening-- I'd advocate for doctors to be better educated on the strengths and limits of the BMI so they can inform their patients as to why it is being used at all, and to better use it critically when providing care. But I don't believe that it should be discounted entirely.

I can't keep having the same conversations about love languages, mbti, iq, bmi, "brain fully formed at 25" and shit over and over again...

[starlingschool]

𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭 𝟏𝟎𝟏: 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐲

Welcome to Tarot 101 with Astrid! This is part 1 of my series. To keep each post as short as possible these will be bite sized. This part will explain the basic anatomy of the Tarot Deck and a brief explanation of its origin.

c o n t e n t s

Anatomy of a Deck

Why so many Cards?

Major vs Minor

A n a t o m y o f a D e c k

Let’s start with breaking down a tarot deck.

A tarot deck has 78 cards. It’s split into two big groups, the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.

➸ Although some styles of tarot decks may have additional cards that act as oracle cards, the following 78 cards are what are known as the complete Tarot deck.

The Major Arcana has 22 cards. Starting from 0: The Fool and ending with 21: The World.

The Minor Arcana has 56 cards, but it’s split into four smaller sections. These smaller sections are called “Suits”

The Suits are The Pentacles, The Wands, The Cups and The Swords. Each Suit has 14 cards. Starting with the Ace going to Ten, then we have a Page, Knight, Queen and King.

➸ If you’re familiar with Playing cards for poker or solitaire, the Minor Arcana in a Tarot deck is numbered just like the Playing cards, just that the “Suits” are different. In playing cards, there are clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts. Now back to Tarot.

Below is a graphic of the cards of a Tarot deck split into the Major and Minor Arcana and Suits.

W h y s o m a n y c a r d s ?

The reason for the number of cards in a Tarot deck has to do with its history. Tarot is historically believed to have first been created as a secular Card Game in the 15th Century in Italy.

At the time card games had 52 cards. 4 Suits of 13 cards.

It’s thought that during the 1440’s, Tarot was created when the Duke of Milan asked an Artist to make a variation of the common card game. He asked to add cards to it and the artist Bonafacio Bembo added the 22 cards that make up today’s Major Arcana and added the Queens to the court cards of the Suits. Making each suit filled with 14 cards.

In conclusion, the 78 cards we have in today’s modern Tarot were made as a cure for boredom.

It’s important to note this because knowing the history of Tarot will help you in your journey when you decide how you will use Tarot in your practice.

I know some practitioners who think of Tarot as a sacred tool and they don’t like to leave any cards out while they shuffle and read cards.

I want to include this because I believe Tarot like any form of magic shouldn’t have fear of change attached to it. You should choose how to practice based on what resonates with you.

Some practitioners like to omit the major arcana or forgo the Minor Arcana in favor of using only 22 cards from the Major Arcana. Either way you practice is fine, just remember that the way you practice should bring you peace, not fear.

However you choose to practice Tarot, know that it is valid 🩷

Personally, I like to read with all 78 cards unless I’m using a Tarot Spread that calls for just one Arcana or Suit. I'll explain this more in depth in a later post!

M a j o r v s M i n o r

So if you don’t have to read with all 78 cards in a Tarot Deck, why do they exist and why do some Readers use them all? What’s the difference?

Well, Tarot is a divination tool so it’s here to make it easier to hear your intuition or view a situation from a different perspective. Knowing this, each card has a unique meaning behind it. A definition assigned to it both historically, or over time as Tarot entered the occult.

Although the Major and Minor Arcana’s have different meanings there are similarities between some cards.

The 22 cards in the Major Arcana tell a big picture story of a protagonist— The Fool— who goes through life’s joys and complications. However, the 56 cards in the Minor Arcana tell the same story but on a much more detailed view.

I like to think of it as the Major Arcana is the bird’s eye view of a situation and the Minor Arcana is the situation under a microscope.

For example, let’s say you ask Where you need to focus your mental energy on at this time? Let’s say in two different readings you get two different cards. One from the Major Arcana and one from the Minor. From the Minor, You get the 8 of wands. This could be interpreted a lot of different ways but for the sake of this post we’ll say this means you should focus on the finishing touches needed in order for you to propel forward in your passionate adventure. Whether this is starting a business or asking out your crush. Now, in a separate reading, you ask the same question, you get The Chariot from the Major Arcana. This could translate into you need to take the reins of your life and just go for it, with less thought to the tiny things “We’ll figure out the details when we get there!” Both readings say the same thing but their advice is different.

One tells you to look at the big picture, this needs to get done the sooner the better, take the reins and have fun with it, we can worry about the details later. While the other warns you to think things through, work out the kinks in your plan but do it quickly so you don’t lose momentum.

This is why both Arcana’s are useful and this is why some readers read with all 78 cards. However, there are advantages to using just one Arcana or just one suit.

But how do you know when to do that? We’ll look into that in our next part 🩷 since this post is getting long.

If you have any questions or want me to elaborate on something in this post please reach out, either with my “Witches' Desk”, comments or DMs.

𐐪𐑂 My Etsy Divination Shop | My Ko-Fi Divination Shop

𐐪𐑂 Follow my Shop’s Tumblr @stardustedreams222

𐐪𐑂 Follow my Personal Tumblr @withloveastrid

𐐪𐑂 Support me on Ko-Fi for $3 a month to get exclusive readings ✨

With Love, Astrid 🩷✨

[winterscaptain]

spoiled.

Aaron Hotchner x Gender Neutral Reader a joyful future fic

a/n: happy valentine’s day! 

words: 2.1k warnings: language, over-the-top valentine’s day shenanigans

summary: “the best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” - nicholas sparks. au!february 2012

masterlist | a joyful future masterlist | ajf faq | taglist | what do you want to see next?

Aaron leaves rather early in the morning, leaving you in bed complaining with only a kiss for your trouble. 

When you eventually get up, on track to be about fifteen minutes late to the federal building, you find a pair of post-its on the fridge. 

Always the romantic. 

+++

The evening rolls around and finds you on the couch with Jess and Jack. 

“You gonna start getting ready?” Jess asks. “You’ve got a long night ahead of you.” 

You look over at her. “Wait. He told you what we’re doing?”

She nods. “Yeah. You have no idea. He hasn’t done a big Valentine’s Day thing since he surprised Haley in her senior year of college. He’s been looking for an excuse.” 

That’s terrifying. 

“Guess I better get ready then.” 

Jack’s got a funny little smile on his face, but you ignore it. You’re sure the Hotchner boys are in cahoots, but it’s not really worth it to try and wiggle anything out of him. 

You head to the master bedroom to get dressed, throwing off your slouchy day-off clothes in favor of something that can take you to a fancy dinner and whatever else Aaron has planned for your evening.

+++

You walk out of the apartment, hearing Jess lock the door behind you. When you reach the front of the apartment complex, Aaron closes the car door as he hops out, meeting you halfway to the sidewalk. 

“Hello, gorgeous,” he says, pressing a kiss to your cheek. 

He’s wearing a black button-up, black slacks, and his favorite pair of black oxfords. It’s a sharp look and one he knows you love. 

“You’re looking quite dapper yourself, sir.” 

The boyish grin on his face melts your heart and you take the arm he offers. Like a real gentleman, he opens the door for you and makes sure you’re inside before closing you in.

+++

The drive is quiet. You ask about the office once or twice, but it’s clear there’s nothing significant to report. 

“So...what are we doing tonight?” 

He glances at you out of the corner of his eye. “Dinner. And a few other things.” 

+++

When he says ‘dinner,’ he’s not joking. The restaurant is a high-end, no-prices-on-the-menu type of place. The lighting is low, the environment cozy and quiet. 

He must have planned this months ago. Reservations are like gold on Valentine’s Day. 

Aaron’s squinting at the menu across from you. It makes you laugh. 

“Need a flashlight and your reading glasses?”

“Shut up.” It comes with his own laugh, but he’s still squinting. 

You finally decide on something and order, trusting Aaron’s taste in wine. When the waiter leaves, Aaron reaches across the table for your hand. 

“Okay,” he says. You recognize his tone - it’s professional, like he’s starting a press conference. “No work, no kids, no serial killers.” 

You smile, waiting for him to give you a little more context. 

“How are you?” 

What a question. 

How often does the answer to that question not include work, kids, or serial killers? 

Not very. 

“I’m good.” You mean it. “I’m really good.” 

There’s a small smile on his face. “Why?”

Are you profiling me now, Hotch? 

Deciding to give him shit, you ask, “Why am I good, or is that a more general existential question?” 

He rolls his eyes and you relent. 

“Alright. Well…” You take a breath. “There are a lot of things to be happy about. You, for one thing.” 

“Me?” He asks. He looks genuinely surprised. 

Fool. 

“Yes, you.” You squeeze his hand. “You are my best friend and somehow - somehow - I’ve landed you as my partner. I am living out everything I dreamed of at twenty-five.” 

That pulls another smile from him. “Really?” Again, he looks genuinely surprised. 

Can’t believe I’ve never told this to him. 

Ridiculous

“Oh yeah. I can’t believe you never noticed. I had a huge crush on you - instantly. Derek gave me nothing but hell once he figured it out.” You pause. “Do you remember that time on the plane, really early on, when I woke up and everyone thought I had a nightmare?” 

Looking a little confused by your change in direction, and you don’t blame him. 

“I think so? I remember we all felt so bad.” He shrugs. “We all get them, of course - still do - but we were worried about you.”

“Right. So -” 

Aaron’s head tilts to the left as he interrupts you. “Did you say ‘everyone thought’ it was a nightmare?” 

Your face gets hot and you suddenly regret bringing this up at all. “Yeah. I’m getting to that.” 

With an embarrassed huff, you continue. “So, it wasn’t a nightmare.” 

“No?” The question comes accompanied by a frown. 

“No. It was a sex dream. About you.” 

You can tell he’s doing his best to hide his smile for your benefit, but there’s a threatening dimple that gives him away and you’ve simply known him too long for him to get away with anything. 

“Really?” His tone is neutral, polite, but you can hear the humor behind the apparently bland interest. 

“Yep.” 

“What - if I may ask - was it about? Specifically?” 

You take a breath and adopt the same kind of ironic professionalism as Aaron. “Well, now it doesn’t seem so notable, because i’m more than familiar with your, um, technique.” 

And it’s true. Though you hardly remember the details of the dream anymore - it's been years - you know that real life doesn’t even come close. 

Aaron pulls his hand from yours and steeples his fingers under his chin. He’s the picture of interest, so you continue. 

“The key points are as follows -” 

He holds up a finger, and you stop. “On second thought,” he says. “I think this recollection would be better served by a demonstration.”

You nod. “You’re probably right.” 

“I’ll pencil it in.” 

You grin at each other for a moment, the back-and-forth of it so deeply on brand you can’t help but steep in it for a second. 

“So,” he says, “as you were saying before…?” 

“Right.” 

Back to business. 

“I had a huge crush on you and could swear you were the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.” 

Never one to forgo an opportunity to compliment him when he’s not actively swatting at you, you continue. 

“In the lecture you gave with Gideon and Derek, I knew you were in charge before you said anything. Even though Gideon had the years and experience on you, it was clear that everything came through you.” You attempt to explain the inarticulable. “There’s a kind of steadiness - one you still have - that radiates off of you.” 

The two of you sit in that for a moment. 

You continue. “And then, of course, when we met again I had to really focus on not making an ass of myself in front of Strauss.” 

He laughs. His laughter makes you laugh, of course. It’s so much higher than his speaking register, so delightful in its unexpectedness. 

“Okay, okay.” You stop, covering your face with your hands. “Okay this is cheesy. Promise not to laugh.” 

His eyebrows rise and he forces his mouth into something that only threatens a dimple once more. 

“When you shook my hand in Radner’s office, there was this crazy jolt of energy or something that just flew up my arm. It was wild. I’ve never been able to forget it, almost like a flashbulb memory.”

As promised, he doesn’t laugh. There is, however, a kind of wonder in his eyes when he replies, “You felt that, too?”

+++

After dinner (and dessert), Aaron takes your hand and ushers you into the car when you leave the lod. He doesn’t turn the way you expect. 

“Where are we going?” 

The dashboard casts a glow on his face. You can still spot a dimple in the dark. “You’ll see.” 

+++

Your disbelief only grows when you go deeper into the city and pull up to the Hay-Adams. The valet opens the door for you, while Aaron hands over the keys to his SUV. Once all the details are covered, you take his arm again and let him guide you into the lobby. 

It’s expansive. The Hay-Adams is, of course, one of the most historic buildings in the district and considered one of the best hotels on the East Coast by people who know of these things. 

Aaron confirms the reservation and gets the room cards before promptly finding the elevator and swiping in for the seventh floor. You look down, remembering your attire at the last minute. 

“Aaron, I don’t have my go bag.” 

He shakes his head, still looking forward. “Don’t need it.” 

You scoff. 

He doubles down. “Do you trust me?”

Stupid question. 

“Of course.” 

“Go with it. I’m trying to spoil you.” He turns and presses his lips to yours, taking your face in his hand. Against your mouth, he says, “Let me.” 

+++

The room is gorgeous - a one bedroom suite with a living room, balcony, and kitchenette, a huge couch dominates the center of the open living area, opposite an impressive television. Through the open door, you catch a glimpse of a king-sized bed. 

This must have cost a small fortune. 

As if reading your mind, Aaron takes your hand and tugs you forward. You land against his chest and he smiles at you. “Don’t think too hard. Come with me.” 

You follow him out to the balcony and the view takes your breath away. The White House, well-lit in the D.C. nighttime, sits right across the street. From here, you can see Lafayette Square - beyond it, almost the whole city. 

When you come back to yourself, you realize there’s an outdoor loveseat and a small table, holding champagne (on ice) and chocolate-covered fruit. 

Champagne, chocolate, fancy dinner… The whole nine. 

Spoiled indeed. 

Aaron sits, pulling you down beside him. He pours two glasses of champagne - mostly for show, and moves the bucket to the ground. The fruit goes off to the side table and his feet go up on the small table, crossing at the ankles. You curl up against him, tucking under his arm. 

“Do you like it? Too much?” 

You can hear the genuine insecurity behind his cheeky question. You press a kiss to the back of his hand. “I love it. It is too much, but it’s very thoughtful. You twist to kiss the underside of his jaw. “Thank you.” 

With that, the two of you settle in, quietly enjoying the company and the quiet. It’s cold, but with the outdoor heater, it’s comfortable enough that you don’t need your coat. 

“Okay.” 

Aaron sits up. “Yes?” 

“You asked, so it’s only fair. No work, no kids, no serial killers. How are you?” 

He pulls you over so you’re sitting across his lap. You rest your head on his shoulder, your hand smoothing over the soft fabric of his button-up before placing it over his heart. 

“I’m good,” he says. “I’m really good.” 

“Why?” You feel a little like a parrot, but you’re sure that’s what he’s going for. 

“I can’t...quite articulate how lucky I feel.” 

That’s relatable. 

“I’m happy to be here with you.” He shakes his head - a pensive gesture. “I never thought I could make it here again.” 

“Where?” You ask. 

“In love, happy, facing a future that doesn’t scare me. My son is happy, safe...I wasn’t sure I'd ever have any of that again after losing Haley.” 

He pauses and you can feel a little sardonic smile. You don’t have to see it to know it’s there. His next admission, though, surprises you. 

“I accepted that I would be a bystander in your life a long time ago. I accepted that I would likely remain a widower, a single father. I knew you’d be around and that I would be your friend, but I made peace with the idea that I’d never have you right here.” He squeezes you twice, in time with his words. It makes you smile. 

He shakes his head and lets out a little laugh. “I’m not sure it’ll ever sink in.” 

You feel much the same, but it's kind of at once alarming and amusing to hear him so beautifully articulate feelings that so closely resemble your own. 

You lean back to look at him. “I’m glad you were wrong.”

He places a gentle finger under your chin and kisses you, long and languid. It’s a promise. After a little while, he leans back, brushing the back of his fingers over your cheek. 

“Me too.”

+++

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[my-bated-breath]

On an Immensely Popular Post

Disclaimer: What I’m writing here may not be completely accurate -- like most works of art, literature, and even STEM tend to be -- and as a new fan of ATLA, a few of the metas I publish may be obsolete or unintentionally insensitive. That being said, I like to believe that I can contribute something valuable to this fandom. In all my (real) metas, I wish to be as objective as possible and not rely on my biases, fanon, or common “knowledge” that may just be misconceptions. If anyone reading this finds something to be false or contrived, I am always welcome to constructive criticism. What I am not welcome to is senseless hate or bashing.

My first experiences with the ATLA fandom begun a long, long time ago, but the most recent and powerful revival of my love for ATLA started with me actually watching the show and soon after, with me falling into the endless abyss of ATLA metas on Tumblr. Sifting through the well-written analyses and the emotion-based rants had taught me a lot about critical thinking and the power of influence, so now I’d like to present a meta that critiques an extremely popular post with over 60,000 notes. And since it’s so popular, this is the part where I must make yet another disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I hold nothing against lesbians4sokka (whose name has now been changed to comradekatara). They have the right to share what they want, but since this particular post has become so influential that it’s still being reblogged regularly to this day, I believe it is within my right to criticize it - emphasis on “criticize,” which is different from “hate.”

Now that that’s out of the way, let us begin:

Lesbians4sokka/comradekatara covers 3 main subjects in their post, which I will quote/summarize below:

(1) Ma/iko: “...the entire foundation of mai and zuko’s relationship was built on how miserable they were together, and how they would just sit there and hate the world together— letting their misery fester as they enabled each other’s depression— and I think that’s really unfortunate because they would work so well as friends if they weren’t trying to make their dumpster fire of a relationship work.”

(2) Zutara: “similarly, what makes zuko and katara’s dynamic so compelling is that they share the same flaws, only as opposed to mai’s apathy and misery, it’s katara’s rage and guilt that zuko identifies with. they both share trauma over having lost their mothers, and both in a similar way (sacrificing themselves for them) and they both cope with their grief through rage, often misplaced… katara and zuko have a deep & profound friendship, but if they were to be in a relationship, they would only bring out the absolute worst in each other thru enabling each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making.”

(3) Z/uk/ka: this pairing makes for a healthy and wholesome relationship because throughout the boiling rock, we see that “sokka and zuko make an excellent team, as they balance each other perfectly. sokka thinks big picture, and plans ahead, but zuko will charge into situations.” They inspire each other, they trust each other unconditionally, they become more open and supportive of each other, they share a lot of common interests and narrative parallels, and in general, just make each other happy (which could work both platonically and romantically).

As for my response: I’m sure many of you are expecting me to start to save the “best for last.” That assumption would be incorrect because I actually have the least to say about point 3.

I agree that Z/uk/ka can be a good relationship. Their dynamic is funny, playful, supportive, etc. etc. (there are so many positive adjectives I could use to describe their dynamic, the list could go on forever). And they could make a great couple.

…

What, did you expect more from me? That’s it, I’m done.

I’m not here to attack Z/uk/ka as a ship, because while I can never actively ship it (I’m a sad, narrow-minded exclusive shipper, always had been and always will be) I can objectively appreciate them as one. It’s points 1 and 2 I’m more concerned about.

Now, since we’ve already begun working backward, I’ll begin my critiques on point 2: I could write extensively about the parallels between Zuko and Katara, including but not limited to shared pain and a few shared flaws - and just a few, because their weaknesses diverge in many important places. However, since I’m trying to write as objectively as possible and since Zuko-Katara parallels have already been discussed to death, my analysis will focus elsewhere.

However, something from comradekatara’s post that I would first like to address is this-

[Zuko and Katara] both cope with their grief through rage, often misplaced. in the southern raiders, they both act deeply insensitively towards sokka by acting as if his grief over his mother’s death is somehow less valid simply because he is a lot quieter in his coping mechanisms and doesn’t project his rage & guilt onto everyone else.

- or rather, the idea that Zuko and Katara’s shared pain causes them to act insensitively towards Sokka (and though the post does not mention it, Aang as well).

(Note: these points have already been covered by countless metas before mine, so you can skip/skim this section to read a newer argument in the next section.)

Even ignoring the fact that the Southern Raiders had many out of character moments, Katara’s insensitivity towards Sokka is first and foremost a reaction against his insensitivity towards her.

_____

Dialogue from Season 3, Episode 16 “The Southern Raiders”:

Aang: Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?

Katara: [Shakes her head in dismay.] Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand. [Begins to walk away.]

Aang: Wait! Stop! I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?

Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.

Aang: I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.

Katara: [Angrily.] Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!

Aang: Katara, you sound like Jet.

Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster.

Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right.

Katara: Then you didn't love her the way I did!

Sokka: [Hurt] Katara!

_____

While I believe that Aang’s principles of forgiveness are morally sound, the way he pushes his beliefs onto Katara undermines much of her grief. At first, Aang tries to relate to Katara’s experiences by comparing them to his own, but there is a forceful connotation to his dialogue that suggests that Aang considers himself to be the moral authority compared to Katara. Hence, Aang judges Katara (“I think it’s about getting revenge”) without trying to reach out and understand her, forgoing the empathetic common ground in favor of taking on the moral high ground.

Thus, when Sokka tells Katara, “she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right,” Sokka is not only saying that Katara should choose forgiveness, he is implying that Aang is the ultimate moral authority on this matter and that Katara should accept that. Moreover, similarly to Aang, Sokka’s opening line, “she was my mother, too,” had the potential to establish common ground between himself and Katara, but the added “but…” places Sokka on the moral high ground against her instead. Of course, when we remember that just two lines ago Aang equates Katara to Jet, Sokka agreeing with Aang seems even more thoughtless and unsympathetic.

So when Katara lashes out against Sokka, ostensibly “acting as if his grief over his mother’s death is somehow less valid simply because he is a lot quieter in his coping mechanisms and doesn’t project his rage & guilt onto everyone else,” it is important to note that Sokka undermines Katara’s louder, more visible way of grieving as well (though that discounts that for most of the show, Katara only uses her grief over her mother’s death to sympathize with others).

Moreover, Katara’s line, “then you didn't love her the way I did!” is hurtful, yes, but it is not necessarily equivalent to “you didn’t love her as much as I did.” Katara’s love for her mother is different from Sokka’s because her pain over her death is different -- after Kya’s passing, Katara had to carry the emotional burden of becoming a pseudo-mother to Sokka (see Sokka and Toph’s conversation in “The Runaway”), a burden that did not cease after she joined the GAang (see the entirety of “The Desert”). To Katara, Kya was not only her mother, but the representation of the childhood she lost and the sacrifice made to protect her life. Sokka simply does not have that same relationship with Kya.

I do not mean to say that Sokka and Aang unfairly taking on the moral authority in this situation means that this authority instead belongs to Katara (and Zuko) - “The Southern Raiders” is filled with questionable moments from all parties involved. However, TSR is an episode that delves into Katara (and Zuko)’s relationship with a mother’s sacrifice, so how Zuko and Katara respond to this specific trauma from their past does not dictate how they respond to painful circumstances in the present/future. Let’s see how this is true.

Sozin’s Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King

No doubt Zuko and Katara felt some form of frustration upon Aang’s disappearance, so let’s see how they “[enabled] each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making”:

Here, Katara and Zuko make a decision together that turns out to be calm, rational, and not at all emotionally-driven despite their mutual frustration and worry towards Aang.

Sozin’s Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters

Zuko holds immense pain and self-loathing over betraying Iroh, yet Zuko and Katara’s conversation does not enable/exacerbate negativity from any party involved (since Zuko often translates his grief into anger, and Katara was evidently angry at Zuko’s betrayal). Instead, their conversation is open, encouraging, and constructive.

(Note: this is where the review of points made by previous metas ends.)

Hence, to say that “[Zuko and Katara] would only bring out the absolute worst in each other [through] enabling each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making” -  when we are given in-canon examples of the opposite being true - would be a sweeping and inaccurate generalization.

But for the sake of argument let’s say that, hypothetically, Zuko and Katara’s relationship would fail because they only bring out the worst in each other. And here’s where the argument falls apart for me - Is the argument here that Zuko and Katara have an incredibly meaningful friendship yet somehow this “friendship” causes them to enable each other, thus encouraging each other’s worst flaws and regressing each other’s growth? Is a healthy friendship - much less a “deep and profound” one - not one where two individuals can learn from each other in positive ways and balance each other’s shortcomings?

Or is it something different we’re saying here? Are we saying that two individuals can have a “deep and profound” friendship and yet the moment their relationship shifts from platonic to romantic, they are terrible for each other?

While many significant platonic bonds are stunted when they become romantic, I still believe it to be common sense that some of the best romantic relationships stem from a platonic foundation. But since much of “common sense” on the internet sees that “sense” is nonsensical and “common” is a nicer way to refer to mob mentality, I have done my research to show how Zuko and Katara could have been an excellent case of a friends-to-lovers relationship.

An excerpt from my meta, “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic.” (give it a read if you want to see references to relationship-research and an overanalysis on diction/tone)

The reason why Zutara is framed as a “toxic and unhealthy” relationship is that their romance would be a classic example of the enemies-to-lovers trope, a trope which modern media has not been particularly kind to. However, when executed correctly, enemies-to-lovers can produce a healthy and loving relationship, frequently relying on friendship as an intermediate between the “enemy” and “lover” stages in the most well-executed versions of this trope. Meanwhile, the trope of friends-to-lovers is just as popular as enemies-to-lovers, though the specific dynamic required between two individuals to achieve this transition is not well-known. Recognizing this, Laura K. Guerrero and Paul A. Mongeau, both of whom are involved in relationship-related research as professors at Arizona State University, wrote a research paper on how friendships may transition into romantic relationships…

According to Guerrero and Mongeau, “...scholars have argued that intimacy is located in different types of interactions, ranging from sexual activity and physical contact to warm, cozy interactions that can occur between friends, family members, and lovers…” Guerrero and Mongeau then reference a relationship model where the initial stages (i.e. perceiving similarities, achieving rapport, and inducing self-disclosure) reflect platonic/romantic intimacy through communication while the latter stages (i.e. role-taking, achieving interpersonal role fit, and achieving dyadic crystallization) often see both individuals as achieving a higher level of intimacy that involves more self-awareness.

In the rest of my research-based meta I demonstrate how Zuko and Katara’s platonic interactions in the show fit into the stages of communicative intimacy (i.e. perceiving similarities, achieving rapport, and inducing self-disclosure) that Guerrero and Mongeau describe as being mutual between friendships and romances. As such, crossing the line between friends and more-than-friends most likely would not cause a dramatic shift in the Zutara dynamic since much of Zuko and Katara’s platonic intimacy easily translates into romantic intimacy. I’ll end off with another excerpt from my meta.

Excerpt from “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic.”

“...it would be remiss to simply dismiss the Zutara dynamic as one that would instantly become toxic should they pursue a romantic relationship.”

With that little thought in mind, let’s move onto point 3: an exploration of friendship, romance, and why toxicity is not exclusive to the latter.

Let’s start with what I agree with:

“The entire foundation of mai and zuko’s relationship was built on how miserable they were together, and how they would just sit there and hate the world together— letting their misery fester as they enabled each other’s depression...”

I’m not sure how necessary it is for me to elaborate on this point given that it’s already been accepted by comradekatara and perhaps 60,000+ other users on Tumblr (a gross exaggeration but this remains unimportant), but in her essay, “Zuko, Mai, and the Nature of True Intimacy,” Araeph contributes more nuance to the concept of Ma/iko and mutual misery, stating that,

Unfortunately for [Zuko and Mai’s] relationship, Mai is and will always be a pessimist—a character trait, not a character flaw, in her. The key difference lies in how Mai and Zuko use their negative feelings. When Zuko sinks into negativity, he gives up on any actions that will materially change his world for the better; Mai, on the other hand, can remain negative even at the height of her character development, and it does not impede her ability to act.

So while Mai enables Zuko’s depression, Zuko does not necessarily do the same for Mai. Nonetheless, throughout their relationship for the first half of season 3, neither of them communicate constructively or push each other to grow as people.

This may be the third disclaimer I’m making, but I first want to say I have nothing against Mai. However, I do have something against the idea that “[Mai and Zuko] would work so well as friends if they weren’t trying to make their dumpster fire of a relationship work.”

Their relationship is a dumpster fire, yes, but will the flames cease simply if the amount of intimacy in the relationship changes?

comradekatara state themselves that their entire romantic relationship is quite depressing - they are only able to connect through empty physical intimacy and mutual hatred of the world. Without that, there is little left for them to bond over. Once Zuko overcomes his conflicting morality and inaction from the first half of season 3, he becomes someone who is strongly guided by his principles and beliefs. However, for the entirety of the series, Mai is characterized by her moral apathy. To cite from Araeph again,

It is moral intimacy that is the last and worst omission for Mai and Zuko… Zuko’s struggle to find and follow his principles is the most central aspect of his character, yet it is a struggle Mai neither understands nor respects…

Lack of moral intimacy (not sharing the same core beliefs) is something that applies to both platonic and romantic bonds. Thus, just as transitioning from a meaningful friendship to a romance does not inherently create toxicity in a relationship, switching from a romance that exacerbates one (or both, depending on how you interpret it) party’s misery does not necessarily erase the preexisting negativity in a relationship - perhaps some of it may subside, sure, but as long both parties continue to fail at communicating and understanding each other, even their friendship seems bleak at best. In this case, Mai and Zuko may work well as conditional friends, or in other words, friends who are only friends when they have something to mutually be miserable over. And this tiptoes the line of speculation, but they could be a formidable political team. But unless the Ma/iko dynamic shifts drastically in the lovers-to-friends transition, I’m not sure if there’s much potential in a friendship between them.

In conclusion, there is a lot I don’t agree with from comradekatara’s post, but if there’s one takeaway I want to impart onto everyone who’s read this far, it’s this: crossing and uncrossing the line between platonic and romantic bonds is not always a transformative experience for the relationship, and the nature of human relationships is a complex spectrum -- not a light switch that can only be set between healthy and unhealthy.

Thank you all for reading!

[team-science-mega-nerds]

When Sam was sixteen, pregnant, and terrified, the last thing her mother said to her was find a church and you’ll be alright. For the past ten years, she’d done just that. Town to town, some stable most not so much, the first place Sam always went was a church. Midvale is no different and because she is alone for the first time since Ruby was born, she goes out of her way to involve herself in the day to day activities of her new church. 

It’d been tough watching Ruby depart for her summer camp. A month might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but Sam had struggled to make meals for one and her house was so quiet that she had to constantly play music or risk losing her mind. She wasn’t worried or stressed, just lonely in an unfamiliar way, and she suspects that’s what got her into this mess in the first place. 

“You’ll love it,” Ms. Williamson tells her grabbing her arm in a way that she supposes is friendly, but it feels more possessive than Sam would like. They’re in the middle of sorting through clothing donations in the sanctuary, boxes, and people everywhere. Sam is on unpacking duty with Ms. Williamson. “Just door to door stuff. And you’ll meet some lovely people.” Then, like a switch, Ms. Williamson grabs Sam’s arm tighter and leans close enough for Sam to smell the peppermint scent of her arthritis cream. “But you stay away from the Danvers Ranch.” If Ms. Williamson knew Sam outside of bible study and the occasional smile they shared on Sunday mornings, she would know that telling Sam not to do something is a sure-fire way to get her to do it. 

Sam had only been in town for six months but she’d heard the Danvers family mentioned twice. Apparently, a whole family used to live there, but now it’s just the oldest daughter who runs the ranch on her own. It sounds like hard work. Wyoming is not a forgiving territory and if Sam could be a friendly face, then she was going to be it. 

“I think I’ll give it a shot,” Sam says with a shrug. From the look of Ms. Williamson’s face, Sam’s lack of conformity is not something she’s used to. 

“She ain’t one of us,” Ms. Williamson mumbles into her styrofoam cup of stale coffee. 

“I thought the point was to help people find a way. No matter who they are.” The cold shoulder that Ms. Williamson throws her way doesn’t strike Sam as particularly effective. About an hour into sorting, Sam decides to forgo a late evening snack and a preview of the choir’s Sunday performance in favor of driving into the country. 

She likes this drive. She does it every day on the way to work but in the summer the surrounding mountains and luscious green fields make Sam happy. Genuinely. And if Sam hadn’t been so happy - and lonely - then she might not have taken a sharp turn and driven up the long road leading to the Danvers’ ranch. She might not have grabbed her bible. And she certainly wouldn’t have knocked at the door. 

It’s the waiting game that unnerves her the most. The ranch itself is beautiful and well taken care of. Sam sees horses grazing out in a fairly large open field that takes up most of the 20 acre lot. There’s the main house and a large barn behind it. Sam wonders how one person could ever take care of all of this alone. She’ll have to figure it out another day because she doesn’t think Alex is home. 

“Who’s there?” A shotgun pointed in her direction is exactly the thing that Sam did not need today. She screams. Loud. And then, she reckons with the fact that she’s so far out in the country that no one can hear her. “Oh…” The weapon’s lowered and Sam spots a woman wearing bootcut jeans, blue flannel that’s rolled up to her forearms, and a baseball hat thrown over her hair. If Sam wasn’t so unnerved by the gun, she’d pay more attention to the fact that this woman is a sweaty mess. “You’re wasting your time,” She says nodding toward the bible. “But if you want a glass of water or something, I could use one too.” She doesn’t wait for Sam, as she strides up her front porch and swings the door open. 

Everything about this situation has alarm bells and red flags popping up in Sam’s brain but she follows anyway. Stupidly, that’s for sure. When she steps into the house, it appears just as modest and undecorated as she might assume, but the kitchen is quaint and organized. The woman’s back is to her, the shotgun resting against the counter, while she makes coffee. “I told them to stop sending people here-.”

“They didn’t send me. In fact, they seemed mighty eager for me to stay away from you,” Sam explains. The woman turns around and smiles at that comment. She pours Sam a glass of water and sets it on the counter without a word. “Mrs. Danvers-.”

“It’s Alex,” She corrects. “And it’s ‘Ms.’ if that’s all the same to you.” The coffee percolates on the stove and Alex slides into a chair. Sam can visibly see the tension drain from Alex’s shoulders and when Alex takes off her hat, her sweaty hair is finger-combed back into something that isn’t quite presentable but charming nonetheless. “Do you have a name?” Sam stops staring and clears her throat.

“Samantha.” Alex’s eyes find the bible again, she looks a lot less hostile than she had before, but maybe it’s because she’d shed the gun. “Sam.” Somehow, even though Alex is wearing dirt, sweat, and hay on her clothes and tracking mud on the floor, Sam feels self-conscious about what she’s wearing. Her summer dress suddenly feels too short. The way she parted her hair feels too young. Under Alex’s gaze, Sam is uncertain about everything, including what to do next. 

“I’m sorry you came all this way-.”

“I’m not…” Sam clears her throat again. She reaches for the water, gulps some down, and starts again. “I’m not like the other people who came here. I’m not here to convert you. This is just…” Sam holds up the bible slightly. “Something that we can turn to if you want.” 

Alex stands and heads to her cupboard. She grabs two mugs. “Sit down, then. The last thing I need is someone saying I’m not hospitable.” This seems like a good sign at least. Sam takes a seat at the two-person wooden table and admires a beautiful orchid that’s sitting in a ceramic pot on the table. “My mom bought that for me,” Alex explains, setting a mug in front of Sam. “Every time she visits, she makes sure it’s still alive. That’s her way of checking in.” There’s a bitterness to the comment that feels like a stranger to the warmth and sweet hazelnut flavor of the coffee. 

“Where is she?” 

“Florida. Retirement has worked wonders for her.” Sam notices Alex’s calloused hands, the farmer’s tan on her arms as she tugs off her flannel and reveals a worn white t-shirt and the way she keeps looking outside to check on the horses. “You’re new here?” 

“Hardly. I have a few months under my belt.”

“And before that?”

“Arizona. But I got laid off and somehow someway, ended up here.” Sam shrugs it off. “How are you?” 

“Hm.” Alex smiles for the first time but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Funny question to ask someone you don’t even know.”

“I’m trying to get to know you.” 

“Okay.” Alex reaches for the bible and flips through it. This isn’t absentminded carelessness. There’s purpose in Alex’s eyes. There’s something familiar about it and that gives Sam hope, though she remains unclear of what exactly she’s hoping for. “I gotta get the horses settled. But…” Alex closes the book gently and slides it back toward Sam. “If you want to come around again, I don’t mind.” 

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” Alex stretches her arms and stands up. “I promise not to shoot you if you promise not to push it.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.” Alex walks her to her car. The goodbye is unceremonious but clear. Sam will be back the next day, bible in tow, to talk with a woman who seems like she hasn’t wandered off her ranch in years. 

Sam keeps an open mind as she was always taught to do but that doesn’t stop the nerves from sneaking up on her the following day. Sure, Alex won’t pull a gun on her, but there was still something different about this woman that Sam didn’t understand. The way she’d moved around the kitchen resembled something like a dance. Sam didn’t know how to participate in it, not yet. “You’ll have to give me a minute!” Alex shouts from out in the field. She’s grooming one of her horses, so Sam leans against the fence and watches. 

Alex is well in her element out there. Sam holds her bible close to her chest, awestruck wouldn’t be an overstatement. Thankfully, Alex is finished soon enough, and she joins Sam near the fence. “You might as well leave that in your car.” Today, there’s something playful about Alex and the suggestion. Sam follows Alex into her house again, but she leaves her bible on a table near the door before they go into the living room. “How was your night?” Alex asks. Sam sits on a large couch staring at what seems to be a very happy family photo of the Danvers family. Alex is younger in the picture but most of her features are the same. Now, of course, her hair is much shorter but what little Sam has seen of Alex’s smile is present in the frame. 

“Um, nice. Boring,” Sam admits. “You?” 

“About the same.” Alex enters the room carrying two mugs of coffee. “I thought about you a lot though.” Sam is almost startled by the admission. Almost, because Alex seems to register exactly how flustered Sam gets at the thought, and she enjoys it. 

“Me?”

“Yeah. I wondered what exactly you’d have said to me.”

“What do you mean?” 

“If I told you that I was lost and I wanted to find God again.” Alex sits right beside Sam on the couch. Their legs touch, Alex’s jeans pressing against Sam’s bare knee, and then - as if on purpose - Alex’s arm brushes against Sam’s. “What would you have said?” 

“But you didn’t say that, did you?” 

“Would you have read to me? Or offered to take me to church with you?”

“Neither.” Sam holds Alex’s gaze. “I would’ve talked to you about my journey. And you would’ve listened.” 

“Tell me then.”

“You don’t really care. If this is a game…” Sam starts to stand but Alex grabs her wrist to keep her there. 

“It’s not.” Alex nods and leans back on the couch. “I wanna know about you.” 

“I was pregnant in high school. I didn’t have anyone to turn to. The first church I went to, they fed me, gave me a place to stay, and got me a job. I know that’s not the same experience for everyone. But when people are good and they have real faith...the world is different.”

“And how many ‘good’ people do you know?” 

“Not many.” Sam sets her mug down on a plain block of wood that Alex is using as a coaster. “But a few is enough for me.” 

“I always thought it was beautiful.” Sam can only feel Alex’s jeans, brushing against her leg. Every movement is threatening to make her crumble. Being this close to someone, anyone, is bringing up this bashfulness that she doesn’t understand. And it must, of course, have almost everything to do with intimacy. The fact that Alex is a woman has nothing to do with it. 

“You always thought ‘what’ was beautiful?” 

“Unconditional faith.” Alex spots the bible on the table. She stands, retrieves it, and returns to her spot beside Sam. Only closer this time. “If I asked you to open this book and read me a passage, then I would know you. Fully.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.” Alex sets the bible down on Sam’s lap. “I always thought that if I asked all those people who came here and judged me before they even knocked at my door to do this very thing, they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t know how to share their faith with me. It’s a lot to ask from you, but it takes a lot for me to listen.” 

“Did it occur to you that knowing someone, really knowing them is terrifying?”

“Yes.” 

Sam looks down at the bible, her fingertips grazing the frayed edges of the book. She flips it open to a page that’s already dog-eared and reads. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings, you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield.” Sam doesn’t look up from the pages for a long time. She knows Alex is watching her but she stills. Had she given in to something she didn’t understand yet? Or was this a trade, like Alex has suggested? 

“You have a beautiful voice.” Sam is astonished by the comment. She’s nothing more than reddened cheeks and eyes that can’t seem to focus, while Alex traces her finger over the word that Sam just read. Sam doesn’t know what to do or say when she realizes that she’s starting to wish that the bible wasn’t in her lap and instead, Alex’s hands were touching her bare skin. 

It isn’t a thought that she’s used to, nor understands. She’d never seen a woman and felt this kind of need. “Have I offended you?”

“No, it’s…” Sam closes the bible. She feels ashamed of the way she’s feeling and cornered by her own thoughts. “Would you like to read more? I can leave this here-.”

“It won’t sound as good in my voice. Keep it.” 

“Well…” Sam crosses her legs, one over the other, Alex’s eyes follow intently. “I don’t think it’s fair that you know me now but I don’t know you.” 

“You can ask me anything.” Alex grins. “I don’t bite.” The tone of the comment makes Sam think that Alex does, in fact, bite. 

“Do you get lonely out here?” The surprise shows on Alex’s face. 

“How can I get lonely? I’m never alone.” Alex finishes the rest of her coffee. She grabs Sam’s hand and pulls her to her feet. She doesn’t let go until they’re standing in the barn. A large speckled grey horse looms over them. “I wake up at 5 every morning. I have a cigarette at noon and 9 and as long as I have that, then I’m happy.” 

“That sounds like an easy life.”

“It is.” Alex pats the horse, they both look very comfortable together. “Sometimes there are distractions. Trouble comes in many forms.” 

“Do you have any other family out here?”

“My sister visits more than my mom but besides that? No.” 

“What about…?” 

“You can just ask you know. If you need to know why everyone whispers about me, then I’ll tell you.”

“I don’t care for gossip,” Sam assures her. “And whatever they’d have to say, I’m certain it wouldn’t be true.”

“It is true.” Something about that fact gives Alex great joy. “I’m not as much of a fucking menace as I used to be.” Sam flinches in a way that she might call childish at the way the swear word comes out of Alex’s mouth. It’s not something she’s used to hearing. “If you ever feel like riding, you know where to find me.” It sounds like the first time Alex has offered something like this. Whereas the invitation to come into her home had been hospitable - ‘the right thing to do’ - there was something far less formal about this. If Sam lingered on it any longer, she might’ve wondered if Alex had any friends at all or if Sam was the first person she could stand to be around. 

Sam is clumsy about her intrigue. She purposefully leaves her bible behind. The gesture doesn’t go unnoticed. Even at home, Sam can’t find a way to keep Alex off her mind. Mindless chores feel mindless and without her bible to lean on memory is her wavering guide. She misses Ruby. She misses dinner for two, even though their kitchen gets too hot, and they have to escape to the table outside to eat. 

She remembers something that’s always stuck with her. Church isn’t just for worship, it’s a sanctuary. So she drives and drives. Clearing her head and not her heart. She parks and enters the open church and prays. 

Now when Sam prays, she doesn’t ask for a lot. Instead, she finds that these are the necessary conversations she needs to get through her long days. At church, she isn’t closer to God, but the ornate stained glass is something beautiful to look at. 

Even in the dark.

[sesskag1postchallenge]

Ch9 - Operation Grandpup Drop (A SitBoy Discord Crack Fic)

Warning this story is M bordering NSFW

Chapter 9:

 Slayer08/18/2019

"GAH!" Kagome tore herself away from Sesshomaru. "I can't believe  this! I am leaving. Get sober Sesshomaru  and see if you still feel that way!" She snatched up the incense and dunked it in a nearby glass of water and stomped out of the room and slammed the door.

 imjaneees08/18/2019

Before Sesshomaru could pull Naraku's entrails out of him and decorate the halls with them, the door opened and Kagome walked in again, separating the two.

"Stop it Sesshomaru you can't kill my cry pillow I still need him," with that she started dragging the dark hayou by the hair again, all the while complaining, "I'm still not done with my much needed cry session. The girls just don't get it, you know? They keep saying endure this, you'll find a better person soon, all that sham and I just want someone to let me feel bitter. By the way your shoulder devil antics aren't working, just so you know."

Once again Sesshomaru is left wondering just how blue must his balls be before Kagome finally gets it.

Walter20508/18/2019

"Kagome, do you know who you're holding onto? Let him go and I'll be your cry pillow," came a familiar voice that Kagome hadn't heard in over a year. Turning in surprise, she saw Shippo standing in the doorway, now almost as tall as her and sporting five tails now. 

 "Shippo, you've returned from the demon fox academy!" exclaimed Kagome as she dropped Naraku and ran over to embrace her son. 

 "C'mon mom, let's blow this joint," said Shippou as he took Kagome's hand and headed for the door outside. 

 "Unfortunately Kit, Kagome may not leave the Castle just yet. She is still a potential suitor after all," interrupted Inukimi as she strode in to greet the new guest. 

 "Oh yeah? We'll see about that," replied Shippo as he readied a leaf spell. In reply Inukimi clutched her Inter-Dimensional Necklace and started a chant that would banish Shippo into a different realm for the duration of Kagome's stay at the Castle. 

 However Shippo was ready for this and yelled, "Fox Magic: Fox Counter-spell!", as he threw the leaf at the necklace. It struck and there was a loud flash and bright explosion as their magics intertwined with one another. When the light faded, Inukimi's Necklace fell to the floor before shattering into a million pieces that swiftly disintegrated. 

 "Little Fox, do you know what you've done?" asked Inukimi in a quiet cold voice. 

 "Yeah, I've stopped your attempt to keep my mother trapped here," responded Shippo in kind with a triumphant grin spreading across his face. 

 "You young little fool. You've trapped Kagome's friends and my husband in a place and time that they do not belong and have removed all of my spells warding the castle, including protecting the Shikon No Tama from that devil hanyou. Lastly, you have incurred my wrath," growled Inukimi as her eyes glowed red with the beginning of her transformation.

 imjaneees08/18/2019

Everything happened all at once. No one had the time to react. Nothing went according to anyone's plan. The jewel once again pulled the rug from under everyone's feet, because there, whole and pure the jewel floated for a good few seconds before it darted off to go back inside where it belonged. Kagome had no time to even move before the jewel came shooting to her side, where it was taken from by Mistress Centipede all those years ago.

There was a bright, blinding light before it faded, along with Kagome's consciousness.

 Stormie Like Weather08/19/2019

Suddenly the ghost of her favorite singer, Prince, was standing before her in a raspberry beret and a mostly unbuttoned sparkly shirt. "Welcome, Girl!" 

Kagome thought she might swoon in her unconscious state, but that might be getting a bit pathetic. "P-prince? W-what are you doing here?!"

"I'm here for you, Girl!" He walked around her in the cloud-like room, "The Kami have decided to allow me to let you choose a future for yourself. Think of it as a new beginning, the  Jewel of Four Souls will not be allowed to leave your body once more, in return for the sacrifice of responsibility, you get to choose which side of the well you'd like to remain in. 

"W-what...?" Her hand clutched the spot where the jewel had just collided, "I get to choose?" 

"And not without some insight!" Suddenly before them appeared a giant cauldron of water, Prince waved his hand for her to peer into it's depths. "Should you choose the future..." An image of her appeared at university, the image faded into a pregnant version of her in the arms of what looked like Sesshomaru in a suite with a man bun. "Remain where you are..." The picture changed to Kagome playing with Inuyasha's wriggly worm-dog baby. Sesshomaru was nearby rolling his eyes, pointing to his junk and the words, "We could have much more like-able offspring if you'd just fuck me!" He looked pretty ragged. She must have been waffling still. The worm-pup made a giggling sound and the image faded to Kagome in the middle of a wedding ceremony with InuKimi crying. She couldn't tell if it was out of happiness or misery.... "Or, Prince waved his delicate hand." The image shifted into her standing there in Prince's arms as well as men and women crawling at their feet, touching themselves. 

"Oh my!" She flushed. 

"Well," Prince wriggled his brows while running his fingers along his chest and downward, "What'll it be?"

 imjaneees08/20/2019

Left eye twitching, Kagome finally snapped. She hasn't had one decent sleep since this whole debacle with grandpups happened, had her emotions played with, finally got the good crying she's always wanted ironically in the literal arms of the enemy only to get played again, the jewel went and screwed her over again, and now this Western bozo was trying to make her queen of all things sexual. Well she's had enough! No one is taking her v card without passing all of her criteria!

“I've had enough of you sex crazed baboons!“ and, brandishing the somehow nearby branch, she roceeded to thwack anything and everyone.

 Stormie Like Weather08/20/2019

Prince put his his hands up, immediately morphing into an image on her mother, "Kagome, dear, calm down." She put her hands on her hips, "You know the Kami are just trying to make you comfortable, so be grateful. Now choose do you wish to be returned to the present or remain in the past, or if you refuse to make a decision the Kami will be forced to choose for you - like last time." Kagome swallowed hard, she didn't like not getting a choice last time...

 Walter20508/20/2019

Before she could make her reply known her mother was suddenly ripped away from her, leaving her with an aching pain in her left side. Blinking awake, she looked around and discovered that the others had not been idle in the wake of her falling unconscious. Naraku had apparently gone on a rampage and abducted nearly every eligible human female and demoness plus a few taken ones. 

 From what she could see within his swirling cloud of miasma, Kagome was able to spot Inuemi, Sango, Eri, Yuka, Ayumi, and Ayame all trapped within his tentacles and those were just the ones she could spot. She also discovered that she was in a tentacle as well, as another zipped away from her with the jewel inside its mouth, leaving a small bleeding hole in her side that this time, wasn't being so quick to heal up. 

 As the blood stain spread amongst her towel, Kagome felt herself growing dizzy. But she heard howling in the distance and looking down, could see in the distance both Sesshomaru and Toga in hot pursuit in their true forms, the Band of 13 (minus Inuyasha, who must've still been recovering from labor) along with a few others riding on their backs. 

 Elsewhere Inukimi had caught the kit and knocked him out with her poison. She was going to spend some time with him in the dungeons at his expense for her entertainment but who knew? Perhaps she would settle for getting her pups out of him one day once he reached proper mating age, if he was still alive by that point in time.

 imjaneees08/21/2019

Completely done with life as it was for the moment, Kagome, forgoing the pain on her side that wasn't as bad as the bleeding suggested, dragged herself on the tentacle holding her until she managed to reach Naraku.

"Okay trash boy, what sob story do you have this time around that made you want that jewel? Let's hear it," he did listen to her that one time, and never let it be said that Kagome wasn't a fair woman. Quid pro quo and all that jazz.

 Walter20508/21/2019

"Sob story, you say? Hmm, perhaps you would like to help me out with this one my dear Miko. You see, while you and the others were cavorting around the sky castle I had finished assembling the jewel, steeped it in darkness, and made my two wishes on it, first being the old wish from Onigumo to have Kikyo and the second for me, Naraku, to become a full demon. And would you like to know what happened?" asked Naraku in a sarcastic tone. 

 "The Jewel didn't grant you your true wish. It never does, despite the power it offers, all it does is use people to get what it wants without giving them what they truly want so it can keep on existing," replied Kagome with a mixture of sad regret and pity. 

 "Exactly right as I've come to learn. Although I appreciate the tremendous amount of power it has given me, in doing so it has used me for its own devices and no one uses this Naraku, no matter who or what they might be. Now do me favor and reach out to touch the Jewel while praying," asked Naraku as his tentacle extended the Jewel to her. 

 Not sure what was going on, Kagome at least knew purifying the Jewel would be better than leaving it tainted so as she started praying her power came to the surface and upon fingertip contact purified the Jewel completely. Naraku brought to a point where it was between the two of them. 

 "In confiding its plans with me, the evil spirit within the Jewel, the entity known as Magatsuhi, told me how the 'heroes' would be able to destroy the Jewel, through the use of the one true wish. Hmph, bet he never thought that a villain such as this Naraku would be the one to utter it. I will be making my wish now, Shikon No Tama," said Naraku, causing the Jewel to began buffeting the both of them with power as fear overcame the evil entity within. 

 "Cease to Exist, Forever," both Naraku and Kagome said in unison, as she pleasantly surprised Naraku. The Jewel shattered into a thousand fragments that dissipated on the wind.

 imjaneeesLast Thursday at 8:41 AM

It was over. Just like that. And with the most unlikely person to end it with too, Kagome though her life was full of ironies. She always thought she and her friends would have to pry the jewel from Naraku's pile of ashes but it seems like life has other plans. It was so easy too. She never thought it would end so easily.

"That was...far different from what I envisioned it to be. I can't really complain though," Kagome muttered. Then out loud for any and all to hear, "Okay, someone catch me because I just know I'm going to pass out again and this time, please don't wake me for at least another 8 hours." and she did just that

 Walter205Last Saturday at 10:19 AM

Naraku smirked at Kagome's declaration, knowing that he already had her entangled in his tentacles. When the jewel had died it was like a fog had been lifted from his mind, having clouded his thoughts ever since he had come to be. He was absolutely still an evil minded little bastard but now Naraku felt like he was free to do as he pleased instead of just scheming to either get the jewel or torture his opposition to taint the jewel. 

 He had such plans for the little miko now...but even as she lost consciousness, she was surrounded in a blue glow. As Naraku watched in dismay, she disappeared, leaving his tentacle hanging empty. He took stock of his situation as he glanced around at his other captives. With the jewel gone he no longer felt the need to torture his enemies so he let Inuemi and Sango go, letting his pursuers stop to catch them while he held on to Kagome's three friends, who remained in his grasp.

 Meanwhile, Kagome floated through a blue void as a trio of other worldly beings discussed her fate while she slept. 

 "What about her three friends? They are out of time's normal flow as well," asked one being. 

 "Leave them in the past. It was an abuse of her authority to take them into the past. As punishment she shall know only of their fates a few hundred years ago," said the second being. 

 "A harsh punishment to be sure, but harsh is needed when it comes to the treatment of the normal flow of time. Come, let us return her to the present and close down the portal until the next suitable crisis arises," said the third before the three of the them disappeared. 

 Moments later Miss Higurashi watched as a blue light burst forth from the well house and into the main house before flaring and dying in Kagome's bedroom as she was deposited still sleeping into her bed.

 Stormie Like WeatherLast Saturday at 10:17 PM

Across town in the Port of Tokyo an ancient dog awoke the instant the magical power receded from the well. He ran trimmed claws through his short hair and pulled the frustration from his face. It was time to make the acquaintance of someone he had not seen in many a century. 

Returning to the harbor, he moved his vessel into its place at the marina and dropped anchor.

 Walter205Last Sunday at 11:55 AM

Sesshomaru returned the salute of Captain Takahashi as he walked down the gangplank upon leaving the deck of his flagship, the Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG) Kongo of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force's (JMSDF) First Fleet. 

 "I take it the maneuvers were a success, Admiral Taisho?" asked Kouga, disguised as he was as Captain Takahashi of the Guided Missile Frigate (FFG) Abukuma, one of Sesshomaru's most trusted subordinates. 

 "Yes, I believe we'll be in great shape when it comes time to conduct the RIMPAC exercises with our American counterparts. I look forward to upstaging Admiral Greenland once again," Sesshomaru answered under the human guise of Admiral Takagi Taisho. 

 As he left the Captain on the dock behind him, his aide attaché came running up to join him, briefing the Admiral on his current schedule. Another disguised demon, Lieutenant Takeda (Shippou) informed him of his schedule for the next three days, mostly meetings with various ship commanders and high command concerning the upcoming exercises.

 "Are there any important meetings for me this evening?" asked Sesshomaru, but when Shippou nodded no, he asked the Fox to clear his schedule. 

 "I have an important meeting to attend in the old Edo section of Tokyo, an old acquaintance, non-service related. No need to attend or send guards, I'll just need a chauffeur, someone who knows the area...Ensign Hojo should do the trick nicely," ordered Sesshomaru. The young man had always been curious as to what happened to Kagome and her three friends ever since they had "disappeared" three years ago. Sesshomaru himself was curious as to the discrepancy in time as it had only been one day in the past since her three friends had initially arrived to the point that Kagome disappeared herself.

 imjaneeesLast Sunday at 11:28 PM

Meanwhile, back in the Higurashi household, Kagome slept like a hybernating bear. It didn't help that somehow, sometimes in her deep sleep, her hands managed to reach out and grab something fluffy and long. Now it was twined around her, keeping her neck, arms and legs warm against the bitter cold. Humming in contentment, she buried her face against the fluffy thing. It was so warm and fluffy. It reminded her of Sesshomaru's mokomoko actually. On that note, it kind of smelled like it too. On that note, what was mokomoko anyway? Sesshomaru didn't seem to be the type to make fashion statements. Then again she's been wrong about him before.

 Walter205Yesterday at 8:37 AM

In order to enter the service Sesshomaru had to get rid of mokomoko, but it didn’t want to leave its master’s side, so it had thrown a tantrum which had led to Sesshomaru casting it out onto the streets. For a couple of decades now hobomoko had been wandering aimlessly through the streets, but it held memory of its former master’s desires, so when the miko arrived back in this time, it knew sweet revenge was at hand. Even now the foolish girl embraced it closer as it prepared to sever her head with the Butchers Cleaver it held over her neck...

 imjaneeesYesterday at 9:25 AM

Completely unaware of the danger she was in, as per usual, Kagome continued to snuggle her face against the soft fur. Dreaming of soft, innocent and cute puppies and kittens, she nuzzled and kiss the unstable fluff, "Who's a good puppy? You are! Oh yes you are! I'm keeping all of you now."

Perhaps, oh just perhaps, revenge can come in a different, more personal angle...

[aliteraryprincess]

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Warning: Contains spoilers

Welcome back to Fairy Tale Friday!  Today we’re going to take a look at the first “Snow White” retelling of this feature.  “Snow White” was one of my favorite fairy tales as a young kid.  Apparently I used to watch the Disney movie several times per day, and the illustrations for it in my childhood fairy tale collection (pictured above) were my favorites in the whole book.  

As a Retelling:

In terms of the elements of “Snow White” in this book, Bashardoust draws exclusively on the German version collected by the Brothers Grimm that we are most familiar with.  She doesn’t incorporate all the elements of the story.  Notable missing pieces of the tale are the dwarfs, the glass coffin, the poisoned apple, and the prince.  However, she greatly expands on the elements she does include and puts her own unique and interesting twists on them.

In the fairy tale, Snow White is the result of her mother’s wish for a child “as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony.”  Snow White famously has pale skin, red lips, and black hair.  Bashardoust’s Snow White character, Lynet, doesn’t have these specific features; instead, she is described as looking exactly like her late mother, who was very beautiful.  However, Bashardoust does keep the concepts of snow and blood involved in Lynet’s birth.  Lynet was created from snow and blood by a magician at her father’s request after the queen died.  Because of this, Lynet can magically manipulate snow.

The most important part of this story is the relationship between Lynet and her stepmother, Mina.  In the fairy tale, the relationship is wholly negative.  The queen is so vain that she immediately despises Snow White when the girl surpasses her in beauty and orders a huntsman to kill her.  Bashardoust’s Mina and her relationship with Lynet are much more developed and complex than this.  The chapters switch back and forth between the two characters, so the readers are able to see why Mina became the way she is.  Though Mina is very aware of her beauty and considers it the only way to get what she wants, vanity isn’t as strong a motivation for her as it is for the queen in the original story.  Her main concern is keeping the power she has as queen.  Though she ultimately does care for Lynet, she knows that one day Lynet will replace her, and the threat becomes greater and greater as the events of the plot continue.  At the beginning of the story, Lynet adores and looks up to Mina, but her feelings become conflicted when she realizes Mina has been lying and hiding her true self.  

Even though she is in the role of the evil queen, Mina is not the story’s antagonist.  Instead it is her father, Gregory, the magician who created Lynet.  We learn early on that he is a horrible and manipulative person when he reveals he replaced Mina’s heart with a magical glass one and claims she can never love or be loved because of it.  Creating Lynet drained his life force, so he plans to kill her and take her heart to restore it, which is a nod to the queen wanting Snow White’s heart (or her lungs and liver in some versions) brought to her in the original tale.  It is him, not Mina, who tries to poison Lynet.  There also isn’t a poison apple.  Instead, the poison is put on a bracelet Mina had given Lynet.  Gregory uses magic to create a double of Mina who then returns the bracelet to Lynet as a supposed peace offering only to be poisoned once she puts it on.  In the German fairy tale, the queen makes three attempts to kill Snow White using bodice laces, a poisoned hair comb, and the famous poisoned apple.  Of these three, the bracelet is most similar to the hair comb since they both take effect by simply coming into contact with the body.

Bashardoust also changes the way Lynet wakes up after being poisoned, though it still involves her love interest.  As previously mentioned, there isn’t a prince in this retelling.  Lynet’s love interest is Nadia, a young surgeon.  The prince in the original comes across Snow White’s glass coffin in the woods and is so entranced with her beauty that he decides to bring her back with him.  While they are walking, one of the men carrying the coffin stumbles and causes the apple to come out of Snow White’s throat, waking her up.  Bashardoust forgoes this and the perhaps more well-known kiss method popularized by the Disney movie in favor of a slightly more practical explanation.  Nadia switches the poison out for one that only causes a deathlike sleep.  Like Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Lynet appears dead for a period of time but eventually wakes up.           

There is also a fantastic twist on the magic mirror.  In the German version of the tale, the mirror hovers between being an object and being a character.  It’s not human, but it does speak and is ultimately what sets the events of the story into motion.  Bashardoust plays with this concept and combines the mirror with the huntsman in the character of Felix.  Due to her magical glass heart, Mina can manipulate glass.  Soon after coming to live at court and setting her sights on the king, she creates Felix out of the glass in a mirror that belonged to her mother.  He is meant to teach her how to love so she can get the king to fall in love with her, though they ultimately fall in love with each other.  He becomes a huntsman to explain his presence at court and starts to become more and more human.  Despite this, he still retains some mirror qualities; he reflects the feelings of those looking at him.  It is him that Mina sends after Lynet when she runs away, though not with orders to kill her.  He does almost kill her since he believes it will be easier for Mina with Lynet dead, but as in the original, he can’t bring himself to do it.                            

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed Girls Made of Snow and Glass.  I appreciate that the romance between Lynet and Nadia was kept secondary to the relationship between Lynet and Mina.  So many books end up dominated by the romantic relationships, and it’s always nice to find a book where that doesn’t happen, especially since the relationship between Snow White and her stepmother is so key in the original fairy tale.  And even though it is secondary, Lynet and Nadia’s relationship is very sweet and felt believable.  Plus I love finding LGBT+ fairy tale retellings!

I also liked the way Bashardoust structured the book.  The chapters switch between Lynet and Mina, and Mina’s chapters in the first half of the book focus on her past.  This worked really well to develop Mina, Gregory, and the king as characters and show the readers their motivations.  We also get to see the relationship between Lynet and her father at different points in time and from an outsider’s prospective.  If Mina’s chapters had started at the same point in time as Lynet’s, we would have missed out on all of this and the story and characters wouldn’t have been as strong.    

I do wish there had been a little more world building, especially in regards to the magic.  Lynet has magic because Gregory used it to create her and Mina has magic because he used it to make her a replacement heart.  That’s all explained and made sense to me.  However, we’re never given an explanation for Gregory’s magic.  Why does he have it?  How does it work?  I was also left wondering about the northern and southern halves of the kingdom.  The royal court is in the North, which has been cursed with eternal winter.  Nothing can grow there and food is imported from the South, which is warm and lovely.  Why would anyone stay there, especially the royal family who clearly has the means to move?  We’re given a reason that the current king doesn’t want to leave; his first wife is buried there.  But why didn’t any of the rulers before him move the court?  Questions like this aren’t really important to the plot, but they did sometimes distract me from the actual story.                 

My rating: 4 stars

Other Reading Recommendations:

The starred titles are ones I have read myself.  The others are ones I want to read and may end up being future Fairy Tale Friday books.  To keep the list from getting too long, I’m limiting it to four that I’ve read and four that I haven’t.  This was Bashardoust’s first book, so she doesn’t have more to recommend.  Hopefully she will soon!

Other Retellings of “Snow White”:

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine*

Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire*

“Snow, Glass, Apples” by Neil Gaiman*

Beauty by Nancy Ohlin*

The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon

Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen

Dark Shimmer by Donna Jo Napoli

White as Snow by Tanith Lee 

About the Fairy Tale:

Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales from Around the World by Heidi Ann Heiner  

Have a recommendation for me to read or a suggestion to make Fairy Tale Friday better?  Feel free to send me an ask!

[northelypark]

I seem to be lost because I've accidentally stumbled upon a beautiful girl's inbox :T For the ask: your girl Amelia and 5, 8, 9, 11, 18 and 22

You’ve got it, my bud 👍

5 - Guilty Pleasures

I imagine Amelia holds herself to high standards when it comes to school and her schedule, so I think she’d consider sleeping in an extra hour or foregoing cleaning her room/working on homework to play chess all “guilty pleasures”. Of course, tossing aside everything and playing chess all day would be the ultimate guilty pleasure (especially if she was playing against a certain head-tilting loser ;)).

Kind of random, but I head-canon Amelia’s favorite food/flavor(?) as mint. She loves mint tea, mint chocolate chip cookies, mint gum, mint anything. She loves the smell and maybe eating something mint before a big tournament helps to relax and focus her mind. So another guilty pleasure might be buying a big bag of peppermints (or those Andes mint chocolates, which I’m pretty sure fell from the heavens one day) and eating them all in one sitting. She likes to crunch them too, even though she knows it’s murder on her teeth. 

For older Amelia: kneesocks ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

8 - Bad memories/experiences

I don’t want to get into it too much yet, as more will be revealed in L^3, but the period in Amelia’s life right before her granddad moved in was a difficult and defining time for her. Both of her parents were dealing with serious problems that left Amelia, 5-6 years-old at the time, feeling confused and abandoned. She spent a lot of time alone and probably too much time thinking about everything. Had she done something wrong? Did they not love her anymore? Could she do something to make them better? Her experiences of this time have been compounded by the fact she and her parents have never really talked about them, burying them in the past without any sense of closure. So Amelia feels bad even thinking about these memories. She feels she should put them behind her and move on like her parents appear to have done, but they continue to haunt her, nonetheless. 

9 - Humiliating memories

Mostly things that have happened to her at Dreycott, and some things to come, as she’s dealt with the school’s bullies. Losing to Chiyou at her first tournament would be another big one. A more light-hearted one from her time before the school might be her frequent attempts to befriend her granddad’s extremely old and extremely irritable cat, Pangur, as a child. She received quite a few scratches and bites trying to pick him up/hug him/carry him around, which always left her in frustrated tears until, of course, her granddad picked her up and offered some much needed comforting.

Because of her quiet nature, Amelia hates getting up in front of the class or having to “choose a partner” for an activity, so both of these have lead to embarrassment in the past, whether it be losing her nerve while giving a brief speech until her voice is so soft no one can hear her or not finding a partner so having to work with the teacher (and being called a teacher’s pet afterwards). I imagine there was one project involving public speaking that Amelia was so nervous about she threw up in class after worrying about it for weeks, something she still cringes over.

11 - Bad or petty habits

Tugging at her hair is one of her biggest habits. Though not necessarily bad, as Gemma has pointed out, Amelia will go from tugging her hair to tugging her ribbons when she’s not being entirely honest. Another bad habit would be thinking herself in circles. When Amelia is worried about something she forgoes focusing on other things in favor of trying to work the problem out in her mind, considering every angle, every possibility. This can lead to her thinking the same things, in the same cycle over and over, moving from anger to frustration to feeling hopeless to feeling she has a solution, again and again, especially when the problem is too big for her to be able to solve by herself. She knows such thinking is futile, can even be harmful, but she always thinks that this time she’ll be able to make sense of things.

18 - Things they’ll never admit

Defeat. Amelia hates losing and she hates being wrong. Of course, this is especially seen when she plays chess. While she’s used to losing against her granddad, anytime a different opponent gets the upper-hand, her competitive nature flares and she can get very ruthless (sorry), as well as flustered and irritable. Sometimes this can be beneficial to her, as her stubbornness allows her to keep trying again and again. Other times she’ll burn herself out, leading to her snapping at others or acting childishly, which she always regrets later. 

Amelia doesn’t like to admit she has any weaknesses, either, at least not to others. This includes her dependence on her granddad, which she is very well aware of but does not want anyone to find out. Instead, she prefers to present herself as independent, cold, and even calculating, unaffected by anything anyone says or does to her. Alongside of this, Amelia always strives to maintain control over whatever situation she finds herself. She hates admitting she doesn’t have control or needs help bringing a situation back around control. 

22 - People who’ve influenced them greatly

Her granddad. In Eternal Diva it’s easy to see what an important figure he is in her life - her whole reason for participating in the game for eternal life is to save him. 

And then in this picture, she’s placed a chess piece by his grave, signifying he’s the one who taught her chess. From these details, I imagine Amelia was very close to her granddad, perhaps even raised by him, which is the route I’ve gone in L^3. 

In the backstory I’ve created for her, Amelia’s parents were unable to adequately care for her for a time due to a number of factors, so her granddad moved in to help look after her. Although she didn’t want anything to do with him at first, she gradually warmed up to him and the two bonded over chess. The game helped Amelia to cope with much of the stress she had at the time, as did her granddad, himself. Because of this, he’s the one person she relies on and trusts completely, as well as strives to be like, not only when it comes to chess, but in every aspect of her life.  She has adopted his morals, his philosophies, and his approaches to problem-solving. She often thinks of things in relation to her granddad, his likes, dislikes, and opinions on matters. In short, she idolizes him and tends to carry a very ideal view of his life (i.e. not accepting he could ever do something significantly wrong, equating his views with truth, etc.). 

Amelia is also influenced by the idea of the person she believes her granddad wants her to be (I think of the ‘ideal self’ concept, except Amelia has linked her ideal self with her granddad’s perceived expectations). This has lead to her being overly critical of herself at times, with accompanying self-doubt and a low sense of self-worth when she feels she doesn’t measure up to the standard she associates with her granddad (a standard that doesn’t always reflect his genuine love and concern for her well-being). Above all, Amelia wants to make her granddad proud and not disappoint him, a drive that shapes her words and actions, I imagine, even after his death. 

[webbergirl]

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Amblin Partners and Netflix have forged a partnership, one that will see the company headed by Steven Spielberg produce multiple new feature films for the streaming service every year. The pact gives Netflix access to one of the most legendary directors in the movie business at a time when competition in the streaming space is growing fiercer with the launch of Disney Plus, HBO Max and other challengers.⁣⁣

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The move is surprising and a sign of the major changes taking place in Hollywood, in part because Spielberg has previously been seen as something of a Netflix skeptic. In 2019, for instance, the director reportedly urged the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to bar day-and-date streaming releases from being eligible for Oscars. Sources close to the director, however, dispute that Spielberg ever tried to bar Netflix from eligibility. He later clarified his position in a statement to The New York Times, in which he denied he had tried to prevent Netflix from winning Oscars. He also reaffirmed his support for the theatrical experience, while stating, “I want people to find their entertainment in any form or fashion that suits them. Big screen, small screen — what really matters to me is a great story and everyone should have access to great stories.”⁣⁣

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⁣fashion that suits them. Big screen, small screen — what really matters to me is a great story and everyone should have access to great stories.”⁣

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Amblin will continue to maintain offices on the Universal lot, where the company also has a production pact. Under the deal, Amblin is expected to produce at least two films a year for Netflix for an unspecified number of years. It is possible that Spielberg may even direct some of the projects. Netflix is expected to provide financing for some of these productions. That likely won’t include his next movie, an untitled, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story with Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams, which is expected to land at Universal.⁣

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The Netflix movies do not have any budgetary or genre requirements attached to them. They may also receive some type of theatrical release as have other Netflix pics such as “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story,” but that will be decided on a case-by-case basis.⁣

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Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Scott Stuber, head of original films at Netflix, who previously worked closely with Spielberg when he was an executive at Universal, played key roles in hammering out the deal. CAA advised Amblin Partners on the negotiations.⁣

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“At Amblin, storytelling will forever be at the center of everything we do, and from the minute Ted and I started discussing a partnership, it was abundantly clear that we had an amazing opportunity to tell new stories together and reach audiences in new ways,” Spielberg said in a statement. “This new avenue for our films, alongside the stories we continue to tell with our longtime family at Universal and our other partners, will be incredibly fulfilling for me personally since we get to embark on it together with Ted, and I can’t wait to get started with him, Scott, and the entire Netflix team.”⁣

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Amblin and Netflix have worked together in the past. Amblin produced “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which was originally set up at Paramount before being sold to Netflix during COVID. It received six nominations at the 93rd Academy Awards, including a nod for best picture. Amblin and Netflix are currently collaborating on Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein pic, “Maestro,” which is in pre-production.⁣

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“By deepening our ties with Netflix via this new film partnership, we are building on what has for many years been an incredibly successful working relationship in both television and film,” Amblin Partners CEO Jeff Small stated. “The global platform they’ve built — with more than 200 million members — speaks for itself, and we’re extremely grateful to have the opportunity to work closely with Scott and his amazing team to deliver Amblin’s iconic brand of storytelling to the Netflix audience.”⁣

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Under Sarandos and Stuber, Netflix has made a point of working with major auteur filmmakers, many of whom made their mark creating movies for the big screen. Those moves have come at a time when major studios have grown more risk averse, forgoing more personal or idiosyncratic films in favor of superhero pics and franchise fare. In this atmosphere, directors like Spike Lee (“Da 5 Bloods”) and Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”) have set up shop at the streaming service after studios balked at their movies’ budgets, while David Fincher recently signed a multi-year deal with the company. But Spielberg, with his resume of Oscar winners like “Schindler’s List” and blockbusters like “Jurassic Park,” towers over all modern directors.⁣

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“Steven is a creative visionary and leader and, like so many others around the world, my growing up was shaped by his memorable characters and stories that have been enduring, inspiring and awakening,” Sarandos said. “We cannot wait to get to work with the Amblin team and we are honored and thrilled to be part of this chapter of Steven’s cinematic history.”⁣

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For his part, Stuber stated, “Amblin and Steven Spielberg are synonymous with incredible entertainment. Their passion and artistry combine to make films that both captivate and challenge audiences. We look forward to working with Steven, Jeff and the entire Amblin family on a new slate of films that will delight generations for years to come.”⁣

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Amblin’s recent movies include “Green Book,” “1917” and “The House With a Clock in Its Walls.”⁣

⁣https://variety.com/2021/film/news/steven-spielberg-netflix-amblin-deal-1235001513/

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[orbemnews]

Why These C.E.O.s Got Paid More in the Pandemic Pandemic pay packages The Times’s David Gelles gives DealBook the backstory to his recent front-page article about rising C.E.O. pay during the pandemic. Companies battered by the pandemic are handing out enormous pay packages to their C.E.O.s, highlighting the sharp divides in a nation on the precipice of an economic boom, but still wracked by steep income inequality. Executive compensation has, of course, been soaring for decades now. Chief executives of big companies in the U.S. now make, on average, 320 times as much as the typical worker. In 1989, that ratio was 61 to 1. In years when the profits are flowing and unemployment is low, such disparities are often explained away. But in this pandemic year, corporate P.R. teams are bending over backward to justify their bosses’ big paydays. When I reached out to the companies mentioned in my article for comment, they responded with infographics, statements from board members and urgent requests for off-the-record phone calls. Here are three of the common tactics they employed: Don’t believe your eyes: A Hilton spokesman stressed that the figure in its latest proxy filing did not represent take-home pay for Chris Nassetta, because the company restructured several stock awards. “Said directly, Chris did not take home $55.9 million in 2020,” the spokesman said. “Chris’s actual pay was closer to $20.1 million.” Hilton lost $720 million last year. An AT&T spokesman emphasized that while John Stankey was awarded compensation worth some $21 million, that wasn’t what he was “paid,” noting that this includes stock awards that may not be realized. Stankey’s actual take-home pay, the spokesman added, was closer to $10.4 million. AT&T lost $5.4 billion last year. It could’ve been even more: Boeing wanted to make clear how much money Dave Calhoun “voluntarily elected to forgo to support the company through the Covid-19 pandemic” — some $3.6 million, according to a spokesman. Nonetheless, Calhoun was awarded $21.1 million last year, while Boeing lost $12 billion. Disney stressed that “the impact of the pandemic on our businesses led to a meaningful reduction” in executive pay, noting that executive chairman Bob Iger, who was awarded $21 million last fiscal year, gave up his salary for much of that time. Disney lost $2.8 billion in the period. The great man theory: Starbucks, which awarded Kevin Johnson $14.7 million, was among many companies making the case that their C.E.O. was essential to future success. “Continuity in Kevin’s role is particularly vital to Starbucks at this time,” said Mary Dillon, a member of the compensation committee. The company made a $930 million profit in its latest fiscal year, down three-quarters from the previous year. And General Electric sent a 487-word defense of the $73.2 million package awarded to Larry Culp, arguing that he was uniquely equipped to revive the ailing industrial conglomerate. “The board sees Larry Culp as essential to G.E.’s transformation,” a company spokesman said. The company turned a $5.2 billion profit last year, helped by restructuring measures that included reducing headcount by more than 20,000. Read the full story here. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING A deep split in pandemic fortunes highlights an uneven global recovery. On one hand: The E.U. could let vaccinated Americans visit this summer, bringing much-needed tourism revenue to the region. (One potential hangup is a rising number of people who aren’t getting their second doses.) On the other: India will receive emergency medical supplies from the U.S. as it reports half of all new Covid-19 cases worldwide. Netflix had a big night at the Oscars. The streaming company won seven Academy Awards last night, the most of any studio, but again fell short in its quest to win Best Picture. (That went to Disney, whose Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland” won the big prize; Disney won five awards over all.) AT&T’s Warner Bros. won three Oscars, while Amazon took home two. An activist investor steps up its challenge at Exxon Mobil. Engine No. 1 argues in a new presentation that the oil giant faces an “existential business risk” because it is not taking bolder steps to move away from fossil fuels, The Financial Times reports. (Exxon and other major producers are set to report earnings this week.) A group of 30 big companies launches an initiative to hire ex-convicts. About 70 million American adults have a criminal record, complicating their ability to get work and entrenching poverty. “Business has an important role to play in making it easier for people with criminal backgrounds to get back on their feet,” said JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, a co-chair of the Second Chance Business Coalition, which was announced today. Elon Musk is hosting “S.N.L.” Yes, really. The Tesla chief is scheduled to host “Saturday Night Live” on May 8. (We bet S.E.C. officials will be watching.) John Authers of Bloomberg Opinion has an interesting take on it: The Tesla chief’s antics are doing more to encourage adoption of green technology than any amount of environmentalist scolding. The ‘massive threat’ in a ‘measly’ Supreme Court case Today the Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend American politics. It has largely escaped attention because it’s not obviously political at all. “Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Rodriquez” involves a fight over California’s donor disclosure requirements for charities and “may seem like a measly spat over state nonprofit rules,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, told DealBook. “But a massive threat lurks within.” Today in Business Updated  April 23, 2021, 1:31 p.m. ET Nonprofits want more donor anonymity. Americans for Prosperity Foundation is a “social welfare” nonprofit arguing that the right to anonymous assembly guaranteed by the First Amendment extends to donor data. Critics say that a ruling in favor of the Koch-funded charity would allow more untraceable money to flow through groups designed to mask the outsize role that a few wealthy players have in American politics. If A.F.P.F. wins, “special interests will have a free pass to rig our democracy from behind a veil of secrecy,” Whitehouse said. Companies secretly influence politics with “dark money” donations that are deliberately opaque. Basically, some “social welfare” groups are quasi-political yet don’t have the same reporting requirements as explicitly political groups. Similarly, trade groups take corporate donations and pass them on, obscuring the sources. “The importance of dark money in society, the scope of it, is something people don’t really grasp, but it impacts everyday life,” said Anna Massoglia, a researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics. A decision is expected around late June. Notably, the court took the case on Jan. 8, two days after the Capitol riot prompted a reckoning over corporate political donations. Both the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers filed briefs supporting A.F.P.F.’s case for anonymity, and Allen Dickerson, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, argued the same in a Wall Street Journal op-ed yesterday. “What a gift she’s given them by this crazy way of giving.” — Marti DeLiema, a professor of social work at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, on how the billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s unorthodox method of philanthropy — emailing groups out of the blue — has created a cottage industry of scammers. Bain is buying $1 billion worth of desserts Bain Capital Private Equity is buying Dessert Holdings in a deal that DealBook hears values the company at about $1 billion. Dessert Holdings makes “Insta-worthy” cheesecakes and other desserts through three brands: The Original Cakerie, Lawler’s Desserts and Atlanta Cheesecake. The company, which sells to retailers and restaurants, was created through acquisitions led by its prior owner, Gryphon Investors. The dessert conglomerate emphasizes the “wow factor” of products like tuxedo truffle mousse cake that are made to look good on social media. A sweet deal? In-store bakeries have held up well during the pandemic, while restaurants are expected to rebound post-Covid. There could be more consolidation in the industry, with George Weston announcing in March it plans to put its bakery business — which includes Wonder Bread in Canada — up for sale. Over the years, Bain has invested in a number of food service and restaurant brands, like Dunkin’ and Domino’s Pizza. It plans to develop “new and innovative products” as well as pursue more acquisitions after the Dessert Holdings deal, said Adam Nebesar, a managing director at the private equity firm. Trevor Lawrence is getting paid in Bitcoin As cryptocurrency goes more mainstream — thanks in part to the recent public listing of Coinbase — blockchain businesses are hustling for brand recognition. “We’re really trying to get our name out a lot,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, the C.E.O. of FTX, a crypto exchange that competes with Coinbase. One of FTX’s companies, the investment app Blockfolio, has signed an endorsement deal with Trevor Lawrence, the former Clemson quarterback and presumptive number-one pick in this week’s N.F.L. draft, DealBook is first to report. The quarterback’s first payment was made exclusively in crypto tokens transferred directly into his Blockfolio account. “Trevor was excited about crypto,” Bankman-Fried said. “That’s what drew us to him.” The company wouldn’t disclose the terms of the multiyear agreement, but a spokesman noted that the “signing bonus” was already worth more on Sunday than when it was deposited on Friday night. Future payments will be made in whatever combination of dollars and crypto Lawrence chooses. “Crypto is on a lot of people’s minds,” Bankman-Fried told DealBook. The 29-year-old billionaire founded FTX in 2019, and said he regrets spending his early years “playing video games.” Now, he’s trying to make up for lost time and the “low name recognition” of his crypto brands by hitching their wagon to bigger brands. FTX recently agreed to pay $135 million for the naming rights to the N.B.A.’s Miami Heat arena for 19 years. THE SPEED READ Deals ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, has reportedly delayed plans to go public because it hasn’t devised a corporate structure that would win approval from Washington and Beijing. (South China Morning Post) A close look at the efforts by the Carlyle Group’s C.E.O., Kewsong Lee, to catch up to his private equity rivals. (WSJ) Politics and policy The law firm Jones Day has rehired at least seven lawyers who worked in the Trump administration, cementing its status as a top outpost for Republican legal experts. (FT) Advisers to wealthy Americans are studying various strategies to minimize the hit from the Biden administration’s proposed tax hikes. (Bloomberg) Tech Ant Group, the Chinese fintech giant, reportedly plans to offer employees zero-interest loans backed by their stock options to bolster morale. (Bloomberg) The culture of Travis Kalanick’s food-delivery start-up, CloudKitchens, is said to closely resemble the “bro-y” early days of Uber — and it’s losing workers as a result. (Insider) Best of the rest Honda said it expects all cars it sells will be electric by 2040. (Bloomberg) One of the men who created the “Yale model” of endowment investing says the strategy is past its prime. (FT) An eye-opening look inside the “slander industry.” (NYT) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com. Source link Orbem News #CEOs #Paid #Pandemic

[vipkeyz]

we buy houses in Baltimore - Should I Sell My House to an As-Is, All-Cash Buyer?

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Preparing to put your home up for sale can in itself be a difficult process. Added to that is the fact that during times when the market favors buyers, it can take months for a home owner to receive a reasonable offer on their property. This article provides a wealth of information for anyone who wants to make selling your home a little less frustrating.

When selling your house, try to make it look as attractive as possible to a potential buyer. This doesn't need to be expensive: simply a lick of paint indoors or making sure the windows are sparkling. For outside attraction, plant some brightly colored flowers, and be sure that your lawn is freshly mowed.

When you're selling your home, stop and think about the time of year that your are putting it up in. Families that want to move, don't want to uproot their kids in the middle of the school year. Most people are selling their home at the same time they are buying. Try getting ready to do shows on the home around late February, that way you have about 5 good months of possible buyers before it slows down.

Before listing a home for sale, the savvy homeowner will make sure all of his or her appliances are modern. Replacing old appliances may be expensive. It might even be painful, if the old appliances function satisfactorily. Installing cutting-edge appliances is worth the expense, though. Potential home buyers will appreciate the convenience of having new appliances so that they won't have to worry about replacing them.

Landlords should always screen their tenants. Check your tenant's credit, ask for references, and do a criminal background check. This will help you to know the people who are living in your properties, and give you an idea of their level of trustworthiness. Forgoing the background check might save a little time, but in the long run it can cost you more than the time savings is worth.

Make sure to create the proper atmosphere for a showing. Turn on all the lights, have some relaxing music playing in the background, and light a few candles to make the home smell nice. You might also want to include a thank you note at one of the last rooms that they would look at. This will help the potential buyer enjoy looking at your home and make the buyer just feel more relaxed.

Being prepared as a seller is extremely important if you hope to be successful. The market is not going to wait for you. Use these tips in order to get your foot in the door and quickly and effectively push your property for top market value. As long as you can follow these tips, you should have no problems.

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[hale-of-stiles-heart]

Superman!Derek here we go. Okay stiles is nothing like lois like Noah fence to her but naaa. So Scott has somehow managed to get into life threatening danger that Derek use just used to having to save him but THIS TIME Scott has a hot friend who doesn't. need. this. And so superman is a little baffled and like almost forgets to save them bc liek have you seen stiles? So then stiles is salty abt being the damsel in distress bc GOD KNOWS he can defend himself he's a sheriff's son. (1)

So, this is officially my first Super!Derek work! (also on ao3!)

Derek was painfully used to having to save Scott McCall's life.

The reporter was still green, a new hire at Argent Enterprises who had only been working for a few months. He was practically right out of journalism school, still wide-eyed and awestruck by Metropolis.

Derek didn't mind Scott at that much, especially since he was more tolerable than most of the other reporters that flocked to crime scenes hoping to get a glimpse of him. Unlike most, Scott was content to simply report on the stories he was given, rather than go chasing after an interview with Superman.

Objectively, Derek understood why so many reporters and photographers wanted five minutes with him, understood the intrigue of having a living, breathing superhero flying around the city. He understood the need to know more and ferret out the answers to incredible mysteries.

But, personally, he hated the way reporters buzzed around like flies on a slab of dead meat, like blood sucking parasites wanting a picture or soundbite of Superman to launch their career and fill their pockets. He hated the way that half the time he had to split his attention between saving the day and saving the overzealous reporters trying to get some footage of the action.

Fortunately, Derek never had to save Scott from those kinds of incidents. Unfortunately, he had to save Scott from other incidents.

The first time Derek had to save Scott it was because the reporter had gotten lost and inadvertently wound up in a rather rough neighborhood. He had gotten shot at by some white guys who lived and breathed the Second Amendment as he tried to get somewhere safe.

He wound up getting lost even deeper in the neighborhood, apparently having no sense of direction whatsoever. Derek found him cowering behind a dumpster when the sound of gunshots drew him to the scene.

Deflecting more gunshots from the ignorant city rednecks, Derek led Scott out of the neighborhood by the back of his shirt like a disapproving father who had caught his son smoking. After ensuring that Scott wasn't hurt in any way, suffering no gunshot wounds or other injuries, Derek had escorted him back to Argent Enterprises' main office, instructing him to stay out of trouble.

A few weeks later, Derek had to save him again.

Somehow Scott had gotten caught up in the middle of a scuffle between two super villains who had apparently gotten into an argument in a local Starbucks. One of them had reportedly cut in front of the other in line, incensing them enough to throw a punch that had the other guy flying through the wall.

Scott had gotten clipped by the punch as well, making him spill all of the coffee he had been picking up for his co-workers. But that was the least of his worries as he wound up as a hostage inside the coffee shop, shaking like a leaf under a small table.

After hauling off the villains to jail, Derek had hurried back to the Starbucks to make sure that everyone was alright. He had cocked a curious brow when he noticed Scott amongst those taken hostage, wincing when he saw the coffee stains on his t-shirt.

A pattern had formed after that, one that consisted of Scott inexplicably getting into trouble and Derek saving him. It had quickly become an almost daily occurrence.

Scott had an uncanny ability to attract danger though he insisted that his friend, whose name he claimed was Stiles, was the real lightning rod for trouble. And lucky Derek got to pull him out of burning buildings and yank him away from more superpowered fights in the middle of the city.

So, when Derek overheard a police radio call detailing that a couple of reporters had somehow gotten themselves trapped on the roof by yet another super villain that called Metropolis home, he immediately knew that one of them must be Scott.

With a quick glance around the office to make sure no one would notice him leave, Derek discreetly gathered his things in his suitcase and rushed to the elevator. Five minutes later, his suitcase was safely tucked away in his apartment and he was soaring over the skies of Metropolis. Super speed definitely had its perks.

He followed the sound of police sirens and fire engines to the scene of the crime where Livewire was hurling balls of concentrated electricity at the first responders. The air crackled with static as currents of electricity raced through her body, sparking blue at her fingertips.

Her ghostly white skin seemed to glow in the bright sunlight of the late morning, making it look even more unnatural than it already was. In stark contrast to her skin, her neon blue hair stood straight up from her scalp, almost resembling a mohawk.

She was barely recognizable, looking nothing like she had when she spent her days hosting her vitriolic radio talk show where she had ranted and raved about everything from abortions to Superman being an illegal immigrant. She could have given Tori Lahren a run for her money.

And there, on the roof an apartment building that had been left vacant for renovations was none other than Scott, looking terrified as he gawked at the electricity bending woman. He had a microphone clutched tightly in his hand as though he had been on the roof when the villainess attacked.

Derek had hoped to spare a few moments analyzing the situation before acting but his plans were spoiled by one of the first responders. One of the police officers had pointed him out and joyously called, "Look! It's Superman."

Despite wanting to roll his eyes at the fact that the officer had just informed Livewire to his presence, Derek launched into action. He dove at Livewire who snarled at him indignantly, flicking a few strikes of electricity at him as he rushed at her.

Fortunately, the electricity didn't do much other than annoy him a bit, sending a few tiny jolts through him. That is, until she intensified the strength of the current, hurling a huge bolt at him that resembled a strike of lightning.

It struck him in the chest, shocking him into a halt and a premature fall to the concrete roof of the apartment building with a loud crack. He heard a few startled gasps from Scott on the other side of the roof as he pushed himself to his feet and shook himself.

He took another minute to reassess the situation as his fingers twitched with the aftershocks of the assault, glancing around the rooftop. The first thing he noticed was that the stone of the roof was crumbling, the second thing he noticed was that Scott wasn't alone.

There was another man on the roof with him, tall and lean in a red plaid shirt and khakis that looked more skintight than Derek's own outfit. His brown hair was artfully disheveled, dark in contrast to the pale white of his mole dotted skin that immediately reminded Derek of a marble statue.

His big brown eyes were alight with a fierce fire of determination as he watched Livewire, his brows furrowed in concentration. Derek noticed that his plush pink lips were moving rapidly as he frantically whispered something to Scott, squeezing the other reporter's shoulder.

Derek was captivated. The man was so gorgeous, the mere sight of him drowned out everything else.

Everything else including Livewire getting ready to zap him with an even stronger hit of electricity, tendrils of blue sparks coiling around her hands to form a large ball. She stalked closer silently, a wide smirk stretching across her dark lips, making her look almost demonic.

Derek never would have even noticed if it hadn't been for the other reporter with Scott. Standing up taller, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called to Derek, "Dude, watch out!"

Derek turned just in time to see Livewire standing over him, a twisted grin on her face as she prepared to shock him. But before she could, Derek swiped her legs out from under her, making her topple to the ground with a banshee-like screech.

They grappled for a few moments, Livewire forgoing using any of her superhuman abilities in the heat of the moment, instead favoring clawing at Derek's face while shrieking. Derek didn't even bother using all of his own preternatural strength to subdue her, able to pin her arms behind her without it.

He secured her wrists with one of the reinforced zip ties his good friend Batman had given him, reminding Derek to send him a fruit basket. Her powers neutralized, Livewire kicked and screamed as Derek carried her down to the street to the army of police officers who took her into custody and Mirandized her.

With Livewire in the backseat of a police cruiser, Derek hurried back to the roof to rescue the two reporters, worried that the roof might cave in. He hovered over the roof as he made his way to Scott and his friend who was grumbling something so quietly that even Derek couldn't hear him.

"Superman!" Scott called out in relief, visibly sagging as he sighed. He looked exhausted, like the slightest breeze might knock him over.

His friend, on the other hand, looked furious. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at Derek, making him hesitate for a moment in fear that the unknown reporter was one of the people who hated Superman.

"Are you two, alright?" Derek asked as he approached them, lighting down on the roof a few feet away from them. He was a bit wary, not sure how the unknown man might react.

"We're fine," the other reporter growled snappishly, giving Derek an unimpressed once over. He sauntered over to Derek, poking him in the chest with every word, "I didn't need you saving me, y'know. My buddy here might be a little helpless, no offense, Scotty, but I can take care of myself."

Derek bit down on a smile, ducking his head at the indignant tone. He could hear fond exasperation underscoring every word so he didn't take any offense, instead pressing his luck and inquiring, "Is there anything I can do to make it up to, Mr..."

"Stilinski," the man answered immediately, a small smirk curling up the corner of his lip. The smirk growing, he tacked on, "And you could start by going to dinner with me this Saturday. Eight o'clock at the diner on Fourth and Kent."

"I'll be there," Derek grinned widely. He had grown used to saving Scott so it was only fitting that Scott's friend saved him from yet another Saturday night alone.

[newidaho]

19.  Social Media, 2054

Don’t have the time/patience/desire to read with your eyes? Don’t have eyes? Well, have your friend read you this:  You can check out the audiobook for free on Apple, Google, Stitcher, or Spotify.  Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday!

A Brief History of Social Media

As Researched by Steven Carki, UNI Class of ’56

Dated 24 November 2054

Sometimes it’s difficult to think back to the days of our grandparents, where social media was no more than a handwritten list of friends you could call on the telephone.  Now online social networks have been a part of our every day lives for nearly fifty years.  Clubhouse, the latest, greatest player in the game, just celebrated its twentieth birthday this past year.

Of course, social media didn’t always look the way it does today.  While myself and many of my peers were raised on Virtual Reality, our parents were raised in the era of screens, with VR no more than a new fad, a technology they knew had potential, but did not yet know to what end.

Thus, for my final presentation in Modern Anthropology, I would like to discuss the history of social media in the world.  Ideally, I would like to leave behind a transcript so that others may look back and remember where all this came from.

The first major surge in social media took place in the early ‘00s.  The first notable social media giant was a company called MySpace, which debuted in 2003 and remained the largest social networking site in the world until 2009.  Its replacement, Facebook, was founded one year later in 2004 and took the market by storm for the next couple decades.  Other giants include Twitter, founded 2006, and Instagram in 2010.

For the 2010s, these companies would rule the social media market, especially after the advent of the smart phone in 2007.  As the smartphone became more and more commonplace, social media apps became the go-to time-wasters on everybody’s glass devices, each with their own niche.  Facebook, much like Clubhouse today, provided a central hub for all friends, where you could like different pages, post status updates, keep photo albums, and make your own clubs and events.  Twitter’s interface prompted users to share short blurbs that their followers could scroll through.  Instagram was similar to Twitter, but for pictures only (Hartford, 2045).

As the ‘20s approached, however, the fall of the social media giants appeared imminent to those who kept their eyes open.  The influx of participants from the older generation on these applications signified the beginning of the decline.  What once appealed to the younger generations was adopted by their grandparents, seriously cutting down the cool factor of the software.  Though this trend was noticeable far earlier, the median age range of each company had grown to 46-52 by 2025 (Skaroff 2034).

In addition to the influx of older generations, privacy scandals started to plague the giants from the 2010s well into the ‘20s.  What started as companies selling user information for ad revenue evolved into much more suspect behavior, with rumors accusing the companies of everything from colluding to form a national registry to selling information to hackers under the table.

Regardless of who the information was sold to, the increasingly sophisticated methods each company used to pry into their users’ lives made their followers increasingly uncomfortable.  The result for social media companies was an immediate drop in reputation and a steady decline in market share as long-time users looked for more trustworthy alternative social media outlets.

Unfortunately for users, it was extremely difficult for any competing social media network to attain critical mass in the smartphone application market.  Even amidst the controversy, social media companies continued to innovate and improve their services at a rate that no others could keep up with.  Even with new features added to keep users on board, however, the companies continued to undermine their trustworthiness as they proceeded to sell their users’ information in creative new ways that inevitably made it above ground in due time.

Toward the end of the ‘20s, things were looking dire for the giants.  With the continued growth of virtual reality, everyone could feel a sea change coming.  To prepare for the new age, in 2027 each company decided, allegedly independently, to change their name, building what was later known as “The ’27 Club”.  One after one, each tried to become known as something new—“F,” “Birdie,” and “QuickPic”.

Suffice to say, the rebranding tactic left much to be desired.  Not only were users not fooled by the new branding, the new names were notably lamer than their predecessors.  Add to this the aging demographic of the giants’ user bases, and the companies seemed destined for irrelevance.

The companies held on for about four more years until each of them finally went bankrupt in the “Social Crash of ’31”.  It took a decade longer than many thought it should have, but people were finally done with the social media giants for good.  The disappearance of the giants left a huge hole in the social media market, which many new companies tried to fill.  The general populace, however, had apparently decided they were done, and refused to adopt any of the new players in the web-based social media market.  Technology users returned to a world of group and personal messages, forgoing the need to broadcast their lives for a time.

This period after the Social Crash of ’31 was known as “The Great Purification”.  Though the period of absolute social media abstinence lasted only three years, this time was generally viewed favorably by those who lived through it.  A generation was perceiving the world and relationships in a whole new way.  Like someone newly sober, there was an element of latent wonder in this new view, and many asked themselves why they didn’t get off the services sooner.

Even though many enjoyed their new perspective on the wagon, all it took was a new innovator for the great majority of consumers to fall off.  In 2034, nine years after the Lucid Mask redefined Virtual Reality into a major consumer market, a new social media craze was born out of a dorm room on New Idaho University’s campus.

The new mastermind was Nathan Habernick, a prodigious English Major in his junior year.  As he put it in a 2035 interview:

“I was always captivated by the worlds that authors and filmmakers would create.  I wanted to do the same.  For a while, I was just writing and writing, but that didn’t feel like quite enough.  And I didn’t necessarily have a huge interest in gaining mastery over some other medium.  I just wanted to make my own world and live in it.  So I was getting high with my friends one day—come on, it’s 2035 and you’re gonna look at me like I can’t say that?—I was stoned, alright, and I was wondering why there wasn’t yet any easy way to create your own environment in virtual reality.  And the applications that were out there just weren’t pushing it far enough.  I wanted to make my own world, and I wanted my friends to be able to hang out in it.  The market was ripe for a change.  So, anyway, that’s how the idea of Clubhouse was born.” (Habernick 2035)

Clubhouse was the disrupter that should have taken down the social media market, had the world not already been in the middle of The Great Purification.  Though it began humbly, Clubhouse scaled quickly, allowing users greater and greater freedom to build their own virtual space that their friends could enjoy with them.

Clubhouse eventually began to integrate all the features that the other social media giants had done before them.  Users could personalize their own “Bulletin Board” for view by anyone specified in their privacy settings.  “Walkie-Talkie” was added soon after launch as the native chat feature in the application.  Users could even host Virtual gatherings in each of their Clubhouses.

It wasn’t until 2037 that Clubhouse hit the mainstream with its AR integration, implemented into the second generation of Lucid Lenses.  Though the VR app was still popular, the AR implementation was much more useful day-to-day, leading to a surge in popularity similar to the one Facebook experienced when it expanded from desktop to mobile.

In addition to finding a comfortable home in the VR and AR market, Clubhouse made sure to avoid the downfall of its predecessors by brainstorming alternative streams of income to the sale of user data.  From the application’s launch, Habernick made sure to emphasize the importance they placed on the privacy of their users.  Instead of selling users’ information, Habernick set Clubhouse up with an eCommerce platform that allowed users to sell their own data, goods, and services.  By taking a small cut from each interaction, Clubhouse was able to sustain comfortable profits.  Though Clubhouse ads didn't start off quite as sophisticated as the social media companies of yesteryear, the surprisingly large amount of users that voluntarily sold their data allowed ad companies to attain approximately the same level of insight into their possible customer base, eventually netting Clubhouse notable ad revenue in addition to what they were gaining from eCommerce.

In 2054, at the time of this writing, Clubhouse remains the most profitable social media company on the market today.  Though it has grown over the years, its primary principles have remained the same, which has led to a user loyalty that was never present in the old, dead giants.

After proving there was a place for social media in the new era, it didn’t take long for other companies to follow in Clubhouse’s footsteps.  Many of these companies built their base on the new functionality allowed by AR technology.  For instance, Infrariend, est. 2024, when activated, allowed users to spot consenting Clubhouse friends from miles away through what resembled an infrared headset.  This technology came in handy for many AR games of the 21st century.

Another successful (though slightly more unnerving) company was Foot-Steps, founded in 2045.  Foot-Steps allows VR and AR users to sync up with their friends’ AR glasses, literally giving users the chance to walk in someone else’s shoes.  Oddly enough, even after the privacy scares of the ‘20s, consumers seemed to be willing once more to risk their privacy for the chance to try new technology.  Though there is no conclusive evidence that Foot-Steps is or isn’t spying on their users, it would appear that the trustworthy precedent set by Clubhouse has lulled users into a false sense of security when trying new applications.

As of 2054, no social media application has approached the current success of Clubhouse.  In fact, the social media market has remained relatively stagnant for the last decade or so.  The reputation of Clubhouse is certainly in better shape after 20 years than the giants’ had been.  For Clubhouse’s reign to be displaced in the future, it may be necessary for a disrupter in the tech market as a whole.  Just as AR replaced mobile, whatever the next step for mass human communication is will likely be the spot to see major competitors.

Until then, Clubhouse holds a proud monopoly over social media, and few seem to mind.  Habernick, in fact, has been guest teaching around a class a semester at UNI for the past five years or so.  If you ever happen to run into him on campus, you can feel proud that a fellow Okapi has changed the world.  We can only hope that the next disrupter comes from the same magical place.

Works Cited

Habernick, Nathan.  Personal Interview.  20 Feb 2035.

Hartford, Melanie.  A Generation of Socialites.  San Francisco, New History Press, 2045.

Husk, Rajit.  Hanging at the Clubhouse.  New Idaho, New Idaho UP, 2053.

Skaroff, Nicholas.  “Understanding the Social Crash.”  Journal of Social Media, vol. 12, no. 1, 2034, pp. 13-16.

[wisejellyfishcrown]

In my corporate days, I asked this question of the marketing team on a weekly basis: “Who are these 20,000 people in our email newsletter database? Do they even fit our ideal client profile?”

I’m embarrassed to admit, instead of pushing for the answer, we stayed on the hamster wheel churning out a weekly newsletter featuring one staffer blog post, two curated industry articles, and one marketing meme. No wonder our click-through and open rates were low and never budged.

We were focused on fulfilling the obligation to ship the newsletter on time. However, before I beat myself up too much about the quality of our content, I realize now I should have pushed the pause button and taken a step back to investigate.

When click-through & open rates are low, take a step back to investigate. @JeffLHerrmann #email Click To Tweet

Were the open and click-through-rates low due to lame subject lines and shoddy copy or was our email database full of people who didn’t fit our ideal client profile?

We had no idea if we were wasting great content on the wrong people.

Today, smart marketers operate like niche media publishers, forgoing a massive but unresponsive email database in favor of a possibly smaller but more engaged audience.

If your goal is a more valuable audience, it makes sense to use proven audience measurement methods to better understand the size, composition, and preferences of your audience.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Deliver Emails That Will Increase Reach, Impact, and Subscriber Satisfaction

Understand who is on your email list

To convert the names in your database into an engaged audience, you first must understand who is behind those names. You want to consider demographic, “firmographic,” and behavioral factors because no single factor tells all about a person.

You need to know who is behind the names in your database to convert them into engaged audience. @JeffLHerrmann Click To Tweet

Segment by demographics and firmographics

Break down your list by demographics (personal characteristics) and firmographics (company characteristics). Many opt-in web forms capture not only name and professional email address but also job title and industry type. From this information, you can determine a lot about the composition of your database. Create parameters for your classifications – gender, job title, company size (revenue and employee numbers), and industry classification, etc. Then code and segment the records by those classifications.

Insights available could include the composition of C-level executives vs. non-managerial individual contributors or the composition by department (marketing vs. IT vs. sales).

Using this sorting approach, don’t be surprised to find gaps due to inconsistent or insufficient data collection practices. For example, names collected from scans at trade shows over the years may vary in their depth of information because of the evolving technological capabilities.

You can explore third-party “data-appending” services, which would offer additional details about your database. While a single project can be expensive, most providers offer discounts for annual subscriptions to their service. Alternatively, you could search for additional details on LinkedIn or in other online searches and manually update your database. Whether it’s your team’s time or a contract with a service, the investment to learn more about your database contacts is worth it.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 5 Steps to Improving Subscriber Data for More Personalized Emails

Segment by behavior

While segmenting by demographics and firmographics is an important first step, it doesn’t provide the depth of insight to help you program your content to engage your audience. You haven’t yet shed light on the desires and motivations of your audience.

Lean into behavioral segmentation and your lead-scoring system. If you have a marketing automation system, you can track the web activity of people in your database and assign lead scores based on their actions. That provides critical insight into the kind of information people in your audience respond to.

Marketing automation software is great at tracking the people in your database who actively engage with you. But in many cases, lack of engagement is the problem you’re trying to solve. If you focus only on the behavior of your engaged database members, you risk missing the big picture.

And another caveat: Analyzing your own database limits your insight to the characteristics and behaviors of the people who have connected with your company. How do you know whether these people reflect the broader desired audience? Is your list skewed or biased in any direction? 

You need to do more work to get the answers. You can start with demographics, firmographics, and behavior data, but the key is to find out how the characteristics of your database compare to the characteristics of the market you’re going after.

Understand your database audience profile relative to the broader market

To better understand your database in relation to the overall market, you can apply audience evaluation methods used by the media industry. Having this insight will help benchmark your current database (composition and value), understand the gaps in your audience, and build an investment case to grow an audience that will deliver for your organization.

To get started, borrow a page from media measurement powerhouse Nielsen. It analyzes its audience-measurement sample composition in local markets by producing “in-tab” reports that compare sample groups to “universe estimates” for the market. These reports are great at identifying the gaps of market penetration or over/under audience representation.

Step 1: Identify your target audience and market

Decide on a target audience aligned to your ideal client profile. Your audience is most likely composed of your best current and future buyers. In some cases, your target could be customers you don’t have but aspire to reach. Once you’ve decided who you want as your ideal audience, you can then develop a universe estimate, more commonly known as the total addressable market.

Market sizing helps you determine the level of effort and resources required to build an audience comprising your ideal clients (more about this in Step 3). The goal is to determine the total size of the target audience, which is used as the denominator for market share calculations. Consider whether you want a single-digit share of a massive market or deep penetration of a niche market.

Example: Being early in its maturity, Acme’s B2B marketing team decides to target all B2B medical marketers rather than a subset of medical marketers.

Step 2: Determine the most important market characteristics to track

With a firm handle on the identity of your total potential audience, develop a set of characteristics to understand the composition of the audience in your target market. Remember, personas mask the opportunity for true precision in your audience understanding.

Personas mask the opportunity for true precision in your audience understanding, says @JeffLHerrmann Click To Tweet

Which characteristics – demographic or firmographic – may be important to know about your target audience? You’re looking to create discrete segments to truly understand the depth and dimension of your audience. Then you can create a blended sketch or composite view of the target audience – the asset you seek.

Example: The Acme marketing team recognizes that “B2B medical marketers” isn’t descriptive enough for its target audience. It chooses to segment based on gender, seniority, and company size because these are the most observable and reliable characteristics at this point.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Create Easy, Yet Actionable, Content Marketing Personas

Step 3: Build a table and populate the Universe Estimate (UE)/Total Addressable Market (TAM) and market characteristic fields

For this stage, you should use reliable industry resources to develop the most accurate market size and audience composition counts possible. For example, this report from Salesforce Research and LinkedIn provides valuable benchmarking data to inform the total audience profile for a half-dozen sectors. LinkedIn can be a great resource for estimating the size of your target audience. Industry associations also usually have solid estimates on the total count and characteristics of their industry.

At this point, enumerating your niche market will be more art than science for beginners. In the B2B space, available data isn’t as vast as it is in the B2C space. While you won’t have every characteristic populated, making some reasonable assumptions on the count of the people in a market segment is a great way to build reality checks to understanding sizing the audience opportunity and composition.

Example: The table illustrates Acme’s target audience of B2B medical marketers in comparison to the overall audience of medical marketers based on data from the Salesforce Research report.

Step 4: Analyze the table

With the industry data and calculations, you now can identify how your database audience reflects the overall audience, including opportunities to focus on and invest in audience development.

Example: Acme’s marketing team sees that its database:

Reflects less than 5% of available audience of medical marketers

Skews heavily toward males though the overall audience skews heavily female

Reaches fewer managers and director-level marketers (22.5%) than the available audience (35%)

Reflects proportionately to the available audience for companies between 501 and 1,000 employees, but captures a higher percentage of companies with 1,001 to 10,001-plus employees (65% vs. 55%).

This analysis now can inform Acme’s content marketing strategy, from content creation (i.e., create content better targeted to attract a senior-level audience) to content promotion (i.e., develop outreach plan to capture more of medical marketers in the United States).

Acme has a lot of work to do. It’s barely reaching its market potential, and its gender composition and seniority levels are skewed. The only bright spot is the company size target reflects Acme’s focus on mid-market and small enterprise organizations. Acme is reaching the right type of company, yet it is most likely not reaching enough of the right type of people.

What’s next?

We’re really just getting started by understanding the relative size and composition of who is in your audience and who isn’t. Use this method as a tool to help your management understand the current state of your audience or email database and how much work you have to do to develop the strategy and content to improve your composition by engaging your ideal clients.

Understand your current audience to learn how much work you have to do to engage ideal clients. @JeffLHerrmann Click To Tweet

For example, the Acme team could justify new content initiatives that address director-level information needs by showing decision-makers how underrepresented that segment is in its current contact database.

Once you understand the gaps in your database as it relates to the market as a whole, you can decide how to invest the resources to improve your audience composition. If you want to take the analysis to the next level, you can derive the total asset value of the audience you currently have or­ – more importantly – the audience you want. To understand how to do that, read Robert Rose’s recent article The Audience Valuation Engine: A New Model for Calculating the Value Per Subscriber.

It’s time you stop beating yourself up about your open rates and engagement rates and consider that you just might be throwing great content at the wrong people.

Hear from Robert Rose and how content strategy can help your customer understanding, and much more, at the Intelligent Content Conference March 20-22 in Las Vegas. Register today.

Source link

The post How to Better Understand the Size and Composition of Your B2B Audience appeared first on elgibborsms.com blog.

[lucyariablog]

How to Better Understand the Size and Composition of Your B2B Audience

In my corporate days, I asked this question of the marketing team on a weekly basis: “Who are these 20,000 people in our email newsletter database? Do they even fit our ideal client profile?”

I’m embarrassed to admit, instead of pushing for the answer, we stayed on the hamster wheel churning out a weekly newsletter featuring one staffer blog post, two curated industry articles, and one marketing meme. No wonder our click-through and open rates were low and never budged.

We were focused on fulfilling the obligation to ship the newsletter on time. However, before I beat myself up too much about the quality of our content, I realize now I should have pushed the pause button and taken a step back to investigate.

When click-through & open rates are low, take a step back to investigate. @JeffLHerrmann #email Click To Tweet

Were the open and click-through-rates low due to lame subject lines and shoddy copy or was our email database full of people who didn’t fit our ideal client profile?

We had no idea if we were wasting great content on the wrong people.

Today, smart marketers operate like niche media publishers, forgoing a massive but unresponsive email database in favor of a possibly smaller but more engaged audience.

If your goal is a more valuable audience, it makes sense to use proven audience measurement methods to better understand the size, composition, and preferences of your audience.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Deliver Emails That Will Increase Reach, Impact, and Subscriber Satisfaction

Understand who is on your email list

To convert the names in your database into an engaged audience, you first must understand who is behind those names. You want to consider demographic, “firmographic,” and behavioral factors because no single factor tells all about a person.

You need to know who is behind the names in your database to convert them into engaged audience. @JeffLHerrmann Click To Tweet

Segment by demographics and firmographics

Break down your list by demographics (personal characteristics) and firmographics (company characteristics). Many opt-in web forms capture not only name and professional email address but also job title and industry type. From this information, you can determine a lot about the composition of your database. Create parameters for your classifications – gender, job title, company size (revenue and employee numbers), and industry classification, etc. Then code and segment the records by those classifications.

Insights available could include the composition of C-level executives vs. non-managerial individual contributors or the composition by department (marketing vs. IT vs. sales).

Using this sorting approach, don’t be surprised to find gaps due to inconsistent or insufficient data collection practices. For example, names collected from scans at trade shows over the years may vary in their depth of information because of the evolving technological capabilities.

You can explore third-party “data-appending” services, which would offer additional details about your database. While a single project can be expensive, most providers offer discounts for annual subscriptions to their service. Alternatively, you could search for additional details on LinkedIn or in other online searches and manually update your database. Whether it’s your team’s time or a contract with a service, the investment to learn more about your database contacts is worth it.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 5 Steps to Improving Subscriber Data for More Personalized Emails

Segment by behavior

While segmenting by demographics and firmographics is an important first step, it doesn’t provide the depth of insight to help you program your content to engage your audience. You haven’t yet shed light on the desires and motivations of your audience.

Lean into behavioral segmentation and your lead-scoring system. If you have a marketing automation system, you can track the web activity of people in your database and assign lead scores based on their actions. That provides critical insight into the kind of information people in your audience respond to.

Marketing automation software is great at tracking the people in your database who actively engage with you. But in many cases, lack of engagement is the problem you’re trying to solve. If you focus only on the behavior of your engaged database members, you risk missing the big picture.

And another caveat: Analyzing your own database limits your insight to the characteristics and behaviors of the people who have connected with your company. How do you know whether these people reflect the broader desired audience? Is your list skewed or biased in any direction? 

You need to do more work to get the answers. You can start with demographics, firmographics, and behavior data, but the key is to find out how the characteristics of your database compare to the characteristics of the market you’re going after.

Understand your database audience profile relative to the broader market

To better understand your database in relation to the overall market, you can apply audience evaluation methods used by the media industry. Having this insight will help benchmark your current database (composition and value), understand the gaps in your audience, and build an investment case to grow an audience that will deliver for your organization.

To get started, borrow a page from media measurement powerhouse Nielsen. It analyzes its audience-measurement sample composition in local markets by producing “in-tab” reports that compare sample groups to “universe estimates” for the market. These reports are great at identifying the gaps of market penetration or over/under audience representation.

Step 1: Identify your target audience and market

Decide on a target audience aligned to your ideal client profile. Your audience is most likely composed of your best current and future buyers. In some cases, your target could be customers you don’t have but aspire to reach. Once you’ve decided who you want as your ideal audience, you can then develop a universe estimate, more commonly known as the total addressable market.

Market sizing helps you determine the level of effort and resources required to build an audience comprising your ideal clients (more about this in Step 3). The goal is to determine the total size of the target audience, which is used as the denominator for market share calculations. Consider whether you want a single-digit share of a massive market or deep penetration of a niche market.

Example: Being early in its maturity, Acme’s B2B marketing team decides to target all B2B medical marketers rather than a subset of medical marketers.

Step 2: Determine the most important market characteristics to track

With a firm handle on the identity of your total potential audience, develop a set of characteristics to understand the composition of the audience in your target market. Remember, personas mask the opportunity for true precision in your audience understanding.

Personas mask the opportunity for true precision in your audience understanding, says @JeffLHerrmann Click To Tweet

Which characteristics – demographic or firmographic – may be important to know about your target audience? You’re looking to create discrete segments to truly understand the depth and dimension of your audience. Then you can create a blended sketch or composite view of the target audience – the asset you seek.

Example: The Acme marketing team recognizes that “B2B medical marketers” isn’t descriptive enough for its target audience. It chooses to segment based on gender, seniority, and company size because these are the most observable and reliable characteristics at this point.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Create Easy, Yet Actionable, Content Marketing Personas

Step 3: Build a table and populate the Universe Estimate (UE)/Total Addressable Market (TAM) and market characteristic fields

For this stage, you should use reliable industry resources to develop the most accurate market size and audience composition counts possible. For example, this report from Salesforce Research and LinkedIn provides valuable benchmarking data to inform the total audience profile for a half-dozen sectors. LinkedIn can be a great resource for estimating the size of your target audience. Industry associations also usually have solid estimates on the total count and characteristics of their industry.

At this point, enumerating your niche market will be more art than science for beginners. In the B2B space, available data isn’t as vast as it is in the B2C space. While you won’t have every characteristic populated, making some reasonable assumptions on the count of the people in a market segment is a great way to build reality checks to understanding sizing the audience opportunity and composition.

Example: The table illustrates Acme’s target audience of B2B medical marketers in comparison to the overall audience of medical marketers based on data from the Salesforce Research report.

Image source: Salesforce Research. Data for gender and company size derived for illustrative purposes.

Step 4: Analyze the table

With the industry data and calculations, you now can identify how your database audience reflects the overall audience, including opportunities to focus on and invest in audience development.

Example: Acme’s marketing team sees that its database:

Reflects less than 5% of available audience of medical marketers

Skews heavily toward males though the overall audience skews heavily female

Reaches fewer managers and director-level marketers (22.5%) than the available audience (35%)

Reflects proportionately to the available audience for companies between 501 and 1,000 employees, but captures a higher percentage of companies with 1,001 to 10,001-plus employees (65% vs. 55%).

This analysis now can inform Acme’s content marketing strategy, from content creation (i.e., create content better targeted to attract a senior-level audience) to content promotion (i.e., develop outreach plan to capture more of medical marketers in the United States).

Acme has a lot of work to do. It’s barely reaching its market potential, and its gender composition and seniority levels are skewed. The only bright spot is the company size target reflects Acme’s focus on mid-market and small enterprise organizations. Acme is reaching the right type of company, yet it is most likely not reaching enough of the right type of people.

What’s next?

We’re really just getting started by understanding the relative size and composition of who is in your audience and who isn’t. Use this method as a tool to help your management understand the current state of your audience or email database and how much work you have to do to develop the strategy and content to improve your composition by engaging your ideal clients.

Understand your current audience to learn how much work you have to do to engage ideal clients. @JeffLHerrmann Click To Tweet

For example, the Acme team could justify new content initiatives that address director-level information needs by showing decision-makers how underrepresented that segment is in its current contact database.

Once you understand the gaps in your database as it relates to the market as a whole, you can decide how to invest the resources to improve your audience composition. If you want to take the analysis to the next level, you can derive the total asset value of the audience you currently have or­ – more importantly – the audience you want. To understand how to do that, read Robert Rose’s recent article The Audience Valuation Engine: A New Model for Calculating the Value Per Subscriber.

It’s time you stop beating yourself up about your open rates and engagement rates and consider that you just might be throwing great content at the wrong people.

Hear from Robert Rose and how content strategy can help your customer understanding, and much more, at the Intelligent Content Conference March 20-22 in Las Vegas. Register today.

The post How to Better Understand the Size and Composition of Your B2B Audience appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/12/size-composition-audience/