#shout out to the target audience of less than 5 people who like the good place and obey me

[mammomlette]

OK CHAT LOCKING IN AND WRITING AS I COME UP WITH STUFF FOR AN OBEY ME THE GOOD PLACE AU BECAUSE OF BRAINROT💔 (the good place spoilers below, obey me spoilers below too but lesser)

So starting with the obvious ones:

Eleanor is MC (both main characters, both the humans who brought peace to the universe or whatever. Also both whores who said that?)

Janet is Barbatos (both op and very smart who live to help and grow closer with the mc slowly)

Ok I actually can’t think of anymore obvious ones. (I’m gonna preface that I’m going based mostly off of personalities and their roles to the story, not their relationships with one another so if I put two brothers as people who end up together this is NOT demoncest I’m not talking about the romance aspect😭)

Going through the main the good place cast, it makes sense that Jason is Mammon (loveable dorks with good hearts but do crime lowkey. They’re literally the same person)

AND THAT WOULD MEAN IN THIS UNIVERSE BARBMON/MACARON IS CANON IG? (Again I’m not focusing on the romance aspect, this is just something just worth saying)

Who would be Tahani? Asmo, maybe? They both like to brag about themselves, they’re both canonically the hottest, both popular and lowkey pretentious… yeah I’d go with that

And chidi is difficult. He’s indecisive, a great lover, a nerd, loves reading, into moral philosophy, so I’m gonna say Simeon is the closest, but I’m not sure if that would fit well just better than others

Michael is hard. Maybe Michael is Michael; both called Michael and mysterious ig, but I think he’d be a better fit for either Solomon or Diavolo. Let me explain:

Solomon and Michael both appear friendly at first while actually having bad intentions. They possess a power unknown to any of their peers and as the series goes on, grow very attached to the main characters. They’re also both different to what they first said they were (Michael claimed to be an angel but was a demon, Solomon didn’t explicitly claim to be normal but he’s certainly more powerful than he appears)

Diavolo and Michael also both appear friendly at first, except diavolo actually is friendly which lowkey ruins it… though I’d say diavolo seems like he has some ulterior motive in the start of the game lowkey, he really doesn’t. Dude just wants peace. Which is similar to Michaels character growth but that feels like a stretch. they’re both in control of the whole thing, and are trying to introduce a new idea to the afterlife despite backlash.

I’d say Solomon fits better though (in either case, this would result in Solomon/diavolo being kind of a father figure to Barb at some point, which is funny to think about)

Ok now non-main characters

Vicky is Satan, which would mean it would be funny to have lucifer be Michael, but lucifer just isn’t as good of a fit for Michael as Solomon is, sadly. Satan and Vicky both feel like they have a point to prove to people underestimating them and they’re both quite smart and value their knowledge and likeability.

Mindy st Claire pisses me off (not the character, thinking about who would be her) BECAUSE Solomon is definitely best fit for her (humans who are their own league of morality, kind of anti-social/lonely though that’s because of isolation, relaxed) BUT he’s better fit for Michael. Soooo we will return to her LMAO (rn considering Levi???)

Simeon would also be good for her (Humans who I imagine wouldn’t be allowed into the good/bad place since he’s kinda yk just fell from there…) but he’s much better as chidi

Glenn would fit as mammon but mammon is so Jason-coded it’s unreal

What other characters even exist uhhhh ummm uhhh

I want to figure out who the twins would be

WAIT NONONO GO BACK GO BACK

TAHANI AS SATAN AND CAMILLA AS LUCIFER OFMS THATS THEIR DYNAMIC DOWN TO A TEA

Lucifer/camilla is much more accomplished and respected, which makes satan/tahani resent her/him. Tahani and satan are both well read and self respecting as well.

Then who would Asmo be fml

I mean mindy is always joking about masturbating. Not even joking she’s just jorking it 24/7 and she did record Eleanor and chidi for a sex tape so I’d say Asmo is pretty well fit yeah

Who would be asmos derek then. Hm. We can ignore he was made by Janet/barb since that doesn’t really apply to anyone (perchance Solomon or dia since they lowkey have a family bond??? Stretch) and focus on the fact he was incredibly stupid but Asmo/mindy reset him so much he got very smart (I think by the end of the series he was like… a god? Help)

I think Solomon would fit actually but he’s better as Michael and I don’t like the idea of Solomon being Barbatos’ rebound for mammon because mammon started sleeping with satan. I hate that sentence, actually. Especially that last part. What am I doing with my life

Anyway I think we should come back to Derek (considering Mephisto I will explain later if I stick with that)

OH MY GOODNESS THE JUDGE WHATS HER NAME FICK WHATS HER NAME

THE ONE WHO SIMPS FOR ALL THE MEN WHAT IS HER NAME

Anyway she’s exactly how I imagine Michael acts. Very old very powerful but just cunty and obsessed with sit coms and hot men. Because. Also they’re both judges of the afterlife or whatever

Who tf is bad Janet. I could envision Asmo but I like Asmo as Mindy and don’t want to rethink that decision. Actually let’s stay loyal to the lore bad Janet is just Barbatos as an au. Bad Janet is Barbatos’ aquarium fit cause that’s bad /neg 😡

The main characters go into Janet’s void/barbatos’ room of doors or whatever and they all just look like different barbatos fits.

Ok but also Belphie could be bad Janet, lowkey… no barb au 100% I’m sticking with there just being a million barbs (this implies disco barb exists. Fun)

I do remember Sean’s existence I just don’t know who he’d be. I like the idea of him being Raphael but Raphael isn’t mean they just have the same vibes yk. They need beef with michael/solomon. Lucifer would’ve been perfect for this but alas he is decided as Camilla😪 thirteen???? WAIT YES THIRTEEN IS OERFECT THAT IS LITERALLY HE DYNAMIC WITH SOLOMON YES I want thirteen in a suit

Gwendolyn Luke? Gwendolyn Luke. (I didn’t know who she was in at the point I have to Google the good place characters: she’s the girl they see in the good place who doesn’t let them ring the phone if you remember

We’re running out of om characters but I want Doug forcett to be the unnamed butcher from s3 because that’s so funny to me

But we still don’t have a Beel :( he’s not Simone, I don’t think he’s anyone of the s4 test humans (but Asmo would def be the one friends with Tahani)

Levi who r u. I was gonna just leave some characters out but I’ve only got like 3 left so I’m determined to find them all characters.

Mepbisto as Simone????????? Would Raphael fit better??????? One of those two as Simone, we will return when we have a character for Levi

Levi bambadjan? Yeah okay no real reason I just like bambadjan I want him included

Simone is into neuroscience, she’s smart, self assured, sassy and exes with chidi (who is now Simeon) but tbh I could see both Raphael and Mephisto as her… I’m gonna say Mephisto because I feel like he just has that wit that Simone has and Raphael isn’t rlly as witty

Who is Raphael then guys. Anybody like spears? Wet cat energy? Bad food taste? Sorry I don’t like Raphael enough (NOT HATE🙅‍♀️) to be able to characterize him properly. I would say one of the good place council members but nah he’s not overly positive enough for that. Could he be Hypatia, maybe? They have similar vibes when she’s not drinking milkshake and being all woo-ey because of the immortality thing but that still doesn’t feel right.

Wait did I do diavolo

FUCK DID I FORGET BELPHIE TOO

Ok Belphie is Trevor but who is diavolo oh my DAYS

I fear I may have to replace Michael with Diavolo for the judge💔which still works imo since they’re insanely powerful (in strength and influence), old, and pretty chill if entertained but very set on their goals and motivated. It just means no Michael unless you want Michael to be the whole good place council

Oh also lil d’s as the demons pretending to be humans in the good place and lil d 2 as Todd (the one always show in demon form) just because that makes me giggle

Wait I’m now realising that I forgot to recast Vicky when I made Satan tahani

Vicky is Raphael that fits a bit (totally not just trying to fit them both in) so no more Hypatia oh well she was in like 2 episodes and was just a plot device anyway maybe she can be maddi idk who else exists

Edit: I forgot to recast Derek. Oops. Derek is lowkey Solomon coded but AGAIN I like him too much as michael, so I’m gonna say Dia??? And that way Michael can be judge Gen? Idk how to feel about implying Dia and Barbatos dated and Barb created him as a rebound though… Oh well I’m already technically implying Satan and Mammon did the deed and that’s gross so just ignore the relationship implications based on casting🙏

SO TO SUMMARISE:

Eleanor- MC

Chidi- Simeon

Tahani- Satan

Jason- Mammon

Michael- Solomon

Janet- Barbatos

Shawn- Thirteen

Vicky- Raphael(?)

Glenn- Beel

Judge Gen (because I googled her name)- Michael

Mindy- Asmo

Kamilah- Lucifer

Bad Janet- also Barbatos

Bambadjan- Levi (LMAO I’m sorry)

Trevor- Belphie

Gwendolyn- Luke

Neutral Janet- Barbatos again

Simone- Mephisto(?)

Derek: Diavolo (I hate that cast though)

Doug forcett- The butcher from season 3?😭

Demon workers- lil d’s

Disco Janet- still Barbatos who would have guessed

And some honourable mentions (double casts) cause lucifer is Brett, Asmo is tahanis friend from s4 I forgot yk the gossip guy with a blog, Mammon is the guy who takes his top off instead of fighting that was Eleanor’s fake soulmate number 2, I’m not doing all their family’s guys but donkey Doug could be like lil d 2 or smthn. I’m gonna post this and forget someone which I’m trying to avoid but ohh welllll

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

I want to draw this now🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️

[pixenite]

How To Craft A Resonant Name For Your Brand?

Have you ever met someone whose name just…sticks? It rolls off the tongue, sparks a memory, and somehow embodies their personality. That’s the magic of a good name, and it’s exactly what you want for your brand.

Your brand name is your first handshake with the world. It sets the tone, creates expectations, and (hopefully) sticks in people’s minds. But with millions of businesses out there, how do you craft a name that truly resonates? Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Dig Deep: Find Your Brand’s Core

Before diving into brainstorming, take a deep breath and become a brand archaeologist. Unearth the core of your brand: its mission (what problem do you solve?), target audience (who are you helping?), and core values (innovation, reliability, etc.). 

Think of Nike – their name, derived from the Greek goddess of victory, instantly conveys an image of power and athleticism for athletes. By understanding your brand’s DNA, you’ll create a foundation for a name that resonates with your target audience and embodies your brand’s essence. This “brand story” is the secret weapon that will guide you towards the perfect name.

2. Meaningful Matters (But Keep It Simple!)

A great name should tell a story, even if it’s subtle. Think about names like “Headspace” for a meditation app or “Patagonia” for an outdoor apparel company. They evoke a specific feeling or image without being overly complex.

A great brand name should be a whisper, not a shout.  It should tell a story, even if it’s subtle. Think about names like “Headspace” for a meditation app or “Patagonia” for an outdoor apparel company. These names evoke a specific feeling or image without being overly complex.  Imagine “Headspace” instantly transporting you to a calm, meditative state, or “Patagonia” conjuring images of rugged mountains and breathtaking landscapes. Aim for a name that subtly hints at your brand’s story, sparking curiosity and leaving a lasting impression.

3. Keep It Catchy (And Easy To Spell!)

Think of your brand name as your company’s jingle. It needs to be catchy enough to stick in people’s minds, but not so complex that they forget it before they reach a search bar. Imagine trying to remember “BrbwnglthngGadgets” – not exactly a recipe for brand recognition!

Studies by the University of California, Berkeley, show that brand names with higher phonemic complexity (harder to pronounce) are less likely to be remembered. Aim for a name that rolls off the tongue easily, like “Spotify” or “Slack.”  Similarly, keep spelling simple. While “Flickr” might be catchy, its unconventional spelling can make it difficult to find online. Remember, a memorable name is a name people can easily recall and share.

4. Uniqueness Is Key (Trademark Troubles Are Not!)

There’s nothing worse than crafting a brilliant name, only to discover it’s already claimed by another brand. Avoid trademark heartbreak! Before you get too attached, conduct a quick online trademark search. This simple step can save you a lot of heartache down the line. Think outside the box – aim for a name that’s unique and memorable, but not so obscure that it confuses your audience. Remember, your brand name is like real estate – location (meaning and memorability) is key!

5. The Power Of Positive Emotion

Our brains are wired to respond to emotions, so leverage that power when choosing your brand name!  Names that evoke positive emotions have a natural advantage. Think about brands like “Cheerios” or “innocent drinks.” These names subconsciously create a pleasant association, making you feel happy, healthy, or even a little nostalgic. Aim for a name that sparks a positive feeling, subtly influencing how people perceive your brand.

However, be mindful of avoiding negative connotations. Steer clear of names that sound harsh, difficult to pronounce, or have unintended meanings in other languages. Remember, a well-chosen name can be a powerful marketing tool, leaving a lasting positive impression on your target audience.

Bonus Tip: Test Drive Your Masterpiece!

Once you have a shortlist of contenders, get feedback! Run it by friends, family, or even potential customers. See how it rolls off the tongue, what emotions it evokes, and if it’s easy to remember.

Remember, crafting a resonant brand name takes time and effort. But with a little planning, you can find a name that perfectly captures the essence of your brand and sets you on the path to success. Did you know that according to a study by Brand New, a strong brand name can increase brand recognition by up to 80%?

So, get brainstorming, have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box. The perfect name for your brand awaits! But in case you need professional help in creating a unique and strong brand identity then Pixenite is here to help. Connect with us today for a consultation call. 

Article Source : https://www.pixenite.com/how-to-craft-a-resonant-name-for-your-brand/

[thetoxicgamer]

Overwatch 2 is bringing back your least favorite mechanic

Overwatch 2 has some big plans in store, and they’re likely to split its audience right down the middle. Ahead of Overwatch 2 season 5, an update from game director Aaron Keller suggests some of the changes Blizzard is considering for its next balance patch, and they include a return of crowd control effects to the multiplayer game, as well as some potentially big nerfs to one-shot characters. The removal of CC, or crowd control (that’s anything in the realm of stuns, slows, and boops), from almost all skills except from tanks was a big part of the changes to Overwatch 2. The goal, Blizzard says, was to put more of a focus on people creating plays rather than shutting them down, especially with the removal of the second tank player. “Overall, we think that this was a positive change to the game,” Keller says, comparing the original game to a “pinball machine.” But, he explains, “we have a lot of high-mobility heroes on the roster, and a team can’t always rely on their tank to take care of them. So we’re softening our approach here.” For season five, Blizzard has two characters in mind as a test bed of sorts – Mei and Cassidy. Mei’s primary, the Endothermic Blaster, will still slow as normal but “will also build up to an effect that will apply a much larger slow for 1.5 seconds” that Keller says “will feel familiar to the way her old weapon worked.” Presumably you’ll have a little more opportunity to counter it than being completely frozen solid, but that’s still rather terrifying. Cassidy, meanwhile, is having his Magnetic Grenade reworked – it’ll do less damage than before, but will now apply an effect that slows targets and blocks them from using movement abilities. It’s unclear whether that will apply when the grenade sticks, or when it explodes – if it’s the former, that could make it a lot more deadly to heroes who can typically escape from its clutches. Also likely to cause plenty of chatter is plans to “reduce the frequency” of one-shots from Widowmaker and Hanzo. Widow’s damage falloff is being dramatically shortened, while the amount the damage drops over distance is being increased, which will make her unable to kill even 200 health heroes past 50 meters with a single bullet. Hanzo will see his damage slightly nerfed “so that he is no longer able to one-shot 250 health heroes.” Another change will make it easier for the enemy team to see where his Sonic Arrow has been used, meaning you’ll know when he’s got a bead on your position. Keller says “the intent here is to reduce his kills that feel like they come out of nowhere.” Keller also notes that a Junker Queen nerf will see her Commanding Shout health gain dropped from 200 to 150 to make her a little less survivable, while Lifeweaver is set to receive “increases to his healing and damage output, a heal on Life Grip, a slightly reduced hitbox, and some quality-of-life changes to Petal Platform.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4b7DtgOQ_A Personally, I’ve always been a bit of a crowd control defender – I liked the slightly more MOBA-like aspects of the first Overwatch – but, having gotten used to the game without them, I’m not sure how I feel about their return. I’m also torn on the one-shot changes, though I’ll undoubtedly benefit as someone who isn’t a particularly good sniper myself. Either way, these are likely to provide some dramatic alterations to how the game feels, so it’ll be fascinating to see how the Overwatch community responds. Browse our Overwatch 2 tier list if you want to know who’s looking best in Overwatch 2 season 4. You might also want to run eyes over the best Overwatch 2 settings if you’re looking to optimize your FPS and in-game performance. Read the full article

[indecisive-behaviors]

Originally I was just going to add this as a reblog to my previous post about the parking lot scene in KK2 but it’s almost 2k words so now it’s getting it’s own post. Be forewarned- this is fucking long.

TW for discussion of PTSD, child abuse, neglect, injury, and death, in relation to topics surrounding the show, under the cut-

Obviously, Cobra Kai is a show based around the premise of “what happened to that Lawrence kid after he got kicked in the face?”, which is honestly a pretty cool idea for a show. Johnny’s story is never explained past sitting on the sidewalk with his head in his hands at the tournament, and there are no real context clue’s to figure out what may or may not have happened.

In the show we get to learn early on that Johnny’s life spiraled after the tournament, going from bad to worse to “holy shit how are you still alive”-dropping out/never going to college, working jobs he seems to hate, becoming an alcoholic, presumably many dead end relationships, and not being there for his kid. And yeah, obviously, this would be a hard pill to swallow for anyone watching the show if Johnny had just lost the tournament. If we never got the scene in KK2, he would have just been some kid who lost a tournament- we see at the end of the first movie that(through tears holy shit Billy) that Johnny is the one who gives the trophy to Daniel with his famous line, “You’re alright, LaRusso.” There’s a level of grudging respect in that moment that isn’t lost on anyone who sees that movie- that Johnny, who throughout the movie only sees Daniel as some whimpy kid, gets proven wrong and respects that. If we didn’t have that scene, there’s reason to believe Johnny would have apologized, tried to make amends, Something, even if it was just being less of a dick at school.

But then, we get the parking lot. We get a far off shot, intended to distance you from the scene, framed over Daniel’s shoulder. This makes sense, Daniel is the main character, the protagonist, the underdog hero- why wouldn’t it be framed in his perspective? But the scene is about Johnny. We get the shouting match, the back and forth- “No, you’re the loser man.”- and again it’s fairly obvious how Johnny sees this situation. This is a man who we assume(and is later confirmed) to be a surrogate father figure, who set his friend up for failure, and then basically forced him to do the same by targeting an injured opponent, and forcing him to fight without honor. This same man presumably follows a teenager out to the parking lot, to harass him, to tell him he’s off the team, to tell him he’s a loser, that he’s nothing.

But at that point, Johnny knows the truth, even if subconsciously. At the end of the day Johnny knows that Daniel LaRusso was a worthy opponent, and that regardless of the cheating and manipulation, Daniel could have won anyway, and did win, despite of it.

And then Kreese grabs him, too fast to react to, Johnny too surprised even knowing that Kreese is the bad guy here, not believing that he would ever willingly hurt him- and Johnny isn’t strong enough to fight him off, none of the boys are, so Johnny is forced to suffocate for almost a full 30 seconds(which I double checked for the record- also as a reference, 30 seconds is about the average time it takes for a person voluntarily holding their breath to pass out- this does not account for the oxygen lost during a struggle, and the lack of preparation from both surprise and panic. The only silver lining here is the fact that Kreese was most likely compressing his windpipe, not his jugular, which would have made him pass out in about 5-10 seconds, and would have caused permanent brain damage or death in about 15).

Now, PTSD is a complex thing. I’m not a psychiatrist, and what small amount of information we have is all we have to work off of, but I feel fairly comfortable in saying Johnny mostly likely developed it after the incident. This not an uncommon take in the fandom as far as I’m aware either. But, if we assume this, we also have to assume that after the fact nothing would have been done about this. Not just in the sense that we still don’t really know everything that happened right after the tournament, but that in the early 80s, PTSD wasn’t really a thing yet.

Sure it was absolutely a condition that existed, but Post Traumatic Stress Disorder wasn’t even added to the DSM-III until 1980- and for a long time afterward, was only seen as a condition that affected primarily war vets. Even after an event as traumatic as having a man you considered a father trying to kill you, in public, without remorse, would not have been seen as something to warrant the diagnoses, let alone treatment.

Johnny Lawrence was 17 when Kreese tried to kill him, and this boy would have been offered no resources beyond filing charges with the police. And as we see in KK3, either this didn’t happen either, or someone(presumably Silver) got the charges dropped. So on top of almost being murdered, Johnny had to live with the fact that the man who did that to him was still out there, and to top it off, still ran a dojo at least for a few months after the event. The only relief he could have gotten is after Kreese faked his death.

And sure, Mr Miyagi may have gotten Kreese to let go eventually, but as several people have pointed out in comments and tags, left him and the other boys alone with Kreese still standing there in the parking lot and just... drove off. Kreese has already been established to be a psycho with no problem hurting children, a little bit of glass might not have prevented him from trying again.

So why did I talk about all of that? Because it all contributes to why Daniel LaRusso works as a credible antagonist in season 1 of Cobra Kai.

Think about this- Johnny blames losing everything on Daniel in season 1, but we specifically get a shot in KK1 and later KK2(”You’re alright, LaRusso” and “I did my best” come to mind) where he seems to be at least mostly accepting of the fact that he lost(with what was actually an illegal kick but that’s a rant for another time). So why does he blame him for everything 30 years later?

Because 30 years later, Johnny is forced to go outside, go to work, and pretend like he doesn’t see what feels like every street corner(including right outside his apartment mind you), a literal billboard sized reminder of what happened to him.

The rest of this is mostly speculation but it makes sense in my head so bear with me.

When we get introduced to Robby, it’s made pretty clear that Johnny has not been in his life for a bit. In season 2 we get Johnny’s heart to heart with Miguel, where he divulges that he missed the birth, because he spiraled after his mom’s death. This however doesn’t suggest that he stayed gone, especially knowing that it wasn’t long enough for Robby to not consider seeking out his dad. Because tacked up to the fridge, is a picture of Robby in his soccer uniform as a kid. It’s an early detail you can see in previous episodes, and says a lot about how Robby grew up. To be fair, this could have been given to him by Shannon, and not taken himself, but it’s the sport Robby’s playing that makes me question this. KK1 dedicates an entire scene to Johnny being on the soccer team in high school. Soccer, while maybe not as important to him as karate, is still part of his character. Robby does not know karate in season 1, Johnny obviously didn’t share it with him, but that doesn’t mean Johnny didn’t share anything with him.

So Johnny’s back in his kids life, maybe doing better for himself, maybe cutting back on the drinking. LaRusso Auto is already established to exist at this point but it’s in Encino, a place Johnny has no reason to go to, and probably doesn’t want to. He’s trying again and things are okay. But Robby knows enough about Daniel to know that going to him will piss off his dad. So Johnny had to have talked about him at some point. The billboards here are what’s important- they’re in the first episode, the first scene montage, Johnny draws a dick on one of them as some petty revenge.

The first billboard goes up in the late 2000s to mid 2010s. Johnny sees it, maybe he has Robby with him at the time, maybe he goes home and says something there, but he says something in a way that sticks with even a child as being important. More billboards go up. Dealerships starting popping up more and more. Daniel’s face, and by extension, the memories, the flashbacks, become inescapable. Johnny, for a third time, spirals again. Before he even knows what’s happening, he’s lost his relationship with his son. And it’s all Daniel’s fault. Of course Daniel doesn’t do it deliberately, but the constant reminders are enough to send him back into a tailspin and Johnny blames him for it.

Because it’s Daniel who is a constant reminder of his failures- it’s Daniel who caused him to lose the tournament and almost get killed, Daniel who put up the billboards that trigger his flashbacks, it’s always Daniel Daniel Daniel.

And then Johnny gets it in his head that he wants to be better. He opens a dojo, teaches Miguel and the other kids, wants to try again- and he almost succeeds.

Johnny up to this point has not deliberately antagonized Daniel in any way. Sure he named the dojo Cobra Kai, but Cobra Kai is all he knows. Besides Johnny doesn’t blame karate for his failures, his best memories are Cobra Kai and he’s trying to be better than Kreese. So what’s the harm in this really? His building is in Reseda, there’s no reason for Daniel to ever be there, he doesn’t do it out of spite, it’s because he lives there and rent is cheap. He doesn’t know about KK3, doesn’t know about Daniel’s own trauma. This isn’t an attack. Johnny sincerely just doesn’t know.

Enter Daniel, stage left. Daniel makes no attempt to talk to him- he simply makes demands and accusations, before he starts making active attempts to put him out of business.

Sure, we as the audience know Daniel has good reasons to not want Cobra Kai back. But Johnny doesn’t. All Johnny knows is that the kid he picked on in high school- who won, who got everything Johnny wanted, who grew up to be successful, has a wonderful wife, two kids who love him, a thriving business- is doing everything he can to make his life hell 30 years after the fact.

And this could only have happened because in 1986 John G. Avildsen decided to add in a scene meant for the original movie into the sequel, for absolutely no fucking reason.

[clansayeed]

Bound by Circumstance ― Chapter 5: Every Elite

PAIRING: Nik Ryder x trans*M!MC (Taylor Hunter) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Circumstance ⥽

Taylor Hunter (MC) has made it good for himself in New Orleans; turns out moving to a new city fresh out of college to reinvent yourself isn’t as hard as people make it out to be. Things only start to get confusing when he finds himself the target of a malevolent wraith. Good thing someone’s looking out for him though — because without Nighthunter Nik Ryder as his bodyguard he definitely won’t survive long in the twisting darkness of the supernatural underworld he’s tripped into.

Bound by Circumstance and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the book Nightbound and the rest of the Bloodbound series. Find out more [HERE].

Note: Circumstance only loosely follows the events and plotline of Nightbound, and features a separate antagonist, different character motivations, and further worldbuilding.

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Circumstance/series tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

When the Pack refuses to help them Taylor and Ryder turn to the lone wolf Cal as a last resort. He’s happy to provide for a simple favor: break into New Orleans’ most exclusive supernatural club to save his little brother from a fate worse than death. Easy, right? If only.

[READ IT ON AO3]

Taylor’s craft is made to be seen. He’s never been one of those types of actors who needs to imagine the entire audience empty to perform at his best. In fact, the larger the crowd the more he feels like they’re a mass of bodies and heartbeats than individuals he’s there to perform for.

The audience swells and becomes one single, solid beating heart — one mind and one capacity for emotion that he’s there to bring out. That’s his talent.

But he has a great respect for those who prefer the silence and solitude to hone their skills. They aren’t performing for anyone but themselves — improving despite the temptation to stay stagnant for their own sakes.

The piano player is one such artist. He’s no performer — no showman. Taylor’s pretty sure the man doesn’t even know he has a sole audience. Yet he keeps playing; rapid keystrokes never faltering to break the miasma of humidity that hangs over them.

He cuts into the world with his playing and knows the spaces left aren’t empty, but rather filled with melody.

Either the song — not one he recognizes — ends or the man simply decides to stop playing. Either way the tune ends abruptly; a life cut short. And he’s so taken by how it resonates in his chest that he does the only logical thing and applauds.

The piano player swings a denim-clad leg over the stool; stares at Taylor like a startled animal.

He probably shouldn’t have announced himself so loudly.

“S-Sorry if I scared you.”

The look he’s given — the threat assessed and deemed non-threatening — is definitely unimpressed.

“Yeah that’s… definitely not what happened.” Like the rest of the wolves the man inhales deeply through his nostrils. Unlike the rest of them he manages a bit of tact and doesn’t noticeably recoil. “Jesus, you smell like…”

“A hot mess, yeah I’ve been told.”

That gets a laugh and the man’s full attention — long legs swinging around away from the piano with elbows resting on jeans that have definitely seen better days. He’s the polar opposite of everything in the trophy room; nothing fancy about him except for his obvious skill with the piano.

It’s kind of nice for someone else to stick out like a sore thumb for a change.

“Nah, that ain’t it — well not all the way.” He sniffs again with his face tilted up into the air and Taylor really really tries not to laugh. Doesn’t know if he’ll somehow offend the entire Pack or something if he does. Ryder really should have given him the low-down…

“You smell like…”

Taylor waits for an answer but none comes. Sees the way the working man’s tan seems to drain from his face and leave behind something strange; almost haunted in his eyes.

Suddenly he really wishes he’d just gone with Ryder.

“Never mind.” Taylor tries to back track — moves to get up and hang out by the bottom of the stairs instead. But there’s a hand that stops just short of grabbing him that makes them both tense up.

Now he looks like the frightened animal.

“I offended you.” It’s not a question.

“What’s there to be offended about?”

The piano player brushes aside one of his mousy brown curls; looks Taylor in the eyes with such a startling honesty that he’s pretty sure his heart stops beating for a second.

“I don’t know,” is the measured reply, “you tell me.”

Well that isn’t happening, so… “Tell me what you were gonna say.”

The wolf leans back — gives them both some space. Shrugs and seems almost sheepish instead.

“A-ha… well I was gonna say you smell like my little brother. Then I realized how weird that sounded since, y’know, I’m pretty sure we’ve never met before. One of those ‘quit while you’re ahead’ things.”

He rubs the back of his head. Shoulders hunched and a measly half-smile that’s disarmingly charming. Sure Taylor’s still confused (even more so now) but it’s better than the assumed alternative.

But he does turn away from the door at the very least.

“Gonna tell me exactly how that works?”

“What d’you mean?”

“How I, uh, smell like your little brother?”

“Well puberty ain’t exactly a science to the nose.”

Puberty. God, he actually laughs. Feels even more ashamed about the obvious sweat stains on his underarms but given where they are it’s not the worst of the multiple stenches in the air.

The man continues on a borderline ramble; “And I’m gonna go ahead and assume most people wouldn’t want to be compared to a pre-pubescent teenager, you know? So then I really didn’t wanna say anything.”

It’s the most genuine interaction he’s had since all of this began — and he didn’t know how much he needed it until now. Ivy, Garrus, Krom; they were all so so great but they loved talking about it all; loved delving into the things weird and strange that Taylor was still trying to wrap his head around.

But sniffing put aside there’s nothing more casual than not knowing what to say in front of a cute guy. Talk about your ordinary problems.

“Cal — by the way — Cal Lowell.”

Taylor takes Cal’s offered hand in that usual way — pressing just a little too hard to affirm his masculinity that he’s so often okay with shrugging away from the surface. It’s how men — and Southern men especially — interact. He’s kind of an expert on the matter.

But Cal’s grip is stronger than other men. Something Taylor just accepts along with the almost sizzling heat of his body radiating from just the palm. Must be a werewolf thing.

“Taylor Hunter.”

“Who brought you along for the party, Taylor?”

Man it’s nice to hear his name instead of ‘kid.’ “Oh, actually —”

His reply is drowned out by the sudden slam of a door above them; followed by thundering footsteps and shouts that were quickly becoming not-so-muffled.

“I knew you were stupid, Ryder, but if you think I’m just gonna push all you done aside and let you come onto my territory demandin’ favors you’ve got less brain in ya than I thought!”

“Christ, Kristof, tuck your damn tail and listen to me, will ya?!”

Cal squeezes a little too hard — makes Taylor yank his hand away. But when he goes to ask the guy what the hell it looks like he’s staring straight through him.

“Shit,” hisses Cal under his breath; and swerves around Taylor rather than pushing him aside to join the argument quickly approaching them.

The man who must be Kristof is hairy. That’s all Taylor can really think of him at first glance. He’s tall but not Krom-level of tall (his new measurement standard) and wide-set in the shoulders with muscle and scars both old and new criss-crossing one another down his exposed arms.

Add a little white to his bushy beard and he could be a budget-mall Santa, Taylor thinks.

Then he catches Ryder leaping down the steps two at a time to catch up.

“If you weren’t gonna hear me out then why agree to meet with me in the first place?” snaps the Nighthunter; teeth grit and knuckles white on the banister.

He’s got height on Kristof, being a few steps higher and all, but he might as well be facing down a charging bull with the way the Pack Alpha rounds on him in red-faced fury.

“Figured it was about time you apologized for what you did to poor Jimbo,” and the fact he isn’t shouting definitely dials the tension up to eleven, “but what’s a lit’le more blood on yer hands?”

Taylor doesn’t have to ask who ‘poor Jimbo’ was. Can get enough from the context. And while he doesn’t want to get involved in something that was before he came along he’s be remiss if he didn’t feel uneasy at the thought of his bodyguard as a killer.

But didn’t that mean he’d kill to keep Taylor safe?

Ryder recoils enough for Kristof to gain the advantage; come up a step so they’re eye-to-eye.

“Don’t you gimme that fake remorse. Not in my home. Ain’t a word in Jimbo’s mem’ry — ‘stead you waltz up in here demandin’ favors?! When you ain’t even got the balls —!”

“Whoa whoa — hey!”

Cal realizes it’s a bad move just a moment too late. Octavia settles her grip on the second floor railing and looks down with a jaw set and proverbial hackles raised. But that’s nothing compared to how Kristof looks at him — goes from red to purple in the face at the mere sight of Cal.

“You stay outta this, boy.”

“Kristof — I just think —”

His reaction has to be purely werewolf. Something real wolves can’t imitate but humans could never understand. Keeps Taylor enraptured as he starts to realize he’s been thinking about them all wrong; that there is no place where the man ends and the wolf begins — but rather that they’re one in the same.

Kristof’s muscles ripple under thick skin. Something shifts on the stale air like a breeze and in less time than it takes a heart to beat Cal’s backing down with his head to the floor.

Baring the back of his neck.

He’s given Kristof an inch and the Alpha takes a mile. Advances a step just to make sure Cal backs off in a strange and unspoken dance.

“I’d say given your predicament, Lowell, challengin’ your Alpha is the last thing you wanna be doin’.”

Cal doesn’t have to say anything to agree. Even when he raises his head he won’t — or can’t — meet Kristof’s eyes.

Before he does something (else) stupid, Taylor grabs the cuff of Cal’s flannel and pulls him back.

“Best you and your pup leave now, Ryder,” Octavia calls from above, “before you overstay your welcome.”

And Nik, literally a dumbass, looks like he’s about to argue. “Ryder,” Taylor calls — practically pleads, “let’s just go. We’ll find what we need somewhere else.” That doesn’t even matter, he wants to say, but we’re not safe here anymore.

It takes him a second to move around the wall of tension named Kristof; looks like he’s about to call the Alpha out on the power move until Taylor manages to grab hold of him, too, and makes it easy on them both.

Kristof stands silent save his breathing — husky, heavy breaths that fill his lungs and puff out his chest.

“Show ‘em out, Lowell.” Octavia calls when the three of them are already halfway to the front of the cabin. “Then go for a run — clear ya head.”

Not like they’ve already forgotten the way out but it is what it is; a way to diffuse the situation. Judging by the looks of things it’s a role Octavia plays quite often.

Cal’s brought them all the way to the pergola at the property entrance before he finally seems to calm down enough to speak. Looks at Taylor with an apologetic gaze.

“Thanks for that — gettin’ me outta there.”

“Wasn’t any trouble,” though he does throw a look back to Ryder; already busy on his phone and taking out his frustration with every punch to the keys, “thanks for trying to help. I figured out he had history with, uh, the pack, but…”

Cal nods. “Guess you’ve just met him, then?”

“How’d you know?”

“Ryder’s a bit infamous around New Orleans.”

“For being a Nighthunter?”

“For being a dick about being a Nighthunter.”

Like he’s psychic, Ryder barks for Taylor not a moment later; “Come on, kid! We gotta get back to the Shift. It’s gonna be a steep price to pay but Ivy thinks she can get what we need.”

“Coming!” He calls — offers Cal what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, might go for that run…”

But there’s a distracted distance in his reply. He watches Cal’s focus flicker between him and Ryder behind. “‘Get what you need,’ what’s that mean? You needed somethin’ from Kristof?”

“Oh — yeah. We’re putting together a protection spell I guess.”

“Then you came here for Hunter’s Sage.”

It’s enough to catch Ryder’s ear and haul him over to their conversation. Not that he looks at Cal with any less suspicion but it seems to be a mutual thing.

“What d’you know about Hunter’s Sage?”

“I know it’s a standard ingredient for protection magic,” answers the werewolf, “and I also know it’s one of the few things the Pack keeps locked up tight. Whoever your friend is sayin’ they’ve got access to some — it can’t be local. And we both know if that stuff ain’t fresh your spell’ll be about as protective as a house pet.”

Ryder’s teeth grind audibly. “I’ve seen my share of scary pets.”

“But do you really wanna take that chance?”

Judging by the way he looks at Taylor; Cal wants to help. Might even know a way to do so — but if it means going against his Alpha…

“I don’t want to risk getting you in more trouble,” Taylor says, “especially after what happened back there.”

“Ain’t a risk if there’s a big enough reward.”

And much to Taylor’s surprise — and Ryder’s lack thereof — Cal gives a curt nod. “If I wasn’t in the situation I’m in… I’d offer it to you for the sake of keeping the peace. The Lowell’s have always been in good with the Alpha — he’d huff and puff for a few weeks but eventually forget about it.

“But that ain’t the case at the moment. So if you’re desperate enough for the Sage I’m more than willing to provide it as a payment.”

The hunter and the wolf mirror one another; puff out their chests and cross their arms tight. The fragility of their combined masculinity is so thick Taylor’s at risk of choking on it.

“All right — I’ll bite,” Ryder quirks a brow, “‘payment’ for what?”

Even though the Nighthunter would be the one doing said job it’s Taylor that Cal turns to. The nearest torch flame reflects like a burning passion in his eyes.

“Payment for rescuing my little brother before Kristof has him killed.”

The door is already open on Cal’s side and that’s the one closest to the curb; so it’s logical for Taylor to follow the tall werewolf out of the cab instead of joining Nik in the middle of the street.

So why does it look like for a brief second Ryder’s irritated that he didn’t?

But the look fades away; goes through Ryder’s barely-expressive version of the five stages of grief as he sees where Cal’s had the cab take them.

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me.”

Cal isn’t kidding anyone. “Now you see what I mean.”

From Taylor’s vague mental memory of those first tours he took of the new city he called home they have to be somewhere in the Upper Garden District. Usually the houses are closer together — though no less grand — but the place they’ve been dropped off in front of has its own lot cleared. As if to heighten its importance.

Or its value.

A roundabout of freshly-paved drive circles a fountain made of black iron. Lights reflect on the water and change from the soft yellow of liquid sunlight to deep emerald green and a blue he’s only seen in pictures of the ocean on a cloudless day.

The manor is no less splendid, either. Filled with the old-world charm of New Orleans; her vines of ivy climbing and spreading fingers of foliage across the vast wings and around windows both large and small. But there’s nothing run-down about it. This place is well-kept; well-loved, well-visited.

“All right — run this whole thing by me again now that I know what shit we’re steppin’ in.” Ryder demands without taking his eyes off of the estate.

Cal, on the other hand, can’t bear to look at it.

“Donny’s a good kid. Came into his wolf on time just like everyone else. He’s a whiz at math, too. Maybe that’s why he thought he could gamble — like there aren’t any card-counting hexes on any place of Smoke’s.

“He was just tryin’ to help. If I hadn’t lost my job at the building site…”

When he trails off Taylor reaches out and rests what he hopes is a reassuring hand on a broad shoulder. Cal leans into it — throws back a small but no-less grateful smile. It’s enough for him to continue.

“Whatever happened, he got in deep. One night he’s digging around the trailer for every spare nickel and dime and the next day he’s not waiting for me outside school like he’s supposed to. I went to Kristof about it and — y’know, he’s a good Alpha temper aside; takes care of his Pack — and he put some feelers out. Only they led him to…”

“They led him to Persephone.” answers Ryder, who gives a jerk of his head to the glamorous mansion.

Taylor looks between them. “Anyone gonna explain what Persephone is?”

The gesture Ryder gives at the building isn’t subtle. Nor is the look Taylor gives him because no, really?

“It’s a high-end club for high-end supernatural folks.” Cal tries only to end up getting corrected anyway.

“It’s the club, more like. You can only get in with a signet membership and people have killed for less in this town. It’s no place we wanna go sticking our noses.”

Taylor frowns. “But Donny…”

“Whatever debts he racked up ain’t somethin’ that can go away just as easy. The people who own this place aren’t exactly known for their forgiving nature.”

Beside Taylor, Cal’s knuckles crack one by one as he balls his hands into fists. Ryder shrugs. “I’m just sayin’. It’s a lost cause.”

“Then so will gettin’ your hands on any Hunter’s Sage.” Cal immediately regrets his words when he sees the way Taylor’s face falls; tries to backtrack. “I don’t — I want to help — really I do. You seem like a good guy, Taylor, and if I can help…”

But Taylor isn’t mad at Cal. “I get it. Your family comes first.”

“Exactly.”

“So why’s Kristof gonna maul him?” Ryder asks.

“For mixing the Pack up with the Smoke? He’d put him down just to make an example out of him for anyone else who might try something similar. It’ll be hard to do but being the Alpha isn’t an easy job. Even if he doesn’t kill him outright, the thought of Donny being banished…

“He’s the only family I have.” He’s trying not to seem vulnerable as best he can but his eyes betray him.

Never has there been a more apt time to think the expression looking like a kicked puppy.

Sage or no Sage, Taylor wants to help. Doesn’t know a thing about what he’s getting himself into but when has he ever made consciously smart choices? Ryder, however, seems to be heavily weighing on the pros and cons.

Well, fuck that.

“So how do we get in?”

Nik scoffs in disbelief. “Was I talking to myself when I said —”

“I’m sorry,” he rounds on his bodyguard with hands on hips and spite in his soul, “did I suggest walking in the front door? No. But there’s gotta be another way in. There always is in the movies.”

“This ain’t a movie, Taylor.”

“Well maybe we should start pretending it is.”

At least Cal looks like he’s starting to get on board with the plan. “What did you have in mind?”

It’s like one of the fountain’s color-changing lights sparks atop his head.

As someone who has never seen a goblin before, Taylor would like to point out what he’s keeping his cool very well. Like, well enough to earn whatever crazy non-alcoholic mixology madness Garrus is no doubt cooking up in his and Ryder’s absence.

Because freaking out wouldn’t help them, now would it? And they could really use all the help they can get.

“I didn’t send out no order for some Bayou filth,” the goblin woman continues on her rampage of scorn, “you must have the wrong address! As if I would serve my guests anything that grew in a local swamp.”

Taylor adjusts the small stack of crates he’s carrying — feels his fingers go numb and quickly moves them back to their aching spot. Better in pain than no feeling at all.

He’s definitely more than a little jealous at how easy Ryder makes his haul look.

“I’ll try not to take offense, ma’am, and for both our sakes I won’t go mentionin’ to my Alpha your little snipe and question of the quality of our goods. But how about you cut a guy some slack? I’m just the delivery.”

Cal’s either done this before or is a natural; lets his accent draw out his words while he oh-so-casually leans in the doorway of Persephone’s delivery entrance. He’s two heads taller than the goblin head chef but that doesn’t seem to bother her in the slightest.

She curls back a green lip in a snarl; reveals a row of large yellow teeth like blunted knives.

“Oh, you’re wantin’ me to cut you slack? When you’re the mangy hound keeping me from finishing a very specific order for a very specific client?”

“Well I can’t go about the rest of my drop-offs until this one is done!”

“And how is that my problem?!”

“I’m making it your problem!” There’s definitely no pretending the ire in Cal’s voice is fake. He pulls a random piece of folded paper out of his back pocket and starts waving it around without actually unfurling it — conveniently right out of the chef’s gnarled green grasp.

“I got a dozen more orders to fill tonight and no room on my truck —” —Cal jerks his thumb behind them but stays right in the goblin’s way; keeps her from looking for what definitely isn’t there— “— for this crap! So let me and my guys drop it off and we’re done!”

“I told you I won’t serve —”

“Christ, woman! You don’t gotta serve it; hell, burn the shit for all I care! I don’t get paid unless I got an empty truck at the end of my route. And you sure as hell ain’t gettin’ paid while arguin’ with me.”

She opens her mouth to argue but the sound of breaking glass and porcelain is the only thing that comes out. Makes her whirl around with a high-pitched and gravelly shriek as she takes in whatever mess as been made.

“You rotten-toothed fools,” she howls, “not the Ming china!”

Thank god for the broken Ming china because any longer arguing and they might have drawn unwanted attention. Well, more unwanted attention.

It’s enough of a tragedy to get the head chef to rush inside without bothering to scold them, send them off, or even shut the door properly. Easily propped open with Cal’s boot.

He holds a hand back to keep them from rushing in — Taylor’s about to very loudly protest when the noise inside starts growing into a full-blown cacophony.

“Now!” He shoulders open the door with just enough space for Nik and Taylor to rush inside, then keeps it from slamming shut as he comes in last.

Only now Taylor’s plan is done and he’s at a loss for how to go forward. Until Cal practically shoves him to follow Ryder along a side hallway out of the kitchen staff — and head chef’s — sights.

Lucky for them that must have been some expensive china because staff of all types, sizes, and goblin-shades rush by them without so much as a ‘hello.’ They test every door in the hallway until they find one unlocked and dump their cargo haul without ceremony.

“So we’re in,” Cal huffs, no doubt heart beating with the same thrill of almost-not-quite-caught that Taylor’s is, “now what?”

“Now we find your brother and get the hell out.”

When he finally catches his breath the werewolf takes a deep breath in — nostrils flaring and eyelids fluttering closed. His nose crinkles slightly, catches the scent of something foul.

“What, what is it?” asks Taylor with worry.

Cal shakes his head. “Someone burned a catfish back there.”

“Focus, Fido.”

If he wants to bite Nik’s head off for the comment he holds it in well. So Taylor smacks a leather-clad arm for him.

They wait — and wait — and wait… but Cal’s shoulders sag in frustration and disappointment. “It’s no use. The kitchen’s messing with my nose. I thought I had him, but…”

“So we just go further in, right?” Taylor grabs for the door but a broad palm stops him in his tracks. Ryder glowers down at him.

“No. We wait until he can catch the scent from back here.”

“What? That’s stupid!”

“Yeah, about as stupid as going out into the ranks of Persephone during Mardi Gras. No signets, no threads; we’ll stick out like sore thumbs.”

“Some of us more than others…” mutters Cal under his breath; not quite soft enough for Nik not to hear.

“We’re not turning back.” And just in case the hunter might be in doubt Taylor yanks the door open; sends him staggering. “Or I’m not, at the very least. So are you gonna come be my body guard or what?”

Not that he gives Nik the chance to answer. Turns on his heel and marches straight out in all his raggedy un-refined glory with Cal the flannel-clad werewolf at his heels.

“I can’t believe this is the job that’s gonna kill me.” Mutters the Nighthunter under his breath — just before he jogs to catch up.

So far everything he’s come into contact with in this strange new world hasn’t been on the best side of friendly. Why should Persephone be any different?

And for the first time Taylor isn’t let down in the slightest. Not when they manage to slip their way out of the back rooms and onto what must be the main show floor.

The ceiling is all four stories high with a large glowing chandelier shining iridescent gemstone reflections down on every inch of the place. Two winding staircases branch off in different directions with velvet-encased landings on every floor.

All around them bodies lean on railings and various balconies. The floor is an addict’s paradise; no matter the vice. A large circular bar rotates in the middle of the sunken floor while around them dice roll, chips are collected, and cards are thrown down to mixed reactions of cheers and disappointed groans.

But it’s not even the physics-breaking space that’s the most interesting part. It’s the people. Well — if some of them are people, that is.

The collective net worth of the civilized world (and then some) has to be gathered on the diamond-studded (actual. fucking. diamonds) carpeting. They titter along, absorbed in their drinks and wealth and company just like Taylor would expect of an entirely mortal clientele.

Some of them look mortal, too — though he has to remind himself that might not hold true. A woman with bright blue scales for skin brushes past with a giggled “pardonnez-moi!” as she heads to catch a waitress and her tray of mini-somethings.

Some have tails, others talons, and just when he thinks he’s seen it all a bellowing call comes from the top floor and he looks up to see a snow-white swan dive off of the landing and turn into an obsidian crow mid-flight without so much as a fallen feather.

There’s a sudden warmth a this back and Taylor jumps, ready to shove off the offender, only to find Ryder there; leading him through the crowd to a shadowed corner of booths with curtains strung around them.

“You feeling okay?” He asks under his breath.

Taylor nods. “Yeah, why?”

He inches in the round booth until Ryder can comfortably sit beside him — finds himself looking around for any sign of Cal until he spots the wolf’s messy curls shadowing a group of fanged flappers on their way to the floor bar.

The most surprising sight — even with all the magic and delight — is turning to see Nik with concern creased in his forehead. The wrinkles overlapping on his scar awkwardly.

“Ryder, what’s wrong?”

“All this ain’t givin’ you a head-splitting ache?”

It’s such an out-there question — actually succeeds to pull Taylor’s attention away from each new bewildering sight to the very-average and very-mortal face of the man before him.

The bravado’s gone from Nik’s voice; replaced instead with… with some sort of sincerity he’s not used to. Not from him, anyway. Even back at the Graveyard Shift he still found a way to make light of Taylor’s situation and the hard, dark truths he had to learn.

If he didn’t know better, Taylor would dare say the man in front of him isn’t Nik Ryder. But because he hesitates in answering, because he instead chooses to take in the sight before him rather than brush it aside, that openness closes up real quick.

Which version was the real Nik Ryder? Now he wants to know.

“No,” and he places a hand over Ryder’s arm on the tabletop to keep him from letting that be all that’s said, “it’s like you said back at Garrus’, you know? I stopped resisting it and now… I don’t see anything but the truth. Like there isn’t a glamour at all.”

It makes Nik give a soft — almost fond — chuckle.

“‘Course there ain’t. Not in here at least. I may hate the lot of ‘em for their vulgar hoards of cash but even I’ll admit they deserve a place not to have to hide.”

“I didn’t think of it that way.” And when he looks back out to the revelry it’s with a different eye.

After all he knows exactly how hard it is to go through life wearing a mask that can’t even come close to capturing the person underneath it.

“Doesn’t stop the majority of ‘em from being assholes, though.”

“When did Ryder start referring to himself in the third person?”

Cal slides in on Taylor’s opposite side, cocks a half-smirk at Ryder who only manages a grumbled and incoherent (probably for everyone’s benefit) response.

“Did you catch Donny’s scent by the bar?”

The wolf shakes his head no. Pinches the bridge of his nose with eyes squeezed shut. “For a second it was there — like he was right beside me — but just like that it was lost in the herbs they got in the drinks.”

“At least we know that means he’s here.”

“Or was, at least.”

Cal looks up when Taylor nudges his side. “Come on, don’t think like that now. We’re on the right path and, hey, knock on wood but no one’s kicking us out just yet.”

“They should with duds like those. Or didn’t you see the dress code on your way in?”

Nik tenses up beside him; mutters “shit” under his breath but doesn’t have to look around like his companions for the owner of the lilting laugh.

She emerges from around the drawn-back velvet curtain with dark blue gems for skin. No — it takes Taylor a second to realize the dress she wears just clings to her in all the right places before cascading down her legs like a waterfall.

She brushes her hair aside, lets it reveal her face as if parted from a violet veil. There’s nothing inherently inhuman about the woman at first glance — but if anyone could be the definition of deceiving looks its her.

From the looks of things she’s been taking them in with the same level of scrutiny. All but Ryder, whom she doesn’t even spare a passing glance. He leans back in the booth — suddenly far more at ease — and throws an arm around the back.

Her eyes linger on the worn state of Cal’s flannel collar and the wrinkles in Taylor’s tee. “Though I can’t tell if it’s just sad or actually a little genius on your part. One sore thumb is a nuisance but three, well… that’s a statement.”

Ryder’s brow twitches. “What can I say? I live to disappoint.”

“If only you were as good at your job as you were at getting dirt on everything you own.”

“Now that’s funny — since I seem to recall you singin’ my praises when you were butterin’ me up on the Raines job.”

“Compliments get pretty girls like me everything and everywhere, Nik. Or have you forgotten that you did come help me?”

“Problem with you Kathy,” Ryder starts up; looks like he’s ready to tell their new friend all the problems he has with her there and then, “is you always say you’ll split the fare after the job’s done but you’re too busy chasin’ your next lead to actually do it.”

‘Kathy’ rolls her eyes and turns to leave — no, not leave — to flag down a server carrying a full tray of champagne flutes filled with fuzzy pink liquid. “You can just leave that here, thanks.” She croons and waves the girl off like it never happened.

“I’ll admit I got… caught up in a few things once we split. But I give you my word the money will be in your account by tomorrow.”

The look Nik gives her is dangerously shy of ‘why wait, let’s go now’ but he doesn’t. Taylor tries to be an optimist and pretends it’s for Cal’s sake — for his little brother’s sake.

“You’re lucky I’m already on a job,” growls the hunter instead, “or I’d be pushin’ it.”

“And you’d end up waiting regardless. You’re not the only one working here.”

“I don’t even wanna ask what job you’re on in that getup.”

“It’s called blending in.”

The likelihood of their bickering lasting until the end of time, if left to their own devices, is a little too high. They have things to do — a little brother to find. And Cal’s getting antsy in his seat.

“Ryder,” Taylor tries — and fails — to be subtle; what with the wide eyes and the way he keeps jerking his head towards the depths of the lobby, “we gotta. get. going.”

Nik actually waves him off. “Yeah yeah, just a minute.” Then to Kathy; “I can’t figure why it’s takin’ you so long when you’re the one who ended up with the better end of the bargain.”

She scoffs — stops grabbing for one of the drinks on the tray and fixes him with a glare that’s gonna start Trouble with a capital ‘T.’

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Ryder puffs out his chest, huffs through his nostrils. “Just don’t think you gettin’ Raines to do you a favor measures up when I did most of the work.”

“That’s debatable, from what Kathy’s told me.”

The voice from behind them wouldn’t be nearly as startling if it didn’t come from the woman’s open mouth in a deep baritone.

Their new guest is a tall man in sleek black finery. The silk of his shirt ripples like liquid and when he walks around them to Katherine’s side there’s the tinkle of metal on the tile floor; the silver tips of his shoes make him decorated — quite literally — head to toe.

He crooks his elbow and Katherine slides herself onto his arm like she’s just another piece to his fancy ensemble. “Took you long enough…” She mutters aside.

Instead of apologizing, though, the stranger focuses on the ragtag trio in the booth. “Of course we all know there’s three sides to every argument: his, hers,” he looks away from the bristling Nighthunters to stare at Taylor; to penetrate his soul with bright red eyes, “and the truth.”

Definitely not mortal.

Everything about the way Ryder addresses the man screams recognition. Important, but not important enough to warrant an introduction.

“Cadence,” he almost sneers the name, “didn’t figure Persephone to be your kind of scene.” I thought you were better than that; that’s what hangs unsaid in the air packed to the brim with tension.

Taylor’s eyes travel down to the taller man’s hand where, indeed, the same kind of heavy golden ring rests on his finger. Cadence notices and slyly tucks his hand into his trouser pockets; as if he’s embarrassed by it. When they lock eyes again the red is gone; replaced by dark honey.

But if Nik’s remark is a trap, he doesn’t fall into it. Instead does the opposite of his companion and regards Taylor and Cal like they’re actually a part of the conversation.

“I’ll assume you didn’t come in through the front door; kudos to whatever you did that worked.”

“It was surprisingly easy.” Taylor replies.

“And dangerous — but some things are worth the danger.” The man looks down his nose — at his height it’s impossible to do anything else — and squeezes Kathy’s arm. “We should get going. We need to catch Isadora before the show starts.”

She nods curtly; all business now. Throws a look back to her—friend? rival?—Ryder.

“Well it’s been fun, but —”

“‘Isadora’ as in Izzy-Isadora? Carlo’s daughter?”

Kathy’s not the only one taken by surprise at Cal’s interruption but she does seem to notice him for the first time.

“Maybe.”

“Ain’t no other Isadora we’d know by name.” Nik cuts in.

“What’s it to you?”

“Her dad just died — what’s she doin’ here?”

Cal raises a good point. Leaves the collective group in an awkward silence. The gears turning in Kathy’s head are near visible — like the steam coming out of her ears.

“She’s here to pay off her father’s debt to the Smoke.” Cadence finally answers. Judging by the way Kathy looks at him, too, he’s not lying. “What?” He asks her in defense of her silent accusation. “What did I say?”

Only Nik acts like he’s just been shot. “Wait — Smoke’s here tonight?”

“No — Katherine stop — but her collector is. He’s leading the matches in the underground.”

“What matches?”

“The cage fights.”

Cal makes a desperate, choking noise beside him and Taylor immediately tries to see what he can do — he doesn’t have to know much about this new world to understand what they’re talking about. ‘Cage fights’ is a pretty universal term with only so many interpretations.

“That’s where they have Donny.”

Taylor doesn’t have to question him. Not with how sure, how terrified he sounds. And it makes sense — mobsters are mobsters.

“Well… we’ll just be going now…” Katherine starts tugging her partner away — actually has to tug since he seems suddenly taken by Cal’s reaction. “Cade — come on.”

Nik leans over Taylor — is personal space a concept to anyone around here? — to look Cal dead in the eyes.

“You sure?”

“Has to be.” Cal chokes out.

“Would you like to join us?”

Katherine stops tugging only to pick her jaw up off the ground. Even Taylor’s surprised by the man’s abrupt invitation. Checks his face again for any sign of cruel teasing but there’s nothing in those golden eyes.

Nothing but curiosity. Not even sincerity. He wants to see what will happen.

“Bad idea, Cadence.” Katherine warns.

“Nope!” Taylor’s shoved by Ryder — accidentally shoves the still sheet-white Cal as a result — out of the booth in haste. “Can’t take it back now.”

The Nighthunter adjusts his shirt and coat sleeves like he’s wearing something bought on the same rack as every other bespoke suit and outfit there. When he speaks he’s looking straight at Katherine — now fuming — and has to be getting his kicks judging by the look on her face.

“We’d love to.”

All it takes is a gesture for their new guides to turn and start walking. Too far ahead and too fast for Taylor to catch any of the whispers Katherine hisses under her breath. But he’s more focused on Cal.

“We’re gonna find him — don’t worry.”

Cal swallows audibly.

“Cage fights, Taylor. They’ve got him in cage fights.”

“And we’re gonna get him out before anything happens.”

Nik passes them; offers him grim two cents.

“If it ain’t happened already.”

[reasonreblogs]

Dat Half-time Show

So I’mma say it: If you are seriously mad about there not being more of Spongebob, there’s a few things you need to understand.

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events of the year.  It’s costs an insane amount of money for all who are involved from commercials to the game itself to the shows.  There’s a reason they have a ton of sponsors, the commercials are outrageous, and all time slots are highly coveted.

Yeah, a million people signing the petition is a lot, but the average viewing audience of the Super Bowl is made up of 100+ million people.  That is over 100 times more than the people who were vocal about wanting to honor Mr Hillenburg.

This means that the average audience member will already be confused about why there were 5 seconds of suddenly cartoon if they even recognized what show it was (not to mention it wasn’t even Spongebob himself, it was Squidward.  That is they DID NOT use probably one of the most identifiable cartoon characters outside of their viewership and instead a supporting/secondary main character which is p big when you consider from a marketing standpoint, that is a big nono)

Mr Hillenburg passed less than 3 months ago.  Something like this halftime show takes much MUCH longer to organize, choreograph, rehearse and pay for than that.  This means that they thought it would be fun to see if they could fit something in because like I said: A million people is still a million people.  Spongebob is a 20 year old show this year which means that a lot of people in their 30s to 40s had watched it.  So at the very least, there would be enough recognition of such an early episode in older viewers enough to maybe google “why was Squidward in the half time show?”

Also that was clearly new animation they made for the occasion.  They had *new animation made for this*

And let’s just appreciate they clearly had fun with the idea and like it enough to hype it?  I don’t even care if it’s pandering, they still did it.  And I think the video they put up on twitter of playing the full song to the empty stadium on the jumbotron is indication of “Hey I really wish we could do this during the game, but we still played with the giant fuckin TV and thought you’d like that.  Here’s hoping!”

They could have ignored it, they could have swept it under the rug, they could have even mocked us for being so obsessed over a cartoon and written it off as a bunch of cartoon obsessed weirdo adultchildren.

And look at it this way: For those who were super hype about the recent RWBY or SU finales, imagine if they slipped in there 5 seconds of idk X-Files or CSI to transition between a natural pause.  Now imagine if instead it was over a minute long (we all know how much the Conway Twitty cut away that was a full song was so loved by anyone watching Family Guy and that was just a regular episode).

Everyone I told about this irl first of all had no idea who Steven Hillenburg was until I told them.  They knew of Spongebob, but plenty didn’t remember or know the ep that would be appropriate for the Super Bowl.  When I explained, they thought that’d be cool, but still didn’t really feel strongly about it.

This is a big, expensive show.  This is targeted at an audience that, let’s face it, is not familiar with what is happening in animation.  Also us internet dwellers have one other thing: Spongebob as a staple of fuckin memes.  We have surrounded ourselves with Spongebob memes for years and that has definitely kept the good of the show fresh in our memories.

I’m all for taking jabs for fun, but if you are honestly, truly, seriously mad about this, equate every second of the super bowl to a million dollars.

They saw a tiny fraction of an audience that probably wasn’t even their regular demographic and decided hey, they could maybe shuffle something in since they have a few months.

So see this for what it was: A direct, unmissable shout out to a loud minority of people who are passionate about honoring the memory of a great creator.  They saw that and wanted to include that love, especially since it is a show that a lot of people would know enough to do a quick google search and see what was up.

So don’t go slinging shit at the stadium, the performers, the organizers, etc.

Because they saw this massive love for a cartoon and an episode that endured so long, they thought it appropriate to acknowledge it.

And maybe in the future, if the risk is more worth taking and the perception of animation shifts to being a more accepted universal medium, we can get a full performance of Sweet Victory.

So please, if you are going to flood the tags, let them know it was worth acknowledging us.  Show them that it’s worth doing again or doing it bigger.  Maybe they’ll be more inclined to take risks and maybe sponsors will be more willing to go along with it if it brings more eyes.

This was a win, this was a huge deal, this was a Sweet Victory, and that five seconds shows that we were worth 5 million dollars of air time to honor Mr Hillenburg.

[exidtotheleft]

The Tattooed Lady | 02

Pairing: Jin x Reader

Genre: Circus AU/Fluff

Summary: When a circus from Korea takes their act to America for a better audience, a certain audience member, who happens to be the daughter of the owner of New York’s first tattoo shop, catches the performers’ eyes. Since the circus is in need of new help, they decide that their consistent audience member would be a good candidate. Unknown to them, their choice to hire an unusual woman in the year 1871 would invoke mixed reactions from all over America. 

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You eagerly grabbed a dollar from your savings before leaving your house the next night. Luckily, the circus had been set up locally, so walking to the event was no problem. You still had no idea what to expect from this. You didn't even know what the outside looked like, but you had a feeling you wouldn't be able to miss it. You had heard that the traveling circus went city to city by train and set up a huge tent for the week while they performed, only to tear it down and set it up again in the next town.

So you wandered down the street of Manhattan, not sure what the target you were heading for looked like, but you knew you would find it. The flyer had told you the general area of the circus, so you didn't doubt that you could find it. And as your short heels tapped across the brick pavement, you saw what you expected. A red and white striped tent with the name Kim’s Ring of Fantasy spread across the front sign. You couldn't help but smile, it was almost exactly what you had imagined. Whimsical and unexpected. As you walked closer, you could hear a boisterous voice shouting. But it wasn't aggressive, rather entertaining and enticing. As you got ever closer, you could make out what he was saying. “Step right up! Step right up ladies and gentlemen to become the first crowd in all of New York to see, ringmaster Kim Namjoon and his fantastic performances with your own two eyes. Witness stunts like you wouldn't imagine and acts that will have you wanting more! Only a dollar ladies and gentlemen, only one dollar!” and he continued. Handing out flyers and almost harassing everyone that walked by. You loved it, you loved it because it was probably throwing the New Yorkers that were walking by on a normal day for a turn they never expected. It was like they were entering your world, because this was already right up your ally. The bright lights you could see from miles away, the excitement that radiated just from the outside of the tent. You eagerly waited in the short line and paid for your ticket.

As soon as your ticket was handed to you, you hurried your way inside. Walking past the tall man that had been outside the tent and walking into the atmosphere you had been so excited for, and it lived up to what you expected. It was loud because of the amount of people speaking, but not because of the amount of people there but rather the volume of their voices. The crowd that went to see a show like this was the less classy and reserved kind of people. They were naturally loud, and mostly men. That being said, you got a few looks as you walked in. You didn’t have to be an attractive woman to get attention from these kind of men, though you were, you just had to be a woman. They would make comments on anything. You just ignored the stares and whispers and sat down in the front row. A spot had been available there, so you took it. Wanting to get as close to the action as you could.

You looked around the tent and smiled to yourself again. The show hadn't even started but the parallel white bars suspended across from each other over the sandlot in the middle had your interest peaked. Wondering what they could do with such an odd set up. As you looked around, someone sat next to you. It was a family, a married couple and their child who appeared to be about 7. “What brings you here alone?” the wife asked after she had sat her son next to her.

“Just curiosity.” you replied simply.

“Really? I’m not too sure about this myself. I don’t think the crowd is my type, but, my son wanted to see this so I didn't see the harm in giving it a shot.”

“I’m excited. Things like this don’t normally do well here but that’s why I came. I have high hopes for it, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“You can say that again.” she nodded, before turning to her son who was making a fuss about something. “Excuse me.” she turned to you and said before turning back to her child.

“Of course.” You turned back forward and bounced your foot in anticipating. Sometimes you wondered, how would woman like that react if they knew saw what was under your sleeves. It amazed you how quick people could judge by appearance, she probably only sat by you because you looked perfectly normal and approachable. Oh how that would change if you invested in short sleeves.

As you thought about it, the lights began to dim before it went almost pitch black. “Ladies and Gentleman.” a loud voice said, and you saw a man in a unique red suit step out into the sand part of the arena as a light fell upon him. “People of Manhattan, New York. Welcome to Kim’s Ring of Fantasy, a night of acts you could only imagine await you. And the unimaginable for your own two eyes.” as he said these words, you sat on the edge of your seat. Seeing what appeared to be about six other performers appear from the shadows as music began to play. And they sure did make an entrance. Not a single one walking in normally. They were all doing a combination of flips, some of them jumping over each other, all of them doing something to catch your eye. You heard the child by you let out a big “wow!” and you giggled a bit. Wanting to do the same.

“My name is Kim Namjoon, I will be your ringmaster, your leader, if I may, for the night.” with that, the small audience applauded and cheered, ready for more. “The performers you see around you will be the ones to steal your eyes as well as your heart, I guarantee you will want to be back for more after tonight.” The performers around him froze in there spots after his words obviously in a set arrangement. Your position in front and center allowed you a fantastic view of all the performers. That was when you noticed that they were all men, all Asian. Though that didn't surprise you. Many people from outside regions came to America in hopes of fulfilling their dreams. Or what was commonly known to you as “pursuing the American Dream.”

“Without further adieu, I present to you, the show you’ve all been waiting to see.” the Ringmaster then took off his hat and bowed forward with an almost smirk. The lights then dimmed and you could slightly make out the outlines of the performers running off except for one who was making his way forward. As the lights came back on a man clad in a black suit with a cane and a top hat stood in the center. He was on a platform, with his cane on the floor and the fingertips of his left hand, poised on the brim of his hat.

“I advise you,” he said before sliding his fingers across his hat and looking up. “Don’t look away for a moment, don’t even blink. Or you might miss something.” he began before quickly snapping his hand away from his hat and to his side. Once his hand was out by his side, a deck of cards was fanned out in his hands. A deck that wasn't visible before. Your jaw almost dropped, along with the rest of the crowd. The show had hardly even started and you were already so sucked in that you wanted to come back the next night.

“Now.” he started before flipping his white cane under his arm so he could shuffle the deck of cards. “You see here a normal deck of blue cards, correct?” he asked before fanning the cards out again and showing it to the audience. “You’re right, it is a normal set of cards, but it’s what you can do with the normal,” he shuffled the cards again, bridging them before showing them again to the crowd again, but this time they had turned to red cards. “That makes it magical.” he finished, the crowd letting out more 'oohs’ and 'awes.’

He walked closer to the front of the crowd where you were, a smile on his face that had your heart melting. It was so charming an genuine, like he was enjoying himself. And the smile fit his face perfectly. “Now, I’ll need a little help for this next trick. Let’s see.” he explained before the smile slipped from his face and he walked close to the audience, seeing who he should choose before he stopped in front of you. “Perfect.” your heart almost melted. You didn't know why, but he came off as attractive to you. You smiled as he held the deck of fanned out cards to you. “Pick a card, doesn't matter which one, I can work my magic no matter which one you chose.” you looked at him before looking down and picking a card that was on the right side, holding it to your chest. “Now, you can look at it but don't tell me what kind of card it is, and show it to the lady here next to you.” you took it away from your chest and showed it to the women after you looked at it yourself, it was the 6 of spades. “Once you have it memorized put it back in the deck.” He instructed and you followed, putting the red card back. “Now. Let me work that magic.” he said before shuffling the cards again, they all turned blue again, right before your eyes. He looked at the cards, as if confused. “That’s odd.” your heart was pounding, had he messed up? You hoped not, that would be embarrassing and add to the circuses bad reputation. “It should be here.” he pushed the deck back into a pile rather than a fan and put them into the inside pocket of his dress jacket. “Let’s see, it must have ran off somewhere, where is it.” he checked the other side of his jacket, closing it when it wasn't there. Your eyes were glued on him, so fascinated to what his next move would be.

He then took off the top hat that was on the back of his head and looked inside. “Aw, here we go.” he reached inside and pulled out a red playing card. “Now, tell me miss. Is this your card?” he asked once he pulled the red card from his hat and showed the suite to you.

“It sure is.” you assured and the women next to you did as well for confirmation. He laughed triumphantly, showing the card in his hand to the crowd.

“You can keep that card, my gift to you from our Ring of Fantasy.” He handed you the card back and you took it before putting his hat back on and taking the cane out from under his arm. He turned to the rest of the crowd and threw his arms out with that heart melting smile again. The crowd applauding and cheering.

“Ladies and Gentleman, you're opening act! Hoseok the Magical!” Namjoon came out to say again, taking the man now known as Hosoek by the wrist and bowing. “Remember, it’s a new show every night, if you want to see a new magic trick, come back a second night and I guarantee you will see something just as amazing.” The lights went down again, and some music started up again, it was intense and driving, you were anxious to see what was next. As the lights came up, there were two more performers in the ring, both of them on their knees on separate sides of the ring, the one with his back to you had raven black hair but was clad in white, and the one of the other side of the ring had orange hair and was wearing all black.

You watched as the two danced and mirrored each other to the music as the two white bars that had caught your interest lowered to their level. The two men met in the middle of the ring and spun around each other, switching sides before running and jumping onto the bars. Swinging in perfect unison as they pulled themselves up. They both turned on the bar while in a vertical handstand so that they faced each other. The one with orange hair that was in front of your side of the ring made a smooth transition so that he was hanging onto the bar by his knees.

You gripped the card tightly in anticipation. Not knowing what they would do next. But you nearly yelled when the man in white let go of the bar and effortlessly flew towards the other, grabbing onto his wrist and swinging. He kicked one of his legs through his arms before bringing it down and using the force from his kick to land his feet on top of the bar between the other’s knees while the other let go. The man in white grabbed onto the ropes holding the trapeze bar up. While the other grabbed onto the bar around the other’s feet and let his knees go so that he was swinging by his hands. Once he was at the height of the swing, he let go, flying and grabbing onto the other bar that has slowed to a standstill. He then quickly pulled himself to the top of the bar and sat on it as it lowers from the frame it was assembled on. The other bar doing the same as the act came to an end. The two performers dismounted from their bars and took their individual bows. You noticed then the makeup across the man in white’s face. He had a black slit running over his left eye. The two then walked to the middle and bowed together. You could see a bit of white makeup on the others face. What looked like a diamond over his right eye.

The crowd had been applauding and cheering since the second the bars began to lower. You really were amazed by all of that. Like you said, things like these didn't come to your town, but you were glad this one did. Never had you seen anything like that. As the two trapeze artist left the arena, rather than the lights dimming out to introduce the next artist, the Ringmaster came back out to speak. “I hope our audience isn’t afraid of reptiles.” he said with a small smirk. “Our next act is something new to us, and new to America.” as he spoke, a white haired male with only half of his hair down walked behind him, holding a black box in his right hand. He had a creepy demeanor, and his make up certainly added to that. He had black slits running down over his eyes and a pale complexion. “This is Reptilian, and, though he doesn't talk much, he’s here to do something we guarantee you’ve never even imagined.” he closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side as he spoke. His expression blank. “I’ll just leave you to it then.” he said after a small pause. The audience laughed a bit at that comment as he awkwardly walked away, leaving the man called Reptilian in the ring alone.

The lights went dim, and you could see the performer kneel down on the sand. The only thing you could focus on was the box and what was inside of it. The lights stayed dim, so that you could just barely make him out but enough to see him clearly. Some music faded in as he opened the top of the box, reaching in and leaving his arm inside. You could see something slither up his arm. The audience gasped when they recognize it as a snake. A fairly large yellow python. It slithered up his arm perfectly, as if it had been trained to slither around the back of his neck and down his other arm.

He held the head of the snake up that had stopped in his hand for everyone to see before putting the head by his hip where it then slithered down his leg and nestled itself in front of him before he danced off to another box that had been brought out during the darkness, opening it and doing his acrobatics over to a third box, opening that one and walking up towards the yellow snake. Two more pythons from the other two boxed following him over.

He did a kickflip over the yellow snake and it then uncoiled from his spot and followed behind him like the other snakes. Once he had lead them to the center of the arena, he turned to face them then they stopped in their tracks. He did a turn as a transition to a kneeling position with his right arm and leg straight out on the floor. The yellow snake climbing up his arm stopped once it had crossed the back of his neck and rested on his shoulder. The one on his leg coiling around his thigh and resting on his hip. He then reached out for the third snack and it wrapped around his arm.

He stood with the three snakes hugging his body. A smirk rose to his face hearing the impressed sounds from his audience. But his act wasn't over. He tilted his head to the opposite side of the yellow snake and it slithered down enough for him to put his hand under it’s head and hold it to his face, looking into its eyes before quickly pecking where the lips of the snake would be.

You were so fascinated by how he was able to hold the weight of three fairly sized snakes. Also with how well they wrapped around him. It was almost sexy seeing the reptiles wrapped to his black uniform. He looked into the audience, almost directly at you with the serpent still by his face. The lights faded down and he lead the snakes off of him as Namjoon came back out. “I supposed you had never seen anything like that?” he asked and the audience cheered again. “Since you seem so invested in our animal acts, we have another one for you. Once our Reptilian is done putting his friends away, another kind of charmed wild animal waits for you.” the crowd cheered again, totally invented in the performances.

As the snake charmer took his boxes out of the arena, the lights went dark again, and you could see someone carry out a fairly large ring. Others rushed out and set up various obstacles it seemed. Behind him was another man with a large beast next to him. The crowd gasped as they saw the figures walking into the arena. The ring was handed to the man with the animal and then the lights came back on, the animal figure you had seen was a tiger. “Before I even think about doing an act, I must tell you.” the blonde man with the Tiger began. “This is no force to be reckoned with. This, ladies and Gentlemen, is a Siberian tiger. The most dangerous of the large cats.” he explained before cracking the whip in his hand towards the back of the wild animal, causing it to sit as he walked away from it. “It can never be domesticated, so I assure you, I am putting my life on the line for your entertainment.” he said confidently, the crowd laughed a bit, including you. “So please, be entertained.” he said before cracking the whip in his hand again.

The tiger then sat up and walked over to the tamer as he walked backwards. He walked next to a ramp and sure enough, the tiger walked up and down it, following his tamer. He went where he was lead and when the performer held out the ring he had been given the tiger jumped through it, getting an applause. He held out the hoop in several different spots, the tiger jumped through everyone of them. Before his act was over, he put the ring on a stand and someone ran out to him and struck a match before holding it under the ring, causing it to catch on fire before he stepped back, and let the tiger do what it had been trained to do and jump through the fire. He bowed after the trick and the audience cheered once again, equally impressed with each act.

The people who had set up the stage came to put out the flame and tear it down, as well as Namjoon. He spoke again as the performer lead the tiger backstage. “Give it up again for Taehyung the Tamer!” he said before everyone cheered again. “We have one more act for you, but before we close, all of us want to thank you for being our first New York audience. Without you, our acts and work would be in vain.

“Now, our last act is of another breed, but were afraid it’s not fully completed.” the crowd let out sounds of disappointment, but you couldn't help but be intrigued. In what way was it incomplete? “We’re missing a person in the act due to a lack of numbers. But I assure you! The act is still worth staying for, and will certainly be completed by the next time we come to your lovely city! So, the moment you’ve been waiting for, your closing act, Killer Blade!”

The ramps and hoops had been replaced with targets of different heights and sizes. And a tall man wearing a suite with a frilly and pinstriped undershirt with sleeves that flare at the end walked out. He threw his arms out to greet the audience as Namjoon passed him. “Now, what you see here,” he started before pulling a knife out of a holster he had on his pants. “To you is just a weapon, to me, is a form of art.” he said before throwing a knife backwards and hitting a target without looking at it.

That action really shook you for some reason. You found yourself gripping the card again. The idea to you of using knives in such a way caught your attention. Such a thing had never even crossed your mind. You found yourself wondering why there was a missing person, and what they would do in this act. You watched the performer walk pass the remaining three targets, throwing a new knife as he passed each one and hitting them every time almost right in the center. The crowd applauded as he grabbed more, larger knives from his holster. “Please, we’re just getting started.” he said before throwing a knife straight in the air and doing a roll under it and catching it as it fell. He then threw the knife at another target as soon as he caught it. Doing the same thing 2 more times but doing a different trick under the blades each time. Hitting the same target but the knives clustered in a triangle on the target. He threw his arms out and bowed before taking the last knife on his hip and hitting one last target, almost as if that was his encore.

The lights went down and you found yourself wanting more. You were upset that that was the end of the show, you wanted to see more. But as the lights came back up, the six performers and Ringmaster all came out with something from their act. The magician with his cards, the trapeze artists were both sitting on a single trapeze as it lowered from the metal frame, Reptilian had the yellow snake on his shoulders, the tamer with the whip and the hoop and Killer Blade holding a knife. They all took a group bow and the audience roared in applause. Some people around the arena stood for them and you joined them as you clapped. A real smile across your lips. The magician who had approached you looked at you as you stood, flashing you his winning smile which made you giggle.

You didn't want to leave. As you saw some people leaving their stands and hurrying out of the tent, it upset you a bit knowing that you too would have to walk back out onto the dull streets. But maybe you would come back tomorrow, or if not, the next night. They were in town for five days so you had a few chances to see it again. You hoped the word spread and they got a larger crowd as their stay carried on.

As the waved goodbye and the lights went down, you followed behind the family who had sat next to you. Walking behind them as they headed out. You let out a breath as you stepped outside and onto the pavement. You walked in silence back to your home, playing over what had happened in your head, deciding that you would go back for sure.

[a-walk-in-silence]

We Can Be Beautiful (Pt. 6)

Pairing: Peter Parker x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.4k

Summary: Heathers AU. You were used to the quiet life in Sherwood, Ohio. Albeit, you were bullied, but it was nothing compared to the shit storm that was about to happen when one boy showed up with an air of mystery around him.

Warnings: Religious commentary, manipulation, homophobic slurs, mentions of underage drinking, mentions of death, mentions of suicide, cursing, name-calling, 

Prompt: “You’re the one I choose”

A/N: You’re girls back at it with Part 6! And hey, I’m using the prompt finally! Once again, this is for @gab-spidey‘s 2k writing challenge! Hope you guys enjoy the somewhat break from the angst (but also not a 100% break) and the break from over 6k words!

Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

Key:

Y/N - Your name

Y/N/N - Your Nickname

Italics - Writing in Diary

Bold Italics - Speech of Deceased

Song Inspiration(s):

Prom or Hell? - Heathers Cast Video (I can’t find the Original Cast Recording so here’s one of a performance from somewhere? Sorry??)

My Dead Gay Son - Heathers Cast Recording

Seventeen - Heathers Cast Recording

Dear Diary,

I’m going steady with Peter, which is good... for the most part. He has a knack for killing my classmates, though. I keep praying to God and begging that he have mercy on me and my soul for everything wrong that I’ve ever done. They were so young, only 17. They could have gotten better and grown from being assholes and beer-guzzling jocks. But now we’ll never know.

I hate the fact that my bullshit teenage angst has a body count now.

An arm wrapped around your shoulders, causing you to tense. You slammed your diary shut before turning your attention to Peter, who offered you a playful smirk. “What do you want, Peter?” you asked, clutching your recovering hand close to your chest.

“There’s been a distinct lack of beautiful girls trying to crawl through my bedroom window so I figured I would see what was wrong,” he responded. He grabbed the hand that you had burned just a few days before to examine it. “This looks like it’s healing up good.”

Snatching your hand away from him, you threw a glare in his direction. “Take a hint, Peter. I haven’t come over because this has gone too far.”

He groaned, trying to pull you back into him. However, you sidestepped his arms, once again cradling your hand to your chest. He frowned and reached for you again before sighing. “I get that you’re mad but I thought we already talk about this, Y/N.”

“We did,” you said, pursing your lips together. “But it doesn’t make up for the fact that you still lied. Whether I wanted them dead or not, you shouldn’t lie to the person you claim to love.”

“Jesus, Y/N...” He runs his fingers through his tousled curls before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re blind to the good that his will bring about. Call me an optimist, but there is good to be gained from this situation. Please, trust me.” He turned to enter the church that sat right in front of you before pausing and turning to look at you. “You know I love you. Very much so. I lied because I figured it was what was best. So please...” He held out his hand for you, staring at you with his big brown puppy dog eyes.

Sighing, you offered him your hand that wasn’t still recovering from a burn and let him lead you into the church. Inside were two closed caskets, each with a football helmet on the top. You couldn’t help but feel guilt overwhelm your being as Peter lead you to a seat at the back of the church.

You sat quietly while more mourners started to fill in the empty aisles, even with the occasional question from Peter. You refused to speak, still unsettled over the fact that you caused three deaths in no less than two weeks. How did this become your life.

“Ahem,” came a voice from the front of the church, breaking your train of thoughts. You glanced up only to see Thor and Bruce’s parents standing by the caskets. Steve stood awkwardly, unsure of the whole situation. “I...” Steve started again before pausing and taking a deep breath. “I don’t really know what to say. I don’t even know why I was asked to speak. Maybe since he’s my boy and all... but... he’s not who I thought he was. I can’t help but think of the things those two would do and I just-”

Without any warning, Bucky Banner tore the mic from Steve’s hands, leaving everyone shocked. “You shut your mouth, Odinson! It is because of thoughts and mindsets like yours that made this world a place our boys could not live in!”

Once more, Steve was standing there awkwardly as Bucky went off in front of all the mourners. Quiet murmurs went around at the outburst and possible fight that could break out between the two fathers. “Bucky, let’s face facts! Our kids were pansies!”

“No! They were not pansies, Steve! They were brave boys! I’m not scared to tell the whole world that my boy is a homosexual! I love my dead gay son! You of all people should know. God has a plan for every flower, every mountain, every person! He made our boys the way they were! They were not dirty! They just had flair!”

A few laughs came from the mourners, yet you couldn’t help feeling awkward with this entire situation. How could Bruce’s dad be so accepting and have a son like... well, like Bruce?

“I say my boy’s in heaven!” Bucky continued, earning a few murmurs of agreement from the crowd. “He and Thor are together at long last, forever happy in one another’s company!” A cheer answered him, causing a huge smile to break out across his face. “These boys were brave as hell to stand up against society and say that they’re love was worth more than their lives.”

“I can’t believe you, Steve!” Bucky suddenly turned his attention to Steve Odinson, who was still just standing off to the side awkwardly. “You refuse to accept your son because you won’t accept yourself! That’s right! Everyone should know about what happened between us! The fishing trip of 1983!”

Several gasps spread through the audience, everyone reeling from the information. Mr. Odinson and Mr. Banner had-

“Oh my God...” you mumbled, shell-shocked.

“That was one hell of a fishing trip,” Steve responded, a huge smile suddenly on his face. Without warning to anyone, the two of them were locked in a lip battle in the middle of a church... no, in the middle of a funeral.

Several cheers came from the audience as everyone quickly rose to their feet to congratulate the two fathers on finding love in one another. It was if the two dead bodies were suddenly forgotten in favor of the two happy fathers now proclaiming their love for one another through the cheers of random church-goers.

Finally, you slipped away from the chaos, heading outside of the church to give yourself a moment to think. Did you really just bring Thor and Bruce’s fathers together through killing them? Did you really just bring acceptance into Sherwood, Ohio by killing two of your classmates?

A cackle made you spin around, meeting the familiar brown eyes of Peter. “What’s that?” he teased, holding a hand to his ear. “Is that acceptance I hear?” He takes a big whiff of the air before laughing. “You can almost smell the tolerance and inclusion all around us!”

You shake your head, hugging your arms around your torso. “You don’t have to act so pleased with yourself. It doesn’t change the fact that two more people are now dead.”

His arm draped around your shoulders, pulling you into his side. His lips pressed firmly against the top of your head before he continued on with his rant. “Your love keeps me humble, dearest. No, I think we should plan our next target.” You looked up at him, clear disdain written across your face. “I was think Sharon Carter. She started the three-way rumor so it’s only fitting that I’ve taken to underlying meaningful phrases in her copy of Moby Dick.”

Having heard enough, you pushed him away. “No Peter. No more death. No more killing. I told you I’m done. I want this to end. Now.”

“Or what?” Peter challenged, meeting your glare with one of his own.

“Or... I’m breaking up with you.” You turned your back to him and started to leave, hoping to make it back to your house before your words caught up with him.

“Y/N?” Peter called after you, but you didn’t stop. “Dammit, Y/N, stop!” His shout practically made you freeze on the spot, which gave him time to catch up. His rough hands grabbed you and spun you around to face him. “Would you rather we go to jail? Give free passes to the assholes like Nat or Bruce or Thor to be terrorize and antagonize the little guys? Or are we going to stand up and do what we can to make it all stop?”

You took a moment to study him, his crazed eyes and wild, unruly hair. The pain that he tried to hide so desperately was now clearly written across his face. Without thinking, you asked the first question to pop into your head.

“Peter, how did your mother die?” His hands quickly dropped from your shoulders and he shuffled a few feet away from you. “Peter? Please tell me. I want to know and... and maybe talking about it will help you. Maybe it’ll help us.”

He sighed before taking a seat on one of the stone benches that sat at the entrance to the church. You sat down next to him, leaving about a foot between the two of you. You studied his face as he watched several of the mourners head out of the church and head off to their cars before speaking. “There was an accident at one of my dad’s testing sites. There was about 5 minutes warning for everyone to clear out. My mom grabbed me and ran out the door. Once I was safe... She walked calmly back into the building. The last I saw of her was on the third-story window, waving at me with a sad smile. And then... the whole building blew up. She just left me with my dad and all of his fucking issues. She just left!” Sudden anger caused him to scream, which in turn caused you to flinch.

Noticing your discomfort, he sighed, setting a hand on your knee. “I’m sorry for screaming... It’s just... her death has given me so much clarity. It made me realize that there are assholes out there who will bully people into submission until they do something that will hurt everyone else. But not you, never you. You’re special. Which is why we have a lot of work to do to stop this.”

“I’m sorry about your mother but... what work do we have to do, Pete? Why can’t we just be happy in a world where we have each other?” You grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. “Can’t you be happy with me?”

“I just... I want the world to be a safe place for decent people like us. I want a decent world, Y/N.”

Groaning, you pulled your hand away from him, standing up as you go. “But when does it end, Peter? When does all the violence and murder end?”

He stood up as well, towering well above your head. You wanted to shrink back at the pure hostility hidden in his eyes, but you refused to back down now and let him think he’d won the debate. “This ends when all the people left in the world are decent people!”

You pressed your hands firmly into his chest and shoved him away. Thankfully, all the mourners had cleared out of the church and were long on their way home, so no one would bare witness to this fight. “Peter, stop it! Don’t you get? We’re all damaged people, we all have ghosts that follow us around. But just because you have some kind of damage does not make you God! You don’t get to pick who lives or dies!”

Throwing your hands up in the air, you started to pace, unsure of what else you could do. All you knew was that you had a lot of pent up energy and anger and hostility and you had to let it all go. “Why can’t we just be normal kids? Peter, we’re 17, why don’t we get to be like people that are our age? Why can’t we go see a movie or go bowling? Why can’t we have a life? Please Peter. Just let me in, and we can work on having a life, together.”

You turned around to face Peter to see his crestfallen face. He slowly approached you, holding out a hand. “I-I’m sorry... I do want a life with you. I want all of those stupid, cliche things. I want to go dancing with you and watch TV while sneaking a beer or two. I want to be with you, Y/N. You’re the one I choose.”

“You’re the one I choose, too.” You ran up to him, enveloping him in your arms. “We can be kids, it’s okay,” you mumbled, squeezing him as tightly to you as you could. “We can go to Prom together, and eat chili fries like cheesy couples do on TV. Just please... please... stop all of this stupid nonsense, for me.”

Peter nodded, returning your tight hug. You could feel a wetness coming from his cheek that was pressed against the top of your head and you couldn’t help but cry a little too. God, this was everything you had ever wanted. “I promise,” he mumbled, rubbing your shoulder with his hand. “I want to be 17 with you. I’m sorry, Y/N. I’m so sorry...”

Sniffling, you managed to get a little space from Peter so that you could wipe your eyes and look up at him. “Can we go over to your place? Maybe watch a movie or something? Anything to make up for basically a week of not talking.”

“Yeah, of course,” Peter said with a smile. He finally released his hold on you before grabbing your hand, pulling you to his motorcycle. “I’ve missed you so much. I love you.”

“I love you too,” you replied, letting him drag you around. Maybe this would all be okay.

Dear Diary,

After spending all day yesterday with Peter, I feel like I can see him changing. It might take some time, of course, but as long as he’s no longer carrying a gun around everywhere and is done planning faked suicides, I think we can be happy with one another.

“And they lived happily ever after,” scoffed a familiar, though very much dead, voice. “Really, Y/N/N? You believe this will be the end? Ha, you know the desperado, he’s no sooner going to change than hell is going to freeze over. And I would know, it’s where I spend my free time when I’m not tormenting you.”

“Please shut up, Nat,” you mumbled to yourself, refusing to look up from your diary. “He said he would change. I want to trust him.”

Her cruel laughter finally forced your attention back to the ghost now standing in front of you. Only, she was joined by two others. Thor and Bruce, standing in their underwear. Bruce had a single bullet wound between his eyes while Thor had two bullet holes, one in his chest and one in his shoulder. Both of their eyes were also whited-out, the same as Nat’s.

“Only a true best friend would give it to you straight, little Y/N/N,” Nat taunted before sitting down right next to you.

You were about to respond to her when a voice caught your attention. “Y/N!” Wanda Maximoff called, running up to you. “Y/N, I need your help.”

Due to the fact that she clearly sounded panicked, you nodded along. “Yeah, sure, what can I help you with?”

“Something’s not right about Thor and Bruce’s deaths,” she said, earning a rise out of the three ghosts that surrounded you. “I think they were murdered.”

“Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw!” Nat practically shouted right in your ear. Her smug face leaned in front of your own, semi-blocking your view of Wanda. “It looks like Nancy Drew is on to you,” she said in a sing-song voice.

Ignoring Nat, you looked at Wanda with faked confusion. “Wanda they were gay for one another. There was a suicide note. How can you say that?”

Her fingers fidgeted together as she feigned interest in one of her chipped nails. “W-Well... you forge stuff all the time! It could have easily of been forged. And besides, Bruce wasn’t gay!”

“You know, I’m in love with this Russian girl,” Nat purred in your ear, causing you to grimace.

“Haha! Looks like Y/N going to lady prison!” shouted Bruce from behind you. “Girl on girl action!”

“Hell yeah! Punch it in!” Thor replied.

You tried to block out the weird and oddly offensive noises that were coming from the two dead spirits. “But Wanda, who would want to kill them?”

“Well what about Peter?” Your eyes widened at her allegation, whether from the fact that she had guessed it was him or the fact that you were terrified to hear his name fall from her mouth. “You saw how he took on the two on his first day here! Not to mention the fact that the two beat him up after they spread rumors about you!”

“I’m still in pain from that ass kicking...” muttered the spirit of Thor.

“We’re dead, dude. How are you feeling anything at all?” Bruce shot back.

Wanda once again started talking since you clearly weren’t responding. “I want to look in his locker.”

“What?” you practically shouted, jumping to your feet. “Wanda, this is a wild theory all on it’s own, not to mention that I can’t just help you break into my boyfriend’s locker-”

“But Y/N! Bruce wasn’t gay! He couldn’t be!” she wailed, practically flailing her arms about. “No matter what they said at the funeral! I just can’t possibly believe he was gay!”

“Pfft, Bruce, you’re a commie magnet,” Thor teased from behind you.

“Well at least I don’t have skid marks on my backside!” Bruce responded.

“What? No I don’t! Y/N! Do I have skid marks?” Thor came to stand in front of you, between you and Wanda with his backside turned towards you. There were black skid marks on his underwear, but you weren’t about to answer him at the moment.

Instead, you walked around the ghost and to Wanda. “Wanda, please, he’s gay. It was in the suicide note. It was a suicide pact.”

She stomped her foot on the ground, clearly frustrated with your constant denial. “He kissed me!”

“As a dare!” you shot back. “He was nothing more than an asshole, Wanda!”

“But he wrote me that sweet love letter!” Sighing, Wanda turned to walk away from you. “I’m going to confront Peter!”

“No!” you shouted, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to a stop. She turned to look at you, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Time to choose, little Y/N/N,” Nat purred once more. The bickering of Thor and Bruce disappeared as Nat leaned into you, a hand on each of your shoulders. “Save your friend or save your boy. Which one will it be?”

You suddenly burst into laughter, a much crueler laugh than you had intended. However, you were unable to do anything about it now, so you decided to just speak. “You floor me, Wanda, you really do. He never wrote you that note, I did. The Heathers put me up to it. It was all a joke, and everyone was in on it but you. He never cared for you, so get over it.”

Her eyes became big as your confession hit her like a bag of bricks. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at you as if you were the worst human being to ever walk the Earth. It hurt your soul, but you couldn’t break now. You couldn’t let Peter find her snooping in his stuff...

She finally turned on her heels and ran away, leaving you to collapse back onto the small bench that was your lunch table. “Shit... what did I just do?” you mumbled, pinching the bridge of your nose.

“I’m surprised,” Nat responded, coming to sit right next to you.

“I had to hurt her,” you responded, leaning against the table in front of you. “If Peter had found her snooping through her stuff, he would have-”

“Killed her?” Nat gasped in fake horror. “But I thought the desperado hung up his guns? What’s wrong? Don’t you trust him?”

You wanted to respond to Nat, but the bell rung, pulling you from your thoughts. You sighed and gathered up your items, looking towards ghost Nat who casually perched herself on the bench. “Go away. I need to go to class and I can’t focus if you’re sitting in the back of my mind so just go away.”

She chuckled, jumping up to her feet. “Honey, I’m like the plague. I don’t go away.”

Tags:

@gab-spidey @daringbanshee @genzbitch @its-nikki-bitch @thedaydreamingwriter @starksparker @youreafangirl-harry

[fictionerd]

GOOD. TO. SEE. YOU. FRIENDS!!!

Here we are! The first post of Summer Season 2018 and we’ll be covering Planet With. This series is released on Sundays and can be watched on Crunchyroll. 

Okay, so let’s cover what we learn from the first two episodes of Planet With.

In episode one we’re introduced to Souya, a young amnesiac who dreams of horrifying giant draconic creature attacking a city and some one flying off to confront it. See it’s shit like this that causes dragons to have a bad reputation. Seriously I can’t believe these assholes who go around burning whatever the hell they want just because they can breath fire. If it weren’t for them dimensional travel wouldn’t be such a daunting prospect for me. I never know when some one is going to have a traumatic flashback and attack me all because some scaley clown got it into their head to “burninate” something.

Sorry, I’m digressing again. After waking up from his ptsdream Souya prepares to have a normal breakfast with his perfectly normal housemates of a large cat-person and green-haired maid. 

Oh wait... My bad. See I’m used to hanging out with a Teddy-Bear whisperer with the ability to access the life’s memory of a version of herself in any given universe, an elf who ONLY exists in the metaverse of the Akashic Record, and most recently a shadow-monster who spent three months pretending to be Swole-Bear. There was also that time I tried to hang out with a copy of a video game character, but we’re not considering that canon anymore. At least not entirely for legal reasons. Oh! There’s also the British man who tears holes in dimensions to fight against “unfair fates” who I’m apparently hosting a podcast with now? My point being that to me the above image is perfectly normal. To most anyone else this is probably at least a three on the Sir Memery WTF chart.

After finishing his veggie breakfast Souya sets off for school complaining about wanting to eat some meat where he bumps into his class rep whose name he has forgotten. You’d think this is just an excuse to set up Tsundere vibes with her, but no it’s far FAR worse than that. See her name is: Kagaratamaha? [wrong buzzer] Hakatamagara? [wrong buzzer] Ta-ka-ma-ga-ha-ra? [Correct Tone] 

So Nickname Pending is worried about Souya and how he doesn’t make friends at his new school. This is because she knows what it’s like to be the new kid, and has apparently never watched an anime in her life so she doesn’t quite grasp the concept of “Leave the mysterious blue-haired transfer alone”.

Side Note: This character’s introduction marks the first time I’ve ever gotten a Japanese pun without some one explaining it to me. So allow me to ruin it for you all by explaining it. She offers Souya some of her Hamburger Steak to which he replies with tears of join “Megane-sama” which she mishears as “Megami-sama” and sheepishly replies that she doesn’t think she’s a goddess before immediately realizing what he’d actually said. This leads into the reveal of her actual name which I refuse to ever use the entirety of again because I honestly don’t think the joke is that funny.

Later that day Souya’s shounen receptors begin to tingle as he picks up on the impending conflict of the story. A UFO is sighted offshore headed towards the city. When the air-force is deployed to deal with the object (Picture in header) they find themselves the victim of some strange joyous delusion and leave the object alone. it’s only when seven strange people, apparently psychics of some kind, utilize their powers to confront it is it stopped. We see one of these people enter the object through a “Weak Point” and have his own delusion.

See, his mother was killed in a fire when he was a little boy causing him to become a firefighter. The UFO hits his brain with a delusion of child him being held back from the blaze by a firefighter only for that firefighter to turn out to be adult him. Adult Firefighter Psychic dude runs into the fire, saves his mom, and the two of them walk through the cherry blossoms as he sorts through all the pent up regrets he has about not being able to save her when he was a kid. Only after we’ve conveniently gotten to know this character’s defining trauma does his squad get through to him and break the delusion, then he uses his Psychic Golem Powers to wreck the hell out of the UFO causing it and copies of it that had appeared around the world to disappear all at once. The same can be said for the Psychics who all blast off to separate places to avoid the fate of E.T. one presumes

While all this was going on Souya got a call from Ginko (That’s green-haired maid lady for those not following the series who also don’t care about spoilers). She tells Souya that he has to defeat “it”, but contrary to what everyone in the audience thinks it turns out that “it” refers to one of the Psychics and not the UFO thing. After Ex-Firefighter current world-saver exits the bushes onto a highway he encounters Souya the cat-man and Ginko. Souya is sporting a mask and being basically lead by the nose at the behest of Catman and Ginko. Now hold onto your seats because this is where shit gets REALLY weird. 

Catman swallows Souya turning into a mech in the process that Souya is now piloting. They get into a fight with Firefighter dude who summons up his psychic golem thing. After fumbling around at Ginko’s direction Souya manages to pilot the Catmech to victory over Psychic Fireman and retrieves a vial of star-shaped dust that is the “source of his power”. At which point I’m lead to believe that Souya recovered his memories because he shouts at Firefighter to tell his friends that Souya is going to kick their collective asses. This is presumably because he believes them to be behind his ptsdream.

After the credits roll we see a scene where a guy I can only describe a scruffy Alder from Pokemon Gen 5 says ominously that Firefighter dude had been taken out.

So, before even watching episode two I can already hands-down predict that this guy is the Draconic asshole from Souya’s ptsdream. Not sure how everything fits together but my working theory is that Souya’s from another planet that Earth governments or some shadowy organization somehow invaded and stole something from. Souya is a sleeper agent and the “Peas” balloon things are meant to lure out those in possession of the Stolen Macguffin or whatever.

There we have Episode One. Please excuse me now while I go watch Episode Two. Well... I mean you can just keep reading by the time this goes up but... BRB!

[Approximately 30min later]

Well my theory from about two paragraphs ago is up in smoke as soon as the opening scenes of this episode roll in and further dashed upon the rocks by Ginko later in the episode. All things in their proper order.

So Torai (That’s firefighter-guy’s name btw) makes his report to dragon-man about his encounter with Soya and company. The other six Psychic warriors all make jabs at him as though he died even when he’s sitting right there in an example of a gag that is legit funny unlike Tara’s name from last episode. While we’re talking about the exposition meeting may I just say that I feel BETRAYED!

See Dragon CEO guy is as nerdy as I AM! He’s the one who found out that the enemy force is called Nebula. He called the giant abominations “Nebula Weapons” gives Soya and Company the name Nebula Soldiers, and what does he call the Psychic Golems his crew uses to fight? Psychokinetic Mega-God Photon Armor. If I didn’t know better I’d think my pops made him from the same mold as me no less. Oh, and their little world-saving club? It’s the Citizens' Safety Center Special Defense Section: "Grand Paladin". I’m in tears, people, this is a Draconid after my own heart.

So, the “Grand Paladin” peeps implement the buddy system in case they run into Soya again. Meanwhile Soya’s having a sulk because apparently Ginko and “Sensei” dragged him to Earth to be their soldier. He goes out on a walk in Iron Clogs (I’m guessing this is a joke I’m not getting). On the run he meets up with Torai who just happens to have purchased a bunch of meat buns from a convenience store. They have a conversation because Torai is a nice guy (that’s a legit nice guy not the version that’s been turned into a derogatory term by certain groups online). See Torai, while out looking for his attacker couldn’t help noticing what he thought was a middle-schooler sitting on a random bench crying and came over to see if there was anything he could do to help.

He gives Soya a bun they chat for a bit with Soya desperately trying both not to give away who he really is as well as to eat the bun because dammit he just wants some MEAT for once! All of a sudden the evacuation alarm is sounded because this wonderful abomination has appeared off shore.

Nebula really needs to consult a different artist about their designs. I personally recommend @dashfox1artwork. 

Robin: Shamelessly plugging your internet friends are we dragon-boy? 

Fic: If you’re not going to show up and fight keep your mouth shut Shadow-bear. I’m just doing my part to show that not all Dragons are assholes. Robin: Whatever you say.

So, the six remaining Psycho-God pilots attack the Ugly Bacon Idol and the pink-haired girl of the team, Miu, is the one to enter the core. The hallucination she sees is of her beating her friend Harumi (Pilot of the Bear-armor) at apparently a Judo competition. We find out that Miu has always just wanted to be strong, and we also learn that she IS strong being able to break through the illusion of the Nebula Weapon with relative ease and destroy the thing. It’s at this point that I should mention that a message has flashed before each of the characters who take one of these things out. In Miu’s case the message was “It’s okay to be weak”. For Torai in episode one the message was “I forgive you” presumably preying on his regrets about his mom.

After Piggy McHideous is dispatched the group separates into its pairs and as we expected Soya and Co target the pair with a member who just fought a battle, but let’s back up for a second because there’s some exposition from Ginko during the fight with the Baconator that needs addressing.

She reveals to Soya that Nebula is indeed the name of the group they work for, but there are multiple faction. Ginko and “Sensei” are with the “Pacifist Faction” whereas the Monuments to terrible design sense that have been popping up in the harbor belong to the “Sealing Faction”. Basically think of this as political parties. One wants to prevent humanity from rising up against them one day by brutally suppressing their ability to advance and keep them in a state of complacency, while the other just wants to take away any dangerous toys that humanity might come up with and hope that they can “guide” humanity onto the path of “Love” rather than “Power”.

Hmmm one group bent on maintaining their personal status quo at the cost of anyone else and another that wants to control precisely what power the general populace has access to in order to “guide” them on the “right path”? I wonder where I’ve heard that one before?

Sorry about that. The Writer is coming through me a little strongly there. Point is that Ginko is using Soya to enact social and ideological control... I MEAN to take away the magical stardust that allows the Psycho-God Pilots to do their thing... yeah. Back to the proper progress of the episode: Soya once again pilots his cat-mecha-sensei to fight against Miu and Harumi. It is a pretty fun fight, but all things must go as has been foretold. So after being on the ropes for most of the conflict Soya turns everything around at the last second with a miracle uppercut against the Bunny-god armor. As Miu is falling back to Earth Ginko appears and grabs the stardust vial away from her. Apparently Ginko can just Mary Poppins herself to wherever she pleases? They all land and Ginko’s like “That’s all for today”, but Soya’s having none of it. He’s ready to take the fight to Bear-mech too when all the other Psycho-Pilots show up including CEO Dragonface to say “Checkmate”, and that’s where our story concludes for now.

Y’know I’m coming more and more around to the opinion that we should be routing for “Grand Paladin” here rather than the lady influencing Soya or the massive, faceless organization that wants to turn us all into Proles from 1984. I mean, yeah, they do have the snake-eyed dude. They meet in what appears to be some sort of board room, and the writing seems to indicate that they’re the “Antagonists” if not the villains, but so far they don’t seem to be anything but a collection of well-intentioned if somewhat zany people. Even the big CEO-type with the intimidating presence, as was discussed earlier, is a lovable and hammy goofball. 

I love any series that makes its antagonists human. Granted cartoonish villainy and even edgelordiness has its place in stories, but when you can make your antagonists and especially your villains feel human and relatable it just rings home that nobody is the villain in their own story. Everyone has reasons for what they do. They may not have excuses or justifications, but they all have reasons.

For instance, I have a reason for breaking my own rules here by reading my political views into the story.

[pauses for dramatic effect]

Yes, yes I’m sure you’re all very shocked at this revelation. I mean I was so subtle about it (/s). My reason is that when I went back and really thought about what the “Sealing” and “Pacifist” factions of Nebula stood for I (and this is really the nerd behind The Nerd speaking) couldn’t help but see parallels to some of the more distasteful extremes of Conservative and Liberal politics at work. Both sides seek to impose their morality upon others. While one does so by attempting to keep people complacent with the status quo, the other does it by appealing to the rebellious nature inherent in people and channeling it into “causes”.They use guilt and peer pressure to convince people that their way of thinking is correct and I absolutely cannot stand seeing it happen. Especially when they prey upon others using causes that need legitimate champions! 

The goals of the “Pacifist” faction are arguably “good”. They are part of a group that has watched humanity evolve and they only want the best for us. They “keep their involvement to a minimum”, but at the end of the day they’re doing the same thing that the “Sealing” faction is doing. They’re enforcing their own will on humanity by taking away humanity’s means to fight against them, or anyone for that matter.

In the anime this is likely because the “Pacifist” faction is short-sighted and hasn’t stopped to consider what will happen to humanity when they take away the only weapon they have against the “Sealing” faction, but in reality? In reality groups like the “Pacifist” Faction either are themselves or contain an element that wants the people they’re disarming to become reliant upon them for what they need. They take away that person’s own weapons and replace them with their own. They dictate the rules of battle and push you to come to them for aid and defense. They accrue personal power and influence at the cost of their followers’ freedom of thought.

These are important things to think about and be on the lookout for, and it’s an issue that is very prevalent in my own life and dealings online. So those are my reasons for why I read political allegory into the factions of Planet With. Now am I justified for doing this when I so often decry others for “reading shit that isn’t there into stories”? No, of course I’m not. Or rather I’m not justified using that argument against people who dropped a show as a result of what they read into it. 

I’m not going to lie. I’m inexperienced with expressing views on creative work online, and am overly sensitive to certain things. I’m just as flawed as anybody else. It’s hard for me to understand when people see “bullshit” in something that I didn’t see. It’s hard for me to accept some one calling a show (particularly one I like) “Garbage” when really it’s just not clicking with them. I know that I’ve been guilty of calling a show “Garbage” in my time, but it’s a term I hope to avoid moving forward. I want to live up to my professed belief that there is good to be found in all fiction, even the “bad” fiction. Part of that is accepting the responsibility I tell others they need to accept. To practice what I preach.

If I’m determined that the Audience has just as important a role in creating art as the Authors then I need to learn to accept the interpretations of my fellow audience members, and to feel free to express my own interpretations of things.

[stops to take a break and slide back into character]

Wow... That ended up being a lot heavier than I imagined. What a way to kick off the summer season! There’s more to come but for now I need a break, and the writer could probably use a nap.

Until next post keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon

[jahmusicandlive]

SubWoofers: It’s Showtime

The day was here. The day we had been building up to for seven months. The day that had caused endless stress, documents, and spreadsheets. The day that pretty much represented my input and effort of second year (I would say roughly 85% of any of the work I have done this year has been towards this event).

One thing I had already agreed with myself about a week prior to the event was that I was going to stay happy and positive. Generally I find this fairly easy, I tend to have a positive outlook in day to day life, however, I also know that once I allow my stress to work me up into a mess I struggle to get out of that spiral. I like to think that I did a pretty good job of staying happy, which doesn’t really sound like a job at all, but I think as a leader, if you’re smiling your team are more likely to, like a sort of reassurance that things are on track.

As requested I arrived later than the first group. My mum was generously offering her photography services to us and so she picked me up and drove me in for 8:30. Though I had offered, we both knew that her staying at my house wasn’t the best idea as my only downtime (sleep) needed to be comfortable and having another person to focus on wasn’t going to help that. I cannot explain how incredible it was to have my mum at the event, getting to see me in action. I am very close with her and always keep her updated on uni work, so she has been a part of this journey too. I also know from the past 20 years of my life that if I make my way into that stress spiral, there is one person who can ALWAYS get me out of it. Shout out to you mum, you are a living legend.

Anyway, I arrived at 8:30 (though that hadn’t stopped me being up since 5:30 checking documents and communicating with the early team to make sure everything was going according to plan) and went straight out to the field. The site actually looked like a festival site and I was BUZZING. This was also the first day that the whole team would be on site and I would be coordinating approx. 40 people. One of the tasks that I had an active influence on was the build and break roles, and basically deciding who needed to come to the site on which days. This is definitely something I would have changed in hindsight. We knew we would need people that were actually going to turn up and put the work in, but a few more bodies would have definitely made the process quicker and easier.

When security arrived on site I became two radios Jessie (see flattering picture below). At this point, I really had to get my head in the game, as not only did I need to focus on communicating with people in person, I also had two radios to listen to. Oh and not to forget my phone ringing every five minutes with calls from members of the team without radios. The staggered arrival times of team members meant the radio protocol had been mostly swept aside. Thought this didn’t cause any major issues there were definitely hiccups involving people cutting into other conversations or just speaking rather than using a call and response system (“Jessie to X”, “Go ahead”). One item mentioned in the debrief was that everyone should have arrived at the same time, with one briefing for all including health and safety, radio protocol, and any other information necessary.

The rest of the team arrived after 10 and were given the health and safety briefing. Then came the moment that made everything real… Alan (our course leader) turned to the group and said “Jessie is the event manager, Jessie is in charge, any questions go to Jessie and she will either answer them or send you to a person that can answer them”. In that moment I realised how much responsibility I had been given and how much was relying on me, but funnily enough it didn’t send me into a panic, instead, it got me pumped. It also reassured me that people would listen to me, as the day before I felt I struggled a little with enforcing instructions, so for everyone to have been told clearly (by someone of authority) that my instructions needed to be followed was a relief.

Though the arena was not due to open to the public until 1pm, myself, Jess (H&S coordinator) and Michele (THD CEO) were scheduled to carry out a final walk around at 12pm to ensure that all structures were safe and everything was in place ready to open. At around 11:50 I started running around, knowing fully well that there were still bits to do, however, it turned out that most of these tasks were reasonably small and could be achieved in a short time with the help of many hands. One aspect that was an issue, however, was the security. In the build-up to the event I had been responsible for arranging and liaising with security. When I met with the boss of the company I felt assured that they were event specialists and since the event target audience didn’t pose any major threats we chose to use their services. The reality was that, although the boss fully knew what he was talking about and the industry, most of his team didn’t. One or two of the on-site team were great, fully communicative and on top of it… the other were simply bodies. They didn’t have any clue about what was going on and within that there is definitely room for improvement on our part as their briefing clearly needed to be more in-depth, potentially even held a day or two before the event so that it didn’t clash with the madness of the on-site tasks. There was also an inability to follow simple instruction and in the end, it took the CEO going down and shouting at them for them to actually follow instructions. I understand that with it only being a one-day event, by the time you have your head around it, it’s almost over, however they felt very separated like they were their own little group and only their team leader would communicate with me, it didn’t feel like a coherent collaboration.

It was showtime! Generally, most things within the arena were running smoothly, the two areas that were a bit hectic were the box office and arranging the stewards. Though I was event manager I had fairly little to do with the box office as there were box office assistants, who were managed by the box office manager, who was managed by the logistics coordinator, and so there were already people capable of making the decisions and adjustments necessary to improve the situation. When it came to arranging the stewards Remely (staffing coordinator) was on boss mode. Having made the stewarding rota I knew what the plan was, however as we found out, rotas completely change on the day when volunteers drop out and problem areas need more help and attention. There were a handful of times that Remely called me asking for assistance or advice on who to move where, but other than that I felt comfortable in the knowledge that she was on top of it and props to her because it’s an insanely difficult job.

Once most people were through the gates the day was in full swing and everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves. I’ll set the gif (below) speak for itself. I ended up making multiple radio calls along the lines of “does anything need doing, are there any issues anyone needs help with” because my team were doing their jobs so efficiently.

As the final act performed everyone managed to find 10 minutes or so to experience the show. Some of the team went on the rides, others just sat down in the sun for a bit. I was walking near to the main stage as saw my mum dancing to Ska Souls - This may seem like nothing to some people, but I usually have to drag my mum onto the dance floor and build up her confidence to let go and have a proper boogie, so to see her doing this by herself made me unbelievably happy - and so I had no option but to go and join her for a dance. Little did I know that Dan captured a few seconds of it (and probably doesn’t realise how much this footage means to me).

Once that moment was over I had to round everyone up in the production office to go over breakdown roles. Before I could start, Remely got everyone’s attention and ended up giving me a little thank you speech. My production team got me two bottles of spiced rum (my drink of choice) and a card. I cannot put into words how thankful I am to have been blessed my team members. Though some struggled to find motivation at times, we all came together and smashed it! Thank you to all my production gals (that includes you, Michael) for making my life so much easier, I couldn’t have coped without you guys. And while I’m here thanking people, let’s chuck a thank you over to the other team leaders. Without our weekly meetings and communal stress rants, I don’t think we’d have pulled off this event. You guys were my stability through this rollercoaster and I can’t wait for us to work together in the future, cause I know that whatever we do together, we’ll smash it!

Now I am aware this post is getting fairly long now, so it’s lucky that the breakdown on the day was a fairly swift process. Once everyone’s roles were allocated it was GO! GO! GO! (This was definitely helped by the fact that once we were finished we knew we could rush home and go out to the final night of Festiball). During this time I was pretty much just overseeing everything. The main issues involved the vehicle egress. Because so much planning had gone into the placement of stewards during the event, the post-event placement had been given less attention. In reality, more stewards were needed throughout the exit route, as well as more signage (In a larger font size). Within this egress route, more attention should have also been given to traders, as it was a one-way system it became difficult for them to get back onto the field from the parking area. All problems were solved but we were all so focused on the show itself and the breakdown that the egress definitely should have been looked at in more detail.

Though there were many other highlights and hiccups, this post is already longer than anyone wants it to be, so I will finish up here. One last thing I must write is to Alan. Alan dropped the bombshell on us a few days before the event that he would be leaving the university at the end of this term. Now, if you had told me this a year ago, I would have been concerned for the future of my course, but I wouldn’t have been particularly personally affected. Over the past year (the past 5 months in particular) I have grown to have the biggest respect for you and I am truly gutted that you are leaving. You have done so much for this course and this event and I know that in the future I will look back knowing that you will have had a major impact on my work ethic and my career, so again, thank you so much.

[zacharyleishmanfilmstudent]

FILM 303 Creative Professional Conclusions: Crowdfunding and Sourcing Deep Dive – Lecture Notes and Thoughts:

This session featured a deep dive look into the many resources available to secure and utilise crowdfunding in for our grad film projects, or for use in future projects across our practice. The session was designed to discuss the many options available to us to secure funding, and then use this research to begin planning how we may utilise these resources.

Crowdfunding as a concept in itself is fairly simple. In all productions, producers are required to develop a budget that covers all below and above line costs from cast to shooting and development processes. This budget is typically financed by a studio but frequently in independent endeavours media makers have to find means to finance themselves.

The most common form of funding independent filmmakers can gain is found through crowdfunding. Taking the place of the involvement of friendly investors, this is where strangers who have been convinced to donate to the project contribute to the budget with their own money, in an effort to support the project/creator.

Crowdfunding can come in three different forms. All take place usually on social media the forms consisting of, equity crowdfunding, where investors receive a return on their payment, rewards crowdfunding where non-financial incentives are offered for donations and finally simple donation crowdfunding which is just simply charity.

Rewards crowdfunding is the most popular and the method I have the most experience with and would personally offer. It is the less risky option should your production run into issues and you find yourself unable to return funds to your investor and is ultimately a good show of gratitude in any small form to your backers.

Rewards crowdfunding involves the artist offering specific rewards once certain milestones are achieved in your push to gain funding. An example of this could be offering concept art, a copy of the script, pieces of your soundtrack or early test screenings. It assures the donor of the feasibility of your project, that actual work is going towards it, whilst also maintaining interest in the project, possibly helping develop communities around it, if enough people want to work to access all of your available rewards. It is effective in being in its own way, supplementary content creation but does also pose the risk of fitting into the gig economy, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket and there is zero guarantee of success.

The overall benefits do though greatly outweigh the risks. It generates a maintained social media presence for your work, doesn’t come across as corporate, allows you to directly appeal and pander to niche audiences and you can sometimes be lucky enough to gain extra funds even after the donation period has ended.

There are several platforms on which artists can crowdfund but possibly the two platforms that bare the most use and benefit to my practice are Kickstarter and Patreon. Kickstarter is effectively the epitome of the rewards crowdfunding system previously discussed. A site specifically designed to creators to pitch projects and find support it operates on a reward system utilised to draw up attention but is reliant on the project reaching its total funding goal to access any of the funds you’ve gained during the process.

Patreon in contrast to this differs in that it is a support network for artists not their projects. Here artists can offer rewards in return for directly funding their livelihood. Used particularly by YouTubers they offer rewards such as exclusive content or direct communication in return for money they use when ad revenue is not available. There are no direct downsides to Patreon but there is a very tricky formula to maintaining audience interest and does require you to be producing regular and quality content if not quality rewards to make the donation seem worthwhile.

Both have been used to scam and cheat certain audiences and like any social media there are adverts for even the most useless and inane of the causes. However, both platforms can be used to really provide positive support to creatives and really help make or break their art in a time where it is increasingly difficult for artist to gain the likes of major studio support or just have their platform on which they operate, treat them fairly.

After having discussed the styles and functionality of these platforms we were tasked individually with researching the successful instances artists have found on these platforms and then determine how we might create our own campaign or programme on these platforms.

An extremely successful Kickstarter campaign that I have previously researched at great lengths due to the sheer impressiveness of its success, is the Kickstarter campaign for the Indie hit game, ‘Shovel Knight’. Through Kickstarter, indie development team Yacht Club games were able to launch their 8-bit homemade platformer into one of the industry’s most beloved and well-known titles.

The success of Shovel Knight was born out of the game not just being a legitimately fantastic product but through the approach Yacht Club took when trying to fundraise for the project. Setting the bare minimum target for their total goal their approach focused on acquiring what was necessary, it made the project seem trustworthy. The team wasn’t seemingly asking for any more than they needed just what they needed to make the game and survive financially. The honesty present was a huge reason to place trust in this team, when the platform had previously been used to take excessive amounts of money from fans and not committing it to the actual listed project, as seen in the case of the now industry hated ‘Mighty Number 9’.

Gaining publicity for the game was something Yacht Club was able to quickly get their hands on, sending early test models of the game’s beginning stages to streamers focused on retro game content, attracting both their fans and support. It signalled this was a project that was meant for the fans and was a love letter to the fans who missed this era of games as well as to the era itself.

The real killer of this Kickstarter however were the reward tiers. The make-or-break factor of many a Kickstarter, Yacht Club promised new character campaigns that would be released as full DLC once the stretch goals for the main game had been reached. Effectively saddling themselves with even more work, work that they didn’t finish until years after the full game’s eventual release in 2014, the team once again sold donors on Shovel Knight as a product. This was not a one and done hit, this was a product that would be supported and would become a long-time investment to the fans good enough to believe in the product.

A larger risk had the game failed, but one that they were ultimately able to pull off, the main lessons I would take from this campaign is the importance of getting your name out amongst the fans and giving them decent incentives to back you that are actually valuable.

A Kickstarter campaign is not something I intend to start for my grad project film ‘Eulogy’ given the film has already been self-financed and doesn’t likely require further funds. However, I still believe that the project could possess a strong campaign that offered a variety of rewards to those who chose to donate. The budget I would hypothetically want to reach would range between £200-£300 and whilst lacking the funds or manpower of Yacht Club to produce the same quantity of rewards or the scale they possessed I would still attempt to produce a quality and modest set of rewards.

£1 Patrons = Name in credits and a signed copy of the script

£5 Patrons = Name in credits, signed copy of the script and behind the scenes featurettes and commentary videos

£10 Patrons = Name in credits, signed copy of the script, BTS videos and original limited print of the artwork featured in the film.

£20 Patrons = All of the above and early access screening of both work in progress and final cuts of the film.

These rewards I would envision to be a decent incentive for donors to consider donating and given the low rate of the budget and rewards available at every tier, it seems likely that even if the majority of donations were on the lowest tiers, I may still be able to finance the film and the donors will be thanked for their contribution.

A platform I do greatly intend to make use of in my future though is Patreon. Whether my practice continues to focus on filmmaking or not a great hope that I have is that I will be able to commit to the creation of video essay material on YouTube analysing media I have a knowledge and affinity for. Ad revenue is famously a poor means of supporting oneself through YouTube so if in some reality I could attract a following, I would offer a Patreon through which they could support me.

My Patreon model would be based on a current Patreon I currently donate to, the patreon for the ‘Let’s Fight a Boss’ podcast. An Irish podcast the trio discuss the media they’re consuming and offer livestreams of obscure video game series, their playthrough of ‘Shenmue’ being possibly their most famous content. Their Patreon model is quite modest, there not being many rewards, they can offer in a Podcast format but still being worthwhile enough in themselves. The rewards I have been able to access by donating, is access to their private discord for fellow patrons, shout outs for actual patrons during episodes of the podcast and access to exclusive episodes not featured on their channel.

Any rewards I would offer on Patreon would follow a similar model, I myself wanting to produce some similar digital rewards that also focuses on thanking and involving fans in my work to show gratitude for their charity. Whilst there’s no guarantee this plan will ever actually take shape, this is the hypothetical rewards system I have long planned to offer.

£1 Patrons = Name in the credits of videos and access to channel discord.

£5 Patrons = Name in credits, access to channel discord, a verbal shoutout at the end of the video and access to behind the scenes editing commentary videos.

£10 Patrons = All of the above with early access to videos, access to private vote to determine topic of videos and access to four Patreon exclusive videos not featured on YouTube.

This is model I think I could feasibly create and that ultimately isn’t greedy. I doubt I will commit to YouTube full time, but this is enough of a rate where I could consider it a viable side project/earning if I can hopefully develop enough of a following, and I believe this reward programme is quite generous in that regard and wouldn’t lead to burn out.

The many benefits and pitfalls of crowdfunding have been apparent to me even before I considered entering this industry myself. My desire to utilise crowdfunding within my current practice is undeniably minimal as I do not have the confidence to consider asking for money for an amateur project. However when my practice does eventually alternate to this new video essay focus, considering crowdfunding on Patreon will be completely necessary if it is media I want to make viable.

[digiexpertsde]

WHY EMAIL MARKETING TOOLS IS TOO IMPORTANT FOR BUSINESS IN 2020?

In short, yes. Developing a strong email marketing strategy can help you attract and connect with your target audience in a personalized way, and increase sales at an affordable cost. Just as other platforms and media have changed, Email Marketing Tools make it easier than ever for your business to reach customers.

 Here Are My 9 Reasons Why Email Marketing Is Important And How They Can Help Your Business:

 1.     Keep In Touch With The Audience

Email has the ability to keep your customers informed. Consumers can check their emails at their convenience. It can make them feel that you are thinking about them. This email can simply say: "Hi, you are in our minds, this is a special price!" or "Here are the latest updates in the last few weeks." Those who have signed up to your email list have promised to receive These notes. Therefore, they are likely to like these emails (as long as you provide them with something worth reading), which will increase interaction with customers.

 2.     Attract Customers In Real Time

According to Litmus, 54% of all emails are opened on mobile devices. This is important and should play a role when planning any marketing strategy. More and more consumers are using their mobile devices to access email, but also to access all other types of media and information. Not only that, but a well-designed email has a higher conversion rate on mobile devices than any other medium. Click ’em anytime, anywhere!

 3.     People Interact With Email

For a long time, actually for more than 40 years, email has been a form of communication. Over time, email has quickly become one of our main choices for communication. All of us are ready to respond to emails in some way. Whether it's replying, forwarding, clicking into other content embedded in the email, deleting or buying or signing. We tend to process emails. Knowing this, you can use email to draw people to your website, answer calls and make calls or any other call to action. In fact, more than 25% of sales last year were attributed to email marketing.

 4.     Email Marketing Is Easy To Measure

Most email marketing tools provide features to track what happens after the email campaign is sent. You can track delivery rate, bounce rate, unsubscribe rate, click-through rate and incomplete rate. This allows you to better understand how email campaigns work, campaigns that need to be adjusted or campaigns to get rid of completely. These indicators should not be ignored. They are an important part of the entire Internet marketing activities. Although there are various studies and surveys that show the "best" target number, it all depends on your industry and target audience. If your customers not only want but also want to receive emails every day, it is best to provide them. However, if you send too many emails to consumers who don’t want to send multiple times a week, your unsubscribe rate will increase. All this is to understand your customers and provide valuable content.

 5.     Reasonable Price

Yes, we know that you are waiting for us to resolve this issue. You can attract a large number of consumers for less than a few cents per message. The cost of each (possibly) conversion of email marketing is so low that I can't believe that every company will not participate or participate more frequently.

Email marketing services (such as sendgrid) cost $0.0006 cents per message at their platinum marketing email level. Mail Chimp allows you to send up to 12,000 emails per month for free. They also offer larger monthly plans for growing businesses with up to 600,000 subscribers, and a large-volume sender plan for anything beyond this number. Vertical Response, another email marketing company, offers free email marketing with up to 4,000 emails and 1,000 email contacts per month. They also provide subscription services for bulk senders.

 So yes, although it does provide a good return on investment, it might be a wise idea to hire someone to manage these tasks. According to Shout It Out Designs, out of 15,000 email databases, your company will spend approximately 152 hours per year on managing advertising campaigns. This will include writing, drafting, scheduling, sending emails, etc., answering any questions about quotes, lost coupons or other questions, and database maintenance: adding and removing members, updating information, and other tasks.

 6.     Allow Directed Messaging

Now, let’s talk about the importance of e-mail marketing in cultivating potential customers, sometimes called e-mail prospect marketing. The main idea here is that your potential customers are at different stages of the buying cycle. Some may be in the consideration stage, while others may be in the research and comparison stage, and even others in the preparation stage. Creating buyer personas can help you determine what kind of content to create for each step.

7.     Improve Brand Awareness

No, social media is not the only platform to increase company brand awareness. It's one thing to have an email address of a customer or potential customer: they show a certain interest in your business. Email marketing enables you to stay focused at all times, thereby increasing the level of interest and brand awareness.

This does not mean that four emails are sent to every customer every day. This is actually a great way to attract customers to hate you. Instead, try some email marketing to increase your motivation in the local community. The company tried to buy and sell through email marketing, selling its products too many times, and completely ignored the brand awareness factor. In this way, they also prohibit building customer trust and add a sexy ultimate possibility to their brand.

8.     Timely

Speaking of selling, selling, selling...

Yes, if you use the product in the right way, one of the benefits of email marketing is that you can sell your product. Be sure to use all customer data and information. Sending customers birthday special offers, or letting them know that their favorite dishes have been halved, is much more effective than simply sending them a menu.

 This email marketing strategy can also incorporate seasonal offers, allowing you to promote holiday specials or annual promotions. Make sure to have a sense of urgency for any offer-when the transaction is about to end, customers are more likely to buy.

9.     Everyone (Almost) Uses Email

A Hubspot survey pointed out that 91% of consumers use email. This alone is enough to convince you to explore the tool. Unless your industry accounts for the remaining 9% (hint: no), email will provide you with a great opportunity to reach customers. Not only can you provide them with discounts, specials, new products, etc., they can also share and forward these emails to anyone they want. A good email marketing strategy is to encourage customers to share as many quotes as possible. Remember brand awareness?

 E-mail is particularly large in the B2B world, because it accounts for 73% of enterprises' main communication form.

[clarencenicholsonata]

9 Best Examples of Facebook eCommerce Ads & Practices to Boost Sales

Over the years, Facebook ads have evolved with added features and tools to help eCommerce business owners. Next to optimizing your Facebook page, running eCommerce ads to help boost sales.

However, not all Facebook ads are built the same; some seem to do better than others, but why is that, shouldn't Facebook ads all do great?

Actually, it all boils down to how well your Facebook eCommerce ads are crafted. Almost 62% of marketers say that Facebook is a 'pay to play' platform and ends up missing their target market. That's not necessarily true.

You'll simply have to avoid simple Facebook ad mistake and follow the best practices to work alongside your budget.

Our Wishpond team has seen their fair share of the good, the bad, and the ugly examples of Facebook eCommerce ads, so today, we'll share the 12 best examples of Facebook eCommerce ads and practices we know will help you to boost sales.

Ready to dive in?

1. Use the Interests Field to Target High-Value Customers

When you're crafting a high converting Facebook eCommerce ad, you have to make sure you're putting your ad in front of the right people. Being too general when defining your audience can feel like shouting into a void.

Facebook allows you to target people based on the following:

Interests and Brands: pages, events, business users follow (e.g., target people who like "Facebook Business page").

Life events and some profile status: e.g. people who are recently engaged or have children.

Age and gender

People at a specific location: from an entire continent down to a 1-mile radius.

Language: People who speak a certain language.

Lookalike Audiences: Lookalike audiences are a very useful type of targeting where you can request Facebook to serve ads to people who are similar to an audience you provide.

Start by getting specific about the interest and demographic out to target with your Facebook eCommerce ads. If you're not sure how specific you can get with your audience or their attention, then it's time to create a buyer persona.

Maybe you have two target audiences, for example, you sell to both B2B and B2C. This means you'll have to craft two Facebook ads, one for your B2C target audience and one for your B2B audience. This allows you to reach both your target audience where they are, instead of bundling them together.

For more check out our guide on How to do Basic Facebook Ads Audience Targeting For Your Niche

2. Use Stunning Product Images in Your Ads

They say never judge a book by its cover. But when you look at these sunglass ad examples below, which one would you click? The one of the left!

Simply because you do judge ads based on their product images. The images you use are just as important as the text, and CTA potential customers see when they look at your Facebook eCommerce ad.

Humans are visual creatures. They need to see your products at their best. Since most online shoppers can't touch or hold products before they buy them, they rely on professional and stunning images to win them over.

3 Top Tips When Using Product Images for Your Facebook Ads

Lighting is key: Dark, grainy or unflattering light makes your product look unflattering. On the other hand, too much light can be overexposing and can hide details from buyers.

Show Products from various angles: Choose an angle that shows buyers the full details of your product and gives them an idea of how the product looks in real life.

Use white or neutral backgrounds: If you're not using lifestyle backgrounds (products in kitchens, bathrooms, etc.), the next best thing is to use a background that keeps the product focused on white or neutral backdrops.

For more helpful tips check out these 6 Facebook Ad Image Best Practices that will Send your Click-Through-Rate to the Moon

3. Add Facebook Pixel for Your Website for Retargeting

Have you ever gone on a website, and for whatever reason you had to leave, maybe your boss walked in, or you had to answer an email? A few hours later, while you're scrolling through Facebook, you see an ad for the same website you left, that's a retargeting ad.

J.Crew Website

J.Crew Facebook Ads

Retargeting ads are one of the best Facebook eCommerce ad practices around. It helps you to target potential eCommerce shoppers who left your website without completing a purchase.

Retargeting isn't just a plug and plays feature. There's a lot that goes into it. To help you along the way here are some detailed Facebook retargeting guides:

How to Use Facebook Ads to Get Business Leads

How to Use the Facebook Ad Conversion Pixel to Track Ecommerce Checkouts

Now that you know the power of Facebook Pixels, you should also consider tracking your conversion rates. Adding your Facebook Pixel is also crucial when it comes to your Facebook Ad Conversion Tracking.

Adding Facebook Pixels along with Google Analytics gives you powerful insight into what's working and what's not—allowing you to get the most out of your Facebook ads and adjust for more sales.

Need help with your next Facebook ad?

Book a free call to learn how our team of marketing experts can help you create high converting Facebook ads today.

4. Spend Time on Your Ad Copy and Call-To-Action

Your ad copy is the description you write in the caption for your Facebook eCommerce ad. Images are important in Facebook Ads, but copywriting is also essential. Once you've grabbed your viewer's attention with great visuals, it's time to let the copy speak.

Good copy or call to action can persuade your reader to click through to your website. It acts as a guide or sales pitch showing off your value proposition: how your brand can solve the reader's problems and why you're the best to do it.

Take a look at these examples below. Each Facebook ad sells a different item, however, each copy is utilized to sell the item at hand:

3 Tips When Writing Great Facebook ad Copy

1. Write for Your Audience, Not Yourself: When you're writing your Facebook ad copy, you should ensure it appeals to your buyer, not copy that crosses off your sales list. If it doesn't speak to their needs and wants, then they'll ignore your ad.

2. Stay Focused with One Call-to-Action It might be tempting to jam-pack your ad copy with as many call to actions as possible, but that will only confuse your readers. Keep it simple, stay focused on a singular call to action in your caption, or singular goal.

3. Keep it Short and Lead with Value: Avoid writing paragraphs in your ad copy. People have small attention spans, and even smaller attention spans when it comes to reading captions. Once you've grabbed your reader's attention with your visuals, seal the deal with a quick and informative caption.

The Psychology Behind a Successful Facebook Ad Part 3: Text

5. Ultize Facebook's Multiple Versions and Split Testing

Creating multiple versions or split testing is called A/B testing. A/B testing is done when you create multiple versions of your Facebook eCommerce ad to test against each other. In each variation, you make only one variable of the Ad different.

So if you're A/B testing your Facebook ad, use a different image, copy or CTA (call to action) one in each variation, but leave the image and description of the Facebook ads the same for both variations. This way, you will know for sure that it is the Headline that is causing the ad's conversion rate and nothing else.

For more, check out How Facebook Ads A/B Testing is Done to Maximize Ad Performance

6. Use Video Demonstrations to Boost Sales

Video marketing has become a key factor in any ad or marketing strategy. Wistia found that on average, people spend 2.6x more time on pages with video than ads without video. So you get more attention with videos than you do with stats images.

Not to mention 64% of consumers will make a purchase after watching branded videos on social platforms, and 73% of B2B marketers say video positively impacts their ROI.

3 Tips When Adding Video to Your Facebook eCommerce Ads

1. Ensure Your Video Can Be Watched Without Sound: Around 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. Since Facebook gives it's users the option to turn off video sound, you need to consider making your video ads comprehensive with or without a sound present.

2. Keep Your Video Short: Once again, you need to ensure that your video is short and sweet. Ad Age found that only 33% of viewers will stop watching a video after 30 seconds, 45% by one minute, and 60% by two minutes. So keep your Facebook ads to 30-40 seconds or less.

3. Be Creative and Out of the Box: No one wants to watch an annoying Facebook ad of your products, video ads are made to get people excited about your offer. Be sure to come up with creative or colorful video ad ideas to grab your viewer's attention.

7. Utilize Facebook's Mobile Ads Feature

Everyone uses their phone, so much so that 94% of Facebook ad revenue is from mobile. Another great eCommerce ad practice is making sure your Facebook eCommerce ad is mobile friendly.

You hear marketers say "make your ads mobile-friendly," well, that's because a mere 6% of Facebook's advertising revenue comes from desktop-only users.

For more check out Word Stream's Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads for Mobile Apps.

8. Boost Post with the Highest Engagement

Facebook has gone on record to say that organic reach for posts from businesses is decline. Facebook's goal here is to fill news feeds with content from friends and family, rather than brands. Facebook boosted posts are your chance to overcome that shift.

Hootsuite found that while your brand's organic content can deepen your relationship with your audience, Facebook ads remain the best way to expand your brand awareness to the 2.4 billion potential customers who use Facebook.

Every now and then, when you see a post doing particularly well organically on your feed Facebook gives you the option to "boost" this post. Now boosting your post and creating a Facebook ad campaign are two different things.

Promoting your post is just a short and less detailed version. While creating an ad campaign provides more reach to a detailed target audience. It shouldn't be used as a substitute for Facebook ad campaigns but rather a helpful boost in your eCommerce brand and product awareness.

Start boosting your Facebook post with Wishpond's guide on How to Use Facebook Promoted Posts

9. Use Specific Landing Page for Your Facebook Ads

Most eCommerce owners make a rookie mistake is to link to their website rather than a specific landing page on their site or a lead generating landing page.

When you use your website link rather than a specific page, you leave your potential buyer to wonder your store, leave or search for the product from the ad that influenced them to click "Shop Now" in the first place. Instead, send them where you want them, and keep them there.

If you're hosting an offer, create a landing page to collect leads and push sales. When you're crafting a landing page for your Facebook eCommerce ad, ask yourself: What do you want to get from the visitors? What would you want them to do upon landing on that page?

From there, you can decide how and where your landing page should be. You can also A/B test your landing page to see which works best to fight Facebook Ad Fatigue.

Try the Most Powerful Landing Page Builder on Planet Earth

With Wishpond, you can choose from beautiful templates and lead generation tools to get the most out of your Facebook ad. Not to mention, you can publish your campaigns using four built-in options. Choose to publish your campaign on a custom domain, wishpond subdomain, embedded, or in a Facebook tab.

Our mission is to give marketers and business owners the easiest experience creating the highest quality landing pages on the market.

If you've ever dabbled in creating your own pages in the past, this is one editor you won't want to miss.

Summary

Using Facebook ads to increase eCommerce sales is always a smart move. When you're creating your ads, it's important to follow these tips and evaluate your past and current ads to get high conversions.

At Wishpond, we've helped businesses to generate over 100,000 leads; brands like SHOC have made over $45,000 in sales with the help of Wishpond's tools and team.

Ready to take your business Facebook ad campaigns to the next level?

Book a FREE call with one of our marketing experts today and see what Wishpond can do for you!

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[putris-et-mulier]

I love this.

Terminally Beautiful is a book I published a few years ago (Kevin Shamel wrote a great introduction for me and although you should check out his books I’d say that’s the best thing he’s ever written and huge shout out to Robin Cracknell who is an incredible artist whose work I've admired for years) and so “terminally beautiful” it’s one of my Google alerts. It’s one of the most annoying alerts because of the results it gives me, like this.

So why do I love this? These articles and other media like this are the exact reason I wrote that book. The sexism, the heteronormativity/homophobia, ableism, beauty myth, bigotry in general and how ignorance and good intentions strip people of humanity.

I mean, as a human being I hate that this still goes on but it’s pretty validating in a perverse way because at least my work is still relevant.

Before we begin, this isn’t an introductory course. If you don’t know what inspirational porn is then you need to Google it before reading further.

Censored by me.

Why that article is horrible:

The most annoying part is that I know to have any credibility in the following statements I have to out myself yet again as someone who is terminally ill because of a genetic mutation like this child. Because of poor funding and research they said I was only likely to live until I was 5. We now know that my variation lets a person live into their 30s but no one knew that at the time so this resonates with me.

A five-year-old child and a six-year-old child (the groom) are forced into a wedding, even if it’s a mock one

The children performed in the ceremony by pledging to be friends forever

Remember that this child is five years old, it doesn’t strike me odd that one of the things on her bucket list would be things like parties and even doing something special to affirm friendships but none of us are really under the impression that she discovered the term “bucket list” on her own or that these children weren’t coerced by heteronormative adults who think it’s adorable, especially because the best friend is a boy so of course it has to be romanticized/sexualized

It’s pandering. That disabled child can get “married” in situations like these because it’s cute but disabled children in these stories probably won’t live long enough to be denied the right to actually be married. No one seems to realize this but marriage equality is still not a thing, around the world and in particular in first world countries disabled people are given the choice between healthcare and the privilege to be married. It’s a literal death sentence, just because it’s a legal marriage does not make that marriage equality. And yes, America is among the worst. 

If this was a good idea, if these children legitimately wanted this extravagant mock ceremony to affirm their friendship how is it made any better by publicizing it? By making a spectacle of it?

Able–Savior complex™

The mother is doing this to “come to terms” with her child’s disability

The whole thing is about this child’s mother. “Her mother has been filling her world with magical experiences”

They literally say in the article that the “magic of the day” helped make up for a recent hospitalization for blood transfusions

Eileidh Paterson’s name was not given in the title and she’s referred to in the article as “Little Eileidh Paterson” which is condescending because this child has more knowledge and experience about life in general through their disability than anyone else involved, even at five years old

Despite everything, no information or link to charities that help terminally ill children or any applicable charity for this child’s mutation, Neuroblastoma which was sometimes misspelled in the article

Donate to St. Jude (charitynavigator.com gives them a ¾ and 100% in their transparency)

National Pediatric Cancer Foundation (4/4 and 100% transparency)

This article I'm criticizing was posted July 1, 2017. It’s only been one week since the ADAPT protests going on over BCRA (healthcare) and Romper has published nothing about it. This whole situation is disgusting to me. If you wanted to do a puff piece then how about on how Stephanie Woodworth gave her iconic zip ties to her adorable cats?

It would be easy, you can even avoid talking about disability as much as you did here. You don’t even have to post or mention the footage of police dragging people from their wheelchairs and zip tying them. It would just be acknowledging that this is happening and people like Stephanie Woodworth are risking their lives while you shield your eyes.

(Dawn Russell, pulled from her wheelchair and zip tied by Denver police while in custody)

At least be thankful, it’s groups like ADAPT that get these beautiful children futures and actual healthcare so you have more time to condescend to them until they hit puberty and then you can send them off to institutions.

Romper published 31 stories about Beyoncé and Jay-Z in less than 24 hours the day this article was posted. A celebrity having twins is absolutely applicable to their market, mothers, but is it 31 more times important than millions of lives?

It’s less than a month until the first anniversary of the Sagamihara Stabbings on the 26th it was a mass murder under the declaration of a eugenics manifesto dedicated to the eradication of disabled people

We still cannot honor the victims because all of their names were withheld to protect the families from the embarrassment of being related to one of us. Don’t even go to the trouble to putting out flowers or candles, even on public property, because that wasn’t allowed either.

Knife attacker… Accidentally only killing 19 out of the intended 150 demotes a serial killer to a knife attacker? And the reason he’s smiling in every bit of footage is because at least the ones he didn’t kill he still put in the hospital, he isn’t a total failure.

“Jesus Christ, it’s a blog about mothers”

Obviously disability is applicable to motherhood as mothers are disabled and/or have disabled children but besides that this is the news section which posted articles criticizing politics and engaging in the discourse of popular social topics.

“Give the author a break”

No. 

No one gets a break anymore until we have to stop breaking our backs to carry your dead weight. Jen McGuire has posted about disability, but how does she do it? What good is it?

“Maybe Romper didn’t want to publish that kind of article”

They do

but healthcare issues are never about disabled people, it’s about the NTAB people associated with them

Okay, benefit of the doubt. If she has a Twitter, has been tweeting consistently and recently, and hasn’t mentioned the ADAPT protests only then will I pass judgment.

… I’m passing judgment. 

Not even a like on any mention ADAPT protests but then again, she is Canadian which she does expressly apologize for…

If only ableism didn’t exist in Canada, gosh darn it.

Yesterday Kate Letterick wrote a great article for the CBC News about how disabled people haven’t been able to attend event celebrating Canada Day.

I’ll throw her a bone and give her link because I don’t think she can actually bear to type “disability”

Who the fuck cares if you’re from Canada? 

If you blog about politics, sociology, healthcare, bigotry, history, current news, anything, but you just happened to never write about disability you are the reason things like Bexit happen and people like Trump get into power. People like Justin Trudeau. It will always be applicable to your target audience because you know what type of people are disabled? All types of people. And you know who it affects? Everyone.

Romper quite regularly posts news about BCRA but they aren’t about us or for us, not pull a Kanye West but Romper doesn’t care about able-bodied mothers.

There is this contributor,

Depression… Okay, it’s a start. It can certainly be a disability.

…Oh, that’s it? Then this sucks. No offense (all offense) but she’s a depressed mother on a mommy blog (redundant) and tweets but also has not touched anything to do with ADAPT.

High functioning depression… Okay. I'm going to try to be open-minded but a lot of people who refer to themselves as high functioning do so to distance themselves from people who are "low functioning" because it's ableism wrapped in privilege. Going through her recent work it looks as if she fits the stereotype.

This isn’t an issue of Cripple Olympics, this is an issue of representation. You need more than token writers who don’t even represent or care about a community they identify with.

[topicprinter]

Let me guess:You have followed all the best tips found on the Interwebz.You create fresh content daily. You use the right hashtags. You post 3 times a day. You reply to everyone who comments on your posts.Yet.The number of followers on your Instagram account remains pitiful. You don’t even remember the last time your follower count went up.At this rate that this is going on, you are going to give up.How can Instagram be a profitable channel for your restaurant, if your number of followers don’t grow?Fret not.I am here to help.I reached out to several Instagram marketing experts, and got them to answer this one question:“If you were to grow a brand new Instagram account from zero followers to 10,000 followers in under 30 days, how would you do it?”Below are their answers.And I am 100% sure you will find something new to try… and skyrocket your Instagram following.1. Zach Benson (Assistagram)Powerliking methodCost $1200-$1700 a month, depends on how many likes per day 1-3x.What are powerlikes and why does it work?Powerlikes are likes/comments from a network of large accounts (100k+ accounts are considered large) as soon as your post goes live. The intent is to play into Instagram’s algorithm where a post’s first ten minutes are most crucial for gaining traction and determining how it’ll do in reaching beyond your current following.It works two-fold: By flooding traffic from the large accounts over to yours from the ‘Following’ tab, as well as triggering the algorithm to recognise that large accounts are enjoying that piece of content.This will not only increase the post’s reach to more of your current followers but increases its chances significantly in hitting the Explore page, where you’re reaching beyond your current audience and grow organically and quickly.Telegram groups/roundsTelegram is a messenger app that has become solely used for Instagram engagement groups. It’s hugely popular as you can code bots that take over the entire process for you, making everything automatic.Below are screenshots of arguably the best and most exclusive engagement group, XPLOR Rounds.Prerequisites: 80k+ followers, 2k+ likes per post avgNiche: General/allDirect message groups (free method)Create a DM engagement group of 15 people with similar accounts, niche and a high quality audience— in this strategy, multiple Instagram accounts help each other grow organically by mutually liking & commenting on their content. The larger the accounts participating, the more effective it is. You will need to be in 50-100 groups and participate constantly throughout the day, each and everyday.Better to hire a VA to do this.Shoutouts/giveaways/contestsNetwork with other big Instagram accounts in your niche and try and set up a giveaway contest with them. This is a great way to grow your following fast. By collaborating with a 3 million follower account and 300k + account, you could grow up to 2,500 -3,000 + in less than a week. For example, maybe you have a hotel page and want more travel followers, you could create a 2 night all inclusive stay in your best suite for 2, full-board. To be entered into the contest, you have to follow these accounts (the two large travel accounts and yours) and the more friends you tag, the higher chances of you winning. The set up price of these contests vary in price and could cost you anywhere from $500 to a couple thousand dollars. It just depends on who you know, like how big your network is and what you can offer these huge accounts in return to create a mutually beneficial business relationship.Post viral contentOpen up your Instagram app, look at whats on your Explore page tab. All viral videos and pictures with thousands and thousands of views and likes. Most of this content is what we call viral content, unique and original and “way out there”. The more open you are to posting viral content the higher chances you will have of going viral on instagram while using the above methods.Be consistentTo be good at anything, you must do it every single day. For example, you aren’t going to be an awesome sports player if you only play 1-2x a week. You have to practice each and every day. Same with social media, you have to be consistent and posting each and every day, respond to comments, direct messages, like and comment on your target market, do market research, research and rotate hashtags daily, participate in engagement groups, use Instagram lives, stories, etc and create original epic content. Easily 3-4 hours a day. If you don’t have time to do this, outsource it. Build your brand. Your name is your most important asset. Reputation is what other’s think you are. Character is what you are. Grow your following, provide great value for your fans, teach, inspire, give, give, GIVE and watch your circle of influence grow, network expand, and more opportunities will come your way. You will find that it’s a lot easier to negotiate anything, seal deals, pretty much do anything when you grow your following and brand. You are the brand. You are the commodity. Think of Instagram as your new name card, so when you are out and about and you meet someone, exchange biz cards but then say hey let’s stay in touch via Instagram, pull up your account on their phone and then they are like WOW you have 100k followers. You are legit! Definitely peaks their interest more and helps you stand out from everyone else they met that night.2. Nathan Chan (Foundr Magazine)I would research the market I’m looking to serve, then create great looking content and post 3x a day.Then I would find other Instagram pages that serve this target market and get them to share my content as much as possible from either paying, or working out reciprocal deals using my own accounts as leverage.Then I would find other big accounts that serve this niche and convince them to like and comment on my posts.Then I would run at least 2 competitions/giveways to get people to like and follow us – I would give away something that of super high value that would attract my target audience / niche – (that way we’re building a following of buyers too around this market).3. Alex ToobyMy answer will help you reach 10,000 REAL and TARGETED followers.. Not just any follower because what’s 10k followers worth if they’re not going to engage with your content or purchase your products or services?So having said that.. here’s my approach: if you want your account to take off quickly you need to create a feeling of authority – like you’ve been doing this for ages and have perfected every inch of your Instagram strategy. To do that you need to laser focus on what your account is all about. It shouldn’t be “food, fitness, healthy lifestyle, travel, etc” it should be just ONE of those thing.Niche down as far as you can then curate images that fall into a very specific theme.Aesthetics are everything.. are your images white and bright? dark and moody? are they all desaturated except for the pinks and greens? Figure out what your aesthetic “style” is and stick to it like glue.Upload a variety of photos to populate your feed, then post at least once per day moving forward. Select hashtags that aren’t too large (limit yourself to 5 tags that have over 1million posts associated with them) and write engaging captions that evoke a feeling, educate, or provide some sort of value to your audience.Then.. the most time consuming part. Put yourself out there and start engaging with your target market. Like, comment and follow as much as you can (without getting blocked by IG) in the most authentic way possible. Make real comments, start true conversations, show your audience that you’re a real person who cares and is present behind the account. You could easily spend upwards of 1 hour a day doing this.On top of this you can add SFS with complimentary accounts, run a giveaway, add relative content to your Instagram stories daily and go on IG live often to answer your audiences questions.Bottom line is – Be present! Show up, be authentic and provide value.Good luck!4. Ali Mirza (ISocialYou)I would piggyback on the giant. Let me explain…You are just starting out and have no audience. Right?But there are so many other people in your niche who are 10 steps ahead of you (with huge audiences).So reach out to them and ask them to feature you.Yes, you may have to pay a little bit but it’s totally worth it.If you pick the right influencers, their followers is your target audience also.So don’t hesitate to spend some money.Let’s create a step by step process so we can easily follow1 — Find 10–20 Instagram influencers in your niche2 — You can search on Instagram or use 3rd party tools (e.g. RightRelevant, Kear, Ninja Outreach)3 — Find the contact info of the owners. Note: If their contact info is public on their account, this means they open for business)4 — Reach out and find out how much their charge for a “shout out” or “feature post”5 — I would pick 10 and have them feature my brand new account. Then pick the best 3 to 4 best performing influencers and do it again.“You either build the audience from scratch or go to someone who already has the audience you need.”5. Leon Benjamin (TripleYourTribe)Here’s my answer.The main steps are 1. Who I’m looking to attract 2. My content + hashtags 3. Get easy quick followers 4. Shout campaign 5. Giveaway campaign 6. Engage with existing fans dailyFirst determine who’s my account for. And think about who else is serving them right now. What other instagram accounts are currently BIG that have them. I’d make a list of at least 30 of them who have over 40k followers and a fairly active comment section where discussions arise.Next, I’d find out what type of content those accounts put out thats interesting for them to engage with. Make at least 30 posts that are similar to those kinds of post and add a twist to them with my brand. The rest can be posts with quotes related to the market.Also from the previous listed accounts, scrape some of the hashtags that are in the medium range 20k-200k posts. And some in the more popular range +500k. From there I’d look a bit deeper to find more related tags through suggestions. From there, I schedule the posts with later.com to go out once per day. And another post uploaded manually. While rotating 60 hashtags across 2 posts per day. (that’s 30 tags per post. NOT 60 tags per post – which can get you into trouble!)Next, I’d ask my current network of friends, or fam to follow my new account. Just for the sake of growing momentum and some social proof.Now for the giveaway campaign. I’d create a document of value either from my knowledge or from interviewing influencers in the market or get an existing product of value (maybe around +100$) that that audience will want. Something thats related to the market. And offer it for free. In a giveaway. They would have to follow and tag in someone to enter for a chance to win. The winner would be announced on the last day of the 30 days. All participants receive part of the document or online product as well as a bonus.Then, while that’s being promoted in the account, I’d get others to share it as well. I’d reach out to that list found in step 1 and ask them to give us a shout on their page. In exchange, shout them out on my page, or give them something of value in return.While they promote the contest, I’d manually get traffic. The way I’d do that is by engaging (by liking or commenting or replying to stories) to the people who are active on the posts from accounts of list one.In summary, 1. find my audience, 2. the content they’d like, 3. the tags that attract them,4. Ask existing network for some social proof followers 5. Create a contest 6. Get shouts from relevant accounts 7. Manually engage with the marketThat could make me hit 10,000 followers easy. But in reality, hitting the 10k mark can be done by purchasing them.. however, would not make your account valuable to you or your market..What would be the most bang per buck (your buck being in terms of your energy and time), would be to have an engaged and interested following instead.So growing through the steps above, ensures you get interested followers. And less of the ones that unfollow you later.If you like more strategies recommended by 14 other top Instagram marketing influencers, you can read them here.

[musicprincess655]

Chapters: 5/20 Fandom: Haikyuu!! Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, Kyoutani Kentarou - Relationship Additional Tags: Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru - Freeform, they dont officially get together by the end so they dont go in the ship tags, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, War, Blood Series: Part 4 of Royalty AU

It was normal, but it wasn’t.

The castle was how it had always been, how Shigeru had always seen it since he had moved here as a little boy. Muted pastels, casual richness. It was elegant, if minimalist.

But it was all wrong.

Shigeru could hear the shouts in the distance, coming closer with each passing minute. And he sat there mutely, like a good boy, like he’d always been trained to do.

Father sat by the door, as calm and collected as he’d always appeared. If Shigeru hadn’t learned which signs to look for, he wouldn’t have seen the fear at all. He wouldn’t have seen death approaching in Father’s eyes.

Then there were strangers around them, men with swords, and Shigeru couldn’t get enough air in his lungs. Father was pushing him out into the hallways and telling him to run, and Shigeru was trying to say he wouldn’t leave alone, when…

When the blood from the artery in Father’s neck sprayed all over him.

Shigeru sat up, barely biting down on the scream in his throat. Shinji stirred, the light sneaking under the cloak they’d thrown over both of them. Shigeru tried to lay back down, tried to let them both go back to sleep – it was barely afternoon, and they would be walking all night again – but Shinji was both too good and too terrible a friend to let him.

“Nightmare again?” he asked. Shigeru nodded. “Same thing?”

“Always the same thing,” Shigeru replied. “As if living it once wasn’t enough.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Shigeru scoffed. “I watched my father die. It’s not like repeating that will make it go away.”

“You can talk about other stuff,” Shinji said softly, trying not to disturb the others. “It’s okay to say you miss home, or things like that.”

“Not really helpful, though, is it?” Shigeru said. “Go back to sleep, Shinji. We have to be up in the evening to teach me how to use a sword, right? Can’t have me holding everyone back.”

“You’re not holding everyone back.”

“I’m pretty sure being the only one with no idea how to fight is making me the weak link here.”

“It’s not your fault you don’t know how to fight. You weren’t trained. You weren’t supposed to be a warrior.”

“But I have to be now,” Shigeru argued. “It doesn’t matter. Just go to sleep. You can watch Kyouken glare at me in a few hours.”

Shinji quieted down, his breathing evening out until Shigeru was sure his friend had fallen back into a light sleep. Shigeru had pretty much given the prospect up for lost.

He’d had a nightmare basically every night since they’d fled from Seijoh, and after a few weeks, it was less traumatizing and more exhausting. Shigeru would give just about anything for a good night’s sleep.

Well. A good day’s sleep. In the interest of not risking drawing attention to themselves by having a fire to protect sleeping people during the night, they spent their nights moving about as necessary and their days sleeping in relative safety. Evenings were their most productive, the time when they gathered what food they could find and did their best to either make supplies or find alternatives.

It was the time they trained.

Matsukawa had been the captain of the castle guard, and he was a good teacher – patient, blunt when necessary, and with a good eye for problems. The thing was, Shigeru wasn’t learning fast enough. Even though he objectively knew it wasn’t entirely his fault that he’d been trained from birth to be more of a prize than an independent person. His skills were sitting still and looking pretty, and twisting the conversation to show off his best points, not holding a weapon.

Not that he’d ever liked that life very much. It wasn’t like he’d had a choice. It was uncommon for omegas to be treated like that in Seijoh, but not entirely unheard of. His father had been a social climber, and marrying a son off to a higher ranked noble would have catapulted his father up the social ladder.

Shigeru grimaced at the memory of his father presenting him to the crown prince of Shiratorizawa, when Ushijima-sama had come down from the north seeking a queen. He’d been fourteen at the time, and still had had to play like some kind of seducer, which had felt very gross and a little embarrassing at the time. Luckily, Ushijima-sama had recognized the situation for what it was and had been kind in turning Shigeru down.

Father had been starting to give him sideways looks, talking about getting him a good marriage before he got too old. As if he wasn’t only twenty. As if he wasn’t still young for a mating pair in Seijoh.

No matter how much Shigeru had resented his father, he was still his father, and Shigeru had watched him die. If he was in the mood for introspection, he’d admit that it was more traumatizing than he wanted to think about.

Too bad he wasn’t in the mood for introspection, and wouldn’t be for the foreseeable future.

He only had to wait a few hours, pretending to sleep in the hopes that he actually would get a little more rest, before Shinji started to stir for real. Sunlight was fading fast, and everyone was starting to wake up.

Shigeru stretched his neck until it cracked. Sleeping on the hard ground wasn’t exactly doing wonders for his spine, not that he was going to be the first to complain about it. If he’d wanted an easy life, he could’ve voted to go north, where at least they’d probably have shelter.

He and Shinji went to get water from the stream they’d been following. Having a source of fresh water was one of the few things keeping them going, since new sources of food were few and far between. Kyoutani had managed to trap some animals, but it was hardly a steady source. They would probably have to find somewhere to get real supplies if they wanted to continue this for much longer.

They ran into Kyoutani on their way back from the stream, and Shinji had long since learned to take the water skin from Shigeru’s hands. Shigeru narrowed his eyes at the scowl Kyoutani directed at them.

“What’s your problem?” he snapped, probably angrier than he needed too, but Kyoutani had rubbed him the wrong way from the start.

“I don’t have a problem,” Kyoutani said, his voice a low grumble.

“Really?” Shigeru asked. “Because you look like you do. Maybe that’s just your awful teamwork skills showing, though.”

Shigeru might have been the worst fighter by a significant margin, but Kyoutani was nearly as bad when Matsukawa tried to do any drill that required cooperation. He’d pay no attention to stealth, running in and attacking whatever target they were practicing on because apparently “it doesn’t feel good unless I hit them with all I’ve got.”

“At least I can actually use a sword,” Kyoutani snapped back. “What’s so hard about it? Just stick them with the pointy end. Even you should be able to handle that.”

“Even me?” Shigeru nearly shrieked. “I’m not stupid. It’s not my fault I’m not some meathead alpha that’s been hitting everything in sight since the day I learned I had arms.”

“Maybe you’d be less useless if you had,” Kyoutani shot at him. “Just stay with Maiya and help watch the children. Hanamaki can defend himself, at least.”

“He’s practically going to have to defend himself from you!” Shigeru yelled, getting in Kyoutani’s face. “You always rush in, and last time you nearly broke Kindaichi’s ankle! At least I won’t be getting someone on my own team killed!”

“Yes you will!” Kyoutani barked. “They’ll be covering your ass, because you can’t cover it yourself with your princess complex, and they’ll die!”

“That is enough.”

Shigeru felt a hand in the back of his shirt, yanking him away from Kyoutani. Kyoutani was yanked away at the same time, head snapping back. Matsukawa looked at them both, a supremely unamused look on his face.

“You two need to realize that we are on the same side here,” Matsukawa told them. “You’re not helping by going for each other’s throats every time you’re within spitting distance. I get that it’s not easy to be an unmated alpha and omega around each other…”

“That’s not…” Shigeru sputtered.

“He’s not…” Kyoutani started.

“…but you’re going to have to learn how to share space,” Matsukawa continued, not missing a beat at their outbursts. “Avoid each other if you have to. I’m sick of breaking up your fights every time you look at each other.”

Matsukawa let go of their shirts, leaving them to it. Shigeru turned back to Kyoutani.

“Just for the record, Kyouken-chan,” Shigeru started sweetly, “I wouldn’t sleep with you if you were the last person on earth and I was in the middle of heat.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Kyoutani grumbled. “And stop calling me that.”

“But it’s a perfect nickname,” Shigeru said. He really didn’t want to get scolded again today, though, so he took off after Matsukawa’s retreating back. He fell in step with the older beta, following him to a flat part of the clearing they’d settled in to work on footwork.

“You don’t have to pick a fight with him every time, you know,” Matsukawa said. “He mostly keeps to himself if you just leave him alone.”

“He’s always glaring at me,” Shigeru replied. “Am I just supposed to take that?”

“I think that’s just his face,” Matsukawa said. “I doubt he has a problem with you specifically. Well. I doubt he had a problem with you when you met. He probably doesn’t like you now.”

“Good. I don’t like him.”

“Just show me your footwork.”

Shigeru complied, going through the drills Matsukawa had given him to work on while he worked with everyone else, who actually knew what they were doing.

“Better,” Matsukawa said when he was done.

“But not perfect,” Shigeru said. He’d felt where he’d stepped wrong, where he hadn’t moved his body right. He’d tried, but it was like his limbs just wouldn’t obey him.

“I don’t expect you to be perfect yet,” Matsukawa told him. “Honestly, this kind of progress would be cause for praise in a new recruit back in Seijoh. You’re learning fast. This won’t happen overnight.”

“We don’t have the luxury of progressing at the pace of a new recruit in Seijoh,” Shigeru said. “I need years’ worth of training, and I need it soon. I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You don’t have to fight to help us,” Matsukawa said. “You can always help take care of a base camp with Makki or Maiya.”

“I don’t want to be just some docile omega that hangs out waiting for his alpha to come home,” Shigeru sighed.

“Keeping a safe place ready and protected is just as important as going off to fight,” Matsukawa said, giving him a reproachful look. “Makki and Maiya both know how to fight, but they stay back anyway, and it’s not just to look after their children. They understand the importance of having a place where we can tend to wounds and regroup. Makki knows a bit about healing, and Maiya probably has some arcane knowledge she found on some adventure. Why not let them teach you and help us that way?”

“I don’t want to be a healer, either,” Shigeru said, knowing exactly how petulant he sounded and not really caring. “I want to fight!”

“There’s more than one way to fight a war,” Matsukawa sighed. “You have a mind for it that’s probably only rivaled by Kunimi’s.”

“I don’t know anything about battle strategy,” Shigeru said. “And if I did, that would all be based on armies, not vigilantes.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Matsukawa said. “You have a mind for diplomacy. I’ve heard your conversations with Watari. You can talk your way out of anything. That’s a skill not many people have, and you can probably do it better than Kunimi, even if Kunimi has long term planning skills that you don’t. That’s something we can use, if we find the right people.”

“What are you planning?” Shigeru asked.

“It’s Kunimi’s idea, mostly,” Matsukawa admitted. “He thinks Seijoh refugees that couldn’t get out of the castle or couldn’t get north will probably be gathered into one place so Karasuno can keep an eye on them. That’s the kind of place where a rebellion can start, if you have the right words.”

Shigeru’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. He hadn’t thought this could actually work. Mostly, when he thought about where this ended, he thought about going out in a blaze of glory, killing foreign soldiers the same way his father had been slaughtered.

But now there was an endgame.

“Keep working on your footwork and forms,” Matsukawa told him. “If you’re determined to be a fighter, the basics are what will carry you through. It won’t happen in a day, but if you keep working as hard as you have been, I can promise you’ll see results. Just don’t forget to keep your other weapons sharp.”

Shigeru nodded, falling back into practicing the drills as Matsukawa went to the others. He felt himself step almost right this time, his core and arms almost in sync. He grinned.

He wasn’t going down easily.