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titisorriso · 3 years ago

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Wild Skies- Chapter 5/ The Enemy of My Enemy

Hiccup considered himself a mature guy. He liked to think that, when push came to shove, he would always be the bigger man and walk away, let fate take things and handle them. Hiccup, most of the time, really was that mature, feel good guy, but something changed when it came to Astrid.

The next days after he "let Astrid go", he would find himself moving towards the island of Berk more often. Seeing the ships, the sailors, and just people doing their job would make him smile and leave, but seeing an war ship, with dragon hunting gear, with a whole fleet specifically led by Astrid turned him into an imp.

Putting his helmet on, Hiccup would swoop down with Toothless and ruin the majority of the ships, always leaving Astrid's intact just so he could land on it and taunt her.

-Rough day, captain?!

Astrid would answer by grabbing her axe and swinging it wildly in an attempt to hit him, Toothless always letting them rough it out for a bit before grabbing Hiccup and leaving. Astrid noticed the pattern, and started planning ahead for his encounters, making elaborate traps to finally catch the "Night Stutter". The thing about fighting fire with fire, is that both Astrid and Hiccup were the smartest people to have ever walked Berk. Even at a young age, Hiccup was a master improviser and inventor, while Astrid was a master strategist and hunter. When Astrid concocted a plan, Hiccup would find a way of wiggling out of it, becoming a repetitive cat and mouse chase.

Weeks went by, almost completing a month of the hunters getting fooled by the alluring rider. Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant situation. Everyone could tell that Astrid was getting more and more aggravated, an unknown anger boiling in her soul as only her and the rider knew the implications of this fighting.

Hiccup wanted Astrid to break her promise.

It was obvious. In any other situation, Hiccup would let the person be and continue with his life, but now, he needed her to say something. If she broke the promise, she would owe him one, a viking promise is as important as a legal contract, their word being more valid than even blood. If Astrid Hofferson told just ONE person about him, it wouldn't just be "the captain broke a promise to random dude", it would be "the captain broke a promise she made to the lost child of the chief".

If she broke it, she would be shunned, isolated, lose everything she worked for... She would have to listen to him then.

Right?

Hiccup remembers when he told this "plan" of his to Heather, just annoy Astrid 'till she gave up on everything. Heather, as the good friend she was, answered by laughing, as she thought it was a joke, and then beating the hell out of him when she realized he wasn't kidding.

- What the FUCK is wrong with you, Hiccup?!

- Ouch! What?! What did i do wrong?!

- Do you have ANY idea of what you just told me?! Do you realize the weight of your words?!

Hiccup rubbed his face, trying to appease the pain of getting punched:

- I mean... No. Is... Is it bad?

Heather knew a lot about her friend. Hiccup had to grow up alone, having no one to talk to but a dragon. He lived for years alone in that island, and even when they met and became buddies, he still insisted on isolating from people. Hiccup didn't quite understand dreams, because he didn't have any. He had goals, missions, objectives, but not dreams. He didn't understand the feeling of fighting for something that seems unachiavable because, to him, he could just swoop in an get whatever he wanted. Heather understood he had not only a limited vision on the world, but a privileged one, but she never imagined he would go so far into not knowing that wanting to ruin someone's life is a BAD THING! She sighed, sitting down:

- Hiccup, i'm not your mom, i'm not here to teach you how to have empathy, but i need you to think about what you're doing. You expect that making her break her promise will lead her to have no other route but to listen to you, but i think you're ignoring the fact that you can be, very easily, hated! I mean, we ALL hated you once! Even my brother! And i'm sorry, but Astrid doesn't seem like someone you could "win over" to be your friend. She loves her village, loves her family and friends, and you're trying to take the things she love away from her. How would you feel if she killed Toothless?

Hiccup got uncomfortable, shifting on his seat:

- She wouldn't. I would kill her.

- Exactly, you dumdum.

Heather got up, wrapping up the balms Hiccup came to pick up and putting the package on his hands:

- Listen, i'm your friend, and i'm the first person to say i hate dragon hunters everytime we talk, but i think you need to consider her feelings. Properly, this time. Otherwise, you're gonna be alone forever.

That conversation had sprouted a lot of doubts in Hiccup's mind. He went missing for days, no sign of The Night Stutter anywhere near Berk. Astrid was furious.

- What do you mean no sign of the Stutter?!

The twins had no answer, their reports weren't anything special and honestly, there was no need to say it everytime, but Astrid insisted on a report system ever since the rider started attacking Berk's ships. Any sign of the dragon lover needed to be said, written down and tracked. Ruffnut responded:

- It's just as we said! We didn't see anything!

Tuffnut complemented:

- I thought i saw a shadow passing by, but then realized it my hair blowing in the wind. It really looks like a dragon if you look at it in a certain angle--

Astrid interrupted, slamming her fist on the table:

- I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID HAIR!! I NEED THE NIGHT STUTTER!!

Snotlout, ever the insightful, spoke out of turn:

- We haven't seen anything though! Seriously, patrols are getting so boring, i'm considering making shit up just to spice things up a little.

He got promptly silenced by a very poisonous look coming from the general. Fishlegs took a shy step foward, also having some thoughts on Astrid's current way of handling things:

- Astrid, i know we need to find him, we all were with you when Stoic gave that speech, but the soldiers need a break. Patrols every night? We didn't have those even back when dragons attacked Berk regularly! Why would we have them now, when the only dragons we see are the twins stupid puppets?!

Tuffnut didn't appreciate the jab:

- Hey! Don't speak that way about Belching Barf! He has feelings...

Snotlout spoke again, irritated:

- Besides, why are we fighting this hard against a guy that never bothered us before?! Before Astrid came back, i thought the Night Stutter was just a kid's tale!

Astrid was going to speak, but Tuffnut took the floor:

- That's right! Ever since Astrid came back, the Night Hustler has attacked every single dragon hunting expedition we had! And he only lands on HER ship!

Ruffnut scratched her chin as she came to the obvious conclusion:

- Yes... Astrid is working WITH THE STUTTER!!

All the other members face palmed, a sigh of utter annoyance as Astrid sat down:

- Listen, i can't... I just need to catch him. The chief is getting impatient, we are losing our war ships and we need them considering the south has been pressuring our forces. We are very clearly in preparations for a war, we can't have an idiot on a dragon destroy our forces.

Fishlegs approached, softly speaking, almost as if begging for Astrid to see reason:

- I know, and it's specifically because now he is gone that we should turn to the south. Let the Night Stutter be a solved problem for now and let's focus on keeping Berk safe.

Astrid contemplated that for a moment, feeling a two voices fight in her head. On one side, it screamed to fight for her people, on the other, it begged to see Hiccup again, to drag him home and have Stoic unmask him so she wouldn't be the one doing it. She rose from her seat:

- We change the patrols. Tuffnut and Fishlegs, bring the soldiers back and start rougher training in preparation to a war. Snotlout and Ruffnut, tomorrow we go to Broken Helm island to scout. It is one of the nearest islands to Berk and i've read reports of enemy forces being spotted there.

The group nodded and left, leaving Astrid alone to her thoughts. She looked at the banner with the hooligan symbol.

- ... Let's forget the Night Stutter.

Hiccup had an extensive net of friends and allies. People that believed humans and dragons could co-exist. The rider was seen by them as a "last resort", only being called when things got really weird or sketchy. The Wingmaidens were the ones calling him this time, calling about razorwhips disappearing and then appearing again dead and with all their scales removed forcibly. It was gorey, awful, and definitely the work of dragon hunters. Hiccup only needed two days to find a lead, the name of an island that was, to his dismay, close to Berk.

It's not that he was avoiding Berk because of Astrid, he would never... But he was terrified of having to deal with her again. Something wouldn't feel right, maybe she would act the same, but he couldn't. After that conversation, he felt like a monster, not even Toothless being able to cheer him up. He was so distraught, he forgot to eat, having spent whole days without a proper meal.

That didn't matter right now, dragons were more important. Hiccup was the only guy in the world that stood up for them, he needed to help, it was his job. As he flew through the sky, Toothless whimpered a lot.

- What's wrong, bud?

He gave another whimper, worried about Hiccup.

- Ah, don't worry. I ate fine today. I won't pass out in the middle of the fight.

Toothless gave an satisfied but still worried growl, knowing that this would be much easier if Hiccup had accepted backup. Dagur offered, Heather insisted, but the guy still said no. Now here they were, the island looked like death itself, with lots of trees but no leaves, the grass was dark and withered and the mountains were filled with holes. Hiccup observed it with curious eyes. He covered his face with the scarf, having left his helmet at home.

He didn't expect there to be anyone he needed to hide from, and to be honest, the helmet was a bit of a nuisance. He enjoyed the wind on his face, specially when it was so fast it made his hair slap against his cheeks, it made him feel alive.

Toothless soared silently, the two roaming atop of the trees, looking for any sign of dragons, but only finding weird markings and a lot of dried up blood on sand.

- This doesn't seem right... What is going on?

He landed Toothless in a spot deeper inside the island. It was like all the grass had been removed, the dirt floor dried and shaped in the format of veins of some sort... Hiccup followed the veins to the middle of the circle, he noticed how they followed a symmetrical pattern, like oil that flowed through the machines he sometimes saw on the market. The veins led to a hole, tiny, but clearly very long.

- Hey, bud! Come give me some light.

Toothless stared down the hole, spitting the smalest plasma blast down it's shaft. The light kept going... and going... and going...

And then it disappeared.

- What the...

- YOU!!

Hiccup turned around, swiftly grabbing inferno and Toothless preparing to blast some people, but immediatly stopping when seeing who it was.

- I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!! SURRENDER!!

Astrid spoke, her enormous axe being held in a position where it would be easy to swing. Behind her, Snotlout and Ruffnut held swords, shaking a little while staring a the night fury with angry eyes.

- What?! Responsible for what?! I just arrived here!

Snotlout couldn't stay silent:

- Are you KIDDING?! We sent men here earlier today, and they were all burned to a crisp! You really expect us to believe that wasn't you?!

Ruffnut complemented:

- Yeah!! Also, you've been attacking Berk for weeks!!

Hiccup sighed:

- I've attacked your ships. I haven't killed anyone in those attacks!

Hiccup couldn't bring himself to kill his people. He would always make sure to just burn some wood, rip some flags and be done with it. Astrid answered, a fire in her eyes that made the rider shiver in fear even with a night fury right beside him:

- IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU KILLED THEM OR NOT! You are still an enemy of Berk, and i'm bringing you AND the night fury to face the chief's trial!

The rider's expression changed at the mention of his dragon. A darkness filling his heart:

- I would really like to see you try.

He lit up inferno, Astrid gripping her axe tighter and the two other vikings slowly surrounding Toothless, who seemed very worried about what was going to happen.

As if programmed, a loud noise was heard. Birds flying from the dead trees, animals running away through the foliage and the warriors all collectively stopping. Snotlout asked worried:

- Is... Is that ours?...

Another gong, then another, then another, various sounds coming from all the caverns in the mountains, like something was being woken up. The vikings made a circle, slowly approaching eachother in a sudden comradery as they realized they were in enemy territory.

Toothless growled, his eyes going thin as an alarm blinked on his head. Hiccup could feel the restlessness of his dragon, breathing heavy as he tried to hear better.

Silence. The entire island went silent, no animal moving, no bird chirping, no wind blowing. Astrid grabbed Hiccup's wrist:

- Don't you dare run away, got it?

He didn't answer, it wasn't really a question. Astrid walked foward, slowly leaving the well crafted circle. The vikings followed behind her, too scared to threaten the rider in any way. They didn't need to, for Hiccup followed at the end of the line as they entered the forest.

Ruffnut caught up to Astrid who stared at every corner looking for the source of the sound. The female twin whispered:

- So... We got him?

- Yes.

She laughed in her nauseating voice:

- Hehe, it was easier than i thought. Just wait 'till i tell Tuffnut, he's gonna be so embarrased.

Astrid answered absent minded:

- He's not our priority. We're here because of the south's forces. They killed our people for being here, something important must be going on.

- Wait, so you believe him? You really think he didn't kill them?

- I think there's no reason to believe he's lying. He never killed our people before, like he said. There isn't any motivation to start doing so now.

Ruffnut pondered:

- Yeah, makes sense. Also, he's super hot, so i'd believe him even if he tried to convince me to love dragons like him.

Astrid made a disgusted noise, walking a bit faster as if to get away from the twin.

The walk through the trees led them to a cave entrance, the space being filled with broken wood, open chests and ripped clothes. Hiccup approached the entrance, crouching to touch the special ash found all over:

- This is... Gunpowder?

Astrid asked:

- What? Don't you mean black powder?

- Black powder is coarser. This in gunpowder, i've seen it on the market sometimes. It's being produced in some places for more efficient weaponry. It's weird though, i've never seen so much of it, and just tossed around.

Snotlout spoke, still keeping an eye on Toothless as he growled at the viking:

- Maybe it just fell! You know, was in a barrel and then got knocked over!

Astrid corrected him:

- No, this was on purpose. It's only at the entrance... And there's nothing to make noise in this place, no gongs. Also the wood, it's various types! Like it was broken for the sole purpose of being put here to surround the chests... This isn't a cave. We gotta get out of here!!!

Ruffnut asked, confused:

- What?! What's happening?!

Hiccup answered, coming to the same conclusion:

- This isn't an island for people, it's a feeding hole!!

As if on cue, an incredible amount of razorwhips started flowing from the sky, all of them screeching, soaring fast and looking for prey. Snotlout started screaming, Astrid not being quick enough to cover his mouth before two of them took notice. Toothless shot two blasts towards them, one getting hit and falling, the other simply avoiding it and speeding towards them. Astrid screamed:

- INSIDE THE CAVE, NOW!

Hiccup pulled a stunned Ruffnut off the gunpowder, but made all four of them end up behind it as the razorwhip shot a stream of pure blue heat. Astrid quickly pulled her shield as Hiccup used a huge piece of wood to cover him and Toothless.

The fire made the gunpowder light up, popping and flailing as a huge wall of flames, that would have quickly extinguished if there wasn't so much of it, appeared. Astrid yelled to the two vikings, the sound of crackling fire and the dragon's screech being extremely loud:

- KEEP WALKING DOWN THE CAVE! TRY TO FIND A WAY OUT!

Ruffnut was worried:

- BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU?! WE CAN'T JUST--

Snotlout pulled Ruffnut by the arm:

- SHE CAN HANDLE HERSELF, SHE DID IT ONCE, SHE'LL DO IT AGAIN!

He gave her a trusting nod, one that she returned with a confident smile. The two vikings disappeared in the darkness of the cave as Hiccup and Astrid continued shielding themselves against the fire.

The gunpowder finally finished burning, but they still had an issue. The razorwhip clearly had no intention of letting their meal go. Astrid asked the rider:

- Well, "dragon expert", what do you suggest we do?!

Hiccup scoffed:

- Ownt, really?! You won't kill them out of blind rage?!

Astrid didn't appreciate the sarcasm:

- Well, i just wanted to give you a chance to explain the behavior of this helpless creature.

Hiccup laughed, unexpectedly amused by the woman's response. He stayed silent for a moment, trying to think of a plan.

- We can't face them. It would call the attention of others, but if we turn our backs and run inside, it's gonna follow us... Damn it, think! The people that made this wouldn't prepare all this if they didn't have a backup plan in case it went wrong...

Astrid looked around, peeking from behind her shield. The razorwhip seemed weird, it's behavior being unconcious and antsy. Then she noticed his eyes, the razorwhip was blind.

- ... Blind... That's their safety measure!

- What?!

- The gunpowder and all the wood! It's things they would be able to hear! If someone brought a torch and an ember fell, it would pop the gunpowder, that would burn the wood! The gong sounds were to wake them up to protect the island! This isn't a feeding hole, they're guard dogs! They heard Snotlout scream and came protect whatever is in here!

Hiccup still had questions:

- But they took so long to arrive! The gongs played, then we took 5 minutes to come here and... Oh no, the caves. They lead to the same place that hole in the middle of the circle goes. They took long because they were underground.

- Does that mean...?

- That we need to finish this quickly 'cause Snotlout and Ruffnut are going towards their death?! YES! YES IT DOES!!

The razorwhip had recharged, another stream of blue heat hitting the now extremely thin wood Hiccup was holding. Astrid growled:

- Maybe we should just stop talking and hope we don't die?!

Hiccup stopped for a moment... Then laughed. Astrid was not amused:

- WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT US DYING?!

- Nothing! I just thought of something that can help! Remember Gobber's training? The gronckle?!

Astrid thought about it for a moment, trying to remember something from so long ago, and then smiled.

- Okay! I clatter my shield, you get on Toothless and make some noise up there. We only got one shot, if the other dragons notice, we're done for, so bring him close to the ground! Let's confuse him.

They waited for the stream to end, and then put their plan to action. Astrid rolled to the side, immediatly hitting her axe against the metal of her shield, Hiccup jumped backwards as Toothless sprung foward, making him fall right on the saddle. He grabbed his sword, looking for metal to slap it against and only finding his leg.

It was working, the dragon tried to fly away from the sound coming from Astrid only to get cornered by the sound made by Hiccup. Slowly, the razorwhip landed, trying to figure out on who to focus, giving space for Astrid to approach and scratch their sweet spot.

The dragon fell to the ground, sleeping.

They both took a deep breath... And then Hiccup realized something.

- You knew about the sweet spot?

Astrid got surprised.

- Hum, yeah. I... Saw you doing it to Toothless.

The rider and dragon exchanged looks, confused if he ever really did do that in front of her, but getting his thoughts interrupted as he remembered:

- Snotlout and Ruffnut!!! They're still in the cave!

Astrid got serious again, turning and running down the hole, Hiccup following right behind as he pulled a torch from the pack in Toothless saddle and made him light it.

It was a long way down, and they prayed to the gods that the vikings were slower than them.

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It took a long time for this chapter to come, but here it is! I hope you enjoyed it, it's the first time i leave in it a cliffhanger, but i'm sure it's fine!

Thank you for your patience and for liking what i make, each little heart, reblog and comment makes my heart flutter. 💖

#fanfic #fanart #fandom #how to train your dragon #httyd #astrid hofferson #hiccup httyd #hiccup haddock #wild!astrid #wild!hiccup #wild skies #wild skies au #astrid httyd

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selfships-in-spanish · 3 years ago

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The Queen of Demons 3/?

Pairing: Erwin Smith x OC, Levi Ackerman x OC

Rating: Mature (the rating will go up as the story advances! But it will totally be explicit ;D But right now just in case)

Warnings: None for now, but sexist and misogynist upbringing (Eva's father is a huge asshole).

Word Count: 7103

ALSO POSTED ON AO3

A/N: Third chapter LET'S GOOOOOO– We are getting more into the plot of the story, Erwin being Erwin and Flora being the absolute best girl in the whole universe.

Gotta love Flora.

CHAPTER 3: DANCING WITH THE DEVIL

Both the Crown Prince and the Chief ordered their remaining men to step outside too, asking for absolute privacy. Everyone but Moblit left.

Friederich let out a loud sigh, taking a long gulp from his goblet to drown the image of their beloved little sister pleading them to not leave her alone. They sadly had to, it was safer for her this way. The Chief refilled it, the Prince thanking him with a nod.

“Now you understand what we meant, right?” Hans laced his fingers together, resting his arms on his knees.

“Father has had his claws on her for far too long.” Friederich stared at the wine in his goblet, frowning displeased. “Too long.”

He forgot when it was the last time his little sister genuinely smiled.

“I do, your Highnesses. And I swear to you both, and to the Goddesses, that she will be safe here.”

“This wouldn’t have been possible without your help, Erwin. You really don’t know how grateful we are to you, and for accepting our only request.” Hans looked directly at the Chief’s eyes.

“This is the safest place for her to be while the other stages of the plan happen.” Erwin took a sip of his goblet, eyeing both brothers as he awaited for Moblit to finish translating. “Your father won’t dare urge us Eldians to fulfill our end of the deal until the marriage happens. For now he waits, and that is when we must act. Sadly time is of the essence, and we cannot waste any of it.”

“Truly a race against time, huh?” Friederich crossed his arms, not wanting to let any negative thoughts cloud his mind and sully his purpose.

“Yes, a race we must win.” Both brothers understood now why the Eldian Chief was both feared by his enemies and deeply respected by his allies. His determination was contagious, and even if they had all the odds against them, they felt that they could truly win. This is how his warriors must feel on the battlefield, ready to give their lives following his orders as they fought side by side.

“Our sister–” Friederich insisted, his fingers twitching.

“My warriors will protect her. The chances of having an entire army mobilised here are very slim, especially considering their General is here, and that the troops are loyal to their General, before their King.” Erwin motioned with his hand towards Friederich. “And I suppose if it was inevitable, I would have a word of warning to prepare a scheme to avoid our armies confronting each other, wouldn’t I?”

“Still, it’s a big gamble. Even for you.” Hans replied, taking a sip from his goblet. “We should consider all chances.”

“He knows his chances.” Friederich leaned back on his chair. “Don’t you?”

“I’ve always been a man of big gambles.” The Chief’s chuckle made Friederich snort. “But rest assured–”

“This is our sister we are speaking of, not only Gottesreich.” From the two brothers, Friederich had always been the hot-headed one, and wouldn’t hesitate to say a piece of his mind when his little Birdie was concerned. “Harmony has been broken, Father has gone too far in his madness, and this is our only chance to do something, yes.” Friederich leveled the Chief with a hard stare. “But for me, my sister comes first. She’s an innocent in this, screw the Kingdom if any harm comes to her, screw Fa–”

“Friederich.” Hans fixed his eyes on his brother. A warning.

“I understand your feelings and concerns, Friederich. I do, and I share the same sentiment as you.”

“She is not a pawn to be sacrificed in any stage of the plan. This is why she is here.”

“I know. Trust my warriors.” Erwin’s determined glint in his eyes settled any doubts the younger Prince may have had.

Some said he was a master strategist, others a mad genius leading an army of demons. Friederich believed he was both, because you had to be brilliantly crazy to pull stunts as they had pulled before and be victorious each time. His warriors would follow him to the ends of the known world and Friederich deeply respected that.

“We will right the wrongdoings done to this world by the hand of our father. We only wished we realised sooner what his plans were.”

“You realised it in time, enough to do something.”

“We hope so, Erwin.” Hans had a somber expression on his face, really wanting to believe what the Chief said. “We hope so.”

That seemed to conclude their private meeting, seeing both brothers to their respective rooms in the guest houses. The Chief retired to his own too, soon to be shared with his fiancé, before finishing some matters concerning the evening banquet.

As he stepped into the wooden tub filled with warm water, releasing a pleased groan as he lowered himself further into it and felt the tight knots in his back loosen, he couldn’t help but to still think about their little talk with the Princes and the Princess herself.

There was so much work to be done. They were only in the early stages of their plan and so many things could go wrong. Erwin was not stupid, he knew every plan had its risks, but they made the hard work worth it. It was worth it. The three siblings were the key to change the course of the three nations.

Hans was going to be a good King. Down to earth, just, always willing to protect his people and their happiness. He had a great responsibility on his shoulders as the Crown Prince, but Erwin felt more at ease knowing one day he will be the one sitting on the throne of Gottesreich. The Crown Prince despised greed.

Erwin deeply respected Friederich, both as a General who had the trust of his men and as a fierce soldier with a big heart. Those were qualities appreciated in Eldia, since you had to understand life in order to take one in battle. Friederich always honoured his enemies, and Erwin knew that if they ever had to cross swords in a battlefield, it would be a good, honourable fight.

But that wasn’t the plan, no. If it all came together in the end, they would be side by side.

As he let his head rest on the edge of the tub, Erwin’s mind wandered towards the third of the Gottesreichan siblings.

Erwin would be an absolute blind fool if he didn’t agree with what the whispers and rumours said; the Princess was a beauty. Elegance, gracefulness, perfect manners, a lovely face… everything needed to survive in a court and its poisoned, claustrophobic walls. But he would never forget the way she looked absolutely terrified at the prospect of being alone, and Erwin couldn’t blame her at all. It would shake anyone to their cores to be ripped off their homes to be then thrown into an unknown territory. But there was also something else hidden deep under those layers of fear, another reason than a change of culture.

With her doe eyes and delicate features, the Princess reminded him of a scared little fawn.

Erwin only hoped she would lose her fear and be happy here, to be her true self without her father’s strings manipulating her every movement and word. It will be tedious and Erwin will have to use his entire patience, but he was positive he would succeed.

The door of the private bathroom opened without a warning, Levi stepping in with a confident stride and uncaring of Erwin’s nakedness. He closed it with his foot, not even turning back to properly do so, and took a stool to sit down on it. Erwin knew it would be futile to stop Levi from saying what he had on his mind, years of friendship proved him that, and that displeased frown sometimes said more than words.

“This is a terrible idea.” Levi crossed his arms, glaring at the man in front of him. “Are you sure about this, Erwin?”

The Chief chuckled. Levi’s frown deepened.

“Ah, straight to the point as always.” Erwin closed his eyes, feeling Levi’s agitated ones on him. “I am sure.”

“What made you think marrying that Princess will help Eldia?” Levi wasn’t happy about this decision he took, but he knew that deep down Erwin must have a good, important reason to do it. Or maybe not. This was Erwin, you never knew what he had in mind. “Or maybe you want kids now? Don’t tell me it’s that, you bastard. You could have chosen any Eldian woman, they’d be more than happy to do so.”

Erwin couldn’t contain the burst of laughter that escaped from deep in his throat.

“Rest assured, Levi, it’s not kids I want.”

“Then what? It’s Gottesreich we are talking about. Gottesreich and the mad, greedy King. Do you really want to be associated with that?”

“She will help our cause.” Erwin heard Levi sigh. “Thankfully the brothers think so too, the people of her Kingdom have a special spot for her, and that plays to our advantage. Let’s better leave the Mad King thinking he got a stupidly, unbelievable good deal and that he won us, uncultured barbarians, over. You know what they say,” Ah, there it was. That dangerous, cunning glint in his eyes. “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

The Chief and his insane gambles. Levi scoffed.

“You already have planned multiple ways to use her and her ties to the Mad King, haven’t you?”

“You make me sound like an uncaring monster, Levi. But I wouldn’t endanger her at all, that’s not part of the plan.”

“Sometimes you are, dipshit. When you have a plan and are adamant to carry it on, nothing will stop you.” Erwin placed his hand on his chest, chuckling and lowering his head as if he was hurt.

“You wound me.”

“Asshole.” Levi kicked the tub.

“But she isn’t here to be used as a pawn.” That caught Levi’s attention. “She is here for her safety. If she stayed any longer in her Kingdom, she would have her pretty head chopped off or worse. Here she has a second chance.”

“So that’s the deal with her brothers, then? Their sister?”

“That was their only selfish request, that only one life was to be secured at any costs, even over their citizens.”

“Huh. I see. So we are babysitters now.”

“You could put it like that, or also you could think of it as an opportunity to see a beautiful flower bloom, besides the enrichment and merging of our cultures. Don’t you want to expand your knowledge?”

Levi’s brow twitched.

“You are twisted.”

“And you are twisting my words. I meant this,” Erwin tapped his temple. “Our little Princess there is not just a pretty face. I want to see what she is capable of.”

“Huh.”

“I know that behind those scared eyes lies intelligence and knowledge. One time Prince Hans told me she would go with them on diplomatic visits, and how she would take over one day when he was King. She has the skills. She’s observant, or haven’t you noticed?”

“I guess, although today she looked mostly like a frightened mouse, or haven’t you noticed?”

“Ah, indeed I noticed. Do you blame her, though?”

Levi looked at his feet, sighing.

“Not at all.”

Both men remained in silence, going through today’s events. Their lives would drastically change from now on, and Levi wanted to believe it was for the good. Erwin’s voice grabbed his attention again.

“Let’s try our best to make her feel welcome. Everyone would be scared to be in a foreign land with no known faces, no knowledge of the language, only knowing your fate is sealed and you cannot do a thing about it.”

“I think your eyebrows are what scares her the most.” Levi snorted, rising up from the stool. “Although I know other things will scare her more when she sees them.”

“Oi, there’s nothing wrong with my eyebrows.” He splashed a bit of water towards Levi’s direction, knowing how his childish behaviour often set his right hand’s man nerves on edge. He also didn’t want parts of his anatomy discussed while he was, well, naked. Levi deserved a bit of water.

“I hope your kids don't have them.” It was Erwin’s turn to snort.

“Rude.”

“Get out before you look like a raisin. I bet the Princess won’t kiss you then.” Levi grabbed a towel and threw it at the Chief’s face. “Go take a shit and make yourself presentable. You should take her around the town.”

“We better let her rest, it has been a long journey for them.” Erwin left the towel on a nearby stool. “I will take her and her brothers tomorrow to see the town.”

Levi shrugged his shoulders, walking to the door.

“Be on your best behaviour.” Levi rolled his eyes, not sparing a glance towards the Chief. Levi knew he would have that infuriating smirk on his lips.

“I’m always on my best behaviour.”

“Absolutely.”

Erwin watched Levi shake his head and sigh, exiting the bathroom and leaving the Chief snickering and alone with his thoughts.

There were so many things to prepare for his change in his daily life in the upcoming months. For once, he would have to share his house and make room for whatever needs and space the Princess may have.

And tidy.

Erwin scratched his chin, knowing he really should pick up his clothes and take them to get cleaned before Levi lost his patience and set fire to them. Also pick up the maps and books invading every flat surface available. Change the candles, store the seal wax in its rightful place…

Yes, many things indeed.

Erwin let himself submerge slightly into the water, sighing.

///

“This is a nightmare.”

“Oh c’mon, you big dramatic oaf. Look at the bright side of it, he is handsome! And strong! I want one of them myself!”

“Flora!”

“What? I got eyes and I’m not made of stone! Did you see the size of him? I bet he can lift a cow without breaking a sweat.” Flora brushed her Princess’ hair, perfectly detangling and separating the strands to prepare it for the hair style she had in mind, and greatly enjoying her friend’s flustered cheeks. “And he will say to you: “Oh, my Princess! Look at these arms!”, and then will rip his tunic off–” Flora dropped her voice trying to imitate the same pitch as the Chief’s one, and also flexing her own arms as if she was displaying her own inexistent muscles. “And say: “Princess, tonight I will—“

Eva’s scandalised gasp made it worth it.

“Where did you learn all this?!”

“My dear, sweet, virtuous, pure, innocent, Princess.” Flora’s grin made Eva’s mouth twitch.

“No, save it. I don’t want to know.”

“You know the captain’s son, handsome young man—“

“Flora!”

“Those unused rooms where—“

Another gasp.

“No!” Eva covered her mouth. Those rooms?!

“That table— sturdy, let me tell you. But ah! He has good fingers!”

“FLORA.”

The handmaiden snorted, followed by a good-hearted laugh. She resumed brushing the Princess’ hair, already thinking what pins to use this time for the braid and bun.

“I know you had to be the beacon of virtue and holiness for the Kingdom, an example to be followed, but us women are curious and have our needs also. What’s wrong in having a little bit of fun? Haven’t you been curious yourself?” Flora’s smile reassured Eva. Sometimes Eva felt like her handmaiden was a caring big sister, and felt comfortable enough to discuss thoughts she had that never would dare to say aloud.

“I… well.”

“...I know about those forbidden books under your mattress.”

“Then you know the answer.”

Flora’s loud laugh echoed around the room, needing to leave the brush on the vanity and having to clutch her belly. Eva’s cheeks increased their red glow, pointedly ignoring Flora’s outburst. Certainly those who came from the countryside weren’t as lawful to the Holy Scriptures as the ones nearer the Capital or the Palace itself.

Once Flora managed to calm down enough and wiped away tears, she resumed her work, expertly braiding the Princess’s long hair. It always soothed Eva, the way her handmaiden gently manoeuvred her hands and fingers without a harsh and painful pull. Flora said having two whiny younger sisters made you learn fast.

“Hmmm,” Flora tied the braid with a ribbon for now, tapping her finger on her chin while deep in thought. “I was thinking that for tonight’s banquet you should look… exquisite. But distinguished. But making sure our darling Chief cannot take your eyes away from you.”

“You are enjoying this, aren’t you.” Eva rose a delicate brow, looking straight at Flora’s honey eyes through the mirror. Flora snickered, turning around to the multiple open trunks and luggage.

“Of course I am!” Flora rummaged through one of the Princess’ trunks, pulling out a dress. “What about this one?”

“Which one?” Eva turned around to see which piece was Flora holding in her hands. “The red one? Maybe it’s too much… The cleavage and open shoulders—“

“It makes a statement. Our Chief won’t be able to concentrate on anything else but you.”

“I really don’t want to draw too much attention to myself, Flora. You know how much I despise it.”

“You will draw it regardless of what you are wearing, my darling Princess. Sadly you are new, and everyone wants to see the novelty.”

“I know…”

“So let's make them look and drop their jaws when they do.” Flora’s eyes brightened at her own words, a fire burning in them.

“I wish I had your confidence.” Eva sighed looking down at her hands.

“Oh no no no—” Flora left the dress on top of the bed, walking next to her Princess and holding her face in her hands and squeezing her cheeks. “Do not give me that speech!”

“Whut Fwlora—“

“Not buts! Show them what the proud, brilliant and beautiful Princess of Gottesreich is capable of!”

///

“This was Flora’s doing, right?”

“You know there’s nothing one can do to stop her once she’s set on something.” Eva sighed, hearing Hans chuckle.

“Fierce woman.” Friederich replied, smirking.

“Indeed.”

“You will thank me later, your Highness.” Flora’s smug smirk made Friederich snicker.

Hans knew her sister’s handmaiden was a hurricane. Stubborn as a mule, also. But had the biggest heart and best intentions. He still remembers when Flora came to the palace to start as a maid, a twig of a girl but with a big smile and endless energy. Chatty, too.

She was perfect for quiet, reserved and shy Eva. He also remembers how Eva would hide behind curtains or a tree because she was not prepared for her new extroverted maid. Now, as they grew, they both turned to be exceptional women with an unbreakable bond. But Flora still pushed Eva to get out of her comfort zone quite often, much to the Princess’ dismay.

The dress did cause a statement.

Once she removed her cloak upon entering the Great Hall, rearranged now to be filled with long tables and so much food it made the royal siblings’ eyes widen, Eva’s shoulders were openly displayed, as well as her long neck and collarbones, the dress neck line following a V ending in the perfect spot to either not be a vulgar display of cleavage and being cheeky enough to intuit what was underneath. It fit perfectly to her body, Flora made sure of that when the royal tailor came to take her measurements. It really was a beautiful and warm dress, velvety to the touch and thick enough to compensate for the open area. It also had embroidered motifs of leaves and flowers decorating the neckline and long sleeves, and a beautifully crafted belt made by the best Gottesreichan artisans that accentuated her waistline. Flora named it the “Jaw Dropper”. Eva scoffed at the name, thinking of how silly it was, until she wore it one day at court and had to admit the nickname suited it just fine.

Like now.

Needless to say the Chief was shocked to see skin revealed, considering how covered and bound the Princess was earlier. A quick look to the Princess’ handmaiden, who stood behind her and not even making an effort to contain her pleased smirk, made the Chief know who was behind the sudden wardrobe change.

The Gottesreichan entourage were led to the main table, as etiquette dictated for being their guests of honour. Flora was being led to another table as they approached their seats, and the thought of having Flora alone and away filled Eva with dread. She wanted Flora with them, secure with her own people, and also to have someone to help make this moment more bearable; Flora always made everything better, especially boring banquets, and the handmaiden thoroughly enjoyed them, and well, sometimes making fun of some lords. That was refreshing, even more when she had to fake smiles and politeness when all Eva wanted to do is lie down on her bed with a book.

Disregarding everything she had been taught, surprising herself even for her own selfish actions, Eva sought Moblit. Father wasn’t there to punish her now, and hoped Hans and Friederich understood her.

“I’m terribly sorry to be a burden, Moblit, but I have a request to make if it is not much trouble.” the warrior in question raised his brows. Seeing how the Princess was fidgeting with her fingers and was trying to hide it, Moblit encouraged her with a smile.

“What can we do for you, Your Highness?”

“I’d like to have my handmaiden, Flora, seated with me. I know protocol dictates otherwise, but–” Eva really hoped it would be possible. She felt her brother’s stares on her and was making her even more nervous. “I’d really appreciate it, if possible.”

Moblit looked surprised, but nodded, still maintaining his smile.

“Do not worry, Your Highness, it’s not trouble at all.”

The way the Princess’ face illuminated itself with a smile shocked the man, and hurriedly went to fetch the handmaiden in question. Flora looked at Eva and then at her supposed spot on a table near the main one, but followed Moblit nonetheless. Eva was glad she decided to ask for her, because they seated Eva next to the Chief and wasn’t sure she would have survived if Flora had not been by her side.

The handmaiden was giddy, usually having to sit on the other tables and entertain herself with the other guests while the Princess dealt with Princes and Lords; Flora recalled those times the Princess would roll her eyes whenever they crossed their gazes and both women had to hide their smirks behind their drinks. Flora knew she wouldn't have had any trouble in making friends as usual, despite the lack of language between her and the Eldians. Eva often called her a social hurricane, besides a menace when Flora had ideas.

“This looks delicious, doesn’t it?” Flora looked at the table once they were seated and people started chatting, stopping herself just in time from whistling in amazement. “So much food! They certainly didn’t fall short on it.”

“It does.” Eva sat more rigidly than usual, the closeness with the Chief getting on her nerves. She tried not to raise her voice too much, but had to agree with Flora. “The vegetables look very fresh.”

Eldian servants poured wine to the goblets and left the decanter on the table, busy with the work they had ahead.

“Careful with it, it’s… strong.” Eva looked at her own goblet with dread. She did not want to repeat her performance from before.

“That’s because you cannot hold alcohol, Princess.”

“That’s not true.” Eva knew she sounded like a petulant child.

Flora was about to retort, but was stopped by the Chief getting everyone’s attention by standing up and grabbing his own goblet. The room became silent, everyone focusing their eyes on him. Moblit silently moved to stand behind the Gottesreichan guests, ready for when their Chief spoke up.

The Chief’s strong voice boomed, speaking so everyone in the room could clearly hear him. Eva was still impressed at how his voice reminded her of rumbling thunder on a summer’s storm, and how easily he filled any room with his presence. Eva knew many nobles and princes who wished they had such a commanding presence.

Moblit’s voice made her tear her eyes away from the man.

“People of Eldia, rejoice! For tonight we celebrate and welcome a new member of our tribe. Tonight marks the start of a new stage in our lives and history, the union of two cultures. Please, welcome Princess Eva into your hearts, as she is to become my wife in the upcoming months.”

The Eldians intently listened to their Chief, some nodding, some gasping with excited smiles, some crossing their arms in a display of concentration, some with skeptical frowns. The Princess dreaded the last ones, especially when the attention of the Eldians was shifted to her, their gazes and murmurs not helping the wreck of nerves inside her guts. She will have to be careful with those who weren’t compliant with such news. Eva was not stupid, she knew not everybody was going to be happy and excited to see her here, even less marrying their leader, to become his wife. Surely they all expected someone else, but certainly not her. It was not a secret that Gottesreich had enemies across the continent, and Eldia wasn’t exactly on good, perfect friendly terms with the Holy Kingdom. Eva only hoped her presence here would smooth sore bumps and begin more friendly exchanges between nations.

The Chief turned to her, gesturing to his left with his hand. His eyes didn’t leave hers as she took her cue to gracefully stand up and bow to those who were to become her new people, raising up more murmurs. Flora always told her how her stoic and impassive face amazed her, even though she knew the Princess was a mess inside every time she had to face public speeches and banquets, but remained calm on the outside, not giving away one single thought of hers.

Tonight she really hoped it was the case.

“I propose a toast.” The Chief raised his goblet as he kept talking, while Moblit kept translating. Everyone went to do the same, grabbing and raising their goblets up high. The Chief turned his palm up, offering it for the Princess to delicately pose her own on it, her heart beating wildly inside her chest as the Chief closed it in his grip. His hand was massive. “For this union, for my future wife, for the good of Eldia! May the Goddesses Maria, Rose and Sina bless our guests! Praise the Goddesses!”

“Praise the Goddesses!” The roar of the Eldians was deafening, and everyone cheered in unison as they heartily drank as was customary.

Eva swallowed down her grimace as the wine touched her tongue and went down her throat, scorching as it did earlier. The Chief squeezed her hand, and Eva realised it was slightly trembling. Her husband-to-be was looking at her, unreadable as before, as he let go of her hand and Eva tried to not yank it back to her side in a panic; for him to witness such weakness was embarrassing. Eva left the goblet on the table and sat down as the Chief did, careful of the dress skirt. This was going to be a long night. Moblit went back to his seat on the Eldian side of the table, but not without pausing to whisper “you did well, Princess” to Eva. That was comforting.

“See? Cannot hold it at all.” Eva’s earrings slapped her jaw from the force of her head turning to fix a stare at Flora. Eva ignored the sting.

“Oh, stop it! I told you it’s strong!”

“Do you want me to remind you of that time, at Prince Zeke’s birthday party, where you–”

“No! Shush! Don’t remind me!” Eva turned her head towards the front, raising it with as much dignity as she could and a slight blush dusting on her cheeks. Not that night, Eva swore she let out even her first meal as a mere babe. It had been horrible. Flora had to hold her hair while telling another maid to get her water and a calming tea to settle her stomach. She did not dare step out of her rooms for the entire morning.

“Hmm?”

“...Okay, you are right. I cannot hold it. Satisfied?”

“For now.”

“Don’t make me regret this.” Eva sighed as she took her napkin. It was a nice fabric, Eva was surprised.

“As if! You already have to thank me, the Chief hasn’t taken his eyes from you.”

Eva froze, venturing a quick look to her right to see how indeed the Chief was glancing her way while sipping on his drink. He seemed amused but also as if he had his mind thinking on something. Eva hastily returned her gaze to her plate.

“Told you it would work!” Flora’s smug shake of her head made Eva sigh.

She was right. It did work.

“Don’t worry Birdie, I’ve seen princesses and nobles shoving their bosoms to everyone’s faces with their dresses.” Friederich leaned in, catching his sister’s attention with a cheeky smile. “You are safe.”

“See? Even Friederich here agrees with me! You have to show off that beautiful neck of yours!”

“Take some mercy on my poor sister, Flo.”

“Hm,” Flora drank from her goblet, leaning back on her seat. “Only because you asked nicely.”

“You both,” Hans’ voice rose. The three of them looked over at the Crown Prince calmly cutting some meat from his plate. “Behave. And Eva,” Hans looked at Eva with gentle eyes. “You did good today, I’m proud of you.”

Hans' smile and praise warmed Eva, happy of today’s efforts being noticed. She achieved to keep making her brothers proud, and hoped her father would be too. A timid smile rose to her lips.

The banquet passed without much more trouble, but Flora kept talking and made the Princess be out of her silent shell. Eva didn’t know if to feel relieved or saddened for not being able to communicate with the Chief, as one would do in any banquet with your dinning partner, but Eva pointedly tried to avoid looking at him, although she once or twice looked to his side for guidance when some Eldian dishes were presented and she had no idea how one was supposed to eat that. The Chief was patient enough to show her when she looked lost, and Eva kind of wanted to groan in embarrassment and thump her head on the table at the thought of what must the Chief think of her, even unable to eat without guidance as if she was a child.

The desserts were delicious, though.

As the night continued, some Eldians began dancing in the center of the Great Hall to the lively tunes the band played on a corner. They cheered and laughed loudly, inviting others to join and spin around the improvised dance floor. Those who weren’t dancing yet, followed the rhythm of the music with the clapping of their hands and thumping of feet on the floor, singing along.

The air was cheery and happy, contagious even. Some warriors went to the center of the floor, like Mike with that female warrior from before. Even Moblit was dragged to it by an excited warrior with a wide smile and sparkling brown eyes. The Chief remained on his seat, enjoying the jolly atmosphere of his people having a good time. Levi kept refusing people coming to ask him for a dance.

Eva watched fascinated at the Eldian dances, so different from those back home. They were not afraid of bodies touching bodies, hands clasping and hugging, spinning, jumping… it was as if a joyful spell had been casted on them. Even Flora joined, and Eva was really not surprised at that, when an Eldian approached her. Flora was torn for a split second, not wanting to leave the Princess alone, but Eva nudged her, begging her handmaiden to have a good time on her behalf. So there she was, dancing and spinning and laughing as the Eldian man tried to follow her pace. Eva couldn’t help her smile, enjoying her friend having a good time.

As the night progressed, more people joined and changed partners as others took a break. Knowing how Friederich loved to dance when he was at foreign banquets, Eva did not try to feign surprise or shock when he took Flora to join him in a dance as she had come back to take a break too, this time shoving her to her brother’s arms, whispering “go go go!” for only her to hear. Eva considered this payback for the dress, raising a brow with an almost imperceptible smirk as Flora sent her a dirty, flustered look her way when Friederich twirled her around. Her smugness fell when the Chief’s voice rumbled beside her, Moblit translating for him as the poor warrior managed to take a seat again after his dance partner let him.

“You don’t dance, Your Highness?”

Oh dear. Oh no. He was asking for a dance?

"My deepest apologies, I wouldn't want to expose my lack of gracefulness in front of my Lord. I am not acquaintanced with the dance moves or songs, and I’m afraid also I only know Gottesreichan court dances.”

Hans watched intently at their interaction, curious as to what her sister was going to do to get out of that one. Normally he would come to her rescue, or Friederich or Flora, but from now on she had to be on her own. The Chief answered and Moblit translated.

“I can teach you.”

Hans saw Eva swallow. There was no way she was getting out of that one, poor thing.

“I–I really don’t want to cause any embarrassment on you–”

“I was told you were a good dancer, though. I’m sure you are a fast learner too, Your Highness.”

The Chief stood up, his form towering over her as he offered his hand. Eva quickly looked at Hans, as if he would try to save her at the last minute, but he pointedly looked another way. Traitor! Eva didn’t have any other option but to accept the invitation and spend the most distressing moment of her life, for now. She heard Levi scoff and shake his head, saying something loud enough for the Chief and Moblit to hear, making the big man huff amusedly and Moblit to sigh.

People were staring, and Eva saw Flora encourage her with excited nods and smiles, mouthing “Go!”, and then “Like the summer solstice dances!”, at her. Friederich fixed a stare at the Chief as he saw his hand settle on the Princess’ waist after guiding Eva’s hand on his shoulder, holding her free hand in his own. The Chief smiled at her, trying to reassure the Princess as he squeezed her hand, and Eva had two swallow down a noise as she noticed how his hand engulfed her own. Even her waist felt small in his grasp.

The Chief gently guided her through the first steps of the dance, swaying and hopping to get used to it, and Eva felt clumsy like a newborn colt trying to follow him. Her nerves were not helping at all, too focused on the feel of his hand on her waist and back, its warmth scorching even through the thick layers of the dress, or the way his chest pressed against her back when the Chief tested the waters when he made her twirl through a step of the dance. Eva maintained her eyes locked on the Chief’s, as one should do when dancing with a partner, and Eva was sure the Chief could clearly see her anguish in them at the thought of either stepping on his foot, or being a poor dance partner, but he only saw genuine amusement in them. Maybe she was not doing that bad.

The music picked up a faster rhythm again, the banquet attendants getting back to their conversations and dancing partners, although curiously keeping an eye on the spectacle of having the Chief dance with the Princess. Eva could feel her uneasiness slip away, her confidence swelling at the thought that her trembling hands hadn't given her anxiety away, and allowed herself to move more freely. It was as Flora said, a dance like the summer solstice dances from Gottesreich where you let joy and music guide you and your partner. Still, the Eldian way of dancing was more wild, less bound and constrained, and more light on the feet, loose.

Feeling how the Princess was less strained and rigid, the Chief increased the speed of his movements too, following the band’s rhythm. He was enticed by the way the skirt of the dress flowed, reminding him of a flower in full bloom moved by a slight breeze, and the way her cheeks were reddened by both the efforts and her own nervousness.

The Chief felt bold, wanting to see how much he could push and test the Princess’ limits for tonight, and encouraged by the clapping of the people and the increased tempo of the song pushing the dancers into a more frenzied section, nearing the end of the song, the Chief made the Princess spin before picking her up in the air. He could see how both his hands practically swallowed her waist, fingers almost brushing against each other, and heard both the excited cheers and whistles from his people and the Princess’ startled gasp, frantically searching a place to find purchase for her hands, finally settling on his shoulders and tightening her grip for dear life, feeling his thick muscles underneath. She was light as a feather, and the thought greatly amused him. The Chief spun them around once, setting her back on her feet and continued to dance, Eva needing to ground herself to the fact that The Chief picked her up as if she weighed nothing, besides the boldness of the act itself. This was unthinkable back at court!

The Chief did it again and Eva wanted the earth to swallow her whole at the tiny, undignified squeak she let out as if she was a scared little mouse. Eva swore she saw him chuckle and the Princess pulled her lips in a tight line, fighting for her cheeks to not redden further.

The song was reaching its climax, the musicians wildly playing their instruments in an intense performance, and in a final spin and hop of the dance the Chief pulled the Princess close, ending the dance with their bodies pressed against each other and not taking their gazes away, staring intently into the other.

The Great Hall erupted with applauses and cheers, everyone taking a moment to step away from their partners, conversations and food to congratulate everyone in the room. Eva was panting, acutely aware of how her chest was squished and pressed against his own as he too tried to regain his breath, hands still clasped together and his other one on her small of the back. Her fabric felt flimsy and thin to her now, as if she was too exposed to his gaze, and Eva wanted to curse Flora for it; she did not need to look down to see how they were pressed upwards, Eva felt it.

Thankfully he stepped back, probably by the murderous glower of Friederich thrown his way, and released her as he respectfully bowed. Eva did the same, lifting her skirts and returning his courtesy. He then gestured to their seats, and Eva was never more grateful or in agreement with the Chief as she was now. She urgently needed to take a seat and process everything. Flora and Friederich did the same, the handmaiden excitedly sitting down and intently looking at the Princess, ready to open her mouth. The Chief speaking stopped her.

“I knew you were a fast learner, Your Highness. It was a beautifully performed dance.” Moblit translated, and both women saw the Chief nod at them both with a pleased smile before drinking from his goblet.

“Thank you for the dance, my Lord, I’m honoured.”

“Although, I never thought a mouse could make such adorable noises.”

Eva wanted to scream.

///

Eva still had the memory of the Chief’s hand on her body, like a scorching imprint deep in her mind. Eva swore her skin still tingled from the contact, even if she was in her nightgown and staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. Her fingers were nervously braiding and unbraiding her hair, going over today’s events and banquet.

Flora was already out like a light, her deep breaths signaling how deep into her slumber she was, and Eva could not blame her. Flora truly tired herself dancing, and Eva did not have the heart to tell her to behave, that was Eva’s job. A perfect pretty puppet. Flora did not represent the virtuousness and regalness of the Holy Kingdom, and Eva preferred it that way; Flora was a free spirit, and Eva would rather have her fly like a free bird than have her caged as herself in her duties.

This was to become Eva’s new life here, living amongst demons. Different place, same cage.

The Princess was not looking forward to the walk around the village that the Chief proposed for tomorrow morning, much preferring to stay in her rooms and scream into her pillow until her vocal chords were sore. She also wasn’t eager to go on the customary hunt the Eldians performed for their brides and grooms in the forest. Whenever Eva had to tag along the hunting trips back at any court, rolling her eyes internally at the nobles and princes showing themselves like peacocks, she was bored out of her mind. The Princess usually sat down at the picnic blanket spread out on the grass and under a tree’s shadow, drinking her cup of coffee with the other ladies and Flora. Eva always zoned out, answering with monosyllables and enough words for the other conversing partner to not feel ignored, as she gazed at the flowers or birds.

Sighing deeply, Eva let go of her hair and shifted to her side, facing the window.

At least the moon was the same.

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #aot #snk #erwin smith #levi ackerman #erwin smith x oc #erwin x oc #erwin smith x reader #erwin x reader #aot fanfiction #snk fanfiction #aot oc #snk oc #attack on titan oc #shingeki no kyojin oc #arranged marriage au #queen of demons #mius writes

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shijiujun · 5 years ago

Text

[ENG] History3: Trapped Novel - Epilogue One: “And After, Tang Yi & Shao Fei”

~3,700 words

Translation Masterpost can be found here

Disclaimer: Translations are entirely mine and Wei’s - these are not official translations and some phrases have been changed for better English interpretation so you’ll definitely see better/different translations elsewhere. Also keeping in mind when we translated this we aren’t exactly thinking about the style of writing and this translation is as close to the novel as we can make it XD So yes, some parts may be a little awkward to read. And yes some teeny weeny details and words may not turn up in the translation because the Chi to Eng mind acrobatics didn’t work out. If you see asterisks, scroll all the way to the bottom for notes!

Epilogue One: “And After, Tang Yi & Shao Fei”

N Years Later, Shi Hao Corporation’s Building

A secretary, wearing high heels and dressed in a sharp blazer and pencil skirt ensemble, holds onto a freshly printed contract for a construction project and walks into the meeting room.

She bends slightly, standing next to the CEO and says softly, “Boss, this is the second version of the contract, if I could trouble you to check it over?”

“Nnn, just leave it here and I’ll have a look at it later. And also, make an appointment with Boss Chen for tomorrow evening at 7pm later, at…”

The man, clad in a sleek suit, simultaneously gives his secretary her tasks while listening to each department manager reporting on their respective progress. Suddenly, from the man’s jacket pocket comes the sound of a phone’s vibrations, and all the subordinates seated nearer to him all gesture to the other people in the room with their gazes and mouths after realising what is going on. At that, even the department manager currently giving his presentation ceases to speak, as he points the controller at the screen projector to pause his timed presentation.

“Ex-boss, Captain Meng has gotten injured, and he’s already been sent to Dr Jiang’s private hospital.”

“Nnn.”

The man immediately stands from his seat after ending the call and straightens out the wrinkles in his shirt before walking out of the silent meeting room with an upset expression on his face. Only when the CEO has entirely disappeared from their line of vision does everyone exhale nervously, as if a ban has just been lifted with the man’s departure.

“Whew…. Let the boys know to go over to Dr Jiang’s hospital and stay there, don’t let Boss or Captain Meng run into any more problems.”

After so many years of working on reforming Xing Tian Meng, the Xing Tian Meng that existed in the underworld no longer exists, and while it is entirely unavoidable that they still have some influence there, major departments in the company have actively tried not to step into the dealings of the underworld again.

“Should we call CEO Zuo to come back and take over?”

The department manager who was interrupted and forced to pause halfway through his presentation directs the question at the people seated nearest to him, looking at the projector.

“You fucking-”

Used to using these profanities to start any sentence, the man who just spoke automatically trails off. He glares at the department manager instead.

Coughing awkwardly, he says, “Do you want to die? Even if CEO Zuo said yes, Brother Dao Yi will never agree to it.”

Everyone else nods fervently.

That’s right, CEO Zuo and Brother Dao Yi finally got pregnant after much difficulty three years after they got married, and seeing as she was expected to be due in a few days, who would dare to ask CEO Zuo to come back to the office to handle work at this point? The Boss getting angry was one thing, but first they would have to go through Brother Dao Yi.

Geez! Just thinking about it makes everyone shiver and break out in cold sweat.

“Forget it, let’s settle the items that do not need the Boss’ final decision first, and the rest, we’ll wait for the boss to come back.”

“You’re right.”

Everyone present in the room is at the managerial level, so they immediately come up with a replacement for today’s agenda and continue with Shi Hai Corporation’s scheduled meeting while waiting for the boss, even if they don’t know when he’ll actually come back.

Hospital

“Fuck! Meng Shao Fei do you think that I’m that free every day? Didn’t I warn you not to rush to the frontlines and take on everything by yourself first every time you run into a problem? I still have two surgeries to scrub in on today, and in the end? I have to be here to wrap up your wounds for you. God, my life is so tough. This can obviously be passed on to a nurse to deal with but because of someone’s orders, I have to repeatedly revise my Year One course in basic nursing.”

Dr Jiang glares at the Captain who was personally escorted to his hospital just for a small 10cm wound, made by a perp with a knife.

“Hehe, thank you!” laughs Shao Fei breathily with his mouth wide, as he sits on the hospital bed and enjoys the special treatment that the hospital usually affords only their top VIPs.

That year, Captain Shi was thoroughly investigated by prosecutors due to his involvement with illicit drug smuggling and the double homicide case, which ended with him leaving the police force for good. And that very night that Captain Shi took the congratulatory pastries from Shao Fei from his daughter’s wedding, he left Shao Fei with one thing.

“Shao Fei, I’ll leave Team 3 in your hands.”

In the beginning, he didn’t understand what Captain Shi meant, until the new staff shuffle orders came from Human Resources, and that’s when he found out that Chief, while making his confession to his superiors, also offered a suggestion to their commanding officer.

“If you guys are looking for someone to take over my position and continue to lead Team 3, I recommend Meng Shao Fei to take on the position of Captain.”

Just like that, after a period of training and assessments, he is now sitting in Chief’s previous position. Before, the sound of Chief yelling was the thing Team 3 heard the most often; now, the responsibility of teaching the rookies has fallen on Shao Fei’s head.

“Meng. Shao. Fei!”

A cold voice echoes, and each word stabs right at Shao Fei’s ears as the door to the hospital room slides open.

The man whose name was called immediately freezes, and with wide eyes, Shao Fei looks at Tang Yi approaching him, not daring to move in the slightest.

“You’re finally here,” Dr Jiang side eyes the man who he expects would be here, and his voice dripping with sarcasm, he comments lightly, “Tang Yi, your darling baby’s wound has been given stitches and is all wrapped up properly. Hurry bring him home and discipline him, and stop wasting my gauze and antiseptic solution! He’s also taking up my VIP ward!”

Once he is done speaking, Dr Jiang pats at his robes with his hands and leaves the ward with the emergency first aid kit with him.

Tang Yi walks over to the side of the bed. Gently picking up Shao Fei’s bandaged left arm and hand, he asks with furrowed brows, “What happened this time?”

“How would I have known that the perp had a second knife on him? A moment of carelessness… and… this happened.”

Shao Fei swallows hard, and decides to omit the part where the knife came really close to his arterial vein on his neck, lest his ‘punishment’ becomes more severe.

Suddenly, Tang Yi takes out a metal pen from his chest pocket, plucking off the pen’s cover and viciously scratches himself on the arm, in the same spot as Shao Fei’s wound.

“What are you doing?!” Shao Fei yells angrily, and snatches Tang Yi’s weapon in hand away.

“Does your heart hurt?”

“Nonsense!”

Shao Fei grits his teeth and reaches out for the call button to get Dr Jiang who just left the room to come back. Just as he’s about to do so, Tang Yi firmly locks his hand around Shao Fei’s wrist to stop his movements.

“How much does it hurt?”

“It hurts a lot! You better fucking let go of me, I’m going to find Dr. Jiang-”

Tang Yi suddenly moves to cradle Shao Fei’s face with his hands, and kisses Shao Fei, who is in the midst of yelling at him.

Shao Fei has gotten used to intimacy with Tang Yi and out of habit, simply returns the kiss passionately, until rationality returns to him. Only then does Shao Fei push at Tang Yi, who’s kissing him so deeply. Idly, he chides himself for letting his mind wander off to other things right at this moment.

“Have you cooled down?”

“Not possible,” Shao Fei says as he picks up some tissue from the side and presses on the wound Tang Yi made on his left arm, treating the cut in the crudest way possible.

“Meng Shao Fei, since you can’t protect yourself well and not make me worry, then on the same spot where you get injured, I will injure myself as well. If you don’t want to see me continue hurting myself, then please restrain yourself, and protect yourself well. Your body is no longer just yours, because it’s an extension of me, and likewise, our bodies now belong to each other.”

“I’m sorry…. Tang Yi, I’m sorry…,” Shao Fei says guiltily, his mouth pressed next to Tang Yi’s ear and hugging the man before him tight.

“We’re finally together after so much hardship, I really don’t want to lose you.”

“I know…”

“So tonight, forget about sleeping.”

“Huh?”

The sudden switch in Tang Yi’s mood stuns Shao Fei, who was feeling so guilty a second ago. Now, all he can do is make weird noises, his mouth wide open.

“Alright, I’ve got to head back to the office and deal with work.”

Certain now that Shao Fei does not have any life-threatening injuries, Tang Yi kisses Shao Fei softly on the forehead and leaves the VIP-only ward with a smile.

“What a cunning strategist.”

Dr Jiang is leaning against the wall outside of the room, waiting for Tang Yi as he the man walks out of the ward.

Tang Yi looks at him out of the corners of his eyes, and laughs wryly, “Likewise. I cannot compare to Dr Jiang who took advantage of Xiao Shu Gong’s compassionate heart and conned his way into his affections by acting all innocent and pitiful.”*

“Tang Yi, are you happy right now?”

“Very.”

“Then that’s all good.”

With that, Dr Jiang, who still has two surgeries scheduled for the day, immediately turns around and coolly waves, his back faced towards this good friend who he has known for so many years now.

Next to a road

“Ex-boss, Captain Meng has gotten injured, and he’s already been sent to Dr Jiang’s private hospital.”

After sending ‘intel’ back to Tang Yi, Jack keeps his phone in his jacket’s pocket and continues to appreciate his little, hot-blooded police officer (boyfriend).

“You! And you! Bring him back and proceed with getting his statement, and remember to apply for an arrest warrant with the prosecutor's office.”

“Yes!”

Zhao Zi is standing downstairs and very naturally commanding the other team members to finish their job here.

A young police officer, who was transferred over to Team 3 just half a month ago, asks with concen apparent over his face, “Will Captain be okay?”

“Don’t worry! That shady doctor is very good at his job, ah-”

Realizing what he just said, Zhao Zi quickly covers his mouth. Looking around sheepishly and only after making sure that no one within earshot would expose him to said shady doctor does Zhao Zi put down his hands.

He pats at the young officer’s shoulder and says, “Someone else will take care of anything that happens to Ah Fei. All we have to do is finish up here.”

“Okay, Zhao Zi Ge.”***

The young officer bows to Zhao Zi respectfully, then jogs over to a nearby store to request to look at their surveillance footage.

“Hehe, he called me ‘Ge’!”

Now that he’s finally been promoted from ‘Zhao Zi’ to ‘Zhao Zi Ge’, Zhao Zi scratches at the back of his head with a really happy grin, but suddenly, he hears his stomach growl. He bends his head to look at his abdomen.

“Ah! It’s 6pm!”

His body alarm is even more precise than a clock as his stomach sounds at exactly 6pm to remind him to eat. Just as he’s looking around him to find a restaurant, he hears a familiar trumpet sound from behind him on the left, and a loud voice calling his name.

“Shorty! Here, over here!”

“Jack?”

Zhao Zi turns on his left and immediately discovers the huge food truck parked next to the road, and on the truck’s signage, today’s menu is written - Fried beef noodles, Beef Hor Fun, Beef Mui Fan, Beef Fried Rice, and Beef Noodles.

“Wow-”

Zhao Zi’s attention is captured by all the delicious food. He swallows and walks to the truck, and with bright eyes, he looks at Jack, who has since left his life as a mercenary behind since his days at Xing Tian Meng, with something akin to worship.

“How did you know that I wanted to eat all these?”

“I’m your personal chef, of course I know what you’re thinking.”

Jack, who has now become ‘Fang Liang Dian’, has finally returned to life as a common, normal man. Although his Swiss bank account has enough savings to let him spend over three lifetimes, he finds that a too-relaxed life is not suitable for him, and so he has now become Zhao Zi’s house-husband. Aside from being responsible for the shorty’s meals after he returns home, he also bought a food truck, and everyday all he does is chase after his little police officer across the whole of Taiwan on this truck so that he can provide Zhao Zi with piping hot delicious food at any time.

“Wow, I want a bowl of fried beef noodles, a beef hor fun, and another beef fried rice!”****

“No problem.”

A police car suddenly approaches the truck, and Lu Jun Wei pokes his head out of the window inquisitively, then orders unceremoniously.

“You’re here again? Just in time, I was getting hungry too, can I have a plate of beef mui fan please?”

“Of course, I’ll have to take 1000 NTD from the customer,” Jack says with a smile to this unwelcome guest who interrupted the conversation between him and his shorty.*****

“What?! 1000NTD? Are you fucking scamming me?”

Jack looks at him with disdain, and shakes his head at Jun Wei, “If I told you, that these dishes were made with Japan’s A5 Wagyu Beef, will you still say that I’m scamming you?”

“.....”

A, A5 Wagyu beef?! Just a few small cubes would cost up to 2000 or 3000 NTD, and he’s actually using this beef so luxuriously in a dish of fried noodles? Fried rice? Fried hor fun? And even beef noodles?

“You’ll be punished by the gods,” Jun Wei says, but still takes out two 1000 NTD notes from his wallet, “I’ll still like to have a beef hor fun and a bowl of beef noodles.”

Even though he feels sorry towards his wallet which just became full with his salary being credited for the month, towards this accessible price, if he doesn’t eat, he will let himself down.

“No problem at all, I’ll help the customer prepare his order, but the shorty gets priority, always.”

“Yes… I totally understand…”

This isn’t the first day Jun Wei is meeting Jack, how could he not know that this man’s principle of putting his Zhao Zi first?

Zhao Zi touches his ear and with a bit of embarrassment, says, “Jun Wei, sorry about this. I was here a few minutes earlier than you, that’s why.”

Jun Wei rolls his eyes at his junior who’s always this slow on the uptake, and cannot be bothered to explain to Zhao Zi why exactly his turn is behind Zhao Zi’s.

In the delivery room

“Gu, Dao, Yi,” Hong Ye, who’s currently lying on the operating table getting ready to deliver, yells angrily as she holds onto Dao Yi’s hand.

“Don’t get angry, don’t get angry. Remember you have to breathe later, breathe in, and breathe out… That’s right, breathe in, breathe out… Very good. Miss, you’re doing very well.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you’re not allowed to call me ‘miss’ anymore? Damn it! Where did that doctor go?”

“I’m sorry, don’t get so worked up der. Dr Jiang has already assigned his junior from the maternity center to be in charge of your delivery, so don’t worry. After all, Dr Jiang does not specialise in this.”

“Junior?! Can that doctor’s junior be trusted? Ah…. I’m in so much pain…”

“Don’t worry dear, Dr Wu’s reputation precedes him in this field, just leave yourself and the baby in his hands!”

“Gu Dao Yi I’m telling you first, I’m definitely not having a second one!”

Damn it, if it wasn’t because of how much she loved this man, Hong Ye would never have insisted on having their own baby, destroying her figure and taking on the risks of pregnancy and then giving birth to the child.

“Okay okay, we won’t, we won’t, our hands will be full with one child anyway.”

“Ah…. ouch-”

A few hours later, Hong Ye successfully gave birth to a cute daughter, and the new mom who has used up all her strength during delivery is wheeled into a single ward to rest.

A week later, the new baby’s uncles can finally visit at the newborn’s nursery in the hospital and are queuing up outside along the corridor, waiting for the curtains to be pulled open in five minutes.

After the curtains are pulled back, Shao Fei is the first one rushing to the windows with Hong Ye’s ward number, and inside, a nurse swiftly finds the baby among all the other babies in the room, bringing her to the window.

Shao Fei looks excitedly at the little baby, and says, “Wow, how adorable, Tang Yi look, next time the little princess will call you Uncle!”

“Don’t worry! I’ll teach her to first call you ‘aunt’!”

Tang Yi looks at his lover and smirks, and Shao Fei returns his remark with an eyeroll.

“Tch!”

Jack moves over to Dao Yi’s side, smiles and nods, “Dao Yi Ge, you’ve worked hard.”

Ever since Hong Ye’s pregnancy began, her temper became worser than before, and even Tang Yi who dotes on her the most was angered so much a few times, to the point where he just walked away, simmering with fury. Shao Fei usually argues with Hong Ye every meal on a normal day, not to mention during the period when she was pregnant. Only Dao Yi, who’s so well tempered, can handle his wife’s notorious temper, facing it with a smile from day one.

“Miss- Hong Ye worked even harder,” Dao Yi smiles.

Even though they’ve been married for a few years, old habits are really hard to change and he often calls her ‘Miss’, which resulted in Hong Ye leaving the house in anger, because she really hates that.

These nine months they really troubled the gelato ice-cream store’s boss. Usually, the boss changes the flavours available rather often, but to soothe his Hong Ye, Dao Yi asked him to always have the mint chocolate and mango sorbet flavours in store, just waiting for Hong Ye to visit. It also helped Dao Yi to know exactly where he could pick up Hong Ye from whenever she left the house angry.

Jack’s lips curve as he walks towards Zhao Zi, who’s pressed against the window glass entertaining the little princess. Sliding his arm around Zhao Zi’s waist, he asks, “You like children so much?”

“Of course I do! Babies are so adorable, who wouldn’t like them?”

“I don’t. They’re noisy, a nuisance, and they don’t understand human speech.”

The most important thing is, he can’t even lock the baby up in a cage like he would a pet, because he would be charged with abusing a child.

Zhao Zi looks so wistful then, and says, “So you don’t like children? And here I was thinking during Lunar New Year we’ll spring clean and take out my childhood photos for you to see. In this case, forget it then!”

“Wait! You said… whose childhood pictures?”

“Me! If not, who else?”

The moment he hears that it’s Zhao Zi’s photos, he demands, “I want to see!”

“Didn’t you say you dislike kids? They’re noisy, a nuisance, and don’t understand human speech? I think we should just forget it, what if you see me when I was younger, and then end up disliking me now?”

“Impossible,” retorts Jack immediately.

“But what if?”

“As long as it’s you, the younger you, or the older you… I like them all.”

Zhao Zi feels his cheeks heat then, and turns to look at Shao Fei, who’s laughing at him from the side.

“You, you, be quiet! You’re going to bother the little princess.”

“I don’t care, take out all the photos and give them to me. Everything of yours, they’re mine.”

“Okay!”

Once Jack sees Zhao Zi agree, his face all red, Jack’s expression morphs into that of a smile, and then he also bends forward to look at the fidgeting little baby on the other side of the glass.

“Hey, shorty.”

“What?”

“You really like children that much?”

Zhao Zi looks at his lover, and teases, “Didn’t you just ask me that?”

“Then…” Jack deliberately trails on, looking at the shorty’s face from the side, and very naughtily continues, “Shall we give birth to one then?”

“...”

Zhao Zi stares with wide eyes, turning to glare at Jack.

“No, one is not enough, you have to give me two. They better both be daughters, and they should look like me. When they grow up they’re guaranteed to be beauties,” Jack begins to fantasize about his future daughters.

He’s very proud and confident about his own looks.

“Fang, Liang, Dian!” Zhao Zi says through gritted teeth, syllable by syllable.

“Hnn?”

“Giving birth? Fucking hell, I’m a man! Go and die!”******

Zhao Zi lifts his leg and takes aim at one of Jack’s legs, but the man easily dodges the kick. With one person kicking and the other one dodging, in the end the both of them make so much noise that the head nurse ends up kicking them both out of the floor that holds the nursery room.

===

Notes:

*”The artefact which has just been unearthed” - This is from the last episode, where Dr Jiang basically calls Tang Yi an antique which has never seen the light - In Chinese it works as a ‘name’ to call Tang Yi, but when translated there’s no way to translate it correctly without it sounding dumb lmao! The closest would be Dr Jiang going ‘hey you antique’ but that’s not exactly what the words mean, so I went with Tang Yi instead of “the artefact”

**Xiao Shu Gong is one of the characters from History2: Right of Wrong, Shi Yi Jie’s friend who seems to be an archaeologist as well, and he’s paired with Dr Jiang canonically in Trapped.

***Ge means ‘Brother’

****LMAO ZHAO ZI HOW MUCH CAN U EAT IN ONE SITTING?!

*****1000NTD is about 32USD

******I think I spoke to @florbexter on this when I first gave my very messy synopsis/summary on the chapter like... a gazillion months ago, and hmm yeah I ain’t too fond of this trope tbh. Read at your own risk and also this author is really NOT known for good writing. if you enjoy it great tho! if not don’t worry, and don’t think too much about it because... yeah this author and some details of the epilogue, not so great. We win some, we lose some, unfortunately.

#history3: trapped #history 3: trapped #history3圈套 #history 3: 圈套 #history3 novel #translations #history3 merchandise #AHAHAHA wow it's been so long guys #sorry bout that #chap 8-10 are still in progress #but i thought i'd give u guys the epilogues first

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chibivesicle · 5 years ago

Text

Re-examining Ogata in his absence. Hindsight is 20/20. Part 1.

It has been almost a year and an undisclosed number of rereads of the manga on my part since I first put an analysis on Ogata out into the world. With all of the recent events of the Karafuto arc, it has given me a lot of new points to consider and through more recent events I’m adjusting what I think will happen. My original idea was that Ogata’s is a protective character who was misunderstood to be a much more aggressive character than he actually is. It really showed in scenes like this one here:

Like all things, the further the plot progresses the easier it is to see where past events fit into the current plot line.

Last summer when I was pondering Ogata, I thought that his role as a sniper, was what others saw him as but that his role in the manga was to be a support/protective/cover the rear type of character. With lots of the recent events though, I have changed my read on Ogata.

My updated thesis is that Ogata’s role in the manga is the strategist. Ogata does have good leadership skills but he lacks the charisma of someone like Tsurumi, Sofia or Wilk. Ogata’s great leadership skills appear when needed and the core group of Asirpa - Sugimoto - Shiraishi need someone like that on their side. I have to admit that I wish I thought of this earlier but it took the reveal of his role as a subordinate for Tsurumi in 1902 which means he was working in military intelligence likely since the start of his career. To approach this idea, I’m just going to go back to the beginning and add in commentary where it shows what’s going on with him.

Ogata was the third character introduced. He was watching Sugimoto and Asirpa question the small fry tattooed convict here. His decision to shoot that man was key and foreshadowed him also shooting Wilk.

By shooting the man, he can’t tell them anymore information. This gives him an advantage over them since he clearly knows more about the gold hunt than Sugimoto does at this point.

Ogata approaches cautiously. He immediately recognizes the sound of a type 26. This tells us he is sizing up the firepower of Sugimoto and Asirpa. He’s impressed by the smokescreen and moves rationally. When he’s tackled by Sugimoto, he’s able to steal his bayonet and rifle bolt. All of this introduces him as a character who approaches everything with a rational mindset.

What is most important is when he and Sugimoto stop, he drives the conversation. He gets Sugimoto to admit important information about himself and he even gets him to blurt out his motivations for Umeko.

These are all mistakes on Sugimoto’s part - all he knows is what he can see about Ogata, he’s in the 27th, and it is assumed they were at 203m hill. He warns him but that’s it. When he’s pinned down and almost killed by Sugimoto, Asirpa saves him by yelling out his name. This allows Ogata to determine exactly who he is and then makes an immediate plan to escape. By glancing at Sugimoto and asking if he’s the immortal Sugimoto, it gives him the ability to poke him in the eyes and flee.

All of these behaviors are the first indication that Ogata is not an ordinary superior private. He approached the situation with caution, prevented the convict from giving away info, tried his best to get an advantage against Sugimoto and then he fled. Intelligence requires one to usually flee and not sacrifice oneself.

The first indication that he isn’t working alone is shown when the reader learns that he survived his encounter with Sugimoto. The other soldiers mention that he was found at the riverbank at dusk, he was injured when it was still light out and they can’t figure out how he was able to make it up on the bank.

Kiro was likely working with him and tracking him or staying hidden. When Kiro finally finds Asirpa he tells her that he’s been looking for her, and that implies he’s been trying to bump into her.

Ogata passes information along to Tsurumi that he was attacked by an immortal and when Sugimoto is questioned by him, he tries to lie but it is too late. Ogata has already tipped off what his identity is.

When Ogata appears again, it sets up his role as a military sniper. This is the regular image of him and will become the read of Ogata that most of the cast will have of him.

What is interesting is that when Ogata comes to Asirpa’s kotan and to Huci’s home, he immediately questions Tanigaki. Just like with Sugimoto, he asks the questions and drives the actions of him. He asks him what happened to Tamai and Co. He doesn’t inform Tanigaki that he’s actively rebelling just that Tamai and Co are missing and that he knows that they approached Tanigaki about *ahem* rebelling.

With Tanigaki his ability to read people is on point. He knows that Tanigaki is lying - what he’s lying about is different but he is weary enough to steal his rifle bolt giving him the advantage. Ogata is incredibly blunt here. He flat out asks Tanigaki if he killed them, likely b/c he knows that Tanigaki is a bad liar and does like to follow the rules and the chain of command.

What is most interesting is that he doesn’t make eye contact with Tanigaki when he says it and instead makes him sweat it out before looking at him. Ogata knows how to put pressure on others when he needs to. Yes, the entire thing is a mix up but Ogata can’t risk Tanigaki going back to Tsurumi and giving any intel on his movements to Tsurumi.

When he leaves his whole plan is to deal with things efficiently and to avoid any unnecessary actions. Killing Tanigaki in the kotan would make the death further from Tsurumi’s information network and eyes. It would have allowed him to get further away before Tsurumi would know that it was Ogata who killed him.

His conversation with Nikaido reveals that he’s playing a much longer game plan that Nikaido is by joining their rebellion group. Not only is Ogata fond of grandmas and doesn’t like to kill people just b/c but it would have attracted even more attention.

Spies and those in intelligence would take this line of action to not attract attention to their actions. Ogata has got to go somewhere and he thinks it is critical to keep Tanigaki away from him. His read on the situation is incorrect - but his rationale will prove to be 100% spot on. His introduction as a skilled sniper is impressive. He mentions the role of sniping in the American Revolution, the lack of leadership to listen to his idea to form divisions of snipers to combat the Russian pillboxes.

He shows that he observed all of his surroundings and entered Huci’s house so that he knew the layout for easier sniping. He is cautious and even though he has the advantage he does not assume anything is a given. When Tanigaki makes the smoke screen, he knows that he beat them with another escape and he immediately changes position b/c he knows that they’ve been had and also doesn’t give Tanigaki and idea of where they could be.

Again he shows no problem to adapt to a rapidly changing situation and he knows his enemy well. Nikaido seems to question the abilities of Tanigaki, as I’m guessing the were both in the 27th for the same time period.

This is the first instance were Ogata does not underestimate another member of the 27th and reasons things out based on his background and strengths. He knows Tanigaki will use his Matagi skills and it puts them at a disadvantage.

When Tanigaki sets the trap for them, he knows full well that it is a trap. He does everything he knows from his war experience - he eats snow to conceal his location, he’s ready for Tanigaki. The fact that Tanigaki can’t find him at the beginning shows that his concealment is successful.

The only reason Ogata loses the sniper battle is the fact that he actually stands up over confidently giving away his position since he didn’t see Nihei’s rifle at Huci’s. However, despite that he successfully escapes.

What is most significant though is that as he escapes from the 27th, he states that he can understand why Tsurumi’s superior officers were incredibly suspicious of him. Why does Ogata know this? This would not be common knowledge for a Superior Private - Ogata had another way to get information on Tsurumi. Did he know this as Tsurumi had his men keeping tabs on what the upper level military brass thought of Tsurumi? Or did Ogata have his own source from working in intelligence that Tsurumi didn’t know about or he kept the information to himself. Ogata indicates a better than average knowledge about the military culture/organization . . .

After this Ogata then disappears again and likely in coordination, goes in search of Hijikata, while Kiro tries to connect with Asirpa.

What does he do? He goes in search of intel. He does this in a casual fashion going to a barber shop - a common place for gossip and information, to determine that Hijikata is indeed in town and looking for the rumored skin. Since it was likely Ogata and Kiro’s plan from the beginning for Ogata to intercept Hijikata this is the best way for him to achieve this goal.

At first Ogata’s behavior in Barato seems out of character. He’s incredibly aggressive and violent with the corrupt police chief. This is not how he acts, he usually hangs back and determines the situation but here he has to be showy. He needs to get Hijikata’s attention. And he does that with bravado. After cutting the chief, he dominates him and publically humiliates him in front of the gangs so that he makes sure that Hijikata has seen him. Ogata has to nail this - the only way he can get into Hijikata’s inner circle is to show off his skills.

He succeeds in this so well. He figures out that Hijikata shot his own allies, and when Hijikata leads them into battle fearlessly. Ogata leads the yakuza from a top the tower and it finally gives a little bit of information about his background and a possible motivation. It also sets up the image that Ogata has the potential to be a great military leader. Tsurumi also tells Nikaido that Ogata is not a man you want to have fighting against you. I keep coming back to this panel. This is doesn’t show a weak man, this shows a man who can lead others and lead them effectively.

Ogata also uses his position to observe everything with a distance and advantageous perspective. It really shows when he’s watching the true leader of the gang, the mother. His observations indicate he did a fair bit of recon on her and knew she’d be greedy but she doesn’t act that way during the conflict. It tips him off to the fact that the skin isn’t there and he needs to get her to reveal the true location. Hence, he lights the herring mansion on fire to get her to pull out the real skin.

When Ogata saves Shinpei from his father, he reveals that he’s killed both of his parents and that he can’t tolerate people who can fight for themselves. Yet, he doesn’t hurt Shinpei and then attracts Hijikata to find him with the skin.

I think the reason why Ogata appeared so reckless during the entire Barato arc was that he had to catch Hijikata’s eye and appear to his Shinsengumi idea of forward men! You couldn’t turn back around and flee, it was a victory or death situation and Hijikata would not respect a younger person who didn’t follow through. So Ogata had to meet the expectations that Hijikata wanted in a subordinate - one willing to risk his life for a cause.

What is interesting is how he introduces himself to Hijikata. He was only in Barato for the skin, but then he immediately knew Hiijkata was there.

He flat out tells him that he was able to recognize him b/c he’s the former subordinate of an excellent intelligence officer. Here in chapter 59 Ogata has flat out admitted that he worked in military intelligence. When I’ve previously read it, I took it that he knew things b/c Tsurumi told him about them as a part of the hunt for the gold. But that isn’t quite true - it has the additional concept that he actually did intelligence work - something that is not 100% clear a this point in the manga. And again like with Sugimoto and Tanigaki, he drives the introduction and conversation.

By getting the skin he’s now working with Hijikata. Working with Hijikata serves multiple purposes for him - 1.) he can confirm that Hijikata knows about Noppera-bou (Wilk) 2.) he can determine if Hijikata knows about Kiro’s identity and his role with the gold. He does this so well. With Hijikata as his senior in age (and Hijikata being a very traditional Japanese man) and also his current boss he can’t directly ask him questions like Sugimoto and Tanigaki.

Instead, he has to temper his forwardness. He’s pleased with the praise about his role in getting the skin and he does his head pat to prepare himself before he asks Hijikata what his purpose is. He needs to know what Hijikata’s plans are and he floats out the idea of making the Republic of Ezo as a futile one.

Interestingly, Hijikata is not looking at him when he asks if he is concerned for the men working with him. This gets no reaction from Hijikata, he just smiles to himself which he can’t even see that Ogata had to goad him into talking. Since Hijikata worked with Noppera-bou in prison he has to play dumb. He asks him if he’s an Ainu.

Ogata then delivers more information about the murder of the Ainu over the gold. Even though the men were murdered, all of their goods were properly treated for proper Ainu burial and he reveals that Tsurumi was the officer involved in the investigation of the murder. With chapter 200, it revealed that Ogata was working with Tsurumi in 1902, there is a strong possibility that men involved in the crime scene investigation were likely Tsurumi, Tsukishima, Kikuta and Ogata. He likely has first hand knowledge of what happened, but he’s not revealing that to anyone outside of those who were there with him.

By telling Hijikata that Tsurumi thinks Noppera-bou is an Ainu, he has baited him to tell him that he actually a partisan. Ogata’s facial expression during this is interesting, his face is hidden from Hijikata’s line of sight (an advantage to him) and he visibly has gone for a relaxed position leaning back to defensively hunched over.

Ogata also doesn’t seem pleased hearing this. It means that Hijikata knows more about the situation.

And of course Ogata isn’t going to be pleased with this information since his partner in the quest for the gold is a partisan. Hijikata then goes on to state that Noppera-bou is likely working with other partisans who are hiding as Ainu and to make it clear it shows Kiro.

Ogata plays this situation so well. He summarizes what Hijikata says - and look at Hijikata’s body language, he’s relaxed and in power while Ogata is hunched over and letting him “figure out” what the situation is by using this “new” information that partisans are involved and that the gold was destined for outside of Hokkaido. Again, Ogata doesn’t even make eye contact with Hijikata and now he’s even turned away from the rest in the room. He lets HIjikata even state that the allies of Noppera-bou are likely partisans that appear to be Ainu e.g. his partner in the cat alliance Kiro.

Ogata only wants Hijikata to know a little of what he already knows. He’s working with Kiro and he knows a lot of what Tsurumi knows in the quest for the gold. He needs to work with Hijikata until they can meet up with Asirpa’s group that had Kiro.

The next time Ogata appears is in Yubari to figure out why Tsurumi went there - this means someone floated him information to Tsurumi’s movements or somehow Hijikata had someone tell him and he sent both Ogata and Ushiyama there.

He set up a good position outside of Edogai’s house and waited until Tsukishima left. This shows that he knows Tsukishima well - he saw him leave with his bathing supplies and knew it would be the best time to take out Maeyama and then question Edogai. This is the second example of Ogata using what he knows about another member of the 27th and takes it into account with his plans.

He needs to know why members of the 27th are there and it is clear that he does not want to encounter Tsukishima. Is this b/c he knows he’s a skilled solider? I sometimes get the feeling that Ogata and Tsukishima respected each other - he doesn’t underestimate him and tries to work things to his advantage without him around.

Ogata shows that he figures out quickly what Tsurumi’s plan is - he finds the samples of dyed skin and then realizes that Edogai has been swayed by Tsurumi’s magic and that interrogating him will be harder. Ogata also shows the viewer that he noticed that the other polar bear was missing and that Edogai escaped. This implies that he was noticing everything around him in the house as he searched for him. This is not a standard thing to do, he was clearly trained to always understand the layout of his surroundings indicating his active role in intelligence.

Either way, his plan doesn’t quite work out as planned due to Tsukishima forgetting his wallet and rushing back, to find Ogata investigating the house. Ogata stole the rifle bolts but Tsukishima immediately noticed and attached this bayonet and uses that to attack Ogata and steal his handgun.

Their shootout is interesting. It is essentially a stalemate between the two men. Ogata is hunkered down but has likely more rounds while Tsukishima is in a more flexible position but doesn’t have much firepower. Tsukishima tries to appeal to Ogata’s emotions and how he should have a sense of camaraderie. Ogata points out that Tsurumi is a rebel group and implies that he’s in the right.

Tsukishima calls him the pet cat of the Imperial Military HQ and he thinks Ogata is doing this to get a promotion. They have been working together since at least 1902 but I really think no one has a clue or good read on what Ogata wants. Even though this is floated as a plausible motivation for Ogata, I still don’t think he’s working for central command. He’s given no indication of wanting a role in the military establishment despite being a capable man. I don’t think he’d be accepted by the military establishment no matter what he did due to his background. He’s not from the winning side of the Meiji revolution, he’s from the losing side and they were excluded from the highest levels of government.

Either way, this exchange reveals to us that Ogata is onto how Tsurumi manipulates men to following him and he isn’t having any of it. Unlike many other characters, Tsukishima also makes a strategically sound decision - he retreats to find Edogai knowing he’s not in the best situation against Ogata. This is the first indication that Tsukishima isn’t just a yes, man for Tsurumi, he has more skills and training and it shows. Neither of them underestimate each other and this really highlights they have a good understanding of each other as a solider.

Even with the escape of Edogai and Tsukishima, Ogata takes full advantage of the situation. He uses Shiraishi and Sugimoto to do his dirty work for him and he thinks that he’ll just be able to get the fake skins for himself as well the one real skin. Look at this smug cat, just following the others to get things.

His plan was working well until they hit the gas pocket and then he almost got trapped in the mine, but after confirming the death of Edogai, but not Tsukishima, he followed miners out safely.

What is most important is that he then takes charge of the situation. He’s clearly Ushiyama’s junior but he decides to tell them what is happening with the fake skins. No one even questions this, out of all of the characters present; Sugimoto, Shiraishi, Asirpa, Ushiyama and Kiro (his partner) agree to go with him. I’ve been wondering if Kiro told Ogata that there was a skin in Barato and he then passed it on to Ogata who quickly noticed that Tsurumi’s men were there. He’s even the one who ordered Ushiyama to contact Hijikata.

Once Hijikata arrives and he and Sugimoto begin their standoff Ogata and Kiro look at each and nod. It is clear that if shit goes down between these two, they must have some sort of plan and they are also just checking in with each other visually.

As the tension escalates Asirpa tries to get involved in the Sugimoto - Hijikata battle of wills and goals for the gold. Ogata at first is watching and then stops to think about what just happened. Hijikata cutting her off prevented Asirpa from saying that her father may be Noppera-bou, but Ogata immediately fills in the rest. Going only on “my father”, he looks shocked to figure that she could be his daughter.

This means that Ogata knows that she is likely a known element in the hunt for the gold and he’s shocked that she’s there with the rest of the men involved in the hunt for the gold. Most of those involved in the hunt for the gold are first under the idea that she was “promised” the gold but once Wilk dies, she becomes the key to the gold. He likely knows Wilk is Kiro’s partner on the outside and Kiro likely told him that his daughter is the key and he’s just putting it all together at that point.

When the 27th attacks to destroy all of the evidence, he is able to snipe effectively and interestingly, Hijikata gets him as far away from himself as possible and instead tries to get information from Kiro. It is clear the entire time that Hijikata doesn’t trust Ogata, but not for the reasons that Sugimoto tried to warn him for at supper. Sugimoto’s reasons for not trusting Ogata are in a way “Sugimoto specific” he didn’t like the fact that Ogata betrayed the 27th, but as many people have stated before, he has no issue with Tanigaki who betrayed the 27th and tried to use Asirpa as a human shield. Hijikata’s reasons for not trusting him likely have to do with his own suspicions about what Ogata did for Tsurumi and how much he actually knows. Hijikata must know that Ogata is working with someone else, but he just can’t figure out who it is.

While Ogata is with the group he is quiet for the most part. He acts like a model team member but reveals little.

He is simply watching and observing everyone. He does his best to not arouse suspicion even though Sugimoto has a bone to pick with him constantly. The entire time they eat woodcock brains and then make citatap he’s just watching everyone. Always in the background silently observing.

For the most part he puts others at ease, they don’t may much attention to him and he can keep watching. The only person who is always watching him is Sugimoto. I’d say that Sugimoto is watching Ogata the wrong way, he’s watching him b/c he’s expecting him to betray him all the time, and he doesn’t pay attention to read in between the lines to really figure out Ogata’s background. Yes, he’s a former subordinate of Tsurumi but it is clear that Sugimoto isn’t making the full connection between Tsurumi’s role as an intelligence officer.

The next indication to Ogata’s role as likely working directly in intelligence is during the silent kotan arc. He immediately notices that something is off since Asirpa realizes that something is off. During the entire time in the house, Ogata is watching, watching, watching. Here is just one example, when Asirpa needs an excuse to leave they are confused and Sugimoto is embarrassed by her behavior.

With Asirpa out of the room, Ogata then begins to put pressure on the fake Ainu. And this is just like how he interacted with Tanigaki - he senses that he has an advantage and he begins to push hard on them. Ogata is able to start questioning them and when he gets no reply he pushes them even further.

One woman yells through the window for them to please save them. Then the woman in the room with them makes the same request. The yakuza is clearly concerned and Ogata looks down upon him based on the angle of the shot. And since he has confirmed that they did not know what Asirpa said, he knows they don’t know what the women are saying.

I’ve begun to wonder - does Ogata know what they are saying? He’s working with Kiro and he’s worked directly for Tsurumi. At this point in GK it is not crazy to assume that Ogata may know some Ainu as well. By not saying citatap or hinna hinna unless he really wants to he keeps people in the dark about if he could know some Ainu.

Ogata tries so hard to get the others to realize that something is off. He notices yakuza tattoos, the odd behavior and he even makes the man who is supposed to be the village head scream out in Japanese and Sugimoto is still completely dense. And this shows that Ogata’s pressure on them has paid off.

He lays everything out for Sugimoto and only b/c of Sugimoto’s stubbornness and dislike of Ogata does he keep ignoring them. During this arc it is interesting, he acts as the leader of their group, gets them to figure out something is off and then provides some support but really lets Sugimoto deal with most of it.

I also wonder about this scene. Ogata asks the yakuza if he knows how to beg for his life in Ainu. Is this Ogata just gloating or does Ogata actually know how to?

The entire silent kotan arc is one where Ogata steals the spotlight and the leadership of the group and it works well. He even notices that the women make dango with the pestle they used to hit and kill a man. . . .

Ogata then is key to their plan to rescue Shiraishi from the 27th. First off, he eliminates any plan that may not work from the start. Nagakura points out that they will be on guard since their attempt to rescue Shiraishi failed. Sugimoto thinks a high ranking officer and this shows how unaware he is of the composition and politics of the military elite are. Ogata stops the idea before it can even get off the ground. When he says this he looks very introspective and almost sad or disappointed about something. He knows based on his background that someone like him is not able to enter that realm b/c he’s not from an elite family. Working in intelligence he would be privy to the information about the higher ups in the military. This also alludes back to his earlier statement about knowing how the military brass were suspicious of Tsurumi.

Interestingly, Kiro is the one who mentioned that the men were from the 27th and Kiro is the one who conveniently has a map of the 7th division base/fort shown on the previous page. How did Kiro have this map so easily?

Kiro is also great at playing along to be ignorant about Ogata’s background. He damn well knows he was in the 27th and working for Tsurumi.

Ogata than flat out says that the 27th will likely have Shiraishi hidden away and not easy to get access to. He knows their standard operating procedures and what would likely happen.

When they then go to rescue Shiraishi, he takes up position to watch things and provide support from afar. Here he is able to determine when things will become problematic with the arrival of Koito. As soon as he notices him, he knows that they are in for a rough go since Koito is Tsurumi’s pet Satsuma hayato.

As Sugimoto and Shiraishi escape he gives them covering fire - just enough to prevent them from chasing out the window. This was smart - Ogata fires once and he flees and he knows that Koito will run out to pursue from the other direction. At this point, Ogata takes full command of the situation.

He directs Sugimoto and Shiraishi to follow him and then he orders him to run like hell. What is really neat is when Ogata takes charge, he takes charge.

As the reach the edge of the base, both Sugimoto and Shiraishi are in awe and shock at the sight of the blimp. Ogata meanwhile is not only unfazed, but he correctly tells them that it is a prototype from the dirigible division. Of course Ogata knows what it is - he knows more about the military than anyone else in the groups outside of the 27th. Not just b/c he was in the 27th, as Tanigaki was only added to Tsurumi’s men after the war, but b/c he was a major part of Tsurumi’s inner circle of intelligence.

Shiraishi quickly realizes that they should steal it and at that point Ogata conceals his face with the hood of his cloak. What is very interesting is that Sugimoto manages to steal a rifle but Ogata is the one who single handedly is able to allow them to steal the blimp.

Once on the blimp, they have to deal with Koito. Sugimoto orders Ogata to give him his bayonet while Koito now for the third time uses his information on a member of the 27th agains them. He flat out tells Sugimoto about his Jigen-Ryu style and that he’s at a disadvantage. With that reveal, he doesn’t bother to conceal his identity from Koito and it he uses it to try to throw him off to an extent.

With Asirpa’s distraction of almost hitting Koito with an arrow and Shiraishi knocking him off they are able to escape. While the rest fuss over Sugimoto, Ogata borrows the type 38 and softly smiles at it.

After the blimp crashes, he again takes command of the situation. He knows where they are, their distance from the 7th and that he was watching the 27th following them on horseback. He flat out tells them that need absolutely need to outrun them and it is their only option.

As they continue up into the mountain, Ogata is totally in charge of the group, Shiraishi wants to head down. He stops him and tells him they can’t b/c they are being pursued. Either Sugimoto or Shiraishi suggest trying to hide in the snow and he also says there is not enough snow to hide them. It really becomes a conversation between him and Asirpa.

He knows they are going to suffer from hypothermia if they don’t act quick and Asirpa tells Sugimoto to shoot some of the deer and Ogata immediately obliges getting two at once. As they begin to descend the mountain, there are two major events. Asirpa prompts the first Ogata flashback.

This is key for several reasons. We get a look at the fact that Ogata grew up in poverty. His mother was a geisha who had him in the hopes that it would allow her to be with his father and likely she would be loved and supported by him. Where Ogata fit in this is unclear - she gave him a noble samurai name but it is implied that she came from a samurai family on the losing side of the Meiji revolution while Hanazawa was a Satsuma man from the winning side.

Whatever the cause of his mother’s mental illness, it was not good and it hurt him and his grandparents. He tried his best to get her to change. He brought her fowl for dinner and she was so far gone that she never even noticed him. His mother was obsessed with Hanazawa and he suffered because of it.

Ogata got a rifle from his grandfather. @goldenkamuyhunting has a nice summary of this in a meta which you can find here:

https://goldenkamuyhunting.tumblr.com/post/184630357773/do-you-know-exactly-what-rifle-ogata-grandfather

What is key is that Ogata has a carbine, not a full size rifle. The Ogata family was on the losing side of the Meiji revolution meaning they fought and/or supported the side of the Shogunate. From research, there were Western military style calvary units that fought for the Shogunate and they used carbines. This information tells us that Ogata’s grandfather likely fought in the war and was in a cavalry unit. Therefore, his grandfather could ride horse and may have told Ogata about his times. This also would imply that his grandfather was up fighting in Hokkaido potentially as a part of the Republic of Ezo.

He is telling this to Hanazawa as he as stabbed him to stage his suicide. What is more interesting is how his grandparents react to his mother eating the poisoned nabe. They are trying to get her to throw up whatever it is while Ogata is blankly in the background. Based on her mental state they may have thought that she did this to herself and they are trying to prevent her death by suicide.

Here is the interesting thing, if this is approached from a classic samurai household mindset, her suicide would not be something they would celebrate (that sounds terrible) but they wouldn’t potentially try to save her. But here both of his grandparents are trying to hold her up and get her to vomit. This would imply that some aspect of their lifestyle of background would not want her to do this e.g. that they are Christian in background. Ogata’s mother messed up big time, she got pregnant, had Ogata and then was unable to work as a geisha anymore. Yet, Ogata’s grandmother brings her back and takes care of her and her illegitimate child.

His entire confession to Hanazawa is interesting. He tells him how he was abandoned by him and what it did to his mother and this leads him to tell him that he didn’t have the option to chose his parents. Hanazawa reveals that he knew his mother hand mental health issues and this implies this in part lead to him abandoning her. He likely didn’t want to risk having a son who could also have the same issues and he says that Ogata felt like he did.

I don’t think Ogata was disgusted by his mother - he just didn’t get the attention he deserved and required from her. He goes on to tell him that children are unable to chose their parents.

Therefore, he does not believe that love is a certain thing personally. But he still leads Hanazawa through a thought exercise that a child raised without love from their parents will be missing something fundamentally human. He throws it that it also has nothing to do with one’s position or social class since, his father’s eliteness is meaningless.

All of this leads to Ogata’s thoughts that knowing that Yuusaku was a respected and upstanding man and being of high moral character showed him evidence that when his father cared for his son, he was able to become the type of person that Yuusaku was from the outside. This then leads into Ogata’s question if all of a sudden Yuusaku were missing would this lead to a blessed path for him. The lighting on tihs panel shows Ogata over Hanazawa and lit from behind by light.

This lighting is then matched with the sun rising over the mountains has he looks off into the distance as a child with a recently shot duck looking for a blessed path.

Now the language that Ogata uses here is very unusual. Through my very limited understanding of the Japanese readers of GK, many of them picked up on how his language is very Christian in nature with the use of one being blessed. There was a nice meta post by @1010mush about this and how this is something that many people were confused by.

What chapter 103 tells us is that Ogata’s grandparents were on the losing side of the Meiji revolution, they went to great lengths to try to save his mother and took care of him and he’s looking for blessings and love. A major aspect of Christianity is the idea that “God is Love” and Ogata does not believe in love and likely does not believe in God either. All of this likely indicates that the Ogata family may very well have been Christian.

The next time Ogata’s skills of information gathering and keeping things in perspective happens in the swamp. Shiraishi finally asks Sugimoto why he wants the gold and he says he’s doing it for the widow of his friend for her eye surgery and Ogata immediately determines she is the woman he loved from thei first encounter. Since Ogata already interrogated Sugimoto when he first met him, he now has this additional information about him.

He watches at Asirpa tries to distract everyone off of the topic of the woman who Sugimoto loves and he knows that she has a kid crush on him. This will come into play much later when he’s trying to convince her to work with him.

The time in the swap brings up his encounter with Tanigaki. He still thinks that Tanigaki killed Tamai and Co and now he’s upset that he’s met up with the group and he thinks he’s directly following him on Tsurumi’s orders.

Instead of asking Ogata to help him, Tanigaki lashes out at him. Yes, Ogata plays this the wrong way and thinks that he can still use his rank on Tanigaki but it backfires. Tanigaki only becomes more upset and thinks that Ogata will murder the other Ainu to save him. This is very interesting since Ogata has demonstrated numerous times that he does not kill people without reason, and especially civillians. The thing that seems to push him to the edge is when the one Ainu man tells him to throw down his rifle in Ainu - Ogata gets white eyes and he tells the man to not aim at him and that he will kill him.

There is so much tension that has built up here. What is interesting is that even though the man is holding the rifle aimed at Ogata, he’s still holding his rifle down and in a ready but not aimed position. The next page shows that Ogata is still not aiming his rifle at the other men even though the Ainu man has the rifle pointed at him. The Ainu elder then orders the man to lower his rifle.

Despite being very threatening, Ogata never followed through on even aiming at them. He looked livid and he had the white eyes but didn’t actually do anything. And with that the situation resolves itself.

He despite not trusting Tanigaki, manages to rescue him easily. This shows that he had a good understanding of the situation and also of human behavior, escaping earlier rather than later when they would be watched much more closely. He sacrifices his precious sniper cloak and his cloth that protects his rifle as well. Note, out of all of the characters who have rifles, Ogata is the only one who frequently has it covered when not in use. Clearly this it to in part protect the rifle but it may also serve a purpose to be more polite around others with it and indicates a time when he is not threatening.

Asirpa later thanks Ogata for helping to rescue Tanigaki without hurting anyone else. At this point she clearly has picked up on the other adults attitude towards Ogata and tells him that she has changed her opinion of him. In between him sniffing her hand, Ogata tells everyone what they would expect to hear from him. He stops and thinks before he replies. He’s smirking and his face is completely shades from the eyes up and the rest of him is also shaded as he tell them that he’s an old war buddy.

The reader knows this is utter bullshit - he tried to kill Tanigaki, he shot Mishima and Maeyama who were both war buddies. Tsukishima was shocked that he did so and Ogata is just reusing Tsukishima’s line here. Ogata does not feel connections with others being war buddies but this is the easiest line to say to keep others from pressing him for more information. A smart move on his part to just play to basic military ideas (that he clearly does not believe in).

The next two important instances of Ogata knowing more military information than a regular Superior Private during the swamp and at the beach. Only after Sugimoto fires the wet rifle does he notice that Ogata stole the type 38 from him. Yes, Ogata knows his firearms and he is a nerd about it.

But he explains all of the full details about the improvements in the type 38 rifle both with range and the cartridges as well. His knowledge is well beyond all of the other characters when it comes to firearms. Part of this is probably his own personal interest but also from his time in intelligence.

The second time he is again a major information dump for the rest of the group. He describes in great detail what happens during locust swarms. Ogata explains this for an entire page. He knows the type of damage that they can cause, how frequent they have been in Hokkaido during the Meiji era and the extremes that the 7th had to go to deal with them.

He uses interesting language here, that “they would tell stories about it in the 7th.” maybe they did or maybe he knew more details about this due to his time in intelligence. Tanigaki was also a member of the 7th and was working as a frontier solider - he could add information in here but instead he’s silent the entire time. Either Tanigaki wasn’t in the 7th long enough to hear these stories, he wasn’t paying attention or this information was not something most cared to remember.

The locust swarm gives Inkarmat a chance to talk to Asirpa alone. Meanwhile, Kiro catches up with the rest of the group on the beach. While the rest of the group jumps in celebration upon reaching the ocean, Ogata is looking off into the distance with his binoculars. Since Kiro was able to find them, I think that Ogata found a way to leave him a message or signal to him letting him know where to find them.

Inkarmat, essentially goads Asirpa into confronting Kiro, but in doing so, she gives enough evidence that, she must be working with Tsurumi. Ogata immediately pulls his rifle up to aim at her and explains to everyone that her evidence for Kiro killing Wilk was collected by Tsurumi.

Therefore, he has proven that his suspicions around Tanigaki were correct, but that it was through Tanigaki’s presence that she was passing information along to Tsurumi. Inkarmat was privy to information that Ogata knew that she shouldn’t know.

Ulitimately, Kiro gets Ogata to back off a bit and he calmly asks Shiraishi about Noppera-bou and if he looked the same as Wilk. Inkarmat has racheted the tensions up in their group and the are all tense as the get closer to Abarashi.

The next time that Ogata takes on a leadership role is during the blind bandit arc. Based on their attacks during the new moon, he realizes they could just go in search of them instead of waiting for an ambush.

Instead, everyone follows the advice of the Ainu man and they go to the onsen to try to find out information. This gives Toni time to watch them and they are able to attack them during the new moon. Ogata is the only one who brought his rifle to the onsen and he is the smartest person when they are attacked. He uses his shots sparingly and does not waste them. He even then trails Toni and two other men and identifies their hideout.

When they enter the abandoned inn, Ogata takes charge the entire time directing Sugimoto what to do. The two of them are very successful and he’s able to shot another man thanks to Asirpa’s help of dropping the small seed pods on the floor. Out of the entire group, Ogata and Kiro were much better at fighting the blind bandits than Sugimoto and Tanigaki.

When the group swings by the photo studio, Kiro is nervous about gettig his photograph taken. Hijikata has been trying to figure out if he’s a partisan and what his connection to Noppera-bou is since he never knew his real name. Kiro lets them take his photo despite the risk. Who does not get photographed to our knowledge is Ogata. He’s at the studio, as shown here.

But Ogata is not in any of the photos taken during the chatper and nor is he at the end when the images are developing, hung up with the clothes pins. Right now, there are no photos of Ogata from this stop that are known. Kiro has an obvious reason not to get his photo taken as it will later be revealed he’s a wanted man in Russia. Other than Tsurumi wanting Ogata dead, it is unclear why he’d be avoiding a photo unless he’d be recognized by someone who would know him from his intelligence days.

If Ogata did not get his photo taken on purpose, this is likely what made Hijikata a little bit more suspicious of him. Keep in mind that the tankoban version has Hijikata saying that both Tanigaki and Kiro told him about his background and that he was Hanazawa’s illegitmate child and a lot of people know this. It is his background that has Hijikata troubled and keep in mind the entire time, he’s being keeping Ogata out of his group when possible. He clearly never trusted Ogata to begin with but he thinks that Ogata’s motivations have to do with his background.

This leads to what I think is one of the most blunt yet honest statements from Ogata, he summarizes what Hijikata thinks his personal goal is - since Ogata never reveals much, he likely just avoids discussing it b/c his father clearly makes him upset and that he flat out calls everyone else’s trust of each other. He calls it like it is - everyone is working for their own motives and they have different ways to achieve their own goals. Hijikata, will betry Sugimoto and Shiraishi at Abarashi with the help of Kadokura. Inkarmat will sell them all out to Tsurumi. Kiro and Ogata, knew that they would have to kill Wilk to prevent him from passing along info - just like with the convict that Ogata shot all the way back in chapter 4.

Ogata likely knew that if the 7th would attack Abarashi and they were to move during the new moon that they would use the long burning star flares from the war to provide ample light. This likely explains his overall absence from the pre-Abashiri prep. He spends most of his time looking at the area with his binoculars and likely is trying to determine where he will snipe Wilk from when the time arises.

This really is highlighted at how Kiro double and triple checks with Asirpa when Inkarmat spots Wilk. When he’s on the roof Kiro looks back towards Ogata. He hangs back at this position and instead yells to Asirpa to confirm that Wilk is actually Wilk.

That allowed him to make the signal to Ogata to go ahead and shoot. Ogata and Kiro had an additional level of trust with each other than others in the group. Kiro prepped a canoe, one that was only big enough to take Asirpa, themselves and Shiraishi - they were planning on ditching the rest of the group from the get go.

Ogata gives the command to leave, meaning that Kiro was only waiting for him and that he wasn’t brining anyone else with them. Kiro already told Shiraishi that Inkarmat was Tsurumi’s informant so she had to be left behind. Ogata reports that Tanigaki was taken by Tsurumi and then he tells Asirpa that Wilk and Sugimoto are dead to get her to leave with them.

He’s both lying and telling the truth here. He did not go in for a closer look but he’s established this lie which will become important later on. It is 100% true that Wilk is dead, what he’s unsure of is if he was able to really kill Sugimoto or not. It boils down to the idea that Sugimoto is the type of person who may still survive. By mixing in the truth with lies, it makes it harder for anyone to tell if he’s outright lying or not and this entire statement is very clever.

When Kiro asks Ogata why he had to shoot Sugimoto in addition to Wilk, it was the idea that Wilk may have revealed more information about the gold to Sugimoto. It was a strategic decision on Ogata’s part to shoot Sugimoto and it was a smart one to make. Even though Ogata and Kiro have been working in their cat alliance, Ogata wants to make it clear that he doesn’t 100% trust Kiro or anyone really.

I still read this conversation as Ogata making it clear to Kiro that he will not completely follow him blindly and that he still has power in their partnership. The fact that he knows Sugimoto will come racing after them puts pressure not only on Ogata himself, but on Kiro as well by proxy. Ogata read Sugimoto like a book from observing him and the story reveals that Sugimoto will behave exactly how he predicted.

As they continue north to the Russian border, Ogata is reminded that Sugimoto may be still alive and following him when he was unable to kill a sea lion.

He seems more concerned about this that normal, his facial expression is one of concern and worry, not just a basic observation of fact. Of course, Asirpa tells him how to guarentee a kill on animals such as bears and sea lions. That he should shoot them in the eyes! I wonder if Asirpa has given away the key for Ogata to kill Sugimoto in the end. . . . or maybe Tsurumi since his forehead protector may make it harder to kill him.

One of the parts of the current Karafuto arc that continues to stand out for me is the entire visit to the fox farm. Kiro not only has them sell the sea meat so that they can make enough money to quickly travel to Shisuka by dogsled but also to help educate Asirpa on her father and parts of his past that she never knew.

He gravely mentions on imperialism lead to the loss of Wilk’s hometown. Due to his mixed nationalities, his father who was a Polish political prisioner couldn’t leave Karafuto even though he was married to an Ainu woman. They stayed behind and many of the Ainu moved to Hokkaido.

But most of those Karafuto Ainu died of disease in Hokkaido and no one returned to what was once a healthy kotan on Karafuto. Kiro highlights that the Karafuto Ainu were simply small human pawns at the mercy of these great colonial powers. While Kiro is explaining this, the panel shows Ogata, looking at the foxes in the background and he’s almost completely shaded.

@goldenkamuyhunting and I have been completely stuck on this panel for almost a year or so. Why is Ogata shown here? Is it b/c he’s a former Japanese solider and a representation of imperialism? But, Noda could have also put Shiraishi here as the other Japanese member of their party. Furthermore, Ogata clearly is not one who has bought into the midset of the Japanes imperial government and what it wants its citizens and soilders to think. He does not believe in the power of the elites, he thinks the military higher ups made poor decisions and he does not like men leading their subordinates to die pointlessly.

We have already hand a long discussion if this implies that Ogata has Karafuto ties. Is Ogata mixed race? Ogata is cannonically lighter in skin tone and he is a bit hairier than the rest of the Japanese cast (sans Tanigaki who is Matagi). His mother had to have been seen to be a beautiful woman since she was a geisha. On twitter Sei Kobiyama has mentioned that Japanese men were very attracted to Ainu women due to their unique beaty (and of course the implied sexual violence that went along with it). I can’t help but shake the feeling that if Ogata’s grandfather fought on the losing side of the Meiji revolution he may have ended up in Hokkaido and further north and met his grandmother who was either Karafuto Ainu or maybe even mixed race from there.

There must have been some event that allowed Kiro and Ogata to meet and from the cat alliance, why would Kiro want to work with Ogata as a partisan? It would be an additional “bonus” if part of his family were from the north and it just happened that he grew up in Ibaraki which was where his grandfather was from making him appear to be a regular country boy. Keep in mind that through genetics, if Ogata were mixed race, he’d be 1/4 Karafuto Ainu (or something of that background) and 3/4 Japanese with 1/2 of that being Satsuma from Hanazawa. It makes one wonder if Hanazawa knew that Ogata’s mother was mixed race and was a contributing factor to him not wanting to have that child suceed him in addition to her mental health issues. Ogata was born around 1880-1882; mixed race individuals were definitely not seen as a positive thing by the elites of many places around the world.

Anyways, Ogata serves as the force that allows Kiro to explain their rationale and plan for heading noth. He knows that Wilk told Asirpa the key to finding the gold before he “died”. Kiro knows it has to be something culturally linked and that the trick would be getting her to figure out what it is. The code would be something almost banal - nothing remarkable to Asirpa but unable to be known by anyone else.

Again, Ogata’s past in military intelligence comes through in this conversation - he works though all of the possibilities including the fact that she could be lying to them - even though, he likely doesn’t think Asirpa is lying to them he doesn’t rule out the possibility.

This entire conversation says a lot about both of these men’s personalities, Kiro plays to the strengths that he’d a friendly and personable guy and Ogata runs through the possible outcomes through logical reasoning. Really, these two make an excellent team that is balanced and despite their low level distrust is one of the most effective groups in the manga to date.

As they travel along Ogata shoots a musk deer and Kiro explains how he and Wilk were muskies. Asirpa looks so happy that she learned something about her father, The screentones on Kiro are dark as he is manipulating her for his own needs (and partisan needs) while in contrast Ogata is half dark/light. Both men can see that Kiro’s plan is working yet, Ogata’s committement to the plan is shown as not quite as negative as Kiro.

This part of the arc is also a very silent phase for Ogata. As he lets Kiro take the lead, his silence becomes more obvious and is at first confusing for the reader. It makes the power dynamic between Kiro and Ogata seem off balance and myself among others started scratching my head about this. Ogata would not be the type of character to enter such an unequal arrangement with Kiro pulling all the strings and him along for the ride.

When it is key to helping Asirpa figure out the code Ogata does speak, which gives his words more power to Asirpa. They go on the reindeer hunt to apologize for him shooting one and Asirpa is so happy to join him. She’s blushing and she excited to learn something about her father. She also physically tags along with him behind him under his cloak on the skies as they get closer to the reindeer showing that she trusts him enough to be physically close with him.

As Kiro explains the dyanmics of reindeer herds, Ogata concludes that they are just like people. This statement implies that he has a deep understanding of human interactions and how humans behave in groups. None of this is out of character for him and if anything, he is adding this fact to his already vast knowledge of many things to keep in mind for the future. This implies that in the past he’s seen people fall into choas when their look out was removed. This may be in reference to his role as a sniper during the war or maybe an military intelligence mission under Tsurumi. Or maybe he’ll use this in the future?

The reindeer hunt demomstrates that when given the freedom to act on his knowledge and skills, he is incredibly capable. Again, even though Kiro and Ogata never 100% trust each other, both of these men allow the other to shine when needed. Kiro is also the same age as Tsurumi, so it could be that Ogata respects him and does see him as a much more “normal” leader and a more compassionate leader as well. Again, post reindeer hunt, he’s oddly silent, nomming away on food in the background listening to everything.

He’s letting Kiro handle the logistics of crossing the border and he’s okay with this arrangement. When they are attacked by the border guards, several things happen. Ogata immediately moves to protect Asirpa. He tells her now to hide and he begins to assess the situation to determine that they are up against a skilled sniper.

What is most interesting about this is how their battle against the border guards plays to both of their strengths. Kiro is ballsy enough to rescue the injured man, almost goading Vasily to shoot him while Ogata takes advantage of his hesitation to shoot Ilya. Kiro and Ogata are both confident and proud men, hey says he was able to resue the Uilta man due to the gods (and his confidence) while Ogata states it was simply due to his smart actions to shoot the spotter.

I don’t want to dwell on the sniper battle too much, I’ve looked at it at length previously. The take home from the sniper battle is that Ogata wants Asirpa to realize that the border guards were tipped off to them and it is likely linked ot Kiro. He likely knows that Tsurumi would be the one to float that information to try to stop them or verify that they indeed crossed the border.

This event serves a few purposes it allows the backstory of Wilk and Kiro to be introduced as partisans and it leads one to begin to guess at Ogata’s background in the military. It also allows Ogata to learn from his loss in the sniper battle with Tanigaki to beat Vasily.

This panel here though is yet another example of Ogata all but admitting part of his skill set and again alluding to his role in the military not being a “normal” one. He states that he will have to get the answers directly from them. Unless the border guards are fluent in Japanese, Ogata is all but admitting that he can speak Russian. The sniper battle with Vasily shows that the partnership between Ogata and Kiro is much more balanced - yes, he still can’t speak the native people’s languages but he can speak Russian and it makes his decision to form the cat alliance with Kiro all the more reasonable. He’s not being blindly lead to Russia, he’s capable of working things out on his own if need be.

Okay, this is the end of part one, please see part 2.

#golden kamuy meta #gk meta #ogata hyakunosuke #asirpa #sugimoto saichi #tsurumi tokushirou #kiroranke #wilk #hanazawakoujiro #vasily #tanigaki genjirou #koito otonoshin #military intelligence

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Leading Marketers Share Their Favorite Takeaway from Content Marketing World 2019

Once again, Magnificent Marketing had the pleasure of attending one of the top marketing conferences around, Content Marketing World 2019. This year was packed with information on content strategy, the role of AI in marketing, the rise of voice marketing, and SO much more. If you’re looking for a recap of the conference, check out what these top marketing influencers said was their best takeaways of Content Marketing World 2019.

Ahava Leibtag

President | Aha Media Group

Nothing is more important than your audience and you need to let them lead you. While data, automation, analytics, buyer journeys, content, social media and tech critical, the MOST important thing to maintain a laser-like focus on is your audience.

Andy Crestodina

CMO | Orbit Media

If you can publish an original statistic that busts a myth, you’ll win a lot of search and social traction. It’s a type of content that can get the attention of journalists and actually make a little news. This tip is from Michele Linn on the Survey Monkey panel about original research. Super smart!

Adele Revella

To Persuade Buyers, Validate their Perceptions | Buyer Persona Institute

Tamsen Webster’s keynote was my favorite presentation among so many great talks at this year’s conference. She made the most powerful case for marketers to understand and validate their buyers’ wants, needs and beliefs. I say it every year, but it was fascinating to hear Tamsen note that this is not a new concern but a function of the human condition … that we all want to feel, as she said, “smart, capable, and good”. She even started her talk with a quote from 16th-century philosopher Blaise Pascal! Tamsen’s presentation was a powerful call to action for marketers to stop “educating” buyers about their problems and start listening to them!

Michael Brenner

Speaker, Author, CEO | Marketing Insider Group

We’re nearly 10 years in on the modern content marketing journey and the biggest challenge is still creating, delivering, and getting buy-in for the content marketing business case. Marketers need to learn how to convince their boss, their peers in marketing, sales and the entire business on why content marketing is the future of marketing and the best way to show marketing ROI.

Peter Loibl

Head of Sales | Content Marketing Institute

Content Marketing World 2019 reinforced a basic but integral premise: consistency leads to success, which leads to corporate buy-in. I was endeared to run into so many content marketers and demand gen marketers using content to fuel their audience connectivity and lead generation efforts, but the biggest smile on my face was a result of hearing of increased C-suite commitment to content marketing teams based on the positive results stemming from documented, consistent content marketing strategies and practices in lieu of fragmented, quick, gated lead-gen wins.

Tim Hayden

President & Managing Partner | Brain+Trust Partners

Few companies are prepared for the oncoming wave of data privacy laws, starting with Nevada in October 2019, and the California Consumer Privacy Act going into effect January 2020. Ironically, to comply with these new regulations, brands will require the same data governance needed to leverage machine-learning and marketing automation to deliver meaningful content experiences.

Andrea Fryrear

Agile Marketing Coach & Trainer; Co-founder | AgileSherpas

The newest skill that marketers need to add to our already lengthy resumes is internal marketing. It’s not enough to have a great idea; you’ve got to be able to amass support from others in your organization to give it life and longevity. We need to help people understand our content programs — what’s going on, how’s it’s working, what to expect, and, most importantly, what’s in it for them. If we don’t, we risk losing budget, buy-in, and belief in what we’re doing.

Christoph Trappe

Chief Content Officer | AC Business Media

The power of machines! Whether AI or machine learning, marketers must make use of these new technologies to free up time for other things machines can’t do and do drive results.

Stacy Adams

Head of Marketing | Vyond

Storytelling is having a moment, especially visual storytelling. I think this is happening for a variety of reasons. First, stories bring an authentic, human condition context to content. Storytelling is one of the foundations of person-to-person communication, and it’s natural in today’s tumultuous social and political environment for people to gravitate towards something warm and familiar. We feel even more affinity to a brand when we can relate to them through similar experiences, and stories facilitate that. Second, our consumer tastes for instant gratification in entertainment are bleeding over into our professional lives. I heard a lot of “Netflix” mentions at CM World, and marketers are definitely paying attention to how stories told through this type of media continue to engage and enthrall audiences. Employing the same tactics that encourage binge-watching can definitely move the needle for content marketers. We binge because we want to find out what happens next – it’s a natural human instinct to finish the story. Incorporating storytelling tropes like cliffhangers, character development, and hero’s journey, can and should be used in a business video. Just because your consumer is a business buyer, doesn’t mean you have to ignore what makes entertaining content successful.

Bernie Borges

CMO | Vengreso

Marketers are focused on understanding the customer journey and producing content to engage the customer throughout their journey. Marketers are paying special attention to equipping their sales team with content that addresses the interests of the customer throughout their journey from awareness, buying, implementation and adoption. Marketers are realizing that content is not one size fits all. Additionally, the same content produced and distributed by marketers for the marketplace is not necessarily what the sales team needs. Marketers are getting serious about integrating their sales team into the content distribution process. But, according to CSO Insights, only 32% of companies have a content strategy for their sales team. Marketers who want to harness the reach-potential and win-rate-improvement-potential of their sales team must begin by developing a content strategy for sales enablement.

Jay Acunzo

Founder | Marketing Showrunners

Marketers are realizing their new mandate. It’s no longer enough to grab attention. The best in the world are focused on holding it. This has led to a rise of serialized content — shows. More and more brands are launching podcasts and video series in order to hold attention. This ranged from massive global brands partnering with international media outlets, to small businesses piloting a new original from a conference room. From standalone podcasts to entire networks of series, we’re watching the rise of the branded original series online. It’s time we all embraced: Great marketing isn’t about who arrives. It’s about who stays.

Brody Dorland

Co-Founder | DivvyHQ

I appreciated the warning from multiple speakers regarding social media being “doomed”. Even if it takes years for such a scenario to play out, I feel it’s so important for companies to shift or narrow their focus to building their own audiences and owning their methods of marketing/content publishing, distribution and promotion. Those who have already made this a priority not only have a head start, but will see dividends grow as audiences decide to reduce time spent on unstable social networks that may lose favor overnight.

Pamela Muldoon

Sr. Consultant & Content Strategist | The Pedowitz Group

I loved Joe Pulizzi’s 7 Laws of Content Marketing keynote session this year at Content Marketing World 2019. One of the seven laws that really resonated for me and I believe in 100% was The Marketing Pushover Law, where he challenged content marketers to say NO to tactics are not within the content strategy. It’s time marketing owned marketing again and a documented content strategy that aligns to the business objectives will provide the necessary leverage marketing teams need to say NO to tactics outside of the plan.

Zontee Hou

Consultant & Speaker | Convince & Convert

Yes, the fundamentals of creating good content are still vital. But as the industry matures, content marketing practitioners are more focused now than ever before on getting the most out of their analytics: measuring, learning, and benchmarking. While most understand that vanity metrics don’t do their brands any good, based on my conversations and the sessions at CMWorld, they also haven’t implemented more effective metrics. As we move into 2020, the industry as a whole will reckon with how to be more effective and driven with metrics.

Gini Dietrich

Founder & Author | Spin Sucks

A good 10 years into this industry, things are continuing to evolve. Some things have stayed the same, and some things have changed. The biggest takeaway is to stay the course, keep up on the trends, follow what the experts have to say, and trust in your expertise, your talent, and your gut when it comes to your own business and your content marketing plan.

Stephanie Stahl

General Manager | Content Marketing Institute

Consumers, customers, and prospects don’t necessarily need more content. They need content that is meaningful, actionable, fun, amazing …not excessive and mediocre. Content marketers need to know the meaning behind their work and they know what is meaningful to their audiences (and internal stakeholders). When you dive deeper into meaning, a stronger bond between the audience and your content (or your brand) is more likely to form. And that’s the key to successful content marketing programs.

Anna Hrach

Strategist | Convince & Convert

The only way to be really successful in the very near future is to understand your audiences incredibly well. Talk to them. Survey them. Gather all the available insights and data you have about them. Use it all to understand their customer journey, wants and needs, and everything from general content creation to ABM and more will be easier and far more effective.

Priscilla McKinney

CEO & Momma Bird | Little Bird Marketing

Writing ANYTHING, whether short or long format should not be undertaken before significant work is done to develop an ideal client persona. While companies may feel like they are “doing” marketing, they are in fact accomplishing nothing when the intended audience is not the primary focus. We need to know, really KNOW what keeps our ideal buyer up at on Sunday and what gets them going on Monday morning! Creating content with these emerging and persisting issues in mind help us see our content as HELPFUL and this will stop us from shouting at our audience, but instead serving them. In the end, great marketing can be done when this mindset shift has taken place and we’re writing for the betterment of someone else’s moment. Sometimes that’s all you get and if you build rapport in that moment you just might earn a chance to be heard and considered. Oh, and your ideal client persona changes over time, so this is not a one-time exercise but a commitment to a mindset and process.

Ann Handley

Chief Content Officer | MarketingProfs

Do less and obsess.

Also, every conference should have a Meet and Greet fundraiser with the very best doggos that ever were.

Douglas Kessler

Co-Founder | Velocity

A big theme this year was all around the challenges of getting great work approved by stakeholders. This feels like this is the issue of the moment: Switched-on marketers have figured out what good looks like for them—but they’re being blocked by senior executives working from the old-school playbook. About a year ago, we wrote a piece about overcoming this challenge called A Stakeholder Through the Heart. Bot today, it feels like it’s on more and more people’s minds. We can only do great work if we bring people along with us. The work of aligning stakeholders isn’t a big, fat obstacle to doing your job… it IS your job.

Ian Cleary

Founder | RazorSocial

My top takeaway from CMW was from Jay Baer’s session on how to conquer the new frontier of voice content, Alexa and smart speakers. It really got me thinking about getting involved in building voice applications for these devices. I read a recent research report where it predicted that 50% of all search queries across the internet will be voice-based. Is this like a whole new world of SEO? Remember the early days of Google when it was easy to rank for articles? As Jay pointed out it is still early for these type of applications but the early adopters could certainly steel an advantage to the later comers. It’s time to get serious with voice search. If you don’t, your competitors will!

Julia McCoy

CEO | Express Writers

CMWorld ’19 was so good, it’s hard to pick one takeaway! I would have to say my one favorite takeaway if narrowed down, would have to be Joe Pulizzi’s 5th law from his MKTG 2030 keynote, covering the 7 Laws of Content Marketing. Law #5 was the law of the content one-night stand. “How do you marry your customer,” Joe said, “versus leaving them feeling like they’ve had a one-night stand? Leave notes. Give loving, valuable content — long before the sale is attempted.” Joe called content campaigns the devil, told all 4,000 of us to stop doing them, and have a goal of getting married instead of a one-night fling. Ongoing content experiences are key, not one-time campaigns. The point Joe drove home holds true for so many success patterns I see in content, from success among the hundreds of content projects we take on monthly for clients at Express Writers, to our own eight-year run of marketing done completely through valuable, reader-targeted strategic blog posts that rank well in organic SEO, on our Write Blog. Content success today is all about “getting married” and providing real value to your audience — not a quick push for a sale, or a one-night stand content encounter.

Jonathan Kranz

Principal | Kranz Communications

I have less of a takeaway and more of an observation: as content marketing has grown, two things have happened. One, “content marketing” is becoming its own distinct profession, a subset of marketing with its own universe of rules and practices. Two, we have been slow to acknowledge a deep undercurrent of exploitation in our industry, especially of content creators. It sickens me to see the number of so-called “innovative” products and services whose fundamental business models are predicated on paying writers, designers, developers, and artists PENNIES on the dollar for their creative efforts. If we’re going to fulfill the potential of the first observation — a trend toward professionalism — then we’re simultaneously obligated to address and offer redress on the second trend, exploitation. If we don’t, we’re just pimps, not professionals.

David Reimherr

Founder | Magnificent Marketing

My top take-away from CM World is to do less. And I don’t mean to try any less, just to stop, think, and do more impactful content pieces. We all know it’s gotten very crowded out there so it’s almost a waste of time to produce any content that will not move the needle. If you have a choice to put out so-so weekly pieces vs. one bang-up monthly piece, opt for the monthly. But before you do anything, you must do your proper research so you know your audiences’ wants/needs/desires/pains as well as know what you would like for them to do next. So my advice for everyone today is to take a breath and a step back, and then start to deliver to your audience content that truly is helpful, inspirational or provides them with a bit of joy or laughter.

Get a Free Consultation

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vonlipvig · 1 year ago

Text

make your move, mr. president

happy suzerain amendment update, everyone! loved the little chess match addition, so of course i had to draw my best friend lucian to celebrate. and yes, he kicked my ass.

#suzerain #lucian galade #my art #my CHIEF STRATEGIST not understanding how he's losing to me #vs ME who's been eating his pieces when he's not looking #LUCIAN i love him so much what a bitch

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magnificentmktg · 5 years ago

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Leading Marketers Share Their Favorite Takeaway from Content Marketing World 2019

Ahava Leibtag

President | Aha Media Group

Andy Crestodina

CMO | Orbit Media

If you can publish an original statistic that busts a myth, you'll win a lot of search and social traction. It's a type of content that can get the attention of journalists and actually make a little news. This tip is from Michele Linn on the Survey Monkey panel about original research. Super smart!

Adele Revella

To Persuade Buyers, Validate their Perceptions | Buyer Persona Institute

Tamsen Webster's keynote was my favorite presentation among so many great talks at this year's conference. She made the most powerful case for marketers to understand and validate their buyers' wants, needs and beliefs. I say it every year, but it was fascinating to hear Tamsen note that this is not a new concern but a function of the human condition ... that we all want to feel, as she said, "smart, capable, and good". She even started her talk with a quote from 16th-century philosopher Blaise Pascal! Tamsen's presentation was a powerful call to action for marketers to stop "educating" buyers about their problems and start listening to them!

Michael Brenner

Speaker, Author, CEO | Marketing Insider Group

We're nearly 10 years in on the modern content marketing journey and the biggest challenge is still creating, delivering, and getting buy-in for the content marketing business case. Marketers need to learn how to convince their boss, their peers in marketing, sales and the entire business on why content marketing is the future of marketing and the best way to show marketing ROI.

Peter Loibl

Head of Sales | Content Marketing Institute

Tim Hayden

President & Managing Partner | Brain+Trust Partners

Andrea Fryrear

Agile Marketing Coach & Trainer; Co-founder | AgileSherpas

The newest skill that marketers need to add to our already lengthy resumes is internal marketing. It's not enough to have a great idea; you've got to be able to amass support from others in your organization to give it life and longevity. We need to help people understand our content programs -- what's going on, how's it's working, what to expect, and, most importantly, what's in it for them. If we don't, we risk losing budget, buy-in, and belief in what we're doing.

Christoph Trappe

Chief Content Officer | AC Business Media

The power of machines! Whether AI or machine learning, marketers must make use of these new technologies to free up time for other things machines can't do and do drive results.

Stacy Adams

Head of Marketing | Vyond

Storytelling is having a moment, especially visual storytelling. I think this is happening for a variety of reasons. First, stories bring an authentic, human condition context to content. Storytelling is one of the foundations of person-to-person communication, and it's natural in today's tumultuous social and political environment for people to gravitate towards something warm and familiar. We feel even more affinity to a brand when we can relate to them through similar experiences, and stories facilitate that. Second, our consumer tastes for instant gratification in entertainment are bleeding over into our professional lives. I heard a lot of "Netflix" mentions at CM World, and marketers are definitely paying attention to how stories told through this type of media continue to engage and enthrall audiences. Employing the same tactics that encourage binge-watching can definitely move the needle for content marketers. We binge because we want to find out what happens next - it’s a natural human instinct to finish the story. Incorporating storytelling tropes like cliffhangers, character development, and hero's journey, can and should be used in a business video. Just because your consumer is a business buyer, doesn’t mean you have to ignore what makes entertaining content successful.

Bernie Borges

CMO | Vengreso

Jay Acunzo

Founder | Marketing Showrunners

Marketers are realizing their new mandate. It's no longer enough to grab attention. The best in the world are focused on holding it. This has led to a rise of serialized content -- shows. More and more brands are launching podcasts and video series in order to hold attention. This ranged from massive global brands partnering with international media outlets, to small businesses piloting a new original from a conference room. From standalone podcasts to entire networks of series, we're watching the rise of the branded original series online. It's time we all embraced: Great marketing isn't about who arrives. It's about who stays.

Brody Dorland

Co-Founder | DivvyHQ

I appreciated the warning from multiple speakers regarding social media being "doomed". Even if it takes years for such a scenario to play out, I feel it's so important for companies to shift or narrow their focus to building their own audiences and owning their methods of marketing/content publishing, distribution and promotion. Those who have already made this a priority not only have a head start, but will see dividends grow as audiences decide to reduce time spent on unstable social networks that may lose favor overnight.

Pamela Muldoon

Sr. Consultant & Content Strategist | The Pedowitz Group

I loved Joe Pulizzi's 7 Laws of Content Marketing keynote session this year at Content Marketing World 2019. One of the seven laws that really resonated for me and I believe in 100% was The Marketing Pushover Law, where he challenged content marketers to say NO to tactics are not within the content strategy. It's time marketing owned marketing again and a documented content strategy that aligns to the business objectives will provide the necessary leverage marketing teams need to say NO to tactics outside of the plan.

Zontee Hou

Consultant & Speaker | Convince & Convert

Yes, the fundamentals of creating good content are still vital. But as the industry matures, content marketing practitioners are more focused now than ever before on getting the most out of their analytics: measuring, learning, and benchmarking. While most understand that vanity metrics don't do their brands any good, based on my conversations and the sessions at CMWorld, they also haven't implemented more effective metrics. As we move into 2020, the industry as a whole will reckon with how to be more effective and driven with metrics.

Gini Dietrich

Founder & Author | Spin Sucks

Stephanie Stahl

General Manager | Content Marketing Institute

Anna Hrach

Strategist | Convince & Convert

Priscilla McKinney

CEO & Momma Bird | Little Bird Marketing

Writing ANYTHING, whether short or long format should not be undertaken before significant work is done to develop an ideal client persona. While companies may feel like they are "doing" marketing, they are in fact accomplishing nothing when the intended audience is not the primary focus. We need to know, really KNOW what keeps our ideal buyer up at on Sunday and what gets them going on Monday morning! Creating content with these emerging and persisting issues in mind help us see our content as HELPFUL and this will stop us from shouting at our audience, but instead serving them. In the end, great marketing can be done when this mindset shift has taken place and we're writing for the betterment of someone else's moment. Sometimes that's all you get and if you build rapport in that moment you just might earn a chance to be heard and considered. Oh, and your ideal client persona changes over time, so this is not a one-time exercise but a commitment to a mindset and process.

Ann Handley

Chief Content Officer | MarketingProfs

Do less and obsess.

Also, every conference should have a Meet and Greet fundraiser with the very best doggos that ever were.

Douglas Kessler

Co-Founder | Velocity

A big theme this year was all around the challenges of getting great work approved by stakeholders. This feels like this is the issue of the moment: Switched-on marketers have figured out what good looks like for them—but they're being blocked by senior executives working from the old-school playbook. About a year ago, we wrote a piece about overcoming this challenge called A Stakeholder Through the Heart. Bot today, it feels like it's on more and more people's minds. We can only do great work if we bring people along with us. The work of aligning stakeholders isn't a big, fat obstacle to doing your job... it IS your job.

Ian Cleary

Founder | RazorSocial

Julia McCoy

CEO | Express Writers

Jonathan Kranz

Principal | Kranz Communications

I have less of a takeaway and more of an observation: as content marketing has grown, two things have happened. One, "content marketing" is becoming its own distinct profession, a subset of marketing with its own universe of rules and practices. Two, we have been slow to acknowledge a deep undercurrent of exploitation in our industry, especially of content creators. It sickens me to see the number of so-called "innovative" products and services whose fundamental business models are predicated on paying writers, designers, developers, and artists PENNIES on the dollar for their creative efforts. If we're going to fulfill the potential of the first observation -- a trend toward professionalism -- then we're simultaneously obligated to address and offer redress on the second trend, exploitation. If we don't, we're just pimps, not professionals.

David Reimherr

Founder | Magnificent Marketing

My top take-away from CM World is to do less. And I don't mean to try any less, just to stop, think, and do more impactful content pieces. We all know it's gotten very crowded out there so it's almost a waste of time to produce any content that will not move the needle. If you have a choice to put out so-so weekly pieces vs. one bang-up monthly piece, opt for the monthly. But before you do anything, you must do your proper research so you know your audiences' wants/needs/desires/pains as well as know what you would like for them to do next. So my advice for everyone today is to take a breath and a step back, and then start to deliver to your audience content that truly is helpful, inspirational or provides them with a bit of joy or laughter.

Get a Free Consultation

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weederstudy06-blog · 6 years ago

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8 Critical Questions to Ask Yourself as You Build a Sales Incentives Program for 2019

Good sales leaders are always on the hunt to bring in new talent that can help a business grow. Still, they don’t always nail down the details when it comes to the things that might entice a prospective salesperson — like a well-rounded sales compensation plan, for example. Creating a strong sales incentives program will help you attract and retain A-list sales talent, so it is worth putting in the legwork to create a strong plan.

While it can be daunting to create such a plan, be kind to your future self. Bringing salespeople in for an interview before you’ve figured out exactly how you’ll compensate them for their work leaves you in a tongue-tied, unenviable position when eager candidates ask about things like quotas, sales incentives, what data you use to set goals, and how often your team exceeds those goals.

So why do sales leaders overlook something as important as a sales incentives program? To put it simply: because it’s complicated.

Think about the compensation structure of various sales roles. “Hunters” typically have salaries tied to revenue; “farmers” usually get compensated based on renewal percentages; “prospectors” might receive pay for setting up qualified meetings.

In each case, determining the pay mix ratio — whether it’s completely variable with no fixed salary, a 60/40 split between the two (the average mix for salespeople in the U.S.), or some other proportion — depends on a variety of industry factors. What works well at one company might not work at another.

No matter what kind of sales guru you want to woo, you must create a robust mix of sales incentives that balance the wants and needs of the salesperson you’re trying to hire and your company. Consequently, the plan must be achievable (though not a cakewalk), easy to understand, competitive, and uncapped.

Related: A Sales Coach’s Tactical Guide on Setting the Right Sales Goals for Sales Reps

As you can imagine, that’s a tough sell, especially when you’re at a startup or entering new markets. However, attracting A-listers who are ready to hit the ground running will ultimately drive your success moving forward, and a clear, attractive compensation model is the best way to lure them in.

Creating a Winning Sales Incentives Program

Even if you already have a sales compensation package, consider the following eight questions to refine your offering. Thinking through these will help you build the right program to set your salespeople up for success.

1. What type of results do we want to achieve?

You want your compensation plan, including your sales incentives, to be aligned with your goals as a company. I recently spoke with Bill Binch, currently the chief revenue officer of Pendo, a software company based in North Carolina. We talked about the sales strategy at a former company of his, and he told me how, at the beginning, company leaders knew their best bet to drive revenue was to upsell and cross-sell — getting as many customers as possible through the door in the first place was crucial. Consequently, compensation for hunters was entirely based on the number of customers signed, regardless of the revenue produced from that signing.

When considering the responses to this question, maintain compensation alignment between the sales leaders and representatives. A sales team compensated entirely on revenue shouldn’t have a leader whose compensation depends on something else.

If you already have a mix of compensation plans, adjust them. Nothing’s more demoralizing (not to mention bad for the business) than a leader motivated by goals that are antithetical to those of his or her team members.

2. What types of sales behavior do we want to drive?

True superstar sales representatives need specific, realistic goals to drive their work. If it takes 100 calls per day to set one qualified meeting and the representative’s ultimate goal is three qualified meetings daily, he or she is unlikely to meet that goal. As a result, he or she will quickly lose faith that the compensation plan is viable, and his or her motivation will tank.

For an early-stage company, in particular, it’s important for the executive team to have demonstrated some semblance of product-market fit and sales success before bringing in outside help.

Our CEO and I sold the first deals at our company, Node. Why? We couldn’t hire sales help and expect them to succeed until we had demonstrated viability and could afford a reasonable salary and compensation package, including desirable sales incentives. This also allowed us to adequately use data to defend the quota targets that we set for the team.

3. What is the going rate for companies like ours?

No two companies are the same, but that doesn’t mean each is completely unique. Big companies tend to pay more than smaller ones; enterprise roles tend to offer larger compensation packages than roles at small to mid-sized businesses. When designing a compensation plan, see whether you can find out what kind of competition you’re up against.

Not sure where to look? Check out The Bridge Group’s latest report. There, you’ll find detailed information on sales compensation across industries, geographies, roles, and more. Glassdoor is another platform worth perusing, though it can be difficult to determine total compensation numbers versus salary-only figures.

4. What are our constraints?

Even companies with deep pockets have financial, structural, and operational restrictions that limit what they should offer sales professionals. For instance, a company with a product that practically sells itself already might pay low salaries while a company entering an uncertain new market might opt for higher salaries to attract game-changing talent.

Related: The Saas Executive’s Guide to Building a Winning Go-to-Market Strategy

Generally, if you pay a higher percentage of compensation as commission or have higher-variance sales, you should pay variable compensation on the most regular schedule that your company can support. When I worked in Cisco’s global enterprise sales, our sales cycles could be up to a year. As a result, our quota cycles were annualized but paid out monthly (and occasionally in advance).

5. How can we manage the payment logistics?

Your compensation package could be the best in the world, but if you can’t pay your people on time, you’ll lose them. After determining a feasible logistics set-up, codify your discoveries into a handbook that everyone on the team can access.

Our company has a variable compensation handbook that outlines everything from what counts as an eligible qualified meeting to how arbitration works if disputes arise. As you might guess, our guide was created in tandem with Node’s legal and financial teams to close gaps. All sales employees must read and sign off on this “playbook” before coming aboard.

6. What other sales incentives will we offer besides cash?

Sure, salespeople are generally motivated by money, but not always. In some cases, sales employees willingly take pay cuts to join disruptive startups or in return for career acceleration and learning opportunities. About 60 percent of organizations now offer non-cash incentives to employees.

As a sales leader, you must be honest with yourself and your representatives regarding what you can provide today and in the future. Our first in-house sales development representative was pursued by other companies but chose us because we offered a competitive compensation plan buoyed by a timeline with clear success criteria for moving up the corporate ladder.

7. How can our compensation plan be gamed?

Top salespeople are brilliant strategists. As such, expect them to find loopholes in your compensation plan so they can reap earnings without achieving the desired results.

Your job is to outwit your most cunning tacticians by looking for breaks in your plan. After exploring the plan on your own, present the package to someone you can trust from outside the company. You’ll get a fresh perspective and probably find some previously uncovered gaps that can be exploited or might lead to undesirable behavior.

8. What does my team think of the plan?

Before hitting “go” with any compensation package, solicit feedback from the front lines. Talk to your best salespeople and take their input seriously. You don’t have to change everything; no doubt many sales employees will attempt to add something that’s advantageous to their position but not to the company overall. Still, getting the lay of the land before rollout helps you avoid major blind spots and earn buy-in from the team.

Related: 4 Steps to Shorten Your Sales Cycle and Bump Up Low Touch Conversions by 70%

Personally, I arrange a compensation review plan quarterly. My team and I use this meeting to discuss improvement, which statistics say is linked to company loyalty and engagement.

Salespeople are the lifeblood of a company — they bring in the money that keeps everything else moving. Be sure you’re rewarding them for their positions while not unduly giving away your revenue. Striking this perfect balance might be challenging, but when you craft the right sales incentives program, you’ll have a team that’s motivated, satisfied, and productive.

The Dos and Don’ts of Sales Incentive Plans

This is a sponsored guest post from a Sales Hacker partner.

About the author

Greg McBeth

Greg McBeth is the head of revenue at Node.io, the first AI-infused discovery engine that identifies relevant, personalized opportunities for people and companies. Prior to his work with Node, Greg led sales and business strategy at several startups. He graduated from Stanford University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering.

Source: https://www.saleshacker.com/sales-incentives/

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thisdaynews · 5 years ago

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How Buttigieg's childhood pal ended up managing 2020's breakout campaign

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/how-buttigiegs-childhood-pal-ended-up-managing-2020s-breakout-campaign/

How Buttigieg's childhood pal ended up managing 2020's breakout campaign

Mike Schmuhl, the Buttigieg campaign manager, has never worked for a candidate outside Indiana. | Lyndon French/POLITICO

Before the Democratic presidential debate in Columbus, Ohio, Mike Schmuhl ventured into the city to get his mop of red hair cut. It wasn’t so much that Schmuhl needed a trim — but Pete Buttigieg’s campaign manager wanted to make sure the barbershop was up to the task of a presidential shave.

Thirty minutes later, after the Royal Rhino Club Barbershop & Lounge passed muster and Schmuhl made an appointment under the name “Max Harris,” another aide who got his hair trimmed, Buttigieg appeared for a fresh predebate cut.

It’s not the type of assignment you’d normally associate with the most prestigious job in politics.

But Schmuhl — an even-keeled, attention-deflecting 36-year-old prone to telling staffers up and down the org chart that they have “the most critical” job on the campaign — has taken an unconventional path into presidential campaign management. Schmuhl has never staffed a statewide or national political run, unlike most other presidential campaign managers. The biggest campaign he managed before taking charge of Buttigieg’s presidential bid is a House race. In fact, he’s never before worked for a candidate outside Indiana. When he briefly lived in Washington, D.C., he worked at The Washington Post, not on Capitol Hill. He’s not on Twitter.

“I’ve worked for Pete, for Joe Donnelly, for Mel Hall, for Shelli Yoder,” Schmuhl said, rattling off the names of Indiana congressional candidates. “It just so happens that one of them is running for president, and honestly, if one of them wasn’t, I wouldn’t be doing this. And it just so happens the one I know the best, the one I’ve known for the longest time, is the one who is running.”

That is Schmuhl’s greatest qualification for shepherding the $50 million startup that is this long shot-turned-frontrunning campaign: He’s the Buttigieg whisperer — the childhood friend who has one of the biggest jobs in the 2020 primary. Schmuhl’s résumé is modest for his position — something he shares with his boss, who’s running for president at 37.

Schmuhl, who managed Buttigieg’s 2011 South Bend, Ind., mayoral run and became his first chief of staff, and Buttigieg, who is deeply involved in his own political strategy, share a shorthand that aides and former staffers likened to a secret language — a depth of trust that you only “have with somebody you’ve known for so long,” Buttigieg said in an interview.

Occasionally, Buttigieg and Schmuhl will literally communicate in another language, dipping seamlessly into French when they want to speak privately in a car packed with other people.

Schmuhl, Buttigieg continued, “shares a lot of my instincts, but can also press or nudge me when I’m kind of veering off where I need to be. … He uniquely understands both my story and my city’s story, and those two things are so important to each other and they’re so important to this campaign.”

Trust with the candidate is “the most important part of the job” of campaign manager, but another “important part is being the truth-teller,” said Jim Messina, who managed President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign. But “that’s the challenge with friends. Are they able to have those tough conversations?”

‘Some catching up to do’

Schmuhl isn’t a familiar face on the national political scene, but at a union hall in South Bend on a chilly fall night, everyone knows him. Schmuhl cataloged nearly all of the people attending a vote for the St. Joseph County Democratic Party chairman: a state representative here, a city councilman in that corner, former Sen. Joe Donnelly’s wife over there, the former fire chief stopping by for a hug.

“This is a good test for me,” Schmuhl joked.

It’s been a year of tests. Buttigieg rocketed into the group of contenders for the Democratic nomination earlier this year thanks to a flair for composed answers with a knack for going viral to interviewers’ questions, among other raw political talents. Whatever his flaws, which rival candidates are now litigating daily on the campaign trail, Buttigieg was ready to seize the opportunity. That left Schmuhl scrambling to keep up with his friend, as the campaign rapidly multiplied in size and attracted scrutiny.

In a few months, Buttigieg’s email list grew from 24,000 people to over 1 million, the campaign headquarters expanded from one room with donated furniture and WiFi hotspots to 60 offices throughout the country, and the payroll has grown to over 500 staffers from just a handful in January.

But the process has not been one smooth upward line, and some of the missteps along the way exposed the campaign’s inexperience, starting with Buttigieg and Schmuhl.

Buttigieg, who has struggled to gain traction among African American voters, was painfully slow to get organized in South Carolina — an early problem that has become a recurring negative theme on the trail. His campaign later stumbled over releasing a list of disputed endorsements of Buttigieg’s Douglass Plan, a policy proposal that targets systemic racism, and the use of a stock image of a Kenyan woman.

In October, the campaign cut ties with donor Steve Patton, a Chicago lawyer who tried to block the release of footage of the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, sparking a warning from David Axelrod, Obama’s former chief campaign strategist, to “hire one more” staffer and “put them on vetting.”

“There were some glaring missteps by the campaign, especially as it relates to the most reliable voting bloc in the Democratic primary,” said J.A. Moore, a South Carolina state representative. “Our politics in South Carolina is all about relationships, and they are new.”

Schmuhl acknowledged that it’s “fair to say we had some catching up to do.” But, he said, “we literally came from almost nothing to where we are now, so it just took a little bit of a lag time getting there.”

It became clear by June — after Buttigieg blew past senators and governors in fundraising and early polling — that Schmuhl had too much on his plate. He had nearly 20 people reporting directly to him, and “that was unsustainable,” he said.

Schmuhl brought on reinforcements, building a campaign staff, 40 percent of whom are people of color, and filling out the senior team with seasoned hands with far thicker résumés than his own, including Larry Grisolano, a messaging consultant who worked on Obama’s presidential runs; Jess O’Connell, former CEO of the Democratic National Committee; Brandon Neal, former DNC political director; Hari Sevugan, another Obama alumnus and an experienced Democratic strategist; and Michael Halle, who played a key role in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and managed Democrats’ gubernatorial campaign in Ohio in 2018.

“The folks [Schmuhl] brought in, clearly more experienced than him, clearly very smart, talented people, but he’s confident enough to bring them in,” said Jeff Link, an Iowa-based Democratic consultant who’s unaffiliated in the primary. “He’s not trying to keep out smart people who might challenge him.”

Schmuhl freely admits to the imbalance. “The two folks on the campaign who don’t have modern presidential campaign experience are me and Pete,” he said. “I’m pretty up front with people about what I don’t know.”

On David Plouffe’s podcast, “Campaign HQ,” Schmuhl talked to Obama’s former campaign manager about mitigating that experience shortage by bringing “together people who can specialize in their areas so you don’t have to.”

‘The guy knows how to keep you on edge’

Schmuhl isn’t outside the norm as a longtime loyalist managing a 2020 presidential campaign. Roger Lau has been in Elizabeth Warren’s orbit for nearly a decade, helping steer her to victory in both of her Senate races. Greg Schultz served as Joe Biden’s senior political adviser during his second term as vice president. Justin Buoen took his first job on Amy Klobuchar’s first Senate campaign in 2006, sticking with her ever since.

But Schmuhl and Buttigieg’s relationship stretches back much further than most.

They first met when Schmuhl was in eighth grade: Buttigieg, then a ninth grader, led him on a tour of St. Joseph High School in South Bend. Their fathers both taught at the University of Notre Dame and knew each other, but the boys hadn’t met until Buttigieg helped Schmuhl learn where the cafeteria was. They were both only children, “short, pudgy, shy and bookish,” in Schmuhl’s retelling.

The pair took different paths and stayed in infrequent contact after becoming friends in high school. While Buttigieg left for Harvard University, Schmuhl stayed close to home at Notre Dame before spending three years as a producer and a booker at The Washington Post. But Schmuhl, drawn to political work, got his résumé to then-Rep. Joe Donnelly and returned to South Bend as a field representative in the congressman’s office.

Then in 2010, Donnelly, a Blue Dog Democrat in a red district who voted for Obamacare, faced the prospect of losing reelection. But Donnelly picked Schmuhl, who had never worked on any campaign before, to manage his race because, Donnelly said, he “doesn’t worry about who gets the credit, just the getting it done.” Joel Elliott, Donnelly’s former chief of staff, assigned it to Schmuhl’s “preternaturally calm” disposition.

Donnelly scraped together a narrow 2010 victory. Buttigieg, who ran for Indiana state treasurer, got crushed in the general election. But Buttigieg and Schmuhl kept running into each other on the trail, and in the “aftermath of both races, we started talking about what’s next,” Schmuhl said.

What happened next runs parallel in some ways to the 2020 presidential primary, said Dan Parker, a former Indiana Democratic Party chairman. Buttigieg, then 29, cut through a crowded primary of familiar party leaders to become mayor of South Bend, running an upstart campaign based on the themes of economic revitalization and generational change. And Schmuhl managed it.

“The more I think about it, the more the 2011 primary race for mayor mirrors the kind of campaign they’re running for president right now — a newcomer with an optimistic tone,” Parker said.

Schmuhl became Buttigieg’s chief of staff and did a brief stint as the district Democratic Party chairman, but he left after 1½ years to go to graduate school in Paris. His going-away gift from Buttigieg was a “hand of the king” pin from “Game of Thrones,” which now sits on Schmuhl’s desk in South Bend. “I don’t exactly wear it around,” Schmuhl said, flashing the badge, a symbol of the second in command in the show.

One day while Schmuhl was in France Buttigieg dropped the news that he was gay over Skype. Thinking back on it, Schmuhl, one of the first people Buttigieg told, said he wasn’t “crazy surprised.” He’d always just assumed Buttigieg “didn’t really have time to date or anything — I thought about it that way.” The conversation turned quickly to how Buttigieg would make his sexual orientation public in Indiana.

Schmuhl observed that when Buttigieg drops big news on him, it usually starts out casually.

“‘Hey man, I’m thinking of running for mayor.’ ‘Hey man, I’m going to Afghanistan.’ ‘Hey man, I’m gay.’ ‘Hey man, I want to be DNC chairman.’ ‘Hey man, I think I might run for president,’” Schmuhl said.

“The guy knows how to keep you on edge.”

Building a long-shot campaign

By the fall of 2018, after a few years at the Democratic consulting firm 270 Strategies, Schmuhl returned to South Bend again, this time to lay groundwork for Buttigieg’s presidential campaign alongside Lis Smith, who started serving as a senior adviser to Buttigieg when he ran for Democratic National Committee chairman in 2017.

Smith — a fierce New York-based Democratic operative — admitted that she “didn’t know exactly what to make of [Schmuhl] when we first met because our styles are so different and he likes to sit back and observe,” she said, describing her and Schmuhl as a yin and yang-like force. “We probably had tense moments, but I can count them on two fingers.”

“It’s a little offcast for people who would traditionally run presidential campaigns,” said Jeremy Bird, who served as the Obama reelection campaign’s national field director and hired Schmuhl to work at 270 Strategies, his consulting firm, in 2015. “In a political world where people are often focused on chest bumping, hyperbole and being louder to be heard, Schmuhl is not that. He listens.”

Schmuhl and Smith hashed out Buttigieg’s strategy over beers at the Rusty Knot, a bar in New York’s West Village, and over board games in Buttigieg’s living room in South Bend. “It was hardly a cast of thousands around a big conference room table,” Smith said, calling the early days of the Buttigieg campaign “a pipe dream and a bit fantastical.”

But Buttigieg soon outgrew the small beginnings of his campaign. Sitting in the green room backstage after a mid-March CNN town hall, Schmuhl was approached by a producer with an iPad who said, “I want you to look at something.” The screen showed online engagement during the three-hour broadcast, which featured Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Rep. John Delaney and Buttigieg.

“It’s two hours of a completely flat line, and the final 45 minutes, it’s just this —” Schmuhl swept his hand steeply upward. “That was the first kind of inkling something was up.”

While Buttigieg’s fundraising and his attention from voters and the media rose rapidly in the spring, the campaign’s infrastructure was slower to grow in the early states. “It still didn’t seem real then,” said Grant Woodard, a longtime Democratic operative in Iowa, describing some “staff types who thumbed their nose at Buttigieg’s campaign” as it was trying to expand.

A lot of that fell on Schmuhl’s plate, as he sought to build on-the-ground infrastructure and a senior leadership team. “When you throw 450 people into a project in a tight amount of time, it’s a lot of people, it’s a lot of personalities,” said Schmuhl, who admitted to only getting “hot” three times during the presidential race, though he declined to explain further. “There’s going to be quirks.”

Over the summer, when the mayor began to sink in national polling after his early splash, Buttigieg’s top staffers were at odds over coordination between the campaign’s two main offices in South Bend and Chicago. The group was “intractably split over what to do,” said one senior Buttigieg official. “But we were not working well not being in the same place.”

Schmuhl took in the arguments and made the decision: Everything would be in South Bend. Staffers moved soon after.

Buttigieg staffers said Schmuhl is tasked with the hard conversations, often “riding in the car alone with Pete before big events, before debates,” Smith said. “If there’s something that Pete needs to hear, and just one person alone, Mike’s the designated person.”

As Buttigieg faces more heat and pressure, there will be more of those moments. At last week’s Democratic debate, Amy Klobuchar skewered Buttigieg’s experience, questioning whether a candidate who couldn’t win his state could lead the Democratic ticket against President Donald Trump.

But Schmuhl is aware that anytime someone questions Buttigieg’s experience, the same question applies to him: In the most consequential Democratic primary in recent history, was he prepared to handle the job?

For all the times he’s heard the question, asked or implied, he still struggles with an answer.

“I think that Pete is —” Schmuhl said, breaking off and tearing up over ramen at the Crooked Ewe, a brewery on the banks of the St. Joseph River.

“Pete is somebody who makes people around him better,” Schmuhl went on. “He’s the kind of MVP who makes the whole team better. He makes me better.

“I’ve completely realized that I’m not a traditional campaign manager, and I think the things I’ve done in my life and how well I know Pete, I think we’re a good team and we’re a good package,” Schmuhl continued.

Still, when asked for a moment when he and Buttigieg disagreed — a moment when a friend who also happens to be your campaign manager could deliver a much-needed hard truth — Schmuhl blew out his cheeks and thought for 30 seconds. He declined to share those thoughts.

“I don’t know,” Schmuhl said.

Buttigieg, for his part, reached into a past campaign and described a moment in his 2011 mayoral race when his friend sat him down and said, “I need to know if you want to win this.” Skimping on additional details or conflict, Buttigieg said he and Schmuhl “needed to sharpen a lot of things in the campaign, and we did.”

“And we won.”

#breakout #campaign #Foreign #Politics

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courtneytincher · 5 years ago

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Net closes on leaker who cost ambassador Kim Darroch his job as teenage Brexit Party employee comes forward to claim scoop

The investigation into the leak of the confidential dispatches of Sir Kim Darroch, the British ambassador to Washington, is progressing faster than expected with extensive evidence being collected about a number of suspects, according to security sources.Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, GCHQ and another government security agency have been involved in the investigation which is believed to have rapidly narrowed down the identity of suspects, despite Sir Kim’s emails having been made potentially available to more than a hundred people.Officials close to the inquiry believe “there was a degree of orchestration” behind the theft of emails and their subsequent publication in a newspaper, and are considering “all motives, including political ones”, they say.A 19-year-old freelance journalist has claimed in the Mail on Sunday, the newspaper which published Sir Kim’s emails, that he was a conduit for the leak. He had obtained the material, he said, while talking to civil servants for a research project.Steven Edginton works as a “digital strategist” in Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, and is also “chief digital strategist” at “Leave Means Leave”.He has contributed to Brexit Central’s website and worked for pro-leave website Westmonster, and the right-wing Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group.Sir Kim’s dispatches were highly critical of the chaotic and dysfunctional nature of Donald Trump’s administration, and the US president’s relationship with truth.It led to a furious reaction from Mr Trump, who kept up a barrage of insults towards the Ambassador for a number of days along with demands for him to be recalled from Washington.Sir Kim resigned after Boris Johnson, in a debate with Jeremy Hunt in the contest for the Conservative party leadership, repeatedly failed to offer an assurance that he would keep the ambassador in place if he became prime minister.Sir Kim had been scathingly criticised by leading Brexiters, including Mr Farage, who demanded he be replaced by someone is pro-Brexit and also sympathetic to Mr Trump.Asked about Mr Edgington and the leak, Mr Farage told The Independent: “I know him, he is a young man, a freelance and he has done what every other journalist would have done given such stuff.“I did not know his part in the leak until I read about it. He works for us, I knew he had also some other freelance activities. I can’t understand all this fuss, after all what was passed to him wasn’t a national secret, it wasn’t the nuclear codes, so I don’t see what all this is about.”Asked whether whoever stole the ambassador’s emails and passed them on should be prosecuted, Mr Farage responded: “I don’t know what the terms of his contract were, whether it was covered by the Official Secrets Act. But I think it does show how fed up many people are about the way the civil service has been politicised over Brexit, there is real anger about this. There have been plenty of leaks, I think the establishment is totally over-reacting to this particular one.”Mr Johnson, after facing severe criticism, including from a huge number of Tory MPs, for failing to stand by the ambassador, declared his wish that whoever was guilty of the leak “should be run down, caught and eviscerated”.Mr Trump meanwhile, in a volte-face of the type for which he has become known, asserted later that the ambassador had said “very good things” about him and was “sort of referring to other people” when criticising the White House.Mr Edgington tweeted in April this year “after the establishment have betrayed Brexit, we are currently working on the fight back. All efforts are being made”. Another tweet said: “Ministers are simply fed documents by Remainer civil servants and without question follow their advice and order.”He insisted in his newspaper article, however, that there was no political motivation to him passing on the documents. It was, he wanted to stress, “simply an honest journalistic endeavour … As a 19-year-old freelance journalist with a passion for politics, I was looking for a big project through which to develop my career”, leading to speak to “current and retired civil servants” and ultimately gain access to the emails.A senior security source refused to comment on Mr Edginton’s claims, saying it “did not materially change” the course of the investigation.One person, according to officials, was primarily responsible for stealing the emails and although this may have been an “opportunistic” theft, the inquiry is looking into the alleged plan involving a number of people in the way it was then disseminated.In his article, Mr Edgington said of Sir Kim’s emails: “I was shocked by the brutal language from a supposedly impartial diplomat ... Sir Kim’s comments about Trump were jaw-dropping and suggested a lack of impartiality.”But he went on to observe, rather confusingly: “Sir Kim was simply articulating what many in Washington and Whitehall have said about the president and his advisors since he took office.”Mr Edgington said he did not regret “my role in the story”, although he said the furore it has generated has caused him to lose weight and struggle to get to sleep. He was now “suspicious of everything”, recounting how “last week I was eating my lunch near the Houses of Parliament when I spotted a middle-aged man dressed as a tourist taking pictures of me. He then furtively ducked behind a tree before, I think, getting into a white van, was it the security services? Am I being followed? I will probably never know...”According to pressure group Hope not Hate, Mr Edginton has been associated with right-wing group Turning Point UK (TPUK), a pro-Trump organisation in America which has been endorsed by a number of Brexiteers, including Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg.However, another major pro-Brexit figure, Aaron Banks, described a leading member of TPUK, John Mappin of jewellery family Mappin & Webb, as “a total fruit loop”.Mr Banks, who it was recently alleged, was providing Mr Farage with a furnished Chelsea home, a car and driver, and money to promote him in America claimed in his book “Bad Boys of Brexit” Mr Mappin had told him “he’s trying to launch a super-powered brain-control system that requires delivery facilities in fifty languages in every major city”.Mr Mappin, a scientologist, had made Facebook postings about “a new breakthrough in scientific and SPIRITUAL TECHNOLOGY” made by the movement’s founder, L Ron Hubbard.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

July 21, 2019 at 03:32PM via IFTTT

#Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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Excellent in-depth analysis of how the tragic death of Seth Rich turned into a conspiracy (HINT:Russia) and spread on social media finding it's way to (YES) Fox News. ALSO LISTEN 👂 to the Podcast.

Exclusive: The true origins of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. A Yahoo News investigation.

Michael Isikoff | Published July 9, 2019, 10:00 AM UTC | Yahoo News | Posted July 9, 2019 |

WASHINGTON — In the summer of 2016, Russian intelligence agents secretly planted a fake report claiming that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was gunned down by a squad of assassins working for Hillary Clinton, giving rise to a notorious conspiracy theory that captivated conservative activists and was later promoted from inside President Trump’s White House, a Yahoo News investigation has found.

Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, first circulated a phony “bulletin” — disguised to read as a real intelligence report —about the alleged murder of the former DNC staffer on July 13, 2016, according to the U.S. federal prosecutor who was in charge of the Rich case. That was just three days after Rich, 27, was killed in what police believed was a botched robbery while walking home to his group house in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C., about 30 blocks north of the Capitol.

The purported details in the SVR account seemed improbable on their face: that Rich, a data director in the DNC’s voter protection division, was on his way to alert the FBI to corrupt dealings by Clinton when he was slain in the early hours of a Sunday morning by the former secretary of state’s hit squad.

Yet in a graphic example of how fake news infects the internet, those precise details popped up the same day on an obscure website, whatdoesitmean.com, that is a frequent vehicle for Russian propaganda. The website’s article, which attributed its claims to “Russian intelligence,” was the first known instance of Rich’s murder being publicly linked to a political conspiracy.

“To me, having a foreign intelligence agency set up one of my decedents with lies and planting false stories, to me that’s pretty outrageous,” said Deborah Sines, the former assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Rich case until her retirement last year. “Maybe other people don’t think it’s that outrageous. I did ... once it became clear to me that this was coming from the SVR, then that triggers a lot of very serious [questions about] ‘What do I do with this?’”

The previously unreported role of Russian intelligence in creating and fostering one of the most insidious conspiracy theories to arise out of the 2016 election is disclosed in “Yahoo News presents: Conspiracyland,” a six-part series by the news organization’s podcast “Skullduggery” that debuts this week on the third anniversary of Rich’s murder.

The Russian effort to exploit Rich’s tragic death didn’t stop with the fake SVR bulletin. Over the course of the next two and a half years, the Russian government-owned media organizations RT and Sputnik repeatedly played up stories that baselessly alleged that Rich, a relatively junior-level staffer, was the source of Democratic Party emails that had been leaked to WikiLeaks. It was an idea first floated by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who on Aug. 9, 2016, announced a $20,000 reward for information about Rich’s murder, saying — somewhat cryptically — that “our sources take risks.”

At the same time, online trolls working in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the Internet Research Agency (IRA) — the same shadowy outfit that conducted the Russian social media operation during the 2016 election — aggressively boosted the conspiracy theories. IRA-created fake accounts, masquerading as those of American citizens or political groups, tweeted and retweeted more than 2,000 times about Rich, helping to keep the bogus claims about his death in the social media bloodstream, according to an analysis of a database of Russia troll accounts by Yahoo News.

Speaking publicly about the case for the first time, Sines, the former prosecutor, said that the Russian conspiracy-mongering vastly complicated her efforts to solve the murder by forcing her and the Washington, D.C., police department to investigate a blizzard of false allegations in order to make sure there was nothing to any of them. “To waste your time investigating BS is just horrible,” said Sines.

The Russian-inspired conspiracy theories also have had a devastating effect on the Rich family, especially after the theories migrated to alt-right websites and, ultimately, primetime Fox News shows. As they did so, there were repeated suggestions by alt-right commentators that the DNC staffer’s parents and brother were concealing information about his conduct.

“You’re used, you’re lied to, you’re a pawn in your own son’s death,” said Mary Rich, Seth Rich’s mother, who, along with her husband, Joel, was interviewed for the podcast. “I wish they had the chance to experience the hell we have gone through. Because this is worse than losing my son the first time. This is like losing him all over again.”

In her efforts to better understand where the conspiracy theories were coming from, Sines used her security clearance to access copies of two SVR intelligence reports about Seth Rich that had been intercepted by U.S. intelligence officials. She later wrote a memo documenting the Russian role in fomenting the conspiracy theories that she sent to the Justice Department’s national security division, and personally briefed special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors on her findings.

“It appeared to me that it was a very clear campaign to deflect an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” Sines said. “So then you have to look at why is Russia doing this? … It’s not rocket science before you add it up and you go, ‘Oh, if Seth is the leaker to WikiLeaks — it doesn’t have anything to do with the Russians. So of course Russia’s interest in doing this is incredibly transparent.” The Russian strategy, Sines said, was diabolically simple: “Let’s blame it on Seth Rich. He’s a very convenient target.”

The “Conspiracyland” podcast traces the spread of the conspiracy theories about Rich. From their origins as a Russian disinformation plant, the bogus theories about his murder emerged as a persistent theme on alt-right websites and then were fanned by right-wing conspiracy entrepreneurs such as Alex Jones of Infowars and Matt Couch, the founder of an Arkansas-based group called America First Media, which bills itself as “the leading investigative team in America in the Seth Rich murder.”

Along the way, the idea that Rich was murdered in retaliation for leaking DNC emails to WikiLeaks was championed by multiple allies of Trump, including Roger Stone. The same day Assange falsely hinted that Rich may have been his source for DNC emails, Stone tweeted a picture of Rich, calling the late DNC staffer in a tweet “another dead body in the Clinton’s wake.” He then added: “Coincidence? I think not.”

Within months, the Rich conspiracy story was also being quietly promoted inside Trump’s White House. Questions about whether the White House pushed the conspiracy theories about Rich have been raised periodically over the last two and a half years — and were consistently denied by White House officials. But the Yahoo News investigation uncovered new evidence that the false claim that Rich was the victim of a political assassination was advanced by one of the White House’s most senior officials at the time.

“Huge story … he was a Bernie guy … it was a contract kill, obviously,” then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon texted to a CBS “60 Minutes” producer about Rich on March 17, 2017, according to some of Bannon’s text messages that were reviewed by Yahoo News. (Bannon did not respond to requests for comment.)

The conspiracy claims reached their zenith in May 2017 — the same week as Mueller’s appointment as special counsel in the Russia probe — when Fox News’ website posted a sensational story claiming that an FBI forensic report had discovered evidence on Rich’s laptop that he had been in communication with WikiLeaks prior to his death. Sean Hannity, the network’s primetime star, treated the account as major news on his nightly broadcast, calling it “explosive” and proclaiming it “might expose the single biggest fraud, lies, perpetrated on the American people by the media and the Democrats in our history.”

Among Hannity’s guests that week who echoed his version of events was conservative lawyer Jay Sekulow. Although neither he nor Hannity mentioned it, Sekulow had just been hired as one of Trump’s lead lawyers in the Russia investigation. “It sure doesn’t look like a robbery,” said Sekulow on Hannity’s show on May 18, 2017, during a segment devoted to the Rich case. “There’s one thing this thing undercuts is this whole Russia argument, [which] is such subterfuge,” he added.

In fact, the Fox story was a “complete fabrication,” said Sines, who consulted with the FBI about the Fox News claims. There was “no connection between Seth and WikiLeaks. And there was no evidence on his work computer of him downloading and disseminating things from the DNC.” (A spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington field office said the office had never opened an investigation into Rich’s murder, considering it a local crime for which the Washington Metropolitan Police Department had jurisdiction. Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s acting director at the time, said in an interview that he reached out to his agents after he heard about the conspiracy stories about Rich and was told, “There’s no there there.”)

After eight days of controversy, Fox News was forced to retract the story after one of its two key sources, former Washington, D.C., homicide detective Rod Wheeler, backed away from comments he had given the Fox News website reporter Malia Zimmerman and a local Fox affiliate reporter confirming the account. The article, the network said in a statement at the time, “was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting.” Fox News later announced it was conducting an internal investigation into how the story came to be posted on its website. The results have never been disclosed, and a spokeswoman for Fox News declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation against the news network brought by the Rich family.

But “Conspiracyland” quotes a source familiar with the network’s investigation saying that Fox executives grew frustrated they were unable to determine the identity of the other, and more important, source for the story: an anonymous “federal investigator” whose agency was never revealed. The Fox editors came to have doubts that the person was in fact who he claimed to be or whether the person actually existed, said the source.

In his recent report, Mueller briefly addressed the questions about Rich, writing that Assange had “implied falsely” that the DNC staffer was the source of the party emails leaked to WikiLeaks. His comments about Rich, Mueller wrote, “were apparently designed to obscure” how WikiLeaks really got them: from Guccifer 2.0, an online persona created by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, who sent the group an encrypted file of DNC material on July 14, 2016, four days after Rich’s death.

In the meantime, the barrage of conspiracy theories — implying that Rich was a leaker who betrayed his DNC colleagues — has spawned multiple lawsuits that are still ongoing. Joel and Mary Rich have filed a lawsuit against Fox News and Ed Butowsky, a Dallas financier who played a key behind-the-scenes role in the Zimmerman story, alleging intentional infliction of emotional stress. Aaron Rich, Seth’s older brother, has sued both Butowsky and Couch, the America First Media founder.

(Fox News, Butowsky and Couch have all denied the claims; the cable news network has argued in court papers that its reporting, while retracted, is a “classic case” of journalism protected by the First Amendment. The Rich family’s claim was initially rejected by a federal judge in New York on the grounds, in part, that the parents could not sue for the harm caused by the defamation of their deceased son. The parents are now appealing that decision. Mary Rich, in an interview for the podcast, said the fact that Fox retracted the false story is irrelevant. “It’s blasted across America with Fox and Hannity,” she said. “All they’ve done is taken it down, but it’s still up there on the internet. This can’t be retracted the way they did it.”)

Through interviews with family members and friends, “Conspiracyland” tells the story of Seth Rich. A Creighton University graduate from Omaha, Neb., Rich landed a job at the DNC to work on voting rights issues. Friends described him as an outgoing, fun-loving young man — he once showed up at a friend’s hospital room wearing a polar bear costume — who was nonetheless passionate about his job of expanding voting rights.

“I’ve never encountered someone so genuine in his belief that every American should be able to participate in that political process,” said Donna Brazile, the former interim chair of the DNC.

Contrary to the conspiracy theorists, Rich was not a disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporter; he never expressed a preference for the Vermont senator in the primary battle with Clinton, according to Pablo Manriquez, a friend and colleague from the DNC, echoing comments made by other friends of his in Washington. Moreover, Rich’s job gave him no access to the emails that were on the DNC server, making it unlikely from the start that he could have been the leaker of the internal party communications to WikiLeaks.

After a night of drinking at Lou’s City Bar, Rich was walking home in the early hours of July 10, 2016, and on the phone with his girlfriend when he was accosted by two assailants about a block and a half from his home. A fight ensued — Rich was found with bruises on his face, knuckles and knees — and he was shot twice in the back before the assailants fled. His billfold, watch and other valuables weren’t taken. But police quickly concluded that the scenario was most likely that of an attempted robbery that was foiled by Rich’s resistance.

The police and Sines, the prosecutor, believe there was good reason to draw that conclusion. In the six weeks prior to Rich’s shooting, there had been seven armed robberies in the same neighborhood, causing residents to complain to local police.

“We’ve had so many holdups on the same corner, with the same method of holdup, where two guys grab the person,” said Mark Mueller, a neighbor of Rich’s (and no relation to the special counsel) who was among the first to rush to the scene the night of the shooting. “They hold a gun to the head, while one person takes the phone and makes the owner of the phone go into the apps and unarm anything that could be traced.”

Agitated local residents took their concerns to the police. “We’ve had meetings with the police days before this, screaming at the police in our civic association meetings, begging for help,” said Mueller.

But over the past three years, it is unclear how much progress, if any, the Washington police has made in solving the case. No suspects in Rich’s murder have ever been identified, and the case was recently moved to Washington police department’s “major case/cold case” squad under the direction of a new detective in an effort to bring a fresh set of eyes to a stale case file.

Sines chalks up the lack of progress to what she calls the anti-snitch culture of the streets in Washington, D.C.

“In Washington, D.C., being a witness to a murder can mean a death sentence,” the former prosecutor said. “I’ve lost witnesses that were murdered because they were witnesses. Because they told me what happened. And it’s — there’s a very strong and anti-snitch culture in Washington, D.C., much stronger than it is in some other areas in the country. Add assassination language, Russians, add all those buzzwords, who wants to be a witness in a case like that?”

Nevertheless, even though she is no longer involved, Sines says she is hopeful that the case will ultimately be cracked.

“So I know that someone is going to talk. I know that,” she said. “It’s a lot easier after a couple of years go by for people to talk about this, because they think they got away with it.”

Sines said she believes there are two culprits at large — a shooter and an “aider and abettor” — and she suspects they are connected to drug-dealing activity in nearby housing projects. “I’m convinced one or both of them will eventually be brought to justice.”

In a recent interview, Seth’s father, Joel, said he was told in a call with the new prosecutor — who replaced Sines and the new detective — that the investigation into his son’s murder remains active. The prosecutor and the detective talk about it every day, Joel said he was told.

But while they wait for signs the murderers will be arrested, the Riches live with a painful reality that they say is reaffirmed on a near daily basis by Google alerts: The lies about their son’s death continue to circulate in the dark recesses of the internet, a powerful reminder that in the new world of social media, even the most discredited of conspiracy theories have a shelf life that never ends.

Subscribe to Conspiracyland >>>

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

Link

“What a hypocrite,” the campaign ad proclaims.

The ad shows Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) giving a speech to the Senate about the women who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. “When will we as a society begin to believe women?” Menendez asks.

“What about the underage girls who accused you?” the ad’s narrator replies.

There’s just one problem: No underage girl has publicly accused Menendez of anything.

The 60-second spot, paid for by Bob Hugin, Menendez’s opponent in a tight race this year, revives claims from 2012 that Menendez had slept with underage sex workers. But these allegations came from a pseudonymous tipster, and an FBI investigation failed to substantiate them — no underage sex workers ever came forward to say they’d had sexual contact with Menendez.

“Bob Hugin could care less about women and certainly sexual assault victims,” said Steve Sandberg, the communications director for the Menendez campaign, calling the spot a “pure attack ad.”

[embedded content]

The Hugin ad is one of a number of attempts by Republicans to use the #MeToo movement against Democrats by calling attention to allegations from their past. “Republicans are losing women very badly,” Democratic pollster and political strategist Celinda Lake told Vox. By invoking #MeToo, “they’re trying to strip Democrats of an advantage.”

Democrats have been far from perfect when it comes to addressing sexual misconduct allegations against their own, but at least they’ve begun to wrestle with the issue. Hugin and others on the Republican side, meanwhile, still seem interested in speaking out against harassment only when it serves their political ends.

The Hugin spot is based on allegations against Menendez that surfaced during his reelection campaign in 2012, as Salvador Rizzo notes at the Washington Post. That year, a tipster going by the pseudonym Peter Williams (apparently a reference to a New Jersey senator who was convicted of bribery in 1981) emailed the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to say that Menendez had engaged in sex with underage prostitutes. He also forwarded the group an email from someone going by the initials M.C., who he said was a prostitute who said she had witnessed Menendez having sex with prostitutes as young as 16.

CREW passed on the information to the FBI, which performed an investigation. But Williams declined to be interviewed by the bureau, and he did not offer enough information to identify any underage prostitutes. The FBI found no evidence to substantiate his claims, Carol D. Leonnig and Ernesto Londoño reported at the Washington Post in 2013. Instead, the bureau found evidence that Cuban agents had made up Williams as a way to smear Menendez, who had been critical of the Cuban government.

There’s plenty for Hugin to attack about Menendez. He was indicted on corruption charges in 2015, and his trial ended with a hung jury and mistrial last year. But at least as of now, the sexual misconduct allegation was never credibly substantiated.

Crucially, no women ever came forward to report that they had engaged in sex with Menendez while underage. In this case, there are no identified women to believe.

Hugin, meanwhile, is no champion of women, Sandberg said. The former New Jersey finance director for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign “stood by Donald Trump after he bragged about assaulting women” on the Access Hollywood tape, Sandberg said. “He stood silent when the accusations against Brett Kavanaugh came out. He to this day has not said if he even believes Christine Ford.”

Hugin’s ad is not the only example of Republicans using the language of #MeToo. During the Kavanaugh hearings, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is running for Senate, took her opponent Phil Bredesen to task for his handling of sexual harassment in state government when he was governor. When asked about Kavanaugh in a debate, Blackburn took a shot at Bredesen: “When Phil was governor there was an issue where sexual harassment claims doubled one year,” she said. “And what they chose to do was to shred some of the documents so that women’s voices would never be heard. They died in that shredder and their voices were not heard.”

According to PolitiFact, notes relating to harassment allegations against a Bredesen adviser and a corrections official were destroyed while Bredesen was governor in 2005. The adviser was demoted; the corrections official resigned, though the governor’s office attributed his departure to reasons other than the harassment claim. Bredesen issued a new policy in August 2005 requiring that all records be preserved. The Nashville Women’s Political Caucus praised Bredesen, with its chief lauding his “swift actions in the workplace harassment case involving one of his legislative lobbyists and his open concern for protecting complainants’ rights.”

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Bredesen’s campaign pointed Vox to the candidate’s response in his first debate with Blackburn: “We encouraged people to come forward and I’m glad that the number of reported cases where people came forward increased in that process.”

“The only shredding was to protect the privacy of the victims of sexual harassment,” says Gina Lodge, who served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services under Bredesen, in an ad released by the Bredesen campaign.

Meanwhile, supporters of Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH), who is running to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, have started a Super PAC called “Me Too Ohio,” according to Cleveland.com. In September, the group ran ads drawing attention to abuse allegations made by Brown’s ex-wife, Larke Recchie, during their 1986 divorce. The allegations were serious — Recchie said in an affidavit in the divorce case that Brown had “struck and bullied me on several different occasions.”

“I am definitely afraid of my husband,” she said in the affidavit.

Brown has denied the allegations, and in 1992, Recchie said that the divorce had led only to “angry words,” not physical violence. “I was proud to support Sherrod in 2006 and 2012 — just as I am this time around,” she said in a statement in September. “Disparaging my family for political gain is disgusting, and Congressman Renacci should know better.”

Recchie has also recorded an ad pushing back on the Me Too Ohio campaign. “Divorce can be difficult and ours was no different,” she says in the ad. “But the political attacks against our family are just wrong.”

A spokesperson for the Brown campaign said that Recchie’s statements are the campaign’s official response to Renacci’s allegations.

Recently, Renacci added a new and far more amorphous claim — he told the Cincinnati Enquirer earlier this month that multiple women had reached out to his campaign to say that Brown had assaulted them. He did not offer any evidence or specifics, and no women have come forward to report assault by Brown.

In all these cases, the Republicans using the language of #MeToo supported Kavanaugh’s confirmation. On October 5, after Christine Blasey Ford had testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was “100 percent” sure Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her, Hugin tweeted, “Based on everything I know now, I would support Judge Kavanaugh as Senator.”

Blackburn has expressed support for #MeToo, telling the Washington Examiner, “Our daughters and our granddaughters are going to feel empowered to stand up and say to a human resources director or to someone, look: ‘I want to report this.’ And, they know that they’re going to be listened to when they report it.”

But of Ford’s report of her experience, Blackburn said that while “there’s no doubt that something traumatic” happened to Ford, “since there is no specificity on date, time, and place, since there is no one — no one — to corroborate her story, then why would this [be] assigned, without any corroborating evidence, assigned to Brett Kavanaugh?”

Renacci, meanwhile, told Cleveland.com in an October 5 interview that Kavanaugh “has done so much good, and we’re going after him for unsubstantiated claims.”

”Dr. Ford’s claims haven’t been substantiated,” he added. “The only thing people from Ohio are claiming is that this is ridiculous.”

In a debate earlier this month, Renacci said, “my opponent, Sherrod Brown, has a voluminous record, substantiated claims of abuse.”

”The people of Ohio need to look at that abuse and understand it,” he added.

It’s not clear why he believes Brown’s ex-wife’s claims are substantiated and Ford’s are not.

Republicans using the language of #MeToo likely have two goals in mind, Lake said. First, they’re “trying to mute the advantage that Democrats have among women.” As the Examiner notes, Blackburn’s race against Bredesen is surprisingly close for reliably red Tennessee, and Blackburn has struggled with women voters in the Nashville and Memphis suburbs. Bredesen, it’s worth noting, ultimately came out in support of Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Second, Lake said, Republicans may be trying to appeal to late-deciding voters who care more about character than issues by painting their Democratic opponents as untrustworthy or hypocritical.

Ultimately, focusing on harassment allegations may not work particularly well for Republicans. In public opinion polls, Democrats have “a huge advantage” when it comes to sexual harassment and #MeToo, Lake said. They’ve been far more consistent than Republicans in backing zero-tolerance policies for sexual harassment and ending the use of taxpayer money for harassment settlements, positions that are “wildly popular” with voters.

When Republican candidates try to use #MeToo to attack Democrats, Lake said, “there may be a race or two where it works, but in general, this is a pretty desperate, flawed strategy.”

The Democratic Party certainly doesn’t have a spotless history when it comes to sexual harassment and assault. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi responded less than forcefully when Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) was accused of sexually harassing former staffers, calling him “an icon” and asking, “Was it one accusation? Is it two?” She later called on him to resign, and he announced his retirement in December 2017. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) was only pressed to resign by his fellow senators when claims against him became too numerous to ignore.

Bill Clinton faced allegations of sexual assault, and admitted to an affair with Monica Lewinsky while he was president and she was an intern. Hillary Clinton can’t be held responsible for her husband’s actions, but her recent public statements show a failure to fully understand the abuse of power involved — and she made her own missteps when it came to dealing with harassment allegations against an adviser.

Democrats certainly deserve criticism for these and other lapses. But at least so far, Republican candidates largely seem interested in speaking out against harassment and assault as a way to score political points. They’re attempting to thread a needle on Ford — claiming to believe she was assaulted but not that Kavanaugh was the perpetrator, even though Ford says she is “100 percent” certain of his identity. And then they’re criticizing Democrats for failing to “believe women” — sometimes when no women have even come forward.

Hugin, Blackburn, and Renacci are trying to have it both ways on #MeToo. They’re using the language of the movement to try to curry favor with female voters and slam their opponents, but they failed to support a woman when she spoke out against one of their political allies.

There will be times, for both parties, when supporting women who report sexual misconduct will be politically inconvenient. Democrats have already seen that with Franken. Republicans, however, have yet to accept this reality. For them, #MeToo remains little more than a political tool — something they can use to attack their opponents, and simply put away when it’s no longer needed.

Original Source -> How Republicans are using the language of #MeToo against Democrats

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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