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jedwashere · 5 years ago

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A Billion Years Away - Chapter Five

Just One More Moment

***

Just one more moment, that’s all that’s needed,

Like wounded soldiers in need of healing,

Time to be honest, this time I’m pleading,

Please don’t bail on it, ‘cos I didn’t mean it.

***

The Enterprise.

Lorca.

Reading the history of the time he had missed was boring, but with nothing to do but that or sleep, Lorca had decided to do just that. As Jallistra had promised, he had access to civilian files, everything that everyone was allowed to know about everything.

Yippee, he had thought when she’d said it.

History had never been his favourite subject in school. Insofar as Terrans really had ‘school’ as opposed to what he suspected any sociologist might call an extremely Darwinian environment designed to weed the weak out at the earliest opportunity.

That’s if sociologists thought in those terms, of course: somehow, Lorca didn’t think they did. He’d never been much for sociology, either.

The entire Terran education system, as well as the surrounding environment, was built first to build loyalty to the Imperial system and then, when the formative years were done and teenage life began, to build the survival skills necessary to navigate the system. And history, or what passed for history, was really nothing more than propaganda.

The first thing he had looked up was the Mirror Universe, his home. Given what Jallistra had said about the Terran Empire invading this universe, he expected there to be a bit of information. The first real thing he found was an article speculating about the lack of altruism and kindness in that universe, and postulating just what a world lacking in loyalty would be like.

Lorca could do nothing but snort derisively at the article’s broad assumptions about his world’s lackings. He was under no illusions, of course. Terran history was a mess of murder, violence and hate, but mixed in were a very few moments of what Gabriel had once thought were merely glimmers of grudging altruism, but had come to realise when he had come to this world the first time were more than that: they were symbols of highest love and respect, because to perform them was to act outside of the expectations of that same system.

It’s easy, part of him thought, to be a saint in paradise. Or at least, easy to sleep without a phaser under your pillow when your subordinates aren’t all planning to kill you.

His mind drifted to the story of Captain Jonathan Archer of the Defiant. So the official story went, Archer had been a hero: found the Defiant, killed the disgusting Tholian scuttlers who had commandeered her, and used the ship’s awesome power to win the war against the first rebellion, at the cost of his own life. Afterward, the revered Empress Hoshi Sato had ordered Jonathan Archer to be enshrined as a hero of the Empire, whose death was a tragedy and whose life was celebrated. She had named planets for him, and even christened the second ever Constitution-class warship the Archer (the Archer had not had the illustrious long life the Defiant had enjoyed, alas, but circumstances did not permit long lives for everyone, as every Terran understood implicitly).

Of course, that story was really little more than sentimentalist bullshit.

Lorca had learned the truth about Archer from Emperor Georgiou herself over a bottle of brandy: had learned that Sato had murdered Archer, taken the Defiant and the Empire from him at the very moment of his historic triumph, and had taken his rightful place as the ruler of the Empire. But not even Georgiou knew why Sato had respected him in death. Which wasn’t, in itself, surprising, since she had no idea how to respect anyone herself. Now, though, Lorca understood.

Love, he thought. Maybe a twisted love, by this world’s standards, but love all the same. She loved him enough to honour his name, even when she took the throne from under his nose and killed him for it.

It was the same ‘twisted’ love he had earned from his crew, that they had all been so willing to stay loyal to him after so much pain and torment, so willing to follow him into hell. The same ‘twisted’ love he had felt for Michael Burnham, as he fought to win her an Empire. The same ‘twisted’ love he’d shown, or tried to show, the Burnham of this universe.

It was twisted, sure, he thought, leaning back, but… was it real?

For his Michael? Sure. For the one from this world? He didn’t know if he had loved her for her own qualities or merely because she’d shared a face with his Michael.

Transference, he thought glibly. That’s what Freud had called it, anyway (in both worlds: some things never changed). He supposed be could be forgiven for it, in this case, since the Michael of this world had (obviously) been near identical to his own.

Tapping a control on the computer, he decided to look up different history.

Burnham, Michael, the file read. He tapped it, and onto the screen came a whole host of information. Almost immediately his eyes were drawn to her date of death, in the year 2380.

She was near enough one hundred fifty, he thought. A good long life.

Somehow, despite the look of betrayal on her face, despite the fact that she had sided against him, with Georgiou… he couldn’t help but feel happy about that. Still, he wished he could have had just one more moment with her.

He looked up her career - or what was made publicly about it. Her work with Christopher Pike on the Discovery (he got my ship?!), her later promotions, her work with the Klingons, her work in the Ambassadorial field…

On a whim, Lorca looked up Phillipa Georgiou next. That proved less cheering: a death date of 2270 greeted him, implying that either the Georgiou of this universe hadn’t died after all, or…

They brought her back to this world. Lorca scowled. Figures. Couldn’t give me a chance, but could happily save…

He stopped, before shaking his head and trying to ignore his growing anger. He couldn’t keep thinking about Michael, he couldn’t keep thinking about everything he had lost.

To distract himself, he looked up the Discovery instead. Her service history was fairly interesting: she had been refit multiple times, including a period where she’d been used as the initial test ship for the first ‘transwarp drive’ (before the drive was transferred wholesale to the Starship Excelsior). She’d finally been retired at the turn of the 23rd Century. Pulling up an image of the ship, Lorca felt a slight twinge of… something. She looked different.

We’d all look different, he thought, shaking his head.

When he could take no more, Lorca turned the computer off.

All of this… this wallowing… felt like an unnecessary indulgence to him.

But what else is there? he thought grimly. That was the real question.

***

Jallistra.

Sat in her ready room, Jallistra was looking for answers.

She had searched for Gabriel Lorca’s reports, but frustratingly, they didn’t seem to even exist anymore.

Odd, she’d thought. A lot of records from that time were less than one hundred percent accurate, but they existed. She pulled up some of Captain Pike’s reports from his time aboard Discovery and scanned through those - no omissions, no gaps, just a detailed report of the mission to learn about the ‘Red Angels’.

Interesting stuff, Jallistra thought, but not what I’m after.

Failing Lorca’s reports, she’d looked up other reports from that period. Most of them from before the Discovery’s disappearance had been… well, the only thing she could think was that they serve nothing short of glowing. Commander Saru, Lieutenants Detmer and Owosekun… they’d all spoken highly of their Captain’s professionalism, his tactics…

… and then, afterward, after their disappearance and return, she detected the icy tone of disappointment. Worse, of betrayal. But there was nothing about why.

With little else to go on, she had decided instead to go over everything she could find out about the ‘Mirror’ universe.

The terminology had come into use after Captain Kirk’s infamous trip to that world. To him, that world, that Enterprise, had been nothing more or less than a mirror, rendering that which looked into it in darker shades. Everything that was noble about the world that Kirk had known had been twisted into something truly abominable. With no context for it, and no reason to search for anything about its history beyond the immediate necessities, Kirk had naturally assumed that that universe was simply, by its very nature, ‘evil’.

Later visits had, of course, proven that the matter was more complex. There was a great deal about that universe that was different: the way people interacted, their attitudes, even the genetic structure of the people who lived there. In a way, Jallistra thought that was a mistake to have ever interfered. Reading up on the consequences of each interference in that universe was like reading a litany of failure. Every single time Starfleet officers had been in that place, they had left it worse than when they had arrived.

I am privileged, she thought. Privileged to live in the universe that I am in. Privileged to live in a place where I am allowed to live in peace, free from the fear of death at the hands of anyone and everyone around me. Privileged that the default position for one of my rank is respect, and not hatred or terror.

And so, she soon realised, how could she judge Captain Gabriel Lorca? She had never - what was that charming phrase? She had never ‘walked a mile in that man’s shoes’.

But he had, she realised. For months and months he has pretended to be his other self. In a prophetic contradiction of the famed Commander Spock’s own records and conclusions, a barbarian had pretended to be a civilised man. More than that, he had succeeded in his charade. He had commanded a top-of-the-line starship, led men and women into battle, and no one had suspected a thing until his plan had played out.

What kind of man could do that? What kind of man could suppress his own innate hatred, prejudices, fears, and command a vessel - even the vessel at war - of the Federation Starfleet?

Captain Jallistra found herself looking over his records, concentrating on every single notation after the date of the destruction of the U.S.S. Buran. It had been his suggestion to turn the U.S.S. Discovery into a warship. It had been his suggestion to utilise science in the war against the Klingons. And his record showed multiple instances where he had put himself and his crew in danger in order to protect the lives of Starfleet officers and civilians alike. Corvan II, the battle to protect the Starship Gagarin, the battle against the Klingon Ship-of-The-Dead…

On the one hand it made sense: obviously, he would have had to keep up appearances whilst in their universe. He couldn’t just let civilians die. He couldn’t just let the Federation lose the war. But on the other hand… there were so many moments that just did not make sense. A man playing at being a real Starfleet captain might, if pushed, do one or two things that could be considered objectively heroic. It was almost expected, especially in that time.

But to do all of the things that she was reading in his file… it didn’t fit. Everything that they knew about the denizens of the Mirror Universe told her that they were, almost to a man, selfish, cruel, amoral, and only out for themselves. Even after a century of slavery, the Terrans had brought back their Empire with next to no compunction. But none of what she had read sounded like the man that Gabriel Lorca had pretended to be.

No, not pretended to be. The man that he had been, for the entire time he commanded the Discovery.

She was reminded of something she had thought whilst reading that stupid Captain Proton book. Real parallel universes, even the most extreme ones, were never so simplistic as ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Born into a world like Captain Lorca’s, what might Alyn Jallistra have become?

She sighed, closing her computer. She didn’t know what she would have been. But to her surprise, she didn’t know what Lorca was, either.

She stood, new purpose filling her.

Time to find out.

***

#captain lorca #star trek #a billion years away #fan fiction #star trek discovery #the plot bunnies have shotguns #even more depressing than the last chapter

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earnmone40015qdgd-blog · 5 years ago

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 6 years ago

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I too am in a TWW rewatch, because well I enjoy torturing myself by watching competent articulate political types. (That and the great tv) I'm really struggling with Will. He seems like such an creep the further it goes on yet all the female characters seem to like him. I feel like I'm missing something. Do you have any views on him?

I have views on everything!! :D Seriously though, nobody’s ever asked me about Will so what a great chance for an essay. (This got REALLY long, fair warning.)

First, a disclaimer. I’ve never been very active on Twitter, but when I started using it, I mostly followed TWW actors. I occasionally tweeted at them, and I never expected responses, because they were amazing actors from this show I revered, and I was a random fangirl on social media. But two of them did, and were SO nice, and it shocked me so much back in the day to realize how kind and down-to-earth TWW cast is, when I had just seen the series and hadn’t yet found tumblr or watched interviews. It really made an impression on me. Richard Schiff called me ‘very sweet’ and won my heart forever, and Joshua Malina was also totally friendly and nice, so much so that I felt bad for never really liking his character much.

That’s right, I too used to think Will was obnoxious. But once I realized the actor was kinda awesome, I reconsidered his character and gave him a chance. So I’m glad you asked me, as I’ve been on both sides with Will and really love him now.

IMO, Will Bailey came in not just as a replacement for Sam, but also as a character with very different values, who was meant to contrast with our heroes at a crucial time.

Mid-S4, when Will is first introduced, we meet him as a skilled, idealistic writer who’s also got strong organizational and leadership skills. That’s different from any of our faves, since both Sam and Toby are talented wordsmiths, and both are idealistic in their own ways, but they’re also both oriented towards behind-the-scenes work. Toby is very team-focused and loyal but he would like it if everyone would leave him alone and let him do what he’s good at–messaging and writing and trying to nudge the people around him onto the path he thinks is best. When CJ is promoted above him to become COS, he cares even less about the professional snub than Josh does, because it’s not something he wanted.

And while Sam has political aspirations, he never really shows leadership qualities. He’s an excellent second to Toby and even for Josh when needed, but he’s also shown to be the least canny and experienced of them all, and you could argue that being in front of the camera as a candidate for office doesn’t always equal being a leader, if your staff is really running the show for you, which is what Sam’s campaign looks like. Everyone around him coordinates the details and runs things to leave him space to just be The Guy. But Will Bailey is both the guy running the show behind the scenes AND the guy who can get on camera and speak about the politics and ideals of his campaign because his family and professional background made him much more well-rounded. Heck, he’s even in the armed forces on top of all that! He’s portrayed as good at all the things he does.

Now, what’s interesting to me is that Will, as he’s first introduced, is much more confident and idealistic than he is later on. Early Will goes through a serious transformation, from Toby’s new second to an independent operator who lacks the loyalty the others have to a man more than to a party. To some extent, Will’s rebellious, ‘you need me more than I need you’ attitude was there from the moment Sam showed up to his winning campaign, but I think that who Aaron Sorkin (who had worked with the actor a lot before) conceived him as changed after Sorkin left. The showrunners for S5-7 saw an opportunity in his character’s feisty campaign background and turned him into someone with even less personal loyalty and more detached pragmatism.

The fact is, that’s not what Sorkin-era TWW is about. One of the reasons the later seasons are so different is their clear-eyed look at campaign chaos and shifting loyalties and all the small on-the-ground work that we didn’t see with President Bartlet. The earlier seasons are very much about our found family of staffers and the First Family and watching them fight the status quo that constrains them because they won. They always want to do better, and be better, and as much as they acknowledge the reality that you have to win in order to change the world, the show still promises us that it’s the change that actually matters, and it isn’t worth winning if you have to sell your soul to do it.

So if there’s a spectrum along which everyone falls, based on how much they’re willing to ‘go along to get along’ versus making trouble for the sake of their beliefs, Will Bailey is on the exact opposite end from say, Amy Gardner, with our core characters in the middle. I’ve rambled about Amy before, about how her values and priorities are so different from our heroes that she’s an antagonist even as she works with them a lot of the time. Will has the same complicated relationship with the people we’ve been rooting for for years, but for drastically different reasons. Amy is at odds with the West Wing because she’ll do whatever it takes to win the argument and get what she wants, pulling the Democrats to the left whenever possible.

Will, though–especially in S5 and beyond–is at odds with the West Wing even when he’s in the West Wing, because for all his ideals, he has no problem with compromise. He sees nothing wrong with moving to the middle if it helps you win, if it gets you more power. He’s willing to look like an idiot for the White House, he’s willing to go in front of the press core and be beaten up for days if it will help the cause, he doesn’t hesitate to jump to a new campaign that he thinks could win, because winning is how you get the things you want. Probably, being a diplomat’s son has something to do with how accommodating he is, and how able Will is to justify any position, any choice. We’re told he’s very good with words, but he was probably also good at Debate in school, because he can clearly turn any situation around as needed.

Which means that while Will’s instinct is to adjust and Amy’s is to dig her heels in, they share the one quality that makes any TWW character harder to like: they answer only to themselves. Above all else, their ‘constituency of one’ is themselves rather than a specific politician or even the party. Will is a Democrat, but he’ll happily buck the party wisdom in favor of what he thinks will win. And that puts him up against Toby, the President, Josh, etc, at different times because he bases his choices on his own ideals and they’re just different from those of the Bartlet Administration, which spends 8 years fighting to stay progressive and deciding it’s better to go down fighting than do or say things they don’t believe in.

Will is also an interesting foil for Donna after she leaves the White House, and not just because they become coworkers and good friends. Along with the fact that she left Josh and struck out on her own, most of her post-Sorkin conflict with Josh is actually based on WHO she went to work for and how differently she and Josh see that decision/what it says about her and her time working under Josh. By going to work for Russell, Donna shows that she’s less concerned with finding the perfect underdog candidate and more interested in a future that keeps up Democratic progress after President Bartlet leaves office. She is never dedicated to Russell as a man, and over time becomes visibly concerned with his flaws as a man and a candidate. But tellingly, Will isn’t any more personally loyal to Russell than Donna is–and he’s the one running the man’s whole campaign!

It says a lot about Will that for all the moments when Russell shows himself to be less than honorable, Will clearly disagrees with his actions…but he stays. Because Russell was never why he left the Bartlet Administration, or why he took on the new campaign. He took it on because he’s good at winning campaigns, and in Russell he saw someone who could win, and he may have even admired the antagonistic streak that came out once Russell became VP. Russell also had no interest in the ‘cult of Bartlet’ and quickly proved that he wouldn’t even have the level of respect that Hoynes had for Josiah Bartlet as a man. Most of the characters on TWW consider that strike one against Russell and a major character flaw, but Will doesn’t. He respects the President and the office but he didn’t know Jed before the MS reveal, he sees him from more of a removed distance, and his White House job is a JOB to him more than a calling.

Again, some of this was less true during the Sorkin era. The Will Bailey who lost the ability to speak when he was officially offered Sam’s position is much more in awe of the gravity of it all, and it’s hard to see that guy jumping ship to support a moderate candidate that nobody in the White House even likes. But the hints of who he ends up as were there from the beginning, the way he tells off Sam and Toby even before he works with them–he’s always an outsider.

So the outsider factor, that makes it harder to like Will or any TWW character that doesn’t automatically get along with the others. Ainsley Hayes may be ‘the enemy’ as a Republican, but she is amiable and smoothly tries to change minds–and when she isn’t able to, she opts to live and let live. Will is harsher, more combative at times, and I don’t know if it’s just me, but that makes me feel defensive and protective towards the staffers he’s arguing with. After all, I adore them and I barely know him, how dare he?

But of course, his actions and his beliefs make perfect sense from HIS perspective. He’s had a successful career, and being a part of the Administration was never a goal of his, so he doesn’t need to go out of his way to defer to their judgement or stay quiet in the face of their superior wisdom. He was raised to know how to work people and get his way, but he was also raised with incredible privilege and confidence and if he was banished from TWW inner circle it wouldn’t be much of a loss for him. Being an outsider isn’t a problem for him, he spent his life that way as a diplomat’s son, so he never feels the need to conform the way he would have to in order to really become a part of the gang.

Honestly, the only reason he ever gels as a part of the group is because Josh leaves and Toby is fired and they need Will to speak for the White House–finally he’s the ultimate insider, he’s the Bartlet mouthpiece, and the only original senior staffer left is CJ, so once Will and Kate bond they’re the center of the staff that’s left, and he has somebody on his side. (And once he’s off the campaign trail, the show goes back to highlighting his neurotic and geeky side, because he can’t be the ‘win at all costs’ guy anymore and needed a new focus.)

So here’s why I think it can be hard to like Will: he often seems like an entitled, immune-to-criticism, antagonistic opportunist. At his worst he seems to think the means justify the ends, despite his progressive beliefs in general, and that means he’s the guy who could get almost anybody elected–which is great when it’s S3 and Bruno Gianelli is on Bartlet’s side, but less so when Russell seems like not much of an improvement on Hoynes in terms of decency and intelligence and Will has the skills to actually make that guy President.

BUT, (and I can’t guarantee this will help you but I think it’s important because Will does exist as a complex, multidimensional character, and that’s a good thing even though it means he has flaws) at his best he is an adorable dork who wants to make the world better, will take jobs because he believes they need doing even if they’re not his own personal dream, is willing to put himself in danger to save and protect others, and is not just talented but also very knowledgeable about the same kind of geeky Constitutional and political history that Jed Bartlet is.

What I’m trying to say is that Will, as much as anyone on TWW, is the product of his good and bad qualities, and both sides of that equation come from his core traits. His ability to ignore others’ criticism because he’s secure in who he is can be annoying when it’s Toby or Josh trying to talk sense into him, but it also means he survives hazing with friendly ease and stands up for the White House’s positions like a pro. He cares more about winning than fighting the narrowest version of the good fight, but he’s not wrong that winning is better for progressive goals than losing for the sake of ideological purity (hi 2016, I have not missed you). He isn’t loyal to the Bartlet Adminstration above all else–but if everyone were, then the President would be a dictator. Intra-party fighting can weaken a party but it also allows for diversity rather than a cult mentality.

So, here’s what it comes down to. Will isn’t Sam, and that means Toby could never really like or trust him, even if he had become more loyal. Will is a political relativist, which means Josh was never going to agree with his choices, as Josh has always put people first and hates having to compromise. Will is a privileged white guy (played by a Jewish actor, but never canonically established as Jewish) so CJ tolerates him but doesn’t genuinely like him for some time, because that’s just how she rolls. Leo leaves Will under Toby’s purview, and Jed has even less direct interaction with him. He spends a lot of his time battling a group of young female interns we never see again (tbh I can’t stand those scenes and if that’s where you get your creep factor, I get it). Given how disconnected he often is from the central cast, is it any wonder he��s mostly underappreciated and ignored by fans as well?

As for why the female characters on the show don’t seem bothered by him, even when you are, I think there’s a couple of possible explanations. First of all, TWW is a show that doesn’t show us that much–we have to assume that all of these characters, who practically live at work, spend a TON of time together offscreen, just by the nature of their jobs. If most of that time is similar to Will’s comedic scenes, where he’s a giant nerd with bikes in his office whose response to stress is the fetal position, then presumably his coworkers see his flawed human side, in an endearing rather than annoying way.

And secondly, we as viewers don’t have that perspective. We don’t even have the benefit of being these characters living in the early ‘00s, when it was a given that the government would be full of overconfident oblivious men and that’s just what women were expected to handle with poise and sweetness. Clearly things haven’t changed much over the years when it comes to White House staff and a backdrop of misogyny at work, but for a lot of us as viewers the world has progressed.

So Donna gets along with Will as her boss who can be kind of dense or morally ambivalent sometimes, but she’s also spent almost a decade dealing with the most powerful men in America. As an assistant, for most of that time. To her, even Will’s worst moments are barely a blip in the grand scheme of things. And CJ is totally unimpressed by Will’s smarts and talent because she works with the smartest and most talented men she’s ever known, but he serves a purpose and doesn’t get in her way, so she has no problem with him. Kate rose to power through the ranks of military men and has definitely seen, and probably injured, worse guys than Will Bailey. All the women of TWW have spent their careers dealing with men of varying character. I mean, even compared to some of Sam’s comments, Will must seem downright harmless.

TL;DR Can Will Bailey be a patronizing know-it-all who puts his own interests before party and found family? Absolutely. Is he a bad guy? Not at all. He’s just a different kind of good guy than those The West Wing conditioned us to admire and root for.

#an unexpected ode to #will bailey #thanks for this ask it really made me think!!#tww #the west wing #meta #rambling #mine #replies #karma1987uk

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thesevenseraphs · 6 years ago

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Bungie Weekly Update - 8/16/18

This week at Bungie, we’re heading to gamescom.

The away team is all packed up and ready to ship out to Köln, Germany, for a week of community love and Gambit trials. Our booth will be home to some friendly skirmishes. We’ll host as many Guardians as we can. We'll find some moments to show you some things you have yet to see and tell you some things you have yet to hear. Keep your eyes on our social channels next week!

Not all of us will be battling jetlag and minions of Darkness. Here at home base, Forsaken is in the very final stages of development. We’re applying finishing touches, and we know there are still some questions you want answered before the Prison of Elders is breached.

Let’s introduce you to the devs with the details for this week.

Known by All

Many of you have asked about how rewards will work in Gambit. We’ve seen questions as to whether it will feature a ranking system akin to Valor or Glory in the Crucible. Senior Designer Robbie Stevens and Test Lead Sam Dunn can answer these questions with an explanation of Infamy ranks.

Robbie: With Forsaken just around the corner, Gambit will soon be unleashed into the wild. I wanted to discuss our high-level goals for the mode:

Fuse the best aspects of PvE and PvP into a brand-new activity that you can experience only in Destiny 2

Make the mode accessible to players of all skill levels, but give it depth and variety that will keep even the most hardcore Guardians coming back for more

There’s always a role to play; whether it’s slaying enemies, scooping up Motes, or invading, there’s always a way to contribute to your team’s success

Communication isn’t required, but strategy and quick thinking are just as important as thumb-skill

Always make it possible for teams that fall behind to come back, so they don’t become discouraged

Gambit was designed with replayability and variety as a core part of the experience, but we knew that wasn’t enough. Players need desirable loot to chase and a way to show their dedication. So, with that in mind, we created our very own ranking system: Infamy.

At a high level, Infamy is:

A progression-based ranking system where completing matches earns you points

Winning matches will greatly accelerate your climb, while losing matches still earns you points, just fewer than if you win

An experience that rewards players with unique Gambit weapons and armor

We’ve been watching the response to the Valor ranking system in the Crucible. A lot of this new work takes that community feedback into account. At this point, I’m going to pass it to Sam, who pulled double duty to design and test the Infamy ranking system.

Sam: To start, we’ve designed Infamy ranks to be more granular by splitting most of the familiar ranks into three tiers. This will allow players to work toward shorter-term goals that are achievable in a few play sessions, rather than over many weeks. It also gives us more opportunities to grant rewards. The Guardian, Brave, Heroic, Fabled, and Mythic ranks will all have three tiers. The Legend rank will remain as one solid chunk. Apart from this major change, Infamy ranks will function very much like Valor ranks:

Each rank will require more Infamy points to complete than the last

Win streaks award bonus points

Your win streak caps at 5 and doesn’t get reset until you lose a match

Your win streak won’t be reset if you join a match in progress

In addition to completing matches, you can also earn Infamy by completing Gambit bounties. Each day, the Drifter will have a selection of daily bounties available for sale that will award Infamy points, as well as other rewards. He’ll also sell a special weekly bounty once you reach Level 50. The weekly bounty will award a large number of Infamy points and a piece of powerful gear. This allows you to always be making progress toward Legend, no matter what your short-term goals are.

Guardians notorious enough to catch the Drifter’s eye by climbing the Infamy ranks will be able to earn some pretty sweet gear.

Guardians who have tried Gambit in the wild have given it high marks for fun. At the same time, we know you well enough to know that a worthwhile reward is another crucial ingredient in a recipe that brings you back to the fight again and again. We hope to see you in Gambit when it launches with Forsaken!

“Magnificent!”

During our combat reveal stream, we used the Crucible as a proving ground to show off how new weapon systems and tuning will affect the way we fight in all activities as Guardians in Year 2 of Destiny 2. The updates to the tools of the trade are not the only changes you can expect in the arenas that pit players against players. Senior Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes is here to be accountable for how you’ll distinguish yourselves and earn awesome rewards in glorious combat.

Kevin: I’m glad to have the chance to talk to you all about Crucible ranks going forward. This past season of gameplay has taught us a lot about what has worked well and where we can do better. As we kick off the next season, we’re excited to give players new ranks to earn! Let’s dive right into the goals we had for designing the Crucible rank system in Season 4 and the changes that they generated:

Goal: Make earning a high rank in Glory NOT feel like your second job

Changes:

Glory rank points gained and lost have been re-tuned to reduce the overall climb to higher ranks

The weekly award has been fixed and its gains have been doubled

Goal: Recognize the achievements of players who did not receive their weekly awards in Season 3

Changes:

Players who competed in Season 3 will earn bonus rank points for completing their first match in Season 4

Does not require completion of any previous weekly milestones

Goal: Encourage more players to strive for higher Glory ranks

Changes:

Losses in the Competitive playlist no longer reset your Valor win streak

Radar has been reenabled during Competitive gameplay

Control and Clash modes have been added to the Competitive playlist

Loss streaks have been removed

We are currently investigating activity reconnections to Competitive Crucible for players who encounter an error midgame; this will not be available at the launch of Forsaken, but we are looking to add this feature postlaunch

Goal: Remove the time pressures associated with Glory ranks

Changes:

Pinnacle Crucible rewards are now awarded via quests

Some of these quests will ask you to engage with Valor or Glory ranks

These quests will NOT go away at the end of the season

Redrix’s Claymore is being retired in Season 4

Players who already earned the weapon will still be able to equip and use it

Players will be unable to earn Redrix’s Claymore beyond Season 3

Shaxx will offer a new quest that players can complete to earn Redrix’s Broadsword, a companion weapon to Redrix’s Claymore

Redrix’s Broadsword features a similar talent arrangement, but it does not share the lore and Triumphs associated with Redrix’s Claymore

Once you’ve earned the weapon, random roll versions of Redrix’s Broadsword will start dropping from Crucible engrams

Each drop will have the fixed Outlaw + Desperado combination

Each drop will also have randomized barrels, magazines, and Masterwork perks

Players who earned Redrix’s Claymore in Season 3 will receive additional bonuses

Owners of Redrix’s Claymore will be granted an exclusive emblem when redeeming the corresponding Triumph

Claymore owners will be eligible for drops of Redrix’s Broadsword from Crucible engrams even without completing the corresponding quest

A new Crucible reward will be added via a quest in Season 4

Goal: Continue to promote Rumble as a third mode

Changes:

Earning a place in the Top 3 in Rumble will now count as a win

The correct number of Valor rank points will be granted

If you committed to any of the rank ladders we established in Season 3, thanks for making the fight lively. We love supporting the competitive community, no matter your skill or mood. Keep your feedback coming, and we’ll keep making the Crucible a place where you submit to some of the finest tests of skill that Destiny has to offer players. —Kevin

You heard him.

Getting Social

Since the original launch of Destiny 2, we’ve been reporting your feedback on Guided Games and matchmaking systems to our Social team. Today, Design Lead Steve Dolan will be detailing changes that will make it easier to keep your Fireteam together. He also has news for how Clan features will be updated in Forsaken.

Steve: I want to fill you in on changes coming to social systems before we start our Forsaken adventure together.

We're bringing back a feature that many have asked for on many occasions. Fireteams that are formed in some activities will stay together once the activity is complete. This applies to the following:

Strikes

Gambit

Crucible

Note: This does not apply to Competitive Crucible. Additionally, if a Crucible match ends with a mercy ruling, or the scores are wildly disproportional, players will be put back into matchmaking to find a new team.

Activity Reconnections

Starting with Forsaken, if you disconnect from a Guided Game, you'll be offered the opportunity to reconnect to the activity if it is still active. We'll reserve your slot for up to three minutes. After that, Guides will be able to backfill the Guided Game with Seekers that are currently in queue.

In Guided Raids, these reconnections will help with individual player disconnects. In the case that an entire Fireteam disconnects, we want to minimize the impact to raid teams. Going forward, players will be able to take their raid checkpoints out of Guided Games and use them in the normal version of the raid. If you all disconnect, form up your Fireteam again and head into the normal version to continue on your path of total raid destruction.

Clans Update

Since launch, 50% of you have hit max rank in your Clans each season. Going into Forsaken, there are two major things we wanted to improve with Clans:

Give you more reasons to play with your clanmates

Make clan perks more interesting

How you earn Clan XP is changing. When you start your journey in Forsaken, Hawthorne will have three daily bounties. They can be completed alone or with a Fireteam to grant a small amount of Clan XP. Once your character reaches level the new 50, Hawthorne will add three additional weekly bounties that grant larger amounts of Clan XP, but require you to fireteam up with your clanmates. Here is a preview of the new clan perks for Season 4 that will be more impactful and worth the time it takes to achieve them.

Rank 3: Increased resilience when you’re in a fireteam with clanmates.

Rank 5: Grants a chance to receive additional Etheric and Baryon resources when collecting them in the Reef.

Rank 6: The weekly clan milestone also grants a Masterwork Core.

Express Yourself

And of course, we’ve been busy making sure you'll be able to express yourself to other Guardians in the world come Forsaken. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming on September 4.

Link: https://www.bungie.net/pubassets/pkgs/114/114124/08162018_All_Alone.mp4

If you don’t have a Clan, someone is always recruiting . You’re missing out on another roster of willing teammates, a whole shared loot stream, as well as all these new features.

Going out with a Bang

Next week, a new mode will be featured in Crucible Labs, and we’re expecting explosive results.

Senior Designer Andrew Weldon is here to set the stage for your final lab session of Season 3.

Andrew: This past weekend, you got a chance to play the updated version of Showdown. This iteration contained updates based on your feedback and our own observations. Like Lockdown, we’ll gather as much information as we can and start making decisions as to our next steps and will update you when we have more to share. We’ve received feedback on both Lockdown and Showdown that both modes felt too tilted toward the Competitive playlist style of gameplay – 4v4, round-based, higher stakes, etc. And you’re right – that was the target experience for both modes. This next time around, however, we’re going to swing the pendulum the other way… Our next Crucible Labs will be the mode Scorched. This mode has a very deep, complex, and serious rule set:

You spawn with a Scorch Cannon

Everyone else spawns with a Scorch Cannon

You shoot each other with said Scorch Cannons

Seriously, that’s it

Our designers were so pre-occupied with whether or not we could, we didn’t stop to think if we should.

Tuesday, 8/21 at 10 a.m. PT: Free-for-all

Friday, 8/24 at 10 a.m. PT: 6v6

This is a wild and zany mode, but one that we’ve had a ton of fun playing here at Bungie. We hope you’ll also have a blast with this mode as the final Labs offering before Year 2 begins.

Scanning…

Update 2.0 is just around the corner, followed by Forsaken a week later.

Destiny Player Support has a forecast for what to expect on the week between, where you may notice a few hiccups in the experience.

This is their report.

Hotfix 1.2.3.2 Recap

This week, to address issues blocking some players from upgrading their Solstice Armor at the Statue of Heroes, we deployed Destiny 2 Hotfix 1.2.3.2. Upon installing this hotfix, some players on PC reported seeing odd behavior in the character screen. With the conclusion of the Hotfix 1.2.3.2 deployment we expect issues causing this behavior to be resolved, however, players who continue to be affected should try running Scan and Repair from the Blizzard launcher.

Players who encounter other issues following this hotfix should report them to the #Help forum.

Resplendent Masterworks

Last week, we confirmed that Solstice Armor can no longer be upgraded after the conclusion of Solstice of Heroes. This week, we can confirm that players will be able to complete objectives to masterwork their Legendary Solstice Armor (Resplendent) after Solstice of Heroes ends on August 28.

This will require players to have already upgraded to their Legendary Solstice Armor (Resplendent), since the Statue of Heroes will no longer be available to upgrade the Scorched and Rekindled sets. As a reminder, these armor sets only generate elemental orbs during Solstice of Heroes.

Lastly, players should be aware that Valor ranks reset at the conclusion of Season 3. If players do not unlock their masterwork for achieving Legend in their Valor ranking by the end of Season 3, their Valor rank will reset and they will have to begin anew in Season 4.

For more details on Solstice of Heroes, players should visit our Vital Information thread.

Forsaken Preparation

To set the table for the launch of Forsaken on September 4, all players will be prompted to accept Destiny 2 Update 2.0.0 on August 28. As Destiny 2 crosses into its second year, players may observe a number of issues in the week between August 28 and September 4. While we are working to document known issues for this week-long transition, players should be prepared for some general turbulence.

To set expectations, here is a sampling of issues confirmed for the week leading up to Forsaken, starting on August 28:

Exotic weapons will lose their +5 Power mod in preparation for the Year 2 mod system, but Legendary weapons will not until September 4

Nightfall strikes will not have scoring until September 4

Some tooltips and item descriptions may reflect Year 2 item behavior, even if item functionality is not updated until September 4

Some tooltips and item descriptions may reflect Year 1 item behavior until September 4, even if item functionality has already been updated for Year 2

Year 2 weapon slots will be live for all players, which may cause some weapons in players’ inventories to go to their Postmaster

All players should ensure their Postmasters are clear by August 28 to prevent loss of items

Some Year 1 Power weapons which previously had an elemental attribute will become Kinetic for Year 2

The elemental attributes for a handful of targeted Year 1 weapons will be changed and locked to a specific attribute for Year 2

All other Year 1 Energy and Power weapons in players’ inventories will have their elemental attributes locked for Year 2

Players can expect more details about the week leading into Forsaken in next week’s Player Support Report.

#Destiny #Destiny the game #Destiny 2 #bungie weekly update #Destiny 2 Forsaken #long post

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emailhostingplan0560-blog · 6 years ago

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aliengearholsters · 6 years ago

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Caption This: Contest!

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michaelandy101-blog · 3 years ago

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four Efficient Ecommerce Hyperlink Constructing Methods

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/4-effective-ecommerce-link-building-strategies/

four Efficient Ecommerce Hyperlink Constructing Methods

Regardless of the product, the last word aim of any ecommerce web site is to draw prospects. As soon as in your web page, they’ll navigate your well-designed interface and peruse your merchandise earlier than lastly sealing the deal by clicking “add to cart.”

The problem is determining easy methods to get them there.

One of the crucial necessary instruments for ecommerce entrepreneurs is hyperlink constructing. By creating helpful content material and utilizing different hyperlink constructing methods, you’ll be able to entice customers through a number of avenues.

On this column, you’ll study 4 confirmed ecommerce hyperlink constructing methods that can provide help to get in entrance of recent prospects, entice high quality hyperlinks, and enhance your ecommerce web site’s search rankings. However first, why is hyperlink constructing so necessary for ecommerce corporations?

How Hyperlinks Help Ecommerce Enterprise Aims

In case your web site hosts fascinating articles, enlightening graphics, distinctive sources, or different compelling content material, you’ll be able to entice a completely new sector of customers.

These folks aren’t essentially getting down to make a purchase order, however as soon as they’ve arrived in your web page, they are often transformed to prospects.

Commercial

Proceed Studying Under

Plus, simply by visiting your web site, they enhance your visitors. They might additionally hyperlink to your content material, which helps unfold consciousness about your model and expose extra folks to your web site.

You can even join with different websites and publications and encourage them to hyperlink to your content material as properly, additional enhancing your web site’s fame.

At this time’s prospects are postpone by blatant branding and aggressive marketing methods. One of the best ways to construct your model —and your buyer base — is by creating content material that pulls folks to go to and hyperlink to your web site naturally.

This helps construct belief and set up you as not only a retailer, however an academic useful resource. Hyperlink constructing can assist you obtain this aim. Right here’s easy methods to do it.

1. Empower Your Prospects By means of Data

Provide superior sources and guides associated to your merchandise in an schooling part. Data makes folks really feel empowered, and that’s very true for these trying to make a purchase order.

Commercial

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Together with an schooling part in your web site will preserve these trying to do analysis earlier than shopping for from navigating elsewhere for extra data. In the event that they keep in your web site, they’re extra doubtless to purchase from you.

An schooling part additionally helps to ascertain you as a subject-matter professional and offers content material that others would possibly hyperlink to.

Take, for example, this educational section from jewellery retailer and lab-grown diamond retailer Good Earth:

This part explains the fundamentals of diamonds (like lower, colour, readability), and likewise particulars the corporate’s personal distinctive processes. By offering helpful common data alongside extra particular product data, they’re able to contextualize their merchandise.

Diamonds are a notoriously costly product, and this part additionally serves to assist prospects perceive and justify the costs, growing the chance of a purchase order.

This web page can also be a helpful useful resource for associated web sites inside related sectors to hyperlink to, like marriage ceremony and trend blogs.

If your organization conducts its personal analysis, an schooling part can even provide help to showcase your capabilities and experience. The extra distinctive your analysis, the extra doubtless it’s that different websites will hyperlink to your web page.

As an example, Mailchimp collected knowledge on open charges for emails throughout the assorted industries of its prospects.

Not solely are they offering a worthwhile useful resource to hyperlink to, however they’re additionally setting themselves up as credible thought leaders of their business.

Arming prospects with as a lot data as potential makes them really feel assured in themselves and in your model, making them extra prone to do enterprise with you.

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Plus, creating an schooling part builds your model and helps you construct hyperlinks.

2. Discover Unlinked Model Mentions

Consider an unlinked model point out as a possibility. Any web page containing a phrase or phrase that might contextually hyperlink to one of many pages in your web site is simply that: an opportunity to succeed in out to the host of the positioning, and counsel a hyperlink insert.

Unlinked model mentions are a good way to strategy ecommerce hyperlink constructing as a result of they provide virtually unparalleled ROI. All you’ll want to do is discover a web site with a point out that’s up for grabs, and ask in the event that they’d be keen to hyperlink to your web site.

Instruments like Ahrefs may be a good way to drag up viable web site choices within the blink of a watch. There are 4 kinds of model mentions you must focus your analysis on:

Thematic

Thematic mentions are those who don’t point out your organization, product, or model particularly however make thematic/contextual sense.

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For instance, if you happen to promote pool gear, there’s most likely a spot in your hyperlink in an article about summer time enjoyable, even when it’s not blatant.

These sorts of alternatives require a very good sense of context and may be very profitable when approached with logic and care.

Firm

Discovering a point out of your organization title that doesn’t already hyperlink to your web site is like getting into the race midway to the end line!

So long as the point out isn’t detrimental, you’ll be able to attain out to ask about inserting a hyperlink.

Product

Product mentions don’t reference your organization by title, however they do reference a product you promote.

In case your product suits properly into the bigger context of the content material, these mentions are an awesome alternative to get your self a backlink.

Retail

When used accurately, retail model mentions may be essentially the most highly effective choice of all of them.

In case your web site options Gucci merchandise or Gucci coupon codes, for instance, you’ve a connection to one of many greatest and most searched manufacturers on this planet.

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All you must do is attain out to websites that point out these phrases or related ones, and counsel they hyperlink to your merchandise or coupon codes particularly.

Now, your web site is bolstered by the complete array of individuals looking the web for Gucci.

three. Use Analysis-Backed Low cost and Coupon Codes

Studies show that individuals are extra doubtless to purchase after they really feel they’re getting a deal. Paying much less for extra makes folks really feel sensible, and making a optimistic affiliation in your prospects together with your model is all the time a good suggestion.

Shopify recommends utilizing coupon codes on holidays (like Valentine’s Day) and events that sign buyer appreciation (like a buyer’s birthday). You can even provide incentive coupon codes to new prospects to assist construct their loyalty.

Provide differing kinds and ranges of reductions, and observe the purchases they produce to see what approaches get the perfect outcomes.

The best way you current a reduction can typically make all of the distinction. In his research into what customers perceive as a “good deal,” marketing professor and writer Dr. Jonah Berger famous that when buying a $2,000 pc, prospects felt like $500 off was a greater deal than 25% off – despite the fact that the 2 reductions have been functionally an identical.

Commercial

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Making use of A/B testing like this to your low cost and coupon strategy can assist you determine what’s extra interesting to your particular viewers.

One factor to notice: you must keep away from making offers an integral a part of your providing, or else gross sales might turn out to be depending on prospects who gained’t purchase except there’s a reduction.

Coupon Codes & Associates

Style retailer Cents of Model takes benefit of coupon codes by providing distinctive low cost codes and touchdown pages to its associates, who then add UTM code snippets to the top of their URLs.

These distinctive codes enable Cents of Model to trace the success of their affiliate program by figuring out precisely which affiliate is driving visitors their approach.

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In addition they give the associates incentive to share the positioning’s merchandise, as a result of they know that their prospects will respect being provided a reduction.

When you have an affiliate program, take into account partnering with influencers and providing distinctive reductions for them to share with their audiences. This creates a sense of exclusivity.

In case your associates and their audiences know they’re getting reductions that aren’t out there publicly on different platforms, they are going to doubtless turn out to be extra enticed to share with others as a approach of exhibiting off their particular data. This implies extra hits for them, and for you – all people wins!

You can even ship discover of accessible coupon codes to web sites like RetailMeNot, Honey, and Ebates, which combination coupon codes.

Many purchasers search these pages earlier than making a purchase order, trying to find the perfect offers. By sharing your codes with them, you might find yourself on that buyer’s radar.

four. Give Stuff Away, For Free!

The one factor folks like greater than discounted merchandise? Free merchandise!

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Whereas giveaways can appear counterintuitive at first – why would you simply give away the very product you’re attempting to promote? – they’re a wonderful strategic instrument for constructing your model consciousness and sentiment.

I even talked about them throughout considered one of my SEJ ThinkTank webinars, particularly due to their excessive success charges.

So long as you’re gifting away a product that folks will really need, there is no such thing as a higher method to get folks enthusiastic about your model and even snag some free publicity.

A giveaway may be organized by yourself web site or social media, or carried out by way of partnerships with influencers and bloggers. Giveaways with partnerships are a good way to develop your community and piggyback on others’ social followings.

Blogger Outreach

When you determine to go the influencer/blogger route, you’ll want to determine who to succeed in out to and the way you’ll get in contact. Many individuals with vital social followings area dozens if not lots of of messages a day, so you must be as strategic as potential.

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Use a instrument like BuzzSumo to analysis widespread bloggers in your sector who is perhaps keen to associate with you. This may be so simple as operating a search for business phrases to be able to get an inventory of widespread articles centered on subjects associated to your product.

After getting a way of who’s producing related content material, you’ll have a jumping-off level to analysis who you’d prefer to associate with.

Whenever you discover somebody who looks like a very good match, ask for a media package to get a chicken’s eye view of their viewers and engagement. In case you like what you see, you’ll be able to ask for the charges.

Budgeting for an influencer/blogger partnership can fluctuate extensively relying on who you join with, and how much association you attain. Most bloggers and influencers have their very own set of tips and charges for giveaways, which normally rely on their area of interest, viewers dimension, and impression.

Remember the fact that you’re forming a two-way relationship – many bloggers and influencers take pleasure in doing giveaways for the increase in engagement and visitors they produce.

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They typically mix the giveaway with a evaluation of the enterprise or product, to get prospects excited in regards to the product and make them extra prone to enter.

Right here’s an instance from an allergen-free cooking web site, reviewing a noodle model and together with a giveaway:

Whenever you associate with a blogger or influencer, you wish to make sure you’re getting sufficient bang in your buck.

Commercial

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By asking them to make use of UTM hyperlinks for analytics monitoring, you’ll be able to visualize precisely how the giveaway is affecting your visitors and gross sales. You must also guarantee they adjust to FTC tips and give proper disclosure of your partnership in all related content material.

These hyperlink constructing methods are efficient as a result of they assist bolster your enterprise from all sides. These approaches won’t solely provide help to convey in additional visitors and create a loyal buyer base.

They can even elevate the status of your model by highlighting your data and trustworthiness, and your helpful relationships with others adjoining to your sector.

Make your ecommerce web site greater than a spot for fast purchases – create a hub of high-quality sources and inexpensive, custom-feeling options. When you’ve established your model, you’ll be able to watch your ecommerce web site flourish.

Picture Credit

Featured Picture: Paulo Bobita All screenshots taken by writer, July 2021

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ussjellyfish · 7 years ago

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Incarnadine pt 3/4 | Georgiou & Burnham, Georgiou/Paris, Paris & Cornwell | mature | DSC

So I need another chapter, so you get another chapter. Everyone wins. (I hope). Thanks for your patience, I tried to make it end in one but it just didn’t fit.

Many thanks to @holdouttrout and @reflectingiridescent for reading and listening to me babble.

Kat arrives to make sure the emperor she set free is behaving, and to check on Afsaneh and Michael, who can’t possibly be objective. Philippa tries to figure out how she fits in this universe.

also on ao3 (with previous parts)

Sometimes she only sleeps when they’re at warp. If they're already moving, they have a mission. She can sleep until someone needs her or until the ship stops. Katrina's accustomed to sleeping in chunks of time ar less than she should. Between meetings, between crises, she's not even sure how sleep deprived she was during the war or how she'll get better now that Starfleet Command is missing so many admirals.

They've said goodbye to good people. Good leaders, and they've lost captains, commanders. Starfleet is weak and the people she promotes keep dying but she has to protect them, let the newly promoted thrive long enough to become what they all need.

But it aches, gnaws at her. They should have time to grow into their positions, to be mentored, not face life and death alone and merciless. Some survived. Many didn't. She's still remembering all the new captains in her commander and who made first officer and perhaps that's why this cuts like it does.

They lost Philippa, and this ghost isn't her, but she's the closest any of them have to a second chance. Her responsibility because she set her free into this universe.

Burnham says she was heroic, selfless, willing to die for two junior officers she turned to killers in her world. If the Terran Emperor can learn to value life, than Kat can trust herself to value it again. No one is irredeemable.

Except perhaps the other Lorca who--

She buries that for later. She's not ready. Afsaneh can rail at her and she'll yell back. It'll give her time to process, to actually drop her guard for awhile because Afsaneh can handle it. She doesn't need to be the perfect admiral in front of her. She'd never believe it anyway.

Another two cups of coffee and they'll be there, or she could sleep. Another Philippa's dying, and she could sleep. She slept through plenty of deaths, and this time, they can save her. Afsaneh has her, and that's always been the safest place for Pippa to be.

Kat rubs her forehead again, chasing the headache behind her eyes. Afsaneh has a good medical team. She'll heal but it will be rough. Tetryon-based disruptors are one of the brush fires she needs to stop before she's reading reports about dead children, bleeding out hours after they were hit in the crossfire. She replicates coffee and lifts up her reports. She needs to work or sleep, because there's no time for anything else. Not in the galaxy the way it is, not with Starfleet healing.

Hopefully she's stopped the bleeding there.

For now.

Ensign Tilly meets her at the spacedock, all apologetic because she is not Commander Burnham or Captain Paris or one of the command crew and she's really not good enough to be meeting an Admiral.

"It's the middle of the night, at ease."

"Even so, Admiral." Ensign Tilly does not at all ease. Her Gabriel would have loved that about her, how she was so much like them a million years ago when Ensign Cornwell never knew how to stand at rest and Pippa could never seem to stand straight enough. Afsaneh always looked elegant, but she has that way. Even exhausted, she'll be beautiful. Always is.

"Report, please." That should calm her, doing her job.

"The Emperor-"

"Philippa Georgiou-" Kat corrects, careful to remain gentle, encouraging rather than harsh.

"Right, still feels weird to call her that."

"Captain Georgiou was a hero, and my friend. It's strange to have two people so different share her name." She taps the door controls and starts towards the infirmary, Tilly falling into step behind her. "However, The Terran Emperor's existence is classified, and for the good of the Federation, and the galaxy as a whole, it's better if we just let this Philippa be Philippa Georgiou, even if we know better."

"Yes, Admiral, of course."

Touching her shoulder, Kat sighs. "I know it's hard."

"It must be so much harder for you, you knew her."

"Came up through the Academy together with all of them, Philippa, the real Captain Lorca, Captain Paris--"

Tilly's eyes grow round and wide. Kat's listing heroes, and the captain she knew as a murderer, but Tilly focuses on the last name. "She's not like I expected."

"Paris?"

"Yes, her service record is so exact, so matter of fact..."

"And then she swears."

"I wasn't going to say that in particular, though it is often mentioned when people speak of working with her." Tilly smiles a little, but as they round the corner into the infirmary she tenses again.

"She's to the point, and exact, in her way. I often tease her that there's a reason she leapt at the idea of being so far from Starfleet command."

"Starbase Nineteen is quite a distance from Earth."

"Which is what I like about it," Afsaneh interrupts, walking out from the recovery room with her hand wrapped around coffee. "Takes longer for controlling, micromanaging admirals to arrive."

"Captain," Tilly answers, politely, staring at the coffee and obviously aware that there's been no protocol from Captain Paris. Nor will there be.

"I brought you coffee, because you didn't sleep, even though you told me you would, Kat." She hands the coffee to Tilly and then hugs Kat tightly, squeezing her chest and at her touch everything aches. She's been gone so long, travelling, always flying. For a moment, the universe is still and familiar. "I must admit I am fond of one particularly stiff admiral."

"And not all captains are obnoxious heroes who never follow the rules and can't fill out paperwork after they save the day." She buries her thoughts in the smell of Afsaneh's hair, and for a moment, she could be back in the academy, waiting for Gabriel and Pippa to finish their work so they could go eat. "It's so good to see you."

"I look good. Unlike you, giving up sleeping is only going to make these permanent." Afsaneh taps her cheek, shaking her head. "But here, drink your coffee. Pippa's asleep, for now, and I have words to share with you before she wakes up again."

Tilly raises her eyebrows, captains and admirals arguing is like moms fighting for ensigns, but she'll live.

"It's better to argue with me in person anyway."

"I've always found it more fun." She tilts her head towards recovery walking Kat back towards their patient. "My doctor Rosyx says she's recovering well, but tetryon disruptors are a hellish device of slow death and suffering."

"Which is why they're banned in the Federation."

"Well, start banning them outside of the Federation."

They round the corner just in time for a sharp cry of pain and Michael's equally abrupt Vulcan cursing.

"Don't move, you'll make it worse."

Philippa seems to be just as stubborn across universes, but she sounds the same as their Pippa did. "It's just sore."

"Philippa, you're bleeding."

Afsaneh moves like lightning, and she's at the biobed, catching Philippa's shoulder while Michael stares in horror at the dark spreading stain on her gown. Medical protocol would have sealed the wound neatly, there wouldn't even be a scar to reopen, but this is tetryon decay, Philippa's cells ripping themselves apart on a molecular level.

"Fuck, Pippa, back in bed." Afsaneh taps her communicator. "Rosyx, we need you in recovery, now."

Kat grabs a sheet, pressing it to the bleed without even acknowledging Pippa or Michael. Heal first, then discussion. "Get her back upon the bed."

Between the four of them, Philippa's up easily, but she groans again, and it's sharp. That would be the nerve damage starting to spread. It'll bleed like a vein's been nicked and ache like a burn that's still setting fire to her flesh.

Kat presses down hard, trying to stop the blood, but it wells up, hot and red. She keeps her eyes on Pippa. She's not even really with them, still recovering from anesthesia, from the hell her body has been through.

"Philippa, still," Afsaneh mutters. "Hold fucking still." She strokes her hair, staring her down. "You're safe here."

"I don't want to restrain her," Michael says, her voice soft, gentle.

She'd hate that. Philippa isn't even really awake, she's been through so much that she's still in a kind of shock. Kat holds the sheets there, primitive treatment for a sophisticated method of torture.

Afsaneh strokes her cheek, then leans down close, kissing her gently. "Pippa, look at me, stay with me."

And that drags her attention in a way nothing else could. Michael and Tilly are similarly entranced. Afsaneh has that power. When she wants to be, she's the most captivating thing in the room.

That keeps her still when the doctor and her team arrive, the cryo units are out as soon as Kat moves her hand. They were ready for this. Kat watches, her stomach tight like it used to always get before surgeries. The wound is not a neat slicde, or a burn, but a strange red mass of flesh devouring itself.

"Captain Paris, we're going to start," Dr. Rosyx warns and they move in tandem, touching Philippa's arms, her legs, surrounding her while Afsaneh strokes her face.

Her Pippa would find a a way to smile, to laugh at them. This one just stares up, terror bright in her eyes, but it's fading. There's no safety in the other universe, trust and love are hard to come by, but here, Philippa's surrounded by emotions, wrapped in softness and care. She must hate it.

"Look at me," Afsaneh repeats. "Stay with me."

"Afsaneh."

"I'm here. So is Michael, and Kat, our very important Kat came all the way from the fancy land of Admirals."

Kat rolls her eyes, because she has to. They'll have this until Afsaneh gets promoted, then being an admiral will suddenly be a good thing.

"Mother," Michael whispers, and that carries as much power as the kiss. "Trust us."

Trust is impossible there, and the hum of the cryo unit comes with a sharp hiss of pain. It fucking hurts, but they cant even numb her nerves before they seal off the damage.

Philippa's eyes flick, quick with agony but she settles, calms. She recognizes them both in turn, her breath slowing.

"That's it," Afsaneh says. "It's all right. You'll be fine."

"We need to take her back to surgery," Doctor Rosyx says behind Kat. "Must have missed something."

Afsaneh and Michael lean over her, soft but sure. She can't trust them the way their Philippa would, but the hiss of pain in her breath eases. "You'll be fine."

One of the nurses uses a hypo on her neck, putting her under and she fights it, eyes wide.

"It's all right," Michael repeats. "You're safe here."

"Doctors aren't as charming on the other side," Afsaneh mutters, holding Pippa's face. Her thumb runs over her cheekbone. "You're in good hands."

"Hands that need space, Captain, Admiral." Doctor Rosyx waves them away and her staff circles around Philippa, ready to save her again.

Kat touches Afsaneh's back, but it's Michael who needs to be calmed. She's already been too close to Pippa's death once, watching this again, even when she isn't the same, it's too much.

"They'll get it. She'll be all right. It's closer to the surface now, most of it's gone."

"She seemed fine."

"She will be fine, Doctor Rosyx is one of the best."

"I only have the best," Afsaneh reminds them. "Come on, Kat's hands are covered in blood and we need to eat, sleep, take care of ourselves so we can deal with her highness when she wakes up."

"I don't think she knows where she is."

"Shock is common after traumatic injuries," Kat reminds them, touching Michael again, wishing she could do something to soften the stiffness in her shoulders. "She'll recover."

"It's my fault."

"Technically mine," Tilly pipes up from behind them. "I'm the one who couldn't get out of the way."

"Blame is unnecessary." Afsaneh sighs, resting her hands on her stomach. "We'll listen to Kat, she is our leader."

Kat rolls her eyes. "How's your replimat?"

"Out here the Mediterranean tastes a little too much like the Iberian and the Persian's a little weak. I'm not as good at recruiting chefs as I am Starfleet." Afsaneh reaches for Michael, taking her hand. She could be one of her ensigns, or one of her children, the way she tugs her. "But, one of them is getting better at fesenjoon; she listens to me, as all wise people should."

"Not Philippa."

"Took the last one some time to learn. I suppose I'll just train this one."

None of them argue with her, Michael makes a face that's so much like Pippa that Kat's eyes sting. She's hers, as much as she's Sarek's or Amanda's. Philippa helped raise her, mould her, and she's in her: a living legacy of the best of Philippa Georgiou. The Emperor tried to save Ensign Tilly and Michael, so there's good in her too. Maybe not as much as their Philippa, but something of her. They'll protect that as much as they can. Keep her with them long enough that she might become something better.

Someone they recognize.

Her dreams are soft, even gentle. Hands stroke her face, move her hair, press against her right side, always her right side. Her head hurts and her mouth's too dry to speak. Hands stroke her, hold her, but they're not here to hurt.

No torture.

She hasn't been defeated. There's no agony booth.

Not dead.

She had no other ends to her life. Defeat and torture or death. Those were her options, but something here is different. Soft.

Afsaneh slips through her dreams like a zephyr, and Michael, her dear daughter. She's here. Even Katrina. Killy.

She must be dying.

Then her eyes open. The light hurts, even though it's weak. She winces, squinting.

"Turn the lights down, she's waking up. Her eyes are sensitive."

That voice. She knows that voice, not Michael, not Afsaneh. Killy.

"Em- Philippa--" she corrects herself. "Philippa, can you hear me? Don't move. Please don't move. Your tissue's really fragile and you keep bleeding and they've already had to ask the crew to donate because you went through the whole stock and you don't want to do that again."

"No" She moves her hand on the second try, but she has no control. Her limbs are leaden, perhaps no longer her own.

"Ensign Tilly to Captain Paris, she's awake. She's holding still this time, I promise. She's still pretty out of it so I don't think she'll move but I am standing right by her, just in case."

Afsaneh's voice carries over the comm, rough like stones. "I'm on my way."

She was asleep. Time is impossible to determine on starships, starbases. Afsaneh would sleep odd hours here as well. She always has.

"Michael, Michael she's awake," she calls behind her. "Don't move," Tilly orders, with more backbone in it this time. "Please don't move."

Michael joins her, stern and worried and soft. "Hello."

"I won't move."

"Good. You're still at risk, nearly dead."

"You called me mother."

"You needed to listen."

Philippa's eyes close, it's so hard to keep them open. "I'm listening."

"Now you listen."

Afsaneh. She is here. She lives in this universe.

"Couldn't get you to listen before."

She has to see Afsaneh, has to hear her, but her eyes are so heavy.

"Pippa."

She must have winced because Afsaneh laughs, low and soft. "You hate that too."

Hate is the wrong word. It's an insult on Gabriel's traitorous lips, but Afsaneh makes it sound pleasant.

"Open your eyes."

She's done thousands of things more difficult, but this takes all her strength.

"There you are." Afsaneh's hair is different, more practical. She doesn't have any jewelry, and she has one of their uniforms, blue and gold, but warmer, softer. This is the soft place.

Afsaneh touches her shoulder, but someone else has her hand. Michael. That's Michael's worried little smile, and Killy. Now she remembers.

"I'm not dead then."

"Not for a lack of trying," Michael mutters, shaking her head. "You nearly bleed out, twice."

That's why she's so dizzy. Blood transfusions take a toll, so does tissue regeneration. This was bad. Batleth? No, that wasn't it. Disruptor. Tetryons. Her flesh melted away while Michael tried to save her. Succeeded. She rests her hand on her side, and there's still a monitor there, keeping watch on her wound.

Her legs ache, and she moves which triggers everyone around her fussing and hovering.

"Careful-"

"You could reopen your injury-

"Philippa-"

She finds Afsaneh's eyes and begs, unable to finds words, but she's never needed them with her Afsaneh.

"Help her onto her side, she's been on her back awhile."

Flat on her back is difficult to fend, and it's a ridiculous thought because she can barely move but she wants to be able to see a little. Curled in the fetal position, she finally remembers the last face surrounding her.

Katrina.

Dear Admiral Katrina.

"You too?"

"I set you free," Kat says, taking a step closer. "Seems only fair that I should make sure you survive on your own. Our universe is a harsh place"

Even laughing weakly hurts enough that her eyes sting and her side burns sharp and white.

"Don't make her laugh, Kat."

"I'm not that funny."

"That's true, don't laugh, Pippa, Kat's not funny. She's never been funny."

They traded barbs almost as often as dirty looks, schemes that might have ended in each other's deaths, and the occasional blade in her universe, here they look at each other and smile. They roll their eyes.

Afsaneh must have talked to the doctor, Michael as well because they share a look when Philippa won't move her hand from the wound. It's healed now, mostly, but her nerves remember the phantom burning. She's weak enough to be vulnerable and that's the most dangerous thing. If he were here, alive, he'd make another move, but she has nothing to lose here. She must remember that. Here she is no one.

Michael touches her wrist, then finds her hand. "Welcome back."

"I don't feel as if I have returned."

"You'll feel half-dead for awhile." That voice she doesn't recognize, must be the doctor. She has that overprotective sort of doctor tone. "You've had two surgeries and bled out at least thirteen liters of blood, which is more than three times what you have. Killed my stock of AB."

They could have let her die. Would have, in her universe. There's no reason to keep her alive. She owes them nothing, they owe her nothing. She should have just died and that could have been the end of it.

They talk and she drifts. Focusing takes more energy than she has, but Michael's hand is still warm against hers.

Michael squeezes her fingers, all comforting the way her daughter never would be. "You're safe."

Safe. Safe is an illusion. Vulnerability is always with her, stalking her from the shadows. She's been betrayed by her daughter, by her right hand, but here her love lives and her daughter is kind. There is no betrayal, no mistrust, and that cuts through her deeper than any disruptor.

That wound might never stop bleeding.

"Michael."

"You're going to be fine. We'll even find you some leather so you can be on your way in a couple days."

"You called me mother." She hungers for that in a way she has no resistance to.

"You needed to listen."

There's something else, she remembers something. Afsaneh trying to make her listen.

"Listen to you?"

"Perhaps." Michael's other hand touches her face. "I'll stay until you're asleep."

She doesn't have to, Philippa will be fine alone. She'll live. Michael's smile fills her vision before her eyes close again. Maybe there's something more important than surviving. Something she can't grasp or understand yet. Some worth to her life she hasn't found, doesn't know.

Perhaps there is something for her in this soft universe. Not a fight, she's fought enough. This is something else. Something truly unknown.

#dsc #incarnadine #michael burnham and philippa georgiou #Afsaneh and Philippa #katrina cornwell #philippa georgiou #michael burnham #Afsaneh Paris #all the relationships and fussing #hurt comfort #discovery fic

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thesevenseraphs · 7 years ago

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Bungie Weekly Update - 9/14/17

This week at Bungie, we crowned a new Raid champion.

When the pinnacle activity in Destiny first goes live, a race for glory begins. Our community assembles to see which team will be first to ascend the mountain. Our team keeps an eye on one of their screens that is tuned to a streamer for whom they have high hopes. The design team that built the experience commandeers our theater and turns it into a VIP box.

In the end, it was Clan ‘The Legend Himself’ that unmasked a Cabal emperor.

Congratulations to the winners. We salute you!

S_K_U_L_L_I_X

Dominickx-

Epicookiez

Lil_Noahhh

sc_Slayerage

Eavrr

RAID SPOILER ALERT

You don’t need to be first to experience this triumph for yourself. The Leviathan Raid welcomes all challengers. If you don’t have a dream team on your friends list, don’t lose heart. As more Guardians learn the ways of the Pleasure Gardens, we’ll open Guided Games so they can show you the way.

Standing Trial

The Raid is not the final test that we have to reveal. Destiny 2 still has new plateaus for you to scale.

EPILEPSY WARNING

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Bring a Fireteam and your spirit of competition. You have a new ritual to learn.

Mutual Combat

With more than one full week of Player vs. Player action logged in our database, we’re ready to assess the situation in our arena. Before we step into analysis, let’s recap our goals.

The Destiny 2 Crucible has been designed with two distinct playlists to serve two distinct moods:

Quickplay

Matchmaking times are shorter, with less emphasis on skill. Fireteams with players of varying skill will have a better time. This is the fastest route to a game, but you may face opponents outside of your comfort zone. Competitive

Matchmaking takes more time to introduce you to players that are closer to you in skill with a good connection. These matchmaking settings may take longer, but we feel that the quality of the gameplay experience will be worth the wait.

At this time, Quickplay is working as we had hoped. Matchmaking is putting Guardians through the paces. Players are meeting in battle for honor and bragging rights.

According to the finer minds on our team, the Competitive playlist needs some love. Too many players are getting stomped by opponents who grossly outmatch them. In order to match you properly with an opponent in your league, we need to apply your skill rating. There is a bug we need to fix to ensure that this is done properly. We are applying that fix right now.

In summary:

If you’ve been having fun in Quickplay, nothing has changed. Game on.

If you’ve been getting your ass kicked in Competitive, you’ll have more of a fighting chance.

If you’ve been kicking ass in Competitive, we’re sending some worthier opponents your way.

The Crucible exists in a constant state of evolution. It adapts to the way you play, so this won’t be the last update we apply to the state of combat. Get out there and trade some shots with your fellow players. Tell us all about your experiences.

And now that we’ve seen where the emperor lives, we can enjoy some skirmishes there.

Clan Field Guide

Clans are live! The Guided Games Beta is live! Guardians are forming up into their own special teams and fighting to make a name for themselves so they can lure new recruits into their respective lairs.

As you work together to define your own culture of teamwork and friendship, we’d like to share some of what we’ve learned leading our own teams of gamers. First up, let’s talk about identity.

How to write the ideal Clan profile.

So you’ve already picked the perfect Clan name and Clan tag. But what about the rest of your Clan identity? Seekers in Guided Games select a Clan to go with based on what you’ve shared about yourself, so your Clan profile should be designed to attract the ideal players you want to recruit for the activity.

Let’s start with Clan Motto. It’s your tagline and your rallying cry. Make it something memorable and leave potential recruits wanting to learn more. Some good examples from the wilds:

“Lone wolves banding together for the greater good”

“Pride in battle”

“All about that glimmer”

“Wow! That went WAY better than expected….”

“There is still so much left to burn….”

While the Motto is a chance to express what players should expect from you, the Mission Statement is where you spell out what you expect from them. It should answer some critical questions. What behavior is acceptable within the Clan? What expectations do you have for communication and participation? What activities do you focus on and what are the best times to play with your Clan? Here is a sample:

“We’re a group of laid-back gamers, here to have fun and make some friends while shooting baddies in the face. Message our leaders for an invite and let’s go get that sweet loot!”

“We’re usually online in the evening West Coast time and like to hang out in chat while playing.”

“We do all the weekly activities: Nightfall, Raid and Trials so Tuesday and Friday nights are busy!”

“Play to win, but have fun.”

“Be excellent to each other.”

With a detailed mission statement, you’ll appeal to the kind of people you hope to meet. Communicate the important stuff and have fun with it.

Got it? Good luck. Wave those banners high!

Too Close For Comfort

Earlier this week, we were made aware that a graphical element on one of Destiny 2’s armor pieces bore close resemblance to an internet meme that has been subsequently repurposed to represent hate and intolerance. This was completely unintentional. As an immediate response, we extended our planned maintenance window to remove the element from the armor piece itself, and will be following up next week with another patch to remove the same element from the UI icon and preview screens, scrubbing it from the game altogether.

Like many of you, we aren’t satisfied with that reaction alone. As the team was busy patching the game, others were already asking the important questions – the very same questions we know many of you are asking now. Questions like these…

How did it happen?

The design in question was initially created as part of gear foundry explorations in June of 2015. Graphic designers routinely reference real world art, iconography, typeface, and other design elements to inform the choices they make. In this case, some of the reference imagery featured the simple mirrored chevron shapes found in the finished piece. Some graphic design that belongs to sports teams provided some inspiration as well, along with some primitive shapes and chevrons that were used to permeate our Guardian class iconography.

How did we miss this content in development?

Although the design wasn’t emulative of the meme in question, the armor piece was eventually flagged by another team responsible for reviewing content for cultural, geographical, and other sensitive issues. Unfortunately, that review was conducted to explore whether or not we were comfortable with the connection to the original, innocuous “kek” internet meme. The more contemporary, vile derivation that has been repurposed by hate groups was not surfaced through this process, and therefore, the armor was approved for ship. What steps are we taking to ensure that this won’t happen again?

We are digging in to determine how we can more deeply vet our game content to shield us, and our community, from inappropriate imagery. Though we are still investigating our creative process in full, we know there was no degree of malicious intent from anyone on our team. That said, we do recognize that the design in question is close enough to warrant removal from the game. We want everyone to know their identity is welcome in our studio and in the worlds we create. This isn’t merely a platitude, but an official pillar we hold ourselves, and our work to. It is also a clarion call for the type of people we want to bring into our studio to help us make better games. We aren’t asking you for the benefit of the doubt. We know we are judged by our actions. We want to thank the members of our community, and the press, for bringing this matter to our attention. We will always strive to make all players feel welcome in our worlds, to promote positive experiences, and to portray a bright and hopeful world in Destiny 2, and in every game world we create.

Annoying Produce

Whether it’s fruits, vegetables, or any of the critters from the animal kingdom, your Destiny Player Support team is actively cataloguing the error codes you see when you play the game. They are committed to documenting them and eradicating them.

This is their report.

Destiny Update 1.0.1.3.

We are planning to release Destiny Update 1.0.1.3 within the next week. This will address some known issues, including the removal of harmful imagery from some armor within Destiny 2.

Stay tuned to @BungieHelp for announcements of the expected availability for the Hotfix.

Follow the Destiny Installation Guide for vital information concerning the installation of Updates and Hotfixes to your console.

Patchnotes will be published to the Updates section of Bungie.net alongside the update.

Error code: Cabbage

For a localized help article, please see: https://www.bungie.net/en/Help/Article/46243

Error code CABBAGE may occur when router settings block communications to or from Destiny services. We are investigating the impact on various devices. To attempt to resolve this error when using a Technicolor/Thomson router, please proceed through the following steps.PLEASE NOTE: Players may need to inspect the manual for their router to proceed through these steps, as some settings pages may have alternate naming conventions per manufacturer.

1. Connect your console directly to the router via wired or wi-fi connection.

Note: attempting to connect to Destiny through a router connected to an alternate router may lead to increased issues. Please attempt to connect to the router connected to your modem for best results.

2. From the router settings page, proceed from Home > Toolbox > Firewall.

Create a new Firewall level within your Router settings.

3. From the Router settings page, proceed from Home > Toolbox > Game & Application Sharing and configure the following settings:[/b]

Enable UPnP.

Disable "Extended Security".

Disable any "Assigned Games & Applications" settings.

PlayStation 4 Crash Investigation

We’re continuing to investigate error code CE-34878-0 with our partners at PlayStation.

At this time, we do not have any additional information. We are troubleshooting the issue internally, and attempting to identify specific causes for the issue. Until resolved, we advise disabling PlayStation 4 HDCP settings which may reduce or circumvent this error from impacting your console.For a full list of issues that we are investigating, please see the #Help forum on Bungie.net. We will provide additional information via @BungieHelp when available.

#Destiny #Destiny the game #Destiny 2 #bungie weekly update

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roseymoseyberry · 7 years ago

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Samsara (1/?)

So this is what happens when you talk about how Wildbreak being a KOBD baby is very cute, but boy do you wish there was more of Wildbreak being reincarnated Breakdown instead.

You end up writing it yourself.

And then quickly find yourself drowning in Stunticon headcanons.

So I guess this is my new ongoing project. There won’t be a posting schedule, and I’m actually going to try to put off posting to AO3 until I fully finish the fic. But I also have over half the fic (hopefully) written so (hopefully) it shouldn’t take long to finish.

Till then, have this first little taste.

(and shoutout to @meridianbarony for the title <3 )

Title: Samsara

Series: RID15 and TFP (and some tidbits grabbed from Aligned wiki pages)

Ship(s): Wildbreak/Knockout, Breakdown/Knockout

Tags/warnings: Reincarnation AU, hurt/comfort, verbal/physical abuse (though the worst of the physical abuse is barely described or off screen), past character death, age difference (but still consenting adult alien robots), a lot of filling in worldbuilding gaps and making shit up, and a lot of Wildbreak being a sweet boy who just needs some love and affection.

Fic Summary:

From the day he was forged, Wildbreak had felt like there was something missing; some motivation or drive or desire that had been left behind in the Allspark.

Something he should know but didn’t.

“Why you always getting distracted by cars like that?”

“What?” Wildbreak stammered, blinking as he tore his gaze away from the road and back to his partner. Dragstrip didn’t look the least bit amused.

“Don’t you ‘what’ me. You know what I’m talking about.” he insisted as he punched Wildbreak in the shoulder. Wildbreak yelped and tried to scoot away, but Dragstrip had him by the arm in the blink of an optic. “Oh no you don’t. If I’m gonna be the one actually coming up with plans to get us places, the least you could do is try to help! Instead you get all misty-opticked every time a pretty red car whizzes by.”

Wildbreak sullenly looked away, back out to the highway in the distance. The squishies wouldn’t see them up here, but it was easy to just watch the traffic go by while Dragstrip did the thinking for them.

The red sports car that had caught his optic was long gone.

“Dunno,” Wildbreak mumbled with a shrug. Dragstrip’s grip on his arm softened some with that. “Guess I just like looking at ‘em.”

Dragstrip was quiet before his grip tightened. Wildbreak whined, about to complain – he had just waxed! – but then Dragstrip was accusing, “You don’t wanna frag that Autobot brat, do ya? I swear, Wildbreak--”

“What--No! Don’t be gross, Dragstrip, you know I wouldn’t—come on, buddy, you gotta believe me!”

It took several minutes of shoving and shouting before Dragstrip finally settled down, though it was on top of Wildbreak’s back as he was forced to sprawl across the ground. Still, it meant that Dragstrip wasn’t asking anymore questions and was instead back to talking out loud about possible plans and schemes. This time, Wildbreak did his best to pay attention now and again so he could agree with Dragstrip and keep him content.

And Wildbreak could still stare out towards the highway, confused about the longing in his spark but knowing that keeping an optic open and searching was the best he could do to keep it content too.

Wildbreak wasn’t sure what he was looking for, just that he hadn’t seen it yet and needed to keep looking.

And that his spark did always skip a pulse when he saw a red paintjob.

From the day he was forged, Wildbreak had felt like there was something missing; some motivation or drive or desire that had been left behind in the Allspark.

Something he should know but didn’t.

Which was how he ended up here. Dragstrip had snapped him up days after he had been forged and Wildbreak went along with it. He didn’t have any plans or aspirations of his own, after all, so why not? And then Motormaster had grabbed them both and along they went.

For that reason, combining hadn’t been difficult for Wildbreak to learn. If anything, it felt like an extension of how he already lived his life: following other mecha and making himself useful when asked.

Becoming Dragbreak was the ultimate in teamwork, making them bigger and stronger, boosting Wildbreak’s confidence by proxy. They weren’t as big or powerful as Menasor, but it was comfortable as Dragbreak. It was easy. Menasor was a trickier balance to maintain with that many personalities, especially when his teammates were all so much more assertive than Wildbreak. Learning to create Menasor had taken a while, during which Wildbreak had just hung back and let them all yell and fight until they finally figured it out.

Which meant that Motormaster had beat the stunticons enough times that they finally gave up.

Wildbreak didn’t ever try to gain control in any of his combiner forms, or really any facet of his life. He readily gave it away and followed commands as best he could to avoid trouble.

Dragstrip complained constantly about how Wildbreak didn’t have any initiative, would grab him by the shoulders and yell, “Come on, ya gotta want something, don’tcha? What do you want? What keeps you driving?!”

And Wildbreak couldn’t do anything but shrug and say, “Dunno.”

Only once, late at night, when Dragstrip was being nice and laughing and sharing some highgrade they had managed to nab, had Wildbreak elaborated.

“It’s not that I don’t want nothing. I do want something! But I just don’t know what that something is.”

“What d’ya mean you don’t know?”

“I dun--”

Dragstrip had elbowed him and said, “Oh no, none of that! Come on, you can tell your old pal.”

Wildbreak took a swig of the highgrade, grimacing and choking on it before swallowing.

“I can’t because it’s just – it’s always been this way for me, I guess. There’s something I want, something I’ve always wanted, but it’s just this big blank spot in my processor. Like my spark knows but my processor doesn’t know what it’s talking about.”

After a moment of silence, Dragstrip snorted, muttering, “Weirdo” as he sat up, grabbed the highgrade and took a long swig.

“Well, don’t you worry, Wildbreak. If you stick with me, I’ll make sure we get what we want, ya hear? Motormaster better watch himself because--”

Wildbreak laid there, watching Dragstrip, and wondered what it was like to know what he was driving after.

They totally had the Autobots beat. Dragbreak had them beat! Dragstrip’s presence swelled around Wildbreak, bright and victorious and dragging him up into the triumph with him, because they were going to win! With this weapons cache they would really be able to bring the heat, show Motormaster they weren’t to be messed with, that he should promote them, respect them—

“Someone call a doctor?”

Dragbreak didn’t have a chance to do anything before a car rammed into the side of his legs, sending him toppling over with a loud and painful crash. Dragstrip roared with outrage while Wildbreak drew himself in further, as if he could escape the pain in their shared frame by giving more control of it over to Dragstrip.

With a growl of their combined engines, Dragbreak got to his pedes, scanning for this new opponent.

A perfectly buffed and waxed and very red sports car swung his back wheels around towards the Autobots before transforming.

Dragstrip made to sprint forward.

Wildbreak was frozen to the spot.

Dragbreak faltered, stumbling over his pedes.

“Knockout? What’re you doing here?!” stammered the Autobot leader.

“What? I’m not allowed to visit an old friend?” he asked with blatant amusement, though his optics never left Dragbreak and he pulled a weapon from his back, some staff that was suddenly flashing with charge. His smile was cruel looking and beautiful. “Or make a few enemies?”

Dragstrip raged and made to rush the new enemy.

Wildbreak’s spark raced and wobbled and something he couldn’t name was choking him.

Dragbreak faltered again before, with a great shudder, he splintered.

They both landed on their afts, completely unprepared for the abrupt separation. Wildbreak’s processor spun because they had never fallen out of synch like that, why was his spark roiling in his chest, what was happening to him, who was this Knockout guy—

A servo grabbed Wildbreak by the audial finial, threatening to rip it off with how strongly it pulled, and that managed to snap Wildbreak out of it. His optics left the crimson paintjob to see Dragstrip glaring at him murderously.

Wildbreak never questioned a retreat, but as they transformed and made a run for it, his spark thrashed in its casing.

But he didn’t dare question Dragstrip. He was so mad already and there was no doubt that Wildbreak would be feeling the brunt of that anger as soon as they were safe, so why make it worse for himself?

“What happened?! Why did you separate from me?!”

“I didn’t mean to—ow! Dragstrip, please—!“

“You don’t stand up to me! You don’t ever stand up to me!!” It was hard to tell if it was a command or just a bewildered statement of fact. His name was Wildbreak and his paintjob was blue and he never stood up to anyone.

“I know, I know, and I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened—hey, hey, come on, that hurts!”

“Not until I know what that scrap out there was!”

Dragstrip was livid, but worse than that he was confused, and Wildbreak wished he had an answer for his partner. But he had nothing, no matter how Dragstrip yelled or shoved. Wildbreak worried if he was sick, or his spark was failing, or any of the multitudes of things that could be wrong that were causing the ache in his chest.

It wasn’t until late that night, when Dragstrip had finally tired himself out and left Wildbreak staring up at the stars, dinged and dented with ringing audials and his servo resting on his chest over his spark, that he realized. It was something Wildbreak had only experienced peripherally from Dragstrip, from Heatseeker and Slashmark and Motormaster, when they were wrapped up together in combination.

It felt like motivation.

Night after night, day after day, drive after drive after drive, and Wildbreak couldn’t so much as catch a glimpse of that mech. Sometimes he would slip away when Dragstrip was busy or recharging. Sometimes Dragstrip saw him leaving and Wildbreak would have to quietly admit it was his spark.

“It’s just not agreeing with my processor is all. Figure a drive will help, you know?”

And Dragstrip would glower, but each time he let Wildbreak go.

“Sort yourself out, idiot.”

They hadn’t tried combining again. It was only a matter of time, but for once they were both hesitating, and Wildbreak worried about how much Dragstrip thought about the sensation of their minds and frames rejecting each other for the first time in their lives.

Wildbreak was desperately afraid he would mess it up again.

So when Wildbreak wasn’t meekly following Dragstrip, he was off driving down every road he could find. Busy streets, long never-ending highways, winding forest routes. Every red paintjob caught his attention, but every time it was the wrong car and disappointment overwhelmed him.

And every time Wildbreak returned to Dragstrip’s side, unsuccessful and dejected, he would swear to himself he’d just give it up. It wasn’t worth all this stress.

And then out Wildbreak would go again, engine roaring as he searched.

It had been over a week before finally Wildbreak spotted him. The right frame, the right colors, the right decals and detailing.

Wildbreak’s spark pulsed hard and he revved his engine as he drifted into a sharp u-turn to get onto the other side of the highway.

The sun was setting in the distance, throwing shades of yellow, orange, and red across the road where it could get through the trees flanking the road. It was quiet, only a couple other cars on the road, and none of them going nearly as fast as that crimson speedster as he swerved around them and raced down the asphalt. Wildbreak picked up his pace, and with each car he passed he was one closer to his goal.

However, the sneaking question of what, exactly, he wanted to do when he caught up with Knockout was finally starting to dawn on him. It wasn’t like Wildbreak could just ask “Why do you make my spark feel like it’s going to burn itself out?”

Maybe he should have talked to Dragstrip about it. Dragstrip would know what to do. Course, Dragstrip would have also been furious because Knockout seemed to be an Autobot, and Wildbreak didn’t want to fight him, so—

Without slowing down at all, Knockout took an exit that led further into the woods, and Wildbreak raced to follow after.

Wildbreak would just have to figure it out later.

The new road was full of sharp corners, forcing Wildbreak to drift and brake and really push his driving skills to the tests to keep up. Every time the road curved behind trees, hiding Knockout for moments at a time, Wildbreak would fret that when he took the corner himself, the red mech would be gone. Yet, every time he made his way around the corner, he’d spot a flash of crimson before Knockout sped around another turn.

Until Wildbreak took a turn and found himself staring at a long road and Knockout nowhere to be seen.

Wildbreak skidded to a halt and transformed, swinging his helm around wildly to find nothing but road and trees and dirt.

“Uh, hey, where’d you go?” Wildbreak called out, spinning to check behind him. “I promise I don’t wanna fight or nothing!” There was shuffling in the woods off to one side and Wildbreak turned towards the area, servos up and flat in a placating manner as he moved that way. “I just, uh. I guess I just wanted to meet you?” Up close, it was clear there were pede tracks in the soft earth, so Wildbreak carefully crept between the two trees that the trail led through. “Your name’s Knockout, right? Sorry if I freaked you out.”

It was a little darker in the shade of the trees, but not so much that Wildbreak couldn’t still follow the tracks. However, they suddenly took a sharp left, and when Wildbreak turned his helm to follow the path, noticing them heading back towards the road, that’s when something heavy slammed into his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. Wildbreak yelped as he went down, rolling over onto his back to complain.

However, the sharp pressure of a staff against his neck had Wildbreak going completely still.

Knockout peered down at him, crimson optics bright and his mouth curled into a sneer. Every inch of the mech was menacing, yet Wildbreak’s spark fluttered with something that definitely wasn’t fear.

“Why are you following me?” Knockout demanded, his voice rich despite the sharpness of his tone. Wildbreak squirmed which just earned him that sharp point pressing down harder, threatening to just scrape his paintjob if he was lucky.

“To meet you?” Wildbreak managed, aware that his optics were wide.

Knockout’s gaze narrowed.

“Well, consider yourself acquainted.”

After a moment of psyching himself up, Wildbreak said, “And maybe to talk?”

Knockout snorted.

“What could you possibly want with a dirty traitor like me? One of your little friends get himself scrapped bad enough that you would come crawling to scum like me?” Knockout mocked as he moved the staff under Wildbreak’s chin, lifting it up and evaluating Wildbreak. “And this time, try to not make your answer sound like a question.”

Wildbreak blinked.

“What?”

Knockout’s optics rolled and the staff finally lifted away from Wildbreak’s plating, but only far enough away that when it lit up and snapped with charge it didn’t immediately arc into Wildbreak’s frame.

But the staff did linger and Wildbreak knew a threat when he saw one.

“W-wait, wait, listen, I really don’t know what you’re talking about!” Wildbreak insisted, lifting his servos up with open palms. “If this is about the war then I don’t know nothing about it!”

Knockout looked unconvinced as he said, “You knew my name.”

“Because that Autobot said it! I-I swear, that’s the only reason I know it. I’ve never seen or heard about you before that, honest.”

There was a moment when the only sound was the crackling of the staff.

“When were you forged.”

“After the war,” Wildbreak admitted. “First batch of new sparks.”

And then it powered down.

“Explains a lot,” Knockout said snidely. “So then, what’s a new forged like you doing chasing after me?”

Wildbreak’s frame relaxed some against the soft dirt.

“Uh, well--”

“It better not sound like a question.”

Wildbreak swallowed hard before starting again. “But I don’t really know exactly. Which I know sounds dumb, but I just – I wanted to meet you and talk to you, at least, and I guess I thought I’d figure it out from there.”

Knockout stared down at him before smirking.

Wildbreak’s spark fluttered again.

“While that’s flattering, I’m a bit old for you, kid.” The staff finally lifted away completely and Knockout slipped it into his subspace. “Why don’t you go stalk someone your own age?”

Wildbreak sat up quickly when Knockout turned to walk away, scrambling as he said, “Whoa, that’s not—I mean, I guess maybe that’s part of it, I dunno.” It took a couple seconds to get back up onto his pedes and Wildbreak could feel the dirt and debris cascading off his back, every inch of him dying to wash it off, but for now he was focused on the bemused look on Knockout’s face as he looked over his shoulder. “But it’s not just that, I swear.”

Knockout’s gaze trailed down his frame and back up, evaluating, and Wildbreak twitched when it lingered on his face, on his optics.

“Then what is it?”

That there had never been a ‘something’ before, a motivation or a drive, something that had Wildbreak frantic and working when he could have been just relaxing and avoiding trouble, never something that made his spark want like this, and he still didn’t know what this ‘something’ was, but it had to do with Knockout, he knew it did, but he didn’t know how, he didn’t—

“I dunno.”

After a beat, Knockout sighed.

“What’s your name?”

“Wildbreak,” he replied, glad to have a question he could answer.

Something odd crossed Knockout’s face, surprised and almost sad, but it was there and gone within moments.

“Alright then, Wildbreak,” Knockout said as he turned his helm away and continued towards the road. “It’s been a while since I’ve had some actual competition, so if you can keep up with me, maybe I’ll be up for a little chat.”

Wildbreak perked up and grinned as he quickly chased after Knockout.

#fanfiction #hey what's up it's rosey and i'm here to make wildbreak and knockout kiss #eventually

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charlieharry1 · 5 years ago

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An a-z manual to influencer advertising

9 Instances out of ten, the objective of influencer advertising and marketing or a blogger outreach marketing campaign is for logo cognizance functions. Groups will method individuals with a longtime Digital Marketing Companies Birmingham following, either on social media or out within the blogosphere, and ask them to submit content material approximately their product or service. You’ll regularly hear of bloggers agreeing to try this in alternate for ‘freebies’ (generally the product being promoted) or they may request charge. As with digital marketing in preferred, influencer marketing and blogger outreach is a charming one as it’s constantly evolving and reinventing itself. With this in mind, i’ve determined to put in writing an a-z guide of all matters influencer advertising and blogger outreach. It includes useful equipment, hints and hints to apply at the same time as doing it. Oh, and i’ve even thrown in some traditional* film/tv rates for good measure.

Read Also:- Google can crawl or index your 410 Page anytime

*disclaimer – my definition of traditional is doubtlessly situation to discuss…

a- deal with the right human beings

First of all, it’s crucial which you set out understanding precisely what you want to attain from your outreach campaign and who you want to purpose hearth at. Of path, it is going with out saying, you’re targeting bloggers/influencers and their fans. However, for a miles extra granular knowledge of your target audience, it’s clever to spend time carefully gaining knowledge of, analyzing and familiarising yourself with influencers applicable to your enterprise. Find out what sort of content they produce and the matters their followers are interested by and engage with. Create content material off the again of this and bloggers could be biting your hand off to proportion it. De niro meme.

one way to ensure which you’re contacting the proper people is to apply a tool which include buzzsumo. We’re large fans here at sitevisibility and agree with it ought to be a staple tool for your outreach armoury. No longer handiest does it allow you to easily discover effective influencers, you could also narrow down and filter your influencer search by means of topic of information or vicinity should you need to. It’s feasible to see what content material bloggers are sharing, how regularly they accomplish that and which domain names they share making the technique of finding out whether or not someone is well worth achieving out to is a lot quicker and less complicated. If they’ve written about similar products or appear to be they’ve accomplished this form of merchandising before, then they’ll probable be open to doing it once more. Alternative gear which are additionally worth checking out encompass traackr, tomoson, upfluence and ninja outreach. Taken meme

*note: may additionally, or won't, be the real quote from taken. C – creative, concise & compelling issue lines

spending a long time drafting an outreach electronic mail best to fall flat at the primary hurdle (i. E. Recipients really starting it) is not anything short of disheartening. That is wherein the artwork of making compelling difficulty strains surely comes into its very own. Becoming something in this little bit of space which piques human beings’s hobby can be hard, however no longer impossible. Here are some of my top recommendations for e-mail concern lines and growing your open quotes:

lead them to non-public

prey on people’s fear of missing out (fomo)

rouse their curiosity

Channel your inner ricky gervais and show a feel of humour. In the end, who doesn’t revel in a giggle? (i know i’m actually greater inclined to open an email if the challenge line is witty or amusing). Use words that mean urgency such as…properly…’urgent’. They’re confirmed to increase electronic mail open charges. One e mail difficulty line that we enjoyed together here at sitevisibility become from boiler room, a web tune broadcasting platform. Rather than send out a commonplace electronic mail to their listing concerning adjustments to gdpr, like most corporations did, their issue line was as follows:

With cambridge analytica recently inside the news for the facebook statistics scandal (in essence, private records harvested from more than 50 million fb profiles with out permission was used to goal us voters with personalised political commercials based on their psychological profile) boiler room capitalised on the public interest surrounding this, with the aid of cheekily suggesting they were merging with them. As a result, we wanted to discover what turned into happening! Truely that couldn’t be!? Once we opened the email, however, the textual content within it turned into this:

boiler room electronic mail content material

a amazing instance of ways an intriguing situation line and thinking outdoor the field can assist to increase open quotes. Have any subject strains stuck your attention lately? Why not comment beneath along with your preferred?

*top tip: a simple ‘whats up’ in the challenge line in all likelihood isn’t going to cut it. D – do the hard paintings for them

Influencers are busy humans. The ones, they’re off jet placing here, there and anywhere and documenting it all online. They’ve even updated their instagram bio as ‘influencer’. Can it get any greater reputable than that? I jest however, in all seriousness, folks who’ve reach making it their complete-time job, and manage to maintain it, accomplish that for a reason. They work difficult. Even bloggers who aren’t so a hit, in the experience that it offers them with an income, will nonetheless probable be driven for time. Much like you and that i, they’ll be juggling their ardour undertaking alongside more than one roles inclusive of employee, mum or dad, husband or spouse. Try and make matters as clean as feasible for both and store them valuable time. As an instance, do you have got the appropriate pictures to aid your content? Provide the influencer with them. Possibly you have a few ideas for how they could position your product/emblem to their followers? Get them excited through making recommendations. Bear in mind, they in all likelihood get hold of a ton of very comparable emails on a day by day foundation. Peddle away on their behalf and you’ll gain the rewards. E – email monitoring It’s all well and good thinking you’ve created the ideal e-mail to ship to the ideal influencers, but e-mail monitoring will monitor whether or not or no longer this truly the case. Here at sitevisibility, we use a device known as yesware to hold tabs on what’s occurred once we’ve pressed send. Email open fees, hyperlink clicks and attachment opens are simply some of the beneficial insights discovered with this device, permitting you to check whether the messages you’re sending out are getting any engagement. In case your emails aren’t even being opened, email tracking will spotlight this. In which case, you’ll need to go back to the drafting board and send out alternative versions of your message – and swot up on point c above! F – follow up, follow up & observe up once more

Patience and perseverance is key to blogger outreach. In a perfect international, all of us to your outreach list would respond immediately however that’s no longer practical. As noted previously, bloggers and influencers are busy humans and you’ll be competing with others for their valuable inbox space. In case you don’t listen again first time round, allow some days to pass and attempt again. When doing so, however, don’t simply in reality regurgitate the same statistics. As a substitute, upload something new and of fee. It could nicely be that the individual concerned didn’t right away pick out along with your emblem or assume it'd be of interest to their fans, but this added records would possibly serve to convince them otherwise. The stats additionally endorse that observe up emails are profitable. In keeping with yesware, you have got a 21% chance of having a reply to your second e mail if the primary goes unanswered. Think of it this way – every email sent is some other opportunity for them to examine and reply and makes your logo that rather more acquainted. Simply be careful no longer to overdo it. Nobody like receiving 10 observe up emails all pronouncing the identical factor! Terminator meme similar to raymond, every body loves them. Manufacturers, bloggers, influencers and their fans – giveaways are normally beneficial to all events. No longer simplest are they a praise for modern-day followers, it can also help to win over new fanatics for influencers and, if performed well, incentivise their followers to follow you (have i said observe an excessive amount of?). In essence, manufacturers will run competitions in collaboration with influencers to growth their following and enjoy better engagement prices with their posts. You’ve possibly visible this in practice as it’s a common way to get people attractive with a brand. Word the under* – an instagram put up from tv persona megan mckenna who, at present, has 2. 1 million fans. In a collaboration with easilocks, a hair extension emblem, she requested her followers to love their instagram page to doubtlessly win some of their products. I have to mention, i’m a sucker for those varieties of giveaways myself. I comply with the instagram debts of a ways too many towie, geordie shore and love island contestants to mention (i understand, i've debateable taste). They don’t half of love a charcoal toothpaste giveaway! While operating with influencers, reflect onconsideration on what you may provide that fits in with their audience. Offer it as a giveaway and you’ll see an growth in new followers, engagement along with your posts and emblem recognition. Megan mckenna publish

*A public apology: sorry this isn’t a meme. H – honesty & hashtags

h is for honesty. Formerly, inside influencer advertising and marketing, people with big followings haven’t continually been so transparent with regards to disclosing whether or not they were being paid to promote a product or in the event that they had been definitely endorsing some thing for the pure ardour and sheer love of a product. Inside the u. S., the ftc (federal alternate commission) goals to defend customers from this. They’ve lately cracked down on on-line influencers being secretive or dishonest with their followers. Now, they claim, the best ftc compliant hashtags are: #backed or #advert. The competition & markets authority and advertising standards authority (asa) play an equivalent position inside the uk . They too have started out to put into effect patron protection law. Again, united kingdom legal guidelines kingdom that on line influencers are obliged to apply the hashtag ‘advert’ once they have been paid for a social submit. In addition to the usage of hashtags to specify when your posts are subsidized or commercials, they are additionally crucial to blogger outreach as you may discover who’s already creating content material approximately your logo and attain out to them. You may do this manually or you can additionally use social listening gear which include, hootsuite, buzzsumo and tweetdeck that allows you to assist you to tap into famous on line conversations. I – in house vs organisation

maximum corporations tussle with the query of whether they should outsource their marketing to an employer or if it should stay in house. Undeniably, there are professionals and cons associated with both. Undertaking influencer outreach in house, obviously, way you’ll have a more in-depth connection to the logo and valuable insider information. But, and that i may be barely biased here, an organisation can offer many other blessings. This consists of a group who come ready with a wealth of revel in and an expansive skillset, now not simplest in outreach, but in digital advertising in preferred. Plus, an out of doors group can manage the whole method and are updated on the fine industry gear. The problem of insider expertise may be conquer to an volume as long as you as a client are open and impending with speaking records. If you do determine to paintings with an organization, make certain you place out a very clear quick from the begin. Decide what desires or results you’re looking to gain through outreach. This can assist your company to be more powerful with what they put together and the way they behavior and record on the outreach for you. J – jargon

Enterprise slang, buzzwords, lingo, anything you want to call it – rein it in. You want your outreach e-mail to be simple, powerful and to the point. Coming from a journalism background, i in my opinion want to method outreach emails as an editor would newspaper articles. Cut any words from your e-mail that aren’t vital or fail to add any meaning to what you’re attempting to say. Replace buzzwords with easy terms or just pass over them altogether. Word – it could be suitable to apply jargon on activities in which it could help to show your credentials and knowledge in a place. On this example, certainly check the state of affairs and carefully remember what you watched will work excellent. Mr t meme

Friendly reminder: don’t be a fool. K – kim kardashian

no matter your private perspectives, there’s no denying that kim kardashian and her siblings have an incredible platform and reach. At present, she has 114 million instagram fans and its alleged that she fees an eyewatering £250k for a unmarried sponsored submit! Merchandise she promotes range from nutrients and hair merchandise to, extra controversially considering her young enchantment, weight loss plan products. Manufacturers promoted via kim ok commonly benefit most important traction in income from a collaboration with the arena’s maximum famous woman. Nevertheless, in spite of being blanketed in this listing, authoritative influencers don’t constantly must be celebrities. They could absolutely be everyday people who've tapped right into a sure area of interest or enterprise. Once you’ve discovered relevant influencers to outreach to, you’ll need to do your research. Are maximum of their follower’s unsolicited mail bills or are they seemingly legit? How do their fans interact with them? Do they get precise responses to stay video on insta or facebook? Running this out can help you make a decision if you need to paintings with them and, higher yet, how you can achieve this. Watch out, simply due to the fact someone has masses of followers, it doesn’t mean that they're actual. Spam fans are commonplace, or frequently human beings have constructed up a following by using following a massive amount of people themselves. Therefore, it’s critical to do your homework and observe the engagements they get with their posts. Kim kardashian instagram submit

l – large scale

as with all advertising efforts, it’s essential to be sensible about what you can obtain given your budget. Many organizations make the error of diving in head first and throwing all their coins at a large-scale outreach marketing campaign, assuming that this is the great approach. With out a through or nicely concept out approach in region, but, this can see organizations element with masses of cash unnecessarily. For small enterprise, start-usaor entrepreneurs, with regards to outreach, its commonly nice to start out small after which branch out if vital. Certainly, concentrated on macro influencers with big followings may be futile. Those who have collected massive followings have a tendency to be at the top of their discipline and receive an income to mirror that. Normally, they only accomplice up with huge, worldwide manufacturers. Even though budget isn’t an issue, it’s really worth considering that as macro influencers have such large followings, this additionally means their following will be more diluted, and promotion of your product received’t be as centered. Micro influencers, however, are a whole lot greater handy and much less high-priced due to their smaller following. Their smaller following may even paintings on your advantage, with followers probable to be noticeably targeted. It’s also an awful lot simpler for these influencers to interact with their constrained target audience, as they’re now not beaten through tens of millions of followers. In the end, collaborating with a small influencer may be simply as useful as running with a big influencer. The principle component to think about is how engaged the target market are and whether or not the influencer is interacting with them. M – me mail

permit’s face it, we’ve all been there. You start a conversation with a person best for them to move on and on about themselves without once asking you any questions. It’s human nature to need people to be interested in us and attentive to our wishes in a verbal exchange. The identical logic can be applied to outreach emails. Don’t start your outreach by way of rambling on approximately your self. Get directly to the factor and let the influencer or blogger recognize what’s in it for them. Certainly, it’s time to scrap email and make it all about me-mail. Always recollect your message from the position of the blogger who will in all likelihood be wondering, ‘what can you do for me’? Make it a bit less ‘i’ and a bit greater ‘you’. Conversation is a mutual exchange, make it balanced and attention on them in place of yourself. Previous studies have discovered the primary reasons influencers are happy to work with manufacturers include the subsequent:

– increased reach, helping them to expand their audience

– extended possibility to create excellent content for their audience

– greater assist available to form their image

– perks (loose discounts, samples)

– new studies (journeys, activities)

i. E. – they respond to what you can do for them! Make it extremely clear from the outset what you can offer the blogger. N – now not now

if a blogger or influencer responds in your electronic mail with a ‘no’, undergo the following in mind – it doesn’t constantly imply just that. It may surely suggest ‘no longer at this moment in time’. Preserve enticing and constructing a relationship with that individual. Take a look at in on them once in a while, ship them hyperlinks to things that may be of hobby to them and their followers. Like and touch upon their posts. On occasion the blogger simply needs time to mull over your idea or wants a concrete cause to sell your product. Of course, if a person has made it abundantly clear they’re no longer involved whatsoever in what you’re imparting then, pretty frankly, you shouldn’t continue to waste it slow. However, just due to the fact a person hasn’t obliged together with your request, that doesn’t mean a entire and abrupt end to that line of verbal exchange. In case you were to do this offline, you’d be taken into consideration rude! Outreach is all about playing the long sport and constructing relationships. O – natural valley

natural valley, the organic food products, has validated these days that influencer advertising isn’t all approximately instagram (as many human beings assume). Their latest advertising and marketing marketing campaign has visible them embark on a collaboration with culinary influencers on youtube, with the intention of drawing interest to their new ghee product. It features 10 cooking influencers getting their meals ‘ghee-lished’. Foodies will realise set up youtubers together with donal skehan, kent rollins, momma cherri, billy parisi, darius williams and alyssa gagarin. Take a look at out their unique influencer advertising marketing campaign. When it comes to your outreach marketing campaign, reflect onconsideration on the platform that’ll paintings quality for you. Are you going to get higher effects from an instagram post or a youtube video? Investigate what your competitors are doing. If you’re unsure then you can always run checks on a small scale and monitor the results. P – politeness

the 3 p’s – politeness, professionalism & character! As in all walks of life, a easy please and thank you in no way goes amiss and may from time to time make a real distinction to your outreach efforts. That being said, ensure you strike the right balance, as being absolutely formal and stuffy received’t constantly be suitable. It’s feasible to remain expert but also to reveal a few persona. Think about it a little like you will a task interview. It’s all properly and right preparing the precise solutions however sometimes an agency is looking to see that your personality can be a very good fit for the relaxation in their employees. Ultimately, a balanced judgement based on who you’re outreaching to and what the concern remember is should tell the way you compose your outreach e-mail. It shouldn’t be too tough to head wrong here as outreach is essentially all about human connections, with human beings responding quality to a aggregate of all 3 of the above. Napoleon dynamite meme

lesson of the day: don’t call anyone a fats lard. Q – high-quality over quantity

with outreach, a while is higher utilised tailoring, honing and refining emails to a choose few in place of sending out a wellknown batch e-mail to masses of human beings. As noted previously, bloggers and influencers are receiving thrilling requests of their inbox daily. Why should they take day out of their day to respond to you in case your e mail is familiar and mundane? It’s flawlessly satisfactory to apply templates to your restrained pattern, simply ensure that the ones templates have an added private flavour. If you craft some thing that is greater customized and relatable, then probabilities are you received’t end up within the junk mail folder and could get greater beneficial responses. Admittedly, on occasion it could be a numbers recreation and the latter can paintings on your favour. However, pleasant typically trumps quantity. R – relationships

build, expand and nurture them. Do not forget your courting with a blogger as you would another colleague. You wouldn’t clearly walk up for your workmate first thing on a monday morning and call for something from them. Now not with out, a minimum of, exchanging a few small communicate or asking how their weekend changed into first. Right here are a few of my pinnacle hints for constructing and keeping your courting with bloggers:

often interact with their social media posts to get on their radar, show them you’re paying attention and construct their believe – however don’t overdo it. Link to, and point out, their posts on your personal blog content material. Utilise the three p’s on the subject of any communication (see above)! Many organizations undertaking outreach burn their bridges before they’ve even shaped a courting, as they hound bloggers frequently and absence fundamental manners. S – forestall with the patronising

you could have examine some place else that it’s vital to personalise your emails. That is in reality very true. But, don’t just reel off the three maximum latest weblog posts an influencer has written as evidence of your interest and information. A number of humans make this mistake, regularly without analyzing the influencers paintings in element. Attempt to locate something genuine and proper to supplement a blogger or influencer approximately. It can be so obvious if a person is surely keen on something they do or if they’re really going through the motions for the sake of it. A moderate appreciation is excellent however don’t suck up – it’s obvious and type of cringey. T – believe

these days’s clients are tough to promote to. They’re savvier and less willing to buy into difficult-sell advertising. So, who're they paying attention to? The solution: their peers and different clients. On-line believe is a huge issue and it interprets into lots of pounds. Assume amazon and tripadvisor evaluations – they introduce the target market to a more sincere supply and put off the limitations of traditional advertising. Inside the same vein, trust have to additionally be exercised with the influencer or blogger – as tempting as it could be to want to take creative manipulate over what they produce. Permit them to make the piece their own and function it in a manner so one can appeal to their fans or readers. Of route, there are exceptions to this, and it doesn’t hurt to fact test, however soliciting for edit after edit will get tedious and test the connection. It’s ok to influence the content however don’t manipulate it. Audiences and clients don’t want blatant advertising and marketing but authenticity. Influencers know their target audience better and what works to bring about excessive engagement, so consider them. U – use linkedin

at a very primary level, linkedin is a superb (not to mention unfastened) platform you have to be the usage of for your outreach and influencer marketing. Yet, it's far frequently underutilised. It has an incredible search function, which may be modified and refined, that will help you find influencers relevant on your emblem. Admittedly, it's far truly constrained in the sense that you will simplest be able to directly contact the ones you've got 1st and second diploma relationships with. But, it's far still possible to construct relationships and network via linkedin. Linkedin organizations gives one of the most effective methods to try this. In case you want to attain out to a person who is a distant contact, or you've got 0 mutual contacts at all, don't forget joining any companies they're in. Also make certain your profile is public and seen to them while travelling their profile. This way, they’ll be more aware about your logo whilst it ultimately involves making touch thru different approach. Like, and percentage their posts and message them with insightful comments or comments. Equally, attending blogger meetups offline is a precious use of a while and need to now not be underestimated as a way of expanding your community. You can discover it worthwhile upgrading to a linkedin top rate account, as it affords you with greater alternatives to refine your influencer search. V – vlogging

We’re in an era of video – fb stay, instagram testimonies, snapchat, you name it, people an increasing number of love to devour their content material in this way. In no way is that to mention that written content material is not of significance, but instead video can act as an outstanding addition to your influencer marketing campaign. In contrast to a easy social publish, video content commonly makes a speciality of how a vlogger includes a product/provider into their everyday lifestyles. This form of content material additionally tends to be extra insightful and much less filtered than the written phrase, which adds an detail of accept as true with and authority and may have a extremely tremendous impact on your emblem. If you intend to paintings with vloggers, you should first decide what you need to get out of it. Are you looking for sponsored brand ambassadors to post movies approximately your product across all their social channels? As an alternative, if finances is a problem, a seeding marketing campaign can be of greater interest. This works by gifting a vlogger together with your product inside the hope they’ll create content material approximately it. In assessment to a paid brand ambassador, but, you’ll have restrained manipulate over the message they positioned out. They will well be given the present however no longer submit approximately it as they don’t experience the product is a good fit for his or her audience! Being clean from the outset will affect your approach and the vloggers you outreach to. An excellent way to get your ft moist with vlogging, is to actually talk over with present bloggers you work with and spot which of them have a dominant youtube presence. W– write visitor posts

When you’ve determined applicable bloggers to outreach to and fashioned relationships with them, writing a guest submit on their blog can prove treasured. If supplied with a guest publish opportunity, no longer only will you be able to function your self in the front of the influencers target audience, it’s also a chance to set up your self as an industry expert. Take care right here, even though. There may be a very exceptional line, anything openly salesy might be off setting for an target market interested by authenticity. It’s now not an possibility totally free marketing. Rather, write approximately the same subjects as the influencer, making sure it is applicable and of excessive pleasant. Commonly, you will get hold of a by means of-line on your submit in which you will be capable of insert a one-way link to your web page. On this example growing a particular touchdown page, customised for audiences who come to your web site from this post, is quality practice. X– x element

within the phrases of thierry henry, now and again matters need that ‘va va voom’. That delivered wow. That x-aspect. Good enough i’ll stop now however, seriously, wondering outdoor the box can actually increase your outreach a game from accurate to brilliant and noteworthy. It'd even be that you don’t use e mail as your important approach of shooting a blogger or influencers interest! Get creative and ship them some thing unusual, and then request they touch you. It’s a one-of-a-kind method to mention the least but it'll clearly make you stand other than your competitors. Permit me to provide an example. Say you’re a chocolate or candy logo, you may ship a blogger a clear field containing your objects and offer them with a quiz or puzzle with the purpose of unlocking it to retrieve further data (and, of route, the chocolates). Once the blogger has opened the container, make your touch details genuinely to be had and offer a few reasons for why they should accomplish that. Warning: very predictable meme usage in advance

Live with me on this one! Yoga practitioners are often calm, comfortable and most significantly, bendy. Influencer advertising isn't like different advertising and marketing procedures in which doing x definitively consequences in y. You’re operating with folks that can also have appreciably different ideas and input into how you could make the relationship paintings. Be bendy to your outlook, be given outside involvement and be inclined to mix matters up to peer what works and what doesn’t. Z – zero attempt

phew – we made it! Z brings us to zero effort. Your elevator pitch to bloggers and influencers need to, ideally, be a easy and rapid procedure. Most influencers may have devoted pages on their website which information precisely how they like to be contacted. Ensure, a minimum of, you examine those! If you pretty clearly haven’t observed those simple commands to apprehend the bloggers alternatives, it interprets as making 0 attempt. Zero attempt, manner 0 responses. Anchor guy meme

This final meme has absolutely no relevance, however i desired to shut on a high! So there you have it, my a-z guide to Digital Marketing Agencies in Oxford influencer advertising and marketing and blogger outreach. What do you suspect? Is there whatever i’ve missed? Do you have any pinnacle tips to be triumphant? Experience loose to ship me a mail with your thoughts or go away us a remark beneath.

#Digital Marketing Company Birmingham

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onbigstor-blog · 5 years ago

Photo

How to Build an Email List from Scratch (A Step-By-Step Guide)

5 Steps to Build Your Email List from Scratch

Get an Email Marketing Tool

Create an Offer You Can Exchange for Email Addresses

Build a Landing Page, Popup, or Sticky Bar to Collect Emails

Advertise Your Email-Gated Offer

Start Sending Regular Emails to Your List

Step 1. Get an Email Marketing Tool

Before you start building your list, you’re going to want to sign up for an email marketing tool like ActiveCampaign, Campaign Monitor, or Getresponse. These are some of the most popular pieces of software for not only building and

sending emails to your customers, but also collecting and organizing your email list. (Because trust me… you’re not gonna want to keep track of all this on an

Excel spreadsheet.) The initial costs for these tools are very low—and all of them offer free plans or trials that make it easy to get started.

Once you’ve chosen a tool, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with how it works. Each platform is slightly different, but some of the first steps you’ll want to take include…

Create Your First List(s) – You can organize the emails you collect into groups called “lists.” To start out, you may want to create a “Master” list where you can put all email addresses, a “Customers” list for people who have already bought from you, and a “Prospects” list for people who have shown interest but haven’t yet made a purchase.

Import Any Existing Contacts – If you already have some emails that you want to add to your new database, now would be the time to do so. You can set up your existing email contacts in a spreadsheet to import them all in one go. Remember, these are folks who need to have expressly agreed to receive emails from you per privacy laws.

Set Up Tags/Segments – As email addresses come in, you’ll be able to tag leads based on how they entered your database, and send segmented emails to more specific groups of customers or prospects. To start out, you may want to create tags for segments like “Landing Page Leads,” “Newsletter Sign-up Leads,” and other entry points so you know who signed up where.

Create an Email Template – These email marketing tools aren’t just for organizing your list—they’re also for sending emails. Get familiar with the different templates, and try designing and sending out a test email from your business.

Bonus! Unbounce integrates seamlessly with ActiveCampaign, Campaign Monitor, and Mailchimp. That means you’ll be able to set up lead-generation landing pages, popups, and sticky bars that automatically route visitor contact info into your email marketing software.

Step 2. Create an Offer You Can Exchange for Email Addresses

Now that you have a tool to collect email addresses, the next step—and possibly the most important part of this entire process—is to figure out how the heck to convince prospective customers to actually give you their emails.

The traditional approach here is to put some sort of “Subscribe” button on your website’s homepage or blog and ask visitors to enter their email address. But

have you ever actually filled one of those things out just… because? (No, thank you.) Most visitors skip over a form like that entirely because there’s no real compelling reason to give up your email address in the first place.

An email address is someone’s personal (and private) contact information. Most people aren’t just going to type it out onto any old website, all willy nilly like that. You’ve got to offer up something genuinely valuable in exchange.

That’s why it’s a good idea to take some time and brainstorm what your business can offer that’ll convince visitors to give up their email address first. Because getting the right strategy here will help you build an email list much faster later on.

If you’re wondering what most other marketers do, here are a few of the most common ways to get a visitor’s email address…

Offer a Coupon or Discount Code

For ecommerce, one of the easiest ways to get a shopper to give you their email address is to offer them a coupon or discount in exchange. This is the most

straightforward approach—but it’s also usually the most expensive. “Get $10 Off Your First Order” or “Get Free Shipping” can be powerfully persuasive for

visitors… you just need to make sure you factor those expenses into your cost-per-email-acquisition.

Offer a Free Tool or Resource

The other common way to build an email list fast (especially if you’re in SaaS) is to create a free resource and gate it with a form. The key here is that it has to be

something your audience would find useful that also aligns with your business expertise. So, for example, if you run an online pet store, you might create a free

guide all about “How to Choose the Perfect Leash for Your Pet.” Or if you run a hair salon, you might create a “How to Cut Your Hair at Home” guide for customers staying at home during the pandemic.

Run a Sweepstakes, Giveaway, or Contest

People love free stuff. There’s something about sweepstakes, giveaways, and contests that just appeal to our lizard brains. (“Why yes, I do want a chance to

win a lifetime supply of mayonnaise. Where do I sign up?”) You could even consider setting up ongoing sweepstakes like this one from Fat Stone Farm to collect customer emails on a weekly basis.

Set Up an Email Newsletter

I know I said earlier that people never sign up for newsletters “just because,” but they will sign up if you give them a compelling reason to. You can offer a

newsletter as a way for folks to hear about your latest products or curate content based on what might be important to them during COVID-19. (This strategy

works particularly well in B2B, where you can use a newsletter to share stories of how your other customers are navigating the crisis.)

Ultimately, it’s up to you to choose the approach that makes the most sense for your business. You may even want to test a combination of these two

approaches to build your list faster. For example, check out how this baby food brand brought in 14,000+ email subscribers in less than a year using both

coupons and a free guidebook. (You may also want to look into other creative ways to generate leads, such as free webinars, templates, quizzes, and online tools.)

( A word of caution—be careful with any emails you collect for purposes other than marketing (like when someone places an order on your website). With regulations like GDPR in place, you’ll want to obtain explicit consent from your visitors in order to send them promotional emails.)

Step 3. Build a Landing Page, Popup, or Sticky Bar to Collect Emails

Next, you’ll need to create a landing page or popup (or both!) to start collecting emails for your list. These will be the spots where you display your offer and ask customers to enter their contact information.

Landing pages are great if you have a juicy offer that needs some explanation (like a free resource).

Popups are perfect for short and to-the-point offers (like discounts or coupons).

Sticky bars are good for adding onto the top or bottom parts of your existing storefront or website for quick offers (again, think discounts, coupons, newsletters).

Creating a landing page or popup is pretty simple using Unbounce. (You don’t even have to get your hands dirty with HTML or CSS—which is super helpful if you’re not a developer like me.) Get started with one of our lead-generation templates and customize it using the drag-and-drop builder to match your brand and offer.

You’ll want to connect the form on your landing page or popup to your email marketing tool, and then test it out to make sure everything is hunky dory. Hit publish when it’s ready to go, and you’ll be ready to start building your list.

Step 4. Advertise Your Email-Gated Offer

Now, it’s just a matter of directing visitors towards your offer. There are a few different ways you can do this, depending on what type of offer you set up in the previous step…

Use

Popups and Sticky Bars

to Promote the Offer on Your Website

If you already have a lot of visitors coming to your website, you can set up a popup or sticky bar to get people’s attention and promote your offer. With

Unbounce, you can set these to show up (or slide down) on any high-traffic page of your website, including your homepage. Advanced targeting options let you

time ‘em so they only appear when you want them to—like when a visitor is exiting the page without purchasing anything, for example.

Post to Your Blog or Social Media Channels

Hey #ecomm #marketers! 👀 DYK that #landingpages can convert browsers into buyers at TWICE the rate of a product page? Start convertin’ like the best of ’em w/ the Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook ft. @klientboost, @boxycharm, @twillory, & more 👉 https://t.co/bcbX6kOgqQ pic.twitter.com/yl8OPhJZx4

If you already have an online audience on social media (or via a blog), you can use these channels to organically get the word out about your offer. This is a

great way to connect with your existing audience and turn social media followers into email subscribers so you can reach them more directly.

“But wait, why do I need the emails of people who already follow me on social media?” I hear you asking. The sad truth is you only reach a small portion of

your audience with organic posts on most social media platforms. (For example, according to research done by Hootsuite, the average reach of a Facebook post

is only 5.5%.) Getting directly into your prospect’s email (where open rates are typically above 20%) is far more valuable than relying on organic social impressions.

Set Up Paid Ads to Drive Traffic

If you don’t already have an online audience and you’re truly starting from scratch, you may want to try investing in some online ads. Lots of brands use

social ads on Facebook and Instagram to promote their free resources or discounts that get customers in the door. Think of this as an investment—once

you have a list of emails, you’ll be able to reach out to these customers directly (for free).

Step 5. Start Sending Regular Emails to Your List

Once the ball starts rolling, you should start seeing the email addresses come in from your offer. Don’t worry about waiting until you cross a certain threshold of

subscribers before you start sending emails to your list. Instead, build a personal relationship with those initial subscribers and get feedback from them on what

types of emails they would like to see from your brand. This will help you create an email strategy that resonates with your audience as it continues to grow.

It’s also a good idea to set up automatic email nurtures that go out to new subscribers and to begin scheduling promotional emails on a regular basis. If you’re consistent, your list is much more likely to be active and engaged.

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safe-skeletons · 7 years ago

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Art Raffle 50 Followers!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay we did it!

Okay so first of all we need to thank some of you. @lazy-safetastic-13, you beta-read and reblogged our first stories and it’s completely thanks to you if we managed to get a core of followers. We’ll never be able to thank you enough!

@arakicanaria you were one of our first followers, and the first one to do a fanart for us. You’re such a determined, cute, nice girl, and we hope all the best in life for you. Keep fighting and drawing!

@silverryu25 who can never be tagged, you were also one of our first followers and always watched our stuff, leaving really kind messages from time to time, even liking our rambling posts <3 You’re a good person and we’re happy to know people like you appreciates us!

@weldlys, who can’t be tagged either because Tumblr gives your sfw blog first xD Also one of the firsts, and we believe you’re one of our french followers? :D Who knows, maybe we can meet someday!

@pandora-blitz, you never say a word but we see youuuu ~ You were also one of our first followers, in fact we do think you were in the ten firsts along with ara, silver and weldlys :D

@allialchemy is as quietly there as pandora. But still, there. Since the very beginning. The very very beginning. You are our first follower EVER, darling!

@iason29-kingdomtale who were the first person we followed and liked to follow us. Big whoop, Kus couldn’t get over it! You’re such a nice person and we’re very happy to talk with you <3 (also a little french talk in-between some bad english is resting :D) And, as Lazy’s, your reblogs helped us a lot!

@levonolev (couldn’t tag you with your main account), who is the second french artist we love to follow us <3 (yes, we lied to you by mistake when we came and told you you were the first!) Also the first to propose us an art trade, that Ked didn’t forget, don’t worry, and have yet to do!

@nekotaco6666, who can’t be tagged either apparently, we saw you like and reblog our stuff thanks to Lazy’s visibility, then follow us after two or three stories. It’s really nice to see some people finally decide “Okay, I’m hooked for this blog!” <3 You weren’t the only one to do that but we do think you were the first in this situation, plus you reblog, so your name stays in front of the mind <3

@snowlkey because damn your arriving on this blog was fun. You can’t be tagged either but we know you see EVERYTHING, so we guess it doesn’t matter :D

Unfortunately it’s difficult to remember everyone, and why we have noticed them. But we also thank @iamafuckinkikwis, @i-m-not-amused, @treeplehoof, @g37-dunk3d-0n, @pinksmilepanda, @felliskelli, @fishfishfishfish, @jelloandkustard AND SO MANY MORE AND JUST FUCKING ALL OF YOU! We love you all SO MUCH guys! Please don’t be sad if your name didn’t show up, that doesn’t mean we don’t like you or didn’t notice you, but unfortunately we had to make choices because if we listened to ourselves, there would’ve been 50 fucking names on this thanks list! xD

SOOOO, NOW THE INTERESTING PART! ART RAFFLE!

Since you’re not many, we decided to do something a little particular: you all have automatically ONE chance to win! This also goes for people following us after the beginning of the art raffle!

You can increase this number by liking and/or reblogging this post! One like OR one reblog will give you an extra chance. One like AND one reblog will give you two extra chances. So your name can be put three times max in the list! Reblogging several times will not increase your chances but you can do it if you wanna contribute to promote us <3

DON’T FORGET TO MESSAGE US WITH YOUR MAIN ACCOUNT IF YOU REBLOG WITH A SECONDARY ACCOUNT, OR WE WON’T BE ABLE TO COUNT IT!

Of course, you HAVE to follow us to do all that. We’ll check if you stop after the art raffle.

THE PRICES!

1st: You give us a ship with a scene and get an OS!

2nd: You give us a ship with a scene and get a drabble!

3rd (2 winners!): You give us a ship and get a drabble!

If your name is picked once, it's out of the list. It means you can have more chances to be selected once, but you can’t gain several prizes. As you can see, there will be 4 winners! Ideally, it will be 2 prizes written by Kus and 2 by Ked. As usual, we’ll share them according to inspiration :) Winners will have 72 HOURS (3 days) to ask for their price! We’ll PM you so check your inbox!

The art raffle will last ONE WEEK. We’ll warn you 24 hours before the end :)

We wanted to wait the hundred to do an art raffle. But... we’re just so happy to have you all that we decided to mark this little milestone <3

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

PS: Don’t forget to read and support Kus’ entry for the Fontcest Fanfic Contest here! Your likes, comments and reblogs will help her win the audience prize! Beware, it’s angsty (and beautiful) angst ;)

#kus #ked #art raffle #50 followers!#we love you so so much guys

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i-may-have-a-point · 8 years ago

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Review of 13x18 “Be Still, My Soul”

Personal Note: I was lucky enough to see this episode at Paleyfest this year. Going to Paleyfest was absolutely one of the most amazing things I have ever done. After watching thirteen seasons of these characters on my screen, seeing them in person, and finding out that they are just as fantastic as they seem, was just the best. But Paleyfest was sort of a disconnected experience for me. Three days before Paleyfest, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. He has a mass in his lungs, a mass in his stomach, and it has now spread to his lymph nodes. The morning of Paleyfest, I was facetiming my mom and she told me that my grandma passed away in her sleep that morning. So, going to Paleyfest, this event that made me so happy, was starkly contrasted by my mind trying to process all of this information from my real life. I compartmentalize well. I access my feelings when I need to, and when I need to focus on other things, I put my feelings away to be dealt with later. And that was my plan going in to Paleyfest. I was going to enjoy the experience and not think about what might be happening back home. Grey’s Anatomy had other plans for me though. Of all episodes for them to show us, it had to be this one. I’m not writing this because I need sympathy or comfort. I just wanted anyone who reads this to understand that I am reviewing this episode through a very specific lens because of my personal experiences so what I see is most likely effected by that.

(Unimportant information: I am fairly neutral on Maggie’s character. I am not emotionally invested in her. If she’s in an episode, fine, if she’s not in an episode, fine. The only strong feelings I have had about her were irritation at how she treated April when she took the Chief position. And April took care of that quickly because that’s what our girl does. She gathers her strength, and she rises above adversity. Also, I was way too excited to see the doctor in the hijab. Representation matters and Grey’s does it so much better than other shows.)

The real story: The episode as a whole is beautiful. The music represented the tone of the story well, some of the camera angles were perfect, and I think this is Kelly McCreary’s best work on Grey’s so far. And if I ever get a soundtrack to my life, Sleeping at Last is required content. This episode focuses on family and what it means to be family. On Grey’s, and in real life, families are not always the traditional model. We find people who feel like home to us and we share our lives with them. Sometimes they are blood related, other times they aren’t. Family comes in many forms, and this episode really explores that. It looks at motherhood and what it means to be a mother. The comparisons and contrasts of Meredith and Ellis to Maggie and Diane start in the voiceover. Meredith’s mother failed her again. She began to write a note of advice to Meredith, and she couldn’t even finish that without moving on to something more important. “Tell Meredith not to…” is all she gets. How very Ellis. Maggie’s mom, however, uses her last few words to share wisdom with her daughter. And what a beautiful moment that is. As someone who is about to lose a parent I had to wonder what information do I think is important enough to say with my last breath? What have I not said enough? What have I forgotten to say? What do I absolutely have to tell you now because I may not get another chance? And Diane’s advice is perfect. Diane is the mother to Maggie that Ellis couldn’t be. She made sure she didn’t get an unfinished note left carelessly in a pile of papers. She gave her everything she had. Diane also tells Meredith early on in the episode that she is glad Maggie found her because she had always wanted more children. Maggie found a sister, her biological father, a step-brother (more on this later) and friends who are more like family in Seattle. Diane knows that she is surrounded by people who care about her and will help her when she’s gone. And Richard. As Jackson says, he is her father biologically, but when Maggie needs support, he is not the father she reaches for.

Watching Maggie walk through the stages of grief is both difficult and cathartic. In a way, I think Maggie always knew Diane was not getting breast implants. That is why she kept chasing an answer as to why it was happening. It just didn’t make sense for her mother, her strict, conventional mother, to want implants. This (episode 13x17) was Maggie’s denial stage. It was easier for her to make jokes about how large her mother’s breasts would be or to ask Alex to check them out than it was to face that something more was going on.

Thankfully Diane told Maggie about the breast cancer before her surgery. Maggie immediately transitioned to anger. She was angry at her mother and angry at Jackson for keeping the information from her. Maybe in a way not knowing was better. She could laugh about her mother’s mid-life crisis instead of face her mother’s mortality. But that wasn’t an option anymore. Jackson finds in surgery that Diane’s cancer has spread, and now Maggie has to face what is happening as both a doctor and a daughter. As she tells Meredith at the end of 13x17, her mother is very sick.

This episode begins with Maggie in full on bargaining mode. She seems to be compartmentalizing her feelings and focusing on how, as a doctor, she can help her mother. She questions and pushes her colleagues. She demands they try harder, dig deeper, and work better. This explains the scene where Maggie and Meredith disagree on Diane’s treatment and Maggie pushes her mother to kick Meredith off the case. She wasn’t trying to question Meredith’s skills specifically. It is more Maggie thinking that there has to always be more that can be done because she is unable to accept the alternative at this point. Maggie’s mind is running through treatment options and she wants to try them all until one works. If she can just find the one that works, she can help her mom. She just has to find it. The clinical trial that Maggie pushes seems to be doing more harm than good, but if you found a way to buy your dying mother more time wouldn’t you try anything you could? Maybe. Maybe not. Is more time worth it if it’s full of pain? Maggie sees her mother hurting, but she tells herself that it is the only option. She bargains her mother’s pain for the possibility of a medical cure.

Standing in that dark room, staring at her mother’s scans, Maggie fully transitions to depression. And I love that Riggs was there for her. The logical part of me knows that Maggie will never win the guy in a competition with Meredith Grey, but a part of me still hopes she does. I like Maggie and Riggs together, and seeing him comfort her when her whole world is falling apart made me love them a little more. “I just got started. My mom has been sick for months without me knowing. Months. (Anger) I feel like I left the house with the oven on and went about my day and came back to find the whole house engulfed in flames. (depression) And no one will let me in. No matter what I do, I can’t get inside. I can’t save anything. I could have stopped it if I’d known. So, I can’t give up. I can’t give up. Not now. (bargaining)” And then she breaks down in Riggs arms, and the depression stage sets in. The Sleeping at Last song could not be more perfect here. The camera pans on Maggie as the artist sings about a lonesome dove. Then the scene changes to Maggie alone on the couch, Meredith and Amelia silently come in to sit with her and the music says, “And stay awhile with me, if I had a friend on this earth, you’ve been a friend to me.” And Maggie concedes, “She’s going to go, and I’m not ready. I’m not ready.” And my heart broke, because if I’m being honest, I’m not ready either.

Acceptance will come to Maggie in 13x19. We have seen in the promo and promotional photos that Maggie is still very much dealing with her mother’s death. My guess is it will come through accepting that her Seattle family is there for her just as her mother always was. That is why we see her with her family in the promos. She needs them to accept that her mother may be gone, but she is not alone.

So, before I end this I have to address the Maggie/Jackson uproar. I have not seen a romantic connection between the two of them ever. We have seen how Jackson Avery acts when he is in love with a woman, and that is just not the case here. Japril is the most popular ship on the show. There may be a small group of fans who don’t ship them, but for the most part they are the only couple who have rivaled the love that Derek and Meredith had with their popularity and chemistry. They are the only couple who have had two centric episodes, and that is because the show knows how popular they are. They can trust that Japril can hold the ratings while being the only two in an episode because there is no denying they are magic together. I saw the photos. Jackson was comforting her as a friend and brother. I have two brothers. I know. And honestly, I am glad he is there for her. A huge part of Jackson’s journey this season has been about family as well. For so long he was hoping that his father could fill this void in his life, but after meeting him he realized that everything he needed was right in front of him. And we saw that in JTS. Jackson and April’s scenes in that hotel room were not them being pushed together out of lust or grief or anger. They had no distractions or obstacles in their way anymore, and they still chose each other. And they will again. Our ship is too strong to let something like this change its course. Jackson is accepting Maggie as his sister because he sees how important being in his family’s lives is. If nothing else, his father taught him that. So, yes, he probably will be comforting her in 13x19, and I truly think we have nothing to worry about. And if I’m wrong. Well, then I will be angry. And not just because Jackson and April are clearly meant to be and I am tired of their happiness being delayed. I will be more angry because that would cheapen this story for so many viewers. Grey’s Anatomy tells stories that the audience connects with because we have been there. We have experienced or are experiencing the same pain as these characters, and this story has been a beautiful tribute to everyone who has lost a parent or loved one to cancer. So I pray they don’t cheapen it by making about anything else. I just don’t know if I could love the show anymore after that.

#grey's anatomy #13x18 #maggie pierce #japril #kelly mccreary #jackson avery #april kepner

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