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melisa-may-taylor72 · 4 years ago

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Accolades such as “greatest single long-playing achievement since Sgt. Pepper” and “the most important record album ever made” fall over Queen’s latest album as easily as butter melting on a hot potato—but few realize what a hot potato the album actually was in its pre-release days. It took a bevy of high-powered attorneys, some low-life finagling, and more than the usual amount of wheelerdealing just to get the album out without its being hacked to death by defamation-of-character suits.

Guitarist Brian May explains: “I’m in real difficulty here because I’ve been threatened with libel because our old management had a good go at stopping the album coming out. They thought “Death on Two Legs’’ was about them. They wanted us to take the track off and we nearly had to, and in fact they got a load of money out of our publishing company because it supposedly was libelous, but it’s never been proven. It’s all very stupid—they wanted to sue Freddie, the band, the publishing company, and the record company.”

All very dramatic stuff, but a band like Queen survives not on operatic finesse alone, but on gut-level melo- dramatics in the business department as well. When you produce your records, write the songs, play all the instruments, and do everything yourself, chances are you’re going to have to pay some legal dues, too. But ah! the rewards—such as the single, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” hanging into the #1 spot in the British charts for seven weeks in a row!

“We’re a bit more in the public eye now, we’re starting to get recognized a lot more,” says Brian May. “We’re carrying on working just as we did before, but obviously we’re very pleased with how the record’s doing. It’s sold more than a million copies in England— can’t believe it.” But it’s true: Queen’s stature in England has risen from that of The #1 teenage hard rock band to that of the-group- that-made-the-single-that-every-house- wife-knows-by-heart”.

What propelled Queen in that direction is their Night at the Opera album, a slight departure from what Queen fans know to be the Queen sound. The hard rock screams have temporarily subsided, replaced by experimentation with different voicings of instruments and production tricks. Those who found Queen’s approach overdecibelled can relax to the quiet “ ‘39” or “Good Company” and tap their feet to “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon” without fear of being gui- tarred to death. “It’s just what came out,” says Brian. “They’re offshoots of our main direction. There’s plenty of time for the rock.”

“The album wasn’t really supposed to go in the direction that it did, it was just the songs we had. While we were making it we were thinking, ‘Yeah, it is getting a bit light,’ but rather than fight against it we decided to do it properly and then think again afterwards. So instead of trying to heavy up the lighter things, we pressed on. We had a few things we didn’t use, but we’re getting more demanding of ourselves. There are a few heavy things kicking around, but we may use them on the next record.”

The two strongest forces in Queen have always been Brian and Freddie. With A Night at the Opera, where experimentation and branching out in new directions are the most obvious characteristics, the personalities of the band are often obscured by the newly emerging elements. “Sometimes I feel that Freddie and I are going in different directions, but then he’ll come up with something and I’ll think, ‘My God—we do think alike.’ When I’m working on one of his things I can tune in very easily to what guitar part he wants, and vice-versa. In terms of what we’re trying to do in songs, we are moving in different directions, but I think that could be a good thing.”

QUEEN II: Critical response to the band is now almost unanimously favorable in both Great Britain and the United States, which is quite phenomenal when you stop and think of how anxious many critics were to pan them two years ago.“I’m not going to take it too seriously,” Brian says, “because I remember what the critics said about Queen II. It would seem that everybody is beginning to like us. … very much. I can take it at that level, but there’s no doubt in my mind that sometime in the future there’ll come a time when we get slagged for everything. Queen II is still my favorite of the Queen albums, certainly the most daring. Especially for the time. I think we’re still finding our feet now, and the way I feel about the new album is that we’re searching for new directions and most of them are sort of half-formed. We’ve got the Queen II feel in some places, and in others we’ve got the Sheer Heart Attack polish. I don’t think we’re quite sure where we’re going”.

“This album, at the very least, negates all the comparisons to Led Zeppelin that we’ve been living with for the past three years. I think Physical Graffiti is amazing, by the way. I saw Zeppelin at Earls Court, and I met Pagey afterward, for the first time. It was great, he was very nice and gentle. I respect him a tremendous amount for “Kashmir” and “The Light,” for being able to put his brain on record—- it wouldn’t matter if he couldn’t play a note.”

Economic criticism has been less favorable, however. A Night at the Opera was widely rumored to be “the most expensive album ever made” when it was released, a point which Queen’s management denies. Nevertheless, Queen has been taken to task by quite a few English journalists for spending so much money estimated at £30-40,000—making one record. Brian has a retort: “We wouldn’t have spent so much money if the studios weren’t so bloody expensive!

The album was recorded in seven of them, sometimes three at once.” We weren’t mucking about for any of it, it was four months of solid work. It came down to having the equipment available for four months, and we didn’t begrudge the amount of time spent in the studios, but it comes to a fair amount of money. There’s a lot of things that seem light, like “Good Company,” which actually took a great deal of time and care. All those trumpets and clarinets being fashioned from guitar sounds—I took it quite seriously because I wanted to do it right, even though it was a lighthearted thing. We worked too hard for our own health, we got a bit down and depressed.”

While Queen was laying about England between record and tour, a few of them got going on some independent projects. Brian and Roger produced an R&B group’s single, but there were some record company hassles and it may be some time before the record gets released. And on the eve of the American tour, Freddie Mercury went into the studios with a singer/songwriter managed by the Rocket Organization (which manages Queen as well) to try his hand at production. “Eddie Howells is the guy’s name, and he’s managed by David Mead, and they’re doing a single for Warners. I’m playing some guitar on it.” Brian restrained himself from going out on any limbs before the American tour in order to get himself physically fit. His health had been a crucial problem on an earlier American tour, and he’s not particularly anxious to spend time in hospitals when he could be onstage instead. “I actually get more tired offtour than ontour,”he admits. But I am in good health.”

HAIRY LEGS: Once the English leg of the tour did get started, word started to flow very quickly back to the States about Queen’s dramatic stage show—a stage show to end all stage shows, with Mercury donning short-shorts to add a bit of the hairy leg to Queen’s otherwise pristeen presentation. “The show is the same, but different,” Brian says confusedly. “We’ve merely developed what we did before with some new material from the new album. It’s a bit of reshuffling. Plus we do “Doing All- right” from the first album, which we’ve never done onstage before. And “Seven Seas of Rhye,” which we’d do in England but never in America before. It’s quite a lot different, actually.”

American audiences got their first chance to sample the new presentation on January 27 in Waterbury, Conn., when the first concert of Queen’s scheduled 32-date, 21-city American tour got underway in the Palace Theatre. After arriving in the States at Kennedy International on January 20 and spending a couple of days in New York for interviews, Queen began five days of rehearsals at the Palace to ready their show for American fans across the country.

After Waterbury they dove headfirst into the intensive six-week tour, which featured extended runs in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles before its scheduled end March 12 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Despite the novel direction of the new album, onstage Queen proved to be the same rocking outfit they’ve always been, letting loose with the same kind of guitar-bass-drums-piano barrage they’ve delivered in the past. “We don’t do “39” or “Lazing on aSunday Afternoon” in our show,“ Brian explains. He seems a bit defensive of Queen’s rock spirit, which is kept intact in the live set by “BohemianRhapsody,” “Sweet Lady,” “Prophet Song” and the deletion of the “experimental tunes” from A Night At the Opera.

By the by, those who missed Queenon earlier tours but want to see how they’ve changed now have the means. Queen bave joined the prestigious ranks of the Zeppelins, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones whereby sorne illegal entrepreneur has issued a boot leg album of one of their American concerts. “I hate those things-they rarely give an accurate picture of the group,” Brian states unequivocally, and in this case he’s right. The Queen bootleg has transistor radio fidelity, and the only truly audible members of the band are Brian and Freddie. Yet the fact that a bootleg exists confirms the fact that Queen is now well on their way to the top.

CIRCUS MAGAZINE, APRIL 1975

@natromanxoff, @mephisto92, @moviestorian, @x5vale, @39-brian, @onegoldenglance, @crosmopolitan, @an-abyss-called-life, @his-majesty-king-mercury, @i-live-for-queen, @brian-39-may, @toomuchlove-willkillyou, @brimaymay, @sail-away-sweet-sister, @drummerqueenrmt, @old-fashioned-roger-boy-deactiv, @briianmaay, @l-over-bo-y, @inui-mycroft, @deacytits, @iminlovewithrogscar, @drowseoftaylor, @brianmayislongaway, @balticlover, @astrophysicist-guitar-god, @miez-lakatz, @brianmayoucease, @jesus-in-a-life-boat, @roger-taylors-car, @silapril, @sherrifanciesfriskyfreddie, @tenderbri, @brianmydear, @thosequeenboys, @millionairewaltz-carpediem, @painandpleasure86, @bribrifrenchfry, @xlucylennonx, @a-night-at-the-abbey-road, @inthedayswhenlandswerefew, @madformeddowstaylor, @queenrogertaylorfan, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @queen-for-life, @rethought, @darlinginnuendo, @mymakeupmaybeflaking, @old-but-still-a-child, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @warriorteam1924, @funnydressesweirdhairanddance, @painkiller80, @thefanhuman13, @yourtieddownmother, @hgmercury39, @brimi-stardust, @thefairyfellermercury, @retroromantics, @foxmonkey, @sophiaintheskywithdiamonds, @holybrianmaywritingbear, @lydiannode, @39-yellow-daffodils , @ure-gonna-loveme-when-u-seeme, @kaykaybeachgirl, @rhysjoejoshtomfarisblog @redspecialandclogsandcurls, @briansrainbowsocks, @delilahmay39, @ohmybribri, @bless-the-queen, @infunitehearbeat, @sketchiesscketches, @everythingaboutfreddie, @doitforthevine67, @recordsoftheseventies, @tenementfunsterwithpurpleshoes, @drummah-in-a-rocknroll-band, @beatlegirl1968, @maylorsqueen, @shearrehartatacc, @gralto, @alittlepeoplemagic, @rainbowsockbrian, @sailawaysweetbrimi

#Circus Magazine #Queen article

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rivalsforlife · 4 years ago

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One Giant AA7 Speculation Post

mostly because I like theorizing even when I’m probably going to be totally proven wrong soooo

hi! It’s about mid-August 2020 right now, coming up close to TGS 2020 in September, which is around when I think AA7 will be announced if we’re getting it, so I wanted to make a post compiling, pretty much, a summary of where we are, where things are going, and when we can expect them to happen.

(... mostly because lots of people on twitter are so desperate for new content and I wanted to say something without a post limit.)

The questions I will be considering: If we are getting AA7, then: When? Who will be directing it? What can we expect?

Also! I avoided spoilers for the games that don’t have official translations, but there will be spoilers for the ending of Spirit of Justice in here. So... tread carefully. Also this got way longer than I was intending so I’m sorry.

If We Are Getting AA7, Then When?

Right now I am going to assume that we ARE, at some point, getting an AA7. And if that is the case, I think we’ll hear about it soon. To be more specific, in a few weeks, in September 2020.

Right now, we are in one of if not the longest hiatus in games since the creation of the series, assuming we count spin-offs.. The longest up until now was the gap from 2004 to 2007 between Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice (although do consider Rise from the Ashes was added to the first game in 2005, so that’s something at least), and right now, no new ace attorney games have been released since 2017′s Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2- and for us English speaking fans, it’s been even longer, since Spirit of Justice in 2016. Assuming we’re not getting a new game in 2020 (a fairly reasonable assumption considering *gestures to the entire global pandemic* that) this makes 2021 the next possible year a game will be released.

And, considering the series was first released in Japan in 2001, 2021 will be the 20th anniversary of the series - a promising time for a new title, especially considering the past three years have been completely silent on the ace attorney front, which is uncharacteristic for the series.

In addition, the tenth anniversary of the series saw the release of AAI2, and the fifteenth anniversary saw the release of SOJ - it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that, perhaps, Capcom may have something in store for the twentieth anniversary as well.

But why September specifically? I’m just going off of the pattern for the previous game releases, which tend to coincide around TGS (Tokyo Game Show). Now... I’ve only been in this fandom for a couple of years, so I haven’t actually been around for a real game release, but I dug through the Court Records twitter account for this information.

The most recent game, Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2, was announced during TGS 2016 for the 15th anniversary celebration - hence, in September 2016.

Spirit of Justice was announced in Famitsu magazine in early September 2015, and further details about it were explored during TGS 2015.

The first Dai Gyakuten Saiban... is the outlier here, announced in late April 2014 (and later released July 2015, so it’s a longer announcement -> release period than the other games.)

And Dual Destinies from what I can tell was announced around TGS as well.

This means that out of the four most recent games in the series, 3/4 were announced during TGS. This year TGS is still happening, although in an online format, so obviously playable game demos and the like won’t be a thing - but it’s the most reasonable place for an announcement.

And why this year? Well, like I said before, it would mean this hypothetical new game will be released for the 20th anniversary, which would be cool. In addition to that, ace attorney content has been picking up lately, such as the release of the trilogy ports on pretty much every modern console + PC, bringing in lots of new fans. In fact, there have been about 200,000 sales for the AA series in the past three months; which, as has been pointed out by the tweet I linked to, is not bad for a series like AA which hasn’t had any new content for a while.

There’s also some non-game related content that has been increasing too. Such as the Capcom Cafe, which is currently selling ace attorney stuff (right ahead of TGS, too... hm...) and the new stage play, even though it’s been postponed because of, well... *gestures to the entire global pandemic*

With interest in the series increasing, it’s probably the most reasonable time for a new game release. The Nintendo Switch has been out for a while, and the developers probably have had a lot of time to consider how to use this console to its full potential with the series. Admittedly the whole COVID-19 thing might slow down the actual release of the game - justifiably, I’m sure we’d all rather wait than force the developers to work under unsafe conditions - but announcing the game, or at least that a new game is in the works, does seem like a reasonable thing.

... Honestly I’ve convinced myself so much, that if we don’t get any announcement by the end of TGS, I’m giving up on there being a new entry for this series entirely! ... Haha.

Moving on.

If We Get AA7, Who Will Direct It, And What Does That Mean?

As you may already know, the director for the past few games in the series - Dual Destinies, Spirit of Justice, and the Investigations duology - Takeshi Yamazaki, left Capcom just last month. This sounds bleak for the future of the series, but remember Shu Takumi was the original director, and he left teh position as director after Apollo Justice (although he did work on the DGS duology and the Professor Layton spinoff, later.)

The obvious choice for the next director is Takuro Fuse, the art director for Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, and also AAI2. He worked as co-director on Spirit of Justice, so he already has plenty of experience. Even the producer, Motohide Eshiro, said so himself in this interview:

Fuse was also the co-director this time. To make a game of this scale, with this quality, without any big changes in time or plans is the proof you’re good as a leader. There are a lot of people working under you on the game. If a leader can’t have them work together and make the right calls, a game at this scale will always come out differently than planned. I am impressed you managed to do so good. There are few people like him, who do designs, but also have an understanding of everything in the game. Fuse is also good at communicating and getting the team to work. I think he can actually make a game on his own as a director. Maybe the day he’ll come to me and say he’ll make a game is already upon us (laugh).

And although Fuse is the art director, he did initially join Capcom to create games, so him transition from the art director to the... main director?... wouldn’t be too much of a leap, especially with his role as co-director on Spirit of Justice.

So Fuse’s probably going to be the director of the next game, if we’re getting one. Given the timing of Yamazaki’s departure, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hung around to oversee some stuff and then left the rest of the game to Fuse. Yamazaki himself was kind of tired of the series after Dual Destinies but pushed through with Spirit of Justice, so it’s no surprise that he’s working on something new... but still.

If Fuse is the director, what does that mean? Honestly... who knows. I admittedly don’t know a lot about the different roles and how they work and don’t feel like going into all the research to do it. But Fuse has commented that he would like to work on an all new game here:

Fuse: I’d like to work on a new Gyakuten that isn’t part of a new series, but one that is a completely new game. Eshiro: So the concept would be Gyakuten Saiban, but you’d be building it up from scratch again? Fuse: Yes. With a new world, or something like that.

The whole team, from the sounds of this interview, poured their all into Spirit of Justice, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted to take a completely new direction - something kind of like what Apollo Justice was, before they made Takumi bring Phoenix back into it. ... Or just not make a new game at all.

What Would A New Game Look Like?

... Let’s look at our options.

1) A straightforward AA7, continuing on from where SOJ left off

2) Another spin-off title

3) Something completely new

4) we’re not getting a new game STOP DELUDING YOURSELF --

...

Let’s put a pin in 1 for now, we’ll talk about that later.

Now, let’s assume we’re not going for another mainline game. The option is to have another spin-off title, a la Ace Attorney Investigations or Dai Gyakuten Saiban. ... Except neither of those, probably.

The Investigations duology focused on Miles Edgeworth, and - no spoilers, but - AAI2 pretty neatly wrapped up his character and story, and Dual Destinies putting him as Chief Prosecutor cemented it. I honestly don’t know if there’s anything else they can milk out of his character at this point. Plus, Investigations apparently critically had to happen after Trials and Tribulations but before Phoenix’s disbarment, resulting in Miles Edgeworth’s Month In Hell, and they really need to stop putting him through more torment in April 2019. Can they squeeze in an AAI3 in the eleven days after AAI2 ends and before disbarment begins? I’m sure they can. Should they? NO.

And yes of course an AAI3 with Phoenix set during disbarment is, like, my dream game... but you know Capcom’s not going near disbarment era with a ten foot pole, tragically, so that’s probably not going to happen. (Though if it did, it would be cool...)

Meanwhile, looking at the DGS duology... well, you may know DGS was originally supposed to be a trilogy, which they for probably some financial reasons condensed into a duology. (IMPORTANT EDIT from 2022: I was absolutely wrong about this. I didn’t want to edit the post too much so I could keep track of all the things I was wrong about; but I was so wrong I even got things I should have known wrong. DGS was supposed to be a single game that got split into two. The main point of my argument still remains though.) As such, it pretty neatly wraps up all the plot points in the game. Where they left off, they could continue it, I guess... but there’s no need to. Plus, since the duology hasn’t been and probably never will be localized (2022 update: lol), they have the financial damage of no overseas sales to worry about. Why make more games that are never going to leave Japan, when you can create another mainline game that would and thus (hopefully) bring in more cash?

Of course, they could have other spin-off games like Investigations but focusing on different characters. Instead of Miles, we get what they teased during TGS 2008 and get the Gumshoe spin-off of our dreams. Or Ema, like she was initially supposed to be. Or some other prosecutor they totally abandoned like Klavier... or, heck, even combine it and give us Dai Gyakuten Kenji with one of the DGS prosecutors. Why not at this point? (... that would run into the same “can’t localize it” problems but whatever.)

Or they do option three: and give us something completely new! They could do a “reverse” DGS and give us ace attorney set in the distant future - the problem with this, though, is that it would quite possibly retroactively confirm/deny ships (and thus set the fandom ablaze...) and also determine the fates of the characters. Like, say, [x] character lived long enough to reproduce and have a child! [x] character died long ago! It cements the characters’ fates and I don’t know if Capcom would do that.

They could, however, do what Fuse was suggesting and just create a whole new Ace Attorney game with the same premise but completely divorced from everything that has happened up until now. Creatively, this would give the writers the most freedom to experiment with whatever they want without harming the fan’s nostalgia. Financially, it’s risky, because how many people would want to play Ace Attorney if the characters we knew and loved for the past twenty years are all out of the picture...?

They already tried that option once, sort of, with Apollo Justice, and it’s still one of the more divisive games in the series. However, we do need to consider that Apollo Justice took our beloved protagonist Phoenix and made him lose his job just months after his epic finale and then had absolutely none of his friends show up aside from Ema - I can get why that would make people upset. Creating a whole new game with absolutely none of the old characters showing up at all would get rid of that particular problem... but it’s still hard to tell if it will work or not. Considering they can’t even have a game set a hundred years in the past without tying it to Phoenix Wright somehow... would they really be willing to take that risk?

There is, also, the option of them entirely rebooting the series with updated graphics and (hopefully) getting rid of the ickier parts of some of the cases that did not age well, as if they were even all that good to begin with (looking at you, Turnabout Big Top, Recipe for Turnabout,) but considering the original trilogy is out pretty much everywhere, there’s not much sense in doing that. Maybe something to consider for the thirtieth anniversary. ... If we make it that far, that is.

Now let’s tackle option 1: the next mainline game.

If We Get Another Mainline Game, What Will It Look Like?

NOW we’re getting into the meat of things I say over two thousand words in. Thank you for bearing with me so far.

First, let’s consider the ending of Spirit of Justice. It’s probably the best place to end things for good since the ending of Trials and Tribulations - although there’s STILL that dangling thread of WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO TELL APOLLO AND TRUCY THEY’RE SIBLINGS, but honestly, some of these comments make me feel doubtful they’re ever going to do that in-game:

??? Appearing At The End Of Gyakuten Saiban 6

Yamazaki: About that. I really wanted to show who it was, but it would spoil Gyakuten Saiban 4, so I didn’t show her directly.

Fuse: Perhaps one extra cut scene would’ve done it. But that would’ve given away everything, so it’s a difficult call.

Yamazaki: I really wanted to show her.

Fuse: As you intended to bring everything together, you wanted her to appear too, right? It would’ve been strange not to have mentioned her at all. But for those who haven’t played Gyakuten Saiban 4 yet, it might be a good hook.

Yamazaki: Because they’d want to play the game, right?

so that’s one answer, I guess.

Now, the writers ended it the way they did - with Apollo in Khura’in - so that the series can go in any direction in the future. However, this leaves us with a dilemma. Let’s consider: Who would the main protagonist of AA7 be?

The Main Protagonist is Phoenix: the safest decision financially but the weakest creatively. They’re already struggling so much to find something for Phoenix to do, that they created a whole other country just to keep upping the stakes so he’s challenged a little bit. I honestly don’t believe Phoenix grew as a character at all through SOJ - and I love Phoenix, really, but unless they want to tap into disbarment more or whatever’s up with his parents (... which I’d prefer they didn’t honestly) he’s got nowhere else to go. Nothing more to do. AA7 would be about a space war where Phoenix ends up convincing the aliens to not blow up the Earth by bluffing about something or another. Safe, but boring.

The Main Protagonist is Apollo: Technically SOJ is the end of an “Apollo trilogy” but honestly most of his potential was completely squandered as soon as they decided to completely abandon Trucy and Klavier development with DD. (If you want someone to get mad at here, get mad at Eshiro.)

I told them “Please bring Naruhodō back” but also: “How you’re going to do that, that’s up to your creativity.” If the team want to build on what happened in earlier game and show him all grown, that’s okay. But I also told them to not let them be constrained by whatever happened in the past, and the chronology of the games, and not to let the game turn out into something too small because of that.

... anyways

Unlike Phoenix, who had three games to develop his relationships with Maya and with Edgeworth, Apollo really had the one game with Trucy and Klavier before Trucy was degraded to “cheery assistant and one-time murder suspect” and Klavier to... a cameo. I am never NOT going to be mad about this, but I’ll leave it for now -

Anyways, what they could do is build on Apollo’s experiences in Khura’in to give him his own little trilogy that actually has him as the central protagonist the whole time where he has a fully-developed nuanced relationship with his assistant and rival prosecutor, plus an overarching plot throughout the entire trilogy instead of three pretty much entirely disconnected games! ... sorry I said I’d stop but I lied. The problem with this scenario here is that... Khura’in has kind of lost a lot of its appeal. Horrible corrupt legal system that kills defense attorneys? Gone. We just have a standard horrible corrupt legal system now. All it really has to set it apart from Japanifornia is the Divination Seance, and possibly more Spirit Channeling Lore, but we have Spirit Channeling Lore at home. I mean, it could work! But that would also mean potentially abandoning all the Japanifornian characters - Phoenix, Athena, Trucy, Maya, Edgeworth... I highly doubt Capcom would take that route.

They could of course utterly retcon the ending of SOJ and bring him back, or do a timeskip of a few years and then bring him back after those. I mean, Apollo has been a protagonist for three games now, he’s due to lose his badge...

The Main Protagonist is Athena: Athena has the most room to grow as a character, sure, but there are a few problems here. Mainly, we’ve already dove deep into her past and dug around her trauma so that particular appeal is gone, and revisiting it would essentially spoil all of Dual Destinies, and spoiling previous games is something that the developers are apparently very reluctant to do. Plus, Athena’s been so completely sidelined in SOJ it feels like they’re regretting not making her the assistant character. I don’t think they developed her enough that her being able to take on a whole game as the main protagonist would be a smart move financially - lots of people probably would go “oh I don’t like Athena that much, I won’t buy this game.” Plus, like, misogyny is probably a factor affecting sales.

The Main Protagonist is A Whole New Lawyer But Wearing Green This Time: NO

Honestly... if they’re doing another mainline game, they’re probably going to take the safe route and we’ll get Phoenix as the main protagonist again and he’ll fight in an intergalactic war or something, I am fully prepared for Capcom to disappoint me as it forgets how to write games that are connected to each other in a meaningful way.

Will Anyone Else Come Back?

So, Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice seem to have been resolving the problem of “hey where did all of Phoenix’s friends go” in AJ by gradually re-introducing trilogy characters. Dual Destinies brought back Edgeworth and Pearl, Spirit of Justice brought back Maya and Larry (albeit in the DLC).

There is an interview where this is discussed, however! The basic summary of it is:

Eshiro personally voted for Franziska to come back in a future installment. Since he has apparently enough sway to completely sideline Apollo’s story -- uh, I mean, since he’s the producer, his personal opinions have a lot of weight. Of course there’s the issue of how they’re going to bring her back... they discuss possibly having her tie in to Athena’s backstory with whatever case Phoenix helped her with in the past, because everyone in America knows each other just like how everyone in Europe knows each other, so that’s an interesting possibility at least. His suggestion seemed to be very popular, so I’d say Franziska’s a strong contender for a character they’ll drag out of the basement if they’re going to drag one out.

Yamazaki voted for Sebastian Debeste... but this is very unlikely for a number of reasons. For one, Yamazaki has already left, so who knows how much say he had in whatever ace attorney game that may or may not be in development. For another, any Investigations 2 exclusive character coming into mainline doesn’t seem likely. Investigations-exclusive characters in general, actually, but 2 in particular because there’s no official localization and there probably will never be an official localization. As a result, they have the issue of, if localizing this future game, what they’re going to do about the character - Japanese fans would know, but unless you’ve emulated the fan translation of AAI2, you wouldn’t know them, and many fans didn’t, particularly not casual ones. Plus they’re totally going to end up changing their names and who knows if we as a fandom can take it.

... as much as I would like for Sebastian and Kay to come back I highly doubt they will :( sorry Edgeworth Kids

Yoriki Daigo, who worked in planning for SOJ, voted for Gumshoe, much like I’m sure many would. They talked about Gumshoe potentially being Cool like Tyrell Badd and possibly having a subordinate who looks up to him, which would honestly be adorable.

Fuse, our presumptive future director, said he’d like to see Bobby Fulbright come back. ... highly doubt that’s likely considering *gestures at Dual Destinies ending* but they all joked about Bobby being a triplet (a joke on the Japanese name, it’s in the full interview) and having his siblings come in. Which is one idea, I guess.

Meanwhile, Toshihiko Horiyama, who played a role in sound engineering, voted for an entirely new game. ... Seems to be a common sentiment haha.

If they continue this pattern of “bringing back two trilogy characters a game”, I think Franziska and Gumshoe are the most likely candidates. I highly doubt they’re going to touch Investigations-exclusive characters, as much as I would like them to. And of course there’s the issue of balancing old favourites vs boosting new characters... all stuff that goes down to individual taste and I won’t speculate on much further, because I don’t have many ideas.

But... let’s be honest with ourselves here. The character coming back from AA7 is going to be Oldbag.

Did You Really Just Write Nearly 4000 Words Of Speculation

I GUESS I DID! Honestly I just wanted to get something down but this took waaaaay longer than I thought it would because I apparently have lots of opinions! And at least half of that is a rant about how they handled the “second trilogy”!

... Anyways. For me, personally, I simultaneously look forward to and dread a new game. For one, I haven’t ever actually played a game blind, I binged playthroughs of the entire series in a month, so playing a whole new game not knowing what to expect seems fun. I also haven’t been in this fandom while awaiting a new game, and it seems exciting, but I am constantly worried that they’ll either dash my headcanon hopes and dreams or, like... confirm a ship I really don’t like. that new stage play had me curled up in a ball for a day, weeping about ruining perfectly good friendships... but I digress.

I really just wanted to get this out before TGS this year, so I can go “YAY I WAS RIGHT” if we do get a new game confirmation this September or just... accept my disappointment, I guess? If another game IS announced, I’ll probably make more threads like these which everyone will ignore because who wants to waste their time reading 4000 words of some uneducated nerd rambling about a game series, but then at least I have fun speculating. rubs my hands together and cackles.

If you stuck with me until the end, thank you! If you scrolled right to the end for a TL;DR: I don’t blame you. Basically: let’s all look forward to/dread September this year! I hope you aren’t too sick of me after all this <3

#ace attorney #aa7 speculation #I am so sorry about all this I just #breathes #NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT ACE ATTORNEY ALL THE TIME #this will probably age so poorly

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radramblog · 4 years ago

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Kaname Date’s optic nerves

AKA, AI: The Somnium Files brainworms.

I burned through the entirety of AI: The Somnium Files over the last few days, after having meant to play it for a couple of months. And while I luckily got through right before Uni started, the brain worms still remain, and so I want to commit some thoughts to digital paper so they can stop spinning around my head.

For those unaware, AI: The Somnium Files is a Mystery Visual Novel series released a couple years ago, written and directed by Kotaro Uchikoshi, who is best known for being the writer/director of the Zero Escape series. While Zero Escape is largely overshadowed by its sister series(?) Danganronpa, it’s an excellent time (the second game, Virtue’s Last Reward, is the best visual novel on the 3DS, fight me Ace Attorney fans), and some of the ideas and themes from it carry through to AI.

The plot of the game centres around Kaname Date, a detective whose division uses a technique called Psyncing to enter the subconscious (or Somnium) of persons of interest in order to piece together facts from their memories. He is assisted by Aiba, an advanced artificial intelligence that lives in his prosthetic left eye, serving as his intelligent, snarky partner. Together, the two investigate a series of murders starting with the death of Date’s best friend’s ex-wife, with her daughter- who Date has essentially been raising for the past 4 years- found at the scene. It’s a solid hook, with a more complex premise than most of Zero Escape’s, but filled with the same scientific and pseudoscientific technobabble that the series is known for.

As far as gameplay goes, I’d put it solidly not as great as ZE. Both centre around visual novel sections interlaid with gameplay sections, however the abstract Psync puzzles tend to be more frustrating and tedious than the escape room sections of Zero Escape, and the QTE-based combat sequences are lame gameplaywise and the jokes behind them don’t really land. This is the only main complaint I have about the writing- Outside of these sequences and Date being super horny for no good reason it’s consistently interesting, witty, and impactful. Aiba and Date’s banter is excellent, and the game has the presence to shoo out the clowns once shit starts getting extra serious.

(Ok look there is a speculative reason for Date being so thirsty but it’s stupid and not technically canon and super spoilery so fuck it)

The presentation is a grand step up from Zero Escape, which was limited by having to release on handheld consoles- to be frank, Zero Time Dilemma looked awful, and Virtue’s Last Reward’s visuals haven’t aged super well. The designs are great, although some of the animations can be a bit janky. The surreal worlds of the Somnium are excellent (with one exception imo), with different moods depending on who’s dream world you’re in- particular highlights being Iris’s silly totally not Minecraft world and the genuinely horrifying final Psync. The music is solid, but nothing stands out as iconic compared to ZE’s Morphogenetic Sorrow (and the pantry theme from VLR, that shit is a banger).

Overall I think this game is absolutely worth the time it takes, between the gripping story and lovable characters (and Ota). The reason I’m specifying this now is because I want to quickly talk about some things that are spoilers, so if you don’t want a spoil (and I don’t want you to have a spoil if you’re gonna give it a go) then don’t keep reading, just pretend this doesn’t exist, see you tomorrow.

Spoilers below for both AI: The Somnium Files and the Zero Escape series.

One of my favourite things about Date’s character in this game is his Big Dad Energy. In my (limited) experience, stories about single dads, adoptive are not, are rare, and the way the relationship between him and Mitsuki (and, later, Iris) very much suits this theme. While Date basically “adopted” Mitsuki out of necessity, it’s clear- especially in her ending route, that the two deeply care for each other, regardless of how they outwardly communicate.

The other thing I wanted to discuss is the interesting inversion AI’s story takes as compared to Zero Escape. Zero Escape (mostly just 999 and VLR) have a relatively simple premise- a bunch of people captured and forced into a death game for their lives- that slowly unravels into a much much larger mystery involving supernatural elements, conspiracy theories, and secret organisations. Just about every time someone in those games waxes philosophical or theoretical about some idea, concept, or story, that thing ends up being plot relevant in some way.

Uchikoshi knows that a large chunk of the audience for AI is Zero Escape fans, and the game takes advantage of this. The Iris route is essentially a trap for ZE veterans- she’s worried about a secret society called Naixatloz (sic?), and conspiracy theories, all of which appear to tie into the game’s plot. Trusting her beliefs lead to arguably the game’s silliest route, with a patently absurd fight sequence leading into a final Psync and the game screeching to a halt as she suddenly dies. Did Naixatloz finally get her?

No, because they aren’t real. Because she’s got terminal brain cancer, and has hallucinated a conspiracy into her worldview. This route implies a case of parallel universes, a constant theme in ZE, but it later turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. While most of the concepts discussed in each route are relevant to the plot in some way, these aren’t and a lot of people fell for it- according to a poll in the game’s subreddit, Iris’s route was the second most common first route, and it likely would have been higher had it not required getting arguably the bad ending to the first decision point.

In fact, the only supernatural element outside of the pseudoscientific stuff about Psyncing and Aiba is memories passing through timelines, a constant factor in Zero Escape- which interestingly, is left unexplained. It’s like Uchikoshi is saying, “you know what the deal is here, I know what the deal is here, don’t worry too hard about why Date knows what the deal is here”. This lack of explanation has lead many to believe that AI and ZE take place in the same universe, and that the cause of this phenomena is identical to that in Zero Escape- but the point is that it doesn’t matter.

At the end of the day, sci-fi nonsense aside, AI: The Somnium Files’ story is essentially about a revenge plot. A psychotic serial killer accidentally ended up outside of his own body, and wants to make it’s current owner suffer by killing people close to him before he takes it back for himself. Of course, it’s never that simple with a mystery story, but you get the idea. AI essentially inverts Zero Escape by having a fantastical premise that boils down to a simple story, rather than a simple premise that balloons into an expansive story- and I think that’s really interesting.

#ramble #video games #ai: the somnium files #zero escape #btw this game is a visual novel with actual good lgbt representation which is cool asf

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selanpike · 5 years ago

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Abandoned Trollcops/Problem Sleuth fic

i’m bored so i’m posting this old trollcops concept i wrote a couple years ago

i meant to have it be this big sprawling thing, including all the trolls and the beta kids and team sleuth and the crew, but it was way too big for me, so all i ended up writing was the first three chapters--basically, the intros for sleuth, pickle and ace.

i don’t plan to return to it. i still can’t get my head around the whole thing. but i like what i wrote, and maybe you might like it too? so here u go.

Chapter One

Spending any amount of time with Spades Slick is dangerous at best, you knew that. You also knew that you were making things worse by spending so much time with him, but you were counting on bruises and stab wounds, not this.

The interrogation room is sickeningly bright. The lights make it impossible to know what time it is outside. You know it was close to sunrise when they brought you in, but you’re not sure how long you’ve been here. Even the ticking of a clock would be a welcome reprieve from this boredom. You wish they’d just throw the book at you already.

The door finally opens, creaking a little as it does so. Apparently the Alternia Police Department can’t even afford a can of WD-40. Two officers walk in. You recognize them from your various interactions with the police in the past few years--Sergeants Terezi Pyrope and Sollux Captor. Sergeant Pyrope pulls up a chair and sits down at the table across from you, lacing her fingers together. You can’t read her expression through her opaque red glasses. You’ve heard that she’s blind, but she seems to stare right through you.

“Problem Thleuth.” Sergeant Captor reads from your file, standing behind his partner. “Thirty-five yearth old. Prothpitian. Failed out of polithe academy at age twenty-four. Ith that right?”

“I wouldn’t say failed,” you say, choosing your words carefully. “I jus’ didn’t like how y’all--I mean. I wasn’t a fan ‘f the bureaucracy.”

“Is that so,” Terezi says.

You nod.

“So you dropped out and became a private investigator,” she says. “Is that right?”

“You know the answer to that,” you say, rubbing your temples. “Don’t pretend like we’re strangers.”

The silence that breaks out is painful. You run a hand through your hair, quietly wondering if your hat is okay, wherever they’ve taken it. Why the hell did they take your hat? What sort of monsters would mess with a man’s hat? This sort of shit is why you could never cut it as a cop.

“You’re charged with being an accessory to arson,” Pyrope tells you.

“Do me a favor ‘n arrest th’ guy who actually did th’ arson-ing,” you mutter.

“The alleged perpetrator is one Thpades Thlick,” Captor says, reading the file. “Damn, man. Thpades, really?”

“I ain’t an accessory t�� nothin’ that asshole does,” you say, slamming a hand on the table. “I was tryin’a stop that goddamn arson!”

“We have multiple witnethheth who thay they thaw you making out with the thuthpect before the fire broke out,” Captor says.

You wilt under their stares.

“I was tryin’a distract ‘im,” you say, weakly. “He’s a dangerous customer, after all. ‘S the ol’ honey pot maneuver, y’know?”

“It didn’t work,” Pyrope says, grinning her sharp-toothed grin.

“N--no,” you admit.

Sergeant Captor hands Pyrope the file, and she makes a show of flipping through it. It’s a pointless gesture since you know damn well she can’t read it. You try to look at what’s written on the pages, but she pulls the file away so she can give it a good long sniff. You slump over, leaning your arms on the table, thinking about how fucked you are, and what you’re going to do to Slick to get back at him for this. They’ll put you away for ages for this, you just know it. The APD have never been fans of yours, and you’re sure they’ve been waiting for the opportunity to put you away.

You jump when Pyrope snaps the folder shut. She puts it down on the table, sliding it to the edge.

“I’m going to admit,” she says, slowly. “That, considering your history of making trouble, we took this opportunity to get a warrant to search your office.”

“You--you what?!”

“Well, the thusthpect is thtill on the looth,” Captor explains, and you wonder if you punch him hard enough if he’ll stop with that goddamn lisp. “We had to check and thee if there were any clueth ath to hith whereaboutth.”

“And what did you find, huh?” You’re raging mad now, and you aren’t bothering to hide it. “A whole bunch of jack shit. Or are you going to charge me with possession of a deadly writing implement or something?”

The two of them stare at you for a moment, and then Pyrope pulls a photo from her jacket. She places it in front of you. It shows your evidence wall, a large corkboard you’ve set up in your office to collect clues in the murder you’re investigating.

“So, what? You gonna charge me with murderin’ th’ District Attorney now?”

Pyrope and Captor look at each other, then back at you.

“We’ve been investigating the DA’s death too,” Pyrope says. “But we haven’t turned up a thing.”

“And here you are,” Captor adds. “With evidenthe we never even thought to look for.”

You grin a little. “Oh darlin’s, are you jealous?”

“We know Kingpin was behind it,” Pyrope says, and her voice is uncharacteristically devoid of humor. “Like he’s behind every other high-profile murder in this city. I’m sick of him making a mockery of this force.”

“Stop bein’ such a joke, then.”

She stands up, slamming her hands on the table. “Take this seriously!”

You raise your eyebrows and wait for her to get to the point.

“We’re willing to offer you a deal,” she says. “We’ll ignore this latest… indiscretion, and you’ll help us put Kingpin behind bars.”

You laugh.

You can’t believe they’re actually coming to you for help. How many times have they impeded your investigations? How many times have they told you to buzz off, leave this to the real cops? How many times have they told judges not to accept your evidence, or straight up confiscated your evidence and claimed they found it themselves? And now they want you to help them?

“Sorry, sorry,” you say, still chuckling. “I musta misheard. Y’ couldn’t possibly be askin’ for my help. I mean, I ain’t a cop or nothin’. I ain’t got no authority.”

“Don’t be a jackathh,” Captor snaps.

“This is in your best interest,” Pyrope says. “You are, after all, still under arrest.”

She does sorta have you, there.

---

You have your hat back when Sergeant Captor takes you outside, to the back of the department. The sun has definitely risen by now, and you’re treated to all the sounds of the city waking up.

“Thith whole thing ith completely off the record,” Captor tells you as he closes the door behind him. “Honethtly, I think it’th dumb ath hell, but at leatht if you get into trouble, nobody’ll blame uth.”

“As long as I don’t trail it back to you,” you add.

“Obviouthlly,” Captor says. He pulls out his phone and types into it. “But we need one of ourth with you. Making thure you’re not fucking up too bad.”

“I’d really prefer we skipped that part,” you say, fixing your hair and trying to find just that right angle at which to wear your hat. “I don’t need no cops following me everywhere. It’ll slow me down.”

“Think of it like exthtra security,” Captor says, still typing into his phone.

The door opens and a short troll walks over, hands shoved in his pockets. He isn’t wearing a uniform, save for a badge he has hanging on a lanyard over a ratty red hoodie. He approaches you and Captor, then squints at you.

“I know you,” he says.

“I get around,” you reply.

“You’re that drunk fucknut that’s always making a scene in Crew territory.”

“Guilty as charged. Y’all’re jus’ gettin’ me on ev’rythin’ t’day!” You nudge Captor. “Sorry officer, looks like y’ gotta charge me for another crime.”

Captor groans and rolls his eyes. He slaps the newcomer on the back and mutters, “Good fucking luck,” before heading back inside.

You wait for the door to click shut before you say, brightly as you can manage, “The name’s Problem Sleuth. Solicitations for my services are--”

“I’m sorry, do I look like someone who gives a fuck?”

You drop the friendly act. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Vantas,” He says. “Karkat Vantas. I’m the undercover guy. I figure I got stuck with this because they figured I could tell the Captain I’m investigating you.”

“‘N I’m sure she��ll buy it,” you add.

“Yeah.” He sniffs, and looks you over in more detail. “I don’t think I’m the only one they’re gonna hand you. I know for sure they said they’re putting my partner, Nepeta, on this case too.”

You rub your face. “Great. Good. More cops, beautiful.”

He asks for your phone, and you exchange numbers. You then tell him to find something else to do with his day, because you’re going home and going the fuck to bed. This investigation can wait until tomorrow.

---

It’s well after 8am by the time you get home, and all you want to do is sleep for ten years. Pickle and Ace will bitch about you not being at the office, but you can’t bring yourself to care. They’re already going to bitch when they hear about this new arrangement, so what’s a little more?

Unfortunately when you walk in, you find Spades Slick rummaging through your refrigerator.

You toss your keys onto the table and sit down. He turns around, cold pizza hanging out of his mouth, and slams the fridge door shut behind him.

“I figured they’d have ya’ in th’ slammer a few weeks,” he explains through a mouthful of pizza. “So y’ wouldn’t mind if I ate yer food ‘fore it went bad.”

“Y’ couldn’t possibly post bail for me?”

“Fuck no. Who do y’ think y’ are, my Crew?” He moves his mug of coffee from the counter to the kitchen table, and then sits down across from you. “So who’d y’ call. Th’ stickbug? Did ‘e hafta give up his booze fund for th’ month?”

“No, nothin’ like that,” you say, reaching over and taking the coffee. Obviously sleep isn’t happening anytime soon, so what the hell. “They let me off.”

There’s a loud clatter as Slick’s chair falls over, and a knife is at your throat. It always amazes you how fast he is. You raise your hands in a conciliatory manner as he snarls at you.

“You fuckin’ snitched, didn’t you?”

“Slick, my most precious of darlin’s,” you say. “I would snitch on you all day, ev’ry day. But that ain’t what happened.”

“Bullshit!” The knife presses harder against your neck, and you feel blood beading along the blade. “Th’ APD don’ jus’ let people go, ‘specially not when they been with me. Th’ fuck did you do?”

“They hired me.”

He looks at you like you just sprouted a second head. He doesn’t move the knife at all.

You go on. “They’re investigatin’ Kingpin. They wanted my help.”

He finally pulls the knife away, but he doesn’t sit back down. “Great. Jus’ what I need.”

“Yeah, Slick,” you say, sipping the coffee. You’re not surprised that it tastes like shit. Slick probably isn’t used to brewing his own. That’s what he has lackeys for. “It’s exactly what you need. You want Kingpin outta th’ way? Jus’ let me ‘n the cops handle it.”

“Kingpin’s mine,” he growls.

“‘Scuse you.” You put the mug down. “‘M sorry, but did you know th’ stiff we found last week? No. Fuck no, y’ didn’t, ‘cause he was th’ law, ‘n he was my fuckin’ friend, not yours. Kingpin’s mine. He owns this fuckin’ apartment, my fuckin’ office, he’s got me by th’ balls without even tryin’ ‘n he murdered th’ DA ‘n none’f that’s got anythin’ t’ do with you.”

Slick narrows his eye at you, before pocketing his knife and stealing the mug back. He chugs the coffee down.

“Fuck you,” he says, slamming the mug back onto the table. “I’ll do it my fuckin’ self.”

“Right,” you say as Slick grabs his jacket and makes for the door. “So I guess I’ll see ya’ tomorrow, then?”

He grunts in response, and slams the door behind him as he leaves.

You know he’ll be back. Partly because you know he can’t resist making your life miserable--the two of you have been caught up in your fucked up little dance for too long, and he’s not about to give that up--but also partly because you know he can’t take down Kingpin on his own. He’s tried for months to do things his way, to just murder his rival crime boss, but Kingpin is careful, and he’s elusive. In the end, the best way to go about bringing him down is to turn the city against him, to get the law on your side. If you can get an arrest warrant on him you can have the whole of the city’s resources helping you track him down. You could freeze his assets, plaster his face on every bulletin board in town. You’ll leave him no place to hide.

You’re going to do it. Your name is Problem Sleuth, and you are going to bring down Mobster Kingpin’s criminal empire.

The APD are definitely going to steal the credit when it’s all said and done, though, and that fact makes you sick to your stomach.

Chapter Two

> Be Pickle Inspector.

You feel as though you’re being punished for Sleuth’s poor life choices.

Nepeta Leijon is a new hire at the APD. She, and her friend Karkat, used to be common criminals. Pickpockets, for the most part, although you remember seeing a few other items on their rap sheet. You’d encountered them once or twice. Never up close--their crimes were never complicated enough to necessitate your intervention--but they’d show up sometimes as witnesses.

Uncooperative witnesses.

You were aware of their being hired. Something about the APD seeing them as valuable assets for undercover investigations. You see the logic, but you’ve never been a fan of undercover operations. You stand out too much. You’re too tall, too gaunt, too recognizable. Your preferred method has always been surveillance. You set up cameras and wiretaps all over the city, in all the seedier bars and meeting spaces. Nothing escapes your omniscient ogle.

Nothing except Kingpin. He’s careful. He doesn’t discuss anything important on the phone, least of all the phones in any of his businesses. You can’t figure out where he lives or where he holds any of his most secret of meetings. Even if you could, he always has too many guards patrolling his places, making it impossible for you to sneak in and plant anything.

It was infuriating before, but now with the death of the DA it’s got you on the end of your rope. And now they want you to babysit this rookie cop? How the hell are you supposed to get anything done?

You asked Sleuth what he did to invite this upon you, but he won’t tell you. You suspect Slick was involved. Slick is always involved these days.

You have a solution to this problem, though. Well, not to the Sleuth-Slick problem, there’s no solving that, but the Nepeta problem was easy: let her work on transcribing your recordings so the two of you can finish them twice as fast. It leaves you with just enough free time to make tea and doodle in the margins of your notes.

You’re halfway through a wonderful drawing of a horse wearing a bonnet when your phone rings. You have specific ringtones for every person who calls you often enough, and you put your head in your hands when you hear this one. Nepeta notices, and watches you as you sigh and answer the phone.

“I’m busy enough,” you whine into the receiver.

“That’s a shame,” says the smooth, dark voice of Diamonds Droog. “And here I had something I thought you’d be interested in.”

“What is it?” you ask.

“Meet me on the corner of 34th and Feldings,” he says.

“D--do I have to?” you say, clicking your pen. “Can’t you just, just tell me? On the phone? Like a normal person? I p-promise the line’s secure.”

“34th and Feldings,” he says again. “Now.”

He hangs up. You put your phone down, put your head on your desk, and groan loudly. Why is this your life? All you wanted to do today was transcribe audio logs and not interact with anybody. You even packed a lunch so you wouldn’t have to go out and talk to any fast food workers.

Without your realizing it, Nepeta has picked up your phone and unlocked it. You make a mental note to change the passkey and not let her see you input it next time. “Diamonds Dickhead?” She makes an exaggeratedly surprised face, and puts your phone back on the desk. “Is that who I think it is?”

You stand up and fix your tie. “I have to go out.”

“Oh! Let me get my coat.”

“No.” You grab your own coat, put it on, and start buttoning it. You make a deliberate effort to put the buttons in the right holes, and you’re secretly glad you haven’t had much to drink yet today. “S--stay here and, and keep transcribing.”

“I’m paws-itively sure that’s super important,” she says, putting extra emphasis on her pun. You’ve noticed that she likes cat puns. In less infuriating circumstances, you’d think it was cute. “But I’m not here to help you so much as to watch you.”

You smooth your hair out and put your hat on. “That’s a terrible idea. N-no, you should just stay here, and not tell a soul I went out. U--unless I don’t come back. Then tell Sleuth. Understood?”

She grins a catlike grin and says, “Nope!”

Droog is never going to let you hear the end of this.

---

34th street is where his tailor is, so Diamonds Droog didn’t have to go out of his way to meet you. It is also clear on the other side of town relative to your office, so you had to go especially out of your way to meet him.

This is par for the course, and you make an effort not to look exhausted when you get there.

He’s waiting for you on a street bench outside his tailor’s, smoking one of his expensive cigarettes. You approach him, but don’t look at him directly. You stand behind the bench, facing away from him, pretending to read a bulletin board. Nepeta follows along, but she sneaks a few glances at Droog when she thinks you aren’t looking.

He breathes out a long puff of smoke before speaking. “Is the detective business so bad that you had to take up babysitting?”

“I n--needed the second job to, to support my tea habit,” you respond.

“That’s a funny way to say whiskey.”

“Oh, no. I steal that all from m-my boss. You see, he has a wealthy patron with a vested interest in, in keeping him too drunk to make good decisions.” You lean back onto the bench, crossing your arms. “I’m s-sure you don’t know anything about that.”

“I’m sure I don’t. Can she leave?”

“I don’t know.” You look down at Nepeta. “C-can you leave?”

“I can, yeah,” she says.

“A--are you going to?”

She shakes her head.

“Sorry,” you say to Droog. “It’s a, a long story.”

He pauses and takes another drag from his cigarette. He taps some ash out on the ground, then reaches into his jacket pocket. You have just enough time to hope that he isn’t pulling out a weapon with which to kill the witness you’ve brought along, before he pulls out a couple of photographs. He passes them to you. They all depict various old-looking artifacts. You’re pretty sure you’ve seen some of these in the museum.

“All of these have gone missing in the past month,” Droog explains. “Obvious signs of a break-in, but no evidence pointing to a culprit.”

“D--do you think Kingpin was involved?”

“Absolutely.”

You scrutinize the photos further, and notice that all the artifacts share a theme. Every one of them either depicts a horrorterror, or symbols associated with said terrors. “This, um. It looks like your sort of thing.”

“Hardly,” he says. “The four of us get our magic from the Terrors, but we don’t need trinkets like this to channel Their powers. They give it to us freely.” He illustrates this by producing a small purple flame in his hand. “Kingpin, though. He’s Prospitian, like you. He doesn’t have the connection to the Terrors that we Dersites have.”

You think about that as you pocket the photos. “Do you think he’s trying to make a pact with the Terrors?”

“Perhaps,” he says, extinguishing the flame. “It’s possible he’s seen what we can do and wants that power for himself. I doubt he’ll be successful.”

You wonder whether it would be possible for a Prospitian to make a pact with the dark gods. You’re almost tempted to let Kingpin try, just to get an answer. It’s not your best idea. If nothing else, these robberies give you one more thread you can follow in your attempts to get any charge at all to stick to him.

“I’ll look into this,” you tell him. “Call me if--if you hear anything.”

“As usual,” he says, before standing up.

He smooths out his suit, throws his cigarette to the ground and snubs it out with his heel. Without once looking at you, he strolls away. Nepeta waits until he’s out of earshot before she says, “You know, Mister Detective, you don’t act much like a detective.”

“H--how’s that?”

“All the wiretapping, and purr-tive meetings with shady guys,” she says. “You’re more like a spy.”

You let out a small laugh. “Don’t say that one to the others. They’ll start coming up with spy names for me.”

“Pickle Inspector’s okay for a spy name,” she says. You start walking, and she follows you. She has to trot a little to match your walking stride. “Spies don’t put ‘spy’ right in the name! It’s too conspicuous.”

You’re enjoying this flight of fancy, despite yourself. “I’ll need to imagine up some clever gadgets, to uh, to get me out of pinches.”

“And you’ll need a car,” she says. “A fancy one, that turns into a submeowrine.”

“And a, a dangerous love interest,” you add.

“Oh? You don’t have that already?” She grins up at you. “You and Diamonds Dickhead had an awful lot of chemistry. You aren’t caliginous?”

“What?” You shove your hands in your pockets and look towards the street. “No. Obviously not. Th-th-that’s just, just gross, ew.”

She giggles, and you don’t like the knowing look she gives you. You reach into your jacket, produce a flask, and take a long gulp. It doesn’t help your mood any. It just reminds you of the last time Droog caught you drinking in the middle of the day, and had the audacity to call you “pathetic”, as if lots of people don’t drink before noon on a weekday.

She’s still giving you that look. Fuck.

“A--anyway, the, the case,” you stutter, trying to get back on the subject of work.

“I know somebody,” she says. “That might help.”

“Who?”

She shrugs. “Old friend of mine. She knows all sorts of things about old stuff like what got stolen.”

“That would be, it’d be really useful,” you say.

“I’ll call her when she gets off work,” Nepeta says, adjusting her hat. “In the meantime we can get back to listening to your wiretaps. The part I was on was pretty juicy.”

You’re relieved she’s so easily given up the subject of Droog and gotten back to the task at hand. She might, despite your initial misgivings, be useful to have around.

“I’ve also started a shipping chart for everyone you’re surveilling,” she adds.

After she explains to you what a shipping chart is, you are simultaneously horrified, and intrigued at the new avenues this gives you when cataloguing and interpreting your data.

Chapter three.

> Be Ace Dick.

Once upon a time, you were a police detective. You like to give Sleuth shit over his lack of occupational experience, but he seems to think that his two weeks of police academy are all he could need. For someone who brags about his charisma, he really doesn’t understand the importance of making connections.

You haven’t been working on the Kingpin case with Sleuth and Pickles. You think they’re out of their league. Kingpin’s ruled this city since Sleuth and Pickles were still in grade school, they didn’t stand a chance. So while they ran around on their fool’s errand, you were out hitting the pavement, solving more sensible cases and keeping the agency afloat. Sergeant Pyrope was a rookie when you left the force, but she remembers you. Whenever you have a case that requires some APD know-how, you hit her up. There’s a little diner next door to the station that’s popular with the coppers, and that’s where she meets you to give you the low-down on some two-bit drug dealer who skipped out on a debt.

You buy her a second coffee once she’s said her piece and you’ve finished writing it all down. Then you tuck your notepad back into your coat pocket and say, “So I heard y’ gave Sleuth a job.”

She shrugs, grinning. “It should be worth a laugh. He always says he can do better than us, so let’s see it!”

You shake your head. “Here ‘m always tryin’ to tell him to stay off that case, and you’re just eggin’ him on.”

“So you’re not going to help?” she asks, before taking a sip of coffee.

“Hell no,” you say. “I quit the force to get away from that malarkey. You at least payin’ him?”

She laughs. “Do you think he’s going to ask?”

“He damn well will, because I’m goin’ to tell him to,” you say, jabbing a finger at her. She can’t see the gesture but she usually can tell that you’re doing one. You’re not sure if she hears the movement or somehow smells it. You don’t know how her weird sense of smell works. “We got rent to pay, missy. If he’s runnin’ around chasin’ Kingpin he isn’t doing other cases.”

“We’ll have to set up a collection,” she says. “I’ll put a little can in the break room. ‘Pay Mister Candy Corn’s rent’.”

Detective Vriska Serket walks over, whacking your hat off your head as she passes you to sit next to Terezi. “Can’t be too much, right? Doesn’t he live in a cardboard box?”

“That sounds right,” Terezi says. “But in this city that’s what, 500 bucks a month?”

“Depends on how new the box is, probably,” Vriska responds.

Terezi nods. “Either way, Kingpin owns it so it is absolutely drafty and leaks in the rain.”

“I’m not opposed to makin’ jabs at my dumbass not-boss,” you say as you straighten your hat out. “But I’m serious. You’re payin’ him. And Pickles too, if you got him involved.”

“We do,” Terezi says. “He’s got poor Nepeta bored to tears.”

“That’s a lie,” Vriska says, taking Terezi’s coffee and putting it in front of herself. “She started writing fanfiction about those counterfeiters on seventieth street. I’m going to try and convince her to submit it as evidence.”

“While that is hilarious, don’t. The Captain doesn’t need to know about any of this.” Terezi takes her coffee back and chugs down the remainder before Vriska can make another attempt. She coughs.

“Now there’s an idea,” you say. “If you don’t pay up, I’ll go let Captain Peixes know what you’ve been up to.”

“Why Ace,” Terezi says, leaning forward. “Are you threatening me?”

“Might be.”

“Maybe if the Captain finds out she’ll get embarrassed enough to put me on the case,” Vriska says.

“Gettin’ tired of solvin’ murders?” you ask.

She throws her arms up in the air. “The only interesting crimes are the mob ones! All the regular crimes are just dumb shit, there’s usually a witness or a camera or something, there’s no challenge!”

“I thought you liked racking up wins,” Terezi said.

“I fucking love racking up wins,” Vriska says. “But I want ones worth my time. Kingpin’s the biggest baddie there is, I gotta get in on that.”

“Maybe you should let her follow Sleuth instead of that angry kid,” you say to Terezi.

She snickers. “No, I’d give her to Tootsie Roll Frankenstein.”

Vriska slaps the table. “You think you’re kidding around but I’d love having that guy work for me! He’ll do all the tedious boring shit so I have more time to pound pavement and beat in faces.”

“I’m glad you appreciate Pickles’ special sort of appeal.” You stand up, straightening out your suit. “Thanks for the tip, Pyrope. Now please stop takin’ advantage of my teammates.”

She salutes at you, and it’s dripping with irony. “No, I don’t think I will. You’re welcome to come get taken advantage of, though!”

“Fat chance,” you scoff, getting out your wallet. You pull out a few bills, enough to pay for your coffee and Terezi’s, and drop them on the table. “Take care of yourselves, ladies.”

“Tell Sleuth if he gets evicted I just got a washing machine and he might fit in the box if he gets on all fours!” Vriska calls as you leave the diner. You hear the two girls snickering behind you.

They laugh, but you know the APD’s pay is shit. You do much better for yourself working as a private dick. The lack of benefits are a kick in the nuts, but at least you don’t have to deal with all the paperwork and politics, and every now and then you got a client who paid you a ridiculous sum for some dumbass thing. Sleuth could do as well as you. He’s certainly got the sleuthing skills for it. He just keeps wasting his time worrying too much about justice and too little about the real world.

You figure he’ll learn eventually. Kids like him always do.

#problem sleuth #midnight crew #trollcops #mspa #homestuck #writing #fanfiction #unfinished

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entamewitchlulu · 6 years ago

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Homura’s Flash Reviews [February 2019]

This will be my first review post for 2019!! I’m watching winter anime currently which I won’t be reviewing til the season is over, but for those who are interested, here’s what I’m watching for winter!

The Price of Smiles

Ace Attorney

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka

The Promised Neverland

Mysteria Friends

I’m also gonna be adding a few other things to these Flash Reviews and also review the movies I’ve seen during the month, just cause I rly like having opinions lol. So without further ado, here are the anime, shows, and movies that I saw this February and January!

Castlevania

Not technically an anime in anything other than style, Castlevania is the animated adaptation of the third Castlevania game, following the adventures of Trevor Belmont, the last of his vampire hunting legacy, Sypha, a nomadic magician, and Alucard Tepes, the son of Dracula and his human wife who was killed by the church, and their struggles to take down Dracula before he wipes out all of humanity.

I don’t know much about Castlevania the games, as they really aren’t my genre, but this adaptation was incredible!! Proof that video game adaptations can and should strive for greater heights! The dialogue was funny and witty, the characters were interesting and even the villains were endearing, and there was this incredibly crafted atmosphere of both sadness and hope. Not to mention, the animation was top notch. Plus, I have to give it credit for finally letting characters say “fuck” realistically.

overall: 9/10

Futari wa Pretty Cure

The very first, original start of the popular magical girl franchise, Pretty Cure chronicles the tale of Nagisa and Honoka, two very different girls who are brought together when they are chosen to become Pretty Cure, the legendary warriors who will defend light from the darkness! Together with their mascot friends Mepple and Mipple, and juggling their real lives along with their supernatural battles, Cure Black and Cure White will do whatever it takes to protect the world from evil!

I’ve intended to watch Pretty Cure for literally years now, and no one could agree with where I should start, so I decided to just do what I usually do and watch from the beginning. I’ve only seen the first season of Pretty Cure and not the Max Heart sequel yet. Overall, it was about what I expected! I’m a bit of a sucker for the traditional 2000s magical girl genre, with its repetitive formulas, catchphrases, poses, and the usual five episode plots that every single one of them has. The designs were super cute and I love how Black and White look so distinct and yet are still clearly a team. Pollun especially is super adorable!!

Definitely I can see why Pretty Cure became such of a behemoth in the magical girl genre today; it has staying power. This season was definitely full of a lot of generic magical girl filler, and I will be honest that I started to lose steam for it towards the end, plus the villains were not at all endearing or interesting (like, Poisonny and Regine are both very pretty, and Kiriya was okay, but other than that, no one stands out), but it was still a great and adorable experience that I’m glad I experienced. I’m not sure when I’ll get to the next series, but I’m sure it won’t be long!

overall: 7/10

Incredibles 2

I took my sweet time going to see this sequel, but here we are. In the anticipated sequel to the original Incredibles, the family faces new challenges as Elastigirl is scouted by a CEO to help make superheroes legal again, while Mr. Incredible has to learn the challenges of taking care of the family by himself.

I guess overall it was a good movie and well made for its intended audience. The animation was pretty good and I usually like their cartoony anatomy designs which are more concerned with a comic-book-esque aesthetic rather than proper anatomy and perfect realism. Definitely the quality has soared since the first Incredibles. For me personally though...as much as it was entertaining, in hindsight I don’t think it was really made for me. There were a lot of plot threads that didn’t seem to get resolved or even addressed. Bob never fully confronts his jealousy for Helen’s new job, and is never quite confronted about the fact that he hid Jack Jack’s powers from Helen either. The new superheroes were...honestly not my favorite designs in the world outside of Void, and I felt like their only purpose was to become fight fodder for the final battle, which could have been done with almost any other means. For as long as the movie was, it felt like a lot of the threads were simply not deeply solved, and only shallowly addressed. As this is a movie for kids, though, I can look past that; this wasn’t the story for a hugely deep look at things. It did affect my personal enjoyment, though, but it was still a greatly fun movie to watch.

overall: 7/10

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Finally coming for the canon after a couple of decades, DBS Broly brings the legendary super Saiyan Broly into the main cast. When the young Broly is sent away from Planet Vegeta for being too overwhelmingly powerful, he and his father are stranded on a barren planet for forty years, until they are found by some of Frieza’s soldiers and brought into the Frieza Force. Frieza immediately pits the super powerful Broly up against our heroes Goku and Vegeta, who must pull out every trick in the book in order to stop him from destroying the planet in his growing rage.

I never ever thought I would say this about anything relating to Broly, but GODDAMN that might have been the best Dragon Ball media in years. Let’s get this part straight: I’ve disliked Broly since he first appeared in the DB movies. He was boring, had a ridiculous backstory, and was just there to be a Gary Stu to really push Goku and Vegeta to their limits. But this movie??? This movie singlehandedly shot Broly to my top ten characters in Dragon Ball. He is endearing, gentle, a recovering abuse victim with a rage he cannot control, and his strength is more dangerous to himself than to those around him. In TFS’ review of the movie, they made a great point: the real stakes of his movie aren’t whether Broly is going to destroy the planet; they’re whether Broly himself is going to be okay. I’m focusing a lot on Broly, but Goku and Vegeta are in top form in his movie as well. It’s great getting to see Vegeta have a massive fight where he isn’t immediately jobbed for Goku’s sake, and Goku himself is at the top of his game as the fun-loving, battle-crazed but still sympathetic hero that he should always be written as. Not to mention our new additions to the main cast in Cheelai and Lemo, two of Frieza’s soldiers who found and ended up befriending Broly, who are equally endearing and fun especially in their dynamics with Broly himself.

All in all, this was a fucking excellent movie, and the first DB media that I can imagine wanting to rewatch!

overall: 10/10

Fireworks

When Nazuna is about to move away, she asks Norimichi to come with her to the fireworks, though she plans instead to run away. When this doesn’t work according to plan, Norimichi finds that a strangle marble belonging to Nazuna has the power to turn back the clock, giving them a second chance to be together. However, with each reset, they move further and further away from reality -- can they return to a world where they’re able to spend at least one day with each other?

This is pretty much, in a nutshell, everything I love about anime movies. It’s beautiful, fluid, full of amazing music, and the emotions hit so close to home. While the story itself doesn’t explain much, it really doesn’t have to -- the surrealism of the surrounding world sells it more than any exposition would, proving you don’t need to slow down your story to explain something as long as you can make people feel something for it. Despite having so little to know about both Norimichi and Nazuna, I was still more than sold by their romance. And once again, the surrealism of the animation and the story are something that only anime can pull off. You just can’t do stories like this live action.

The only thing that really dragged this story down were some of the CGI bits, which I found unnecessary and weird against the otherwise gorgeous backgrounds, but I guess this is where animation is going lately so I might have to get used to it.

overall: 8/10

#castlevania #futari wa pretty cure #incredibles 2 #dragon ball super broly #fireworks #homura reviews #homura's flash reviews

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n0verias · 7 years ago

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This is for @nyappykid, I was your Ace Attorney Secret Santa! I hope you like it!

Title: Christmas in Khura’in Pairing: Klavier/Apollo Rating: T Warnings: Mentions of crimes/murders, mentions of death Additional Tags: Made-up Khura’inese words, Apollo is a lovestruck fool AO3 Link

December 22, 2028 Justice Law Office

“Horned Head! I command you to help me this instant!” Rayfa shouted as she attempted, with little success, to hold up a huge stream of prayer flags. Her small frame was barely visible with how much she was holding, and Apollo was actually quite impressed.

“I got it.” Apollo lessened the load for Rayfa by taking half the pile in his arms. “I honestly didn’t think Christmas was celebrated here.”

Rayfa let out a pronounced ‘hmph’. “Is that what you call it in America? Here, we call it Khu’khurist. It’s an ancient tradition brought upon by the Holy Mother herself as a means to celebrate all that we are thankful for. And while you selfish Americans demand gift offerings, we hold a giant festival for all to enjoy.”

“And on the day of the 25th, we conclude by lighting the candles of prayer around the giant hal’abad tree.”

Apollo and Rayfa turned to see Nahyuta entering the Justice Law Office with a box of decorations. “And while we generally don’t hand out gifts as Rayfa said, it is not uncommon for couples to exchange a small token of their love for each other.” Nahyuta chuckled as he set down the box. Apollo took a peek and saw that there were a bunch of unlit candles, as well as holly, a wreath, and…oh god, was that what Apollo thought it was?

“Ah, and I did some research on American customs as well. Apparently, Americans hang some kind of plant called ‘mistletoe’ in a doorway, and whoever ends up under it has to kiss someone.” Nahyuta held up the mistletoe in his fingers and tried to find a perfect spot for it. “I thought it would make Apollo feel more at home.”

Apollo grimaced. So it WAS what he thought. “I don’t think something like that is necessary.” Besides, there is literally no one here who he would want to kiss, and he’ll be damned if he had to kiss someone like…Datz. He shuddered at the thought.

Rayfa crossed her arms. “How barbaric. So this is what America is like during the holidays?”

“NO.” Apollo shouted a lot louder than he intended. “Putting something like that up in the office is just asking for bad luck to happen!”

And as if things couldn’t get any worse, Datz Are’bal burst through the door and almost tripped over the rug. He managed to catch his balance as he skidded to a halt right in front of them. “Did you guys hear?! They managed to get some hot shot musician to sing at the festival!”

Nahyuta and Apollo stared at Datz as if he grew a second head. Rayfa in contrast smirked.

“Ah that’s right! I heard from Mother…I—I mean Queen Amara…” Rayfa blushed at her blunder. “That she sought to find a form of American entertainment, since this would be Horned Head’s first Khu’khurist with us.”

Why did Apollo feel so uneasy? “Dare I ask who this musician is?”

Rayfa pondered the thought. “Uh…I believe it was Klavier Gavin…?”

Apollo was stunned into silence. He hadn’t heard from or spoken to Klavier for more than a year…not since that incident at Themis Legal Academy. And if he were to be completely honest, he thought that Khura’in would be the LAST place he would ever run into the fop. Did this mean that Klavier was reviving his musical career? He recalled last time they spoke that Klavier was going to focus more on his prosecuting, especially after Daryan Crescend was convicted of murder and the Gavinners were disbanded. He recalled that to be a dark time for Klavier, and no matter how much the man showed off a smile, it was clear that underneath it was sorrow. Of course, a lot can change within the course of a year. He wondered how Klavier was doing…he didn’t even think that Klavier knew that he was in Khura’in.

“Earth to Apollo!”

Apollo was snapped out of his thoughts by Datz waving his hand ferociously in front of his face. Apollo slapped the hand away with mild annoyance. “Sorry…just that hearing the name Klavier Gavin brings back old memories.”

“Do you know him?” Nahyuta questioned, to which Apollo nodded.

“After a fashion. He’s actually a prosecutor who I fought against on many occasions.”

Rayfa tilted her head. “So he’s a friend? Maybe it’s a good thing he’ll be the one performing, then.”

Could Apollo consider Klavier a friend? Sure they were on good terms both outside the courtroom and inside, but it’s not like they ever took time out of their busy schedules to have a chat over coffee. Apollo sighed. “When’s he supposed to arrive?”

“Actually, he might already be here. His plane landed yesterday and should be staying at Tehm-pul Temple—” Before Rayfa could finish her sentence, Apollo dashed out of the office, leaving behind stunned and mildly amused expressions.

“Something tells me this will be an interesting Khu’khurist indeed.” Nahyuta chuckled.

Apollo panted and wheezed as he stopped in front of the temple. He hadn’t run that fast in a while, it felt like; but his exhaustion soon wore off when he caught sight of the familiar silhouette of someone he hadn’t seen in a long while. The purple jacket, those rings…that platinum blond hair.”

“K-Klavier?!”

Said figure turned around, revealing crystal blue eyes peeking out from behind black shades. The look of shock on Klavier’s face was very apparent.

“H-Herr Forehead?” Klavier rushed to Apollo. “Mein gott, why are you here?”

Oh, that’s right. He…never told Klavier that his new residence was in Khura’in. “I’ve been living here for a few months now, actually.” Apollo explained awkwardly. “It’s a long story…”

“Oh? So you’re no longer employed under Herr Wright? What did you do that caused him to fire you?” Klavier chuckled.

If there’s one thing he didn’t miss, it was Klavier’s sharp tongue. “That’s not what happened! I told you it was a long story.”

Klavier grinned. “Well, we have plenty of time to catch up. Maybe over drinks?”

Apollo wanted to protest, but a part of him couldn’t bring himself to refuse. It was probably that smile. That annoying, pretty boy smile. He didn’t like talking about the events that transpired earlier in the year, but he supposed he owed Klavier an explanation for disappearing from the courtrooms in Los Angeles.

They managed to find a small café that sold different Khura’inese pastries and drinks, which they sat down and caught up. Klavier told him about how he visited Germany for a couple of weeks, and how his music was still very popular there much to his surprise. His prosecuting career is still as successful as ever, making sure that no one was falsely convicted and that only the true criminal was brought to justice. That was one thing he and Apollo had in common, and something that Apollo was grateful of. On a more somber note…Klavier also told him of Kristoph’s execution. Kristoph Gavin, Klavier’s brother and Apollo’s former boss, was finally executed via lethal injection about a month ago. Klavier was present, and while Kristoph had no last words, their eyes locked one last time before the deed was done.

And as if things couldn’t get more depressing, Apollo decided to tell Klavier about his adoptive father, Dhurke Sahdmadhi, and the events that sparked a revolution here in the Kingdom of Khura’in. Which, of course, included the details surrounding Dhurke’s death, as well as his biological father’s murder at the hands of the former Queen of Khura’in. It was still rather difficult to retell the events that haunted his memories, but he knew that he would have to get over it eventually.

“I’m really sorry to hear about Kristoph.” Apollo looked at Klavier with sympathy. “Regardless of what he’s done, I’m sure it must’ve been hard for you.”

Klavier sighed. “The past is past. I can’t waste time feeling sorry for myself.” He smiled sadly. “It’s strange, really…he had done some cruel things that ruined him, and I pitied him. But as his brother, I couldn’t help but feel sad. He wasn’t even a supportive brother to begin with.”

“That’s only human nature.” Apollo took a sip of his herbal tea. “To me, he was just my boss; but to you, he was family.”

Klavier chuckled. “How about we change the subject to something more…cheerful.” He rested his chin on his hands and smiled. “So am I to understand that you inherited your adopted father’s law office? You sure are making a name for yourself, Herr Forehead.”

Apollo laughed awkwardly and scratched his cheek a little. “Something like that. I wanted Dhurke’s dream to live on, so I made the tough decision to stay here…at least until the justice system in this country gets revived.”

Klavier hummed. “Do you still keep in contact with Fräulein Magician and Fräulein Cykes? And what happened to Fräulein Detective? I haven’t seen her in quite some time.”

“Ever the romantic, aren’t you.” Apollo rolled his eyes. Ema was probably over the moon over not having to work side-by-side with Klavier. “It’s pretty expensive to talk over the phone, but I send them letters whenever I’m able to. Trucy apparently promoted Athena to her magical assistant.” Apollo thanked the stars that he no longer had that position. “As for Ema…I think she’s here in Khura’in, actually.”

That earned him a raised eyebrow, so Apollo explained further. “The prosecutor in this country has taken a liking to her, so she’s here for as long as I have helping us with cases.”

“I’m amazed that someone could tolerate the detective for too long without stepping on her toes.” Klavier chuckled.

Apollo shot him a deadpanned expression. “I’m sure she was only like that because she had to deal with you on a daily basis.”

Klavier feigned hurt. “Way to strike me where it hurts, Herr Forehead.”

Of course, Apollo knew that the real reason behind Ema’s sour attitude back then was due to her having failed the forensics exam. Now that she was a certified forensic scientist, she was in much higher spirits.

They spent a few more minutes of small chatter before leaving the café. And who should they run into but Nahyuta and Rayfa carrying more supplies, no doubt in preparation for the festival.

“So you must be the musician that will be performing in a few days?” Nahyuta questioned, to which Klavier nodded. Nahyuta smiled. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Any friend of Apollo is a friend of mine.”

Apollo crossed his arms. “Klavier, this is Nahyuta Sahdmadhi. He’s the prosecutor for this country. And the girl next to him is Rayfa Padma Khura’in…crowned princess of Khura’in, as well as a holy priestess.”

Klavier whistled. “You sure have friends in high places, Herr Forehead.”

“Herr…Forehead…?” Nahyuta chuckled, and Rayfa smirked.

“I see that Horned Head has many titles.”

Klavier bowed to Rayfa, took her hand in his, and kissed it. “It’s an honor to meet the princess of this country.”

Rayfa’s face turned a dark shade of red and Apollo thought for a moment that she had short-circuited. And as expected, Rayfa hastily pulled her hand away and pouted. “You will cease this inappropriate behavior at once!” Her voice slightly cracked at the end, which didn’t help her case at all.

“I see you’re still an insufferable charmer.” Apollo rolled his eyes, to which Klavier chuckled.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Klavier then took Apollo’s hand and did the same thing. “Unless it’s working, of course.”

Apollo stood there, frozen like a statue. “N-Now you’re just trying to be annoying.” However, the fact that he hesitated to pull his hand away caused Nahyuta to chuckle. Thankfully, Klavier didn’t notice as he stood up.

“Well, I think I will head back to my room. I think jet lag is finally catching up with me.” Klavier smiled. “Good to see you again, Herr Forehead. Maybe we’ll see each other tomorrow. My number is still the same.” And with a wink, Klavier walked back in the direction of Tehm’pul Temple without looking back.

After a few minutes of saying nothing, Nahyuta cleared his throat. “So…just a friend, you said?”

Apollo snapped out of his trance. “Uh…what?”

“You and Klavier Gavin seemed very close.”

Apollo was silent for a short moment, before looking to the side. “He and I have known each other for a while. And while I hate to admit it, he’s helped me out with my first few cases as an attorney.”

Nahyuta nodded in understanding. “So your relationship is strictly professional?”

“…What are you implying?”

“You reacted the same way that Rayfa did when Mr. Gavin kissed your hand.” Nahyuta smiled sweetly. “And unlike her, you’re not a small child vulnerable to precocious crushes.”

“Hey!” Rayfa pouted next to Nahyuta, but he ignored her.

“Hm…maybe that mistletoe will come in handy, after all.”

Apollo wasn’t impressed in the slightest. “You’re just imagining things, Nahyuta.” However, that did nothing to stop his heart from racing at an unnatural pace. He desperately wanted the subject to change. “So if you two are here, who’s watching the office?”

Rayfa crossed her arms. “Datz, of course.”

The color from Apollo’s face drained away and he rushed back in the direction of his office, all while grateful for that embarrassing conversation to end.

“Whoa, you must be in deep trouble if you’re willing to pay for a long distance phone call, Polly!” Trucy’s voice chimed through Apollo’s cell phone. “You’re not in trouble with the law again, are you?”

Apollo frowned. “No, nothing like that…and what do you mean ‘again’?!” He huffed. “If you must know, Klavier is here in Khura’in. To perform for the Christmas festival.”

He could practically feel the amount of glee seeping through Trucy’s voice. “Oooooh, so that’s where he went! We’re actually babysitting his dog for him while he’s away. I wanted to tell you, but by the time the letter would reach you it’d probably be too late.”

Well, he appreciated the thought, he supposed. Though that still did nothing to calm his heart down. It felt like it was about to explode, and there was no way in hell he would ever admit to the reason for it. “I wonder how Ema would react to seeing him here. She’s been so busy with work that I doubt she even knows about the festival.”

Trucy giggled. “It’s just like you to change the subject like that, Polly.”

“I admit nothing.”

“Well, I’m sure Ema won’t be as grumpy as she used to be, now that she can legally take people’s fingerprints!” Trucy’s voice faltered all of a sudden, and soon after there was a loud crashing noise in the background.

“Are you alright, Trucy?!” Apollo began to worry.

Trucy’s voice sounded distant for a moment, before it came back to the phone. “Sorry about that, I’m practicing a new magic trick but Athena keeps messing up her part. She’s enthusiastic, but she doesn’t have the same charm that you did.”

“And I don’t miss those days for a moment.” Apollo deadpanned. “I hope Athena isn’t bleeding to death right now, otherwise Mr. Wright will not only have to find a new attorney, but also deal with Mr. Blackquill’s wrath on top of that.”

“No no she’s fine! For the most part…” Trucy’s voice trailed off. “Might have gotten a few paper cuts but nothing serious! Besides, Pearl is helping out too. She’s our resident first-aid kit for Athena.”

Apollo sighed. “Stop bringing other people into your convoluted magic tricks.”

“I can’t hear you, Polly!” Trucy sing-songed. “So back to your reason for calling. I think your situation desperately calls for some Christmas magic. Like a clear starry night…or mistletoe!”

“Enough with the mistletoe!” Apollo’s chords of steel made its appearance in the form of a grating shout. “It’s not like that.”

“Are you sure about tha—”

Apollo could hear a commotion on the other end, followed by some protests from Trucy. Seconds later, a new voice popped up.

“Okay listen up, Apollo, I was listening to the entire conversation!”

Apollo scowled. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s impolite to eavesdrop, Athena?”

Athena scoffed. “Whatever, just listen. You can’t keep your feelings inside you for so long. I’m practically on the other side of the world and I can still feel your emotions loud and clear! And if you think I’m not willing to give you a therapy session over the phone, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“Alright, alright I get it. So what are your ears picking up, exactly? Because I have no idea.”

It sounded like Athena grabbed something from the other end. “Glad you asked! Now, as your resident therapist, I suggest you first admit your feelings for Klavier—”

“Wait wait what, WHAT?!” Apollo practically screamed.

“Oh please, Apollo, it was obvious to me since you made that huge tangent about those roses Klavier sent Trucy earlier in the year.” Athena’s voice was flat, and Apollo could just about picture her eyes rolling. “You don’t have to tell the man, but admitting to yourself that you have feelings for him will definitely ease the tight feeling in your chest.”

“………..Goodbye, Athena. Tell Trucy I said goodbye, and if she asks, you are the reason I’m cutting this conversation short.”

Before Athena could protest, Apollo hung up his phone and let out a loud, drawn out sigh. He lied back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

(Feelings for Klavier, huh…)

December 22, 2028 Wright Anything Agency

“I can’t believe you, Athena!” Trucy huffed with her hands on her hips. “I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to him!”

Athena felt only slightly guilty. “It’s not MY fault he refuses to admit his feelings for Klavier!”

Trucy crossed her arms. “Polly’s a boy, Athena! They don’t admit things like that so easily, if at all!”

Athena frowned. “I would think he would have outgrown that behavior by now, he’s in his mid-twenties!”

“Umm…guys?”

Both Trucy and Athena looked in the direction of the voice to see Pearl standing there with an apologetic smile. “Sorry to interrupt, but I just got off the phone with Bonny. She was wondering if you wanted her to get Mr. Hat ready for tomorrow’s Christmas show…”

“Oh!” Trucy ran to grab her notes that were sitting on the coffee table. “Yeah, if she’s able to!”

Athena toyed with her earring. “…Didn’t Bonny mess up Mr. Hat’s positioning during that one case…?”

“Yeah, but I trust her! Besides, Betty is there too to supervise.” Trucy went back to practicing her magic trick, and Athena grimaced.

(Wasn’t Betty actively trying to sabotage you, too?!)

December 25, 2028 Justice Law Office

It was finally time for the festival, and Apollo was absolutely floored by how beautiful the bazaar was. Candles illuminated every corner of each store; people selling small candies colored in silver and gold. Khura’in even had their own version of Santa Claus, although it was an overly long name that Apollo couldn’t even try to pronounce if he wanted to. Apparently this version of Santa Claus was a holy priest who dedicated his life to making children happy; he awarded those who practiced his religion with devout faith, and punished those by sending them to a dark abyss where they would face eternal suffering. A bit excessive, Apollo thought, but he can’t say he was surprised.

He hadn’t seen Klavier since the other day. He didn’t want to pull Klavier away from his rehearsals for later tonight. Klavier did however text him that he would be performing ‘The Guitar’s Serenade’ after the candles are lit on the hal’abad tree. It was customary for an hour sermon to be recited during the lighting, followed by up to three hours of prayer. Apollo was grateful that he wouldn’t have to participate in that; he wasn’t sure if his back can handle being in a hunched position like that for three whole hours.

He walked through the bazaar, admiring the lights and little trinkets hanging from the rafters with a carefree expression. It wasn’t often that he can enjoy something like this without thinking about a case in the back of his mind. Ever since the abolishment of the Defense Culpability Act, his office has heard no end to cases involving wrongful convictions; and while he was more than happy to right the wrongs done by a twisted government, it was nice to have some time to himself.

His eyes fell upon Nahyuta and Ema by a fruit stand. Ema had a very confused expression on her face while Nahyuta was holding up a bizarre-looking fruit with pink skin and purple splotches, all while making a gesture with his hand. Surely he was giving Ema some kind of lecture about the significance of that particular fruit, and Apollo couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle at the scene. He walked a little further and noticed Datz selling some…were those lizards? Surely not the same lizards that he had hanging in the office at some point?! Apollo couldn’t walk fast enough when he saw that Datz noticed him and egged him to come over.

When he finally made it to Tehm’pul Temple, he stared in awe at the huge hal’abad tree with what looked like thousands of candles on each branch. This seemed like a fire hazard, but who was he to question a sacred Khura’inese holiday? As he walked closer, he noticed Rayfa standing in front of the tree looking at a piece of parchment. He wondered if Rayfa also had an important part in the ceremony; it made sense, her being the royal priestess and all.

A quick glance to his left, and his gaze landed on that of Klavier Gavin, clad in his normal wear and going over some of the vocals for his song. He even had a guitar in hand. Apollo couldn’t help but think about the conversation he had with Trucy a few days ago, and he immediately felt tense. Is this how witnesses felt whenever he perceived them? It was such an uneasy feeling, and it sent a chill down his spine.

Klavier must’ve noticed him staring, for he called him over with a smile and wave. Apollo feigned a scoff and walked over.

“I’m still surprised they decided to get a foreign performer for such an important day.” Apollo commented, to which Klavier chuckled.

“Believe me when I almost refused the offer…until the queen herself asked, and well, who can say no to royalty?”

Apollo shot him a small smile. “Understandable.” His gaze drifted towards the sky, where a bunch of stars danced in the night. “…You know, we’ve known each other for a while, and while I hate to admit it…” He sighed. “…You were part of the reason for me lasting this long as an attorney. Going against you has taught me many things, and…I guess I’m saying I’m thankful.”

Klavier had a dumbfounded expression on his face for a split second, but quickly recovered. “While I appreciate the sentiment, Herr Forehead, that was entirely your doing. I just pushed you in the right direction.” He smiled. “We were both aiming towards the same truth, were we not?” He looked up at the sky as well. “Ach, I do have to say that I miss our days in the courtroom. It’s just not the same without you on the other side.”

Apollo’s heart made an involuntary leap and for a second, he thought he would faint. “Uh…r-right. And here I thought you only saw me as a naïve greenhorn who needed to be spoon-fed evidence.”

The light laugh that escaped Klavier’s throat was intoxicating. “Of course I thought that at first, but that was before I got to know you. I always wondered what kind of attorney you were, after you bested my bro in court…and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.”

“…Of what?”

Klavier looked back at Apollo. “Everything, I guess. But most of all, that determination you had to find the truth, and undying faith towards your client. Despite being your boss, you turned out to be nothing like Kristoph.”

He hated to admit it, but he was starting to feeling butterflies in his stomach. He hated it when Athena was right, especially about something like this. “…Listen, Gav—uh, Klavier…”

Klavier raised an eyebrow, and it was then that Apollo realized that this was the first time he ever referred to Klavier by his first name. And upon realizing this, it became much more difficult to form the correct words—

“Hey, Horned Head. I’m unsure of where to put this, but Nahyuta handed it to me and now I’m stuck with it. What are the customs for this in America, again?”

Apollo turned his head up behind him and saw Rayfa standing there, a blunt expression on her face...holding a bundle of mistletoe in her fingers and dangling it above where he and Klavier were sitting. He was mortified. He dared to glance at Klavier, who was merely chuckling, his chin propped up by his hand and staring at him.

“The fräulein wants to know what people do under the mistletoe. Would you like to help me show her, Herr Forehead?” Klavier smiled, and Apollo couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed hold of the front of Klavier’s shirt and pulled him in closer, giving him a forceful kiss that couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds. When he pulled away, Apollo got up from his seat and stormed off, not even bothering to look back. Why did he do that?! He was such an idiot, and the worst part was he couldn’t tell which part he regretted more, the kiss or leaving right after. It wasn’t until he heard someone shouting his name that he came to a halt and turned around.

“You know it’s bad taste to leave without a word after kissing someone, ja?” Klavier panted a little. He must have ran after him shortly after what happened.

Honestly speaking, Apollo acted on impulse. It was a spur of the moment decision brought about by everyone taunting him; first Nahyuta, then Trucy and Athena…he let out a frustrated sigh as he turned his head to look back at Klavier, who was running his fingers through his hair.

“I…I just did what people normally do under mistletoe. It’s what everyone wanted of me, right?” Apollo bit out.

Klavier tilted his head with a mildly concerned expression. “I was just humoring the young fräulein—”

“What do you want from me, Gavin?” Apollo cut Klavier off.

Klavier took a step toward Apollo. “I should be the one asking you that.” Klavier reached out with the intent to rest his hand on Apollo’s shoulder, but stopped when he saw how the other man recoiled. “Is there something bothering you? Ach, did I do something to offend you in any way?” He grew more concerned by the minute. “Please talk to me.”

Apollo hesitated. His gaze darted back and forth between Klavier’s face and the hand that was ever so slightly reaching out to him. There is no turning back once he speaks the words he desperately wants to get out. But really, why would someone as famous as Klavier, the rock star prosecutor himself, even think about reciprocating his feelings? Sure he was making a name for himself in Khura’in, but back in the States he was just a defense attorney working under the legendary Phoenix Wright. Hell, Klavier witnessed Apollo’s very first cases as a defense attorney, and all the embarrassments that came with being a greenhorn.

He never could take rejection very well; his mind was already settling on the worst possible outcome before anything even happened.

“Apollo?”

Apollo was dragged out of his thoughts by Klavier’s voice, and when his eyes focused in front of him, he realized that Klavier’s face was much closer to his own than before. He could feel his own face getting hotter and hotter, despite his efforts to stop it.

“…What do you think of me, Gav…Klavier.” Apollo’s voice broke a little. “Please, I need to know.”

Klavier stared at Apollo for what felt like an eternity, before he finally answered. “Words cannot even begin to describe how I feel about you, Apollo.” His expression was somber as he glanced around at the lit candles illuminating the bazaar. “You remember when we first met?”

Apollo slowly nodded. “I could never forget that case…” Although he would be more than happy to forget about stolen panties. “Trucy noticed you standing in front of your motorcycle, waving to a bunch of your fans.” He let out a chuckle. “You were the one who made it possible for me to investigate the crime scene.”

Klavier smiled. “I probably didn’t look like it to you, but I was…suffering back then. Emotionally, and mentally.”

“…Was it because of Kristoph?” Apollo already knew the answer, but wanted confirmation.

Klavier nodded. “My bro was certainly one of a kind. But behind closed doors, he was just as manipulative and scheming as how he was in the courtroom. Every waking hour growing up with him felt like there was a noose around my neck, and he was the judge, jury, and executioner.” He let out a sigh. “And then…that case happened. Kristoph set me up to destroy Phoenix Wright’s career. I had my suspicions of course, but with all my heart I really wanted to believe that there was no way my own brother could do something that cruel. And then you came along and pulled the covers from my eyes. And thanks to you, I was finally able to confront Klavier on equal footing; I was no longer afraid of him.”

Apollo didn’t know what to say, but Klavier continued. “What I’m trying to say is that, in a way, you saved me back then. Without you there to accuse Kristoph and bring him into the courtroom once more, I don’t think I would have ever been able to face my demons.” Klavier looked at Apollo and smiled. “You mean a lot to me, Apollo…more than I’m sure you can even begin to imagine.”

A small breath escaped Apollo’s mouth as he was rendered speechless.

(C’mon, say something, damnit!)

“I would like to know what you think of me, too…if that’s alright.” Klavier asked thoughtfully. He just gave Apollo an opening, one that he decided to take.

Apollo let out a breath of air. “…If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I ever would have made it this far as an attorney.”

Klavier was about to say something, but Apollo held a hand up to stop him. “Before you tell me how that’s not true, just listen for a second. I was a novice, my former boss was sent to prison on murder charges…I had nowhere to go until the Wright Anything Agency phoned me. And the last thing I expected was to be immediately thrust into investigating a murder from stolen noodle carts and panties.”

Klavier chuckled, which Apollo responded with a chuckle of his own. “…Was it your intention to give me all those hints? When we were in court, it felt like you were guiding me along to finding the answer…I might have gotten a Not Guilty verdict, but at the time, it still didn’t feel like a victory to me.”

“I’m sure you’re already well-aware of this, Apollo, but the most important thing for me was to find the truth…it wasn’t about winning or losing, or a personal battle between attorney and prosecutor. And as a rookie defense attorney, I was positive that you probably wouldn’t have understood that.” Klavier explained, to which Apollo nodded.

“You were right, of course.” Apollo glanced away. “Back then, I didn’t know what it meant to find the truth. I didn’t know what it meant for an attorney to be working together with a prosecutor and share evidence. But you helped me see that the way I was brought up was wrong.” He hesitated to bring up the next thoughts on his mind, but it was now or never. He had to do it.

“…I-I know I always acted like you were the most annoying person on the planet, but I want you to know that I never thought of you in that way.”

(Breathe, Apollo. You can do this.)

When his eyes met Klavier’s, he saw the light shining from the candles reflect on Klavier’s pupils. It was beautiful.

“You mean a lot to me, more than you probably realize.”

Klavier smiled. “You repeated what I told you—”

“I’m not finished.” Apollo bit his lip, and stepped closer to Klavier until they were mere inches apart. Klavier’s eyes widened, but Apollo paid no mind as he stood on his toes and pressed his lips softly onto Klavier’s. It didn’t last long, but he just wanted to get the message across.

You…mean a lot to me. More than you probably realize.”

Klavier just stared at Apollo with his mouth slightly agape, before he finally snapped out of it.

“Apollo…how long?”

Apollo shook his head. “Honestly, I probably couldn’t tell you that. But if I had to guess, it probably started developing around the time you invited Trucy and I to your concert.”

“And you never told me?”

Apollo grew frustrated once more. “It’s not that easy, okay?! For someone like you who has people confessing their love to you on a daily basis, maybe. But for someone like me…”

Klavier watched quietly as Apollo tried to stop his body from shaking. When a few minutes had passed, Klavier took the opportunity to pull Apollo in closer. Apollo’s eyes widened.

“Those people who you say confess their love for me? They’re just fans. They probably say the same thing to their other favorite celebrities. Contrary to popular belief, I’ve never even had a girlfriend or boyfriend.” Klavier smiled as Apollo huffed.

“I don’t believe it. Not even when you were starting out as a rock star?”

Klavier shook his head. “Kind of hard to trust people, you know? Are they dating me because they love me, or are they dating me because I’m famous? Trust is one of the most important factors in a relationship…to me, anyway.”

Apollo looked down. “I see…”

He felt a slight pressure on the top of his head; it took him a moment to realize that Klavier had kissed his head very softly.

“I trust you, Apollo.”

“…What are you saying?” Apollo glanced back up at Klavier, who tilted his head and smiled.

“I’m saying that I feel the same way about you…if you’ll have me.”

Apollo didn’t hear anything else; didn’t see anything else. All of his focus was on Klavier. He wasted no time pulling the other man in and kissing him under the candlelight, just as the snow was beginning to fall once more.

“Happi’raki Khu’khurist!”

A chorus of shouts and cheers as the people of Khura’in witnessed the lighting of the hal’abad tree, welcoming Christmas with open arms and many prayers. The concert was a big hit, with many of the younger citizens practically begging Klavier to visit again, which he was more than happy to oblige…although it was probably mostly due to his new boyfriend being the revolutionary defense attorney in this country.

Rayfa was overseeing the festival of prayers, where everyone knelt down in prayer for hours on end until the candles on the hal’abad tree burn out. It was mildly amusing seeing how serious Rayfa was while looking over everyone, but every now and then she would glance at the children with their parents enjoying themselves and huff. Apollo decided maybe he’ll buy her a festive pastry later.

Nahyuta was helping Rayfa with her duties whenever possible, but for the most part he was done with the festivities and decided to go back to Justice Law Office to rest up. He wasn’t alone, however, as Ema, Ahlbi, and Datz were also enjoying themselves in the warmth of the office. Didn’t Khura’inists enjoy the cold? Or maybe they were just enjoying each other’s company, which Apollo thought was far more plausible.

All in all, the festival was a success. His first Christmas in Khura’in…Apollo now had more memories to share with Trucy and Athena, and everyone else back home in the States. And of course, more memories to come with Klavier.

“So just out of curiosity, Herr Forehead…what did you REALLY think of me when you first saw me up on stage…?”

“OBJECTION! No comment.”

#nyappykid #aass2017 #ace attorney #klapollo #apollo justice #klavier gavin #my writing

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marblesarelost · 7 years ago

Text

Change Your Mind, Change Your Life

CHAPTER TWO

A soft knock on her office door brought her back out of herself, and she looked up from her screen to the door. “Um. Come in?” Jane peeked around the door, her grin wide.

“I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!” She squealed, coming into the office, a wine bottle and two glasses in her other hand. “Oh my God, Darcy, this is amazing!”

“I know,” Darcy agreed, nodding excitedly. “Two seconds, Janey, let me save this, okay?” She bookmarked the article about Doom’s request to the United Nations and saved her notes before closing her tabs and screens and rising from her desk. Her desk. Yes, it was standard and she’d had one in the lab, but this was hers, in her office, and she was going to do a hell of a job because she knew that they were trusting her and she didn’t even have her master’s yet oh God. “Okay,” she said, turning off the coffeemaker and picking up her bag. “Let’s go celebrate.”

“All the celebrating,” Jane agreed. “I’ve ordered dinner and I went downstairs to Michelle’s and got you a chocolate orange.”

“You’re the best,” Darcy said, following Jane out the door and closing it behind her. The magnetic lock clicked, and she grinned at the nearest camera before heading for the elevator. “I guess Tony talked to you?” Jane’s ponytail bounced up and down ahead of her.

“Yeah. He explained everything, and I’m supposed to start meeting with some of his people in the morning to try to find a new set of assistants. Seriously, I’m going to need at least three to handle what you do,” Jane sighed.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, boss --“ Darcy shook her head, brown hair flying. “You’re not though. For…for the first time in…”

“Four years,” Jane said softly. “But I’m glad. I’m really glad, Darcy. I mean, I love you, you’re the sister I never had, but…”

“But I need to spread my wings. I get you,” Darcy agreed. “Well, the good news is I should definitely be able to afford my own apartment in a month or two, I’ve just got to save up for deposits and everything.”

“Yeah? That is good news,” Jane agreed. “Maybe next you’ll get a date.”

“Oh, shut up, I go out,” Darcy said, bumping shoulders with her friend. It wasn’t long before they were having dinner, Alessandro’s from downstairs. Darcy moaned just a little as she ate, the lasagna perfect, the breadsticks good and crunchy. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” she admitted, taking a long drink of red wine.

“Isn’t that usually my line?” Jane said, her smile quivering just a little. “Oh, this is going to be…it’s great, but I just know I’m going to miss you so much in the labs, Darce, I’m used to having you there…”

“Hey, now. Like I said, it’s gonna be a couple months before I move out anyway, I’m still gonna be around,” Darcy insisted. “And besides, I’m only five floors down from this floor and four down from the labs. It’ll be fine, Janey, we can have lunch together, we can go to the movies, it’ll be fine.”

“Yeah. I know, and I know…Tony said what you’re doing is absolutely essential, really, for the Avengers, it’s just…I don’t like change in my personal life. It’s hard.”

“Awww. I know,” Darcy soothed. “But it’s not going to be that big a change. It’s not. And he promised me he would find you somebody good. So it’s gonna be okay.”

The next morning found Darcy up bright and early, her heels slightly muffled by the carpet of the building as she went downstairs to her office. Instead of her baggy sweater over a tee over jeans, she wore a black pencil skirt that fell just below her knees, white blouse, with a sapphire blue jacket for a pop of color. Her hair was up in a tight French braid, her bag replaced by the briefcase her Opa had given her for graduation. She nodded pleasantly to the few people she saw in the hallway of her floor, and went directly to her office, the door now bearing a brass nameplate; “Darcy Lewis, political analyst.” She couldn’t resist the smile that split her face, seeing it there, or taking a picture and sending it to her Opa and Oma. She had called them the night before, but that, that sort of made it a little more real.

She had just sat down behind her desk, coffee at two o’clock, notepad and pencil before her, when someone tapped on her closed office door. “Come in,” she called, and the door opened to show a stranger, an older woman with graying black hair.

“Good morning, Miss Lewis. I’m Linda, Linda Garrison. One of the attorneys for the Initiative.” Darcy rose from her seat, holding out her hand.

“Good morning, Ms. Garrison. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” the attorney replied, looking over the office. “Just started?”

“Yes, just yesterday actually.”

“Ms. Potts said that she’s going to be adding more analysts?”

“Yes. I’ll be heading the political team; of course we’ll leave the PR and the legal aspects to your team and PR, we’ll be offering political advice in regards to the different countries the Avengers might find themselves in,” Darcy explained. Ms. Garrison nodded slowly, her smile fading a bit, but never quite leaving her face.

“I head the legal team. I don’t know exactly how much we’ll work together, Ms. Lewis, but just in case there’s any friction between your team and mine, I’m who you’ll come to.”

“The same; I hope there won’t be any, though. I can’t really foresee any,” Darcy said, and Ms. Garrison nodded.

“Neither can I, right offhand, but one never knows, and it’s always best to know one’s peers and the chain of command. Well. I’ll let you get to it, my office is up the hall toward the elevator if you should need anything.”

“Thank you, Ms. Garrison. Good meeting you.”

“And you.” Darcy nodded, shook hands again, waited for the woman to leave before sitting back down at her desk. “FRIDAY, is there a way to engage do not disturb on this floor for the individual offices?”

“Yes, Miss Lewis. Would you like me to?”

“Give it another half hour, and then yes,” Darcy ordered. “Jane, any member of the actual Avengers Initiative, and Ms. Potts can override, but that’s it.”

“Yes, Ms. Lewis,” the AI agreed. “May I ask if the coffee provided was adequate?”

“Yes, it’s fine for now. I’d like to put in an order for a two pound bag of Thunderbolt French Roast starting next week, please.”

“Yes, Miss Lewis. Weekly or bi-weekly delivery?”

“Ah…biweekly for now, I’ll reevaluate once I figure out how much I actually need?”

“Excellent. Will there be anything else?”

“Not right now, FRIDAY, thanks so much.”

Her first real day of work as a political analyst went well, she thought. She read through the various articles and watched the news clips that had had aggregated over the last six months about the political situation of Latveria, taking careful notes, until lunch. During her lunch (a very nice lunch of fruit and soup, thanks, she’d had all the carbs the night before) she made notes regarding what she wanted her team to do from day to day, mainly research on what Pepper had called the short-term assignments, the political and social thoughts of the various countries of the world on the Avengers and whether they would accept assistance or not. “FRIDAY?” She asked once she was done with that.

“Yes, Miss Lewis?”

“What were the date parameters of the Latveria search that Tony ran?”

“Mr. Stark ordered a search for news stories regarding Doctor Doom and the political situation in Latveria between six months ago and two days ago, Miss Lewis.”

“Okay, new search, please. Same parameters except go back one full year, and update with any new stories that have shown up in the last two days,” Darcy ordered. “And keep it updated with new stories until further instructions.”

“Yes, Miss Lewis. That will take a few minutes, I’m afraid.”

“That’s fine. Thank you, FRIDAY.”

“You’re very welcome, Miss Lewis.”

By the end of the week, she had the zero draft of her report, she had reviewed a dozen resumes for the team that had been sent on to her by Pepper, and she had a rough idea of how the countries in the EU and some of the Eastern European countries viewed the Avengers. She felt it was a good start. There were a few sticky points that she wanted to work out, but overall, it was a good start.

She spent the weekend combing through thrift shops and secondhand stores, looking for businesswear that number one, would fit, number two, wasn’t all black or gray, and number three, was good enough quality that if it didn’t fit, but could be tailored, she would be willing to make the investment. She could do some things, taking hems up or down, for example, but she preferred to let professionals deal with the jackets, for example.

Monday morning, she was in her office at eight-thirty, sipping coffee and looking over her notes regarding the actual national status of Atlantis. Was it a country? It wasn’t recognized by the UN, or by more than two or three other countries, one of which was Latveria, which was amusing as Latveria was a landlocked postage stamp, actually, in the middle of Eastern Europe. But Greece, Italy, and Greenland all three recognized it as a sovereign nation, and King Namor had given several interviews…she should really look into that. If the Avengers had to deal with something rising from the sea, which they had already done on several occasions, they should really have at least a working relationship with Atlantis. But how? They didn’t exactly have an embassy, it was common knowledge that most Atlanteans would die if exposed to air too long. She’d have to think about that.

“Miss Lewis, Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers have just gotten off on your floor, they seem agitated,” FRIDAY warned her.

“Thanks, FRIDAY. Unlock the door for them, would you?”

“Certainly.”

A few seconds later, Tony and Steve came into her office, both in mufti, which gave her the chance to appreciate Steve in jeans, thank you Dr. Erskine. “Really sorry about this, Darce,” Steve began as Tony pushed past him on the way to the coffee machine. He looked as if he had just rolled out of bed, possibly head first. That was definitely yesterday’s AC/DC tee he was wearing, and --

“Tony, are you still in your pajama pants?” Darcy asked.

“Maybe. At least I’m wearing pants, be grateful,” he said, picking up one of her novelty coffee cups. “You’ve got Rebel and First Order and Imperial coffee cups?”

“May the Force be with you,” she said, and he snorted.

“And also with you, Artoo.”

“Does that make you Threepio? Because you’re the snarkiest bastard in the building.”

“HA! No.” He poured himself some coffee, choosing, she noted, the “I run so I can keep up with the Doctor” cup. “Steve?” That got her attention. Tony was using Steve’s name. Not Cap, not Capsicle, not Captain Tightpants. Steve. Tony was being serious, or at least trying to. He turned her office chair around, sitting on it backwards, while Steve hovered near the doorway.

“Okay. Steve, close the door, get some coffee if you want, then sit down. Tony. Seriously. What’s going on?”

“About twenty minutes ago, I got a phone call,” Tony began as Steve, bless him, followed orders. “From the Latverian Embassy.” Both of Darcy’s eyebrows went up. “Doom is coming here, to New York, tomorrow. His bees are working overtime, because he wants to set up a meeting with the UN and ask, formally, for UN assistance in…” Tony looked at his coffee, took another sip, shook his head. “He wants to reset his government, I guess. Change Latveria from, let’s face it, a dictatorship ruled by a literal iron fist, to a constitutional monarchy.”

“Are you serious?” Darcy said when she could find her voice. “That’s…that’s nothing short of amazing.”

“Yep. That’s what the guy on the other end of the line said. I was informed because he wants to ensure that the Avengers know he’s coming on a diplomatic mission.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “I haven’t had time to do more than a zero draft of my report, but I can email it to you, no problem.”

“And you’ve got time to finish it, Darcy, I’m not trying to rush you, but I -- we,” Tony corrected himself, looking guiltily at Steve, “want your general impressions and conclusions.” Darcy took a deep breath, blew it out.

“Okay. General impressions and conclusions? He’s been working on this for at least the last year,” she began. “Slow outreaches to surrounding nations, specifically Symkaria and Chernaya. Definite rebuffs toward Putin’s minions; there was a minor diplomatic dustup last year when he and a couple of his robots personally dropped off four Russian agents on the front steps of the Kremlin. It was…interesting, at least for a few days, over there, but thankfully, nobody got stupid.” She paused to sip her coffee, then continued. “He’s allowing at least some of his subjects to visit Chernaya and Symkaria now, and he’s put down two attempted coups by a couple of his colonels, both of whom would have probably wanted to keep the police state.”

“That…maybe it’s just me,” Steve said slowly. “But if you wanted to make your country free, why wouldn’t you just do that?”

“Because they wouldn’t know what to do with freedom, Steve,” Darcy explained. “They still don’t. It’s going to take at least a couple of generations before the general populace understands the difference between what they’ve always had, and what they have the chance for. Even a constitutional or parliamentarian monarchy is better than the despot he’s been.” She drummed her fingers on her coffee cup, trying to think of how best to explain. “They’ve lived under a very harsh rule all their lives. They don’t know anything but toe the line, don’t speak badly of Doom, or life in Latveria, or else you disappear. Allowing small groups to go experience what life is like in Symkaria and Chernaya for a week or two at a time lets the people see the difference between the countries. He’s lifted the ban on speaking favorably of other countries, yes, that was an actual law for thirty years, you couldn’t speak well of the United States or Canada or the EU if you were in Latveria. He’s upgraded the common standard of living for most of his people, if you’ll give me a second?” She picked up her tablet, ran a before and after image search on Google, handed it to Steve. “On the left, you’ll see a common Latverian farm in 1990.” A small house that could barely be called better than a hut. Four people, man, woman, two children, standing in front of it with blank expressions. “On the right, you’ll see that same farm last year.” The house behind the family, which now numbered eight, had obviously been expanded, a real metal roof rather than tin sheets on the top, there was a truck and a four door sedan in the background. “He imported, at his own expense, a work truck and a car for every Latverian farming family last summer. Gave it to them. Flip the screen.” Steve did so to look at a line of trucks painted in bright, cheery colors, the people standing in front of them smiling broadly, dark skinned and haired, dressed in Latverian folk costume. “That’s a tribe of Latverian Romani. He’s always been partial to them, his mother was Roma.”

“He’s buying his people things? Why didn’t he do that before?” Steve asked, handing her the tablet, his face blank. “Why didn’t he try to improve their standard of living before?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is that in the last year, maybe year and a half, I haven’t finished all the research yet, he’s been making huge strides in improving the standard of living and expanding and opening human and civil rights in his country, and that by itself is amazing. For someone to just…turn themselves around like this? It doesn’t happen. It really doesn’t happen. Not without some form of intervention, not without something happening personally to open their eyes to what they’ve been doing.”

“So he got Jesus?” Tony asked, and Darcy threw her hands in the air, shrugging.

“I don’t know if it’s Jesus, Odin, or Baba Yaga kicked the fear of her into him, but the results speak for themselves. Victor Von Doom has been making changes in his country and in his rule for the last year. Maybe you guys could go over to Empire State and see if there are any recent Latverian students who are willing to talk to you? I don’t know that they would, but it’s a possibility. All I know for sure is that the news stories currently coming out of Latveria, Symkaria, and Chernaya all point to a massive change in the governmental outlook, and the quality of life.”

“Huh.” Tony sipped his coffee again, leaning back in his chair, his eyes half-closed. “Steve?”

“I mean, I think it’s great,” Steve said slowly. “If he really is sincere about all of this, it’s great. Knowing that maybe in a time of world crisis, we could perhaps ask Doom for backup? Would be a huge advantage, honestly, because he’s almost as smart as you, Tony.”

“Please, tell me more about how clever I am,” Tony smirked, and Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Be serious. But on the other hand, what if --“

“IT’S A TRAP,” Darcy and Tony said at the same time, and Tony picked it up. “Yeah. It could be. Or it could be he finally took a page out of his old pal Namor’s book, and decided to build instead of destroy.”

“I know you want to believe, Tony,” Steve sighed. “I know you do. And honestly? I do, too. I’d love to have another ally, especially in Eastern Europe. But I can’t just…say I’m from Missouri, I guess.”

“Look at it this way, Steve,” Darcy interjected. “He’s doing all the right things, and has been for a year. He’s invested tons, literally tons, of money in fixing his infrastructure and his people’s way of life. And now he’s coming to the UN for help. He’s not stupid, not at all. He knows he can’t just say, okay now, let’s vote on who you want to represent you. The UN is going to want to send teams over there, they’re going to want to investigate themselves. Can you open your mind enough to give Doom the benefit of the doubt until the UN finishes their investigation, at least?”

Steve was quiet, looking down at his hands for a long minute before his shoulders rose and fell, and he nodded. “I won’t say I don’t want to be cautious,” he said, looking up at her. “But we can give a man a chance. Everybody deserves at least one chance to change.”

“Great,” Tony said, standing. “Then I’ll call the Embassy and let them know that the Avengers recognize and approve of Lord Protector Von Doom’s visit to the UN, and any unpleasantness will not be started by the Avengers.”

“And give them my office number, would you, Tony?” Darcy interjected. “If I’m your political liaison, they should call me from now on.”

“Fuck. You’re right, Lewis. My bad.” He had the good grace to frown, at least. “You just started the job, hell, we just created it, that’s probably why…”

“No, I’m not mad,” Darcy hastened to reassure him. “You’re right, it’s not as if we’ve made a big deal about the new position or anything yet. We can make an announcement after Doom leaves. We don’t want to upstage his visit, that wouldn’t be prudent.”

“Right. Okay. Get with Pepper on that, she’s got the embassy numbers. Cap, you good?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, rising as well. “Thanks for your time, Darcy.”

“Hey, it’s what I’m here for. My advice, honestly, cautious support and observation is the best way to go in this. If he’s for real, we’ll know it; it’ll take the UN at least a year, maybe two, to get the elections set up. If he’s not, he’ll fuck up and show the autocratic DOOM IS BETTER THAN YOU PEASANTS crap again.” She grinned, bumping fists with Tony. “Villains, real ones, can’t help themselves, they have to feed their massive ass egos.”

“Exactly. Come on, mon Capitan, let’s go get Danish.” The two men left her office, and Darcy shook her head, smiling, as she went back to work.

#darcy lewis #fanfic #fanfiction #Avengers #tony stark #steve rogers #Victor Von Doom #darcyland #The Darcy/Victor Von Doom fic that nobody asked for #political wrangling #darcy is smart #@subsilvernight #I love reblogs

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snelbz · 7 years ago

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Welcome Home {Feysand Fluff}

So for those of you that don’t know, @tacmc got engaged last month! We’ve been best friends for over 15 years, but we currently live over 9 hours apart. So a couple of weeks ago, I went up north to visit her so we could go wedding dress shopping and she found the dress that was MADE FOR HER. (Spoiler alert: I cried.) But I realized, I’m yet to get her an engagement present. So, Tara, my darling best friend, enjoy a mini-engagement present of a Feysand Fluff. I love you so much and I’m so happy for you and Troy!

Feyre put the car in park and pulled her golden-brown hair out of the ponytail at the back of her neck. She ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to shake the tangles and knots that had collected from the long double shift she'd worked at the Illyrian Bar and Grill, in downtown Velaris. Looking up at the small home whose driveway she was parked in, she couldn't help but smile. The weekend before, she and Rhysand had put out the Christmas lights and decorated the house. With the dusting of snow that had fallen before she got off work, it was picture perfect. Pulling the wad of bills out of her pocket, she counted through them one more time before getting out of the warmth of the car. She totaled it up to just under $300, which wasn't bad considering the slow night they'd had.

Pulling out her phone, she checked her email and saw that 3 more of her paintings had bids on them and she breathed out a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Their house payment was due in less than a week and with the money she'd made tonight and the checks for her art, they'd be able to cover it and groceries, with about $500 to spare for Rhys's student loans.

Feyre loved her husband more than life. She married her longtime boyfriend straight out of high school and had spent the most amazing past 5 years with him, but with nearing $80,000 in student loans, every spare nickel and dime they had went to paying them off. It helped that he now had his degree from the Prythian School of Law, but being entry level, he was only able to find a job as a civil litigation lawyer for a small private firm in Velaris, making barely $42,000 a year. Luckily, Feyre's sister and Rhysand's best friend owned a bar in town and were willing to give Feyre shifts whenever she wanted, even if that meant opening at 11:00 in the morning and closing at 3:00 am.

The snow was steadily coming down now and unless she was the one to open up, she knew the Illyrian would be staying closed the next day. Glancing at the clock radio in her car, she saw that it was 3:27 now and it was already down to 17 degrees. Zipping her coat up a little higher, she cut the engine on her car and grabbed her purse, running up the porch steps to the front door. Fumbling to get her keys out of her purse, she sighed, knowing Rhys would be asleep. He'd had to be at the office at 7:30 for a deposition that morning and she couldn't wait to curl up in bed next to him.

Her stomach growled as she turned the key in the knob and she groaned. Okay, she couldn't wait to curl up in bed next to him after she ate something real quick for dinner.

Opening the door, she was surprised to see not only the light on in the kitchen, but to smell the most intoxicating scent coming from there as well. Tentatively, she set her keys down on the small table in the entryway and walked down the hall. As she entered, she saw Rhys leaning on the counter, a glass of wine in each hand. "Welcome home, darling."

Feyre's mouth was hanging open. After finally remembering how to speak, she asked "What's going on?"

Rhys came over and took her purse, placing the glass of wine in her hand. "I thought you might be hungry." As if on cue, Feyre's stomach growled as she looked at the food neatly plated on their table. Honey lemon chicken, scalloped potatoes, roasted asparagus, and a small salad. He laughed and pulled her chair out. "And it looks like I was right."

Feyre sat down and looked at the plate of food in front of her as Rhys headed to the fridge to put away the wine and turn down the lights, instantly her eyes narrowing. She knew for a fact that Rhysand couldn't cook for shit, but the food looked and smelled so amazing, she didn't know how he'd managed to pull something like this off. That is, until she glimpsed the to-go containers from the restaurant across the street from Rhys's office poorly stashed in the pantry closet. But she didn't say anything and she smiled at him as he sat down across from her.

"You didn't have to do this, you have to be exhausted, baby." She reached across the table and grasped his hand in her own, sliding her thumb across his platinum wedding band.

"Oh, I am, but I know you are too, and I knew that you were going to come home and eat something you weren't going to enjoy before falling into bed." His violet eyes were sparkling in the candlelight between them. "So I figured we could spend a little time together and have a good meal as well."

Feyre looked at her husband and couldn't help the tears that began to form in her eyes. "Thank you, Rhys. You have no idea how much this means to me."

He leaned forward and she did the same, pressing his lips to hers. "Anything for you, Feyre Darling. Now eat up! We don't want your dinner getting cold."

They ate, talking about their days, Feyre regaling the story of the horrible, drunk customers she'd had at the end of the night and how they refused to pay their tab until Cassian came out of the back office, and they saw how large her boss really was.

"I hate that you have to work so late, I don't feel comfortable going to bed until after you get home, but with how early I have to be at the office..." His voice trailed off and Feyre smiled sadly at him.

"I do what I have to do for us. With the paintings I posted today and my tips, we'll be able to take another small chunk out of your student loans! You'd do the same for me if the tables were turned."

"I would," he smiled, and then took a deep breath. "So. Speaking of, I received a phone call today."

Feyre's heart nearly stopped beating. "What kind of phone call?"

"It was from the Attorney General's office. I applied for one of the available Assistant Attorney General positions they had in their Civil Rights Division. I had an interview with the Deputy General and one of their Senior Counsels last week. Feyre, they want to offer me the position. At $78,000 a year with benefits." For the second time in one night, Feyre was absolutely speechless. She couldn't believe it. He hadn't told her he'd applied for this job, but after it took him so long to find the one he had, they'd become so discouraged. It wasn't surprising he hadn't told her if he didn't want to get her hopes up. She tried to speak, but she couldn't figure out what to say. Rhys got out of his chair and knelt in front of her own. He took her face in his hands. "Baby, you can quit serving. You can focus on your art. We can pay off my loans as we go and you can finally do whatever you've always wanted. You could go to art school."

By this point, the tears were starting to stream down her face and the food was forgotten as she kissed him and began to laugh. She couldn't stop smiling and she hugged him. He picked her up, spinning her around, as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She laughed and clung to him as she said, "Congratulations!"

Since the day they got married, they'd been struggling to save money. Something always happened and what little bit they'd had saved from their meager salaries had to go to a blown transmission, a new AC unit for their house or to his loans. But now, they could really start to save money and start their life together.

As she kissed him, Feyre knew exactly what she wanted. She could already paint, so why go to art school? "I want to start a family."

Rhys smiled at her. "We will, darling, I promise."

"No, Rhys," she laughed. "I don't think you understand. That's what I want. I want us to have a baby."

He stared at her. "You want to start our family?"

"Yeah," she said, laughing.

"Okay, then let's have a baby!" He kissed her hard and smiled at her.

"I don't think you understand, Rhys. I mean like..." She rubbed her body against his. "I want to start our family, now."

Rhysand's eyes lit up and he pressed his lips against hers in a hard kiss. As he lowered her to the kitchen floor, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled back to look into his violet eyes.

"I love you so much," she breathed.

He pressed a feather-light kiss to her forehead before claiming her lips again. "I love you, too, Feyre, darling."

#feysand #fluff #feysand fluff #feyre #rhysand #rhys #acotar #acotar au #acomaf #acowar #throne of ashes and beauty #my fanfiction #fanfiction

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compunctionjunction · 8 years ago

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thanks for tha tag sopherino

RULES: tag 10 of your followers you wanna know better. 

@1of1prism thank u for the tag..

- nicknames: commonly used - marinay, bae, “this girl”, no longer used - marmar, m2, meena

- height: i really dont know but im taller than 5 foot 2 apparently LOL ;) (i’m somewhere bt 5′3 and 5′6 but people keep telling me theres no f-in way im 5′6 lol)

- time right now: 8:20pm (when i started, lol now its like 9:20 yikes)

- last thing i googled: “austin mahone”

- fave music artist: rn it’s shinee tbh (rn???? what do u mean... shinee are forever...... -sophie probably)

- song stuck in my head: to be completely honest its bonetrousle from undertale LOL

- last movie i watched: uh hmm oh i watched the bling ring cause i had to for school lol

- last TV show i watched: uhhhhh............ west... west world?? the robot one? i don’t like that show but my parents put it on

- what i’m wearing right now: pinkish orangish sometimes red looking knit sweater and jeans

- when I created this blog: 2013 im pretty sure

- do i have other blogs?: i literally have like 10 sideblogs lol (jk 8) some r secret but tbh i can share some: aesthetic, fandom (honestly have no idea why anyone follows this cause like i literally post 1000 posts at once about one specific thing and then post nothing for like 2 months and then just put a bunch of random stuff from a bunch of different completely unrelated things and also a couple people who follow this blog follow that one but i dont even know if they know its the same person doing both blogs but i guess they do now if theyre reading this lol), manga (along with @1of1prism but it’s not rly an active blog anymore lol) uhhhh... ya

- do i get asks regularly?: no :’( i wish

- why did i choose my URL?: check my tagged/tag-game lol

- gender: fe.....male ...? ??? ?? ???? (????)

- hogwarts house: im hufflepuff too @1of1prism whats wrong with hufflepuff smh

- pokemon team (sun): well.......right now its primarina (haha), snorlax, leafeon, clefairy, raichu, and growlithe, growlithe mostly cause i want to level it up, but i switch out a lot and once i get a vulpix that’s probably gonna stay on my main. also like i love all the eeveelutions i will probably make a separate team thats just them LOL so hard to choose

- fave colours: black and hot pink

- average hours of sleep: either like 5 or like 13 lol

- lucky number: 7

- favourite characters: this is such a hard question that im gonna copy paste my old answer and then update it (also like the only reason i have any of these is cause i tag them or have them written down or have a fanfic somewhere like these arent the top of my head im very bad at keeping track of what i like thus why i have 14 sideblogs lol):

if they’re snarky and sarcastic but in a lovable kind of way rather than an asshole way then they are likely my fave (ex, idk, like Logan from Veronica Mars) or if they are a complex bamf female character (ex, like… lots, there are lots) I don’t really have #1 overall fave characters until i’m in the middle of marathoning something in which case i’ll be all “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVEYO U”

but also more specifically im gonna just base this on who has their own tag on my fandom blog so like in no particular order

sans from undertale,

godot from ace attorney

clive from professor layton lol

adrien/chat, nino, and nathanaël from miraculous,

lucas and claus from mother 3, tony from mother 2

snufkin from moomin,

jack frost from rotg

baek in ho from cheese in the trap

kyo from fruits basket

kenya from erased

natsume from gakuen alice and hayama from kodocha

fakir from princess tutu

hak, jae-ha, shin-ah, yoon, and tbh zeno and probably yona too tbh from akatsuki no yona like lets be real

veronica from veronica mars (lol)

peridot and lapis from su,

harley quinn in general

rosa from b99 and this is getting rly long so if ur that curious ask me lol

- dream job: i think ive answered this before but like where i can use all my skills (writing, photography, research, tech stuff) and travel, make change, help people i dunno.

- number of blankets it used to be 1 and then it was 2 and recently its been 3 or 4 because my room is cold as fuck

- following: 200 something

i tag um, @purewhiteflames, @shirasakas-koume, um, @nuliflyer, @negatiiivi, @any-elsewhere, @laurentthings, this is really stressful when i have to adhere to a particular number its really hard to think of blogs haha (D:) anyway you’re all cool still uhhhhhhhhh tag yourself if youre not here pls not to offend or anything but theres like 13 blogs im missing but i dont know who off the top of my head oh no

#tag game #about #oh ya none of u have to do it either #i should just tag these all as 'tag urself if u wanna do this' lol #sophie #marinapleasecontinue

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shoeshineyboy · 6 years ago

Note

ALL THE QUESTIONS IN THE IDENTITY ASK PLEASE AND THANK YOU MWAHAHAHA!!

I’ll put em under a readmore to save the scrollin’! Thanks!!

1. if someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?Read: Conrad’s Fate - Diana Wynne JonesWatch: Across the UniverseListen To: Friday I’m In Love - the Cure

have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who?on Wattpad, years ago, there was someone I used to talk to - I can’t remember her username, but she won something in the Watty awards! I miss her, she was great!

list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.Ace Attorney - Raymond Shields/Tateyuki ShigarakiFullmetal Alchemist - Riza Hawkeyethose are like.... my two major ones???

do you like your name? is there another name you think would fit you better?wellll I chose Zara for myself, so I’d say it fits me pretty well, and I like it! I do think, in terms of birth names, something like Katherine would’ve suited me more, and my mum agrees tbh

do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?kind of, yeah, but is that good? who knows!

are you religious/spiritual?not... really?

do you care about your ethnicity?I don’t really think about it that much??

what musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?Boy George, Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks, Syd Barrett!

are you an artist?I wish I was!

do you have a creed?again, I haven’t really thought about it - beyond, like “do no harm, but take no shit”, I guess?

describe your ideal day.it’d absolutely be a day in a park or something with my friends, and some music, and some beers - a really nice, sunny day, for sure! and in the evening, we’d go back to someone’s apartment and play, like, Cards Against Humanity for a while, before we all go out in the evening - honestly, I don’t want for much, just good company, really?

dog person or cat person?both!!

inside or outdoors?outdoors!

are you a musician?I’d say so!!

five most influential books over your lifetime.To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper LeeNoughts and Crosses - Malorie BlackmanThe Night Circus - Erin MorgensternRebecca - Daphne du MaurierConrad’s Fate - Diana Wynne Jones

if you’d grown up in a different environment, do you think you’d have turned out the same?undoubtedly - bear in mind that I very nearly grew up in Vancouver, and then San Francisco, but my parents decided not to move, in the end. where I did grow up was a very small countryside town, one of those places where everyone knows everyone and obviously never leavesI feel like even if I’d still been in a similar area, but, say, actually lived in one of the big towns, that would’ve changed a Lot. my area was very Conservative, and I know for sure that I would’ve had a very different experience if I’d grown up elsewhere?

would you say your tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?I really try to be as genuine as possible on here, so I’d say so!

what’s your patronus?white stallion!

which Harry Potter house would you be in? or are you a muggle?I’m in Slytherin!

would you rather be in Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, or somewhere else?Middle Earth would be amazing!!

do you love easily?I want to! I try to keep a lot of love in my life, so yeah!

list the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.writing, housework, walking, scrolling through this hellsite, talking to friends (I don’t have a job yet,)

how often would you want to see your family every year?my parents, I’d like to see every month if I can - which is part of the reason why I’m looking forward to moving back close to them! the rest of my family... ehhhh.... once is enough tbh, with the exception of one of my uncles

have you ever felt like you had a “mind-meld” with someone?I don’t think so??

could you live as a hermit?I seriously doubt it tbh

how would you describe your gender/sexuality?I’m gonna say cis woman, bisexual with a strong preference for women! I’ve only really been exploring this sort of thing for the past couple of years, though!

do you feel like your outside appearance is a fair representation of the “real you”?I’m shaky-ish on who the “real me” is, but I take a lot of pride in my appearance so I like to think it represents who I am as a person?

on a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is it for someone to get under your skin?3 but I don’t like to admit it kjsdgjk

three songs that you connect with right now.Jack & Diane - John MellencampDrowned - the WhoWake Me Up - Avicii

pick one of your favorite quotes.I’ve forgotten every quote I’ve ever heard sooo I might not be able to do this?!

0 notes

mariemary1 · 8 years ago

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How to Advertise on Craigslist Effectively

I hear it all the time.

“How can I spread the word about my business if I don’t have a budget?”

One way, is to leverage your ability to advertise on Craigslist.

I’m sure you are asking yourself, “Is this guy nuts? Can I get any real business from Craigslist?”.

The answer is almost always YES!

Understanding the Marketing Potential on Craigslist

Ok, you’re right. Every business isn’t going to kill it with some craigslist posts.

You would be surprised how many will though.

If you are an attorney that deals with business litigation, yeah this isn’t for you.

A painter or a plumber however, get ready for lots of free business leads if you advertise on craigslist.

Of course every lead isn’t going to be a homerun either, although some niches deliver solid gold.

How to Advertise on Craigslist

Craigslist marketing might seem hard, but is a fairly simple and straightforward process that anyone can do. The key is in the posting regimen.

If you have a quick peruse through your local services section on craigslist, you will quickly see how many businesses are using this tactic.

When posting, the thing to remember is that you can only post 2 new ads, every other day. Additionally, you can repost one old post, and renew every post.

Ready to learn how?

Get Your Own Account

In order to start posting ads on craigslist, you need to get a phone verified account. Head on over and sign up.

Once you have signed up, go ahead and click your location. You should have a screen similar to this, but with your area listed.

Before we actually post, I want to go over a couple details to keep your account safe and your ads live.

You can only post to the cities listed from within your account. (seen in orange in image above – yours will be different)

Only 2 new ads can be placed every other day

Repost 1 expired post every other day

Renew all eligible posts every other day

It is important that you follow the posting maximums in order to effectively advertise on craigslist. They will let you believe you are getting 5 or more posts out per day. And they will show you the live posts.

It happens through the use of a technique called ghosting. Essentially, they show you the live ad. Only you though. It’s junk, spammed, blocked, outskie! But they let you think it’s all good.

Eventually, they will block every post from you and possibly ban your account.

Follow the directions for posting laid forth here and you will have a whole page of live ads within 2 months.

Admittedly, this account shows some slacking. Normally, it would be a full green page and yours can be too.

Where to Advertise on Craigslist

As in the first note above, you can only post to the cities that are located in your area. Your area, is the area you were in when you signed up.

You can get away with posting to any city listed, but I like to keep it to a few. Generally the largest cities in your area will be the best option.

A decent sized city with no competition can also be a gold mine. Essentially, every area can generate leads.

Bigger cities equal bigger numbers of course though.

Making Your First Post

An easy way to make a post is to simply click “post to classifieds”. I want to get you used to using the “my account” button instead, since we will always have renewals anyway.

Go ahead and click my account now.

This takes you to the main area of your account. To create our first post, we need to choose our city from the dropdown (#2 in figure).

The dropdown is every city, not just your region. Be sure that you do not choose a city outside your area mentioned earlier.

Once you have your city selected, click the “go” button.

Choose a Post Type

On this screen, you choose the post type. In most cases, you will choose “service offered” or maybe “gig offered” depending on what you will advertise on craigslist.

One thing to keep in mind. You can post an ad anywhere. The more “out of place” viewers find it though, the more likely it gets flagged.

Flagging happens, but our goal is live ads. The more we do to slide by those that like to flag people, the better so let’s play nice.

Once you choose your post type, click “continue”. The next step is choosing a post category for your craigslist ad.

Choose a Post Category

The selection shown is the result of choosing services offered, as mentioned earlier. As you can see, the selection is large to accommodate many types of services.

Go ahead and choose one that makes sense to you. For instance, if you are an HVAC contractor, it wouldn’t make much sense to post in the “writing/editing/translation section”.

Real estate services would be a great spot though. You could also use just about any other section in this list. The reason, any business posting in those sections also has a home or business location that needs heat!

This wouldn’t be the same for many other business types though.

Now, it’s time to actually build our ad.

The Anatomy of a Craigslist Ad

A craigslist ad has 3 entries that must be made in order to complete a listing.

The posting title

The postal code

The posting body

Choosing the Title to Advertise on Craigslist

The title is the most important part of any craigslist ad (#1). It is the clickable link in the sea of other mundane ads.

You have to make it stand out. I don’t mean pasting a bunch of bull shit peace signs either.

Is it ok to drop 1 entity, sure. The ace of spades always draws a look. But don’t over do it.

Add the Zip Code

One thing to note here, this isn’t your personal zip code (#2). This should go without saying, but I will make light of it anyway.

If you are posting to another city in your region, make sure you use an appropriate zip code.

Yes, that may mean searching for the zip code of a city if you don’t know it. Remember, it’s free marketing, not effortless marketing.

Make Your Posting Body SEO Friendly

The same could be said of the title as both are searchable. The posting body (#3) can only be seen once a user clicks through to the ad though.

Make a body with a lot of content. Use terms relevant to your trade and your area.

Perhaps the most important part of the title and description is focus. Your ads needs a reason.

If you want to generate leads from your ads, SOLVE PROBLEMS!

Yeah, it isn’t about you. Put your name out there, but do so in a smart way.

People are searching for service providers on craigslist because they want someone local to them. And they likely don’t want a giant chain company.

They want the little guy. They need you!

Additional Craigslist Ad Details

As mentioned, there are 3 must fill fields on the craigslist ad.

There are several others though, that you may fill out if you like.

The “specific location” field allows you to enter a city, town, or actually anything. You can use a keyword, although I don’t think it will have any benefit aside from being visible on the listing.

Next is the license section, a radio checkbox. This makes sense for some fields such as various home contractors.

After that, you can enter contact information that is only visible when the viewer clicks the “reply” button.

You can see a screenshot of the information as it lives on an ad. The personal contact information on this ad has been blurred for privacy purposes.

The reason this method of entering contact information is simple. It can’t get scraped.

If you click “reply”, you will be forced to enter a captcha and prove you are not a bot. That’s great since you don’t want your info everywhere to post these ads.

After all, you do get enough spam already right?

The final section is the “show on maps” area. You may enter a location if it makes sense. Brick and mortar locations would surely want to take advantage. If not, unselect the box.

Add Your Images

The images are sometimes the most important piece of the ad. Depending on what you advertise, you could earn their trust right now.

Key takeaways for images are simple. If it doesn’t add to the overall trust of your brand, don’t show it. You can enter up to 24 images.

That being said, some people will not click an ad with no thumbnail, so consider adding a square high resolution logo for your brand.

When complete, click “done with images”.

Preview Your Craigslist Ad

This is the preview screen, which allows you to take a look at what the live ad will display like.

Make sure that you read through the title and description to check for errors.

For this post, I quickly put up a post. Your screenshot should have a solid title of more length.

And your posting body should look like an article! No kidding, don’t be afraid to drop a text bomb in here.

The key is to make the very beginning to the point so a reader can get “the jist” right away.

Once you are done, go ahead and click “publish”.

Go Rinse and Repeat

You did it! Your first free advertisement of craigslist is officially live on the internet. Now go do it again!

After all, I said you could do it 2 times right? You get those two chances today, and many more free chances in the future so take advantage.

Let’s Repost an Expired Listing

Craigslist posts only have a lifetime of 45 days. Once they expire, they are listed below your live ads in your account. They aren’t dead though.

Click “repost” next to your chosen ad. On the next screen, scroll down and click continue. Finally, click the publish button to repost the ad to live status.

You can repost (#3) 1 ad every other day. There is an exception though, it can’t be a duplicate.

For instance, you have 2 expired ads from your first day. You can repost one of them each time when they become eligible. You can not repost any more than one time though.

Be careful too, you will get away with it. Eventually, maybe even immediately the ad will get ghosted. A mistake is reasonable, but a habit is bad.

What I mean, you may get lucky once but I would just be careful to avoid this. It can happen since reposting an expired ad does not remove it from the expired list.

Don’t Forget to Renew Your Old Posts

We touched on this before. It’s listed as #4 above, the renewal process.

An ad on craigslist has a “new shelf life” of 48 hours. After that, you can renew the listing and get it lifted to the top of the pile.

When I say 48 hours, I mean that many. Good practices is to do this first thing when you wake up on day 1. Every other day, start a minute or more later than last time to ensure you can post new ads and renew old ones in the same visit.

The renewal process is simple, just click the link. That brings up a screen such as the one below.

You simply need to click your username in the upper right corner to get back out to the dashboard. Renew every post in your list.

Use Craigslist to Make it Rain

When you start to advertise on craigslist, you will quickly start to make short work of the task. In just a couple minutes while your coffee cools, you can have the job done.

Keeping a spreadsheet of ads and ideas can help speed up the process. Better yet, you could get someone else doing this for you! Let us know if you need help with this or any other local digital marketing services.

I apologize for not having the time to open comments on these posts. Feel free to hit me up on social media if you have any questions. Maybe you could help out and share this post as well.

The post How to Advertise on Craigslist Effectively appeared first on Cloud Inspector Web Design.

How to Advertise on Craigslist Effectively published first on http://www.cloudinspectorwd.com/

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cloudinspectorwebdesign · 8 years ago

Text

How to Advertise on Craigslist Effectively

I hear it all the time.

“How can I spread the word about my business if I don’t have a budget?”

One way, is to leverage your ability to advertise on Craigslist.

I’m sure you are asking yourself, “Is this guy nuts? Can I get any real business from Craigslist?”.

The answer is almost always YES!

Understanding the Marketing Potential on Craigslist

Ok, you’re right. Every business isn’t going to kill it with some craigslist posts.

You would be surprised how many will though.

If you are an attorney that deals with business litigation, yeah this isn’t for you.

A painter or a plumber however, get ready for lots of free business leads if you advertise on craigslist.

Of course every lead isn’t going to be a homerun either, although some niches deliver solid gold.

How to Advertise on Craigslist

Craigslist marketing might seem hard, but is a fairly simple and straightforward process that anyone can do. The key is in the posting regimen.

If you have a quick peruse through your local services section on craigslist, you will quickly see how many businesses are using this tactic.

When posting, the thing to remember is that you can only post 2 new ads, every other day. Additionally, you can repost one old post, and renew every post.

Ready to learn how?

Get Your Own Account

In order to start posting ads on craigslist, you need to get a phone verified account. Head on over and sign up.

Once you have signed up, go ahead and click your location. You should have a screen similar to this, but with your area listed.

Before we actually post, I want to go over a couple details to keep your account safe and your ads live.

You can only post to the cities listed from within your account. (seen in orange in image above – yours will be different)

Only 2 new ads can be placed every other day

Repost 1 expired post every other day

Renew all eligible posts every other day

It happens through the use of a technique called ghosting. Essentially, they show you the live ad. Only you though. It’s junk, spammed, blocked, outskie! But they let you think it’s all good.

Eventually, they will block every post from you and possibly ban your account.

Follow the directions for posting laid forth here and you will have a whole page of live ads within 2 months.

Admittedly, this account shows some slacking. Normally, it would be a full green page and yours can be too.

Where to Advertise on Craigslist

As in the first note above, you can only post to the cities that are located in your area. Your area, is the area you were in when you signed up.

You can get away with posting to any city listed, but I like to keep it to a few. Generally the largest cities in your area will be the best option.

A decent sized city with no competition can also be a gold mine. Essentially, every area can generate leads.

Bigger cities equal bigger numbers of course though.

Making Your First Post

An easy way to make a post is to simply click “post to classifieds”. I want to get you used to using the “my account” button instead, since we will always have renewals anyway.

Go ahead and click my account now.

This takes you to the main area of your account. To create our first post, we need to choose our city from the dropdown (#2 in figure).

The dropdown is every city, not just your region. Be sure that you do not choose a city outside your area mentioned earlier.

Once you have your city selected, click the “go” button.

Choose a Post Type

On this screen, you choose the post type. In most cases, you will choose “service offered” or maybe “gig offered” depending on what you will advertise on craigslist.

One thing to keep in mind. You can post an ad anywhere. The more “out of place” viewers find it though, the more likely it gets flagged.

Flagging happens, but our goal is live ads. The more we do to slide by those that like to flag people, the better so let’s play nice.

Once you choose your post type, click “continue”. The next step is choosing a post category for your craigslist ad.

Choose a Post Category

The selection shown is the result of choosing services offered, as mentioned earlier. As you can see, the selection is large to accommodate many types of services.

Go ahead and choose one that makes sense to you. For instance, if you are an HVAC contractor, it wouldn’t make much sense to post in the “writing/editing/translation section”.

This wouldn’t be the same for many other business types though.

Now, it’s time to actually build our ad.

The Anatomy of a Craigslist Ad

A craigslist ad has 3 entries that must be made in order to complete a listing.

The posting title

The postal code

The posting body

Choosing the Title to Advertise on Craigslist

The title is the most important part of any craigslist ad (#1). It is the clickable link in the sea of other mundane ads.

You have to make it stand out. I don’t mean pasting a bunch of bull shit peace signs either.

Is it ok to drop 1 entity, sure. The ace of spades always draws a look. But don’t over do it.

Add the Zip Code

One thing to note here, this isn’t your personal zip code (#2). This should go without saying, but I will make light of it anyway.

If you are posting to another city in your region, make sure you use an appropriate zip code.

Yes, that may mean searching for the zip code of a city if you don’t know it. Remember, it’s free marketing, not effortless marketing.

Make Your Posting Body SEO Friendly

The same could be said of the title as both are searchable. The posting body (#3) can only be seen once a user clicks through to the ad though.

Make a body with a lot of content. Use terms relevant to your trade and your area.

Perhaps the most important part of the title and description is focus. Your ads needs a reason.

If you want to generate leads from your ads, SOLVE PROBLEMS!

Yeah, it isn’t about you. Put your name out there, but do so in a smart way.

People are searching for service providers on craigslist because they want someone local to them. And they likely don’t want a giant chain company.

They want the little guy. They need you!

Additional Craigslist Ad Details

As mentioned, there are 3 must fill fields on the craigslist ad.

There are several others though, that you may fill out if you like.

Next is the license section, a radio checkbox. This makes sense for some fields such as various home contractors.

After that, you can enter contact information that is only visible when the viewer clicks the “reply” button.

You can see a screenshot of the information as it lives on an ad. The personal contact information on this ad has been blurred for privacy purposes.

The reason this method of entering contact information is simple. It can’t get scraped.

If you click “reply”, you will be forced to enter a captcha and prove you are not a bot. That’s great since you don’t want your info everywhere to post these ads.

After all, you do get enough spam already right?

The final section is the “show on maps” area. You may enter a location if it makes sense. Brick and mortar locations would surely want to take advantage. If not, unselect the box.

Add Your Images

The images are sometimes the most important piece of the ad. Depending on what you advertise, you could earn their trust right now.

Key takeaways for images are simple. If it doesn’t add to the overall trust of your brand, don’t show it. You can enter up to 24 images.

That being said, some people will not click an ad with no thumbnail, so consider adding a square high resolution logo for your brand.

When complete, click “done with images”.

Preview Your Craigslist Ad

This is the preview screen, which allows you to take a look at what the live ad will display like.

Make sure that you read through the title and description to check for errors.

For this post, I quickly put up a post. Your screenshot should have a solid title of more length.

And your posting body should look like an article! No kidding, don’t be afraid to drop a text bomb in here.

The key is to make the very beginning to the point so a reader can get “the jist” right away.

Once you are done, go ahead and click “publish”.

Go Rinse and Repeat

You did it! Your first free advertisement of craigslist is officially live on the internet. Now go do it again!

After all, I said you could do it 2 times right? You get those two chances today, and many more free chances in the future so take advantage.

Let’s Repost an Expired Listing

Craigslist posts only have a lifetime of 45 days. Once they expire, they are listed below your live ads in your account. They aren’t dead though.

Click “repost” next to your chosen ad. On the next screen, scroll down and click continue. Finally, click the publish button to repost the ad to live status.

You can repost (#3) 1 ad every other day. There is an exception though, it can’t be a duplicate.

For instance, you have 2 expired ads from your first day. You can repost one of them each time when they become eligible. You can not repost any more than one time though.

Be careful too, you will get away with it. Eventually, maybe even immediately the ad will get ghosted. A mistake is reasonable, but a habit is bad.

What I mean, you may get lucky once but I would just be careful to avoid this. It can happen since reposting an expired ad does not remove it from the expired list.

Don’t Forget to Renew Your Old Posts

We touched on this before. It’s listed as #4 above, the renewal process.

An ad on craigslist has a “new shelf life” of 48 hours. After that, you can renew the listing and get it lifted to the top of the pile.

The renewal process is simple, just click the link. That brings up a screen such as the one below.

You simply need to click your username in the upper right corner to get back out to the dashboard. Renew every post in your list.

Use Craigslist to Make it Rain

When you start to advertise on craigslist, you will quickly start to make short work of the task. In just a couple minutes while your coffee cools, you can have the job done.

I apologize for not having the time to open comments on these posts. Feel free to hit me up on social media if you have any questions. Maybe you could help out and share this post as well.

The post How to Advertise on Craigslist Effectively appeared first on Cloud Inspector Web Design.

#web design #local seo #digital marketing agency #search engine optimization #social media marketing

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mediatorfirm-blog · 8 years ago

Text

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