#that any member of the team could be making more money and be higher up the ladder if they were anywhere else

[incorrectbatfam]

Do the batfamily members ever get too into their undercover work? (Undercover in an office and theyre worried about spreadsheets, working in a warehouse and coming home complaining about missing parts)

Bruce: Status updates on your undercover missions. Dick, you first. What have you got down at the docks?

Dick: I haven't confirmed the Killer Croc sightings yet, but more importantly, our catch hasn't been measuring up to last year's. Tuna we're doing okay on, but the salmon population seems to be on the low end. I've contacted the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries but it'll be another 3-5 business days before they can come down and check it out.

Bruce: At least you're doing something to help. Jason?

Jason: Class was okay. I think the kids are warming up to me as their substitute while Mrs. Maloney is out on maternity leave. The average on the last vocabulary quiz was 83.53% so either I'm doing my job right or they need to be challenged. I'm worried about Tristan Lancy, though. He's normally a good student but his grades have been dropping recently and his parents don't seem like safe people to tell. I'll talk to him tomorrow and try to pair him up with a peer tutor if he needs it.

Bruce: Also see if he has any alternate contacts besides his parents. Tim, any updates at the chemical plant?

Tim: If by updates you mean OSHA violations, I could go on all week. We got a batch of new recruits today and they were just thrown into the work—no PPE, no safety training, nothing. This is what happens when you place production over employee well-being. I'm gonna file a complaint after this meeting. Also, I think the union will have something to say about the manager cutting people's lunch breaks short.

Bruce: I see. Damian? Please tell me you found something volunteering at the zoo.

Damian: Depends on how you define "found." While I have not obtained evidence of a mutant larvae black market, I did help some of the animals at the sanctuary make progress with their recovery. Bobo the monkey is healing from his broken arms and we're gradually getting him re-acclimated to climbing higher surfaces. Suzie the black bear was born a little prematurely but seems to be catching up to her peers in terms of growth. Lastly, we got a grant for additional wildcat research and enrichment. As an aside, we are having an educational seminar on European mountain goats this Friday at 3:30 and I expect all of you to be there.

Bruce: I'll put that on our calendars. Steph?

Steph: It's not really undercover work for me, just work. Anyway, yes the newest Batburger location is being used for money laundering. But I really need to vent about the customers for a sec. We don't open until 10 and at 9:30 this morning some moron was banging on our door demanding Jokerized cheese fries. Then right in the middle of the lunch rush, Janie got sick so I had to fill in as the cashier and it was hell. After that, I had to step in between a fight at the drive-thru because the customer claimed we only gave him nine pieces of his ten-piece Robin nuggets and tried to beat up the kid who took his order. And to top it all off, an entire high school hockey team came in five minutes before closing.

Bruce: Cass?

Cass, blowing balloons: Can't talk. Arranging bat mitzvah.

Bruce: Duke, you're my last hope.

Duke: Margie's bringing a peanut butter chocolate cake to the bake sale. I swiped her recipe and we can easily beat her. Her ganache is way too watery and just runs off the top of the cake, which isn't even leveled. She's also trying to do something with a raspberry filling that isn't working at all. It's like she couldn't decide on what to bring. The bake sale committee also asked if we can bring some apple pies because the original baker has to go out of town for a family emergency. I think we'll win if we bring them with some ice cream and a touch of caramel, even though this isn't a contest.

Bruce: Thank you. At least our most critical case has been taken care of.

Barbara: ...I'll save my book launch for later.

[realtalkswithfinn]

Christmas at the Compound

Avengers x reader

Summary: Avengers x reader Christmas head cannons because I am a sucker for the found family trope.

a/n: I tried to get this up before christmas but totally spaced it, so… tale it as a christmas morning gift! I tried to make it as age neutral as possible, so it could totally be teen!reader or not.

The holidays are a tough time for the Avengers.

Most of them have lost family members or friends, and the idea of celebrating anything is extremely difficult.

Tony especially - he always gets gloomy around the Holidays.

He always says something along the lines of, "I don't actually care about this, but its social convention."

But secretly he cares a lot.

He overcompensates for his lack of affection throughout the year by buying everyone the expensive gifts he knows they want but could never justify spending on themselves.

At surface level, it just seems like “oh rich guy is spending rich guy money”

But they’re actually really thoughtful gifts

Like last year, he got Peter a new laptop for school.

He bought Bucky new and thick clothes since all of his were old and worn.

He upgraded Clints cellular data so he could talk to his family anywhere.

Things like that.

Sam and Rhodey take one for the team and string the christmas lights on the tower

“It’s too cold for this.” Sam would complain, the sharp wind nipping at his cheeks as he flew from one end of the building to the other, lights in tow.

“Come one man, where’s your christmas spirit?” Rhodey would laugh

“I’m just doing this so stark’s power bill goes up.”

it really was worth it seeing the tower lit up top to bottom though

Wanda LIVES for commercialized American Christmas

"We have to make gingerbread houses and go to Rockefeller to see the Christmas tree and we have to go out to the snow and go sledding-"

She demands family Christmas photos be taken, even though you don't really have anyone to send them to.

This years theme was christmas pjs

Which lead to a few very interesting viral videos of the avengers in an Old Navy

“Tony come on the reindeer ones are cute!”

“Bruce. A man can not hold onto his masculinity while wearing pjs with dancing reindeer.”

Natasha gets tired of the bellyaching and bickering and makes the final decision

She grabs everyone’s size in the Reindeer pjs and marches to the front of the store

After snagging Tony’s credit card, of course.

Actually taking the picture is a whole other ball game, but that’s a story for another day

Thor has a hard time with the idea of Santa

You try to explain it to him, but it doesn’t seem to help

“So a fat man breaks into the safety of your home late into the night… and you let it happen because he comes baring gifts?”

“Well… yeah.”

“But only to nice children. That he stalks throughout the year.”

“He doesn’t stalk the children he just…”

“Hm.” He squints. “what about the naughty children?”

“They don’t get any presents.”

“OR,” Wanda interjects, “Krampus comes to get them.”

“Is that another fat man in a red disguise?”

“No. He’s a demon sent from hell to eat them.”

Thor nods in approval. “Ah. That’s much more asgardian. A fair reward system for the youth!”

You stare at him. “So… you’re okay with Krampus but not Santa?”

“Well I think they work together well, like a team. Like us!”

“I… I guess…”

Decorating the tree was an all night event

You would help happy bring up what felt like hundreds of boxes of christmas decorations

The tree itself was about 15 feet tall, because it wouldn’t be a holiday at the compound if you guys weren’t extra

It was placed in the living space, right next to a huge wall of windows so all of New York could see your festivity

it had to be decorated to the nines to pass Wanda’s inspection

Not a bare branch

Theres tinsel, ribbons, colorful lights, and hundreds of ornaments

But of course, ladders were a no go

You guys liked a challenge

To reach the higher branches, you and Natasha would stand on Steve and Buckys shoulders

And I mean stand

Not sit

It was a thrilling balancing game

You trusted them to catch you if you fell, but you still had to try to avoid it at all costs to save the tree from certain destruction

Peter would dangle from the ceiling, crawling around to hang ornaments toward the very top

Both of these acts nearly gave Bruce and Vision a heart attack

“CAP, you’re moving to fast shes gunna lose balance-“

“Bruce, please take a breath.”

Meanwhile Thor is getting distracted by all the ornaments and forgetting to actually hang them up

“This one’s a little man of snow! How silly!”

Speaking of ornaments

You all have an ornament of yourself on the tree

Or, your super hero alias at least

There’s a tiny black widow, a little iron man, a bity baby hulk, so on and so forth

Tony always demands his be the highest up on the tree to fuel his god complex

Drawing names out of a hat to see who got to put the star on top of the tree

(except you guys would always rig it behind Wanda’s back, only putting her name in the hat)

She would always protest, insisting to let someone else do it this year, but you guys never relented

So with a big cheesy grin on her face, she would use her magic to delicately place the star on the tippy top

You would think Natasha wouldn’t want to see the Nutcracker Ballet after her time in the red room

But it makes her so happy to see dancing as an art form instead of a way to brainwash young girls

She drags you, Clint, Wanda, and whoever else wants to tag along every year

She even splurges on front row seats

You look over and see her eyes glittering while she watches every turn, leap, and stunt intently

Leaving the theater, she’ll walk on her toes and do a few turns, encouraging you to try as well.

She ends up cackling watching you trip and stumble

“We’ll work on it.”

Can you IMAGINE the ginger bread making contest???

You’re all huddled around the long dining room table with christmas music playing

Theres Clint and Natasha, who just make the classic gingerbread house, no fancy bells or whistles.

Then there’s Bruce,Tony, and Peter who are going absolutely wild building gingerbread sky scrapers and gingerbread hotels.

“Mr. Stark look, I made a working elevator!”

Bruce puts an electric system (fairy lights) through his

Steve and Bucky rebuild their childhood homes

Wanda is going all out, delicately hand placing every candy and covering the whole thing in edible glitter

Visions is pretty similar, but more sleek and modern than Wanda’s

And then there’s Thor, who’s totally missing the point and just DUMPING everything on top

“Hey Peter, I think yours is missing something.”

You string a long thread of white rope candy from his structure to yours.

“Webs!”

“You know… we can probably make a web-like consistency with some starch and frosting…”

That becomes a whole sticky project, but you eventually get it to work, connecting everyone’s gingerbread houses with icing webs

Steve and Bucky are TOTALLY participating in the classic christmas traditions they grew up on.

They sit quietly together in the living room, making paper chains and stringing popcorn

“Do you mind if I join you guys?”

they smile gently. “Of course not.”

You sit crisscross in front of the couch while they teach you

They tell you stories of christmases long, long ago, which feels kinda silly considering they’re talking like grandpas while not appearing much older than you

On Christmas eve, you’re all there except for Clint, who went home to his family

Youre all dressed in your pajamas from the christmas card

You make hot coco and cider

Wanda pops in some old vhs tapes and you watch the classics late into the night

“Alright you nutcrackers,” tony would say around midnight. “I know you want to stay up and catch Santa, but he’s not coming if you all stay awake.”

he really just wanted to go to bed

He sauntered off, calling for lights out.

Most of the boys wandered away to their rooms, leaving you, Wanda, Nat and Thor not quite ready for sleep.

“So,” you ask, taking a sip of coco, “Do you guys think we’re on the naughty list?”

Natasha Chuckled. “I’m not sure. Does beating people up count as naughty if you’re taking down the bad guys?”

Thor set his mug down on the coffee table, the bells on his sweater jingling. “Do not fear ladies, I will catch that nasty Krampus if he comes in to devour your soul. I believe you were doing the right thing.”

You all laughed, thinking he was joking. But he just stared at you.

“Thor… you realize Krampus and Santa aren’t… real?” Wanda asked.

He had a hard time swallowing that.

He ended up sleeping on the couch “just in case”

you woke up at 3 am to a loud clattering coming from the living room

You decided to check it out against your better judgement

There was Thor. Hammer in one hand, cookie in another.

Down the hall toward the elevator was a completely destroyed life-size nutcracker.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I thought I heard something by the elevator.”

“Congratulations. You murdered the Nutcracker.”

“I feared he was an accomplice of the holiday demon.”

“He’s been there for weeks!”

“He could have been a spy. Or possessed.”

“Goodnight Thor.”

Christmas Morning finally arrived

Everyone was sleeping soundly in their beds

Until Sam decided to be a little shit and wake everyone up at 7 am

He pounded on every. single. bedroom door.

“Y/NNNN. SANTA CAME TO TOWNNNNN.” he sing-songed

“No he didn’t.” You grumbled. “Thor killed him.”

“… I don’t know what that means.”

You all stumble out into the living room

Natasha took the time to actually run a brush through her hair and do her morning skincare

You and wanda were far too excited and skipped over that completely, barely remembering to brush your teeth

Tony looked the roughest - he had a silk robe draped over his pjs and looked like he was just awakened from a coma

Essentially, everyone was a little disheveled

Vision made everyone coffee before you started the gift exchange

You all sat around the coffee table in a circle so everyone could see each other

Bruce and Steve passed out the gifts from under the tree

it took a solid few minutes, there was a MOUNTAIN of presents

You went one at a time opening gifts

Some people think this is awkward, but you felt it was more genuine

this way, everyone can see the gift and the joy on the receivers face

as well as a million “thank you”s

It also gave time for the giver to explain why they chose the gift they did, whether it be something they remembered you said you wanted, something they knew you needed, or even just a simple “this made me think of you”

In the end, you loved all your gifts

And everyone loved what you got for them

But mostly, you were just happy to spend the holiday with your family

[remotepixel]

Hi, it is a bit angsty, but imagine yandere platonic avengers with an outcast/wanderer teen mutant reader (maybe some elemental powers like fire) who is cynical because her parents kicked her out because they discovered her powers and thought of her as a freak? Can you please write how would they react to her and what kind of thing would they do to make her trust them? Thanks a lot.

Hiii! Thank you for requesting and sorry this took me so long <3

TW: yandere themes

-Assuming the reader didn’t want to become a hero in fear of being outcasted even further, it’d probably be someone like Clint who met you first - someone who isn’t immediately spotted by the public.

-As a father (or, to be fair, just a normal empathetic person), seeing an obviously homeless/mistreated kid would be setting off a series of alarm bells and a want to help. Since he’s trained for stealth, I think he’d be able to recognize the distrust in your overall posture and gaze, so he wouldn’t push too much. He’d probably hand over some money, a simple suggestion to stay safe, and head on his way.

-Obviously, his concern starts to grow into obsession (you’ll start seeing him more, he asks a few more questions than last time), but he wouldn’t mention it to the avengers unless he felt there was a higher need to: like seeing you start a fire with just your hands.

-As you can probably guess, they’re not a big fan of hearing some kid could just burn down the entire street if they wanted to, but, since, at the end of the day, you’re just a kid using your powers to survive, they wouldn’t be trying to hunt you down or anything of the sort. In a mixture of sympathy or some member’s wariness, they would be joining Clint in his (now daily) check up on you.

-Natasha is an expert in reading body language and changing hers to get what she wants, so she could smell your distrust from a mile away. She’ll keep up a emotionless façade despite your best efforts to make her leave.

-It’d probably annoy you more at first, the fact she’s so calm when you’re having the worst time of your life, but she’s careful to not cross any boundaries she knows she won’t come back from and you start to feel bad later on, thinking of your emotional outbursts against her stoicism.

-When you’re starting to trust her more, she opens to you in return. She don’t ask about your home life or what happened, she mostly listens or sits in the quiet with you, with the hopes of becoming a safe place against everything (or anyone) else.

-Bruce would be another more comforting figure out of them all. He knows how it feels to be judged for something - destructive - out of your control, and it would offer a comfort to know you’re not alone.

-I don’t see him visiting as often as some of the others (he’s too nervous to do so - just in case he messes anything up), but normally brings something when he does; something small like a trinket or a book. He doesn’t want to come off as pitying, and he assumes you won’t be accepting of any ‘extravagant’ gifts, so he hopes you would at least accept those - a way of showing he cares and something to do for you.

-He wouldn’t push his luck, similar to Nat and Clint, but he would suggest moving into the tower or similar thanks to him being science bros with the pushiest member of the team: Tony.

-Tony would be the worst person in this scenario. Sure, he knows his way around the social scene, but normally that’s with fellow arrogant businessmen, not angsty teens.

-Despite understanding your distrust, he doesn’t have the subtle cues mastered like Nat. His first line to you is probably a question/joke about your powers, which definitely doesn’t help when that’s the reason you’re cynical in the first place. He’ll attempt to be casual, then just blurt out how the tower has extra rooms - an not-very-subtle offer you have declined too many times in the past week.

-What he makes up with badly-formed conversations, he tries to make up with gifts: blankets, shoes, way too much cash he just shoves into your hand before leaving. He doesn’t view you as a charity case, but he hopes his attentiveness to your needs/wants solidifies the fact that he’s trying to help.

-Steve’s a 50/50 I think. He’s an easy person to trust, but once his obsessive thoughts start taking over, he gives off heavy ‘i’m going to gaslight every interaction into something positive and you’re never getting rid of me’.

-Like, even if you don’t trust him (yet), he’ll be sitting next to you with a smile on his face thinking about how well this is going. It clear he’s trying though. He’s persistent in his efforts - making sure to visit everyday at a set time - with either food or maybe his drawing kit if you’re interested in that.

-He’d probably pull out the ‘:(’ face if he deems you haven’t opened up enough to him, and basically try and guilt-trip you into doing so (because he’s the epitome of goodness, right? Shouldn’t you trust him at least?)

-Thor probably doesn’t realise you don’t trust him. As long as you stick around, cowering in the corner or not, he’ll happily talk about his newest adventures or how much you would like Asgard (never mind the fact you won’t even think of the idea of following him somewhere and he’s already trying to bring you back to his home realm).

-He’d be similar to Tony in terms of being overly-interested in your powers, but his is out of such pure enthusiasm that’s it hard to completely brush him off. He doesn’t even flinch if you decide to show how dangerous your powers can be on a stray piece of trash, he’s just happy to see you using them.

-When you eventually open up about your parents, the avengers aren’t happy obviously. They knew you probably weren’t living in the streets for fun, but to hear that the people you were supposed to trust most were the reason?

-Don’t be surprised if you hear your parents have suddenly gotten fired from their jobs and moved across the state (or, at least, that’s what people think since they’ve also cut off any contacts they had).

-However, in a twisted way, there is a sense of satisfaction that your parents were fully out of the picture, no ways of them ever being able to regain your trust. It leaves an open spot for the avengers to swoop in; pick up the broken pieces and claim the number one spot in your heart.

-You can happily stay in the tower with them, far above the streets you once lived in, knowing that they’ll never let you leave go back.

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Silent Love Story | Yandere Thor

Yandere Pantheon College AU (7/7) | Master List

The star elite student that always won many different sports

Excelling with a bored expression on his face

Thor is the poster child of athleticism in the Pantheon

Always overtaking the average teams with his sheer strength

It was no wonder he was so highly praised

“Awesome work Thor you rubbed those rats in the dirt where they belong!”

“Kya Master Thor you’re just so talented!”

“Nothing can get past you, Thor! You’re the best!”

Adored by so many it’s a wonder no one has caught on yet

Thor is enamored with the average turned-elite professor–you

Acknowledged long ago for your teaching and endurance

The principal made sure you were among the elite ranks 

On paper though

The elite staff weren’t stupid 

When you suddenly start appearing in their lounges

You’re outfits becoming of higher quality

They didn’t bother sparing you from their discrimination

“Do they think we wouldn’t notice the stench?”

“Ew, I can’t believe they let that in!”

“For all we know the little snitch is playing both sides.”

The same could be said for the average side 

“Guess you can’t trust your own, huh?”

“Seems like the money got in their head, diseased I tell you !”

“Don’t expect us to think you’ve taken some high ground, you’re still just like us.”

Because of the animosity on both sides, you settled for staying in your lecture hall

Having your lunches, your rice cooker, and a cooler for water you don’t often leave your little work space

Which is perfect for the student who just loves hanging around

“Oh Thor? I’m surprised you’re with me today! Isn’t there a practice going on today?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Oh, a couple of my other students left early to head over to the field!”

“...They’re liars you should probably fail them now.”

“That’s a bummer but I don’t think I’m in a place to be cracking down on that sort of thing.”

“Then I will.”

“I appreciate it Thor but you need all your team members for the league right? You shouldn’t bump off people for doing normal college things. Now if they’re just outright skipping class that’s another situation entirely.”

“I see. I won’t be too hard on them.”

“Good boy for you!”

He loves the attention

Thor’s an oddly quiet student in class 

Usually letting his admirers talk at him and chatter about whatever

But his eyes are always on you 

He notices you’re kind of scatterbrained that you’re nervously flipping through your files for your lesson plans ten minutes into class

Or how you don’t mind still greeting the teachers who want to speak with you, even when it’s considered stirring the pot

He figures that’s how you’re doing what you do now

He notices that when you walk, it’s so peacefully slow when he’s following you he doesn’t need to take full strides

It's wonderful that no one even thinks he’s stalking because he’s just so mighty it looks like he’s got somewhere to be 

He loves how quickly it is to distract you 

One minute you can be looking suspiciously at his teammate’s latest wound but forget about it the second he raises his hand

Or how you’ll be talking enthusiastically to one student but if he pretends like he has a question your attention shifts to him

It makes it easier to protect you 

Too many times can he simply stare down elite students  who are awfully keen on crippling weaker average teachers

“Thanks for coming with me to print these out! I appreciate the company!”

“Anytime. I don’t mind if it’s helping you out.”

“Daww you’re so sweet! I think I have a lollipop back at my desk I can give you.”

He already knows it’s there, he’s been eying it since the beginning of your lecture

He’s decided he won’t make any moves now if only to focus on his championships

He knows if he doesn’t score well they’re all going to bother him 

And he just can’t have that 

Getting in the way of his special time with his favorite teacher is an absolute no

He wonders just how many bodies his father could help him cover-up 

If it is for you, he’s more than willing to exceed it

[bonkutoe]

nekoma hcs i've been dreaming up since before the movie came out:

- shibayama keeps a quote book

+ there are some absolutely foul, heinous statements in there.

+ he ends up passing it down to a first year before he graduates and has to explain uhh. quite a lot!

+ "um. why does yaku call kai babygirl" "how about we stop talking for a while!"

+ "'it tastes so good i would stick—' shibayama-san what IS this" "I'M JUST THE MESSENGER IT'S NOT MY FAULT"

- kuroo made a sliding scale diagram of every nekoma member from most to least catlike and refuses to accept any criticism

+ in order (as far as more relevant characters go) it went kenma, fukunaga, kuroo himself, tora, yaku, kai, shibayama, lev, inuoka

+ yaku in particular was deeply offended about his placement

+ "you're like if a dog could be a cat" "FUCK you how is tora higher than me" "well that's because he's like if a cat could be a dog."

- inuoka has a special handshake with everyone

+ the one with tora is the longest because they keep thinking of stuff to add and its really cool and not a distraction at all kuroo they promise

+ it's 40+ steps at this point

+ they keep having to restart because one of them forgets something

+ kuroo just wants to do serving drills and he's getting tired of asking nicely

- fukunaga can will and does fall asleep anywhere

+ like. anywhere. in a plane on a train on his desk at school on the floor in the library you name a location and i'd bet good money he's snoozed there. he fell asleep on the bench during a timeout once in the middle of a practice match. yaku found him in a cabinet one time

+ some under the counter door closed curled up shit. made it look like sleeping on a cloud too i'm sure

- speaking of fukunaga. he carries around one of those little party noisemaker things around with him so he can use it when something makes him happy

+ like those ones where you blow in them and the paper unrolls and it honks or whatever. you know the sound idk how to describe it

+ he's exploring creative methods of communication so he doesn't have to force himself to talk all the time :)

- every time kuroo sees a cat he HAS to meow at it, it isn't a question of if he will or not, he Has To. it's like a compulsion

+ it's the alternative to baby-talking them (which he also does sometimes)

+ when ppl send cat pics in the gc he types meow and hits send

+ he wants to be POLITE and say HELLO and since cats can't speak japanese, kuroo will speak cat

+ he gets down to their eye level too or at LEAST crouches. he doesn't wanna frighten them

- lev tried to keep the blood speech alive after the third years graduated

+ "ok we're blood--" "you're doing it WRONG" "WHATT WHATTTTT"

+ he tries to come up with something new but gives up bc he can't stop thinking of vital organs

+ "ok ok kenma i got it this time. so we're like the liver--" "tora i'm gonna kill this guy"

- touchiest volleyball team known to man

+ hugs, heads on shoulders or in laps, holding hands, shoulder touches, patting each other on the back or the head, arms around shoulders, cuddling at sleepovers they're doing it ALL

+ totally indiscriminate too. if you attend nekoma high school and join the boys' volleyball club you will not be touch starved i can tell you that

- you know how when you have a litter of kittens they all kind of sleep in a pile

+ this is a maneuver nekoma hits often, i think

+ it turns into a catch-all solution for like. anything

+ didn't get enough sleep? cat pile. finals are coming up? cat pile. forgot your phone at home? cat pile. it rained during the school day and you got the bottom hem of your pants wet on the way to afternoon practice? cat pile.

+ it sort of happens in the gym before/after practice just because it's the most convenient option, but it definitely happened in the bleachers after the dumpster battle too

[bich-the-moss]

Get to know me tag

tagged by @acrosstherachelverse ❤️

Do you make your bed?

No 😭 maybe once per week when I’m in cleaning mode… I have a king sized bed that regularly gets messed up by me, my boyfriend, his son, two dogs and a cat. It’s a losing battle.

If you could, would you go back to school?

Nope! I got my bachelors two years ago, and there’s nothing I want to do that would require a more advanced degree.

Can you parallel park?

The worst part of parallel parking is the witnesses. (Yes after 5-7 tries)

A job you had that would surprise people?

I’m a professional plagiarist. Some of my family members and close friends will pay me to take online college classes for them so they can focus on courses more relevant to their major. I never take any type of specialized class (Ex: I’m not taking biology classes for someone trying to get into med school) it’s almost always an elective or GE course. I just finished taking a humanities class for a family friend who’s going back to nursing school.

It’s a pretty decent side gig, and I see it as a different way to learn new subjects even though I’m done with all my schooling. Guaranteed B+ or higher or your money back!

Do you think aliens are real?

Yes, whether they be bacterial spores on Mars or aliens from (insert popular sci-fi title here)

Can you drive a manual car?

Nope, I never have but I’m sure I could learn. Figuring the clutch kinda worries me though.

What is your guilty pleasure?

DA ME LA CHISME 🗣️ I am Nosey.

Tattoos?

Eh, no strong desire to get any. I cant think of an image I like well enough to have on my body forever. I love seeing other people’s tattoos though.

Do you like puzzles?

I really like word-based puzzles! I’ve been playing all the NYT games lately and I do a crossword almost every day.

Any phobias?

Bugs, rot, insurance companies

Favorite childhood sport?

I was a dance kid. My mom put me in classes as a kid and I was part of a team in high school.

First thing you wanted to be growing up?

A “doctor-ballerina”

Do you talk to yourself?

Kind of. I talk to my pets and inanimate objects.

What movies do you adore?

Y Tu Mamá También, Enternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Peppermint Soda, The Crow, Possession, Silence of the Lambs, Re-Animator, anything from Studio Ghibli

Coffee or tea?

Coffee

Favorite color?

Everything I own is some shade of blue or black

———

Tag: @dkcrimeape @adriftwoods @tautittology @freakinflipflop @1llusionmachine @giaffa ❤️

[sankttealeaf]

blessed are the merciful (for they shall obtain mercy)

it's here, cowboys! my fic for @grishaversebigbang 2023!

Materialki (artists):

@mitraavrs [art]

@maxe-murderer [art]

@polekands [art]

@beani-ed [art]

Corporalki (beta):

@gimmedafood

Summary: The law is hot on the coattails of the Dregs, an infamous gang cruising through the countryside of Kerch. With each heist and robbery lining their pockets with more than enough money, Kaz Brekker has his eyes set on one place in particular - The Exchange. Taking down the hub of trade would cement his gang’s place in the city and history, as well as causing a lot of chaos to the merchants that trade there. But Kaz has underestimated how much manpower he will need for this feat - so he calls upon other outlaws in society to help him pull it off.

Or: A western/cowboy AU featuring the Crows as various outlaws, all teaming up to tear down the new world that is forming around them (and to make a lot of money in the process).

READ ON AO3!

chapters will be out pretty regularly over there!

CHAPTER ONE: LAYING LOW IN PLAIN SIGHT

It amused Kaz at how out in the open they were.

When hiding from the law one usually would lay low, stuffed away in the darkest corner of the earth, but Kaz found that approach boring - it simply wasn’t his style. The Dregs were situated a short walk from Ketterdam, up on an overlook that gave him a perfect view of the road leading in and out of the city. Plumes of smoke rose up into the sky and the gentle chatter of the other gang members carried on the wind and Kaz was honestly surprised at how they had yet to be caught by the law. If Inej were here, she would tell him not to tempt fate. Fate was a fool’s wish - he believed in himself and his crew, not some higher force driving him through each heist and scheme. 

Which brought him back to his original train of thought. Scattered across a large table in the middle of his tent were various maps and writings on guard rotations. Marked in the centre was his next target: the Exchange. He had been eyeing up the place ever since he was a boy, wondering what it would be like to claim the place as his own and pocket a portion of the money that gets passed around there; and now he was planning on fulfilling that dream. The plan was vague in his mind, a mess of ideas and what he would need to pull it off. One thought kept occurring - he needed more hands. The Dregs had their own talents and he had utilised all of them at some point in the long history of this gang, yet he couldn’t trust anyone but himself to get others involved in this. Jesper and Inej were to be included, there was no doubt about that. He wanted a few others…

A clash of pots falling and a cacophony of yells in jest made him audibly sigh. Could they not even get through dinner without something going wrong? Kaz held his head in his hands, eyes darting over the map and forcing out the rising sounds of complaints coming from those cooking. The streets were riddled with guards, they would need to be exterminated somehow. What he really needed was a full list of the guards rotations, that way he can make use of any periods of time where roads weren’t being watched. Inej could probably get that information for him, but if she was caught… No. He couldn’t risk losing Inej before the plan had even started. Jesper would make too much noise and if things started looking sour Kaz knew he would gladly shoot now and ask questions later. Connections. Insider knowledge. That’s what he needed. No one in the Dregs had any useful knowledge about the Exchange or even the Merchant Council unless he started asking someone to dig around. Digging around was too risky.

This wasn’t a routine train or carriage heist for goods and money. This was the Exchange. Masks on and guns out wouldn't cut it. Everything needed to be planned right down to the last second or else the law would be hot on their tails, again. He had survived this long without being caught for his long list of crimes, and he wasn’t about to swing for them now.

“Who let Muzzen cook tonight?” Jesper was heard before Kaz could see him. Voices overlapped one another, some in complaint and some in defence of Muzzen’s cooking but ultimately they fell on deaf ears as Kaz saw Jesper approach his tent, a grin on his face. “Picture this - I’m sitting in a bar, two shots of whiskey down and I overhear some loud-mouthed guy rambling on about how much money he’s made this past week. He’s blowing it all on booze and drinks are on him.” He took a seat opposite Kaz, kicking his feet up on the table and narrowly missing anything important. He rummaged through his jacket pocket for a moment and dumped a handful of cash on top of Kaz’s notes. “So I robbed him of it all.”

Kaz counted at least twenty kruge, and gave Jesper a nod. “And is that for your own personal bank or are you finally contributing to camp?”

Jesper feigned shock. “Hey, I got that lead last week! The one about the boat-”

“Which turned out to be two hours late. Pim spent the night in a cell and I recall you injured your ankle so badly you couldn’t walk for a few days.” Kaz had no malice in his voice as he spoke, there had been worse heists that took place, everyone knew that. The boat plan was a simple misunderstanding, but it was amusing to push Jesper’s buttons about it.

Jesper kicked his feet off the table and began counting out his share of the money he had rightfully earned, pushing the rest to Kaz with an overly dramatic pout. “I didn't know the boat was going to be late. You can’t blame me for that.”

“Resources were put to waste and the horses got tired riding away from the law. I’m not blaming you, just reminding you of what happened,” Kaz replied with a shrug, taking the bills from the table and checking to see how much was left. Fifteen kruge. That would go towards food supplies - he recalled Anika mentioning how they were running low on good quality food and people were starting to complain. He'd send her down into the city tomorrow to restock. 

“It sounds like you’re blaming me. Where’s Inej? She’ll have my back.” He looked past Kaz to see if she was lurking in the shadows. She wasn’t, Kaz would’ve felt her presence already.

“Inej is out following a lead she found. She should be back soon.” Not that Kaz was waiting for her or keeping track of the time. Inej was her own person, part of his gang. He knew she could handle herself if she happened to be out later than anticipated.

“Speaking of leads…” Jesper leaned closer to him to keep prying ears out. “I may have something.” 

“Oh?” 

“Something good.” There was a glimmer in his eye as he spoke, a sparkle Kaz had learned to mean that this was information Jesper was not supposed to know. 

Kaz raised an eyebrow. “You said the boat was good.”

He frowned in response, arms folded over his chest. "Maybe I won't tell you about this, then."

Kaz knew that was a lie. In all his years of knowing Jesper he knew how much the other enjoyed telling him about leads he'd picked up or gossip he had heard. As much as Kaz pretended to be disinterested in the rumours and scandals of those he didn't know, the way Jesper crafted the stories was intriguing. He shrugged. "I'll find out eventually. I always do."

"Fine. I'll tell you." He took out a small scrap of paper that had been marked with a hastily drawn out map. "Heard that there's some precious cargo passin' by the main highway leading to Belendt tomorrow."

"By train?" Kaz took the map from Jesper, adding it to his larger collection of notes on the table to see if it lined up with anything he had collected before. It didn't. No one else had heard of anything travelling down to Belendt, which meant this lead was either a trap or it was top secret. 

"By stagecoach. Which is weird considering if it's important, going by train is safer." Jesper leaned back in the chair. "Said it would be passing through there around midday. Heavily guarded, too."

"Something's not right about that," Kaz replied, setting the note down. "Why transport something by stagecoach if it needs to be guarded by many people? Why waste the manpower when you can get there quicker by train? And why Belendt? Did you hear who was involved?"

Jesper shook his head. "Just that it was important to keep it on the down low. Didn't do too good of a job if I heard it, though."

Kaz was drawn into this mysterious cargo, there was no doubt about it. Whatever was being transported was important to somebody and that meant it had value. They could use another big payout, especially after how high the morale got after the last heist.

"Best stock up on ammo," Kaz said, sticking a pin into the map. The road wasn't too far of a journey out from camp - he was certain he, Jesper and Inej could travel out there by midday, see what it was all about and come back richer. Jesper grinned at the confirmation that they were going to explore this lead, giving him a mock salute as he stood up.

A choir of cawing sung overhead as Kaz felt another presence approach the tent. He knew of the rumours that his Wraith had the crows working for her and the timing of the crows only fuelled the tales, but they were just stories. Everyone with a criminal past had some scary story that followed him - Dirtyhands lingered behind him in dark alleys and everyone knew that. Kaz kept his gaze down at the map as he caught her walking in from the corner of his eye.

"Five times he stopped outside the Kaelish Prince. You were right, Kaz - something's up." Inej appeared behind Jesper, causing him to flinch and curse loudly. 

"Where did you come from?" he asked, a hand over his chest in shock. 

She stood next to him, shrugging in response. "Outside. Where else?" Inej took a moment to look over the maps and notes, pointing out where the Kaelish Prince was located in Ketterdam. “I followed him along the main street and he kept stopping off there at every half bell.”

“Who are you following?” Jesper asked, leaning over Inej’s shoulder to get a better look at what she was doing. Kaz gave him a look, and considered keeping this lead to him and Inej. He knew that if the plan went well he would need to bring Jesper on board, perhaps it was easier to let him in now. Jesper waited patiently for any follow up, and Kaz gave a small sigh.

“I want to know who’s in the pocket of Pekka Rollins,” he began, leaning against the table and pointing out a few places. “I want to know who’s loyal to him and who’s being threatened by him.”

“And you’re doing this for fun, or…?” Jesper rested his hands on his gun belt, giving Inej a look. Kaz knew that his vengeance towards Rollins had been kept secret from them for the longest time, so it made sense for Jesper to question why he was suddenly going after him. 

“I’m doing it because Rollins needs to be brought down a few pegs.” A half truth, Kaz had no intention of telling them his entire life story right now. There wasn’t time and he heard Muzzen call that dinner was ready. He began to tidy up the table, hiding away any important notes and plans to keep any prying eyes from seeing what they were up to. 

“We have a few other plans in the works, Jesper heard of something travelling down to Belendt tomorrow,” Kaz explained, and Jesper took this time to catch Inej up to speed on the lead he found. 

“I want to go back to the city to see if any of my other connections have anything,” Inej said once Jesper had finished hyping himself up. “They may have heard something pass through the cracks.”

“Good. Anything you can find out will be useful. I want to know how many guards are protecting this, and what it is they are transporting. Something about it doesn’t make sense,” Kaz replied, following the road from Ketterdam to Belendt and making note of where they could stake out the road. He had yet to dismiss them both, Jesper and Inej stood across from him and waited for the closure of the conversation. With the lead on Rollins and the strange cargo that was passing by tomorrow it only felt right for Kaz to let them in on his next plan. It was still in the early stages, he had yet to scout out the areas and get intel on guard rotations and what is stored there, but now felt like the best time.

“My next plan is to take down the Exchange.” He had no need to coat it in flowery language, it was easier to keep it simple and tell it how it is. 

"You want to hit the Exchange?" Jesper and Inej spoke at the same time, eyes widening at Kaz's reveal of the plan he had been brewing over for the past few days. It was unexpected, the both of them hoping that the target would be smaller, maybe another train or perhaps a boat. But the centre hub of all trade in Ketterdam?

"It's a death sentence, Kaz. Surely you know that?" Inej tried to scan Kaz's face for a hint of emotion, but there was nothing. Just the face she had grown used to, the one that told her he was not backing away from this plan.

"We’ll have several distractions taking place at the same time to drive the law out from there." Kaz pointed to several marked locations on the map all in close range to the target area, but far enough away that it would take someone a good few minutes to walk between them. "With enough chaos, we can get in and out before the law even notices."

"You're relying on chaos?" Inej questioned, eyes darting over the marked locations and mentally walking the rooftops of the streets. It worked, in theory.

"I'm relying on getting more hands involved. The three of us aren't enough.” Kaz looked past them both at the rest of the Dregs. They were lacking in a few areas, he had known that for a while. "Keep an eye out."

It was a risky plan, but everything he had been building was leading to this. All the narrow escapes, all the hiding out in awful places for months away from the law, all the bad food the camp made - it would all be worth it. 

He made a promise to his family that he would see to it that Rollins would crumble, and Saints be damned, he was going to bury him alive.

[csvent-2]

I've been holding this in for a while and I just kinda wanna just let it out now, the state of Howltars is very sad right now. Mainly due to it dying out because it's an older species, artists trying to squeeze out money offers, etc. Though I don't know if there's been any other complaints about the general species, but I mainly have a lot in regards to one of it owners/founders, Nyudex/Nathan. I've had friends who were associated as prior and current GA(s)/staff there complain about their behavior many times, primarily about their inability to properly maintain a closed species and properly communicate with their own staff to where they have to have other higher up staff to essentially coddle them and do the talking for them. They would would often dip out whenever they were criticized by staff in topic to their behavior and unwillingness to be transparent, make choices on their own without discussing it with other staff, and they would often complain and nitpick about designs that their designers would put out without actually telling them what they needed to fix with it. This also just goes as a whole for the public approvals channel too, they're very nitpicky when it comes to designs and how things are drawn. Alongside this but there was past drama before where their staff threatened to walk out twice (?), which I think first wave did, because of Nyudex's inability to actually cooperate with them without having a meltdown, dipping out, or being rude.

On top of this, they seem to have a weird fetish of some sorts, or immaturity of just making extremely weird jokes. They would often talk about peeing on things, making pee howltar(s), making a pregnant howltar, etc. Even though it was EXTREMELY apparent that not only was their members uncomfortable, but also their staff. Screenshots of this below (messages can still be found in the Howltar's Discords public channels): https: // imgur (.) com /a/ HNWrs2U These were the main two that I remembered off the top of my head, but there could be more, I know this is also an issue in their Nyudoodles server as well, though I'm barely active there so I cannot say for certain.

All in all I don't think they're fit to manage a species, due to their immaturity and rudeness especially Howltars and I can see why they're less involved in the species now, they've made me and my friends uncomfortable for so long. I highly advise against applying for GA/staff there until things turn up or they step down from the team.

🌸

[noelclover]

Off the Cuff 25/04/2024

Had a lot of things I wanted to talk about but I figured I'd talk about games and tier lists instead, because I realized, while talking to some people, that a lot of people don't understand tier lists.

"tires don exits"

Is a load of crock. Tiers do exist and they are there to show players where things stand relative to each other, how well they're expected to do against each other with their kits, and most importantly if you're getting into a new hobby and you like everything just enough that you can't decide, to help you save money.

This does not mean that tiers are absolute and should be taken as scripture.

Tiers are ultimately guidelines and should only be treated as such. A deeper analysis is generally needed if you're interested in actually making your money's worth/ knowing what you're doing.

Take for example, Honkai Star Rail. For this example, I'll be using Fire TB, Gepard and then add in Aventurine.

Fire TB -> gets shields with every action, shields are very small Gepard -> biggest shields but only when he ults, has higher aggro Aventurine -> weaker shields than Gepard, but uses skill points instead of ult. Also grants Eff Res 50% and allows Aventurine to block CC. Stacks. Also builds up to a follow up attack that does some damage.

If we were to look at things like this, Aventurine becomes the top tier pick, with Gepard coming in second and Fire TB suffering the fate of every f2p gacha protagonist.

However, FireTB has one thing neither of the others have, which is a Taunt. Which in turn guarantees that single target attacks and blast attacks target her, thus saving 2-3 team members from damage.

Additionally, both FireTB and Gepard can gain their shields outside of their turn, so they both have an emergency button built into their kit that Aventurine doesn't.

The question then becomes... how do you even weight this against each other? One could argue that FireTB is still the weakest due to her shields being very small, but they're sufficient in blocking most of the small hits that'll hit your party, even in MoC12, assuming she's actually built and RNG didn't just give you a ton of HP on your gear instead of DEF.

((Key words: small hits. The gorilla slam is not a small hit.))

And more importantly, she has a Taunt. A skill that tells you in advance where the damage is going to be distributed, which, I'm sure for those who've played HSR and other games like it would know, is invaluable. She can also generate a lot of skill points, as even her attacks give shields.

On the flip side, Gepard can freeze your targets whenever you've got skill points to spare, thus allowing you to delay incoming damage by just a bit and maybe give another team mate a turn. A lot of the time that's enough to get in another DoT, a Break, or maybe even a Luocha heal charge.

Yet despite all that, Aventurine guarantees that you've got shields every turn as long as you can spare the skill points, and his shields are more effective than TB's, and Eff Res., despite ((likely)) being multiplicative, is still better than having nothing but base Eff. Res in a game that's going to have more status effects. But running him may limit the amount of skill points available at any given time, and anyone who's played games like HSR will tell you that resource starvation is one of the worst things that could happen to you.

A look at any tier list would tell you what's strongest, but when laid out it becomes terribly difficult to truly judge.

It becomes extra difficult, but most importantly interesting, when you realize what it is you're weighing. But equally as important is looking at things in the macro as well as the micro. Perhaps you've already got very good sustains. Then why consider Aventurine? You don't need another sustain. You could be lacking in carries, buffers or debuffers who could all be ranked lower on the tier lists, yet would significantly better your account position to clear hard content.

Note, it is important to always zoom in and out in all topics, especially those pertaining to real life, I'm just pointing out that you really need to do this if you want to know what you're doing.

I wanted to talk about some light cones as an example, but as this is long enough, I'll end it here.

[keiteay]

Second straight day of big departures from what I usually post... Just wanna give everyone a little background on Japanese ballplayers and athletes in America, and the type of support systems they tend to bring with them to the US. A common refrain in the reactions to the Shohei Ohtani saga has been along the lines of, "Shohei really let his interpreter, of all people, access his bank accounts? That seems way too fishy." A lot of sports fans, with a good amount of justification, look at the hype that comes with the signing of Japanese players with MLB teams — and more so the money on the contracts that those players sign — and assume that they must have a team of assistants and handlers who look after their every need 24/7 as they navigate life in this new country and new league. People would be shocked at just how small that "team" can actually be. Oftentimes, it's just the interpreter (either team-assigned or hired by the players themselves) and however many family members they bring with them to the US. In some cases, especially for lesser-known athletes, it's just the family. And occasionally, it's just the athlete coming here entirely on his or her own and not knowing anybody upon arrival. On that last point: WWE used to have a partnership with F*ll S**l where they would get students to help with the production of live shows at their training facility just outside of Orlando. Not too long into the venture, WWE signed a wrestler from Japan on a development-type contract. Now, this wrestler was well-known in the Japanese scene, and had received enough of a push that he wore the championship belt several times during his career. He was also married with kids.

So he gets to Orlando. He doesn't speak much English (if any), doesn't bring his family with him, and doesn't have much in the way of contacts or a support system in the US outside of whatever the WWE arranged for him upon arrival. Bear in mind that this is all before we had things like instant translator apps on smartphones, and before Japanese-language services became more common worldwide. It eventually got to the point where WWE had to look for someone, anyone, who spoke Japanese, and got Strip Mall U to track down my mom — who I'm guessing was the only Japanese speaker in the entire company — and enlist her to help him with some of the basic paperwork for life in America: setting up a bank account (but not running it), trips to the DMV, and so on.

For WWE's part, they gave my mom free tickets to the shows in exchange for helping this wrestler out, which her (and my old) co-workers might have cherished more than she did. And for the wrestler's part, he managed to carve out a career in the US in the years afterwards; his Wiki indicates that he still does occasional shows in the US, albeit in the independent circuits. But the fact that they wound up entrusting someone who was a complete stranger to the wrestling world to serve as a de facto liaison to one of their overseas performers was, and still is, pretty wild to me. And regardless of whose plan it was for his support system to be that thin from the jump: if that's what it looked like for an entertainer of that caliber and fame, then it would stand to reason that the amount of help that is afforded to, or is possibly asked for by, the typical Japanese pro athlete in the US isn't all that much higher... and in that scenario, having just a single point of support for the athlete, or the athlete plain fending for himself or herself in an unfamiliar country using an unfamiliar language, could absolutely lead to some unintended consequences. I should make clear here that none of this will prove definitively that Shohei Ohtani is free of any and all wrongdoing. There's certainly a non-zero chance that he's actually a degenerate who stays up all night placing bets on random D2 college basketball and lower-league Japanese soccer games, and is using his now-former interpreter as the ultimate fall guy. But I do think this background might explain (what I personally think is) the more likely possibility that Shohei was okey-doked by his own interpreter, slash accountant, slash media liaison, slash workout partner, slash clubhouse attendant, slash Ubereats driver, etc etc.

[chaoticgeminate]

Cloud Nine (iii)

Summary: Returning home to Paldea to retire, after living a life known as the "Champion of Champions" brings you back to an old friend -now a new love- with dark secrets who need your help.

Pairing: Javi G x f!Reader

Rating: T (Any smut is going to be implied only)

Notes/Warnings: Nothing major, this story is going to be fairly light hearted, though I will be using some of the wild Pokédex entries as reference for a few scenes.

Written for @yearofcreation2023

Series Masterlist | Year of Video Game AUs Masterlist

take my hand and take a deep breath (3k)

Geeta was silent for a long second before leaning back in her seat, weeks of planning and plotting and help from the kids had given you a vast network of Team Rocket sightings all over Paldea, along with what had resulted in arrests and notes on if those arrests led to prison time or not. Some of the grunts had done it due to coercion from the higher ranking members, Lucas’ executives, but others truly wanted the money that came from stealing and selling Pokémon illegally.

“We’ll have to try and track down the buyers too, the reason it’s working is that there is a market after all, they are just as guilty.” Geeta’s remark made you nod gently, you’d been swarmed by all sorts of people asking to buy your Pokémon from you, the partners and friends you’d grown with who helped you achieve victory in the region’s League, and when you’d denied them… the attitude had been ridiculous coming from people twice your age. Treating your friends like toys or collectibles instead of living creatures, a disgusting mindset.

“I’m sure the techs behind PC Box technology will help out, Jacq is a guarantee and so is Bill, I’ll reach out to all of them. You spoke to the other Chairpersons? How’d that go?”

“About as good as you can expect, now that you’ve tackled the trouble in their region most of them don’t really care about ours, too busy worrying about their League seasons and duties. But the new Champions were willing to keep an eye out, so there’s that.” You exhaled and leaned back in your armchair, knowing that your successors were good kids who wanted better for their regions was a relief.

“How does it feel, having your Championship team at the ready?” Geeta took a small sip of her tea and studied you, knowing that with the fast approaching end of the season you’d traded out your travel team for the six Pokémon that had been by your side when you’d been named the Champion, the team that she’d repeatedly lost to again and again before agreeing to be the pseudo-Champion so that you could travel and see the world.

“Strange, it feels very strange, it’s nostalgic as hell. Geeta what the hell am I supposed to do if I lose? I’ve never thought about what I wanted to do after all of this.” Pokémon raising and battling was your life, it had kept you going for so long, you’d traveled and learned more and more about the world and the creatures that were part of it. You had joked about spending a few weeks just sleeping in a bed, since you hadn’t exactly expected any of what you’d come home to, but you knew how you were and the restlessness would set in quickly if you woke up with no responsibilities too many mornings in a row.

“Whatever you want, so long as we actually pull this off and get Team Rocket out of our home for good.”

Leaving Rook and Wheels back with the others in your PC felt strange but it was imperative that you had your championship team on hand, in order to make Lucas sweat and create a solid distraction for the kids you’d come to an agreement to challenge the Elite Four and Geeta live in front of everyone. As if you were taking the League on for the first time yourself, a way to showcase why you were still the Champion as well as put all eyes on you since Addie and her friends had come up with three locations that might possibly be Team Rocket’s base.

Javi, Lucas, and a few other local big businessmen were going to be sitting with the Professors from Uva Academy up in the VIP box of the stadium; allowing the kids to divide and conquer the three locations that you’d all come up with as possible headquarters to potentially end Team Rocket before they could get stronger. It was kind of terrifying to think that after weeks and weeks of plotting and careful coordination, after weeks of not knowing if Lucas had caught on to your plans, that all of it would be over. Either the kids all came out strong or they all lost, an equally terrifying fate, which was why you’d enlisted the help of the Gym Leaders as a last minute chance.

You had no clue if any of them did work for Lucas, if it was just Poppy as his in with the League or if he had someone else, but you couldn’t risk sending the kids in without some sort of back-up. Larry, as a joint Gym Leader and member of the Elite Four, was the only one excluded from the operation since you had to face him in front of the crowds; in his place you sent Addie’s father, after he found out just what was happening because of a slip-up on Javi’s part.

As a parent he’d been proud and terrified of what was happening in Addie’s life currently, to ease his worries you allowed him to help. Nicolas had enlisted his wife Olivia to actually go with Addie since she didn’t get nearly as much notice as he did in a crowd, choosing instead to be a distraction the best way he could and putting on a small performance in the area while his wife and daughter and her team infiltrated the supposed base.

With all of these combating things swirling in your head you looked up at Geeta and felt the weariness, the fear and the worry that this wouldn’t work clashing with the hope and attempts at keeping positive and trusting in the abilities of those that had come after you, it weighed you down and your friend reached out to take your hands in hers.

“I think you need this more than you know, you need time to just be you, even traveling the world you always checked in and asked about the students and if the League needed you to come back. I know that if you could handle all of this on your own, that you would; that you would allow these kids to just be kids a little longer while you did what the League Champions and Gym Leaders you defeated should have done for you. Not one of those kids blames you for needing help, none of us blame you for needing back-up and asking us to make sure that this works.” Geeta’s forehead bumped yours and she squeezed your hands, pulling you into a hug that you hadn’t even realized you needed.

“You’ve been a Champion your entire life, you’ve been pushing yourself and changing the world for the better your entire life, you have never gotten to just be you since you were ten. You need to finally discover who you are without any of that.”

“How do you always make so much sense?” Geeta laughed at your question and let you cry as the emotions finally bubbled over, spilling into a soft sniffle before you burst into tears. All you wanted was for this to work out, for your home to be safe and the kids to come out of this okay, for Javi to finally be free.

He understood why you couldn’t tell him anything, he knew better than to ask for details of your plan, you were providing him with plausible deniability if this didn’t work; but Javi hated it all the same. You looked amazing in the clothes you’d chosen for today, the white formal vest covered just enough that you’d opted out of a shirt underneath and the knee length trousers were wide-leg and in the same shade of the Uva Academy uniform.

It was a call back to your first victory, all those years ago, when you’d been wearing the Spring Uniform shorts and button down. Part of why he suspected this “Champion Re-Assessment Tournament” was all part of your plan to end Lucas’ operation for good.

Beside him Lucas was talking to his fiancée, speculating how well Poppy would perform against the Champion of Champions, and Javi caught Jacq’s eye as his old schoolmate glanced up from his Rotom Phone. Both of them had once been your friends and rivals, though Geeta and Jacq had been your main contenders more often than Javi, and yet it was strange being in this setting once more.

“Do you think she’ll do it, defeat all four of them in a row and Geeta?” Ilise, his cousin’s bride-to-be, looked genuinely doubtful and Javi felt the swell of pride knowing that you’d prove her wrong. There had been a lot of people who had been unhappy with your return, who saw Geeta as the true Champion given your choice to leave the region for so long, and this would not only bring focus to the future of the League but remind people why you had gotten to where you were.

“Without any doubts, she has been battling and winning Pokémon Leagues all over the world for decades now has she not?” He earned a nod and Ilise’s expression shifted to consideration as she looked down at the battlefield where Poe was facing off against Rika’s Whiscash, sending Eevee against an aquatic Pokémon hadn’t made much sense until you’d gone on the offensive weaving trailblaze -a grass type move- into a flurry of attacks when the water-type emerged to attack directly.

You truly had changed, you’d always trusted your Pokémon partners but now you stood with more confidence and he could see the way your eyes darted over the battlefield as it kept changing due to the damages being caused from every ability thrown. The way you were creating a new strategy, like having Poe use quick attack to bounce off boulders that Whiscash had broken up in order to put more momentum behind the landing attack. He was so invested in your battle for the moment, in watching as you once again captured the hearts of the region, that he didn’t realize the box was slowly clearing out around him.

“Javi.” He turned and barely managed to throw himself out of the way of a fist, Lucas now on his feet as Ilise held a pokéball at the ready, and down blow he heard screaming in the stands as dozens of Team Rocket members began calling out their Pokémon while the professors helped the trainers in the crowd try to fight back against the attack.

“I know your little girlfriend has been scheming against me, and I’m going to make sure she backs off even if it means I have to kill you, cousin.” Lucas’ remark was followed by him calling on his Pyroar and it was quickly joined by Ilise’s Flamigo. Arizona was growling the second he called on her and Javi knew he had to get out of the VIP box for more room as fast as he could.

“Arizona, we need to move.” Your recent practice matches, with Javi being your opponent, had helped refresh his battle skills and Arizona blasted a hyper voice out that disoriented all four of their opponents before following him out the door. He very nearly collided with you, Poe letting out a low bark, and your hand gripped his tightly.

“Addie’s group is in danger, we have to get to Alfornado now!” Javi nodded and called on Rook, you’d given him the pokéball to hang onto just in case and your Corviknight easily carried the two of you over the crowd the moment you managed to get outside. You had your Rotom phone floating beside you, showcasing Nic and Grusha working together to face off against some executive while Addie and her friends faced off a seemingly endless amount of Team Rocket grunts.

“Where did all of these people even come from?!” He truly had no idea how Lucas and his family managed to create such a large scale faction of thieves and criminals. Javi could expect some of them being forced to do this, sure, but not all of them; this many people couldn’t be forced into attacking citizens in public like this.

“All of the people who were forced into his operation were at his dummy headquarters in Zapapico and Porto Marinada, they surrendered the moment that they were confronted by the Team Star kids and the Gym Leaders; it’s all of the volunteer members that stayed in Alfornado and came to watch the Re-Assessment Tournament today.”

“That was a lot of people in the stands though, dozens! How many are back at Alfornado?” The idea that the kids were heavily outnumbered didn’t sit well with him, especially since it was Nic’s daughter that was among the group and you’d been stressing enough about how you were doing the same as the Champions before you, and your eyes were on the horizon as the town came into view.

“Enough to be a problem.” As Rook landed outside of Lucas’ manor -the one place Javi didn’t think he would be brave enough to use as a headquarters- you were off and he raced after you without any hesitating once he’d recalled Rook. You had Poe come out of his ball, Javi quickly doing the same with Arizona, and as he ran beside you Javi felt brave enough to fight so that he could have a happy future with you. Even if it meant he had to give up everything, if he had to service jail time for hiding the truth, all that mattered was Team Rocket being stopped for good.

Arizona let out a hyper voice as Poe went on the offensive with trailblaze to take out the water type Tauros that Addie’s Quaquaval was facing, allowing Nic’s Mr. Mime to get a light screen out.

“Lucas is on his way here, all of you need to get out of here before he does because he will not hesitate to kill you.” Javi’s warning as you and Addie worked together to finally pin down the two executives made both Nic and Olivia look at the kids, in the time it took to get here the couple and their young charges managed to KO the Pokémon of the grunts and send them running, now he needed the evidence for the League and to do that he needed to get into the study.

“Alright, are you two going to be-“

“We’ll be fine, take the kids and go.”

Your sharp reply as you all but shoved Addie toward her friends made Javi nod too, standing beside you as Nic called on his Corviknight to get everyone out, and once Yilena -Lucas’ main executive- realized that she was in trouble she chose to run. He stopped you from chasing her, shaking his head and leading you out of the second floor lounge into Lucas’ study, and you stood by ready to fight as Javi worked to get into Lucas’ system after getting through to Turo for help.

Javi’s heart was racing as Turo began sending details of employee accounts, bank information, and all the evidence the League would need to pursue legal action to Geeta. There was a margin of a chance that you’d be able to get out before Lucas got here, a small one, but a chance all the same; he didn’t want to see you hurt and Javi knew this was when the desperation would push his cousin to do something stupid.

“It’s done, let’s go-“

“Get down Javi!” Your scream was shrill as he heard the loud rush of roaring flames and something stood at his back protecting him from the flames, the blaze slowed down and he turned to see something incredible. Arizona and Poe were standing together but they weren’t Eevee now, instead there was a pink and blue Sylveon standing together with their ribbons intertwined and two layers of a light screen protecting you and him from Lucas’ Charizard.

All the years of Arizona refusing to evolve, whenever he’d tried to give her the choice of stone, and now she’d done so to protect him. Her pink eyes gleamed when she glanced back at him, looking so cute with her blue and white fur and pink tipped ribbons.

“After all this time you evolve your runt into that? Charizard, use inferno.”

“Poe use moonblast!”

“Disarming voice, Arizona.”

Watching the two Sylveon work as a team, with Arizona disrupting Charizard so that Poe’s attack could land, was truly a spectacle and Javi felt your hand slide into his to remind him that you were here too. That you were by his side, facing this down with him.

He watched you pull out your Tera orb, watched the shimmer as Poe began to respond to it, and the blue Tera crystal gleamed as it formed and boosted your Pokémon’s power. As the water nature energy swirled within the hollow crystal, a phenomenon that Turo was still trying to determine the origin of, Javi watched your eyes sparkle and felt your hand grip his tighter as Charizard’s mouth began to fill with flames. He felt his heart pounding as he stood there with you.

“Arizona, helping hand, please.” The glow of energy that formed around her flowed into Poe, giving him even more power to make sure that Lucas’ Charizard would not get back up.

“Tera blast!” The tera energy transferred from the crystal formation into three fast moving spirals of water with the third tightening into a whirlpool, the spray of water was strong enough to spray so much that the flames were extinguished around the room and it knocked Lucas onto the floor. It had to be luck that he hit his head, allowing Javi to rush over and secure him with the curtain ropes for the authorities to arrive, and you looked up at him with a smile once he was certain his cousin would not be breaking out of the temporary binding.

Watching you raid Lucas’ belt for his pokéballs, recalling his Charizard, you had Marshmallow -your Baxcalibur- carry the restrained man out of the manor as the League officials and the police officers that weren’t on Lucas’ payroll arrived to secure him for his prison sentence.

All Fics Taglist: @haylzcyon @wordsnwhiskey @pagannightwitch @radiowallet @tauralmie @amneris21 @trickstersp8 @practicalghost @alwaysdjarin @alexxavicry @all-the-way-down-here @xoxabs88xox

Just Pedro Taglist: @maievdenoir @beecastle @littlemisspascal @writeforfandoms @aynsleywalker @lovesbiggerthanpride @mswarriorbabe80 @emiemiemiii @harriedandharassed

[squadrah]

What carriers/ jobs if any at all were la squadra in before joining? You've explained that Illuso was one of the members that got 'downgraded' in la squadra but did anyone else have a notable occupation before joining? Thank you! (Sorry if this is hard to read I'm doing this at my job)

You're fine, don't worry! :D

Risotto: I feel like he might have been helping out either his parents at their respective shops (I like to headcanon a barber father and seamstress mother for him, as a backdrop for the way he manifests with Metallica), or some other family member or neighbor; think him carrying heavier cargo and crates. It was probably not a registered job because I feel like he wanted to slip away with as little trace as possible upon exacting revenge.

Formaggio: I feel like he was doing odd jobs at best before joining Passione; his family might have been pushing him towards certain jobs or professions so he could start earning for them, but he simply didn't stick with anything and then followed Risotto into the mafia a few years down the line. I feel like his ability would have made him very useful for smuggling, but I could see him gravitate towards Risotto out of camaraderie regardless.

Prosciutto: His Stand is my main point of reference for him, so I headcanon him as a child celebrity of sorts, a career that he aged out of and then left to pursue modelling until he caught a glimpse of Passione and decided that what he would love most in the world is murder literally everybody who had ever plagued him, and luckily for him, there was a team exactly for that.

Pesci: He feels like a school dropout to me, and I could see him drifting between various street gangs trying to fit in, and running errands for them while they tolerated him. From there it was only a matter of time before he ran in with Passione, but I could see most teams simply turning up their noses at him, and Polpo shrugging and thinking he might as well send this one to the Hitman Team, maybe they can figure out how to use him.

Ghiaccio: For him I think I went the higher education route; he gives off this vibe of coming from a family of overachievers who would have wanted him to be as educated as possible. Because of his aggressiveness, I could also see him getting expelled, and landing in the mafia because there is just no turning back after being disgraced. He is another person who would not be first pick on teams because of how loud and high-strung he is.

Melone: He had to have been in higher education; everything about him implies that he had very serious interests and was pursuing those interests until he got himself entangled with the mafia. I could actually see him continuing school and even earning a PhD while there was still money being thrown at him. Because he already knows that drug use enhances the performance of Juniors created with Baby Face, I feel like he started out on the drug team, and got demoted because he was too strong as competition and his team conspired to remove him before he might have climbed the ladder to the top.

Illuso: I don't know why, but he strikes me as having started out as a jeweller's apprentice; something about the reflective surface of precious and semi-precious stones and metals involved. He would have then brought this knowledge and skill into the mafia, but because he is a rather difficult person, I could see him being punished with a demotion into a more stigmatized team.

Sorbet: Whatever job he held, I could see him having to make a getaway after embezzling to fund his gambling addiction, and landing on a team responsible for gambling spots because he does know the tricks of the trade. I then ran with the idea that when Risotto became Passione's number one assassin, Sorbet got relegated to him along with Gelato to start him out with a little team of his own; it wasn't so much punishment for Sorbet as it was drawing the shortest stick at the time (he made peace with things later as he got attached to Risotto and the growing team).

Gelato: I feel like he had been in the army for training, but managed to get out of there, taking with him only the love of uniforms (and perhaps some fellow soldiers, wink wink.) From there he was probably doing odd jobs before happening upon Sorbet and following him, first into the gambling world and then to Risotto.

[lost-lonely-and-loveless]

So the minimum wage worker on the ground should get fired but the people who actually trained that person on the policy, the people sitting on whatever board MADE that policy…? Sure as shit it’s always fire the lowest wage worker who is tasked with enforcing the policies and everyone higher up gets to apologize and pat themselves and their big figure salaries on the back for doing it. Far as I can tell the biggest mistake(?) was not stopping to talk to the woman and just trying to hold firm on the no bulky items on back policy. Is that really something you think for sure means that worker is extra super needs to get fired racist? Again if so I want everyone up the chain fired/resigning. If it’s really that bad it should be everyone involved. If it isn’t that bad sorry this is classism. It’s how people get excited to kick around the servant level staff whether in person or as political footballs when it was not their policy that got set. It’s easy to say oh well everyone should break the rules then when it’s not your job. Like I let anyone I think needs to steal small items WHEN I CAN but when I cant?? When I’m under scrutiny or when they pull something too big or too blatant? I hate it but I don’t have another choice but to effectively protest quit. And then i bet those same people aren’t coming together to support me. Not to the tune of my lost wages. Does this make ME evil when I have to alert security? Should I get hurt for it?

Um hi. I honestly thought about just deleting this but then I decided it would be interesting to know the truth, and so I am responding to make note of my own efforts (this is my space after all).

Please know the comment I made was just to let off some of the frustration I was feeling. I'm not sorry that I've offended you. Your ask does seem kind of erratic and there are flaws in your arguments, so I am assuming you are also needing to let off steam, and I get that.

I understand what you're saying about the 'whole team up to the board' being fired. If that's what it takes to create necessary change then I support it. Truly. By no means did I say I am in opposition of that idea. Please DO take it all the way up to the policy makers on the board because maybe that would ACTUALLY solve the root of the problem at it's core. But since you're probably just a troll whose caught up in the moment, let me tell you about how it was actually resolved. I'm happy to let you know the PAI and the museum issued a formal apology to the mother, and the board members did come together to resolve the museums policies. Perhaps if you took the 2 seconds to look it up and actually do the research instead of sending a stupid hate message this whole conversation could have been avoided.

In regard to your "minimum wage worker" comments, I am pleased to inform you that the "minimum wage worker" you have so gallantly tried to defend is actually someone who holds a security officer position, which is by no means as you put it a "servant level staff". These positions make significantly more than minimum wage. The reported salary for this position is an average of $60,000 - $65,000 yearly (per indeed and Glassdoor). My dude. These people make more money than I do even though I work two jobs to put food on the table for my family. Ok. I'm not saying life is bad or whatever but it's true. However, regardless of these facts, I'd just like to make clear that anyone who is abhorrently rude and it involves any kind of racism AND you're a bystander to it, then all individuals involved should absolutely be held accountable regardless of a pay rate or education or life position because it's just that wrong.

Also, as a side comment, if you need some support I don't mind being there for you. But I'm not sorry for you and I don't pity you. Just and honest person with honest feelings.

[starberrywander]

I wish I had the programming skills or technical know-how to make a website or open source program for creative works. Like, I would love to make something that allows creators to publish their work and get support without all the capitalist bs. Book authors could publish completely free. They could choose to publish at whatever price they want, or for free. No minimum requirements by the site. They could connect with freelance editors, cover artists, beta readers etc. to help with their book. If readers really liked the author and wanted to support them, there would be a way for them to donate directly to the author. Again, no website fee. Plus, there would be no higher ups to punish authors for their books being pirated (a practice whose existence caused the spite that fuels this post) and any earnings would go directly to the author. Like if the author charged $20 + tax for their book, they would get $20 for every book they sell. Simple as.  Filmmakers would be in a similar situation; their works could be published completely free and they decide the prices charged. Screenwriters could use the platform to connect with actors, editors, animators, etc. to build a team and produce their project. Viewers could support projects with donations directly to the creative team or even just individual members of the team to show appreciation for their work. And again, like with the book authors, all earnings by a project would go directly to the creators. There would be no higher ups to take a portion of the profits, 100% of it would go to the creators. The website would be sustained mostly by ads, probably. Maybe there could also be a place to donate directly to the site to keep it running. If I started it myself, I would probably buy my own servers and power them with solar panels or something to decrease costs. Idk, my knowledge of servers and how the internet works is limited, but hopefully it would be like a non-profit indie Netflix that also had books and artwork. The creators on the platform could direct the development of the platform with suggestions of what would help them with their work. Viewers could direct development by suggesting ways that the platform could be more user friendly. The whole thing would be directed by users and creators wouldn't have to go through the bs of publishing companies and studios. It could be kinda like a crowdfunding thing, where if creators needed funding they could share a little teaser about their work and people who wanted to see it come to fruition could donate to the project. People would be able to tell the stories they want without it being watered down for fear that it wouldn't make as much money if it was too controversial (y'know, like how a lot of big companies are hesitant to represent lgbt characters and stories out of fear of decreased profits and "alienating an audience").  Like, my coding knowledge is extremely limited and I can't do anything without tutorials. I have no idea how I would build a website like this or work out the cybersecurity details but damn, I really want to. I want to see creators unrestricted by the regulations of publishing businesses. I want to see the creators and stories that would otherwise get rejected by the big companies. I want to see creativity thrive, unhindered by the pressures of capitalism. And I know what I've proposed isn't exactly "free of capitalism" but at least it would be a step toward true creative freedom. It would give opportunities for so many creators to get their work out into the world when they otherwise wouldn't have been able to. Anyway, this is one of my many dreams. I dunno if I'll ever make it a reality, but I wanted to share it so maybe it can inspire someone else who has more knowledge in this area to want to try something similar.

[pequenosol]

Alright, I don’t know how many days late exactly this is X”D But yeah here’s what I’ve been up to!

After beating the third gym, I headed over in the direction of the Dark Team Star Base, because Giacomo’s Pokemon were MUCH lower leveled than mine at the time totally not for any other reason, like my love of Team Star as a whole. Nope, not at all >>’

Along the way, I found a Ghost Tera den and somehow caught Osaimhthus (he/they) a Makuhita! He’s…level 35. Higher than any of my other Pokémon at this point X”D So, with the level and the fact that Giacomo’s base is Dark type, I added them to the team!

I traveled up the long path to base, along the way catching Gyokuro the Mankey (They/Xey), Tulsi the Misdreavus (He/Fae), and Nettle the Gastly(they/them)!

(Also, not as important, but when I first walked up to the base, the grunts guarding the entrance called me sassy >:] Hehe! In-character-ness achieved~) But yeah Giacomo was super easy! Cinnamon, Lemon, and Osaimhthus were awesome and then I got more backstory on Team Star that was fun! Penny/Cassiopeia gave me my LP and materials afterwards.

Then I caught Thistle (she/her) the Bramblin, who I added to the team because the next gym is Water and I would like to have more than one Pokémon that’s good against them. I spent. THREE. WHOLE DAYS TRAINING HER UP AND WALKING AROUND TO GET HER TO EVOLVE…Don’t make the mistake I did, thinking it would just evolve when it got the 1000 steps…turns out ya gotta level it up as well….so YEAH! DON’T WASTE 2 DAYS WORTH OF GRINDING LIKE I DID.

After that, I traveled to the city with the gym and a lady runs out and tells me that the gym leader forgot his wallet. And gives it to me.

Oh.

Ohohoho

OHOHOHOHOHO C:<

(unfortunately you can’t take money out of it but IMAGINE IF YOU COULD LMAO)

So yeah she says that if I can return it to Kofu then it’ll count for my Gym Challenge, which I agree to because I’ve heard that the gym challenge for this city is BRUTAL. Then I head off into the desert. Accidentally go the wrong way and end up at a cliff overlooking the next route that happens to be next to the city Kofu went. Any person with any sense would’ve gone around. But. Not me.

I jumped off a cliff and lived >:]

And then got attacked by a group of Maschief :[

But then after that I caught Sugar (She/He) the Sableye! :D

Then I caught up to Kofu, fought the guy who was with him because he was like ‘shoo shoo smol child’, and then Kofu forced me to buy some seaweed for him at an auction for some reason (? Why can’t you buy it youself-)

BUT HEY I got 15,000 dollars out of it so in a way I did rob the old man ✨ ùvú

At this point, I was very nervous about fighting Kofu, because the description of his gym said it was meant for more experienced battlers, and this lady I met (I forgot her name but she’s the Elite four member who uses ground types and has a super gender design) did NOT make me feel any better about doing so because she said that this is the place where most challengers give up the gyms. So. Thanks for that >:( I hoped maybe Kofu would go easy on me because I didn’t rob him, but he said no…..

Thankfully my Pokémon were great and all OHKO’d all out his :D

After that I added Sugar to the team in place of Thistle and set out to fight in a bunch of Tera Raids to train up to level 35! Along the way, both Cinnamon and Fennel evolved! <3 Yay!!

Oh yeah and I’m WAYYYY behind on the refs X”D But here’s what I got done right now!

The Tera hats are stupid so I’m doing type-swap like designs! :D the ones shown here are an Electric Silicobra and a Psychic Grevard

[leadai]

Why gym lead management software is a backbone of  fitness business

Whether it's a small business or a large-scale business, the gym lead management software leads are the backbone for any and every kind of fitness business. If you are not managing a regular flow of quality leads to your business, your business won't thrive. Strangers need to become qualified paying customers so that one can up-scale their business. It is your lead management process that takes potential customers through this journey for conversion and finally closes the sale.

https://rb.gy/3h320r

It is a multi-step process comprising several departments. You need a proven system in place in order to make your marketing and sales teams work cohesively to capture, then identify, nurture, and lastly convert the leads efficiently. We will explain in this article what a lead management process is, why it is important, and how you can boost sales with effective lead management.

What is a lead management software for gyms ?

In short, lead management software for gyms  lt is attracting a lead and then managing the dealings so that you do not lose on becoming your potential customers. It is how you turn strangers into paying members and generate revenue. To be able to handle the leads properly, you need a proven system that your hired team could replicate.

Capture of Leads: It is in these places that all the activities to generate interest in your product or service occur: email, website, through social media, and paid ads.

Tracking of Leads: The process of gathering more information continues, proceeding to their tracking.

Qualifying a Lead: When a lead is scored, you can be able to decide whom to contact first. You will end up talking to those who are most likely to buy from you.

Lead distribution: Get the leads in the hands of your sales agents right away.

Lead nurture: You identify the pain of the client and show them the value you provide. Not every lead is prepared to buy immediately.

In any normal sales system, leads are going to come through a variety of channels. In fact, it's your lead management system that lets you squeeze every last drop of juice from each one. You don't want to get higher numbers of conversions that use lower amounts of your time due to the efficient use of your inputs and efforts in the right corners. This way, you don't let any lead slip away due to mismanagement.

Why Should You Have a Properly Defined Lead Management Process?

When lead management is done right, it's like a well-oiled machine. In contrast, without such a system in place, potential customers can easily be lost due to over-focusing attention on low-quality prospects, while, alternatively, potential sales opportunities are squandered for hassle-free pursuits. Here's why a lead management process is important:

Business Growth: Growth requires a steady stream of revenue. While your member retention strategy keeps members in the long run, your sales plan brings in new members. A smart marketing strategy, well-tailored to the targeted audience, will drive new leads and fill the sales pipeline.

Effectively Manage Time: Qualifying a lead allows one to already decide whom they should call next and exactly where they are in the sales journey. If you are too far away, he will tell you that he doesn't have a lot of money to join a gym. With the follow-up, track the lead and qualify the prospect to allow managing your time better and in closing more sales.

Raise Revenue and Sales: Nurture to leads; it pays. According to research, businesses that manage their leads have experienced a 50% increase in sales at 33% less cost. Prospects don't usually convert, or they aren't ready to buy until a little further into the sales funnel. Without some kind of lead management in place, you will let many sales slip through the cracks just by being disorganized.

Enhance Customer Experience: Good lead management is all about the experience of the customer. The process of generating leads is often victims of lack of emotional association and instant connection. The absence of the provision related with contact support discourages potential customers. Creation of customer-driven sales strategy enhances customer overall experience, which will drive the retention of membership.

3 Best Practices for Good Lead Management

A strong base for your lead management process, from initial prospecting to onboarding a new member, is not only critical but also essential. This is the base that empowers both your sales reps and marketing teams with tools, training, and knowledge for them to hit targets and close more sales. Here are three best practices for good lead management:

Use Lead Management Software for Gyms: Lead management is key to attracting and closing sales. Your sales process can be managed by the output of CRM lead management software. Without that lead management software, tracking the lead, management reporting, and monitoring without the software is usually more time-consuming and may result in issues like your sales team following up with cold leads, a waste of staff time.

Align Marketing and Sales: Enabling enriched leads to be passed on from marketing to the sales team is highly valuable. To put it shortly, if a lead management process, under control of yours, is put into practice in the organization, cross-team communication will automatically become easier by rightly aligning the right teams at the right junctures. After all, your sales team already has useful information on prospects from marketing.

Define your goals — Think what you want to achieve: more customers or decrease your cost per lead. Goals will help you to support the process of marketing and sales and will prevent you from contacting prospects who are not suitable for your business. Below are nine steps to creating an efficient lead management process.

An effective lead management process should align sequentially with the way you grow your business by attracting customers and closing the sale effectively. Growing your gym sales depends on improving a whole array of processes, one of them being lead management. 

Without an organized sales-and-lead-management system, there comes a risk of not closing gym sales leads. Here are nine steps to build a highly efficient lead management system and start converting more leads:

Map Out Your Sales Process: First of all, map out your whole sales process. Think about the stages and departments a prospect has to travel through before they reach your customer status. Think about whom they will need to speak with and who is responsible for each process within it.

Lead Capturing: This implies that not every lead you come across can be a prospective customer. Some of them interact with your website, social media, subscribe to newsletters, though never converting. Describe your ideal customer and make the ideal persona for a perfect lead. Effective lead generation will guarantee leads that will assist your sales team to convert more customers in less time.

Organize Your Leads: Organizing your leads is a very important precaution. You can organize your cold leads, prospects, and customers just to keep track of and monitor your leads. If handling large lists, it quickly gets very messy if not organized properly. The lead management software for gyms provides a great solution relating to this area. Remove duplicate data, assign customer personas, and capture more details as you learn about your prospect.

Implement a Lead Scoring System Lead scoring makes it easy to qualify different leads. The lead scoring system determines the scores of points given to every person as per their activity. For instance, one person streaming one of your classes in addition to signing up for your newsletter is likely to score a higher lead compared with one who occasionally interacts with your brand on social media. Reason being, it will be highly easy to understand what your next step should be per the score you give them because this will tell you where the lead is in the nurturing process.

Assign All Leads: Every lead, regardless of their position in the customer journey, needs to be directed towards someone. The sales representatives should follow up quickly with potential customers. A personal sales professional needs to be attached to every potential member for the member's journey of decision-making. The very nature of this task is to build relationships and nurse the lead.

Keep track of everything. The more information you have, the better your sales will be. If your pipeline is full of potential customers who will be interested in your services, then that just increases your chances to be successful in your sales endeavors. Having a clear lead generation strategy really ups the chances of success in acquiring people who match your services and brand. Not only will this track progress and the journey of a customer, but it will also pinpoint weaknesses and ensure no one is able to fall through the net.

Automatically warm up leads and convert them into qualified prospects by systemizing the lead management process of your fitness business. Customize lead generation email marketing campaigns, contact prospective customers, collect customer referrals, and automatically capture leads from your website with your lead management software. Automate communication of your services, offers, updates, and other relevant information with automation to enhance your member retention.

Nurture Your Leads: Most leads aren't ready to buy after the first click. You need to nurture them into becoming new members. Answered questions, communication of the value of services, and being relationally human are vital parts of the nurturing process. Nurturing leads is your opportunity to add value for prospective customers. You can score leads, understand your customer base, and keep prospects on engaging grounds to nurture leads effectively.

Refine the Process: An efficient lead management process will increase sales while at the same time ensuring maximum productivity. You cannot perfect a lead management system once and for all. Data capturing and tracking enable you to constantly refine the process. After all, increasing sales is multi-faceted: Lead generation is just one facet of it. The lead management process is complex; however, the general journey can be optimized to perfect a proven sales system that turns strangers into paying, loyal members.

Abstract

A lead management system forms a core part in running a successful fitness business. It defines a set of procedures followed by your team while engaging potential members through the process of sale. It ensures high standards of the team, and potential customers will not get lost.

A proper lead management process saves time and also helps increase your efficiency by scoring and properly cooking leads through targeted and valuable content, which removes guesswork. Refine your lead management process and build a proven sales system that turns strangers into loyal, high-ticket members.