#danny creates his own amazons

[youcalledsworld]

What would Ares do?

Ghost King Danny but instead of mistaking him as a thousand years old ghost everyone knows he's a teenage boy. So everyone assumes he won't be able to keep it in his pants when beautiful women are offered as sacrifices.

Danny hates this and tries to help the best he can by either getting them home, finding new homes or giving them money to get home by themselves because they understandably don't trust him.

But there are some who latch onto him because he is the only one who showed them kindness and promised safety. And he can't just leave them all alone. So with the help of Pandora they create a safe haven for them. He visits them every now and again and Pandora decided to stay with them.

[nelkcats]

The Great One

Far Frozen is not the only place with carvings of a half-ghost hero, and Danny has been inadvertently traveling between dimensions during his adventures, causing impacts both good and bad.

For one thing, carvings of his battles with Vlad are in Themyscira itself, assessed by an excited young Diana who wonders if such a being really existed, someone who relentlessly pursued evil and fought for justice. The young Amazon spent days admiring the murals, much to the dismay of her mother who was unsure if this happening was a good thing or not. In a way it was part of the reason she decided to leave her island later in life so maybe a mix of both.

Elsewhere, in Nanda Parbat, Ra reflects on murals of a creature bathed in shadows and ice, toxic green eyes that betray his connections to the afterlife and razor sharp fangs. A story for children who fear monsters under their bed, except that his family has proof that it existed, the Lazarus pits only served to confirm their theories. Ra thinks this is what the powerful deserves, immortality.

Even Arthur has found his castle walls filled with carvings of two creatures chasing each other, like day and night. There are tales of how they set the city ablaze in a single day, causing irreparable damage but not taking a single life despite their battles. Beings driven by emotion, persecution and intrigue, but without being benevolent or malevolent. A sample that any creature is imperfect, in a way he thinks it is poetic.

Everyone interprets these beings in their own way, creating their own legends from the anecdotes that were recorded by their ancestors. They never have the same title, no one decides on a name and no one seems to agree on whether these beings are benevolent or malevolent. Whether they are enemies, friends, rivals, or something else.

For some they are a moral lesson, for others a guide, in some cases they are considered righteous heroes, while in others they are the worst enemies of the living, the only sure thing is that they are recognized, one way or another.

Of course, this leads to disaster when Danny decides to explore the dimensions connected to the Infinite Realms.

[call-me-strega]

Dc x Dp Prompt #3: Of Apples and Academic Frenemies

Au where Jason and Danny are attending the same college course on mythology and classical literature and they are always getting into debates about the depictions of the characters and the historical context of stories and stuff bc the both have a different exposure to the myths. Like Jason knows literal demigods and Amazons but Danny knows Pandora and the Greek myth related ghosts plus time travel from Clockwork and the infi-map. The debates can get heated at times but the respect each others intellectual takes.

This creates a peculiar situation where everyone in the class thinks they are academic rivals who hate each other (except for the few with their shipping goggles on and sense the homoerotic tension underlying their debates) and are deeply invested in watching them interact like their own personal drama even thought at this point in time they are at best friendly acquaintances and at worst annoying classmates.

Jason rants to his family about his debate partner/rival bc he’s happy to have some who will talk to him ad-nauseam abt this stuff but also bc he wants to complain about how Danny's a “smart but annoying little twink who’s got some real audacity”. And while the batfam is happy that Jason is experiencing some normal life things like an academic frenemy they’d love to stop hearing about this guy's “smug fucking smirk” and the “annoying gleam in his eyes". They are worried that Jason will snap and beat this guy up for being too annoying. Well, except Tim who thinks Jason would rather make out with this guy than debate with him.

One day the course decides to do a big themed party/fundraiser to save up for a class trip to an excavation site of some temple ruins or something. Both of them volunteer for the organizing committee bc of the offered extra credit. This encourages the two of them to start seeing each other more and to hang out outside of their classes so the can work on event planning. Over time they actually become pretty good friends (Danny's presence filters Jason's toxic ecto and cures pit rage due to increased exposure. It was happening anyways as classmates but the close proximity sped up the process) and Jason and Danny develop mutual crushes on each other.

For the event they do, like an Olympic games style format and have people sign up in teams for events a couple of weeks beforehand. Anyone in any sort of classical/mythology related course can join and they opened the event for public spectating. They have a few traditional events like a foot race, long jump and chariot race. But the also have some silly ones like Medusa's Snakes, where they shove their faces into bowls of whipped cream and fish out gummy worms, Pandora's Amphora, where they stick there hands into a box/jar of mystery contents (grapes, slime, a live animal like rats or kittens, a bunch of glitter, soda, etc.) and whoever keeps their hand in the longest wins, and Gladiator Fights, where they try to knock each other into a foam pit with those foam and rubber jousting sticks and the such.

Neither Danny, nor Jason want to participate for fear of their physical/supernatural abilities being discovered so the both get talked into doing the emceeing and commentary for the events. They make a really good duo, snarking and bantering with each other, playing off each other's energy and providing fun commentary to the events. Everyone, including the batfam who came to spectate, is a bit baffled by how well they are getting along bc last they checked these two were rivals of a sort, mildly annoying at best and actively antagonistic at worst. However, they really seem to be enjoying themselves.

The last event of the day is a trivia contest, which they both decide to take part in and let someone else take over the emceeing. The final winning trivia question is "what trope was falsely understood as a marriage proposal or declaration of love by misinformed media, that was actually closer to a ploy of seduction and indication of sexual desire according to Greek texts" and the both ring in at the same time to say "tossing an apple to someone" and an tie for the win. They both go up on stage to receive the prize (idk a gift card or smth) and shake hands before walking away in opposite directions.

Then suddenly Danny calls out to Jason just before he leaves the stage and chucks an apple he seemingly produced out of nowhere at him. The apple has a note with the time and date of a dinner reservation on it and when Jason looks back up at Danny he see the slightly flushed boy tentatively smiling at him.

" What do ya say Jase? Will you go out with me?"

And instead of replying Jason just straight up kisses him in front of everyone. Everyone else is gobsmacked by this whole turn of events except Tim who's cackling his head off, screaming "I FUCKING KNEW IT". When the two of them break apart they grin at each other widely and Jason drags Danny of the stage presumably to go make out somewhere.

[satoshy12]

Our own Vlad

+ Danny is a clone of Martha Kent, Martha Wayne, and Hippolyta. + Yes, of all the big three mothers and their own Vlads. It all started in college, as the 2 had their own Vlad in it, next to Thomas Wayne and Jonathan Kent as their Jack. Who stole their Martha from them?! - Wayne's Vlad is part of the Court of Owls. So old Gotham family. - Kent's Vlad is a scientist - Hippolyta's Vlad is a banished Amazon. Martha Wanye's Vlad was rich, while Martha Kent's Vlad was a science genius. It was just a surprise that both of them were working together, but what led to it was the third one.

She was after the last one joined them that he told them about how their "beloved" child is now a hero. That was how the other 2 learned that their Martha's child is Superman/Batman.

And all three thought that their child with her would be a much better hero than the one with Thomas, Jonathan, or Zeus, and started to work on the new one.

W!Vlad had the money, K!Vlad was able to create the clone, and H!Vlad was able to get the DNA. To mix their DNA with their beloved for the clone, it was just bad luck that only one clone came out. But he was perfect.

+ As soon as Danny was created, he was gone from the lab! And all three blamed each other. And try to find out who hides their child! +

It had been CW work that made Maddie and Jack find him, with Jazz, as they were on a trip. That was how Clone became Daniel Fenton.

+ The time did go on, and Danny became older. He became a phantom and a hero, and his family accepted his meta-status, as he was always too strong and similar. So having white hair was nothing new for them.

I mean, the whole school and town know that the meta child Danny is like a cute Disney hero. And now he is a real hero as he fights to defend the city.

+ Dani, as a female, looked like a mix between Martha, Martha, and Hippolyta. Dani is a 100% Danny clone, not mixed like Danny is. + - As Batman did a DNA test on the Little Meta Kid, he learned about it. And that was how Superman and Diana learned about it. - Martha Kent, Jonathan Kent, and Hippolyta were pretty supportive of their two clones(New children.

But not so much their children; who wants to know who did this? And we are pretty pissed.

+

Dani told Dany about it in Amity Park.

Dani:" They have their own Vlad! hahahaha!" Danny:" There is more creepy... Vlad just used my DNA and not that of my mom and his." +

[t-tex-edwards]

T. TEX EDWARDS writes: 

Way back in the 1980’s, Mr. Mike Buck gave me a cassette mixtape he made called THE RUBBER ROOM, comprised of old C&W songs about murder, madness, jails etc. but mainly about murder. Nowadays it’s a whole genre of it’s own. But back then it was just tapes of weird old tunes that record collectors like Buck shared amongst friends.

I had a friend named Danny Whittington back in Austin with some recording equipment at his house & on a lark, I suggested we record some of those songs next time I was back in town visiting from my then-current home in Hollywood, California. That was how this album came about. What started out as a kind of sick joke turned into a semi-serious music project.

As it turned out, the songwriting on the most part was strong, the musicianship of the friends & friends-of-friends who were recruited was sure, & somehow my drug-sick, mumbled warbling fit right in & some minor magic was created.

Weirdo Austin artist Bob “Don’t Call Me Robert” Frye, another friend-of-a-friend was tagged with coming up with some coverart. Something along the lines of Porter Wagoner’s COLD, HARD FACTS OF LIFE (one of the songs included) & this fantastic creation of Bob’s was the lynchpin in convincing Long Gone John, indie record guy & collector of transgressive art, to release a vinyl LP of the project on his Sympathy For The Record Industry label.

Much, much later, after the century turned & I had moved back to Austin, Jeff Smith of Saustex Media, consented to re-releasing a CD version in 2007.

Which brings us to the present where I still have some of those CDs left to peddle to you here on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155359257397

AMAZON BLURB:

'Pardon Me, I've Got Someone To Kill' is a re-issue of the classic 1989 Sympathy For The Record Industry release (also New Rose in France, 1991) by T. Tex Edwards & Out On Parole. T. Tex is a true Texas Punk pioneer dating from his work in the 70's with the Nervebreakers and his later Hollywood outfit the Loafin' Hyenas.  'Pardon Me,...' is a collection of obscure C & W 'murder' songs rendered in Edwards' singular style. Top-notch backing on the disc is provided by Austin Roots luminaries Mike Buck (Fabulous T-Birds, Leroi Bros.) on the drums, John X. Reed (Doug Sahm, Jesse Taylor, Lucky Tomblin Band) on a variety of guitars, and other lesser-known but equally talented weirdos. 14 tales about drinkin', cheatin', killin' and prison rendered in high Texan fashion for your listening enjoyment. Includes the previously unreleased 'Last Will and Testimony (of a Drinking Man) by Tex and the Affordable Caskets.

.

[laresearchette]

Sunday, October 08, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: 90 DAY FIANCÉ (TLC Canada) 8:00pm THE CIRCUS (Crave) 8:30pm LAST STOP LARRIMAH: MURDER DOWN UNDER (HBO Canada) 9:00pm 90 DAY FIANCÉ: PILLOW TALK (TLC Canada) 11:00pm THE TURNING POINT: MARTHA'S VINEYARD V. DESANTIS (MSNBC) 11:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: ICE AIRPORT ALASKA (TBD - Smithsonian Channel) THE VENICE MURDERS (TBD - Lifetime Canada) THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL (TBD)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA ARODON DIAMOND IN THE SKY LISTENING EARS SURVIVAL OF JELILI

CRAVE TV LAST STOP LARRIMAH

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN4) 9:30am: Jaguars vs. Bills (TSN/TSN4) 1:00pm: Giants vs. Dolphins (TSN/TSN4) 4:00pm: Eagles vs. Rams (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 8:20pm: Cowboys vs. 49ers

MEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP (TSN2) 11:45am: Tonga vs. Romania

NBA BASKETBALL (SN Now) 1:00pm: Bulls vs. Bucks (SN1) 8:00pm: Kings vs. Raptors (SN Now) 8:00pm: Pacers vs. Grizzlies

WNBA BASKETBALL (SN1) 3:00pm: Liberty vs. Aces - Game #1

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 4:00pm: ALDS - Rangers vs. Orioles - Game #2 (SN) 3:00pm: ALDS - Twins vs. Astros - Game #2

HEARTLAND (CBC) 7:00pm: Amy and Jack retrain Edwin's horse for carriage racing, bringing Amy and Edwin closer; Logan takes on his first client horse; election night arrives for Lou just as the family faces a difficult loss…OH NO! SAVE YOURSELF HORSIE!

THE BIG BAKE (Food Network Canada) 7:00pm: Fun and games turn to frights as host Brad Smith challenges the baking teams to sew up a win with a dangerous doll cake that toys with judges Ron Ben-Israel, Eddie Jackson and Danni Rose.

THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (CBC) 8:00pm: It's Bread Week once again, and the nine remaining bakers knead to prove their bread-iness.

CRUELLA (CTV2) 8:00pm: Estella is a young and clever grifter who's determined to make a name for herself in the fashion world. However, when Estella befriends fashion legend Baroness von Hellman, she embraces her wicked side to become the raucous and revenge-bent Cruella.

BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN (Lifetime Canada) 8:00pm: Young mother Rachel frantically searches for her teen daughter, Hannah, after their car crashes outside a small town; people die mysteriously in Rachel's wake as she gets closer to finding out that the local doctor kidnapped her daughter.

SKYMED (CBC) 9:00pm: As the SkyMed crew wait for their fallen team member to wake up, Crystal starts to find her feet as a medical student, and a secret from the past threatens Nowak and Tristan's relationship.

BRYAN'S ALL IN (HGTV Canada) 9:00pm/10:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): City slickers turned country boys, Ryan and Taylor, need Bryan's help to transform their live-and-work farm into a show-stopping distillery and bar; they need to create a venue that stands apart from the competition. In Episode Two, new-generation farmers, Samantha and Paul, have big dreams for their rural business; they want to create a farm stand to sell their home-grown products, but also to give local artisans a place to sell their goods.

EUROPE’S HIDDEN WONDERS (Nat Geo Canada) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): The filmmaker showcases the natural wonders of Germany, from the peaks of the Bavarian Alps to the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas.

WHEN CALLS THE HEART (Super Channel Heart and Home) 9:00pm: Lucas is the talk of Hope Valley; Elizabeth and the whole town rally around him, but everyone still worries it won't be enough to stop the governor.

CLEAN SWEEP (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm: The pressure builds on all fronts as Shelly is identified as the mysterious woman at the crime scene; she considers fleeing, but she would never leave her kids.

BELLE COLLECTIVE (OWN Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Latrice, Lateshia, Gucci and Tambra confront their relationship issues head on.

THE WINTER KING (Crave) 11:00pm: Arthur and the tribe kings enter peace talks; Arthur meets Guinevere, Ceinwyn's lady-in-waiting, while traveling.

[onenettvchannel]

LATE-DEVELOPING THIS MORNING: New Graphic Comic Novel of 'Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time' connects an Easter Egg of Lumity from 'The Owl House'

(Written by Dipper Pines / Stringer Correspondent of Disney XD News)

AMITYVILLE, MINNESOTA -- In a surprising discovery, fans of the animated series "The Owl House" have stumbled upon an exciting Easter Egg involving the popular shipping name 'Lumity', which refers to a relationship between characters Luz Noceda from Gravesfield, Connecticut, United States of America (U.S.A.) and Amity Blight from the Boiling Isles in Bonesborough. This said Easter Egg turns out, can be found in the Nickelodeon graphic comic novel "Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time".

(Banner Art via The Roundtable / YouTube & Contributed-ly Amateur Art Drawing via DeviantArt)

(via YT Shorts VIDEO / The Roundtable)

The revelation comes from an exclusive report by a male YouTuber named AwestruckVox in California, whose real name as Kevin Williams, per his own channel cartoon reviewer "The Roundtable".

"The Owl House", an animated fantasy series on Disney Channel, follows the adventures of Noceda, a young human girl who finds herself in a magical realm called the Boiling Isles, which is located the aforesaid region. Throughout the series, Noceda forms a close bond with Amity, a talented witch from a prestigious magical family at Hexside school and family member of the Blight Industries. The relationship between Noceda and Amity, known as 'Lumity' among fans, has gained a significant following for its representation of LGBTQ+ themes.

(Contributed Scanned Photo for image reference via Amazon Hardcover)

The Easter Egg connecting 'Lumity' to 'Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time' is a delightful surprise for fans. Lumity is a shipping name that fans have created to express their support for the romantic pairing couple of Noceda and Amity. In the said graphic comic novel, a panel features a background sign with the word 'Lumity' written on it, cleverly referencing the popular ship from "The Owl House". This subtle cameo has sparked excitement among fans of both shows.

While this Easter Egg has led to speculation about a potential crossover between "The Owl House" and "Danny Phantom" on Kids TV cable networks such as Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, it remains purely theoretical at this point. However, the connection between the two shows through this graphic comic novel has ignited fans' imaginations, and they have started to speculate about the possibility of a future collaboration.

"Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time" was written by a Philly illustrator and New York Times' best-selling author named Gabriela Rodriguez Epstein, and was released in a graphic, comic novel format. The story follows the adventures of Danny Phantom, a teenage ghost-hunting superhero. The graphic novel's release adds another layer of excitement for fans of both "The Owl House" and "Danny Phantom", as they eagerly await further developments and potential crossovers between the two beloved animated series.

As fans eagerly anticipate any news of a crossover, the discovery of the 'Lumity' Easter Egg has brought the two fandoms closer together. It serves as a reminder of the power of these animated shows to create connections among fans and spark their imaginations.

'Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time' is available now at your local library stores or wherever the books are sold, both physically or online.

NOVEL ART PHOTO COURTESY: Gabriela Rodriguez Epstein via gre-art.com and Google Images BACKGROUND PROVIDED BY: Tegna

SOURCE: *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EP97ApyJBE [Referenced YT Shorts VIDEO via The Roundtable] *https://www.amazon.com/dp/1419760556 [Referenced Book Item via Amazon] *https://shipping.fandom.com/wiki/Lumity *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Owl_House and *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Phantom

-- OneNETnews Team

[the-active-news]

Jim Sinegal Net Worth: Why A Costco Brand Almost Had A Whole Different Name?

James D. Sinegal, co-founder and CEO of Costco, the largest U.S. wholesale club and an international low-price membership retail chain, was born on January 1, 1936, in Issaquah, Washington. He was born on January 1st, 1936 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a working-class Catholic family. Because his mother was unable to care for him, she gave him to an orphanage. Giuseppe Siniscalli (later changed to Sinegal), who emigrated from Pisticci, Italy in 1901 at the age of one year old, was introduced to Mr Sinegal when she "re-adopted" him when he was eleven years old. Sinegal was distant from his original father, therefore he adopted the last name of his stepfather. Hurry up and get the scoop on Jim Sinegal's net worth stat! Don't miss out on the lowdown.

Jim Sinegal's Net Worth

American business executive Jim Sinegal has a $500 million fortune. As the co-founder and former CEO of Costco, the biggest membership retail company in the US, Jim Sinegal made his wealth. In 1983, Sinegal and Seattle retailer Jeff Brotman co-founded Costco. In addition to leaving the Board of Directors in 2018, he retired as CEO in 2012. Craig Jelinek took over as his replacement. There are about 800 Costco facilities globally, and the company brings in more than $200 billion annually. Read More: - Danny Trejo Net Worth: He Declaring Bankruptcy, But Only To Get Rid - Billy Beane Net Worth: How Did He Become The Owner of So Much Property?

Kirkland, A Costco Brand, Almost Had A Whole Different Name

Following only Walmart and Amazon, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the United States (via National Retail Federation). The wholesale warehouse brand still succeeds in creating a sense of exclusivity. It makes you feel special and almost like you're getting away with something when you flash your membership card and buy an entire roasted chicken for less than $5. Strangely enough, considering the size of its locations, Costco doesn't have as broad of a product selection as its rivals. Merchants are in charge because they have more influence than suppliers, but Costco's control over its labels almost went in a different direction: https://twitter.com/trengriffin/status/1625953983331442688 The typical Costco branch barely stocks one-tenth as much variety as you would find at other supermarkets, claims Britannica. But when you shop at Costco, variety isn't exactly the purpose. The main attraction is the low cost. The fact that the majority of Costco's products are sold under the Kirkland Signature brand is one of the primary reasons for its low costs (and restricted selection). Store brands like Kirkland often sell products for 10% to 50% less than name-brand rivals, according to CNN Business. These discount goods, however, conceal a dark truth. They are the same brands, which explains why they resemble name brands so much. Most retailers keep their suppliers a mystery, but according to CNN, Kirkland diapers are actually made by Huggies, while the batteries are made by Duracell.

FAQs

Does Jim Sinegal Still Own Costco? "Jim" Sinegal (born January 1, 1936) is an American billionaire businessman who is the co-founder and former CEO of the Costco Wholesale Corporation, an international retail chain. How Rich Is The Ceo Of Costco? The estimated net worth of W Craig Jelinek is at least $157 Million dollars as of 2023-02-15. W Craig Jelinek is the President and CEO of Costco Wholesale Corp and owns about 311,958 shares of Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) stock worth over $157 Million. How Much Does Costco Make Per Day? $526,000 a day Stay up-to-date by checking out the latest news on The Active News – know what's going on in the world! Read the full article

[itshype]

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, Crowntaker, Realmshaker (DC x DP)

Idk how many people who follow me know but I love my notfics so here...

A Kingmaker Danny Phantom where he's not (technically) king after defeating Pariah Dark because he's still uhm… a child (who is untrained in diplomacy and barely knows anything about Ghost Culture), but whoever replaces Pariah is fully aware than Danny could at any time beat them up and install someone else in their place. Maybe it's not even explicit and Danny doesn't know.

Pandora tells him: "Oh, we got a new king of the ghost zone, nah, you don't know her but she's tight with me and Frostbite. But we're not really having her use the crown and ring, they're going to be for emergencies only." and Danny is like "oh cool, my buddies approve of the new king, I don't need to be further involved!" but because of this assumption, he doesn't go to the coronation, and it turns into a huge source of tension because like:

"Why should we be concerned about any decrees given by the new king, when at literally any moment, Danny Phantom, the BAMF, the myth, the legend, is probably going to show up and give a legendary smackdown and make this ghost Pariah's new roomie?" Then some of Danny's long-time foes start to play very nice with him, in the hopes that when (not if) Danny decides to replace the new king that they might be in the running for a minor barony or something under the new regime. Danny does not think this about-face through, just thinking 'oh this is neat! how convenient that everyone wants to be my friend now!' Ghosts often refer to him as 'ghost child' and I love the idea of him being the little brother of the entirety of the amity park-adjacent section of the infinity realms. Johnny could teach him how to ride a motorbike, skulker could teach him some ghost engineering (assuming he is involved in the construction of his own suit) etc. These rumours of the upcoming 'next king' who doesn't even exist, of course gets back to the new king and she's like

"idk what I have done to anger Kingbreaker Danny, he hasn't even given me a chance!" SO!!! She decides to reach out to some humans she knows for advice on how to win over a little boy (her creepy insinuation very much unintended on her part). Here are some options of varying hilarity for how she could go because I couldn't pick just one!

Vlad!: Your standard, non-crossover option. I personally love redeemed Vlad content (maybe Maddy crosses a line and his Obsession with her snaps), and this could be amusing if the king doesn't give many details so he doesn't realise it's Danny, and then when he does realise, freaks out about having adoptive parent competition.

Constantine/Zatanna: Both magic-y people, they could have summoned her at one point before or after her coronation.

Wonder Woman!!: If the king knows Pandora maybe Pandora referred her as an old buddy of some of the gods or other amazons. The king could just say they need to talk to a human expert not connected to Danny without giving more detail and pandora could say "oh yeah, the gods who created me have some human-ish relatives and one of them even lives with other humans. she's basically my cousin!" meanwhile Diana has never met pandora and doesn't know anything about her outside of the OG myth.

Superman: Danny shares a lot of superman's powers, plus they both have that OP vibe, PLUS share the "one foot in each world" type of thing that could lead the king to think he was the best option. Unsure why they would've met so reaching out as a stranger would add a different vibe.

The Flash: his speed powers canonically come from another dimension that he calls the speed force. do you know what is also another dimension? the ghost zone. The flash is that annoying neighbour who occasionally dangles an extension cord over your fence to use your electricity, and will not stop using your Wi-Fi because it runs faster than his. The king figures he owes her and if he won't then she'll change the speed force Wi-Fi password...metaphorically.

Actually, you know what, ghost king threatening all speedsters on Earth if they don't help her woo a teenager is the funniest option. So, we’re continuing with that. Obviously, the flash doesn't want to lose his abilities! But also, this smacks of a creepy grooming situation. The flash then has to awkwardly explain to the entire justice league that his speed is being held hostage by a dead cougar who wants to seduce a human teenage boy for reasons that may be illicit but are jenky at the very least. There are hundreds of Danny joins the batfam fics so I don't think this story needs to go in that direction, but batman would probably have to be involved at this point just to figure out who the "teenage victim" is. That is how Danny Fenton meets most of the main justice league with them not even having an inkling he's dead/secretly a ghost hero. Most batpham fics I've read where the batclan figures out Phantom's identity, they see him fight ghosts and look up ghost experts, find his parents, see a family photo and then make the visual connection. Like superman, Danny's identity is mostly in the clear because no one would think that a ghost would even have a secret identity - he's dead (and thanks to the time travel he's done appears to have been dead for centuries), who would he need to be protecting?? But this time, the ghosts are all playing buddy-buddy with Danny so phantom hasn't necessarily had any super public fights recently that would make investigating protections against ghost attacks a priority for the bats that would lead them to holding up a picture of Danny next to a picture of phantom. Mostly, Danny goes ghost to play with cujo (I love cujo), or visit the ghost zone. Casper high students are BAFFLED at Fenton's eclectic friend group btw, though considering his parents the ghost dog totally tracks for them. *GASP* service dog Cujo....but that's another post for another time. Jasmine Fenton is not impressed. This could also be Sam or Tucker, or any of Danny's newest ghost buddies if you like but as an oldest sibling I have OPINIONS. She thinks Danny is safest taking this perv ghost on himself and not risking a possessed/overshadowed justice league or even just the justice league themselves. That's right kids, the justice league is often in canon closely associated with the USA government - the same government who put the anti-ecto acts into place. NOW! a lot of crossover fics have the justice league completely clueless about the anti-ecto laws and GIW. I don't always find that realistic. The entirety of the justice league dark is pretty closely involved with the dead and ghosts (deadman IS a ghost), clark is an investigative journalist married/dating/besties with another, award winning investigative journalist, Bruce is the most paranoid and well informed man alive with two sons plus one batgirl who have died and been brought back through mystical or scientific means, Diana is (in some canons) meant to be an ambassador representing her people to the entirety of mankind. So, none of them even being vaguely aware of this new law does NOT track for me. I think a few possibilities are...possible: - They know about the laws, read a few scientific papers on ecto-entities written by "experts" which would include the Fenton parents and pre-redemption Vlad, and think 'yeah that checks out no reason to fight this' - They know but as they rarely deal with the national justice system as a team, and therefore don't think about it as a positive or negative thing. It doesn't apply to their lives. Think about how much you know about your local laws, let alone obscure federal ones (in some parts of Australia it’s illegal to be holding more than 50kg of potatoes, just as a random example!). - Some of them agree with the "experts" or don't even know about the laws, whereas Batman, John Constantine and Martian Manhunter know they're a crock of shit but themselves lack the political capital to fight them without leverage and can't justify it without an emergency.

Danny's ghost buddies are told that apparently some ghost is threatening the justice league to get to Danny and go back into the zone to investigate. I genuinely think once their obsessions are no longer at cross purposes, Danny could totally help ghosts to fulfil their obsessions in ways they hadn't considered, and they could be buddies for real now. Think Tucker setting Ember up with a YouTube or streaming account, playing paintball with Skulker, introducing Walker to one of those uber-elaborate RPG or tabletop games with massive amounts of rules and letting him be like Matt Mercer in the Rules Lawyer round of Um, Actually. There’s an entire separate fic here I swear.

Either way! Jazz is trying to warn her brother away from the justice league while he and probably Tucker are all 🤩. Danny knows it's dangerous for him personally but his Obsession with protecting the town knows that Amity has never been safer with all these heroes milling about so it's hard for him not to be over eager and relaxed. The flash is explaining how his powers could be removed if he doesn’t comply and Danny says, “oh then just tell her?” and the league is like “oh no, not another self-sacrificing teen.” Unfortunately for everyone involved, Superman has super hearing. He heard Jazz telling Danny to kick the Justice League to the curb. Now the Justice League thinks there's something foul in the Fenton household, but they think it's Jazz instead of Danny.

[notebooknebula]

Improving Business Relationships Through CRM with Danny Johnson & Jay Conner

https://www.jayconner.com/improving-business-relationships-through-crm-with-danny-johnson-jay-conner/

Real Estate Investing With Jay Conner

It doesn’t matter if you are earning a million dollars a year unless you are enjoying the freedom that comes along with your business.

In today’s Real Estate Investing show with Jay Conner, Jay and his guest Danny Johnson talk about automation and organizing your business. How it will greatly help you build a real estate business that works for you and not you working the business.

Danny Johnson is a veteran real estate investor that has been flipping and wholesaling since 2003 having done nearly 1,000 deals. The financial and time freedom his real estate business created for him has allowed him to use his software background to develop the Forefront CRM for real estate investors.

He also hosts a new podcast called ‘Braver’ which is devoted to being honest about what’s holding you back so that you can transition from doing everything in your business to having the business work for you.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Get Ready To Be Plugged Into The Money

2:00 – Jay’s New Book: “Where To Get The Money Now” –https://www.JayConner.com/Book

2:41 – Today’s guest: Danny Johnson

5:17 – Getting involve in different Masterminds greatly affects the success of your real estate business.

7:25 – “ Flipping Houses Expose” – Danny Johnson

9:19 – What is your conversion now compare to when you started?

12:04 – Importance of attending immediately to a motivated seller.

13:30 – Danny Johnson’s different marketing strategies

16:17 – Significance of building rapport with your motivated seller.

18:16 – How Danny got into real estate?

21:39 – How did you transition from wearing all the hats to building a real estate business that’s working for you and not you working the business?

27:02 – The Forefront CRM for real estate investors.

29:03 – Connect with Danny Johnson – https://www.forefrontcrm.com

30:15 – Danny’s parting comments: Look at the next step that you need to do. Do it and take action.

Private Money Academy Conference:

https://jaysliveevent.com/live/?oprid=&ref=42135

Have you read Jay’s new book: Where to Get The Money Now? It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book

Free Webinar: http://bit.ly/jaymoneypodcast

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $64,000 per deal.

What is Real Estate Investing? Live Private Money Academy Conference

https://youtu.be/QyeBbDOF4wo

YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/private-money-academy-real-estate-investing-jay-conner/id1377723034

Listen to our Podcast:

https://realestateinvestingdeals.mypodcastworld.com/11208/improving-business-relationships-through-crm-with-danny-johnson-jay-conner

Jay Conner and Danny Johnson

Jay Conner

00:00:30

Well, what in the world was I talking about a second ago on plugging you into the money? Well, you see back in 2003, my wife, Carol Joy, and I started investing in single-family houses here in Eastern North Carolina. The first six years, we relied on local banks and mortgage companies and institutional money. And you know what? In January of 2009, we were cut off, lost our lines of credit, no way to fund our deals. I was introduced to this wonderful world of private money. And since that time, we have not missed out on a deal for not having the money.

And when I say private money, I’m not talking about hard money. I’m not talking about brokers. I’m not talking about institutional money. I’m talking about getting funding from individuals right now. We’ve got 46 individuals investing in funding our deals. We haven’t missed out on deals since 2009. And guess what? You can experience the very same thing and be in control of your real estate investing business. So what am I talking about? I got a free gift for you. I just released my brand new book, “Where To Get The Money Now,” subtitled: “How and Where to Get Money for Your Real Estate Deals Without Relying on Traditional Hard Money Lenders.” It hit number one on Amazon just a few short months ago. And so I want to send this book to you, just cover delivery. I will tell you how you can get this brand new book for free. Go to www.JayConner.com/Book

You know that I have amazing guests on the show and today is no different whatsoever. My dear friend, my fellow mastermind member is a veteran real estate investor. I’ve been doing this for a long, long time. I mean, he’s been flipping, he’s been wholesaling all the way back to the very same year that Carol Joy and I started, back in 2003, and he’s done almost a thousand deals.  Well, the financial and time freedom that his real estate investing business created for him has allowed him to use his software background. Yes, his software background is to develop what’s called The Forefront CRM for real estate investors.

In other words, how do you keep up with all those contacts? How do you keep up with the buyers and the sellers and everything that’s going on? Well, he’s going to be telling us about that because I tell you what, I was still totally paper until about 4 years ago, maybe as recent as 3 years ago. So you want to organize your life. My guest is going to get to helping you on that in just a second. He also hosts a podcast that’s called, “Braver,” which is devoted to being honest about what’s holding you back so that you can transition from doing everything in your business to having the business work for you. And I tell you that reminds me of what my dad taught me years ago. “Make sure you get your business to where you’re running it and it’s not running you.” So we’re going to talk with my special guest right now about automation, organizing your business, and one of the best CRMs for keeping up with all your contacts, which he developed and calls, “The Forefront CRM.” With that, welcome to the show, my friend, Danny Johnson. How are you?

Danny Johnson

00:04:40

Doing great. Thank you for having me on, Jay.

Jay Conner

00:04:43

Absolutely, Danny. We’re glad to have you and tell everybody where you are speaking from today.

Danny Johnson

00:04:49

Well, I’m in San Antonio, Texas, and yeah, I like that, you know, we both started in 2003. And how you introduced me that way, that you didn’t just read the bio, like you really put it out there in a great way. It made it sound a lot more interesting. I was excited. I was like, “Who’s he going to be talking with?” But it was actually me.

Jay Conner

00:05:16

Absolutely, Danny. Well, you know, we are in a mastermind together and masterminds, being a member of a mastermind, has just been such a huge part of my real estate investing business. I really started getting involved in masterminds- Right now, I’m in 3 masterminds, got involved back in 2009. And so when you’re hanging around people that are of light minds and you’re helping each other and your business, it’s bound to grow, right?

Danny Johnson

00:05:44

Absolutely. I’m a part of 2, been a part of probably 6 in my investing career. And it was a pivotal moment in the first one that I joined where I was doing everything in the business. My ex-wife and I were doing everything in our business, wearing all the hats. We had contractors, we had an agent to sell properties, but beyond that, we did everything and that was 8 or 9 years. And it wasn’t until I joined a mastermind and hung out with people that were operating the business in a way that allowed them the time to actually work on the business more than they worked in the business. And having that firsthand experience with people that were doing it, showed that it was completely possible, and cut out a lot of time and headache and hassle and mistakes. So that was great.

Jay Conner

00:06:41

Well, I can certainly relate. I remember I had been in the business from 2003 until about 2008, five years. And I came around the corner one night and there was my Carol Joy sitting at the kitchen table, crying with 3 different checkbooks in front of her. And that was at 10 o’clock at night. And she told me she couldn’t handle it anymore. And I learned right there that you can be making a million dollars a year and it doesn’t really matter unless we are enjoying the reason we got into real estate and that’s to enjoy the freedom that comes along with it. So yeah, it took me an entire year to really hone in and start automating my business. So I can definitely relate to your story, Danny.

Danny Johnson

00:07:23

It’s interesting. I had a book that I put out a while back called “Flipping House Exposed,” and that was 34 weeks in the life of my business where I documented every single lead that came in. And basically week by week I was breaking down what I spent on marketing, where I put my marketing, the leads that came in, all that kind of stuff. But the thing that came out of that was out of those 34 weeks, I generated 495 motivated seller leads. So these are qualified leads where people called or submitted on my website that they wanted an offer on their house. Guess how many of those I turned into a deal?

Jay Conner

00:08:04

Probably less than you would have desired.

Danny Johnson

00:08:09

Right. I wouldn’t bring it up. But yeah, it was about 11 during that 34 weeks. Right? Yeah. So that’s about one out of every 45. And so a lot of people, got into this business after reading that book and were telling me it was so great because it showed me it was a numbers game, but it wasn’t until a little bit later that I realized looking back, it was like I was killing myself trying to have more success by doing more of the same thing that I had original success with. So it was okay when I was generating, doing maybe 20 to 30 deals a year. It was okay to be focused mainly on the lead generation. Right? If I want to do more deals, I’ve got to get more leads. I mean, in my mind, that’s how it was. I don’t have a business background. I wasn’t structured in business, and looking back in hindsight, it was treating it like a hobby. It really was just, “Hey, I’m having fun. I’m doing that,” which is great, but it comes at a price. And that price is that hamster wheel of having some success and trying to have more success by just doing more of the same thing without really dialing anything in, where I’m really looking at them.

Jay Conner

00:09:18

What’s your conversion now compared to when you started?

Danny Johnson

00:09:22

Well, now I’m actually back to operating as a solo-preneur with the real estate and just doing rental properties. But we did grow from that, we were doing everything and built a team and we got to the point with the team where we were getting about one out of every five leads became a deal.  

Jay Conner

00:09:41

That’s different than one out of every 40 or 50.

Danny Johnson

00:09:43

Right. So looking back, had we had the team, had we had the business dialed in and this doesn’t even require a team. It really just dials, it requires somebody to know what’s going on in their business and fix the parts that are broken because it wasn’t so much the leads were a problem. It was what we were doing once the leads came into our business. Right?

Jay Conner

00:10:06

And in addition to not only what you were doing with them, but what you were not doing with them.

Danny Johnson

00:10:13

But that’s probably the bigger issue. So what happened? What made the transition? Obviously the team helped because as a one-man-show, taking the calls, going on appointments, scheduling contractors, checking on jobs, you get to where you’re having a lot of appointments and meetings with different people. And when those motivated sellers are calling, if you can’t take those calls right away, number one, that’s a huge problem. Somebody has to live answer that call right away because that’s a truly motivated seller, the one that’s saying, “Hey, just get over here. I wanted this thing done yesterday. I’m just done.” If you’re not the first person that answers that call, whoever is, is getting the deal most likely. And so having a way, no matter what you do.

And I did this business 3 years part-time while I was a software developer working for a defense contractor where I couldn’t even have my cell phone with me at my job. I know it’s been long enough. I had it on vibrate and if it went off, I would run out into the stairwell and return the call right away because I didn’t want to miss out on those. Once you do that, make sure you’re answering all those calls, having those come in, what happens with the building of rapport, talking with that seller, listening to them, not just asking for all the details of the house and just being all about that and scheduling an appointment, just being done. There’s a lot that goes into building that rapport with the seller.  Almost all of my deals came from motivated seller direct to seller marketing. Just found that those were always the best deals and helped us actually get through that market correction back in ’07, ’08, but by just going direct to the seller and getting those great deals.

Jay Conner

00:12:03

Since you bring it up, let’s talk about it because this is a really important point. And that is, in my experience over the years, there are 5 key components to a successful real estate investing business when it comes to talking with and marketing to motivated sellers. And this podcast is about you. It’s not about me. So I’m only going to talk about one and you already said the word, and that is the word, “immediacy.” When a motivated seller, and of course we’re talking about off-market sellers, we’re not talking about sellers or bank-owned properties that are in the multiple listing service in this market, you can’t rely on that anyway. But when that call comes in, whether it’s from a Google ad or it’s direct mail, or doesn’t matter how you are getting leads coming in, it’s like the most important thing that could ever happen is for someone on the team, your acquisition is to ever to be talking to that person like right away.

And you know, it’s the age-old argument. Do you take the calls live? I mean, there’s an argument for that. Do you have them get an operating service? And then you’re like, get through the rigmarole of trying to get them back on the phone. So share with us your experience of taking the call live, wherein if you’re not doing it yourself, which I never recommend to people. So if you have an acquisition, do you answer the phone live in the morning to when at night?

Danny Johnson

00:13:50

That’s one of the big things that made a huge difference. So we had somebody come in as an acquisitions person to take that off of my plate. And they did take the calls for a while because it made it also seamless for when somebody is answering the phone, they talk to somebody and then that’s the same person that’s coming to the house. So that’s beneficial. As you grow, that’s going to be to where it becomes a problem because that person is going on appointments and they can’t take those calls while they’re at an appointment. And we don’t want them feeling like, “Oh, I’m going to miss a call or a call came in. I missed it. I need to wrap this appointment up.” Everything that we do, we spend so much time and energy looking at different marketing tactics, executing on those and doing all of that stuff to get those calls in and then to get to the appointment.

So all of that stuff to that point is to be at that appointment. And if we’re not spending the time that’s required at that appointment where we’re wasting all the rest of it, why are we doing anything else? So our acquisitions people, it was spend as much time as you need to at each of these, make sure that you’ve got at least 2 hours so that you can sit down on that gross couch or whatever it is, and have a conversation with the seller because this is what this is all about. It’s really getting to the bottom of why they’re selling, understanding their problem, and then showing them how we can help them. It’s not just, “Here’s the offer. Do you want it? Come on, sell your house.” It’s none of that stuff. So, in answering the calls, once you have that where you have the ability to bring on that lead intake person, then that person should be somebody that’s super friendly.

That’s easy to build rapport with. That’s the first person that they’re gonna interact within your business, right? They’re representing your business. And so if you can have somebody that doesn’t even have to be in an office or anything like that, this could be your mother-in-law, this could be your aunt, somebody that’s just at home all day that can take these calls. It doesn’t need to be a professional hire or anything like that. And just a part-time, “I’m going to pay you per call that you take,” or something like that. And you train them up just to be friendly. It really requires somebody that’s super friendly that’s not going to just go down the list of questions, ask them, get them answered, and then get off the call. Because we want the person saying, “Wow, that person, this company is great. I really liked that person I just talked to.”

Jay Conner

00:16:15

Building rapport is so important and people are gonna pick up on as to, do you really care about what they’ve got going on? As you say, if there wasn’t a problem with the property, if they didn’t have a personal problem or both, we wouldn’t be there looking to help solve the problems. For example, this past Friday, I was at a seller’s house myself, right here in Morgan City, North Carolina for 2 hours and 10 minutes. Myself personally. Most of the time that doesn’t happen because even with crazy times going on, I’m still traveling a lot or I’ve started traveling a lot. But something told me that I needed to go on this appointment. We were in a small market, only 40,000 people willing to do 2-3 deals a month, but the average profits were $70,000.

So not to get into the details of that visit, but I knew it was going to take an un-rushed amount of time, un-rushed. And when I’m visiting with a potential seller, I use a technique that I call, “awkward silence.” I ask a question and I just let them talk. And when they sound like they’re finished, I go, “Uh-hmm” and they talk more. And so I tell them right up front in the visit, I say, “You know what, there’s a good number of times I’m not able to help people. And the reason why is because every transaction I do, it’s got to be a win for you. It’s gotta be a win for your husband. It’s gotta be a win for me.” And so I go ahead and get the white elephant out of the room and just let them know that I’m not here to high-pressure you. I’m here to see what we can do to work together, to make things happen. And as you said, establishing a rapport is very, very important. So let’s get right into what your specialty is, Danny, and that’s the CRM keeping up with all the leads, right? That you developed from your background as a software developer. But before we jump into that, just tell us your background as to how you got into real estate.

Danny Johnson

00:18:33

So I got into real estate. I was going through college to get my degree in computer science. My father started flipping houses and when I was growing up, he was a contractor for a real estate investor. And so as a kid, I would go to the demos and I would have to haul out the junk and all this stuff from the demos of the houses. So I got an early taste of that, but my father was a contractor at that time. So in college, he began being mentored by the person he had done a lot of contracting work for in the past. And I just saw his joy. It was just like a whole new him, my father. I’d never seen him like this. He had always struggled in his life. He had always started in different businesses that didn’t succeed.

And we had to move year after year and sometimes getting evicted. And it was just a rough, rough time and I’ve got three other siblings, but in college, it just all broke loose for him. Like he was just having so much fun talking about the deals he was doing driving around town. And I just felt this surge with him. He was like, “Oh, I want to do that, too. That’s what I want to do.” So I started part-time, also getting into the business and he worked with small towns around San Antonio and I worked in San Antonio. So the relationship was really, “Well, you go find out how you want to invest, whether that’s fix-and-flip or rentals or whatever, you just go and learn what you want to learn. When you have an issue that you come against as you’re taking action, call me.”

So it wasn’t hand-holding, what-do-I-do-next? kind of thing. That relationship was like a mentor relationship. And then his mentor also was available to me, too, whenever I had questions, which was great because it forced me to take action and make mistakes. And I tell people that one of the first, I think it was the first contract that I did directly with a motivated seller, I signed the contract then I went to the title company and I was in the parking lot. And I had to, literally, call my dad and say, “What am I supposed to say when I bring this inside of here?” I didn’t even know that step of it, but the beautiful thing was I was out there taking action, right? And even though I wasn’t well-versed in all the different things, from putting a deal under contract to getting it sold, I was taking action.

That was the important thing. So I was in the business part-time for 3 years. I was making good money as a software developer, it was really hard to leave that steady paycheck. And they let me go, thankfully, I guess they caught onto the fact that most of my day was spent on real estate investor forums and things like that. But anyway, they let me go and I became a full-time investor and my ex-wife and I ran that for 8 or 9 years alone. And then we started bringing on a team which started with my brother-in-law. He was one of the first people to sign on. And we grew that team and learned a lot after we joined the masterminds. And that’s where we started really systematizing the business, and a great book called, “Traction” by Gino Wickman really showed us how to operate the business like a true business.

Jay Conner

00:21:38

You just mentioned the phrase of transitioning in your business. So walk us through that process. How did you transition from doing everything, wearing all the hats to really building a true real estate investing business that was working for you instead of you working for it?

Danny Johnson

00:22:03

Sure. And I’ll tell you what I did first really quickly so that people don’t do what I did first because it wasn’t the right way to go about it. So the first hires, how it went down was, “Hey, yeah, sure. That’d be great. Yeah, come on and help us out. You know, you’ve been on a couple of appointments with me to talk to sellers.” And they would come in and I would just say, “Well, shadow me for a week. That’s how you’re going to learn what you’re supposed to do.” That was not the way to set somebody up for success. And so everything that I had learned over the years and doing the business 8 or 9 years, wearing all the hats, that was all in my head, and I was expecting them by just shadowing me for a week to pick up on all of it.

So when it was time for me to not be there for them to go on the appointment, they were really not set up to succeed. And I was thinking, “Well, they’ll find their own way. Like I did,” right? Not a good way to do it. So I don’t recommend that. What I recommend is setting things up. There’s a good, really good book called “Work The System,” that I forgot the author’s name, but he talks about setting up your procedures. And I wish I had done this even before I planned on bringing people in because there were so many times where I came up against the situation that I had solved before, but I didn’t remember how I solved it. And so I had to go back and spend all this time trying to figure out the right solution.

Whereas if I had just documented what to do in this situation, I would have known. And the beautiful thing about when you do that is you realize a lot of times, even with the things that you do on a weekly or daily basis, is pretty inefficient. And when you document it out and you’re like, “Whoa, what am I? Wow, I’m-” and then you realize how much you’re doing as well, which will make you want to hire someone to take a lot of that off your plate. So getting all of that documented, I use a tool called “TETTRA.” It’s free. I think you get a free account and you can document your procedures there. And then whenever you hire a team, they have a place to easily find all of those procedures. And then they have a way to communicate and update those so that they’re living documents, they’re living processes.

And so when you set those things up like that, when you bring somebody on, number one, they’re going to have a lot more trust in your company because you don’t want to be starting a job where you’re feeling like everything is just shooting from the hip and nothing is structured at all. And job security might be in question. And so having all of that to bring somebody in, to follow what you’ve proven to work, and then they can just pick it up. And what that does is that truly does free you from having to interact as much, because they have something to go off of and they won’t be calling you every hour or 30 minutes, even asking you questions about things, making you question whether even hiring somebody was the right thing to do.

Because I found that I would get into situations where I would say, “What am I doing? I can finish this faster than it would take to explain it to them.” And you do not want to fall into that trap. And so documenting those processes is absolutely critical. The next thing I don’t want to spend too much time on is, but the next thing is really having that system in place where everything in the business is in, the data is there in a place that everybody on the team has access to it. And even if you’re a small team, even when it was my ex-wife and I, having that place where everything about the lead in the deal is right there in one place, keeps everything so much more organized and less communication needing to happen. I didn’t have to bug her to find out some situation about this deal because it’s all right there in the system, right?

Yeah. And things that you can do these days with what we’ve done with Forefront and several other systems out there, all the communication can be tracked within the system. So not only do you have the deal information for one of these properties, you also can have all your communication that was ever had with them within that same record. So you can see no matter who chose the call, who sent the text, who received the text, it’s all right there on a timeline. And the beautiful thing about that is when you do that, you start to get into things that really help you also dial in your marketing because you can track, you get a different phone number per marketing channel, or even campaign. So everything’s attributed properly and it’s really producing not just the leads, but the ones that become deals. And then the profit you actually get from those deals per campaign. Because if you’re not tying all that stuff together and figuring that out, how do you make decisions on where to put your marketing?

Jay Conner

00:26:56

I love the way you got that set up. So in your CRM, Forefront, if you can get the phone numbers to track all the marketing from that same system, right?

Danny Johnson

00:27:11

We actually integrate it right now with CallRail.

Jay Conner

00:27:16

I use CallRail, but I have a VA that I actually manually puts in the information. So it’s really cool for you to have a CRM that you develop that CallRail actually communicates and it goes straight into your CRM. Right?

Danny Johnson

00:27:33

Right. And then the text messages, everything gets routed through. So you can see and listen to those calls, listen to voicemails. That’s a good way to stay on top of your team, too, when you look at the KPI page and you’re seeing that, “Hey, for some reason, we’re having less appointments being set, even though our lead count is the same or better. What’s going on?” You can go into those records and listen to the calls. And there was a situation that we ran into where that happened. And it turned out that our lead intake person taking the calls was making assumptions about the seller’s motivation level. They had plenty of equity. They didn’t know much, but they were saying, “They’re not motivated. So I didn’t set the appointment.” It’s like, when did you decide to start doing that? Like, that’s completely against what we’ve trained, you know? But something happened maybe where somebody was angry or who knows, but you’ve gotta be able to see that kind of thing in your business.

Jay Conner

00:28:32

Well, you just told the story of, by listening to the calls, you’re learning that, “Oh, my lands, what in the world is this person saying?” which reminds me of a very, very important principle that I learned years ago. And that is you cannot expect anything in your business that you cannot inspect, so you can’t expect it unless you can inspect it. And one way that you’re inspecting is by actually being able to listen to those recorded calls that come in. Danny, let’s go ahead and let folks know how they can learn about your software, your CRM system, and keeping up with all the leads.

Danny Johnson

00:29:12

You can find out more at forefrontcrm.com. We’ve got it where there’s a button to book a demo, go ahead and do that if you’re interested in finding out more, and that way we can find out what you’re looking for, what you’re needing in your business, and then tailor that demo specifically to you to show you how it can actually help you with that and show you all the cool features, everything that we’ve built, but not spend a whole day running you through everything, but just showing the pieces that make sense and matter for you and where you’re at in your investing business.

I’ve been on a couple of interviews, but it’s quite a few actually, but the big thing that I’m seeing with investors wanting to get to the next level, even if you’ve gotten to a good level, is this thing where we’ve overcome some fears and got our comfort zone and got to the next level. But sometimes we don’t realize when we get to another plateau and there’s new fears that we’re not acknowledging. And so taking a look at, no matter where you’re at in this business, if you are avoiding things and doing things that keep you in your comfort zone, or even having false beliefs about what’s keeping you stuck. Looking at that, accepting it, and then just looking at the next step. What is the next thing that you need to do? And just do that. Don’t give it too much thought. Just do it and take action.

[motherwasapapafucker]

Justice Legion Delta: 'The Legion of Doom'

Initially known as Danny’s Legion, the original members of Justice Legion Delta vanished during a Violent Unknown Event, earning the group the ‘Legion of Doom’ sobriquet and a superstitious reputation within the larger structure of the Justice Legion. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Delta has gained a reputation for being well-equipped to handle the strangest of fringe threats facing the many worlds of the United Systems.

Members

L.exe: Created in the Memory Bardos of the 549th Century, L.exe was designed as the final weapon in the Crime Biographers’ war against that century’s Superman. A living biography, L.exe’s positronic certainty generator allowed it to develop and enact new chapters dedicated to how a long-dead master criminal would have challenged the current Superman, it’s own existence fueled by waging this constant, unending war against Superman on behalf of its creators.

However diminishing resources, a lack of time and a scarcity of information regarding the source mind resulted in a bug laden, factually dubious weapon whose every action was undermined by an artificial intelligence cobbled together from half-a-dozen sources tenuously conflated by the Crime Biographers’ due to shared initials. As a result, L.exe’s burning hatred was matched by an all-encompassing love for Superman, the two extremes cancelling each other out and leaving it almost completely neutral on the subject of his descendants. Discarded and forgotten, L.exe would eventually be unearthed in the 853rd Century by Bill ‘Billion’ Magnus, a data-archaeologist who made a name for himself restoring long-dormant machine intelligences. Together, the two debated L.exe’s function in life now its creators and their war had long since ended, L.exe eventually convinced to embrace Magnus’ stance that it should forge a new path in life rather than its initial plan to stage an all-out blitzkrieg on the Justice Legion and the United Systems. 

As the Justice Legion Delta’s self-appointed “head-man,” L.exe subverts the power of its own Maliceware in service of the never-ending battle for justice, even if it does struggle with frequent intrusive thoughts regarding universal domination and elaborate marriage schemes. 

Shattered Visage: An early example of living marble technology, the Shattered Visage was the Venusian Amazons’ first attempt at creating a new Wonder Woman for the new century. Boasting a spiritual core drawn from one of their best and brightest, the Visage was intended as a perfect representation of the hallowed Amazonian magi-science that had been the cornerstone of their culture since the dawn of the age of heroes. 

With a functionally impervious body, a glut of superpowers well beyond the Amazonian standard, and wielding the latest in thought-weapon technology, the Visage was perfect in almost every sense of the word save one, a tiny almost imperceptible flaw within her living marble body that only she could perceive. On the eve of the bonding ritual that would link her to the Goddess of Truth, the Shattered Visage attempted to talk about the growing uncertainty that had been eating away at her across years of training and development, only to have her concerns dismissed as nothing more than nerves. Instantly rejected by the Goddess, the Amazons doggedly attempted to continue the ritual, forcibly entwining the two for the briefest of nanoseconds. Truth’s proximity externalising the Shattered Visage’s fears and self-doubt, her body irrevocably damaged as her marble skin cracked and reformed to reflect her self-perceived truth. In the political turmoil that followed, the Visage abandoned her homeworld. Joining the ranks of Amazonian Wandering Women that sought self-discovery on the fringes of inhabited space. Returning to Venus to fight in a civil war that threatened to consume the planet, only to discover upon her arrival that the conflict had been brought to a peaceful end by the new Wonder Woman, the forces responsible for her trauma now facing justice at the hands of a true Amazonian paragon.  Finding no comfort in this, the Shattered Visage fell into darkness. Spending years as an operative for hire, she eventually came into conflict with her younger sibling during an alliance with OWAC’s Injustice Brigade. Confronting Wonder Woman, the Visage’s attempts to battle her sibling were hampered by Wonder Woman’s refusal to do more than defend herself. As the other members of the Justice Legion and the Injustice Brigade battled in the Magnetic Cloud beyond OWAC’s Death Wheel, the two spoke openly, Visage finally given a chance to confront the Goddess of Truth for her role in the events that had led to her creation.  Betraying the Brigade, the Shattered Visage fought alongside her sister, earning amnesty in the process and a place within the ranks of the Justice Legion. Joining the Justice Legion Delta as its resident tactician, she continues to work to move beyond the expectations forced upon her.

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man:  A groundskeeper within the Pangea Collective, Barney Blanc spent his days tending one of 700 primordial tesseract worlds preserved within the collective's archives. The brainchild of Gulliver Larsen, Pangea sought to preserve ecologies found on soon to be terraformed worlds, reconstructing them within tesseract space and allowing them to develop independent of the now controlled environments of their sources. Groundskeepers such as Blanc charged with the observation of a single world-space, ensuring that it remained free from contaminants and outside influence. Larsen urging a dispassionate approach to the work in order to lessen the potential risks associated with the observer effect. Blanc however, could never adapt to Larsen’s demands, in time appropriating a Virtual Interface Headset in order to experience life within the tesseract world. As Blanc’s actions became increasingly commonplace among the Collective’s groundskeepers an embittered Larsen decided the project was no longer fit for purpose, seeking to erase what he felt were tainted worlds and begin anew, he approached the United Systems’ environmental authority with his plans to restart, only for his request to be denied and the Pangea Collective ordered to continue the preservation and observation of the tesseract worlds within its care. In a final, desperate bid to maintain his vision for the project, Larsen covertly hired the Lords of Lighting, data-erasure specialists from Winath, to covertly destroy the worlds. Detonating an electrical overcharge device that wiped over three quarters of the Collective’s archive before the overseer’ A.I. could process what had happened. In a blind, desperate bid to save the remaining tesseracts, the A.I. launched their data packets at the only remaining storage space available within the facility, the interfaced Barney Blanc. By sheer providence, Blanc’s presence inside one of the tesseract allowed his mind to survive the process even as his body was altered to host some 80 worlds on a genetic level. Blanc returning to an externally unchanged body that was permanently interlinked with the biospheres of the tesseracts now contained within him. Subsequently discovering that he could morphologically draw on the structure & abilities of anything found on the worlds within him when he survived Larsen’s attempts to decapitate him by taking on the properties of a particularly resilient carrot. Avenging the destroyed worlds, Blanc now operates as Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man alongside his allies in the Justice Legion Delta. Continuing to support the nurture and development of the remaining worlds when and wherever possible.  The Known Soldier: A shifting, always familiar presence to those in their company, the Known Soldier would be an eternal enigma if anyone could hold their memory for more than a second after their departure. To meet them is to know them, to leave them is to forget. Forever viewed as the old friend you can’t quite place, the Soldier’s origins are seemingly unknown even among their compatriots within the Justice Legion Delta. Clad in a feature-obscuring living polymer skin-sheath, even the most basic of the Known Soldier's physical identifiers wildly vary from person to person. The JLD first encountering them during Sigmund Elsswhere’s assault on the Babel Inforum, readily accepting the masked figure as a member of the team even as the exact reasons behind the Soldier’s presence within the system remained a mystery. Among the Justice Legion, the Known Soldier is one of the few serving members capable of wielding Negatron, the Living Weapon without incurring sizable damage to their mental health. The negative spirit residing with the machine equally numb to the Soldier’s memory resistant qualities leading to the two forming a firm friendship.  In truth, the Known Soldier is in fact the self-inflicted amnesiac alter-ego of Minos Zero, the Infiltration Ace. Their quantum-superposition abilities operating on subconscious instinct as they carry out an unknown mission on behalf of the shadowy super intelligence that rules over the distant Spyral Galaxy.  The exact role the Justice Legion Delta plays in these machinations remains to be seen, however as the team grows increasingly resistant to the Soldier’s abilities it is clear their ruse will be discovered sooner rather than later... Super Sane: A distant scion of the Superman Dynasty, Cris Alis’ was born on the world of Rimbor and became its soul survivor at the age of 14 when the planet was consumed by a hypertime storm generated in the wake of a Qwardian’ incursion led by the Clockworker, sinister antimatter counterpart of the Justice Legion Alpha’s Hourman. Trapped within an endlessly branching nightmare, Alis’ powers and her half-Rimborian physiology combined to gift the child a super-adaptability that allowed her to survive within the storm. As time within it snapped and rebuilt, so too did Alis. Her mind effectively building a new personality from the ground up, each gifted a single power drawn from the considerable genetic legacy of the Superman Dynasty.For nearly a decade Alis’ lived within the storm, nestled within an endless series of alter egos blissfully unaware of both their situation and each other. The illusion shattering when an alter emerged possessing 5-D hypervision, instantly alerting the alters to each other’s presence. Sent into an existential crisis, each alter vied for control until her super-adaptability once again emerged, collapsing each personality in on Alis’ and causing a brief rupture within the hypertime storm that allowed members of the Superman Squad to finally recover Rimbor. Free of the storm, Alis’ continues to display wildly varying personalities and powers. Seemingly reinventing herself each day, her original personality only occasionally resurfacing, it has been hypothesized that near constant exposure to hypertime has evolved Alis’ into a new type of superhuman. Despite this, each alter has shown a consistent dedication to the Superman Dynasty’s ideals and unwavering loyalty to her allies in the Justice Legion Delta.  Negatron, the Living Weapon: The total destruction of Negative Space during the Fifth Dimensional Angle-Wars of the 599th and 601st centuries was believed to have driven the Negative Spirits to total extinction. However a single entity survived, crash landing in the 853rd century where it was subsequently captured by that era’s Toyman. Specialising in the design of exotic art-weapons, the Toyman bound the last negative spirit to a living gun, transforming its negative energy into a highly potent ‘Ennui Ray’ that would drive its targets into a crippling depression. Hoping the weapon would be capable of destroying Superman, he was completely unprepared for the true extent of the weapons power. Pulling the trigger causing the Toyman to suffer a total emotional collapse. Cured only when his memories of the weapon were erased as an act of mercy on the part of his intended target. Free of its creator, the machine intelligence and the negative spirit reached an understanding and with the aid of Starfire, the Tyrant Sun’s Daughter & Resurrection Man dedicated their service to the Justice Legion. Partnered with the Known Soldier - one of three beings capable of wielding Negatron without major risk - Negatron, the Living Weapon is an indispensable member of the Justice Legion Delta.  The Eye of Doom: In the distant past the Eye was Rhea Jones, a superhuman known as Lodestone who served in the second iteration of the original Doom Patrol. Slipping into a coma during one of the periodic attempts to curtail earth’s booming metahuman population, Jones awoke transformed. Reborn as a being that transcended then acceptable definitions of both humanity and superhumanity. Briefly resuming her role within the Doom Patrol, she would subsequently depart for a then distant star in order to further develop what she realised was a pupal stage in her ongoing transformation into something larger than herself. In the centuries that followed, Jones became something of a modern myth. Her infrequent appearances on the edge of cosmic events & interstellar disasters earning her the name the Eye of Doom. Jones’ was last seen in the twilight of the 114th century, observed entering the temporal eddy left in the wake of the Quantum Superwoman’s apotheosis.  With no official connection to the Justice League Delta, the Eye’s tenuous role within the group can be best described as an observer. The team returning to their extrasolar headquarters to discover Jones’ simply waiting for them. Since that time, she has done little but observe their activities, intervening only to prevent L.exe’s erasure at the nebulous hands of Please, Mister Nobody was my Father. Call me Darren. Despite evolving beyond the very concept of loyalty, the Eye has in fact returned from a point beyond the 853rd century in order to prepare the Justice Legion Delta for their role in the coming war against the Anti-Danny.

[aion-rsa]

Val Kilmer Documentary Punctures the Actor’s Bad Boy Myth

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Leo Scott and Ting Poo’s new documentary feature, Val, is not a mortality play. It is a rehearsal for an upcoming act. During a tour of his one-man stage show, Citizen Twain, Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. The actor underwent two tracheostomies, and now can only speak while covering a tube. The narration of the new film is thus done by his son Jack Kilmer, allowing the pair to share a non-verbal connection throughout the journey, and through time and expression itself. While there are flourishes of humor, the documentary is a serious study of an artist who has always struggled to be understood, told through the selective memory of Kilmer’s POV.

“I’ve wanted to tell a story about acting for a very long time,” Kilmer says toward the beginning of the documentary. “And now that it’s difficult to speak, I want to tell my story more than ever.” Kilmer is an artist, one who takes his vocation very seriously and introspectively. An actor’s voice is more than a tool, it is their primary source of communication. Non-verbal exchanges are important, but dialogue is the primary idea delivery system in staged and filmed works. Surgical procedures have split his throat, shredding the scope of his instrument. In the film, Kilmer is forced to project his story on the empty space between the notes.

Among Kilmer’s many defining roles, the one which appears to ring truest is his encapsulation of Jim Morrison, the poet and lead vocalist of the Doors in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic, The Doors. The young Kilmer is shown onstage in a small club, lost in the music, awaiting his cue to become one with the mic. Moments in Kilmer’s personal history, like how the actor was tagged with a “difficult” label, are consigned to rests. The most overt reference to Kilmer’s “bad boy” reputation comes from Robert Downey Jr., who smashes the notoriety to bits in a moment of impromptu dismissal.

There is no gossip here. There is no discussion of A-list-bad behavior. Kilmer sees it all as artistic license.  He was searching for honesty, he remembers. Choices like lying on top of a mattress filled with ice in order to feel a real pain during his last scene with Kurt Russell in Tombstone come across as perfectly valid. Kilmer is still bitter over spending four months learning to play guitar for Top Secret!, and his first note informs him the director thinks he looks funnier faking it. There is little evidence of unprofessionalism, only growing pains.

The bulk of Val comes from clips of 8mm home video footage Kilmer has been shooting most of his life. “I’ve kept everything, and it’s been sitting in boxes for years,” Kilmer informs us. The archive was intended to tell a story about “where you end and the acting begins.” We are gifted with moon shots of both Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn, which have nothing to do with the films Apollo 13 or The First.

Early self-directed screen tests provoke a series of what-ifs. A tortuous encapsulation of a Juilliard acting class is a lesson in what-nots. Val’s hand-held approach to The Island of Dr. Moreau is a highlight. The actor respectfully rocks his co-star and idol, Marlon Brando, on a hammock they both wish was strung to John Frankenheimer. Please turn off the camera, the film’s replacement director demands. But Kilmer only hits pause when it’s time to rehearse.

The behind-the-scenes camcorder footage from sets of Top Gun, Tombstone, and The Doors are treasure troves in themselves, and possibly underused. Most of the audience will be very interested in the candid youth and truth recorded over his career. Val uses the archival clips and unearthed b-roll to establish a chronology.

Many videos were made at home in Los Angeles with Kilmer’s younger brother Wesley, who had an epileptic seizure and drowned at age 15. His death casts a mournful pall following the news that Val was the youngest applicant ever accepted as a drama student at Juilliard. Kilmer calls his brother “an artistic genius,” and one of the most revealing things to come out of the documentary is how often Kilmer used this brother’s art to augment the backgrounds of the sets he is living through on film.

Seeing how Stone speaks about Kilmer now makes me wonder if Val would have been able to put in the same performances in his movies if he knew it at the time. In his audition tapes for Full Metal Jacket and Goodfellas, we see an actor who needs to be taken seriously. He flies 6,000 miles to hand deliver his tape to Stanley Kubrick in London.

While he makes no comment, footage reveals Kilmer’s favorite Batman was played by Adam West. “Every boy wants to be Batman,” we hear, and see the Caped Crusader in every era of Kilmer’s life. A short, animated film he and his brother made with what looks like crayon is a Batman spoof. He still glories in the moment he got deposited behind the classic TV series’ iconic wheels as a youngster visiting the lot. It appears Kilmer still can’t pass a grocery store Batmobile without feeding it quarters. He wears the classic blue Halloween ensemble expecting tricks and treats as a kid, and as a daddy with his kids.

Don’t expect to see Kilmer wearing his cinematic puffed rubber suit at home, and it’s not because he left it at the dry cleaners. Footage old and new, homemade or professionally recorded, presents the Batsuit as an albatross. Heavy rests the cowl. He has to be lifted from chairs, deposited on marks, and his only identifying feature on the set of Batman Forever is a chin and bottom lip. Anyone could have been behind the mask, and the human superhero envied the subhuman villains. Kilmer comes across as quite happy Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones are able to create fully formed performance art in their portrayals. But he wanted to play with those toys.

“Batman Forever,” Kilmer laments, “whatever boyish excitement I had going in was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit. I realized it was just my job to show up and stand where they told me.” As the captured past footage is juxtaposed with modern sequences, we get an unfiltered glimpse of how little this has changed. The sequence of Kilmer at the Comic-Con autograph booth is wrenching. He initially didn’t want to take the part of Iceman in Top Gun because he felt it glorified the military. So many fans ask him to sign “You can be my wingman” on their souvenirs. It turns his stomach. He throws up in a garbage can and wheeled through hallways with a blanket over his head. Trouper that he is, he returns to the booth to finish out the signatures.

Kilmer blurred himself into the role of Mark Twain. There is a beautiful sequence where the actor walks through town to the beach, in full stage makeup, dressed in the signature white suit and long mustache of his character. It is extremely telling when Kilmer tells the camera it’s hard enough writing a good screenplay, much less a great one, which itself doesn’t even match what he feels he needs to bring to a script of a film version of Citizen Twain. Kilmer sold his ranch in New Mexico to finance the project. The documentary only captures some of the frustrations.

Most of the anecdotes are guarded, and all the admissions are part of a subjective narrative. Kilmer’s arc has rough edges, these tales are too smooth, and leave little room for impressionistic interpretation. Kilmer met his former wife, Joanne Whalley, when she was starring in a West End play directed by Danny Boyle, but he didn’t approach her.

“She was brilliant, and I was in town making fluff,” Kilmer concedes. It’s all about the art, even appearances. The documentary hints that Kilmer’s dedication to character did the most damage to their relationship. Wearing the same pair of leather pants for nine months could almost be on the books as probable cause for divorce in Hollywood.

Similarly, Kilmer’s Christian Science upbringing is brought up, and dropped. There is a loving but ambiguous undertone to Kilmer’s relationship with his once-rich-and-powerful father, who put his son in debt after trying to become a southern California land tycoon. But a sequence on his Swedish mother which juxtaposes a car ride he took with her when he was a child with one of being driven to her funeral speaks volumes without words.

Val is about the next step. “What’s past is prologue” William Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest. Kilmer pondered the “too, too solid flesh” while rehearsing Hamlet, and the documentary opens after the actor faced his own mortality. Kilmer swears he feels better than he sounds and, while he finds little to regret in his memories, he expects less in the ones he has yet to create.

Val can be seen on Amazon Prime Video.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Val Kilmer Documentary Punctures the Actor’s Bad Boy Myth appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2VvZ2lA

[eleanorbloom]

[OH] When You’re Ready Ch. 03

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything of the Open Heart World. The name Eleanor Bloom and her story was created by me, though.

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x f! MC (Eleanor Bloom) x Ethan Ramsey.

Word Count: 4.8k

Warning: Angst, adult language, and smut. 

Summary: Bryce has decided to let go of Eleanor because she’s in love with Ethan Ramsey. But a turn in her relationship with the attending might change Bryce's plans.

A/N: Thank you so much for all your kind words and your support. 

I have the urge to remind you all that English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes. As a perfectionist, I’ve been having a hard time trying to make this fic the more comprehensible as it can be.  I know my English doesn’t suck, that your people understand what I write (lol) but I’m sure there are some idioms or, I don’t know, the order of the words that may seem off, and I can't help but feel bad about it. Just know that this happens because I’m a Spanish speaker trying to write a fanfic in English.  

That’ll be all. Lots of love to my readers 

Let me know if you wanna be added to the taglist! :)

Taglist: @utterlyinevitable @binny1985 ​ @laiba-the-person ​ @choicesficwriterscreations @shanzay44

______

Chapter Three: All I Ask.

It matters how this ends

‘Cause what if I never love again? 

Eleanor walked into the locker room feeling her heart in her throat, a knot threatening to make her explode with rage and bitterness once again. When she reached for her locker, she found Sienna already fully dressed to leave Edenbrook.

“Oh my god, Ellie, are you okay?!” Sienna inquired as she perceived the mortified expression on her face.

“I’m not”

“What happened? Did you… Did you speak with Dr. Ramsey?”

“I did”

“And?”

Eleanor couldn’t help but let a few tears stream down her face, but she managed to avoid the sob.

“He’s going to the Amazon with the WHO”

“What?! Oh my god, that’s big”

"And he’s leaving tomorrow”

“Oh no. Ellie, I’m so sorry ”

Suddenly, all traces of sadness and rage disappeared from her. She wiped the tears off her face and cleared her throat.

“Don’t be. Let’s get outta here, I need a drink”

"Okay, I’ll text the others to meet at Donahue’s”

Sienna eyed Eleanor with concern. She wanted to tell her to stop suppressing her feelings, to stop pretending she didn’t care, but she preferred to keep it quiet, hoping that at some point she would explode and let everything out. Because she had spent all those weeks pretending that she didn’t care, that it didn’t hurt to ignore Ramsey, that it didn’t hurt that he didn’t care that she was ignoring him. Nearly five months of pent-up emotions.

 An hour later, Eleanor was at Donahue’s with Bryce and her new best friend, the vodka. Elijah was with Phoebe choosing a few songs on the jukebox to dance to; Sienna was with Danny and other nurses playing darts and Jackie and Rafael were deep in conversation at the bar. Bryce had noticed her mood but didn’t want to ask her directly, since he guessed who was responsible. Instead, he preferred to join her to drink, without judging that she was almost drinking the entire bottle of vodka by herself without any coyness, although he was willing to make her stop when it became dangerous for her health.

Suddenly, Eleanor’s face sparkled with fury. Bryce turned to check the source of her discomfort, knowing perfectly well who it was. Ethan was at the bar talking to Reggie as he took a seat.

“You’re so predictable, Ethan Ramsey"—She muttered as she took the shot of vodka in one sip—"I bet he’ll have a couple of shots, waiting for the moment when I’m alone, and if doesn’t find me alone he’ll just switch to some non-alcohol drink because he will have to wait for me until I decide to go home. All that wait just to cry apologies for something he didn’t want to say, but said anyway”

Bryce smirked as he heard her rant.

"Do you want me to leave you alone so you can talk to him?”

“No! No, please, I don’t want to make it that easy for him. I want to see what he’s capable of. If he’s just going to be a shitty wary that’s going to expect to find me alone, or if he’s able to get right up to me. Please don’t leave me alone, Bryce.

“Don’t worry, Elle, I won’t leave you alone if that’s what you want”

“Thank you, Bryce. You are the best”

“I know I am. Cheers for that”

They clanged their glasses and took another shot.

“Why are you so mad, by the way?”

Eleanor told him their talk with the details that only a drunk and upset person can do it.

“So, he’s leaving then? And he didn’t even tell you?”

“No. He didn’t want to tell me”

“Oof, what a douche. Hun, why do you let him treat you like this?”

“I don't know. I don’t know why I have allowed this torment for so long. But I got tired. I don’t care anymore. If he stays, if he goes. I don’t know why should I care when he has never cared for how bad I’ve been all this time”

Bryce looked at her with a sad expression. He hated to see Eleanor that way. Crying, hopeless. Suffering. He took her hand tenderly.

“Eleanor, I’m so sorry”—He said, caressing the back of her hand—“You don’t deserve anything you’re going through. It’s okay to be angry, you can’t allow him to treat you like that”

“I know”—She replied in a tiny voice.

“And you can’t keep wasting your time with someone who doesn’t value you, Elle. He may love you, but if he really valued you, he wouldn’t treat you like that. He wouldn’t let you suffer like that” 

Bryce stroked her cheek, looking right into her tear-filled eyes.

“You’re right, Bryce"—She stared right into his eyes without looking away, then wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“You deserve the world, Eleanor”

She couldn’t help but give him a big smile as her cheeks flushed.

Then she turned her gaze to the bar and realized that Ethan was with a tense posture making glances toward their table.  Seeing Eleanor cry and be comforted by Bryce surely challenged his nerves more than he was willing to admit.

About fifteen minutes later, her friends began to return to the table to start the Karaoke session. They had fun with some of their favorite songs and other classics requested by other clients. Then was Eleanor’s turn to sing a song. She felt a twist on her stomach.

“Eleanor, it’s your turn, what did you request?”

“All I Ask”—She replied to Elijah, simply.

Everyone at the table stared at her.

"Eleanor…"—Bryce whispered—"Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes. I’m done hiding my feelings, pretending he didn’t hurt me just to make him feel the less uncomfortable”

The melody began to play, and Eleanor already felt her heart shatter without even having started the first line. Her friends stared at her for a few moments and then looked away at the awkward situation that was coming. 

“I will leave my heart at the door

I won’t say a word

They’ve all been said before, you know”

Eleanor was heartbroken and drunk, and practically putting on a show in front of all Donahue’s, but deep down her friends knew that that was what Eleanor needed right now, to release all her feelings in front of Ethan, though not directly. Because Eleanor had been holding back all these months, resisting love, the desire to be with Ethan, resisting the urge to stand in his office or his home and ask him once again to stop pushing her away and to be together once and for all, more times than she had already done. She had swallowed the love, the pride, the pain in inhuman ways. But what had happened today was the culmination of too many repressed feelings, and if her way of finding catharsis was through the saddest, cheesiest, and most heartbreaking song Adele had ever written, then so be it.

“So why don’t we just play pretend

Like we’re not scared of what is coming next

Or scared of having nothing left”

Eleanor took all the courage she had and turned her gaze to Ethan, who was staring at her with the most mortifying look she had ever seen on him, and she had seen plenty: When Dolores passed away, when he found out Banerji had a month to live. He was not holding anything, the pain, the guilt, the embarrassment.

“Look, don't get me wrong 

I know there is no tomorrow

All I ask is

If this is my last night with you

Hold me like I’m more than just a friend

Give me a memory I can use

Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do

It matters how this ends

‘Cause what if I never love again?”

At least Eleanor had a very good voice to sing the songs of Adele, so she wasn’t embarrassing herself too badly. Of course, she was not as good as Adele herself but made a few good notes, and the alcohol had given her too much courage to go for the high pitches, and the anger gave her too much feeling to sing with such a passion, that she astonished to all her friends. She was actually killing it.

-"I don’t need your honesty

It’s already in your eyes

And I’m sure my eyes, they speak for me

No one knows me like you do

Eleanor looked directly at Ethan again.

And since you’re the only one that mattered

Tell me who do I run to?"

The words came out with such rage from her core, that Ethan felt as if she had said it a few inches from him, and not indirectly through a song and standing several feet away from him. And he felt every one of her words, every look, every drop of anger and sadness. He acknowledged receipt of all this and accepted his responsibility. He felt broken at the sight of her because he wanted to do so much to ease her pain. But he couldn’t.

After the song was over, Eleanor returned to her place with tears on her face but not one iota of embarrassment.

“Eleanor, that was truly beautiful”—Sienna said, tears on her face too—"Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling better, I think it took a lot of weight off my shoulders”

“That is the important thing”

“You were very brave”—Bryce said caressing her back.

“Guys, I just ridiculed myself in front of the whole bar and you guys are treating me like I’ve won a war”

“You did something for yourself that you should have done months ago. Show how you really feel”—Sienna replied, serious.

“Well…”

“We are proud of you, Eleanor”— Elijah added.

“It’s about damn time you take care of yourself and don’t let Ramsey do whatever the fuck he wants”—Continued Jackie.

“Even if that means to sing a sad song in front of him”—Concluded Sienna.

After that, Eleanor was in a better mood and managed to distract herself from all she had been through that day. However, the presence of Ethan, sitting there at the bar, probably waiting for her, was a latent nuisance in her stomach.

A few hours later, Eleanor and her friends decided to go home. The moment she passed by his side, Ethan got up from his seat and walked towards her.

“Rookie”.

His disposition had changed from hell to heaven. She was no longer Dr. Bloom. She was Rookie again.

“What is it, Dr. Ramsey?”

Ethan looked at her sadly at the coldness in her response.

“Can we talk?”

Eleanor looked away to the floor, anger washing over her again. Then she looked back at him, who was waiting for her answer with pleading eyes.

“About what? I’m going home”

“I know … I-“

“I’ve been here the last four hours, I’m sure you could’ve looked for me in all this time… But obviously you waited for me to want to go home to do it?”

Ethan knew she was berating him. She shook her head.

“I was hoping you weren’t such a coward and would look for me directly. But you behave like a shy teenager who has never spoken to a woman in his life”

“Eleanor, are you coming?”—Jackie asked.

Her friends were at the door, first-hand witnesses of her exchange with Ethan.

“No, I stay. Don’t worry about me”

Eleanor looked at Ramsey coldly. They took a seat in the back of the bar so no one could hear them.

“So? I thought we were done”—She broke the silence between them.

“No, we are not done, Eleanor”

Ethan lowed her head, pondering his words.

“If… If I didn’t tell you about my trip to the Amazon, was because I wanted to make things less difficult for us. The last time we spoke I made myself clear that we can’t be together not because I don’t want to, but because we can’t. And when I noticed you started to avoid me, I thought maybe you finally understood my point, and I was okay with that”

“Then why you threw all over my face that I was ignoring you, like you weren’t okay with that?”

“Because I realized that you didn’t do it because you understood my point. You did it to piss me off. To return the favor. As vengeance. So, if you did actually ignore me with that motive in mind, you didn’t have the right to reclaim something from me”

“I…”—Her cheeks turned red.

“That’s not the point now, Eleanor”—He interrupted—"What I’m trying to say is… You can’t stop saying that everything I’ve done it’s because I want it, that I’m responsible of all your misery. But let me be clear. I don’t want it, Eleanor. I don’t want to be apart from you, I don’t want to ignore you. I’ve never wanted to spend the last five months ignoring your existence, not be able to talk to you, not to even look at you”

Eleanor observed his features, tracing all sense of honesty and determination. She knew he wasn’t lying or playing the victim.

“I’m not comfortable with this”—He continued—"I’m not okay with that but if that’s what allows me to be away from you to not interfere in your career, I’m willing to do that and more. I know it’s painful for you, that it’s not the best option for both of us. But this is the only way I can cope up with the situation”

“The only way… Ethan, are you sure not talking to me, not even looking at me the is the only option?”

“To me, it is”—He responded categorically—Eleanor, what I want is to be with you. If I could, I would’ve never let you leave my bed the first time we made love, or I would’ve never get up from your bed the last time we were together. If I could, I would live in that dream all my life. But I can’t”

Tears started to stream down her face. Again. His words broke her in million pieces. Because she couldn’t stop reliving those nights in all these months. Now she was realizing Ethan couldn’t either.

“I need you to understand that I’ve never wanted to hurt you. If my actions have hurt you, I’m sorry, but I mean it when I say I’ve never wanted anything of this to happen. I would love to make you happy in the ways you want. Believe me. But you have fought so hard to be here, Eleanor. Years to get to be at Edenbrook. Years and especially difficult months to get the Junior Fellow position. I can’t let you jeopardize your career nor your reputation”

Eleanor was speechless. She felt dumb, like a stupid teenager that let herself go on emotions and never thought through the real meaning of all his actions. She still felt a little pissed off, because there were still a lot of things Ethan should have avoided telling her and that were mean. But everything else he had done was… reasonable. Fair. Thoughtful.

“Ethan… I’m sorry for yelling at you like that. I feel embarrassed about how childish I was today”

“No, Eleanor. I still believe that you have every right to be mad at me because I didn’t tell you I would be out. I always knew I should’ve told you, but I was afraid. I’m a coward as you said. I didn’t want to face this conversation. Your pain. But you deserved more”

Eleanor nod.

“Well, yeah. You should’ve told me. But I made an outburst. I didn’t want to listen to you, I was being stubborn just to get what I want, but maybe I’ve never really put myself in your shoes”

“That’s all I ask. To understand why I’m doing this from my point of view”

Suddenly, Reggie approaches.

“Ethan, I’m sorry, but we are about to close”

“Thank you, Reggie”

Eleanor grabbed her purse and walked to the door followed by Ethan.

Eleanor turned to him.

“I believe you when you tell me you’ve never wanted to hurt me by staying away from me. But there have been plenty of times when you have hurt me by behaving like a dick to me, unnecessarily. Because one thing is avoiding to talk to me, but you have ignored me, you have been cruel, you have looked at me like you hate me”

“Yes. I know. I hope you can forgive me one day”

“I could forgive you, but I’ll only do it when I feel assured that you won’t do it again and I think there’s not enough time for that now”

Ethan stared without saying a word. He knew he couldn’t promise her that. He knew himself.

“Well, I think you can go in peace now that we have left everything clear, don’t we? Have a nice flight, I hope the mission is a success and you return safely. Bye”

Eleanor started to walk down the street to get a taxi.

“Why are you leaving like that? You’re not even going to say goodbye?”

“I said bye. That’s a goodbye. Or was it too informal? Goodbye Dr. Ramsey. There you have”

Ethan took her arm, forcing her to look into his eyes. Hers were reddened, tired, anguished. Like she was holding a ton of pain on her mind.

“Eleanor…”

“What, Ethan, what?“—She answered as her voice was breaking. She didn’t want him to go. But she had to let him go. To let that goodbye lingering more than necessary would only do her more harm than it had already done her.

“Let me take you home”

No. She would lose her mind if she let that happen. But she wanted it so bad.

“You were drinking”

“I drank whiskey when I arrived, after that, just lemonade, because I figured I’d have to wait until the end of the night to talk to you”

She wanted so bad to be with him as much time as possible. But she was trying to respect Ethan's intentions. But… He was leaving tomorrow. That was the last time she would see him in god knows how much time.

“Okay, let's go”—She agreed.

They walked silently back to the hospital, where Ethan had his car parked. The journey was silent. Ethan didn’t even dare to turn on the radio. They were only accompanied by the noise of the engine and other vehicles traveling through the streets of Boston at 3 am.

Eleanor wanted to say so many things, but it would make everything worse. So she lost herself in the smell of his car. Every time she sensed that smell on someone’s car o in any place, it reminded her of him. 

She had always had a particularly olfactory memory, and although most of the time it brought her good memories of her childhood or adolescence, in terms of relationships it always brought her bittersweet memories, melancholy, regret. 

She knew that smell—The smell of Ethan’s car, a scent of pine and musk—, or his smell — a fresh citric scent—would only bring her pain.

Ethan parked outside the apartment. The street was lonely, no one could be seen in the distance, and the only sound was the murmur of cars passing by the main avenue. A lump wove in her throat. She was afraid.

Eleanor turned to him to say goodbye. She wanted to make it simple. She could swear that she wanted to make it simple. 

“Have a good trip, Ethan, I hope you get back safely”—She spoke softly as she hugged him.

"Thank you, Eleanor”

“Text me to know that you arrived safely, please”—Eleanor asked, looking straight into his eyes. Those sky-blue eyes that were always the beginning of all her madness.

Ethan caressed the nape of her neck with his thumb and then he closed his eyes while pressing his forehead into hers, trying to absorb all her presence, the silkiness of her hair, the sweet scent of her neck, the warmth of her skin, of her hands. Before Eleanor could pull away, he sighed:

“I hope one day you finally understand that everything I’ve done, everything I’m doing, is for you. Because it's never been about me, Eleanor. The only thing that matters to me is that you become the brilliant and successful doctor you really deserve to be”

There were so much sincerity and pain in his speech that Eleanor pulled away from him so she could see his eyes. She stroked his cheek.

“I know, in a way I understand it, Ethan… But I can’t accept that path has to be this painful… And so unfair”

“Life isn’t fair, Eleanor”

Eleanor wanted to refute him that in this case, life had nothing to do with it. Because life wasn’t being unfair to her. He was being unfair. But she was unable to say a word. She was mesmerized by Ethan’s look. His eyes that so many times had given her comfort, now they haunted her dreams, they didn’t let her sleep at night, and at that precise moment, was threatening the little sanity she had left. 

After a few moments, they began to look at their lips, mere inches away from each other, until they finally gave in to the inevitable. A brush of lips so satisfying and full of redemption that they sighed in unison, to come together again in a more intense kiss, capturing and biting each other lips. Ethan felt Eleanor’s tears stream down his cheeks. To alleviate her own pain and avoid a sob, Eleanor stroked Ethan’s hair tightly in the back of his head, intensifying the kiss even more, sliding her tongue in his, and all over his lips. 

Ethan didn’t have time to hesitate and was caught up by the same desire. Soon, he was sliding his hands under Eleanor’s coat, feeling the curve of her breasts, her waist, and her hips. It was a never-ending dance of lips, which was complemented by more caresses, and then Eleanor climbing on top of Ethan, straddling him with her legs.

On another occasion, she would have pulled herself together and walked away. But knowing that she wouldn’t see him again for a long time, it drove her crazy. And maybe not for a long time, but there was always the possibility that this would be the last time they would be together, that both of them would want each other. Because no one could foretell what would happen from now on, when both he and she had finally accepted that their relationship had reached a dead end and that it was up to Ethan to revive it, and he had been clear that that wouldn’t happen.

“Eleanor…”—He sighed, a glint of reluctancy in his tone. He gulped.

She ignored him and continued to kiss him passionately, as she began to move over Ethan’s lap gently. 

"Deny that you want this"—She whispered a moments later—"Say that you don’t want me and I swear I’ll go”

Eleanor pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. It was dark, but she was able to see the sparkle in his eyes slightly. Eleanor’s anticipation was stifling as she felt Ethan’s bulge between her tights.

“I want you more than anything in this world”—He replied melting at the sight of her on top of him, his arms around her body.

Without wasting another second, she kissed him again, intensifying her movements over him.

“Eleanor"—He gasped, feeling an electric shock down his spine as he rested his hand over Eleanor's hips, pressing her against his crotch, rubbing each other as their moans began to invade the car.

Suddenly, Eleanor slid her hand between his tights, feeling his arousal under her fingers. He went to her pants, unbuttoned them, and shoved his hand under her panties. He felt her wetness, her desire. She sighed.

“Ohh, Ethan…”

“You’re so ready”

“Yes” She mumbled.

Ethan tried to lower her pants, but he couldn’t do much, due to the uncomfortable position. For a second, Eleanor thought they could have gone to her room but abandoned the idea immediately. She knew that Ethan could have second thoughts on their way to her apartment and she didn’t want to risk the possibility to be with him. 

Instead, she returned to the passenger seat, took off her shoes, and after moving the seat backward, took off her pants and panties. Ethan imitated her and pushed the seat backward as well and began to unfasten his pants. Eleanor, anxious, unhooked his belt and pants before he could finish, and released his cock under the boxer, and lowered herself to slide her tongue in all his length, to finally cover the tip with his mouth and then go deep. After a few moments, she moved upwards, sucking him hard.

“Eleanor”—He sighed in pleasure.

The girl worked on him for a few moments, until Ethan stopped her and guided her to sit on his lap again. “Come here”

They kissed again, devouring each other, Ethan grazing her jaw, her neck greedily, while she was gasping loudly as the anticipation was taking her body, feeling his arousal right under her sex. Then he removed her sweater and pulled her shirt and bra up, exposing his breasts. He cupped them with both hands before taking his mouth straight to her chest and began to kiss them… and then to suck her nipples.

"Ethan” Eleanor moaned loudly “Yes!”

The sound of his breath while licking her nipples and the “smack” after his mouth sucked them resonated in the car, and it was just another source of pleasure for Eleanor. But there was still something both were missing. Eleanor shifted slightly as she directed his arousal towards her center.

“Fuck”—She sighed as Ethan was entering her.

It was a blessed feeling, although neither of them believed in God, least of all in religion. That pleasure, that ecstasy, was a catharsis after all those months containing their deepest feelings and desires, after reliving almost every night the precious time they had spent together and that now were long gone.

“Oh, I missed you"—He groaned, taking her butt harder, as he was picking up more speed.

“Fuck yes. I wanted you so bad”—She kissed him, tongues colliding, teeth biting and swollen lips asking for more and more.

“You feel amazing, Eleanor”

The noise of their bodies colliding filled the car, but they were soon muffled with the moans that each one was not able to suppress, in the face of the sensations that were overwhelming them.

If someone was passing by and they had caught them, they wouldn’t have cared. All that mattered at that moment, was the feeling of their bodies connected. The pleasure that one was producing in the other. The ecstasy, the madness of their touch. The smell of their bodies. Ethan went to her breasts taking one with her hand, sucking her nipples hard while the other hand was on her ass, gripping her roughly.

“Ethan, I’m close”

Ethan was holding back just to this moment. He grabbed her firmly by her hips and began to thrust her at an impossible pace. Eleanor couldn’t comprehend where all that sensations were coming from, how she started to melting so abruptly, because she climaxed just a few seconds later.

“Oh my god, ETHAN!”—She screamed as he felt her hot breath in his mouth. Her tights squeezed as she was climaxing and that was enough to make him cum crying out her name.

He saw Eleanor toppling over him resting her forehead into his. Ethan embraced her, trying to feel every inch of her exposed skin in his.

“I love you”—She whispered.

He tightened his embrace, just as he did the last time she had said those words, and Eleanor still couldn’t figure out if he did that to pent up and not say anything, or to catch some bravery to tell her something. Either way, she wasn’t waiting for an answer this time. She only wanted him to know, before leaving, that she still loved him.

After a few more seconds holding each other, Eleanor returned to the passenger seat. She took her clothes and began to put them on. He also fixed his clothes. Somehow, when she came back to reality, the atmosphere was just as tense and painful as before the kiss. Even though the orgasm was still latent between her tights, the fact of knowing that the goodbye had finally come, was shattering her.

She turned to him, look into his blue eyes for a brief second, and breathed:

“Have a good flight ”

And without further ado, she got out of the car towards the building. 

“I love you too, Eleanor”—He said just as Eleanor closed the building’s door.

 _____

Chapter 4.

[autisticcassandracain]

Now that I've finished volume 1 & 2 of The New Teen Titans I feel like giving my official ranking of the Teen Titans based on how much I personally like them:

Koriand'r: Love of my life. She's the reason I read this comic I love her so MUCH. I'd literally be here all day if I went in depth on why I love her. Spectacular showstopping amazing 10/10.

Joey: Listen! He's just a lad! Just a nice little lad! I knew practically nothing about him going in but I love him now. He's just a genuinely kind and compassionate person, his power is cool as hell, and I'm actually pleasantly surprised by how well his disability was handled. 

Donna: Her arc about creating an aura of perfection around her and being scared to watch it crumble is really good, her leadership arc was likewise great, the issue where she found her family was fantastic, the Amazons as a concept are super interesting to me, and I really love her relationship with Kori and Dick! She's a little bland but that's ok I still love her.

Raven: She doesn't grab me as much as I feel she should for some reason? But she's still a good character. I like the idea of an empath being wildly incompetent with her own emotions, I have to respect and admire her selflessness, and her powers are cool as hell.

Kole: Yes I know she was only in like 5 to 10 issues and existed to be killed off in Infinite Crisis but have you considered: I love her.

Dick: When he's not being a jackass he's really nice! He weirdly feels a lot more... idk, human? In the ntt than I've usually seen him in batfam comics. I especially like how much this era leans into his detective skills. Unfortunately he's also quite frequently a jackass and it makes me want to strangle him.

Vic: His combination of brains and brawn feels very unique, I love how they don't downplay his intellect, and his relationship with the school for disabled kids and his grandparents is adorable! That said there's only so much self pity and 'I look like a monster' monologues I can take before I start to roll my eyes at it.

Tara: Yes we're counting her. Her character was abysmally written, her backstory makes no sense, her flat evil personality is infinitely less interesting than a more nuanced alternative, and of course there was the whole victim-blaming Mess with Slade, but also I thought she was funny. She's a bitch and it's entertaining.

Garfield: As a self-proclaimed chauvinist and the designated group sexual harasser I'm legally required to dislike him. I'd probably like him a little better if he didn't also wallow in self pity constantly but here we are. Yeah your whole family is dead and I guess that sucks but in the immortal words of Donna Troy, that's not exactly unique in this group. Go cry about it in your McMansion. Occasionally has some good moments and his friendship with Vic is cute tho.

Danny Chase: I feel embarrassed having to put him on this list bc I've literally never heard anyone or anything mention him so I'm pretty sure he's getting written out in 2.5 issues flat but. Still a Titan. His entire personality is 'loud-mouth 14-year-old ex-spy' so he's mostly just boring and kind of annoying. Feels like he's only there to get more kids to read comics and I'd bet real money that's the actual reason he exists. And on top of that his powers are boring.

Wally West: This is an NTT Wally West hate blog. I hate this guy so much. He's a conservative in the 80's and as if that wasn't bad enough all he does is feel sorry for himself, complain, and lash out at others. Every time he opens his mouth my brain goes 'That's what I thought you'd say you stupid fucking Republican!' I'm not even going to try to be objective here. If I could push him off a roof I would. Fuck NTT Wally West.

[tothedarkdarkseas]

just realised you've never been asked about this, but any autistic/adhd headcanons? your characters don't come across as nd (although i think you did a post once about stu's worst day and someone saying in front of him that he "doesn't have a real job" because he's 'special;' it actually spooked me how realistic and blood-curdling that was). but i know that you and elapsed-spiral are super close. since they have hcs, you might do too and wanna talk about it? idk. no pressure

Behind a cut because it got a bit long even though I said virtually nothing, and because the subject matter can be personal.

I was so certain that I had indeed answered something like this before that I went through my blog looking, but I could only find a somewhat-related answer about Stu's mental state following PB. You were right! Sorry I doubted you!

I appreciate you being understanding, as I will give a similarly dodgy wishy-washy answer and say that I prefer not putting too fine of a point on it. I do headcanon that both Stu and Murdoc are ND insomuch as both struggle with mental health, but for obvious reasons I don't think it's entirely appropriate for me to draw a line between things like Stuart's intelligence and particular disorders, you know? While that is clearly not the aim of most fans, if it's not handled sensitively you run the risk of making some poor implications-- and yet too much effort to be inoffensive can unfortunately end up sanding off any real perspective being given. I just don't feel it's really that important for me to speak on the subject of whether these old men who are not taking medication responsibly or seeking specific treatment (in my "version" of events) have any named disorder. And on the flipside, when it comes to the extremely soft approach to ND character writing I don't fault anyone for seeking comfort or projecting on the characters, I think that content absolutely has a home, but I don't personally resonate with anything that infantilizes Stuart and it would be disingenuous of me to offer that. (Let's chalk it up to my own not-super-NT stubbornness and fixation issues, if that helps?)

I genuinely do HC Stu as "a bit thick" independent of any diagnoses, but I don't think that rules out spectrum placement either. I do also HC Stu as having permanent reverberating effects from the car crashes, and although he is remiss to acknowledge this, some from as early as the childhood fall. It is a heavy thing-- heavy enough for a young speed-addled Murdoc to cackle at and wound him, but too heavy to talk about at all when they're old-- but in my writing Stuart has sustained head trauma that left him with minor brain damage, and that is something that affects his cognitive abilities, response times, and fine motor skills. This hasn't always been painted with the most thoughtful brush in the earlier decades of the fandom, so I understand why some have kneejerk responses against it; it is an uncomfortable thing to discuss and an uncomfortable thing to display, and it's never my intent to be tacky about it. I hope that you get what I'm aiming for, and I think that you do! I'm really grateful that you thought that bit hit home, as it's by far the thought that most makes me feel that nauseous gut-response empathy with younger Stuart. Whether it's being attributed to his fall or the later accidents, I think it was extremely difficult for him to adjust (and he never really has) to being labelled by well-to-do relatives and more ambitious/less tactful peers as "special." It was very pointedly included in his worst day scenario because I see it as something that does indeed curdle the blood, it sits in him like hot lead and having it brandished against him in such a humiliating scenario is hell for him.

Murdoc I can see as being born ND, and his development was additionally stunted in his formative years from a combination of his troubled family, the environment around his socioeconomic class in the 60's and 70's creating a major class divide between him and others, and the hostility encouraged and returned by peers and adults in the school system. Again, I'd be reluctant to make specific claims beyond saying I feel Murdoc is not neurotypical-- it is perhaps not fully unrelated, but it is more overt and easier to point out that Murdoc is unwell psychologically, and my focus for both characters tends to steer more toward that.

I'm sorry if this isn't a very satisfactory answer! Thank you for your patience!

(PS- whoever told you I was close with Danni is a liar! Read the Mark Means/Simon Says series on Amazon now-- It's definitely a subject that has come up before, and I think we have similar views; they do a far better job speaking their piece about this than I do though!)

[laresearchette]

Thursday, September 12, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: THE TAILOR OF SIN CITY (AMC+/Sundance Now) THE OLD MAN (FX Canada) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: AI AND THE FUTURE OF US: AN OPRAH WINFREY SPECIAL (ABC Feed)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA BAD NEWZ POPSTARS

CRAVE TV HIGH LIFE

DISNEY + STAR MUSLIM MATCHMAKER (all episodes)

NETFLIX CANADA ANGEL DI MARÌA: BREAKING DOWN THE WALL (AR) BILLIONAIRE ISLAND (NO) EMILY IN PARIS (Season 4 Part 2) INTO THE FIRE: THE LOST DAUGHTER MIDNIGHT AT THE PERA PLACE (Season 2) (TR)

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 2:00pm: A’s vs. Astros (SN) 7:00pm: Rays vs. Guardians (TSN5) 7:00pm: Red Sox vs. Yankees (SN Now) 9:30pm: Brewers vs. Giants (SN1) 9:30pm: Rangers vs. Mariners

THE SUMMIT AUSTRALIA (Discovery Channel Canada) 8:00pm: The thrilling game of survival reaches its most emotionally charged day yet, as the hikers come face to face with their loved ones on a video call before being ordered to abandon one of their own at camp and sneak out in the dead of night.

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN/TSN3/TSN4) 8:15pm: Bills vs. Dolphins

MR. THROWBACK (Global/Showcase) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): When struggling sports memorabilia dealer Danny Grossman finds himself in a bind, he reunites with his childhood best friend, NBA superstar Stephen Curry, leading to a way bigger problem for Danny.

MECUM FULL THROTTLE (Discovery Velocity) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Taking a look at some of the highlights from the Kissimmee 2024 auction.

LEGO MASTERS AUSTRALIA (Discovery Channel Canada) 9:45pm (SEASON FINALE): The last three teams standing create a build of their choosing; 200 members of the public, along with Brickman, will determine the ultimate winners of Grand Masters 2023.

HOUSE OF ALI (HGTV Canada) 10:00pm: Ali and her team work hard to create a custom and chic home for their new client, but when some bumpy drywall in the movie theater causes major delays and threatens the homeowner move-in timeline, Ali makes a last-minute call to save her vision.

DEADMAN'S CURSE (History Channel Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): It's up to Adam to push forward and guide the team through the uncharted terrain of Corbold Canyon.

MAMA JUNE: FROM NOT TO HOT (Slice) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): June goes missing after her arrest; a surprising homicide triggers a dangerous manhunt to rescue her; Pumpkin battles to keep the family together while Jennifer is coming to tear them apart.

CANADIAN REFLECTIONS (CBC) 11:30pm: Concealed / Bad Omen