#the rainmaker: chapter 7

[bigtreefest]

Chapter 7: Help the Bear

From: The Rainmaker Series

Pairing: Mob! Steve x Forensic Scientist! Reader

Summary: “If you ever see me fighting in the forest with a grizzly bear, help the bear, cuz that bitch gon’ need it.” Usually, you’d say this phrase describes you. You’re tough, and your enemies are the bear, but you might be more fragile than it seems. You might have to put aside some of your issues for the night, in favor of helping a friend.

Word count: 6,722

Content/warnings: Swears, punching, anger, deception, mob themes, crying, yelling, broken promises, mood swings, pet and nicknames, nice Bucky???, everyone lowkey walking on eggshells around decks, high stress, kidnapping, a bar fight, mentions of knives, misogyny

Author’s Note: I feel like this is a long awaited climax which lines up with Ch. 10 of YCMBWH and Ch. 3 of Handiwork. Anyway, I’m very excited for you to read it. I’d appreciate your feedback in all forms!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

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It was early Saturday morning when you stood outside of your apartment building, waiting for Gio to pick you up like you had instructed Steve. He’d sent you several calls and texts since, but you stayed radio silent, until finally, it all stopped. You didn’t have doubt, though, that he’d come through, and you wouldn’t have to drive that distance in your current state. The chance of a crash was far too high. Hm, maybe you should’ve taken Steve’s car then. No, no, you weren’t that mean. You shamed yourself for even having the thought.

The sky was full of nice shades of pink, orange, and purple, the air lacking the humidity that usually came with the rising sun. It was the rainy season, and had been for the last month, but for some reason, the conditions seemed almost drought-like, since Tuesday. How uncharacteristic.

You were pulled from your thoughts by a black SUV pulling up in front of your building, and tried to squint to see who was in the driver’s seat. You had only seen Gio once before, so you assumed it was him by the dark hair you could just barely make out through the tinted window. Good, that meant it wasn’t Steve, even though the vehicle had an eerie resemblance to his. The trunk popped open and you threw your bag in. You weren’t going to be there long, anyway. All you had packed was a change of clothes for the game tonight, pajamas, and clothes for when you left in the morning. Simple as that, and it meant you could wear whatever you wanted right now, which was the comfiest thing you had: sweatpants and your old hoodie, despite the uncharacteristically warm weather.

You closed the trunk and hopped into the back seat, barely having the time to get buckled as the car lurched forward and started on its way out of the city. You looked through the window at the passing buildings as they turned into trees, on the route that was becoming familiar once again.

Bucky grumbled as he tossed and turned in his oversized leather desk chair, arising from the short sleep he had found there after a late night of business dealings designed to be front loaded for him to have this weekend open. He moved to stand, only for his feet to be met by something soft, that was definitely not the hardwood floors, under his loafers.

“Ah, fuck! Steve? What are you doing down there? Why didn’t you fall asleep on the couch, like a normal person?”

Steve groaned, rolling over just enough to look at his best friend above him. “Couch is too comfy. Floor keeps me on edge, just barely asleep. I deserve that. And now I’m up so we can go immediately. You’re welcome, I did this for you and your future wife.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and stepped over the lump of blond and muscle on the floor, creeping towards Sam, who actually was on the couch, while grumbling, “We don’t know if she’s my future wife. We hardly have a label.”

Bucky flicked Sam’s ear for him to rise, met with an, “ow! I’ve been up since you have, boss man!”

Bucky rolled his eyes again, walking over to the closet in the corner of his home office and grabbing his and Steve’s go bags that they had packed the night before.

“Okay, we’ve gotta get there soon. Sam, you still good with holding down the fort here?”

Sam nodded, having sat up fully, unlike Steve, who was still laying on the floor, face down. “Yeah, although, I’m not sure about our buddy over there. Stevie, rise and shine,” he sang out softly.

Steve stood after taking a sharp, deep breath, his eyes red and face puffy just barely, that it looked like allergies from sleeping on the floor. “Okay, I’ll drive my car, and Bucky, you’ve gotta go get Decks.”

Bucky stopped all movement, going still as a statue from where he was double checking the contents of his bag, before turning around slowly. “I’m sorry, what? You want me to go pick up Decks? No. Your girl, you pick her up.”

Steve’s head dropped as Sam let out an audible wince at the whole thing, before explaining, since he knew Steve had very little desire to be verbal right now. “Boss, Decks hasn’t talked to Steve since Tuesday. Steve can’t go pick her up, I think it’ll just make her more mad. And look at him,” he gestured to Steve, hair in a mess and head still pointing towards the floor as he rubbed his eyes, “poor puppy is gonna be broken if he has to see her this early in the morning. She’s gonna eat him alive. At least you’ve got Honey waiting for you on the other side. Steve sure as hell doesn’t.”

The help from Sam had morphed into something a little hurtful, albeit true, but Bucky still huffed. “If Decks doesn’t want to see you, why’d she agree to a ride from us?”

Steve shook his head, finally looking up. “She didn’t. She agreed to a ride from Gio, who’s in Italy currently because you were trying to be a nice boss, or whatever. So you’ve gotta drive her.”

In an instant, Bucky’s features grew soft. He switched from boss mode to friend mode. “Okay, okay. Just…get going so you can start talking strategy with Bee and Peter early. I’ll pick up Decks and meet you there.”

Steve gave a short, grateful nod and grabbed his bag, heading out.

So Bucky found himself driving you like a chauffeur out to the farm as the early morning sun was lighting up the landscape. He was used to being up this early, and he was sure you were, too, but just in case, he’d brought some breakfast.

Once he’d gotten far enough from the city that he knew you wouldn’t try and escape once he revealed himself, he rolled down the partition. He could see you curled up in the corner of the backseat, almost cuddling, clinging to the hoodie you were wearing. It was all too familiar, as Bucky knew Bee had the same one, but the last time he had seen one of them was that time he was at your apartment and Steve had worn it. And that’s when Bucky caught a whiff. Unmistakable with how often he was around it. Steve’s cologne. The corner of his lip upturned slightly. Maybe there was still a chance for the two of you.

You were pulled from your daydream by the sound of the partition lowering, but didn’t move your gaze from the passing scenery. Maybe Gio was going to ask you if you needed a bathroom break in the long drive, or to make sure the air flow and temperature were alright, but you were surprised when you heard the voice in front of you.

It was deep, and a little familiar. “So, uh… you want a croissant?”

It was Bucky. You watched as he fished around in the passenger seat, grabbing a bakery box and handing it back to you, shaking it as a signal when you hadn’t grabbed it after a few seconds. You pulled it into your lap before looking into the rear view mirror and catching his slate eyes, watching you expectantly, yet cautiously, for a response.

You looked at the label on the box. It was a French bakery. One you’d never heard of before, especially not from the list of businesses Steve had rattled off to you when you asked what all he owned. Good.

You spoke up softly, not one much for words so early in the morning. “So’s this place yours?”

Bucky looked between your image in the mirror and the road, trying to figure out what you were referencing. “The bakery? Yeah, one of many places. And one of my favorites. Try the chocolate croissant if you haven’t had breakfast yet. It’s good.”

You nodded, sighing and gingerly opening the lid to be met by one of the best smells probably ever. You carefully pulled out a chocolate croissant and took a bite, holding in a moan at the deliciousness, but Bucky could see the enjoyment on your face, no matter how brief, due to the overwhelming weight of today sitting on your shoulders.

“Told you.”

You simply hummed in response, setting down the pastry and waiting to swallow to speak up.

“So, Bucket. I thought Gio was supposed to pick me up, but it looks like Steve lied again. Why you? Don’t you have better shit to be in charge of?”

Bucky was changing highways, so he kept his eyes on the road. He had half a mind to defend his best friend, but he didn’t want to open up that can of worms when you still had a couple hours of driving left. Plus, he knew it went farther than that, and it wasn’t technically his fight. Touching on your self-deprecation probably wasn’t a good idea, either. He’d leave that to Honeybee, much better versed in seeing you like this, he assumed. But from what he could tell, this seemed far from your normal self-assured, resigned state that he quite appreciated. He opted to comment on the dissection of your sentence that mainly had to do with him. That was probably a good domain to stay within for now. “You don’t have to call me that, y’know.”

You took another bite and shrugged. “What am I supposed to call you, then? James?”

“Bucky is fine.”

You let out a dry laugh. “No, that’s weird, what are you, a hick? -wait, actually, no. Forget I said that.”

Definitely not a good idea to make a distasteful joke such as that with where you both were going right now.

You shook your head looking down at the box. “But you still didn’t answer my first question.”

Bucky spun the wheel around the clover leaf and effortlessly merged on the open roads. “Gio’s on vacation in Italy, so you’re stuck with me. But don’t worry, Steve’s already on the road ahead of us.”

Well, he did what you asked, but you left his answer unacknowledged, besides a huff as you set the box aside. So much for trying to tread lightly.

“What? Decks, sweetheart, are you mad at me for bringing up Steve?” You crossed your arms and legs, glaring at Bucky and hoping it would set him on fire, sadly unsuccessfully, through the mirror. It was a good thing you weren’t a witch, anyway, though, because Bee would’ve killed you if it had worked.

“Ugh! What is up with that!? Everyone calling me ‘sweetheart?’ You, Sam, Steve! I’m not some little token helpless woman.”

Bucky opened his mouth defensively to reply, before closing it and furrowing his brows in thought at your full statement. “Wait a second, Steve called you ‘sweetheart?’”

You rolled your eyes yet again, and decided you weren’t done with that croissant quite yet, so you grabbed the box from your side and took another bite, not bothering to swallow this time before talking with your mouth full. “Yeah, like a few times, and then Sam did when he drove me home, and you did just now. What’s the deal?”

Bucky wished you weren’t sitting directly behind him, because he would’ve fully turned to look you in the eyes for this. He didn’t realize how serious it all was between the two of you, but he should’ve, considering how enamored he was, too, with his own girl. Obviously Steve was capable of the same thing.

“Swee- Decks. For Sam and I, that’s just how we were raised. I mean, Steve was raised the same way, but…” He stopped to think for a second so it came out the right way.

“Sure, you’re right, ‘sweetheart’ is a term of endearment for anyone in our community. Any guy will call pretty much any woman that, but not Steve. Ever since we were young, he refused. Said he was saving it. That it deserved to be used for someone really special. Someone with the sweetest heart. At least for him.”

You scoffed and questioningly shook your head. “Bucket, that is not me.”

He shrugged once again. “Maybe. And maybe that’s what you try to show, but to him it is. That’s you. He doesn’t take those things lightly.”

You grumbled, taking the last bite and licking your fingers before Bucky handed you a napkin. “I had it under control.”

He smirked, catching another whiff of Steve’s cologne when your arm reached up towards him. “Sure, ya did. Hey, when’s the last time you washed that hoodie? Surprised you wouldn’t wanna use that old thing as a napkin,” he said in a playful tone, laughter almost emerging from his voice.

Evidently you didn’t want to wash it. You wanted to keep it clean, let it have this scent as long as possible. After you crumbled the napkin, you threw it up towards him in the front seat before pulling your hood up.

Bucky swerved slightly, but not enough to cause concern. “Hey, watch it. I’m in charge of your safety up here. I’ve gotta deliver us both unharmed. It’s paramount.”

You’d just about had enough of this oddly chipper attitude from him. Bucky was very obviously excited to see Bee again and you couldn’t blame him. Their relationship was honest from the start. The small tinge of normalcy you’d had for a second started to wear off again, though, as that weight began to sink back onto your shoulders. You pulled your hoodie strings tight around your face, letting the smell and the comfort fully engulf you, and hoping to catch just a little more sleep before the long day ahead.

“Okay, whatever. Fuck off, Bucket.”

When you pulled up to the farm, you were gently shaken awake by someone who had climbed in the back seat with you so that they didn’t open the door you were leaning against and make you fall out. When your eyes fluttered open, though, you were met with a face you hardly recognized, causing you to spring into action and punch him right in the nose, not that hard, but also not that lightly.

The young man in flannel in front of you clattered into the back of the passenger seat, holding his nose, when you finally recognized him. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! You’re that kid who works for Bucky. Are you okay?”

He nodded, backing away and out the other side of the vehicle, scrambling to get away quickly, not sure if you’d hit him again, just based off association. “Yeah, yeah, all good.”

You could hardly hear him, voice fading as he ran into the house.

You took his words at face value, finally reorienting yourself to where you were now, seeing the green and gold landscapes and red barns outside your window. Right. Bee’s farm. For the bet. With the mob bosses. Gone was your concern as your angry face, or really more of an attempt of a flat affect came back.

You slid across the back seat, empty of the bakery box that was once there, and moved to get out of the door that was left open. When you emerged, you were met with the sight of Bee and Cherry picking through the pastries you had left behind, their nervously smiling faces lit up by the mid morning sun.

“Decks! Good morning! It’s so good to see you.”

Bee gave you a side hug you didn’t return and Cherry gave you a little wave before giving Curtis a little bite of her croissant. Gross.

Curtis thanked her with a kiss on the cheek before coming over to you and giving a bear hug, despite the way you tried to push him off. Eventually, you relented, relaxing in his hold, that of a long-time, good friend. He rubbed his hand against the top of your hood, messing up the hair underneath, before returning to Cherry’s side, grabbing his own pastry out of the box.

A small “hi” was all you could muster up to use to greet the three of them, but it was enough. You pointed over your shoulder to indicate you were going to grab your bag from the trunk, finally pulling the hood off your head and turning around. When you pivoted, though, you were only met with Steve there, your bag over his shoulder like it had been so many times before, his glassy eyes taking you in.

His voice was small and scratchy like you’d never heard it before, like he’d been silent for weeks, as he mustered up a, “Hey, Decks.”

You promptly spun back around and stomped into the farm house and up the steps, passing Bucky on the way to your usual room. When you opened the door, though, you were met with the sight of a young man sitting on your bed, ice against his face and a jolt when he saw you bust in.

“Uh, hi Miss Decks. Can I help you?” You groaned at the weird formality, but were in no mood for something like this to throw you off on such an important day.

“Yeah. You can get out of my room. You’re gonna share the other spare with Steve. No questions, okay?”

He simply nodded, beginning to grab his stuff as you stripped the bed of its sheets. He was actually complying very nicely, so you felt bad for being so assertive with him…and punching him in the face.

“So what’s your name and what’s your job?”

He stopped and looked at you, confusion and fear riddling his face. “I-I’m Peter, miss. I was assigned to stay here to help with shipments and watching over miss Honeybee. I just go wherever they say. Sometimes do tech, sometimes intelligence. Really anything.”

You nodded and hummed, pulling a new set of bedding out of the top of the closet. “So what exactly does that make you, Peter? Fourth in command?”

He cocked his head to the side, zipping up a bag, before helping you put on the new sheets. “I guess I never thought about that, but no. Technically I think I’d be fifth at least.”

You nodded along, grateful for the acquiescence that seemed to run through this organization and his kindness you were evidently not returning. With all the stress, though, you didn’t even really have the time to wonder who was number four. He finished gathering everything in his arms and sprinted out the door, across the hall to Steve’s room, before realizing there were three guest rooms and he might be able to take the last one, depending on where Bucky planned to stay. Out of indecision, he just dropped everything at the end of the hallway and went back downstairs, leaving you to lay over the comforter in contemplation. Peace wasn’t something that would come to you today.

It was early afternoon when Cherry finally came up to find you, not the person you would’ve expected to do so. She knocked on your door with a sweet smile.

“Hey, Decks. I know you’re probably in game mode, but Bee thought it might be a good idea for you to come over to my place. We can pick you out a nice outfit for tonight. Eat something, maybe? It’s my understanding you haven’t had anything since early this morning and apparently, from what I’ve been told, ‘the good stuff’ is waiting for you at my apartment. And it’s no boys allowed for this afternoon. You get to do whatever you need to get in the zone without distraction. How does that sound?”

You groaned before you nodded, launching yourself up out of the bed quickly to a seated position. “Yeah…that’s good. I mean, I already have an outfit, but that’ll be good. Let me just hit the bathroom real quick and I’ll meet you in the driveway, okay?”

She nodded with another soft smile and went back down the steps.

Soon after she was gone and you’d gathered what you needed, not even bothering to consider how your bag had made it to the corner by the doorway of your room, you shuffled over to the bathroom in your socked feet and washed your face. When you were all dry, you looked at your reflection in the mirror. It was you, but it was different. Not unrecognizable, but maybe barely.

Exhaustion laced your features. Dark bags had settled under your eyes from the lack of sleep. You were in a perpetual state of puffiness from all the crying you’d kept to yourself, yet everything just looked…sunken. Like, saggy with sadness. You smiled, trying to boost your mood, make it feel like you weren’t going through hell. Trying to put on a brave face for your friend and her world. Everything this whole week was a lot, and as much as you were trying to ice out the terror, you could feel it seeping through the cracks. One final smile and one final wipe of your nose, and you were ready to go, galloping down the staircase and out to Bee’s truck where she was already waiting for you. You slid up in the seat, squeezing Cherry between the two of you, and went on your way towards town.

When you got to Cherry’s apartment, there were bowls of pasta sitting on her small dining room table that must’ve been for you. Ah yes, that was probably ‘the good stuff’ she was referring to. Cherry immediately went to the kitchen to grab bowls and utensils, handing them to you and Bee, as you took in the scent of the the still-steaming arrangement.

Despite your feelings toward everything Steve lately, the gesture and nostalgia still warmed you. The three of you sat, as you savored every bite in silence, Bee and Cherry holding soft conversation on the side and respecting your wishes until the meal was done and you felt just a little bit better. A little bet fuller in your heart and your stomach.

You didn’t have to worry as Bee and Cherry assured you that they’d clean everything up, directing you towards the bedroom where you’d found something else sitting there, waiting for you to find it. It was a record player, just like the one in your apartment. The one you’d promised Steve you’d play the song on before you’d fallen asleep to that old movie. And next to it was a stack of vinyls, some you recognized as the same as your collection, plus some new ones you’d mentioned you liked before, but never got the chance to acquire. On the stack was a small sticky note that said:

“You got this, Decky. -SR”

You couldn’t help the way a smile crept onto your face at his thoughtfulness. Sure, you were mad at him, but this was far from a cheap gesture. It was just what you needed to fully lock in, and maybe raise your spirits to get through tonight and do this for someone besides yourself. You put on a record, mood brightening by the minute, and began swaying through the room until Cherry and Bee came in to meet you.

Their faces lit up seeing your slightly improved mood, this moment acting like a brief reprieve from a day constantly growing in intensity. The two of them began rifling through the closet, pulling out a bunch of outfits for you to try, and throwing them into a pile on the bed. At least you had your music.

When Cherry’s shift at the bar was set to start, the three of you drove over, you wearing a short, flouncy tennis dress that was far from what you were used to. The clothes you had packed for this evening were just jeans and a tee, but according to your friend, that wasn’t good enough, so here you found yourself in something completely out of character. At least it had shorts underneath.

You were about an hour early for the match, but the bar was already buzzing with patrons. As Cherry went to clock in, you could see the group of guys already sitting in the booth, talking in hushed whispers until you and Bee approached. Bee instantly gravitated towards Bucky’s lap with a kiss, and you were going to sit next to Curtis, but he stood up, passing you with a nod and heading straight for the bar with Cherry. So much for having a buffer.

You were left to sit next to Steve, your already nervous state making you shake and avoid eye contact, whether you wanted to or not. Bucky sat up, saying something about checking with guards and Bee followed him, leaving the two of you alone, sitting too close for how much room the booth had now gained.

You took in a shuddering breath, looking around the crowded room, seeing the pool tables and envisioning the event that was about to go down. You felt so isolated in that moment, before you felt a large, warm hand on your thigh.

“Decks, sweetheart. You there? You alright?” You looked up and to your side at Steve, the seclusion of the tall seats allowing him to be the only one who could see the tears in your eyes. Here you were, all dolled up at the hands of Cherry, about to ruin it, but that was the least of your worries. The pressure was about to crash over you and Steve needed to seal those dam walls before a flood broke out.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. Why don’t you and me take a second to go into the break room or something? We have the time.”

You simply nodded and scooted out of the booth. Steve grabbed the hat off the top of his head, placing it on yours to hide your distraught face from any possible prying eyes before grabbing your hand and rushing the two of you across the dance floor.

He’d seen most of your range of emotions. He’d seen you playful, he’d seen you focused, he’d seen you happy, he’d never get enough of that, he’d seen you mad, probably more than enough for a lifetime, but he’d never seen you quite like this, with tears threatening to spill over.

Before you knew it, you were on an old couch in a back room you had never seen before, crying into Steve’s chest as he held you closely, hand rubbing your back, and shushing you gently.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. You got this. Hey, look at me. You can do it.”

You pulled your hands up to wipe your eyes as Steve searched the room to find you tissues, dabbing away the wetness as you sniffled.

“Tell me what’s going on, sweetheart. What can I do to help? What’s on your mind?”

You tried to speak, but you were gasping for air. The farthest thing from your mind was anger at him, or the pet name. You just wanted comfort. Steve began demonstrating deep breaths in front of you, helping you to calm down until it worked. He started to blow a cool stream of air towards your face, drying more of the wetness, and rubbing his large, warm hands up your arms, redirecting your focus to the gestures. Finally you were almost fully settled and ready to talk.

“I’m just so…scared. Sure, I’ve dealt with things that were high-stress before, but never with this high of stakes. I didn’t ask to be dragged into all of this, but now the whole mess hinges on me. This entire thing. Legitimate lives are riding on me. That’s a lot.”

Steve nodded along. He got it. This was hard, and it was a lot of pressure, especially since it all came crashing towards you at once. He wished there was something he could do to fix it, to take some of that off of you, but he couldn’t. He felt like he was the reason it was all hitting so hard in the first place. All he could do was try and keep you pumped up, and ready to go for tonight. He knew you had a game face, maybe he could help you put that on so you could beat these pricks once and for all. Maybe that would be enough for him. He knew you were giving him a chance, just for tonight because Bee was mostly what mattered, and he was going to make the most of that opportunity while it lasted.

He ran his hand over your hair, pulling you close one last time and planting a kiss to your hairline before sighing and slapping his hands on his knees to get up.

“Alright, up we go. C’mon.” He held out his hand for you, but all you did was sit there and look at him confused.

“Unfortunately, you don’t have all night, Decky. Stand, or I’m dragging you.”

You must not have moved fast enough, because before you knew it, your floppy body had been pulled to its feet and Steve was slowly manipulating each part. He kicked your one foot back, widening your stance, and bent each arm, curling your fingers into fists. He moved in front of you, holding up his hands, flat and open, just like boxing practice. He bounced between his feet on the ground, shifting back and forth.

“Alright, go for it. Let’s see what you got.” You huffed, landing a weak punch against his palm, and Steve laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think so. Let’s go, Decks. I know you’re better than that. Harder. Get angry.”

And you did, you punched harder, you punched faster, and you were relentless, raging in a rain of fists, jitters long gone and replaced with a fire of fury. Fuck Cole. And fuck Lloyd. And fuck this whole fucked up mess of misogyny that threatened the livelihood of an innocent woman.

Steve grabbed your fists, snapping you out of it as you stood there, chest rising and falling with deep breaths. “There it is. Use that.” He looked at you intently, imploring you to be yourself, the confident, driven, capable woman he knew. You were back, if only for a few hours, but that was all he needed.

You settled yourself with a single breath, hands falling to your sides after you smoothed your dress and grabbed Steve’s hat back off where it had fallen onto the couch when you threw your head at his chest. You stood there with your eyes closed for a second. “Steven, do I still look okay? Bee said I have to look hot to distract these pieces of shit, and I’d hate to know that I’ve got a hair out of place. Please fix it before I go back out there.”

Steve smiled, just a little one he knew you couldn’t see, as he took a walk around you, tugging down the back of your dress and gently combing his fingers through your hair, taking his thumbs to swipe over your cheeks and fix the slight run of makeup from your tears. He gently grabbed the hat out of your tight clutch, playing with the brim. “You, uh…you want my hat? Would that make you feel better? Preserve an air of mystery and make you not have to look directly at the ‘pieces of shit?’”

You revealed a small, soft smile he thought he’d never see again and nodded, opening your eyes as he placed it back on your head, straightening it just so. He smiled just as sweetly when he saw you, actually saw you for the first time in awhile. Then, you weren’t sure what was happening as he squatted down in front of you, closing his eyes just like you had before.

“Okay, now it’s your turn to fix my hair before we go back out there. You messed it up when I gave you my hat.”

You strutted back out into the bar, face stoic, and stride powerful, your skirt flowing from the speed. Steve was a few steps behind you, surveying the area to see Bucky and Bee had returned, chatting with two men by the pool table.

You clocked them as well, not recognizing the two, but seeing one in an oddly crisp brown jacket, common for the area, but usually more beaten up on the folk around here, and the other in a knitted, collared shirt, nose pronounced by the neatly trimmed mustache underneath. Far too fancy for a place like this. These must be the men.

You walked up to Bee’s side, noticing her tight-lipped smile. “Decks, this is Cole, and this is Lloyd. He’ll be playing against you.”

You simply nodded, taking a step back. These men obviously had no desire for handshakes, only giving you a curt nod as well, as Lloyd stepped away, pulling a pool cue out of a case.

You rolled your eyes under the brim of the hat. Of course this rich prick had his own cue. You walked over to where Steve was at the rack of cues on the wall, looking at each and evaluating which one looked the best after years of wear and tear in the old joint. He pulled one down, wordlessly asking if it worked and you nodded, handing him a little block of chalk.

“Will you hold this for me throughout the game? And a glass of water please?” He nodded and headed to the bar, ready to be at your service.

When you returned to the table, negotiations had already been made and Lloyd was starting. That already put him at an advantage, but it would be fine, as long as he couldn’t get all the balls in on the first try.

His break was successful. Sharp, forceful, and precise: something that seemed mimetic of his pristine and obnoxious appearance. With two striped balls in the pockets, he went for the next one, and the next one, of your favorite suit. It was bad enough that you had to play solids, but he was surprisingly doing well. On his attempt for a sixth sink, though, he missed, giving you the chance to step in.

You took a sip of the water in Steve’s hand, rubbing the tip of your cue with the chalk in his other. You took a deep breath, leaning over the table for your first shot. It was the furthest thing from your mind, but Steve, and hell, everyone around, took notice of you bending over for it. Steve’s eyes quickly averted, though, going straight to Lloyd and Cole, as they were shamelessly gawking, doing what you’d said they would, and hopefully losing their if focus because of it. Your jaw ticked. You were angry, and you were focused, and you were fed up, and you were ready to go. There was no way you were going to mess up. You took your shot. Sunk.

That was followed by four more, easy angles, at least for you. You didn’t even look at the two men your were competing against. The only other person you could see in your zone of focus was Steve, if that, mostly because he was holding the materials you needed to win. Anyone else, anything else, was the enemy. Blocked. This was about winning, just like the years of swindling this game had set you up for. Seven hits, seven successes, one left, so you called the pocket. It was intense, and your face was unreadable. You took the shot, not even looking to see it go in, because you knew it would. Instead, your face was turned towards the two out-of-place men, your lips slowly growing smug as small crowd that had gathered around the table erupted in cheers.

You dropped your cue on the table, waltzing up to Lloyd as Bee stood in front of Cole.

You pointed a finger into the expensive fabric on the man in front of you and looked up into his eyes, dark like the deepest, deadest ocean.

“A deal is a deal and you just lost. Now hop off from my friend’s and all the other businesses I hear you’ve been harassing. Aren’t you guys all about your word?”

You were taken aback by the dark chuckle you were met with. “Oh, cupcake, that’s cute. You think I got this far on my word? No way. You may have won this fool’s game, but you all have yet to start mine.”

After gesturing over to Cole, he put his hand over his chest, dramatically gasping in a mocking manner.

“Oh no. Where’d your precious cheese curd go?”

Your head whipped over to the bar where you’d last seen him, but were met with the sight of an empty stool. Curtis was missing.

At this point, you didn’t care about the scene you were about to make, because that crossed a line. Curtis hardly had anything to do with this entire situation and they kidnapped him? Fucking why? Before you could even register what was going on, you lunged for Lloyd, trying to punch and scratch at him, but only hitting air. Something had caught you in the middle of your movement, picking you up, leaving you kicking and clawing at nothing, but you still had your voice. Curtis was innocent, and like a brother to you, and he didn’t deserve whatever this was. So you screamed, flailing in Steve’s arms, you’d know his arms and the smell of his cologne anywhere, but that wasn’t really what you were focused on right now.

“FUCK YOU, LLOYD! FUCK YOU AND THAT UGLY ASS MUSTACHE!! FUCK YOU FOR BREAKING A PROMISE!!!”

Out of the corner of your eye, even as you were backed away, you could see Cole shift and hold his hands up. “I swear. This wasn’t part of the deal. I was just doing what I was told. I didn’t know about any of this.”

You knew how much it sucked to be left out of the loop, but you still didn’t feel sorry. Cole was literally trying to commandeer the farm. He was far from innocent. You wiggled and turned as much as you could in Steve’s tight hold.

“And fuck you, too, Cole!! You ruined chocolate milk for me!”

The last thing you could see before the crowd descended was Bucky delivering a swift blow to Lloyd’s jaw, followed by him grabbing Cole by the collar.

Your attention was pulled to something else, though, by Steve’s hands on either side of your face once he had set you on a bar stool. “Decks, Decks! I need you to look at me.”

His nose was almost to yours. “I need you to watch Cherry. I have to go and check on the guards. See what happened out there and if Curtis is really gone. You need find out what happened in here. Take this.”

He slipped something in your hand that you had no idea how he concealed in the simple button-up denim shirt and jeans he was wearing. “Take out anyone who comes at you that you don’t know.”

You looked down at what was in your grasp: a small throwing knife. Without waiting a second, you snapped into survival mode, jumping behind the bar with Cherry. No one was around the two of you right now, luckily, as a full-on bar brawl had broken out.

You turned your body towards Cherry, but your head was on a swivel watching your surroundings. “So tell me what happened. When did Curtis disappear? Did you see anything?”

She frantically shook her head. “No, a-all I know is that some girl asked me to pour her a drink. She had a bunch of specifications, and when I made it and turned back around, Curtis was gone, and so was she.”

Your eyebrows shot up. “What did she look like?”

“I don’t know? Kinda short, dark hair? Annoyingly fit? Now that I think about it, kinda like the female version of the guy you were playing pool against. That’s not a coincidence, is it?”

You threw your head back. It definitely wasn’t a coincidence. It was probably Lilian.

“Ah, shit.”

Next >

Bonus A/N: The moments between Decks and Steve here were much softer than I’d anticipated them to be, but there are so many different ways to act under stress, and I think it means a lot that she’s not necessarily able to stay in her normal cold manner of upsettedness when there’s so much at stake beyond just her. Things change when others are depending on you.

Taglist: @evie-119 @hawkeyes-queen @ronearoundblindly @thedonswife13

[floofyfungi]

Why did Novastorm jump in to save Alexis during chapter 7? Wouldn't it have been better for her in the long run to ignore what was going on and not be associated at all

Oh I love discussing motivations! How I see it, Novastorm intervened for two reasons.

1. Dirge's wrath is less severe than Starscream's.

Dirge may outrank Novastorm, but he's not going to kill her. Even if she 'insults' him by rescuing Alexis (no seeker officer can kill another officer without Starscream's / Thundercracker's permission). The resulting fight between the Coneheads and Rainmakers led to injuries; but they weren't firing to kill. No reasonable seeker is going to kill a fellow decepticon over a human.

Starscream is not reasonable.

Novastorm knows first hand just how protective Starscream is of Alexis. If she was spotted ignoring Alexis in distress, just flying by as Dirge killed her, there would be dire consequences. And being spotted was very likely considering this all happened within the fortress. Novastorm knew this. If Starscream learned she let Alexis die...

Attacking Dirge was much safer.

2. Novastorm owes Alexis.

Alexis stopped Starscream from melting one of Novastorm’s limbs. Despite Novastorm accidentally hurting Alexis. Novastorm doesn't understand why Alexis did what she did, humans are weird, but she does understand a debt. Now they're even. Novastorm can go on with her life without this hanging over her head, and Alexis gets to live. Everybody wins.

So yeah! I think it was a mixture of these two factors that contributed Novastorm’s decision.

[sawdusst]

The Rainmaker Heist: Complete edition 🌊⚓ (Coroika Pirate AU)

Hey gamers! I wanted to organize the main thread a bit so you could just ignore this post if you want to.

Since I'm planning another Choose Your Own Adventure type thing I wanted to make an individual thread for TRH to make room for the other thing-- so this is the individual thread. :]

The Rainmaker Heist focuses on Gloves & his team trying to steal the Rainmaker :D

Here's the link to the main thread for more stuff on the Pirate AU! :D

INTRO

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Aftermath Stuff

Total Word Count: 15,273 + some edits made outside of Google Docs

[pritishsblog]

BEST DIRECTORS IN CINEMA- 6

Hi everyone! This blog is going to be the 6th part of the 8 part series who I think are the Best Director Cinema has ever seen

And today I will be talking about

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.) is an American motion-picture director, writer, and producer whose films range from sweeping epics to small-scale character studies. As the director of films such as The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), and Apocalypse Now (1979), he enjoyed his greatest success and influence in the 1970s, when he attempted to create an alternative to the Hollywood system of film production and distribution.

(Early Life)

Coppola’s father, Carmine, a frustrated composer who played flute in several orchestras, including Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony orchestra, settled his family in the New York City area. Coppola grew up in and around Queens and in Great Neck, on Long Island. Confined to bed with polio at age nine, he devised puppet shows for his own entertainment and soon began making 8-mm films. After earning a B.A. in drama from Hofstra University, he pursued a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of California at Los Angeles, studying filmmaking. During that period Coppola began working for noted low-budget exploitation-film producer-director Roger Corman, for whose American International Pictures he performed second-unit photography and direction, among other tasks. One of Coppola’s first projects was writing dialogue to be dubbed into his reedited versions of a pair of Russian-made films that became The Magic Voyage of Sinbad and Battle Beyond the Sun (both 1962). While on location in Ireland, Coppola persuaded Corman to put up $20,000 to bankroll his first directorial effort, Dementia 13 (1963), a gory horror film based on a script that Coppola had hastily written.After contributing to the scripts of This Property Is Condemned and Is Paris Burning? (both 1966) as a contract writer for Seven Arts, Coppola wrote and directed the charming coming-of-age tale You’re a Big Boy Now (also 1966), which served as his master’s thesis film. Short on plot but rich with incident, it was the story of a virginal young man (played by Peter Kastner) looking for love while in the employ of the New York Public Library.

(His Famous Works)

Coppola's reputation as a filmmaker was cemented with the release of The Godfather (1972), which revolutionized the gangster genre[13] of filmmaking, receiving strong commercial and critical reception. The Godfather won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Mario Puzo). The Godfather Part II (1974) became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.Other notable films Coppola has released since the start of the 1980s include the dramas The Outsiders and Rumble Fish (both 1983), The Cotton Club (1984), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), The Godfather Part III (1990), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) and The Rainmaker (1997). Coppola has acted as producer on such diverse films as American Graffiti (1973), The Black Stallion (1979), The Escape Artist (1982), Hammett (1982), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) and The Secret Garden (1993).

(Filmmaking Style)

His Filmmaking Style

Coppola’s style is defined by its versatility and innovation. He employs a wide range of cinematographic techniques, from intricate framing and innovative camera movements to innovative lighting designs. His films are known for their striking visuals that complement the thematic depth of his narratives.

(His Filmography)

Coppola made his directorial debut with a movie a named Dementia 13 in 1963. He went on to make movies like You are a Big Boy Now in 1966,Finian's Rainbow in 1968,The Rain People in 1969, The Godfather in 1972, The Conversation and The Godfather Part 2 in 1974, Apocalypse Now in 1979. He went on to make movies like One from The Heart in 1982,The Outsiders and Rumble Fish in 1983,The Cotton Club in 1984,Peggy Sue Got Married in 1986,Gardens of Stone in 1987,Tucker in 1988,The Godfather Part 3 in 1990, Bram Stoker's Dracula,Jack in 1996 and Rainmaker in 1997. After a 10 year hiatus Coppola released his movie by name of Youth without Youth in 2007,Tetro in 2009,Twixt in 2011. He is right now working on a movie by name of Megalopolis which is to be released in 2024.

(Awards & Honors)

During his more career spanning for more than 5 decades, Coppola's movie has earned more than 128 nominates including Academy Awards,The BAFTA's and Golden Globe Awards

His films have won 14 Academy Awards out of the 55 nominations,8 BAFTA's out of 31 nominations and 10 Golden Globe Awards out of the 42 nominations.

(Sources)

And that's it for this part folks, I'll meet you with another blog about some of the Greatest Directors Cinema has ever seen. Until then

CIAO

[bigtreefest]

Okay, okay, I’ll give. I’ll do it. Thank you for the encouraging tags @navybrat817 @imtryingbuck @jamneuromain

Kill For Me series - Chapter 1: Well Begun…

(Steve Rogers x reader, Lloyd Hansen x reader)

Now you just had to get out of here and make your way to Monaco. The quicker, the better, but not too fast as to avoid raising any suspicion. You looked over your shoulder one last time at the crowded street, making sure no one was following you, before slipping into a car that had been planted and driving towards the border.

As you double checked your mirrors for a tail, you faintly made out a spot of blue next to the reflection of the sun off what you assumed to be a metal arm.

You Catch More Bees With Honey series - Chapter 7: Have a Cow

(Mob! Bucky x Farmer! Reader)

“And of course, boss wouldn’t want anything less than the best when it comes to you. Says this’ll increase the property value. And it’s all yours to enjoy as you please when we’re gone.”

Ah, there it was. The kinda thing Bucky wouldn’t say to your face, but Peter’s lips let slip like it was nothing. Like it was obvious. You tried to change the subject, unsure if you could confront those types of feelings to Peter when you hadn’t even built up the courage to discuss them with Bucky yet.

“Don’t you need permits for this stuff?”

The Rainmaker series - Chapter 2: Cooks in the Kitchen

(Mob! Steve x Forensic Scientist! Reader)

Steve laughed. Selling point? Bee talked to you about him? And tried to make him appealing? He wasn’t sure why, but he felt a certain warmth in his stomach at that. He pushed it down as much as he could. Either way, he truly did get along well with her.

“Well you know what they say, birds of a feather and all.” He joined you near the floor after having grabbed a glove, picking up some stray instruments and placing them back in the metal holding tray.

You muttered lowly as you finally stood up and turned away from him, after grabbing the fabric off the floor gingerly and placing it in a plastic protective case. “More like wasps of a stinger.”

NPT: @extraordinari1y-ordinary-writer @sarahowritesostucky @labella420

Care to share any WIP lines? 🥺

I have quite a few, nonnie, but I'll share some random WIPs.

Dream With Me

“What if it doesn't work? You could be stuck here with me. With him. Or worse, HYDRA might get into your head and do to you what they did to me.”

Turn Off the Lights

“I couldn't help myself, hearing all those pretty noises you made. I had to see what had you making them. You're a dirty thing, aren't you? You like being fucked from behind?”

Cravings in the Night

He bit at your collar with a snarl, the beast inside angry at being denied what was rightfully his. But the taste of leather flooded his mouth as an intimate reminder of what he wanted, yet he couldn’t have. In his heart, you belonged to him. But in life, would he ever be able to walk beside you as your mate?

*****

NPT if anyone wants to share: @laurfilijames @foxgloveprincess @ghotifishreads @thornsnvultures @targaryenvampireslayer @krirebr @paperweight91 @bigtreefest and anyone who wants to play!

Love and thanks. ❤️

[slippinmickeys]

Of the Eight Winds, Part 8

This is the last chapter (there will be an epilogue) from the prompt from @sunflowerseedsandscience : “Mulder is unhappily married when Scully is partnered with him, and while he doesn’t cheat (because sorry that’s not romantic), he falls for her so hard that he finally gets the courage to end the marriage and start fresh.”

Links to parts one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.

1

He wanted to go to Scully’s door the second he left the courtroom after his divorce was finalized but it felt sordid, fast. He needs to try to be on his own, live in his own head, if only for a few weeks, months. The thing is, needs and wants are two different things.

They took a few out of state cases, and one local one. He discovered that she had a cat.

Skinner sent her to the West Coast and after three days, he decided he was done waiting.

2

His divorce was final and their coupling was imminent. She could feel the inevitable slide toward him like she was teetering on a hillside, his pull as inexorable as gravity.

They were tentative and shy with each other in the office, and the whole waiting thing felt as stupid as it felt necessary. She had to wait until he came to her. The weeks grinded on, a weight pressing onto her.

Skinner asked her for a consult and so she flew west. With every mile that passed below her, something unclenched around her heart, so by the time she pulled into the small parking lot of the Santa Barbara Field Office, she felt an insouciant lightness.

The local SAC was a woman, and they formed an instant rapport. On her last night, Agent Fielding took her to a small tasting room just off the beaten path and they got tipsy on the local Pinot Noir and shared trench stories from the field and Quantico.

“I had this one case,” Fielding said, draining the last of her glass, “where the local Sheriff called the two other male agents working the case ‘Special Agent,’ but insisted on calling me ‘Miss.’”

Scully gave an exaggerated eye roll.

“Exactly,” Fielding went on, “Finally, I told him if he was going to call me miss, he’d better use my last name along with it, and when he asked what it was, I told him it was ‘Andry.’”

“Oh no,” Scully said.

“Oh yes. That fucker called me Miss Andry for the better part of a week and had no clue.”

They both laughed.

“Tell me about your partner,” Fielding said, running her fingers over the rim of her glass.

“Mulder?” Scully said, “He’s never treated me as anything but an equal.”

“So he’s a good one, huh?”

“The best,” Scully said, missing him suddenly.

As if they shared a heart, her cell phone chirped from her pocket.

It was after midnight on the East Coast.

“Mulder, everything okay?” she said, holding up a finger to Fielding, who watched with interest.

“I miss you,” he said, point blank, “when are you coming home?”

She could feel her cheeks color, adrenaline dumping into her bloodstream.

“Tomorrow,” she said. Tomorrow is a Friday.

“Tomorrow,” he said, the word imbued with implication. They both hung up.

“One of those good ones,” Fielding said, wearing a knowing smile.

Scully nodded, returned the smile. He was.

When she flew back east, his pull was as strong as the jet stream, and everything about the air was verging, each breath in; anticipation, each breath out; hope.

3

Two weeks in and she didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t this. This kind of sex was as desperate as it was sweet; pure and carnal and sybaritic. They’d scarcely left the bed in two days and she was certain by Monday she’d barely be able to walk.

She stared at her reflection, at her bee-stung lips, the beard burn scrape along her throat. It was 7:00am, time for her contraceptive. She’d gotten on the pill a month ago, and even as she understood the science, she has the urge to take two, just in case—she’d never had so much sex in her life.

Pop it through the foil, water from the faucet. She let it drip onto her bare chest from her chin.

When she got back into bed, Mulder, newly awake, reached for her.

“Is there a word for this?” he whispered to her, his nose pressing into her neck, his erection into her thigh.

“Satyriasis,” she said clinically, and he huffed a laugh into her skin.

“I knew you’d know,” he said.

She rolled to face him.

“I was thinking we could just call it love,” she said, and she saw emotion reach his eyes.

He gave her a tiny, serious nod.

4

They investigated a mercenary rainmaker in a drought-stricken Midwestern town and encountered a force more powerful than the weather. Here was a man who may love a woman with more passion and devotion than he loved Scully. He was humbled before him; a man with the improbable name of Holman Hardt.

When Holman came to him for advice, he gave it freely. Yes, he was in love with Agent Scully. There was a reason for the mutual gazing. He told him how he had been married to someone else but had been in love with her for five years before he had the courage to end his marriage and tell Scully how he felt. He encouraged Holman to do the same.

“If you love her,” Mulder said, growing emotional despite the ridiculousness of the entire case, “Holman, you gotta tell her.”

Holman marched to Sheila’s office and kissed her soundly.

The happy couple invited him and Scully to join them at their high school reunion, and they surprised themselves by accepting.

They danced to 10CC and The Hues Corporation and they drank watered down cocktails and made out in a high school hallway.

When they flew out the next day, the clouds--every last one from here into the horizon—were in the shape of hearts.

5

“There’s a place I want to show you,” he said, “get dressed.”

He hauled on jeans and had to lift up Blackwell to find his other sock, which she’d been using as a pillow.

He’d been wanting to broach the topic of moving in together for months, though when he’d asked her five minutes ago, he did so casually, like he’d only just thought of it.

When they pulled up to 42 Magnolia Avenue in Alexandria, Scully looked over at him, confused.

“Mulder, what is this?” she asked.

The house was gorgeous. It was a two-level, craftsman-inspired behemoth with a large two car garage and a deep front yard. There were twin magnolia trees on the front of the property, and while the yard was shaded, it got lots of light.

“It’s an Open House,” he said, not quite lying.

“Mulder, we could never afford this,” she said, looking at the neighboring houses. This was a neighborhood of lobbyists, congressmen, even. The lots were large, beautiful, and so were the homes.

“So?” he said, stepping out of the car, “we’ll get an idea of what we like.”

She looked dubious, but got out of the car, too.

When they got to the front door, the realtor opened it and gave Mulder a nod.

“Welcome,” she said, “come on in and take a look around.”

“Wow,” Scully said, impressed. The foyer wasn’t overly large, but was big enough for bench seating and and had a decent sized closet. But what was beyond the foyer seemed to have grabbed her attention. It opened up to a large open concept living room that rolled into an impressive kitchen. The appliances were new and stainless steel. There was a fireplace in the corner and a large bay window that looked out over a spacious back yard dotted with dogwoods and lined with large trees.

After touring the upstairs (“Blackwood would love the sun in that third bedroom,” she said “and that master bath is lovely,”) she came to stand in front of the big window in the living room, looking out over the back. The realtor was standing in the kitchen with her arms behind her back and a confident smile on her face.

“So,” Mulder said, coming up behind her, “can you see yourself living in a house like this?”

“Only if I’d married that thoracic surgeon,” she said wistfully, stepping into him and smiling into his chin.

“Is that a yes?” Mulder said.

“It’s a yes,” she said, tilting her head back, “this house is perfect. Maybe it’ll be up for sale in another 20 years when I’m running the Bureau.”

Mulder turned to the realtor.

“What do you think, Marie? Could you see us in this house 20 years from now?”

“And beyond,” Marie said, with a pleased smile.

Mulder nodded at her and she nodded back, stepping out into the foyer and closing the front door behind her softly.

“Mulder?” Scully said, giving him a look, “what’s going on?”

“I’m glad you like the house, Scully,” he said, leaning down to give the end of her nose a gentle peck, “it’s yours.”

Despite the huge fight it had caused, he was glad he had gone ahead with the pre-nup with Lauren. The money he’d inherited from his maternal grandmother had finally been put to good use.

Scully’s brows were creased in confusion.

“Both of our names are on the deed,” he said, “it’s just waiting for your signature. Marie has it out in her car.”

6

In Winston-Salem, she would not leave his bedside. He was her medical puzzle to solve and she left the policing to Skinner. Weaver, Drs. Voss and Scobie, even the malevolent Morley Tobacco Company, none of them mattered. Eventually, she figured it out, and Mulder was saved.

It wasn’t until nearly a week later that she looked at her birth control pack and realized that the days did not line up. Somewhere in North Carolina, she lost track of time.

7

Scully was waiting on a bench outside of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History when he pushed Lily up in the stroller. The baby was making fretting noises, just on the verge of all-out tears. She stood when they approached.

“Hey you two, everything go okay?”

Mulder nodded and kicked the brake on the stroller, lifting the muslin blanket he’d had draped over the top of the bassinet compartment.

“Someone’s getting hungry,” he said, and Scully reached in and pulled Lily out, sitting down on the bench and unhooking the strap of her nursing bra.

Mulder dug a hand deep into the pocket of his jeans as if checking for change before he sat down next to her. Lily latched on and began to nurse. He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind Scully’s ear.

“Is Lauren okay?” Scully asked kindly.  

He leaned back, surveying the mall behind the Smithsonian.

“She’s good,” he said.

“I’m glad.”

He felt a sense of peace descend on him. A part of him had always felt responsible for the bad years with Lauren--he should have never asked her to marry him in the first place. To see her happy and light brought him a lightness, too.

8

His father died when Lily was 15 and William was 12. The whole of the Scully/Mulders packed up for a week and drove up to Massachusetts.

His mother met them there from Raleigh, looking frail. There was a dowager’s hump starting to form on her spine and her hair looked thin and impossibly white. Looking at his father’s casket, he felt all of his fifty-five years.

He recognized nearly everyone at the wake, but there was a woman lingering over the cheese plate that looked out of place, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. When he approached her, she drifted away ahead of him and he was about to search for her in earnest when Scully grabbed him by the arm.

“I’m going to take the kids down to the beach, give them a little reprieve from Aunt Edna asking about Tinder.”

He nodded, kissed her cheek.

He was grabbed by a distant cousin as soon as Scully left his side, and was caught in small talk for the next forty five minutes.

9

“You’re… you’re what?” he asked, certain he didn’t hear right. He’d been expecting the worst.

“Pregnant,” she said again, and for a moment he was too stunned by the reversal. Then it dawned on him that it was not bad news. That it was traditionally good news.

He grabbed her face in both hands and bent his knees until his face was level with hers.

“Holy shit ,” he said, practically laughing. He flashed on the moment he found out she was pregnant with Lily and felt a kind of synergy.

“You’re happy?” she asked, hedging.

“I’m… are you ?”

“I’m stunned,” she said, “after Will was born…”

Mulder remembered her slick hand in his, her white-knuckled grip when Dr. Wong told them she would no longer be able to conceive.

He dropped to his knees before her, put his hands on her hips, his forehead over her womb. After a moment he leaned back.

“We got rid of all our baby stuff,” he said.

“We did,” she said.

“We specifically had a garage sale to get rid of it.”

“Yes.”

“Our hoity-toity neighbors were really irritated by the whole thing.”

“They were.”

“We’re going to have to buy all new stuff,” he said, his enthusiasm starting to wane.

“We are,” she said, “though the safety stuff would be expired now, anyway.”

The wheels were spinning in Mulder’s head. They would have to start a whole new college fund.

Scully grabbed his hands and sunk down to sit next to him.

“I was afraid you were going to be upset,” she finally said.

He gave her a look and squeezed her hand.

“Never,” he said, and she nodded, believing him.

“I warn you now, if you bring up my age in relation to this pregnancy, I will handcuff you to the pipes in the basement.”

Mulder pursed his lips, huffed out one small laugh.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Scully,” he said.

She shook her head, tipped it until it was leaning on his shoulder.

“Do you really think we can do this again?” she asked him earnestly.

He grabbed both sides of her face and they connected eyes.

“You might be the skeptic here, Scully,” he said, “me? I’m the believer.”

[bluelonelyrainmaker]

Chapter 7 of Looking Beyond by Rainmaker

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

Splataclysm! - chapter 7

I bet no one expected me to suddenly update the weird Splatoon AU fic from ages ago, did they? Well sometimes the inspiration strikes at like 1am and you just have to, so there. It’s past 3am right now because I have no time management skills or any self-restraint whatsoever.

Also on AO3 where you can read it from the beginning if you want, which would make a lot more sense and especially if you haven’t played Splatoon lol

Aha, the Jet Squelcher. It was Shooter, so Nath wouldn’t have to worry about manual firing, and it had a long range, so at least he could make up for his pitiful aiming skills by scaring people off from a distance. And plus, Splash Wall and Inkstrike? That was a good Sub and Special set.

“Thanks, Tikki,” he said as he paid for it. “I’ve got a feeling I’m actually going to win the next match.”

“But will that be because of you or because of your teammates?”

Ugh, how could she say stuff like that, and still with that sickening tone and expression? As if she hadn’t just put his insecurities out in the open?

“Because of me,” Nath said.

“Mhm. Of course. So what will your tactics for Rainmaker be?”

“Nuh-uh. Not Rainmaker. I’ve sworn off Ranked Battles until I can find a weapon that suits me.”

Tikki shrugged. “Fair enough. But different weapons are suited to different battle modes, so something you find useful for Turf Wars may not work on anything else.”

“I know that. But I’m still not doing Ranked Battles.”

“Alright. Good luck anyway.”

“Thank you.”

He left the shop and headed to the Lobby.

He knew something was up as soon as he had been transported to the base on Ancho-V Games – a video game studio that had fan-propelled platforms everywhere. But it was nothing to do with the battle stage. It was his teammates. He could only see them beside him out of the corner of his eye, but that was enough. He knew exactly who they were.

The Slaughter Squad.

Oh no.

He tried to calm his nerves. Alright, so he was on a team with the freshest inklings in existence. He couldn’t afford to let them down. He had to pull his weight. And definitely, no making a fool of himself.

“Ancho-V Games? Hey, remember that time I splatted 22 people here?”

“Well remember the time I inked 1800p here?”

“You just got lucky…”

“Well maybe you did too!”

“Hey, I consistently splat loads of people!”

“And I consistently ink more turf than anyone else! Which, may I remind you, is the objective of Turf Wars!”

“Then it’s no wonder I’m better at Ranked Battles – the thing that actually matters!”

Kim and Alix were arguing again. Come to think of it, Nath had never heard them do anything else. At least this way their attention was off him.

“May I remind you two that the only reason you’re not constantly losing is because I am always covering your backs?!”

Max had spoken – he had actually spoken. It was the first time Nath had ever heard his voice. For some reason it seemed to triple his nervousness – though somehow he felt like that wasn’t anything to do with battling.

“Yeah, fine,” Kim muttered.

Nath dared to turn aside slightly to get a look at his teammates. Kim and Alix were facing away from each other, looking grumpy. And Max was–

Wait, was Max looking at him? It was impossible to see through those sunglasses. But the thought gave his stomach a rather weird turn.

The signal played for the match to begin. Nath immediately began shooting into the distance with his new Jet Squelcher, knowing that he had longer range than the Aerosprays and a quicker fire rate than the E-Litre. Maybe he could actually get some points!

It didn’t last long. Kim and Alix were using their Aerosprays to ink everything quicker than he could keep up, and Max had already swam ahead to some sniper vantage point somewhere. Nath himself tried to swim ahead too and get in some points before the Aerosprays could reach, but they were just too quick for him.

The battle did not end up being much fun at all. The opposing team quickly found themselves confined to the small area around their base, not able to venture further forward without being splatted, and there was simply no turf for Nath to ink without the Aerosprays getting there first. He resigned himself to standing and shooting at the opponents, hoping his long range would be able to splat some of them. But his accuracy was completely off. Not to mention, the Jet Squelcher did not have great damage stats.

This sucked.

When Plagg announced the final results, it was no surprise that his team had won by far. It was also no surprise that he had barely managed to ink anything at all. 458p? That was just atrocious. And in front of that Slaughter Squad, too. He wished the ground would just open up and swallow him whole.

“…and I actually beat you this time, so there! I’m better than you! Told you so!”

“One time out of fifty, Kim, that proves nothing!”

“Oh stop being such a sore loser, I beat you fair and square…”

Again? Those two always seemed to be trying to get the better of each other. Nath stood there dejectedly, watching them. He noticed with a jolt that Max turned back to take a look at him. Why was that making him feel so nervous? He turned around and faced the other way, hoping no one would catch him staring.

What would it be like to have a squad like that? To know that you were incredibly powerful, so much that people feared you? To know that you were always guaranteed a win? To know that people didn’t even dare talk to you, because they knew they weren’t fresh enough?

And he wasn’t. He knew it. He was nowhere near fresh enough to talk to anyone as amazing as them. Just being teammates had been bad enough. They were lightyears out of his league.

“Sorry about all that, you hardly even got to do anything this match. You probably hate us.”

W-what?

He had been so lost in thought he hadn’t seen what had been going on in front of his eyes. Looking up, he saw that Alix was standing right there in front of him. And talking to him.

Oh boy. An actual member of the Slaughter Squad, speaking to him! What was he supposed to do now? What was he meant to say? Wait, what had she even said? He had barely been listening!

Yes… she said he hadn’t done anything this match, that was true… and that he must hate them… what? No! Not true at all!

“Of course I don’t hate you, why would I hate you?” he babbled. “You’re like, the coolest, freshest inklings ever!”

She frowned up at him. “Seriously? We’re not. We’re really annoying and we know it.”

What did she mean by saying the Slaughter Squad weren’t cool? Of course they were cool! They were the very epitome of freshness! How could you be that fresh without even knowing it?

He gulped and said, “Well for the record I think you’re really cool, and I was honoured to be on your team… I wish I was as cool as you…”

“Wait, you’re not kidding?”

“No.”

Her face lit up suddenly. “Dude! Are you saying you’re like, a fan of me?”

“Well yeah, who isn’t?”

“This is awesome! I so need you on my team again next time!”

Nath was so surprised he almost stumbled backwards physically. “B-b-b-but why? I’m not even good!”

“I don’t care! I want you on my team as a friend.”

“Friend?!”

“Yeah!” She gave him a punch in the arm, probably meaning it in a friendly way, though it was strong enough to knock him aside slightly. “You’re my friend now! Wait – that’s okay with you, right?”

Nath just nodded, too shocked to even speak.

“Awesome! Come on new friend, let’s go hang out!”

He did not object as she grabbed his arm and Super Jumped him somewhere else. They arrived in what Nath recognized to be Blackbelly Skatepark, though he had never been here outside of battle times. There were actually people skating here. Inklings, jellyfish, anemones, all sorts of creatures.

“If you ever need to find me when I’m not battling then I’ll be here,” Alix said, leading him to a bench on the side where they sat down. “I practically live here.”

He just nodded again, still not sure what to say. Talking to someone as fresh as this was so intimidating.

“So. Your name is Nathaniel, right?”

“You can call me Nath,” he said quickly. Nathaniel just sounded odd to him now, considering how unused to it he was. Though he didn’t have much in the way of friends here, Rose always just called him Nath.

“Cool. Where are you from?”

“Nowhere special, just the further-off parts of Calamari County…”

“Like where the Squid Sisters are from? Awesome.”

True, the Squid Sisters were basically what the area was known for. Well, and the iconic Calamari Inkantation too. But there wasn’t much else to do there. It was glum and boring… much like Nath himself…

“Why do you want to be my friend?” he asked before he could stop himself.

“Well, it would be kinda nice to have someone around who doesn’t hate me. Or who I don’t hate.”

“Surely there must be lots of people like that!”

“Nope.”

“Not even Kim and Max?”

He knew that had been a stupid question as soon as he’d asked it. Her eyes narrowed.

“Do you seriously think I’m friends with them?” she asked.

“No…”

“Exactly. I’d rather punch myself in the face.”

Huh… but that didn’t make sense. She was part of the Slaughter Squad. Surely there must be a reason for that? Why would she stick around if she hated it?

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said, crossing her arms. “You’re wondering why I always team up with them, right?”

“Um, yeah…”

“Well, it’s because it’s better that way. I get to win almost every Turf War. I don’t have to worry about being sniped by Max. And you weren’t here for this, but ages ago me and Kim were such bitter rivals that people would literally Super Jump away from matches if they saw we were there, we were that annoying. It’s better now. I once accidentally got put on the same team as them and we completely annihilated the opponents. So now we just team up for convenience, glory, and reputation.”

It did seem to be working very well. The three members of the Slaughter Squad had such a legendary, fear-inducing reputation, enough to cause inklings to quiver in their boots at the sight of them. And plus, this inter-team rivalry of theirs seemed to push them to gain higher and higher scores just to outdo each other. Well… during Turf Wars, at least. Nath knew what a mess they were when it came to Ranked Battles. Actual teamwork would be the only way to win there.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to say more things, rather than just sit there silently like a clam. “Why do you hate them?”

“To be fair, I don’t exactly hate Max. It’s just annoying that he pretty much ignores me. Like he’s got better things to be doing with his time, and I’m totally unimportant.”

Oh, that was true. Max seemed to be so aloof, so above it all. It was actually pretty cool, though, the way he ignored the antics of his teammates, focusing instead on never being splatted, never getting even a drop of enemy ink on that jacket of his, that really cute jacket that suited him so well…

Nath shook himself out of his daydreams. Why was Max so easy to think about?

“And as for Kim,” Alix continued, her voice sounding colder all of a sudden, “you might have noticed that he’s the biggest jerk to ever exist. Inkopolis’s aggressive battling culture can only ever bring out the worst in someone as competitive as him. But that doesn’t mean he’s allowed to be mean to the only person who can beat him at Turf Wars – which is me!”

That did not sound fun. In fact, the more Nath was hearing about the truth behind the Slaughter Squad, the less cool they seemed. “Why don’t you just… like… stop?”

“Someone’s gotta knock Kim down a peg, and Max is too above-it-all to do it, so it may as well be me. And if I stopped now he’d just steamroll right over me and leave me behind – you know he’s way more popular than me, right? So I stick around in his stupid squad even though I hate it, because no one else likes me either. We’re just a bunch of bullies and I want out.”

Seriously? Was that really what the Slaughter Squad was like on the inside? Rotten?

“Surely I can’t be your only friend,” Nath said, still feeling the effects of being around a somewhat famous inkling, even if that illusion had just been shattered. “I would have thought lots of people would want to be your friend!”

“Nope, just you. That is, if you still want to be my friend after all my ridiculous oversharing just now…”

“Of course I still want to be your friend!”

She grinned. “Awesome! Now I guess I’ve finally got someone else to battle with. Thanks, Nath.”

He just looked down, hoping he wasn’t blushing. The best Turf War player ever actually wanted to be on his team? Maybe he was fresher than he thought. And the fact that Alix had just been complaining to him, venting her problems, when he hadn’t even considered that an inkling that fresh could even have any problems, well, it certainly was lifting his own nervousness a little. Perhaps he sometimes forgot that even the freshest of inklings were still inklings, just like him. Not gods.

“So,” he said, wondering if he would regret asking this, “that rumour about Kim at Walleye Warehouse, that wasn’t you then?”

“Ew, yuck, no way. If he’d managed to plant one on me I would have murdered him with my bare hands.”

“So was it Max?”

“I asked him once but he said it wasn’t him either. I have no idea who it was. I feel sorry for them, though.”

Nath wondered if he should ask Kim himself, but quickly squashed that thought. He wasn’t quite that curious about it anyway. He was more curious about something else – far more curious.

“How are you so good at Turf Wars?” he asked.

“I dunno, I guess I just am. Do you want help or something?”

“Um… well…”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. “Yeah, I’ll help you! Come on – let’s go buy you an Aerospray!”

He was pulled along into a Super Jump before he knew it. This friendship had already started out so weirdly unpredictable, and it would probably continue like that. It was a nice change.

A quiet corner of the underpass below the highway, the only sound being of vehicles rushing far above.

“I wish I didn’t have to keep all this a secret,” Adrien says, leaning on the arm of this precious inkling sitting beside him. “But if my father found out he would send me away again! I can’t go back into isolation like that…”

Tears sting his eyes. He feels a hand run through his hair.

“Hey, it’s okay Adrien. I don’t mind keeping it a secret, I swear I don’t. I would do anything to keep you safe.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, unable to stop the inky tears rolling. “I know you would want to show off about me, about having a boyfriend, right? I promise you’ll be able to someday! Just… wait until my father leaves Inkopolis. He will do at some point, to go back into the countryside to look for mother. He’ll leave once he’s satisfied that I’m doing fine here in the city.”

His eyes closed, he feels a kiss on his forehead.

“Well for the record, I think you’re doing great here. And as soon as your dad’s gone I’ll show you off to everyone all the time, don’t you worry about that!”

It isn’t quite the reassurance he wants to hear, but it’s the thought that counts. He opens his eyes again and stares up into the face that has been getting all his attention lately. That beautiful, fresh face, with the cocky grin and hints of mischief in those dreamy grey eyes.

“I trust you,” he says.

Hopefully that trust is not misplaced.

Adrien opened his eyes, the ceiling of the now-empty boss arena fazing into view. What just happened? Oh yes, he had used his Kraken again, this time fighting the Rampaging Octowhirl. A foe somewhat more difficult than the ones he and Marinette had already faced. And so, by using his Kraken, he had absorbed enough Octarian ink to knock him out again…

How did it work, anyway? How was it that Octarian ink didn’t kill him? All it seemed to do was bring the occasional memory back into his brain. Memories that made him homesick. Octarian ink wasn’t supposed to do that, was it?

“Chat, you’re okay!” Marinette was kneeling down beside him. “Wait – you’re okay, right?”

He sat up and rubbed the back of his head, blinking the spots out of his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Oh, thank goodness. That boss battle was a tough one, wasn’t it? But were you completely unconscious? Did you hear what just happened?”

“What do you mean?”

She looked grave. “On the radio. We got a bunch of distress messages from Captain Fu, saying that some strange monster had encountered him while he was out on his patrol, and then it sounded like something grabbed him, and he won’t answer at all now.”

“You mean he’s been kidnapped?”

“I think so. And just on the day when he was going to introduce us to Agents 1 and 2! Well, I suppose we’ll have to hurry and try to rescue both Nino and Fu now, before anyone else gets taken too…”

Adrien gulped. Things were just escalating so fast now. The danger was seeming ever closer, ever more real. How much longer until they could save the day and just go home? At least Marinette seemed to be taking everything in her stride. She was just so good at this whole hero thing.

“How are we going to keep going without Captain Fu’s guidance?” he asked.

“The other agents should be here soon. According to Fu they’re already linked up to our radio sets. Agent 1 will be through the left ear and Agent 2 will be through the r– hey, do you hear that?”

Adrien listened intently. Sure enough, there was an odd crackling noise through his headset. The next second, his left eardrum was being blasted with incomprehensible yelling.

“¡OOOOOOOOOO˥˥ƎH ¿ǝɯ ɹɐǝɥ noʎ uɐƆ ¿ollǝH”

And now a mellower voice through the right earpiece.

“You’re holding that upside down.”

The left ear now seemed to have reverted to a normal volume, and intelligible speech.

“Oh… Agent 1 of the New Miracusquid Splatoon reporting in!”

“Agent 2 also reporting in! We got an SOS from Captain Fu!”

“Are you Agents 3 and 4, aka Ladybug and Chat Noir? Don’t worry, we’re your new support team!”

“Yep! We’re taking over for the captain! Well, we’re going to try…”

“But we’ve gotta hurry, or the captain is as good as sushi!”

“Let’s roll, agents!”

The audio cut off again. Adrien and Marinette just looked at each other in bewilderment.

Those voices… they sounded familiar.

Like…

Really familiar.

But no… it couldn’t be…

Could it?

Marinette pointed at her earpiece and mouthed, “It’s them, right?”

Adrien shrugged. It certainly did sound like… them. But there was no way that two of the highest profile celebrities in the world could possibly be secret agents. Absolutely not. There was no way.

Wait – there was one way of finding out. Whenever Captain Fu was linked up with their sensors, there was a little icon of him on the electronic screen on the side of the earpieces. Adrien took both earpieces off for a second and looked at them.

The left one was an inkling with short black hair, wearing sunglasses, a sweater, and a purple beanie, with a huge grin on her face. The right one had long, light-blonde pigtails, wore a green hat and jacket, and a cloth over the lower half of her face.

Even with their “disguises” their identities were unmistakable. No one else in Inkopolis looked like that, and more importantly, no one else in Inkopolis sounded like that.

Agents 1 and 2 were none other than Mireille and Aurore. The Squid Sisters.

[placetobenation]

August 8th, 18:30 from Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, Kanagawa

B Block’s penultimate show takes place in a significant venue and on a significant date for the company, more on which below. After the shocking upsets of Day 14, Okada faces Suzuki, Omega faces SANADA, and EVIL takes on Michael Elgin. Let’s get to it.

To paraphrase what Lion’s Pride author Chris Charlton said on Twitter about the importance of today’s date and venue:

On August 8th 1988, New Japan held Super Monday in Yokohama, a show headlined by Tatsumi Fujinami’s one-hour draw with Antonio Inoki. Though Fujinami didn’t win the IWGP title that day, this was considered the torch-passing moment and the start of a final chapter for Inoki that lasted nearly ten years. The match was so important that NJPW has run the Yokohama Gymnasium on August 8th every year since, and along with Wrestle Kingdom, New Year Dash and Wrestling Dontaku it’s one of only four show that are held on the same date and in the same building every year. In the opener of 8/8/88, Osamu Matsuda beat Minoru Suzuki, today – 29 years later – Suzuki headlines against Okada.

The story so far…

Primer

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Here we go…

Chase Owens defeated Tomoyuki Oka

Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado defeated Syota Umino & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Katsuya Kitamura & Yuji Nagata (Special note should be made of Fale’s atrocious new Bullet Club t-shirt.)

YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Hirai Kawato, Kota Ibushi & Togi Makabe

David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi

B Block – Round Eight

Satoshi Kojima (w/ Hiroyoshi Tenzan) vs. Tama Tonga

Tama attacked Kojima and stole his robe (a bad habit he’s picked up this G1), then stole the machine gun chops. Kojima managed a back body drop, but his plancha missed the mark and Tama capitalised and applied a camel clutch in the ring. He continued with Mongolian Chops, but received several in return from Tenzan and then Kojima, who unleashed machine guns chops and the leaping elbow, but Tama blocked the follow-up to hit a fireman’s carry flapjack. Stinger Splash and a jumping neckbreaker for two. After fighting over a suplex, Kojima scored the Koji Cutter and sent Tama to the floor, and both men took a moment to recover. Kojima threw Tama back in at 18 and nailed a brainbuster for two, but an attempted lariat was countered to the Tongan Twist, then Tama pummelled Kojima’s right arm only to be floored by a left-handed lariat floored for a near-fall. Emerald Flowsion! One, two, no. The lariat was ducked once more and Tama hit the Gun Stun for the win. Just a match. **3/4

Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano

Yano quickly slipped from the ring then crawled under it and Juice followed! We saw Yano emerge only to get dragged back under, then both men jumped from under the apron and back into the ring at 19. Yano then threw Juice into the guardrail and tied his dreadlocks to it! Juice managed to untie his hair and ran back in at 18, but was sent straight into an exposed turnbuckle and Yano got a roll-up for two. Snap DDT from Juice for two. The follow-up was countered, then the referee missed one low blow but blocked a second and Juice nailed the haymaker before planting Yano with Pulp Friction! Short and sweet, this was a fun little match and thankfully Juice was able to pick up another win. **1/4

Michael Elgin vs. EVIL

Evil went on the attack, but Elgin fired back and hit the slingshot splash for two. Evil retreated to the floor, where he whipped Elgin into the guardrail, then put a chair over his head and rammed him into the ringpost.  Back in, the surfboard curb stomp and senton got two, but Elgin fired up and dumped Evil with a powerslam, and a German suplex into the turnbuckle earned him a two-count. Evil hit the ref-assisted side kick and discus clothesline, but was caught diving from the middle-rope and planted with a Falcon Arrow for another two-count. The powerbomb was blocked, however, and Evil hit the fisherman buster to put both men down. After simultaneous clotheslines, Evil hit a German suplex and turned Elgin inside-out with a lariat before nailing Darkness Falls! Two-count only. Elgin blocked the headbutt and hit a German of his own for some respite, then a pair of corner clotheslines set up a top-rope superplex! One, two, no. Buckle bomb, Elgin Bomb blocked, headbutt from Evil, Enzuigiri from Elgin! Sit-out crucifix bomb for a near-fall! A lariat dumped Evil on his head and the Elgin Bomb landed for the three-count.

This picked up significantly once they got to the throwing bombs stage, although it was noticeably flat before then, and I don’t often criticise the booking, but it irked me that Elgin (who’s been a non-factor outside his main events with Okada and Omega) got the win over a man who just beat Okada. Still, a fun closing stretch for sure. ***1/4

Kenny Omega (w/ Chase Owens) vs. SANADA

A very nice opening exchange, in which both men dodged several attempts at finishers, culminated in Sanada’s Dragon Screw sending Omega to the floor. Outside, Omega scored an asai moonsault from the guardrail, almost spiking himself in the process, then returned to the ring and cinched in facelock while smoothing Sanada’s mohawk. The pendulum backbreaker got two, and Omega choked Sanada with his own vest before they traded chops, then Sanada’s springboard dropkick was caught and countered to the Finlay Roll/moonsault combo for two, but he did manage a suplex for some brief respite. Chops and elbows back-and-forth, and Sanada hit the double-leapfrog dropkick followed by a plancha! Back in, the Paradise Lock preceded a seated dropkick, much to the crowd’s delight, but Omega flipped out of the backdrop and landed the leapfrog bulldog for two. Suplex blocked, Sanada’s standing moonsault avoided, and Omega nailed a delayed cross-legged Ushigoroshi. The V-Trigger connected, but Sanada reversed the One-Winged Angel to a frankensteiner and hit the TKO for a two-count, then the moonsault missed the mark, but he scored with the Dragon Sleeper by flipping out of the corner, and grapevined Omega to the mat. The rope-break was made and Sanada missed with another moonsault, then Omega hit a Snapdragon suplex and a running knee strike for a near-fall. They traded chops and elbows again, and Omega hit a knee lift for another two-count, but the V-Trigger missed and Sanada nailed a spinning back kick. He looked to be attempting his version of Destino, but Omega blocked him and countered to the One-Winged Angel! One, two, three.

Good match and a strong effort, but the crowd was flat again and that dragged the whole thing down. In the right environment this might’ve been something special. ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (w/ El Desperado & Taichi)

Okada scored with a snapmare and seated dropkick, then he blocked the rope-hung armbar and sent Suzuki to the floor and into the crowd. Taichi and Desperado attacked, but Okada took care of them and admonished referee Red Shoes for his lack of control, and the young lions dragged the Suzuki-gun boys to the back. In the ring, elbows were traded, with Suzuki targeting Okada’s taped neck and shoulders and striking him as his head was draped over the apron. Knee lifts from Suzuki, and he rammed Suzuki into the guardrail neck-first! Ouch. Red Shoes prevented the use of a chair (to applause), but the beatdown continued as Suzuki pummelled Okada with kicks before a straitjacket neckbreaker enabled Okada to hit back with a sequence of back elbows, a DDT and the leaping uppercut.

Suzuki fired straight back with elbow strikes, but Okada kept him at bay with uppercuts and Heavy Rain. Reverse neckbreaker, the diving elbow connected, and the Rainmaker was signalled. Suzuki avoided it by clinging on with a guillotine choke, then blocked the tombstone and nailed Okada with a dropkick to the jaw. He applied the sleeper, but Okada slipped out and planted him with a Gotch-Style tombstone, drawing boos! He attempted a second after Suzuki blocked the Rainmaker again, but Suzuki hit a tombstone of his own! Back to the neck went Suzuki, and he cinched in a facelock then transitioned to a headscissors before Okada made the ropes. Kicks and stiff elbows floored Okada, and Suzuki enjoyed the support of the crowd before nailing an enzuigiri and locking in the Octopus Hold! Okada sank to the mat and Suzuki got a two-count. The piledriver was blocked, though, and Suzuki charged straight into The Dropkick! Okada nailed the shotgun dropkick from the top, then a German suplex, but the Rainmaker was ducked and reversed into Saka Otoshi! Suzuki cinched in the sleeper in the middle of the ring, but somehow Okada managed to stretch his foot to the bottom-rope. Strike flurry from Suzuki, then slaps, dropping Okada to the mat, but Okada scored a desperate Rainmaker and kept hold of the wrist to smash Suzuki with a second. He crawled to the cover and Suzuki kicked out weakly, so Okada lifted him again. Brutal slaps from Suzuki, then more, then Okada replied with his own, and Suzuki put his hands behind his back to invite Okada’s strikes! Okada desperately blocked the piledriver and they smiled at each other as they returned to slaps. With seconds to go, Okada countered the sleeper and a nailed a third Rainmaker, but collapsed to the mat and was unable to make the cover before the bell signalled the 30-minute time limit. The match ends in a draw.

Very good, if somewhat predictable once I twigged what they were going for. I felt that they went to the attempted finishers too early to sustain the tension in the final fifteen minutes, but that said, Suzuki’s tributes to Inoki were a fun detail and the slap exchanges were fantastic. I can see this being a match that some people really dig, whilst others don’t get into it at all. For me, while not up to their title match in February, there was enough here to go: ****1/4

B Block standings after Round Eight

Okada – 13

Omega – 12

EVIL – 10

Suzuki – 9

SANADA – 8

Elgin – 8

Robinson – 6

Tonga – 6

Yano – 6

Kojima – 2

Final thoughts: A decent show with a strong main event, but for such an historic date and venue the crowd wasn’t half flat for the most part. Omega must now beat Okada on Saturday to reach Sunday’s final.

I’m back on Friday for A Block’s final show. See you then. 

Sixteen down, three to go.

[manage-management]

No new or innovative ideas were presented. And since ... No new or innovative ideas were presented. And since none of the stories were footnoted or attributed to the companies involved, it was hard to connect to. It was a simple collection of boss cliches and anecdotal stories that aren't compelling and often didn't contain enough substance and information to draw a clear line to action or implementation. Go to Amazon

fantastic addition to my library "How to become a great boss," by Jeffrey Fox is simply amazing. I could not put the book down. Read the entire book in the single evening but keep returning to it almost daily. This book packs so much insight into organizational and human thinking that it is an invaluable addition to any manager's collection. This book is like a private seminar on how to become a great manager and leader. Go to Amazon

good read for any person who is new to their ... good read for any person who is new to their leadership position. Gives you perspective on what goes on in employee's minds and lives and how to remedy any situation you may be having with an employee. I read this and started utilizing some of his lessons the next day and the results speak for themselves. Go to Amazon

Very good book for new bosses looking to keep his co workers happy. Jeffrey Fox has become one of my favorite authors after reading the book How to become a Rainmaker decided to read this book. This book is a good or better the the other, I really recomend the book to people looking for a change on the people that work under them. Also for new bosses in companies. Gives you very good pointers. It is a short interesting read. I read it in one sitting. Go to Amazon

Great Life changing, this was one of the first corporate book and definetly changed my mind and my leadership style Go to Amazon

An excellent read Akin to a daily devotional for managers. I can see this being a book I read, then reread, and reread again. It could be read in a short period, but best to slowly digest the contents. Go to Amazon

Nice resource for someone going into management Easy to read, no nonsense ideas. I will recommend this book to others entering management positions to help them be more effective. Go to Amazon

This book is probably the best book I have on management. Jeffrey Fox is a genius! He makes light of the most important points any manager needs to know and gives fantastic examples to back them up in each chapter. God how tired I am of having to work with only "7's and 5's"!!!! Since our boss doesn't appreciate this 10, I am OUTTA here! But seriously, the book is well written and to the point - I finished it in 2 nights right before bed - I almost couldn't put it down. Go to Amazon

Relevant, applicable best practices to be successful and prepare for when you are CEO Five Stars Great Book! Four Stars Four Stars Spot on

[bigtreefest]

I’m in a lot of pain, I’m super uncomfortable, and I’m already mentally and emotionally exhausted. Whoever fucks with me today is getting fucked up!!👊🏼🥺👊🏼😠

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday April 23 - Monday April 24

BUFFY: Sorry I'm late. I had to do some unscheduled slayage in the form of Theresa. GILES: She's a vampire? BUFFY: Was. Angel sent her to me. A little token of his affection. GILES: Buffy, I'm so sorry. BUFFY: Not now, Giles. We can all have ourselves a good cry after we bag us a werewolf.

~~Phases~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

The Quiet Life (Oz, T) by MrProphet

Rainmaker (Buffy, Giles, T) by MrProphet

Nightmares (Willow/Angel, T) by Aaronlisa

No Happy Ending (Buffy/Angel, T) by angelus2hot

Falling Into Your Nightmare (Willow/Angelus, T) by Aaronlisa

Bearing An Hourglass (Connor/Wesley, Angel/Wesley, M) by Claire

Red (Angel/Wesley, T) by Claire

Belonging (Jonathan/Devon, E) by Claire

Trinity (Xander/Oz/Devon, E) by Claire

Flying to Her (Buffy/Spike, T) by GillO

I Really Gotta Go (Buffy/Angel, T) by Passionpire88

I can see clearly now (Buffy/Faith, G) by Crash

Blondes and Bricklayers (Xander, unrated, Bob the Builder xover) by Joshua_Preston

A Picnic (Buffy/Faith, T) by buffylovesfaith

Drusilla Drabble (Drusilla/Spike, G) by enulacampana

a fuckin' shitty car (Buffy/Faith, T) by buffylovesfaith

Prom Queen No More (Buffy/Faith, M) by buffylovesfaith

[Chaptered Fiction]

In a Corner of My Soul - scene from chapter 7: I Robot; You Jane (OC Slayer, T) by dragonyphoenix

The Alliance Ch. 1 (Buffy/Faith, T) by DushkuHasDibs

Sanctuary, Part III: Confluence (Ch. 3) (Buffy/Giles, E) by DHW

Collateral Damage Ch. 1-9/9 COMPLETE (Buffy/Spike, M) by cindergal

Some Say in Ice Ch. 15 (Buffy/Angel, Cordelia, T) by AriaAdagio

By Fate or Free Will Ch. 13 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Spuffy516

Préludes à un autre départ Ch. 9 (Buffy/Spike, T) by Oceanna

Drusilla Book I Ch. 15 (Cecily, William, Drusilla, G) by regertz

TWISTING THE HELLMOUTH

The Eighth Weasley (Willow, T, HP xover) by Fyre

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Easter Spike by mwrgana-muse

Artwork: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 8bit-ish Game Intro courtesy of filthyfrackers

Artwork: B Is For Buffy by floating-in-the-blue

Artwork: Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles: I Only Have Eyes For You - Season 2 Episode 19 by abuffyeveryday

Artwork: Buffy, Giles: Innocence - Season 2 Episode 14 by abuffyeveryday

Artwork: Spike, Buffy, Cecily: Fool For Love - Season 5 Episode 7 by abuffyeveryday

Artwork: Riley Finn: Shadow - Season 5 Episode 8 by abuffyeveryday

Artwork: Buffy and Angel chibis by oopsart1

Artwork:Smile Time T-Shirt by megabeluga

[Reviews & Recaps]

Podcast: I Robot, You Jane/Puppet Show by prophecyguys

TPN's Angel Guide: The Bachelor Party by thepassionofthenerd

[Community Announcements]

Poll: Seasonal Spuffy Banner Poll Spring 2017 at seasonal-spuffy The poll will be up until Thursday, the 27th of April - midnight EST.

Challenge 544 - neat at femslash100

Amnesty Week at fancake, a community for fanwork reccommendations

Contest Week, Day 1: Days of the Week at fic_promptlyLike the Challenge Weeks, the idea is to fill as many lonely prompts as possible.

Signups will open 27 April !!!!!!!! by summer-of-giles

[Fandom Discussions]

Buffy Fan Fashion Favorites by xjubesx

Dating Spike would include... by starcrossedspuffy

So, what if most of those would-be apocalypses weren’t actually as bad as expected? by official-data

It would have been cool if Spike’s redemption hadn’t relied on his feelings for Buffy alone. by zetablarian

Buffy Season 11 #6 Thoughts by feliciacraft

Who do you ship in the Buffyverse? by waddiwasiwitch

Spuffy and Bangel by buffster

Fuffy and Spangel by buffster

Do think that Buffy ever truly loved Spike? by jbuffyangel

Fuffy becoming canon in s3, s6, s7, or post-series: Which would be best? by buffylovesfaith

Xander Meta by mryddinwilt

Her Words Not Mine by outlawsandcircles

It Was More by outlawsandcircles

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: Variety Sandy Gallin, Talent Agent and Producer, Dies at 76

PUBLICATION: Joss Whedon Shows Ranked

PUBLICATION: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 7

PUBLICATION: 10 Times That TV Couples Reunited in a Weird Way

[sawdusst]

The Rainmaker Heist Chapter 8 (Coroika Pirate Au)

yeesh, this chapter took longer than I hoped for. I'm super excited for the next one though! :D Also I guess we're on chapter 8? I had this labeled as Chapter 7 in my Google Docs and I got all confused lmao

But ANYWAYS enjoy!!! :D we're approaching the end of our shenanigans :" Thank you to everyone who's made it to this chapter :D

Here's the link to the main thread

Previous chapter

Word Count: 1,157

====== [ ⚓ ] ======

[Talk to the locals] 

"Welcome to Hagglefish Market!"

“Jellyfish. Why are there so many jellyfish,” Gloves whispered as the two walked further into the busy town. “There’s so many jellyfish.” 

It was a quiet section of town, with only a few other inklings and octolings walking around.

“What an interesting place,” Half Rim commented.

The two wandered around the bustling town with warm lanterns lining the streets. Gloves occasionally stopped to look through a few shop windows. There were vendors lining the streets, selling assortments of colorful glass beads and merchandise. 

“Do you know if we have any cash? I might buy a souvenir or two,” Gloves commented.

“I probably have some,” Half Rim replied, “But you still owe me 30 thousand cash from last time.”

Gloves sighed with frustration, "Of course I do.”

As the two walked further down the road, there was a stage in the center of the town. It was a large stage with two banners on either side of it. Gloves tilted his head with curiosity.

“Huh, I wonder what’s that all about,” Gloves asked. He told Half Rim to wait for him as he walked closer to the small crowd.

Gloves walked over to the large banners. The stage was empty, but had a multitude of items on display in glass cases. There was a small pile of Super Sea Snails, a pair of bright red sneakers, a radio, and a few other things. Then, Gloves noticed an object raised on a podium. It was towards the back of the stage and had a bright red tarp covering it. 

“What is this event for?” Gloves asked an inkling standing next to him.

“It’s an auction!” The latter responded with a smile, “Twice a year, Hagglefish Market hosts an auction with all sorts of treasures overseas.”

“An auction?” Gloves asked again, “So… all of these items are for sale? What is the thing under the tarp?” 

The inkling shrugged, “No idea. They haven’t revealed it yet. They'll probably say something about it later tonight.”

“Ah...”

“The auction starts at sundown,” the inkling said, “If you want to sign up there's still spots open!”

Gloves looked over at the information booth near the stage, where there were inklings and octolings signing up. He thanked the inkling and walked away. There were also a few who got to walk up onto the stage to look at the objects up close. Gloves walked back over to Half Rim.

“It’s an auction,” Gloves noted, then pointed to the red tarp, “I wonder what that is over there.”

“I bet it’s nothing special,” Half Rim shrugged, turning to leave.

“I’m going to have a look at the stuff,” Gloves replied, “I'll be right back.”

Gloves then wandered back over to the stage. He looked over at a few other participants who were also walking onto it.  Gloves then wandered over to the red tarp covering what appeared to be a statue resting on a podium. There were a few security guards standing near the objects to make sure they weren’t stolen. 

Gloves then looked around, seeing the guards didn’t seem to pay much attention to him. 

“I’m sure taking a small peek wouldn’t hurt—” Gloves reached over the safety tape around the podium and carefully lifted up a corner of the red tarp. 

Lifting the corner revealed a shimmering gold tail of a fish. 

“The Rainmaker?” Gloves whispered, “Isn’t it—”

“Hey. No touching the merchandise,” an inkling suddenly snapped Gloves out of his thoughts.

Gloves perked up, dropping the red tarp. There was a cyan inkling standing in front of him. He had a short haircut that was slightly red at the tips of it. He wore black and golden coat with a red X embroidered on the chest. His left arm was bandaged, stained with yellow ink. 

“Ah— Sorry, I was just curious about what it was,” Gloves laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. Gloves tilted his head, looking at the inkling again. He then asked, “Hey, you look familiar… Haven’t I seen you before?” 

“I dunno, I’ve never seen you before,” the latter responded with a scoff, then gestured over at the red tarp next to them, “My crew and I brought this for the auction all the way from the Splatlands, we figured we could make some good money off of it.”

“Oh… I see,” Gloves replied, then laughed, “I probably got you mixed up with someone else then…”

Gloves stood there for a split second before turning to leave. Once he had turned away, Gloves pulled out the manual from his pocket and flipped through its pages.

The X-Blood Pirates

Ink Color: Bright Cyan with red at the ends.

He flipped to the picture that was stuck between the pages. As he walked off the stage, Gloves pulled out the photo and looked at it.

“Captain? What’s up?” 

“We gotta find Clips and Straps, ASAP,” Gloves said, looking over his shoulder, “I think— I think the Rainmaker’s a part of the auction.”

“Wh- Huh?” 

Gloves looked back over at the stage to see 3 other inklings with the same cyan and red color. He pulled out the photo from the manual, showing it to Half Rim.

“Look at those inklings going up onto the stage,” Gloves said with excitement in his voice, “They look just like the X-Blood pirates. I—I don’t know why they would sell the Rainmaker off, but I have a strong feeling it's them.”

Half Rim took the photo and looked at it. “Interesting…”

“Let’s get Clips and Straps over here and figure something out!” Gloves said with a smile, “We have our chance, let’s take it!” 

“And challenge the X-Bloods?”

“Don’t worry, we’re going to be just fine. It shouldn't be too bad,” Gloves reassured, “I’ll work out the details once Clips and Straps get over here.”

Half Rim hesitated for a split second, then sighed, “We’re all going to die. But alright, I’ll meet you back here in thirty minutes. Clips and Straps could be anywhere.” 

The two exchanged a nod and hurried off.

====== [ ⚓ ] ======

A few moments later, Gloves hurried back to the stage with Clips. All of the items appeared to have been taken backstage. The stage was now empty and the stands were filled with inklings and octolings. The two walked to the side of the stage. Gloves tilted his head to the side, where he could partially see the backstage area. 

The cyan inklings from before were sitting backstage near the golden statue.

“There it is,” Gloves said, the two stepped off to the side further away from the crowd. 

“So, Captain, what’s the plan?” Clips asked.

“Well, I have two ideas in mind—” Gloves began, “I could go in and distract them while you and Straps grab the Rainmaker. We’ll have to head for the backstreets so we don’t draw too much attention to ourselves.”

“Wait, what about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you guys,” Gloves replied with a wink, “Another option I have is having Half Rim splat them from a distance with the splatterscope, then we grab the Rainmaker together and run to the ship. Like I said, there’s a back alley we could take.”

“Ah— Right,” Clips replied, “That might work, let's give it a try!”

==================

Thank you for reading!! :D Have a great day/night

[sick2fit4u]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Diane Vich MSN RN (@orgazmikhealing)

Have you ever felt stuck? Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Have you ever felt trapped in your routine? Or worse... Have you ever felt trapped inside your body? I Totally understand. I have felt them all and more... I was trapped by fear of speaking up. Fear of being me. Fear of being seen. Fear of being heard. I was caught in self-doubt, unworthiness, and self-sabotage but my resilience, awareness and action pushed me through. It wasn't easy to Publish a Book and tell about my journey overcoming Chronic pain and overcoming self-limiting beliefs. But the rollercoaster was all worth it . Over the past 2 years, I worked up the courage to get out of my own way and propel towards my dreams. ....speak in front of a large Group of colleagues (Thank you BNI Gables Rainmakers and all the chapters I visited. ....write and publish a book that i had started 7 years ago. .....create live videos and teach others on social media. ....Speak on Stage (Thanks WeWire for Making that dream a reality) ....And today I tackle my fears of being seen once more...By recording a video based on my book for other Health Care Workers and colleagues to teuly understand the power of resilience by using your awareness and taking action to unleashed your inner Strength. Life will throw you curve balls. It will place challenges in your path. The question is Are you going to let self-doubt, self-limiting beliefs and self-sabotage stop you. I'm looking for 5 Ladies, that want to takle their fears and stop feeling stuck and overwhelmed. These ladies want to achieve something big, new and scary. Maybe they even eant to overcome chronic pain, anxiety and digestive issues. Message me to be part of my case study.... Are you scared to take the leap? Are you fearful you cant do it? Does your body control your life? Do you want to take back control of your body? Stop fighting against YOURSELF. You deserve better. Join....And begin my FREE 21 day Breathing Challenge inside the FREE group Unleash your INNER STRENGTH. If you are one of the special ladies that want to take a leap and stop feeling TRAPPED type THRIVE below. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9J5TlfHsKf/?igshid=1tqxve4t4uopt

[rolandfontana]

2 Critical Numbers Every Law Firm Must Know

This post was originally published on Dec. 18, 2018, and updated on Sept. 24, 2019:

Do you know how much money each lead is really costing you? How much does it cost you to get a new client? Knowing the answers to these questions can mean the difference between a profitable firm and a struggling one.  These numbers are known as “KPIs” — Key Performance Indicators. They are the critical numbers or metrics that run your law firm.

Two of the most important KPIs that every law firm should be tracking include: (1) your Cost Per Lead (CPL) and (2) your Cost Per Client (CPC). 

There are some simple ways to calculate your KPIs to help you maximize your marketing efforts:

Measuring Your Average Cost Per Lead 

Every law firm must have a solid grasp on how much it costs their company to generate a lead. I’m going to share with you how you can quickly estimate your CPL. Notice I said “estimate” as this is not a perfect calculation, but it will give you a pretty good indication and it’s a lot better than what most of you are currently doing to find out… which is nothing.

The first step is to create a clear definition of what a “lead” is. I have been in far too many firms where the partners had one definition of a “lead,” which was completely different from the definition the associates and staff had. Everyone in the firm must all have the same clear definition of what a lead is.

Here are the 3 criteria we use at The Rainmaker Institute to define a “lead”: 

Someone who has never done business with you before. Regardless of whether you handled a matter for them six months ago or six years ago, that person or company is not a “lead;” they are a repeat client.

They express an interest in your services.

Everyone who contacts your firm, whether it’s by phone, email, a referral, showing up at a seminar you are giving, filling out a form on your website, being sent to you by a pay per lead company, or any other way.

A lead is counted upon the initial contact with the firm, not after an appointment is set, not after their appointment is kept and certainly not after they sign up to be a new client. At the very least, every person who answers the phone in your office should have a lead-tracking sheet in order to keep track of all the leads your firm receives in a month.

Once you have a good handle on truly how many leads your firm is already generating in a month (from all sources) you can estimate your Cost Per Lead (CPL) by using the following formula:

Select a time frame (a month, a quarter or a year).

Determine how many “leads” were produced during that time frame.

Add up how much money the firm invested in marketing and business development during that same time frame.

Divide the amount of money by the number of new leads produced.

For example, if you invested $20,000 in marketing and business development over the course of three months and generated 100 leads, then your average CPL is $200. The question you want to ask yourself is, is that good or bad?

Well, it depends on two things: what your average client value (ACV) is and how good your lead conversion system is. If your ACV is only $1,500, like for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney, then $200 per lead may be acceptable, but it’s not fantastic.

However, if you’re a commercial litigation attorney and your ACV is $20,000, then paying $200 for a lead is a no-brainer.

If you have a very low conversion rate of 5-15% (measured by how many new clients you sign up/retain for every 100 leads you produce) and a low ACV, then you likely cannot afford to pay $200 per lead. But if you have a high lead conversion rate of 30-50%, then paying $200 per lead will work even if your ACV is on the low end.

Once you have a solid estimate of your average Cost Per Lead you should measure it monthly, quarterly, and annually. Some marketing expenses may only come once per year (like a big ad campaign or a new website) while others can be a monthly investment. Comparing them month over month, quarter over quarter, and year over year will give you great insight into how effective your lead generation efforts are.

Measuring Your Average Cost Per Client

The next number you need to know for your law firm is your average Cost Per Client (CPC) – i.e., how much does it actually cost your business to produce one new client? Not how much it costs you to perform the work, but just to get a new client to sign up or retain your firm.

Similar to CPL, you first need to define what a “new client” is for your law firm. This is much more straightforward for most firms. We define a new client as someone who pays you money or signs a retainer agreement if you are a contingency-based law firm.

To estimate your average CPC use the following four steps:  

Select a time frame (a month, a quarter or a year).

Determine how many “new clients” were produced during that time frame.

Add up how much money the firm invested in marketing and business development during that same time frame.

Divide the amount of money by the number of new clients.

For example, if you invested $20,000 in marketing and business development over the course of three months and generated 100 leads, then your average CPL is $200. If those 100 leads turned into 10 new clients, then your average Cost Per Client is $2,000. The question you should be asking again is, is that good or bad?

It depends upon your Average Client Value (ACV). If you practice estate planning law, paying $2,000 for a new client is untenable. However, if you focus almost exclusively on asset protection and your ACV is $10,000 to $20,000, then paying $2,000 for a new client is very acceptable. It still leaves you enough money to perform the work and have a healthy profit margin.

As you review your efforts and results from this past year and consider the changes you need to make next year in order to achieve your goals, I invite you to make a commitment to yourself and to your business that you will get a handle on these two critical numbers: Cost Per Lead and Cost Per Client.

Based on our experience of working with over 20,000 attorneys, without these two numbers you will continue to struggle and fall short of building a lifestyle law firm — a firm that produces enough money to give you the ability to lead the life you want to lead, enjoying your friends and family, taking more vacations, and eventually to leave the legacy you want to leave.

If you’re ready to take your firm to the next level and would like some assistance in achieving your financial goals, I invite you to sign up for a complimentary strategy session with one of our trained Rainmaker Advisors. We have helped attorneys across the country discover the secrets in building a financially successful and personally satisfying legal practice and we would love to have your law firm be our next success story!

I also invite you to check out this blog post on 8 Things You Need to Do to Run Your Law Firm Like a Business.  It’s over on our new blog, which has even more law firm marketing and management information I know you can use to promote your law firm.

  2 Critical Numbers Every Law Firm Must Know syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

[rohitkoluguri-blog]

Micro Irrigation System Market Forecast (2018-2023)

Asia Pacific will Dominate the Micro Irrigation System Market

Asia Pacific will dominate the micro irrigation system market in the coming years. This is due to the increasing adoption of the micro irrigation systems in the agricultural applications. Asia Pacific is followed by the Americas. In this region, agriculture makes use of ground and surface water, to a great extent. Hence, there is a need for efficient irrigation systems to maintain farm profitability. Asia Pacific, China and Japan are important, attractive regions for implementing the micro irrigation systems.

Selected Regulatory Analysis Done in the Full Report:

The agriculture segment will have the largest share in the micro irrigation system market during the forecast period. This is due to the fact that agriculture is a major occupation in different regions. The growth of economic practices in agriculture will drive the adoption of microsprinkler. The green house segment is also expected to have a significant growth in the forecast period due to the growing demand for cost and water efficient methods of the agricultural activities.

Selected Driving Factors Mentioned in the Full Report:

The increase of food requirement will enhance the demand for the micro drip irrigation system in the coming years.

The growth of greenhouse production will elevate the growth of the drip feed irrigation during the forecast period.

There are enhanced crop yield results due to the use of micro irrigation and this spurs the growth of micro irrigation systems.

Also, the growing advancements, such as, automation in the sprinkler system are beneficial for the micro irrigation systems.      

Request for table of contents of the full report by providing your details in the below link:

https://industryarc.com/pdfdownload.php?id=15236

Key Players of the Micro Irrigation System Market

The companies which dominate the Micro Irrigation System Market are Netafim Limited, The Toro company, Jain irrigation systems Ltd and Rain Bird Corporation. Netafim provides smart irrigation solutions for a sustainable future. It also provides advanced automated solutions for agriculture, greenhouses, landscaping and mining. Toro Company provides maintenance equipment and services and turf irrigation systems and landscaping equipment. Jain irrigation systems is an agri business company which produces plastic products and manufactures fruit and vegetable juices. Rain Bird Corporation provides irrigation products for farm, golf courses, sports, and homes in the US.

The Micro Irrigation System Market is Segmented as Below:

The growing demand for food and agricultural products enhance the demand for the micro irrigation systems.

 A. Micro Irrigation System Market By Type

     1. Sprinkler Irrigation      2. Surface Drip Irrigation      3. Sub Surface Drip Irrigation

B. Micro Irrigation System Market By Applications

     1. Field Crops      2. Plantation Crops      3. Orchard Crops      4. Turf And Forage Grasses      5. Others

C. Micro Irrigation System Market By Component

   1. Pump    2. Flowmeters    3. Valves    4. Filters    5. Injection equipment    6. Mainlines and submains    7. Drip or microsprinkler lateral lines

D. Micro Irrigation System Market By Geography(14+ countries) E. Micro Irrigation System Market Entropy F. Company Profiles

     1. Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd      2. Rain Bird Corporation      3. The Toro Company      4. A.T.P. Srl - Avanzate Technologies      5. Wanner Engineering, Inc.      6. Caylor Industrial Sales, Inc.      7. Reboca SL      8. Automat Industries Pvt. Ltd.      9. Tayfur Water Systems     10. Beta Plast Srl     11. Riegos Ruiz     12. Rainmaker Pump Stations     13. Mondragon Soluciones     14. Cassese SARL     15. Monfort     16. Filternox-Antel     17. Fattori Srl     18. Jsc Dnepropetrovsk Aggregate Plant     19. Kapi SRL     20. Greenfield Irrigation

G. Appendix: Abbreviations, Sources, Research Methodology, Bibliography, Compilation of Experts, Disclaimer.

Related Report:

A.Drip Irrigation Systems Market https://industryarc.com/Report/15226/drip-irrigation-systems-market.html

B.Agricultural Drones Market https://industryarc.com/Report/15384/agricultural-drones-market.html

What can you expect from the report?

The Micro Irrigation System Market Report is prepared with the main agenda to cover the following 20 points:

1. Market Size by Product Categories 2. Market trends 3. Manufacturer Landscape 4. Distributor Landscape 5. Pricing Analysis 6. Top 10 End user Analysis 7. Product Benchmarking 8. Product Developments 9. Mergers & Acquisition Analysis 10. Patent Analysis 11. Demand Analysis (By Revenue & Volume ) 12. Country level Analysis (15+) 13. Competitor Analysis 14. Market Shares Analysis 15. Value Chain Analysis 16. Supply Chain Analysis 17. Strategic Analysis 18. Current & Future Market Landscape Analysis 19. Opportunity Analysis 20. Revenue and Volume Analysis

Does IndustryARC publish country, geography or application based reports in Micro Irrigation System?

Yes, we do have separate reports and database as mentioned below         1. Micro Irrigation System Market(2018-2023)                                                   2. North America Micro Irrigation System Market(2018-2023)           3. Europe Micro Irrigation System Market(2018-2023)         4. Asia Pacific Micro Irrigation System Market(2018-2023)         5. Rest of the world Micro Irrigation System Market((2018-2023)         6. Field Crops Micro Irrigation System Market(2018-2023)           7. Plantation Crops Micro Irrigation System Market(2018-2023)         8. Orchard Crops Micro Irrigation System Market(2018-2023)

Talk to one of our sales representative about the full report by providing your details in the link below:

https://industryarc.com/support.php?id=15236

Does IndustryARC provide customized reports and charge additionally for limited customization?

Yes, we can customize the report by extracting data from our database of reports and annual subscription databases. We can provide the following free customization:

1. Increase the level of data in application or end user industry. 2. Increase the number of countries in geography or product chapter. 3. Find out market shares for other smaller companies or companies which are of interest to you 4. Company profiles can be requested based on your interest. 5. Patent analysis, pricing, product analysis, product benchmarking, value and supply chain analysis can be requested for a country or end use segment. Any other major customizations can be discussed with our team and can provide a separate quote based on your requirements. You can drop an e-mail to sales@industryarc.com to discuss more about our consulting services.

Media Contact: Mr. Venkat Reddy Sales Manager Email 1: sales@industryarc.com Or Email 2: venkat@industryarc.com Contact Sales: +1-614-588-8538 (Ext-101)

About IndustryARC:

IndustryARC is a Research and Consulting Firm that publishes more than 500 reports annually, in various industries such as Agriculture, Automotive, Automation & Instrumentation, Chemicals and Materials, Energy and Power, Electronics, Food & Beverages, Information Technology, Life sciences &Healthcare.

IndustryARC primarily focuses on Cutting Edge Technologies and Newer Applications in a Market. Our Custom Research Services are designed to provide insights on the constant flux in the global supply-demand gap of markets. Our strong team of analysts enables us to meet the client research needs at a rapid speed, with a variety of options for your business.

We look forward to support the client to be able to better address their customer needs, stay ahead in the market, become the top competitor and get real-time recommendations on business strategies and deals. Contact us to find out how we can help you today.