#those of you that took the survey in the two years since we last advertised it

[straws-and-stats]

In light of both the announcement of The Magnus Protocol and the introduction of polls to tumblr, I thought it would be a good time to reintroduce the fandom to Ye Olde TMA Fan Survey!

If you weren’t one of the 3,500+ people able to take the survey back in the day and it sounds like something you’re interested in, I’ve got good news for you:

THE TMA FAN SURVEY IS STILL UP AND RUNNING!

Take the survey here (it contains spoilers through the finale!!!)

Read after the break for more context and for the results of the initial run!

Exactly two years ago, a group of us launched the TMA Fan Survey as part of the fan project Eye Love TMA to celebrate the podcast that means so much to so many. In the two months between survey launch and the March 2021 finale, we got over 3,500 fans (and a few cast/crew members!) to take the survey. I had a blast getting to examine such a large set of data and analyse how the fandom related to the podcast through items such as:

Favourite character

Favourite season

Scariest episode

Charisma levels of the fandom as compared to the Archivist

What the Admiral looks like

How the Admiral wears trousers

Which entity fans are most afraid of

Which dancing Theresa May haunts the Archivist in the gap between his nightmares

And so, so much more!

Now, since the fandom has only continued to grow since the finale, and that means there are even more people who are able to contribute to this project, I decided to readvertise the survey.

Through the launch of TMagP, I’m going to be running a drive to collect Even More Data for the survey and release an updated newsletter come October.

Look at the finale-era results here.

Tumblr post of highlights from newsletter launch by the incredible niksfake

Adorable comic by shanni used to advertise the survey

Just to note that, going forward, I’m only going to be looking at the multiple choice questions on the survey. I already read through 3,500 responses to each of the 6 short answer questions and I am not going to read through any more, thank you very much.

Also, the survey was written in between the release of MAG 190 and MAG 191 and updated relevant episode-centric questions with each new release, so please feel free to laugh at some of the more outdated questions.

[gainingfiction]

Lifetime Supply: Chapter 1

That’s right: gainerstories and I are back at it again with another big, fat collaboration. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: Ryan, a svelte computer science major, thinks he’s hit the jackpot when he wins a lifetime supply of snacks. Turns out there’s no such thing as a free lunch... or free snacks, for that matter.

~

“You’re not gonna eat all those, are you?”

“I will unless you plan on helping,” Ryan said. He turned to face his roommate, who was still sweaty from his trip to the gym. Ahmed just shook his head and stepped into the bathroom. When Ryan heard the shower running, he unfolded the letter at the top of the box.

We take our commitments to customers seriously. So when we promise you a “lifetime supply”, we really mean it. How much we send will depend on your feedback, and our customer service team is happy to listen. Adesco is passionate about….

Ryan smirked and put the letter aside. They must have spent a lot on marketing. When he entered the stupid competition advertised on the inside of a candy wrapper, he hadn’t expected anything to come of it. So when he won a lifetime supply of the company’s snack foods he was more than a little surprised. He was even more surprised when he returned home two weeks after the win to find a large cardboard box on his doorstep.

Inside were products he knew (chocolate bars, pretzels, popular snack cookies) but also products he had never bought before, like mini donuts and snack cakes with fruit fillings. With a shrug, he opened one of the lemon cakes and took a bite. Pleased with the result, he grabbed another pack and put his feet up on the coffee table.

Ryan opened his laptop. He mostly did freelance jobs, which he preferred to a more traditional set-up. He decided to work on a few projects he had been meaning to finish up. By the end of the afternoon, he realized that his stomach was hurting. Looking around, he saw that the couch was strewn with wrappers. Once he had gotten into a groove, he just kept eating snacks out of the box without even thinking. Realizing the mess he had made, he gathered up the wrappers and tried to toss them in the trash before Ahmed could see.

Except his roommate was already waiting in the kitchen as Ryan approached garbage with handfuls of plastic. “Wow, you weren’t kidding about eating all those,” Ahmed said, arching an eyebrow. “I was just about to head to the library. I have a bunch of school stuff due way too soon.”

Ryan saw Ahmed off, and then thought about what to do with himself. He had been wondering that a lot since his ex, Jason, had broken things off a few weeks earlier. Jason hated being at home, and so the two were always out getting coffee, jogging, or shopping downtown. Before they had met in college, Ryan had felt at ease doing nothing, but that was a side of himself he had pushed aside for a couple of years now. Since Jason fled to Europe with his “yoga buddy”, Ryan had a lot more downtime on his hands.

Where in the past he might have gone for a jog, Ryan decided to say “fuck it” and fire up some porn. Since he had the place to himself, he decided to really go for it, stripping off his clothes in the middle of the living room. After finishing, Ryan cleaned himself up, realizing he had room for another snack cake. Sighing contentedly, he opened up a fresh box.

Two weeks later, when Ryan returned from a cafe where he had been working, he was surprised to see another large cardboard box sitting in front of his house. He brought it inside and placed it on the floor of his bedroom. He was still only about halfway through the last box, and he already felt like he was snacking more than he should have been. He usually couldn’t afford to have so much food just lying around.

Ryan took out a pair of scissors and opened the new box. Amid new and familiar snack packages, he removed another letter. This one was a survey, listing products and asking him to rank them based on his preference. There were other questions about his usual snack choices, flavours he liked most, and his satisfaction with the quantity and variety in the boxes. At the bottom, there was a phone number with a note: If you have any questions, please contact your Adesco customer service representative, Luke!

Sighing, Ryan decided to crack open a bag of pretzels. Who knew that winning a contest could be so much work?

[sawadeekannyeong]

Thailand: Southeast Asia’s unexpected epicentre of K-pop

How Thailand contributes to South Korea, and how South Korea gives back in return

i. Intro

Video: Clip from Thai entertainment show hosted by Moddam Kachapa. (Source: YouTube)

On September 11, 2021, Thai MC Moddam Kachapa talked about the solo debut success of Blackpink’s Lisa.

“This is what we call world class, truly world class, it’s finally happened to our country.”

Lisa (real name Lalisa Manoban), a K-pop idol who was born and raised in Thailand, got her start under YG Entertainment in 2016, as a member of girl group Blackpink. The group itself has achieved worldwide success, even being credited by South Korean president Moon Jae-In for spreading K-pop content across the globe. Lisa is the only member of the group who is not Korean, and the third to break out into solo endeavours.

Her debut single album Lalisa was considered a huge success. With 736,000 copies sold in South Korea within the first week, it broke the all-time record for most sales in a single week for any release by a female musician — leaving her more than worthy of a celebration.

But in acknowledging Lisa’s success, Kachapa discredited the success of other Thai K-pop idols in the industry: namely, 2PM’s Nichkhun and GOT7’s BamBam.

“We’ve never seen a (Thai) superstar go this far - back then we had Nichkhun, but he wasn’t successful to this degree. We also have BamBam, but he too didn’t manage to get this far.”

Photo: Screenshots of netizens’ tweets regarding Kachapa’s statements. (Source: Twitter)

His statements struck a chord with long-time fans of both artists, who felt there was no need to bring them down in order to praise Lisa. Many even acknowledged that the three are friends, and did not see one another as competition.

Photo: BamBam, Nichkhun and Lisa with one another. (Source: various)

This incident proves one thing – Thai fans of K-pop are proud of all the success their own citizens have achieved, and actively acknowledge that debuting in the K-pop industry is an achievement to laud over. It reflects the level of respect Thai netizens have for K-pop, revealing just how popular K-pop is in Thailand.

ii. The import of Thai idols

A survey conducted with 500 Thai citizens in 2019 revealed that 45.6 percent of respondents considered K-pop to be very popular in the nation, with an additional 27.2 percent considering it to be quite popular. The Korean Wave, specifically the rise of K-pop, has been present in Thailand for more than decade now.

The import of talents like Nichkhun, BamBam and Lisa are both a result of this rise, and also help to maintain this popularity. The respect they are treated with in their home country is nearly unparalleled.

Nichkhun (2PM)

In 2005, when he was just 17, Nichkhun was scouted by JYPE Entertainment representatives while at the Los Angeles Korean Music Festival with some friends. He admitted to having no knowledge of Korean culture, and did not understand why he was scouted. 

“I didn’t know any singers, I didn’t know what JYP was and when I was scouted, I was really skeptical about it because I don’t really speak Korean, I didn’t know anybody there.”

The Los Angeles Korean Music Festival (now known as the Korea Times Music Festival) was launched in 2003 to give Korean-Americans living in Southern California a taste of “home”. The festival grew increasingly popular among non-Koreans, due to the widespread recognition of Korean culture in the United States, and in 2013, 95 per cent of tickets were purchased by non-Koreans.

Video: 2PM performing at the 2014 Los Angeles Korean Music Festival. (Source: YouTube)

The booming presence of the Korean community in Southern California and the rise of Hallyu in the United States were both factors that contributed to Nichkhun’s recruitment into JYPE. His debut as a member of 2PM in 2008 cemented his status as the world’s first K-pop idol from Thailand.

He is incredibly popular in his home country, earning the nickname “Thai Prince” for his good looks, wealth and talent. He also acknowledges that as a foreign K-pop idol, he helps to globalise K-pop, and spread awareness of it beyond just South Korea.

I think I’m the international bridge that connects the group to places outside Korea. If the group were only Korean members, the reach would be very Korean. But because I’m there, I make the group a little more international.

BamBam (GOT7)

BamBam (born Kunpimook Bhuwakul), is a member of GOT7, formerly under JYP Entertainment. Growing up in Thailand, his interest in Korean culture was primarily because his mother was a huge fan of singer Rain. The two of them even attended some Rain concerts together in Thailand, a testament to the singer’s popularity in the region.

BamBam actively took part in K-pop competitions growing up in Thailand, like a Rain cover dance competition, and the Thailand LG Entertainer Competition (which 2PM’s Nichkhun and Blackpink’s Lisa were coincidentally both present at).

Photo: BamBam, Nichkhun and Lisa at the Thailand LG Entertainer Competition. (Source: YouTube)

At 13, BamBam passed the JYP World Tour Audition in Thailand and subsequently moved to South Korea to become a JYPE trainee. Debuting with GOT7 in 2014, his popularity in Thailand soared and BamBam went on to receive the nickname “Thai Prince”, just like his predecessor Nichkhun.

He endorses many brands in Thailand, including mobile network operator AIS, Yamaha, and Vivo.

“Someone had called me “nation’s treasure” before. I felt really good when I heard it. I want Thai people to be proud of me. I am proud of being Thai. I always say it wherever I go. We’re K-pop idols or whatever, we’re still Thai.”

Lisa (Blackpink)

Lisa’s story of how she debuted is similar to that of BamBam’s. In 2010, she attended an open audition held by YG Entertainment in Thailand, and was the only winner out of approximately 3000 contestants. Moving to South Korea at the mere age of 13, she proceeded to become YG’s first non-Korean trainee.

Since Blackpink’s debut in 2016, the group has achieved constant success. Lisa’s fame is nearly unparalleled – she is the most followed K-pop idol on Instagram, boasting 61.9 million followers (as of October 2021).

The star, who like Nichkhun and BamBam is highly respected in Thailand, made sure to boast her Thai roots in her debut single.

"I wanted my album to give a Thai feel as its gem, and YG's producer, Teddy, arranged the lead track in the way I expected. I also sported Thai outfits in its music video and made traditional Thai dance movements.”

The ever growing globalisation of K-pop, like Korean music festivals and idol auditions held in other countries, contribute to the growing pool of non-Korean K-pop idols. K-pop is becoming increasingly accessible, not just for fans, but for those aspiring to join the industry.

Other Thai idols have sprouted in the K-pop industry since, like NCT’s Ten, CLC’s Sorn and G-Idle’s Minnie. All of them contribute to growing cultural relations between Thailand and South Korea, as South Korean President Moon Jae-In said himself.

“ In particular, the peoples of our two countries are curious about each other and share a mutual affection. A number of talented young Thais are making a name for themselves on the world stage as members of K-pop acts, including Nichkhun of 2PM and Lisa of Blackpink.”

iii. Getting what you give

Where K-pop has benefitted from Thailand, Thailand has benefitted from K-pop.

All of the “Big 3” labels – JYP, YG and SM – have expanded their businesses to Thailand: JYP launched JYPE Thailand in 2010, its official Southeast Asian branch. The following year, SM launched a joint venture called SM True with Thailand’s The Visions Group. And just this year, YGMM was launched as a joint venture between YG and Thailand’s GMM Grammy.

Korean music festivals and conventions are also commonplace in Thailand. In 2011, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, South Korea’s Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) held the MBC Korean Music Wave in Bangkok. It featured the biggest groups of the time, like TVXQ, Miss A, Girls’ Generation and SG Wannabe, and was hosted by 2PM’s Nichkhun, alongside Yuri and Tiffany from Girls’ Generation. MBC Korean Music Wave returned to Thailand two more times, and its last iteration received a turnout of 20,000 fans.

Photo: Tiffany, Nichkhun, and Yuri at MBC Korean Music Wave in Bangkok 2011. (Source: Soompi)

More recently, in 2018 and 2019, Thailand became the only Southeast Asian country to host KCON. The convention, held to celebrate all forms of Korean culture, originally began in 2012, in the United States, and has since expanded to eight countries. Thailand’s KCON was hosted both times by 2PM’s Nichkhun, and saw performances from artists like Stray Kids, Iz*One and GOT7.

Photo: GOT7 at KCON 2018, including BamBam (3rd from right). (Source: Tofupop Radio)

Now, the COVID-19 pandemic might have halted K-pop concerts and conventions in Thailand for the time being, but the craze shows no signs of stopping. The K-pop phenomenon has trickled its way down to Thailand’s grassroots, benefitting blue collar workers like tuktuk drivers and roadside hawkers.

Photo: Thailand’s popular tuktuks are now adorned with K-pop idol advertisements. (Source: Reuters)

The drivers of Thailand’s distinctive tuktuks have been hit financially by the pandemic, with most of their income normally coming from excited tourists. According to Reuters, avid K-pop fans have been turning to these tuktuks as a way to advertise their favourite idols. As part of a larger anti-government protest, teenagers stopped paying for their K-pop idols to be advertised on public transport, and instead mobilised tuktuks to celebrate birthdays and album launches.

Samran and many others now drive their empty tuk tuks around Bangkok with a banner of a different K-pop sensation each month, stopping for young Thai fans to take pictures and use their service, often with tips.

Similarly, meatball vendors in Lisa’s hometown of Buriram in Thailand have seen a rise in sales of up to 1000 per cent since an unexpected shoutout from her. In an interview on popular Thai talkshow The Woody Show, Lisa mentioned missing the meatballs sold near the train station in her hometown.

Photo: Meatballs being sold in Lisa’s hometown in Thailand. (Source: Bangkok Post)

“People buy and eat them right there at Buriram train station. They’re really popular. The highlight is the sauce found only in Buriram.”

Business had struggled for these vendors as a result of the pandemic, with many people afraid of eating out. Some vendors even had to shut down stalls.

"Now some shops have about 2,000 orders a day. This is unprecedented and business is even better than pre-Covid 19," said Bordin Ruengsuksriwong, the provincial Tourism Industry Council president.

It is no doubt that when pandemic restrictions ease up, more Thais will find themselves flocking to South Korea to follow in the footsteps of Nichkhun, BamBam and Lisa, while K-pop groups will be marking Thailand down in their tour dates.  

[artificialqueens]

Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi? (Gigi x Nicky) - Peridot

A/N: Y’all wanted domme Nicky and sub Gigi? You’re welcome.

This is a little lesbian one shot I wrote for the season 12 girls because I’m really enjoying them! I haven’t written a fic since December, so I’m sorry if I’m a little rusty! Also go easy on me, I don’t usually write smut and I only did the tiniest bit in this, so be gentle. Please leave me some feedback, I’d love to hear what you think of this! Also come say hi at my sideblog @artificialperidot, because I wanna make friends!

Summary: Gigi didn’t think anybody could make her sub. That was, until she met miss Nicky Doll.

Hope you enjoy!

The pair stumbled through the door of Nicky’s apartment, Nicky’s hands an iron grip on Gigi’s wrist, practically dragging the girl. The door shut with a click, and in a split second Gigi found herself shoved against it, boxed in by Nicky’s arms.

“Put your hands above your head, bitch.”

~

“There’s no way”

Gigi rolled her eyes and took a sip of her strawberry mocktail whilst the group around her snickered. She and her flatmates Heidi, Jackie and Jan were out for drinks at their local bar, sitting in a leather booth with some unrecognisable 90s beat playing over the speakers, barely audible over the chatter of people. It was their first night out in a long time, a celebration for Jackie’s new job offer in a weekly cabaret show. Gigi, however, wasn’t drinking with her friends - she knew how fast Heidi could get her drunk, and she was not about to have another crazy night, and was not about to let her friends get to that stage, either. The last one had been christened, “The milkshake incident” and Gigi had never quite lived it down. And she did not intend to have a repeat tonight.

But, as things often did when they had a girls night, the conversation quickly turned to sex.

“Oh come on, G,” Heidi exclaimed, “Are you saying no one in God’s universe could make you sub?”

“Highly doubt it.”

“Not even if you hadn’t had sex in years?”

“Nope.”

“Damn, I knew you were a control freak, but didn’t know you cared that much.” Jan quipped, received a chuckle from the group.

“Yeah, well, that and the fact that I don’t think anyone could turn me on enough for me to listen to them,” Gigi added. “Like, I’d have to be about to fucking explode before I’d let some bitch tell me what to do.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” said Jackie.

“What do you mean?”

“You think no one could turn you on that much?”

Gigi shrugged. “I don’t think so. Girls are hot, but no one’s that hot.”

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “Well, let’s make things interesting then. Let’s arrange a hook up for you. If we can find a bitch that’s hot enough to make you sub, then you’re buying our drinks next time.”

“Ooh bitch, I like the sound of that,” Heidi chirped.

Gigi scoffed. “And if I win?”

“Then… then we’ll never bring up the milkshake incident again.”

Gigi paused. Now that would be worth it. “Deal,” she said, reaching out a hand to shake Jackie’s across the table, to the excited squee of Jan and the ‘ooohs’ of Heidi. “This sounds amazing. I’m getting a free hookup out of this, and I get to dom. I can’t lose.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Miss Goode,” Jackie commented, tapping at her phone screen, which she kept hidden from Gigi. “I have some contacts.”

Jackie couldn’t keep the mischievous grin from her face. “Who did you have in mind?” Heidi asked her, leaning over her shoulder to look at her phone.

“Just a little friend of mine, from back in New York.”

“Girl, if it’s who I’m thinking of, Miss Gigi doesn’t stand a chance!” Jan added.

Jackie smiled mischievously at Jan, giving her a knowing look, before leaning over and whispering something indecipherable into Heidi’s ear, which sent her reeling. “No way! Oh, this bitch stands no chance!” she exclaimed, a little too loudly for Gigi’s liking. “Drinks for us next Saturday bitches!”

Jan laughed, and Gigi rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t be too confident. I can be intimidating when I wanna be.”

“Do you wanna be intimidating all the time then? Cause you are a scary bitch,” Heidi added, receiving a giggle from the group. “Seriously I’d still be frightened of you if I hadn’t seen the milkshake incident go down with my own eyes.”

The girls began cackling with laughter, and to save her embarrassment, Gigi laughed along too.

At least after tonight she’d never have to hear about it again.

This should be easy.

~

After about an hour or so of cocktails and a trip to the dance floor (where Heidi decided to give everyone in the bar some dance lessons, whether they were willing or not), Jackie disappeared and returned with a woman following along behind her.

“Gigi, there’s a little someone I want you to meet,” Jackie grinned. “This is Nicky. Nicky Doll.”

Jackie stepped to the side, and forward walked a woman. A woman who looked as if she was straight from the covers of vogue.

Gigi couldn’t deny that the woman standing in front of her was beautiful. Fuck, she may have just been one of the most gorgeous women she’d ever seen. Long blonde hair, dark features, and a body to die for. She wore a tight red mini dress that showed off her perfect curves and tiny waist, with a leather jacket thrown over her shoulders, embroidered with roses. She exuded sultriness, in the sort of way that made you certain that she knew just how sexy she was. Her bedroom eyes looked Gigi up and down like a predator surveying its prey, and a smile formed from her pursed lips.

Fuck.

She’s good.

Well, two can play at that game.

Gigi strutted over to the woman, swaying her hips, and slowly reached out a hand for her to shake. “Good evening, Nicky.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow and took her hand, gripping it firmly. “Nice to meet you, darling,” she drawled, her tone exuding confidence. “You want me to top her, Jackie? Shouldn’t be a problem.”

It was then that Gigi picked up on her accent, and her heart jumped a little. It took her a second to distinguish it, but after years of french class in high school, her ear was attuned to the pronunciation.

French. Fucking French?

Somehow it made her ten times hotter.

But, Gigi wasn’t about to back down yet.

“It might be a problem, seeing I’m head and shoulders taller than you,” she quipped, quirking an eyebrow and lifting her chin.

“At least I’m not a skinny little bitch,” Nicky quickly shot back, taking Gigi off guard. “She looks like one of those inflatable car advertisements, you know, the one with the flailing arms.”

The group began to laugh, including Gigi, trying desperately to brush off the joke and not show a crack in her armour. The little jolt in her chest when Nicky looked at her didn’t help make matters any easier.

Of course Jackie just happened to know this gorgeous French supermodel who was just as intimidating as Gigi, maybe even more so. This bet wasn’t going to be as easy as it seemed.

Either way, she was so fucking glad she was going to fuck this bitch tonight.

The sound of Jackie’s voice shook Gigi out of her daydream. “So guys, are you still willing to go home together tonight?”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. She’s really hot,” Gigi said, in her sexiest voice. “Can’t wait to see her on her knees.”

Nicky didn’t flinch at Gigi’s last sentiment. She simply raised an eyebrow, as if to say are you kidding?

Gigi would be lying if she said that it didn’t turn her on. Slightly.

“Well, Nicky?” Jackie prompted.

“Eh, she’s not bad looking herself.” Nicky shot Gigi a smirk. “I’m up for it.”

“Great,” Jackie said with a clap of her hands. “The bet’s on! Now, who’s for another round of drinks? On me!”

The sentence was met by whoops and cheers from Jan and Heidi, and the girls slunk their way through the crowd towards the bar, Gigi and Nicky following after them.

Gigi felt an arm slide around hers, interlocking them, and felt a voice by her ear.

“Darling, I’m just checking you’re staying sober for tonight?” Nicky said in a hushed tone. The breath on Gigi’s skin made her shudder just a bit.

“Of course,” she replied with mock confidence. “I wouldn’t be comfortable any other way.”

“Good,” Nicky replied. “And, I want to check that no matter what goes down tonight, you're ok with it? Like, if you don’t top you are still comfortable.”

Gigi smiled. It was cute that she checked. “I’m comfortable with whatever goes down, though that shouldn’t be a problem for me anyway.”

“Good,” Nicky said matter-of-factly, before slipping her arm out from its entwinement with Gigi’s and starting to walk ahead of her to catch up with the group. She stopped after a second though, turning her head back to Gigi and waiting for her to catch up. She leant into her, her voice even more low and hushed than before.

“And don’t get too confident, baby. It’s not cute,” she said, giving Gigi a tap on the ass, before walking ahead of her again as if nothing had happened.

It wasn’t enough to hurt - it was barely enough for Gigi to even feel it. But it made her stop in her tracks, rendered immovable.

Gigi gulped. She didn’t know if it was possible for a human heartbeat to exceed 100 miles per hour, but she was sure that hers had gotten pretty close.

Shit.

~

Gigi wasn’t sure if it was the pounding of the music through the speakers, or the pounding of her heart that made her feel lightheaded, but after a while she needed to sit down. Not wanting to bother her friends, who were busy laughing and dancing and spilling their cocktails all over the dance floor, she left their group and made her way over to a booth at the side of the room, resting her elbows on the table. She squeezed her eyes shut. It didn’t make the loud beat or the flashing strobe lights go away, but at least it stopped her head spinning a little.

After all, the thoughts swimming in her brain were enough for her head to deal with.

All she could think about was Nicky.

Before long, she felt someone slide into the booth beside her, a hand moving to rest on the small of her back.

She didn’t need to open her eyes to guess who it was.

“Are you alright, my darling?” a thick french accent murmured.

Gigi opened her eyes to face the girl beside her, whose eyes were wide with concern.

“I’m okay Nicky, thanks. Just felt a little lightheaded, that’s all.”

Nicky flashed her a caring smile. “It’s okay Gigi. You can rest your head on me if you need to, that might help.” Gigi smiled gratefully at her, before laying her head on the shorter girl’s shoulder. Nicky began rubbing her back in small circles, comforting her. “Do you need any water?”

“I’m okay, thanks. I’m starting to feel better already.”

“I’m glad.”

They stayed like that for a few moments, Nicky soothing Gigi, and Gigi trying to conceal her inner panic. She’d never met someone like Nicky before. Never. No one had ever turned her on as fast, for a start. And, she seemed to genuinely care about her, and they’d only just met for Christ sake.

Let’s just say, Gigi was pretty excited to go home with her tonight. She was even more excited to see her again after tonight, though. On a date.

That is, if she plucked up the courage to ask her.

She’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

Nicky began stroking Gigi’s hair, softly and gently, being careful not to mess it up, and Gigi melted into the touch. “You okay down there?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted to stay like this for a little while.”

“That’s okay. I like it too, ma crevette.”

Gigi’s eyes blinked open with confusion. “What does that mean?”

Nicky paused and smiled. “You’ll laugh.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a term of endearment in french, sort of like ‘my darling’,” she started, “but the literal translation is ‘my shrimp.’

The two girls began silently laughing to each other, like two school girls giggling over a secret. “You’re joking!”

“I’m serious! French is weird when you put it into English.”

“I used to study french, you know. Back in high school.”

Nicky looked impressed. “Really?”

“Yeah, but I can barely remember any of it. It was the only class I consistently failed,” she laughed. “That and basic math.”

“Speak some french for me Gigi. I’ll be the judge of that.”

Gigi racked her brain, trying to come up with something more interesting than ‘bonjour’ or ‘je m’appelle Gigi’, when she remembered a little song from ‘Moulin Rouge’ that she thought would fit the bill perfectly.

“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”

Their little booth erupted into fits of giggles, Nicky barely able to comprehend her choice of phrase. Gigi watched closely, loving the way her nose screwed up when she laughed, and the toothy grin that took over her face.

Gigi didn’t know it was possible to be sexy and adorable, but she’d been proven wrong.

“Someone’s seen ‘Moulin Rouge’,” Nicky laughed.

“Well? Is that a yes? Oui or non?” Gigi persisted, leaning her shoulder into Nicky’s side.

Nicky shook her head and rolled her eyes with a sense of disbelief, but she didn’t try and stop the smile from creeping over her lips.

“Oui, my darling,” she laughed, before planting a kiss on Gigi’s cheek. “But, just because I’m being nice now doesn’t mean I’ll be nice later when I’m punishing you.”

Gigi felt a pang in her chest, and bit the inside of her lip, despite her ambivalence. She was embarrassed of the way it turned her on. The thought of Nicky doing what she wants to her, having her way with her, was so sexy.

But the thought of Nicky down on her knees for her, was a pretty tempting thought too. So, she concealed the way her heart leapt out of her chest by raising an eyebrow, hoping her dark features and intimidating aura would have the same effect on Nicky as she had on her.

“Bold of you to assume you won’t be the one getting punished,” Gigi said, glaring into Nicky’s eyes and hoping she matched Nicky’s ice-cold stare.

Nicky scoffed, an evil smirk forming on her pursed lips. “Oh please. Tell that to the girl who was lying on my shoulder 5 minutes ago, letting me pet her and stroke her hair. Or the girl who let me spank her earlier with no retaliation,” she started, her predator gaze burning into Gigi’s skin, making her want to squirm. “Face it, you’ve been practically begging for me to top you all night. You’re so pathetically desperate for it.”

Fuck.

Gigi’s breath quickened, the rise and fall of her chest matching the speed of her frantic heartbeat, sending adrenaline all around her body, electricity shooting down her legs and arms to the tips of her fingers.

Nicky saw that Gigi’s mask was slipping, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Gigi wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline or her anger that made her primal instincts kick in, but suddenly she was on top of Nicky, attacking her in a kiss. She used her height to her advantage, leaning over the smaller kiss and cupping her face, as she kissed her with a passion and strength that she wasn’t sure she still had in her.

The kiss was messy, all teeth and tongues, mostly because Gigi was overcome with desire and desperation and a strength of emotion she’d never felt before.

As for Nicky, she kissed back with more precision, but fuelled by the same fire that drove Gigi. She clutched Gigi’s wrist as she kissed her, so hard that Gigi was sure there would be finger-shaped bruises there tomorrow. Her movements were more controlled, as if she was set upon taking Gigi apart with ease and leisure, not allowing the other’s frantic movements to make her lose her cool.

When they pulled apart for air, Gigi wasn’t quite sure who’d won in their battle for dominance.

Before she could say another word, Nicky leaned up, so that the two were drawn level with each other, their noses practically touching as they stared into each other’s eyes with animalistic lust. “Someone’s touchy,” Nicky said with a cocky smirk. “Was that a little too close for comfort, darling?”

Gigi didn’t respond. She didn’t know how to respond, now that Nicky could see through her facade. Instead she simply bit the inside of her lip and broke the eye contact, too ashamed of her feelings to look Nicky in the eyes.

Her fucking beautiful eyes.

Nicky reached a hand up to Gigi’s face, delicately tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, before holding up her chin to face her. “Asked you a question, baby.”

Gigi felt a hand slide around her waist, pulling her in closer. Looking at the woman in front of her, Gigi was sure she’d never wanted someone as much in her life. She was so embarrassed, so ashamed that she was so turned on, and somehow it fuelled the emotion and made it even stronger.

She didn’t give a shit about who topped anymore. She just needed Nicky.

“Fuck the bet.”

Nicky smiled, tapping her nose. “That’s what I like to hear, baby. Call us a taxi. If you can still talk, that is.”

~

The taxi ride felt like the longest ride of her life. The only thing that kept Gigi tethered to reality was Nicky’s hand clutching hers tightly. But it couldn’t distract her from the aching need between her legs, and the quickening of her breath, which verged on hyperventilation at this point.

They sat in silence for a while, Gigi too consumed by her own thoughts, and Nicky having played the ‘I don’t speak much English’ to avoid awkward small talk with the taxi driver. The silence was broken, however, when Nicky leaned in and started placing butterfly kisses all over Gigi’s neck, feather-light. Gigi couldn’t help but melt into the touch, closing her eyes tight and imagining that they were anywhere but stuck inside a taxi, seatbelts holding them firmly in place. Gigi enveloped her in another frantic kiss, all teeth and tongues, and Nicky bit the other girl’s lower lip, reclaiming her dominance and causing Gigi to inhale sharply.

Before she knew it she was palming at Nicky’s chest over her red dress, longing for some sort of contact, and Nicky was sucking a precise mark onto Gigi’s neck that left her writhing. It caused a whine to escape from Gigi’s lips, a desperate, needy whine that made Nicky swear under her breath, and without a second for Gigi to comprehend what was happening, a hand was clamped firmly over her mouth.

It was animalistic, really, the way they clutched at each other. The bet was long forgotten in Gigi’s mind. She had never felt so strongly about another woman, never wanted anyone like this before. She was usually the one in control, the one who had made countless other girls writhe beneath her in the past.

Oh how the tables had turned.

When the taxi pulled up slowly at a red light, the two were so enamoured with each other to notice the driver, glaring at them from the rear view window.

“Ahem.”

Startled by the noise, the girls pulled themselves off each other in surprise and embarrassment, sitting up straight like they'd been caught cheating on a test. The cab driver shot each of them a dirty look from the mirror, making Gigi wonder if he was homophobic or one of those uptight straight guys that doesn’t like anyone messing up their car. Either way, that typically wasn’t the type of person Gigi liked.

Nicky shot him an affronted look in the mirror, eyes wide with disbelief, as if to say how dare he. “Do you need some medicine for that cough?” she said in her most sarcastic tone. “Or, uh, how you say….. some manners?”

The driver was silent.

Gigi was proud that they managed to sit in silence for about thirty seconds. But the moment Nicky made eye contact with her, the two erupted into fits of uncontrollable laughter, giggling like schoolchildren and trying to suppress their amusement with whispered pleas of ‘shhh!’ and ‘shut up!’ that were of no avail.

Needless to say, if the driver didn’t like them before that, he certainly didn’t like them now.

Between laughs, Nicky called out a ‘here’s fine’ to the driver, who was very excited to see the back of the pair of laughing hyenas from his car. Nicky tossed him a couple of bills, before pulling Gigi out of the car by her wrists, the two still unable to suppress their laughter.

They stumbled down the street as if they were both drunk, falling over each other and cackling, too caught up in their happiness to feel the cold chill on their skin.

It almost distracted Gigi from the need between her legs.

Almost.

“My apartment is a couple blocks away, but I couldn’t sit in that cab any longer,” Nicky chuckled. “A walk won’t do us any harm, anyway.”

Gigi smiled, her gaze lingering over Nicky’s for a little too long. “Babe, you’re fucking amazing, you know that?”

Nicky cocked her head to the side, bemused. “And what makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. It’s like I’ve known you for years. You’re so fun. And so nice,” she started, grabbing onto Nicky’s arm. “And simultaneously a complete bitch.”

Nicky smirked. “I thought you were being nice for a second, but I’ll take it.”

“Bitch, you knew exactly what you were doing to me at the bar. You can’t tell me that wasn’t a dick move.”

“You liked it though.”

Gigi laughed, biting her lip slightly. “Hate to admit it.”

Nicky looked amused. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed, darling.”

“You’re cute all the time. Drop dead fucking gorgeous, actually.”

“You’re one to talk, pretty girl.”

Gigi would be lying if she didn’t feel herself blush a little at that.

“So, about tonight… do you still want me to top? Because if you’re not comfortable we can-“

“No! No, no, I want you to top. Please.”

“Are you sure darling? Because if you want-“

“I’m sure. I don’t think I could top you if I tried.”

Nicky laughed to herself. “Aw, she finally admits it at last.”

“Fuck you,” Gigi whined, hitting Nicky playfully on the arm.

Nicky raised her eyebrows, a stern expression creeping onto her face. “None of that language baby. I wanna make you feel really good, darling, but I can only do that if you’re a good girl for me, okay?”

Gigi felt a lump in her throat. “I’ll try. I’ve never done this before though. Subbed.”

“That’s okay, angel, we don’t have to go too far.” Nicky smiled reassuringly at the girl. “But I know what I’m doing. I know how to make you feel really really good, so I need you to trust me, okay?”

Gigi wasn’t sure why, but she did.

~

“Put your hands above your head, bitch.”

“You get into character quickly, don’t you?” Gigi remarked, staring directly into Nicky’s eyes, which were centimetres from her face. She felt the weight of Nicky’s hips pressing harder into hers, forcing her against the hard wood of the apartment door.

“Don’t be cocky, baby. I already told you it’s not a good look,” Nicky replied, grabbing Gigi’s wrists and holding them above her head herself.

Nicky’s pupils were blown wide, and they scanned the face of the girl before her with an intimate precision that Gigi had never witnessed before. Gigi smirked. She liked this new side to Nicky, this dominant persona who seemed set upon making her unravel.

But of course, Gigi wasn’t about to make things easy for her.

With that, she leaned forward and planted another kiss on Nicky’s parted lips, her tongue sliding into her mouth and her eyes closing shut, transfixed by the softness that she buried herself into.

The kiss was short-lived, however, when Nicky pulled away sharply, one arm pushing Gigi back against the door. Her head bumped against it lightly, and a stern gaze took over Nicky’s features, a mixture of anger and lust. “Thought you were going to be a good girl for me, angel,” she said, tucking a strand of Gigi’s hair behind her ear. “Good girls don’t touch without permission.”

“I can’t help it. You just look so good,” Gigi husked, biting her lip sensually, and Nicky let out a shattered breath, Gigi’s dilated pupils meeting her own.

Nicky slid her knee in between Gigi’s thighs. “If you don’t start behaving, we’re going to have a problem.”

“What’re you gonna do about it?”

In one swift motion, Nicky pulled Gigi forward by her wrists, landing a slap on her ass over her black dress. “Bedroom. Now.”

~

The night was a blur of silk bed sheets and passion. The smell of sweat and sex was in the air, the cool breeze from the open window mingling with the heat on their skin. The marks of ropes around Gigi’s wrists and scratches on her skin and love-bites on her neck were still there the next day. And, so was Nicky, to Gigi’s surprise.

Gigi was the first to awaken of the two the next morning. The New York skyline was illuminated by the golden sunrise that seeped through the silk curtains. The plump pillow that Gigi’s head was buried in was soft against her bare skin, and she propped it up against the bed frame, sitting up a little as she stretched and yawned, hands rubbing her eyes. The cold morning air hit her shoulders as she made herself comfortable.

She found herself with only the littlest portion of blanket keeping her decent - the rest was wrapped around Nicky like a sleeping bag, and she curled it up in her arms like she was cuddling a toy.

She presumed that the duvet was her replacement for Gigi when she had rolled over.

Gigi looked down at the woman beside her, laying on her side, her face a picture of peacefulness. Her blonde hair was spread out on the pillow around her head like a halo, and even the remnants of mascara and eyeliner around her eyes didn’t distract from the purity of her features. Her mouth was open just a little, and soft breaths escaped her lips as her chest rose and fell like a metronome.

She was beautiful.

Gigi was extremely glad that she had let her stay the night at her apartment. To be honest, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to make it home after the night she had.

Looking at Nicky fast asleep, Gigi would have never believed that it was the same woman from last night.

But, she was glad that it was. She liked that Nicky could be sexy and dominant, and then immediately switch back to being caring and sweet.

The sentiment was true last night, with Nicky offering Gigi all the cuddles and kisses she could as they drifted to sleep. Gigi remembered falling asleep to Nicky aimlessly stroking her hair, whispering something french in her ear.

And god did Gigi need that.

The night was the hottest in Gigi’s life. Nicky had tied her to the bedposts, and made her beg for her to eat her out. When she finished, Gigi found herself doing the same for Nicky, her head being roughly thrust between her legs. And then she was being fingered, and the cycle continued until she’d come more times than she could remember.

It was dirty and humiliating, but god it was hot.

The best part though, was that she got to know Nicky some more. She was surprisingly such a sweetheart, taking such good care of Gigi after they played. Gigi didn’t think anyone could make her want to sub, but she especially didn't expect it to be someone who was really kind.

Trust Jackie to know the perfect woman.

It was then that Gigi remembered the bet.

Shit.

She knew that even if she didn’t admit that she subbed, her friends would find out one way or another. Drinks were on her this weekend. Good thing she’d saved a little money. She guessed she’d be hearing about the milkshake incident for a little while longer, too.

That was ok, she supposed. After the night she’d had with Nicky, it was worth the embarrassment.

Besides, without the bet she would’ve never met Nicky.

She looked down at the still sleeping girl, her nose scrunched and her brows furrowed. She was adorable.

Gigi was definitely going to ask her out on a date.

Maybe they could go get some milkshakes together.

[eldritchsurveys]

1087.

survey by chasingghosts

You consider yourself to have good luck with trivial things. >> Yeah, kind of. Like, I’ve been dealt a shit hand when it comes to big things, but a lot of little things have happened that I think are strange and fortuitous.

You have purchased a book and never read it. >> Italicised because I don’t actually remember? Like, I might have. But it’s pretty unlikely, just because I don’t buy books that often and if I do, it usually is because I really am into it.

You have donated a large amount of money, food or clothes to charity. >> I have never had a large amount of any of those things, lol. I was usually the one accepting the charity.

You have visited a state/country where gay marriage is legal. >> It’s federally legal here.

You live in a state/country where gay marriage is legal. >> ^

You have a good sense of direction. >> I do! Well, particularly in urban or at least “settled” environments. I don’t know how well my directional senses would work in the wilderness, but I’m guessing most people would have a handicap in that area unless they live in the wilds.

You dislike all types of gravy. >> Not all.

You use more than two pillows to sleep. >> Nope, I use two. One for my head, one for cuddles.

You find that you have to repeat yourself a lot. >> I have to repeat myself often with Sparrow because she doesn’t always hear or understand me the first time.

You have spent more than $100 on a meal at a restaurant. >> I might have? When I took Sparrow and Sigma to New Orleans, it’s possible that we ate out and got a bill that high. That was a very special case, though, and I will never have that much money again, so.

You have smoked an entire pack of cigarettes in one day. >> I highly doubt this. Even when I was smoking pretty regularly, I didn’t smoke this much.

You use a blue toothbrush. >> Nope, it’s off-white and charcoal.

You have given someone a promise ring (or received one). >> Nah.

You have worn hemp clothing. >> Probably can’t afford it, either.

You are spatially aware of your surroundings at all times. >> I don’t think I’m terribly hypervigilant, but I certainly have a touch of it. I feel like I notice way too much about my environment sometimes, which is partially why I experience sensory overload so readily.

You almost always have your fingernails painted. >> I almost never have my fingernails painted, as much as I like the way they look when they’re freshly done. Too much work for too little (or too short-lived of a) reward.

You are currently in a long-term relationship. >> Correct. Multiple ones, if we count Inworld (and I always count Inworld).

You are slowly but surely losing your sense of hearing. >> Nope, still kicking. Sometimes too well.

You have friends in another state. >> I have at least one friend, and that one is in Texas.

You attend a lot of local events. >> I mean, I’ve been to as many as interested me. There aren’t really a lot of local events that I’m interested in, and now that there’s a pandemic going, I haven’t been to any.

You have lived away from your parents for more than 5 years now. >> Thank fuck.

You watch cooking shows on television and Youtube. >> I watch them with Sparrow, but I rarely watch them without someone else putting them on. It’s a thing that I like when it’s shown to me, but don’t seek out on my own.

You have a Youtube account and are subscribed to people on it. >> I really only started subscribing to people this year. It took me a while to really get interested in YouTube.

You don’t consider yourself to be a very creative or artistic person. >> I consider most people to be creative, actually. I think creativity is not exclusive to people who make specific kinds of art...

You have taken an aerobics class. >> I probably wouldn’t, either.

You are a percussionist. >> Only in Rock Band (and then, only sometimes). :p

You live in a city of 100,000 or more people. >> 200,000+ people, in fact.

You are currently listening to music. >> I’m in the living room with Sparrow and I don’t want to have to pause music to listen every time she says something.

You have been using the internet regularly since 2007 or earlier. >> Since around 2005, I’d say. I used it in high school too, but not regularly.

You are the type to keep every single promise you make. >> If I go so far as to make a promise, then I absolutely plan on keeping it. Consequently, I don’t make promises often. Can’t remember the last time I made one, in fact... do marriage vows count? Probably, huh.

You find it personally insulting when people break promises they make to you. >> I guess “insulting” is a word you could use? I’d prefer to say that it makes me distrustful and is a bit of an emotional trigger.

Your favourite type of candy is anything fruity. >> I don’t have a favourite type of candy. Oh, except maybe sour candy.

You have cable/pay television. >> Never. Although paying for streaming services is similar, but at least I don’t have to put up with advertisements (and it costs less, overall, even for the multiple streaming services we use).

You have a lot of celebrity crushes and can’t pick just one. >> I mean, I like a variety of performers, but I have no use for the word “crush”.

You have given money to a homeless person. >> I have also been the homeless person (which has probably contributed to my occasional acts of charity -- occasional because I’m still poor!).

You are a very skeptical person and hardly trust anyone or anything. >> I use my critical thinking skills whenever possible and I do have trust issues, but I don’t think this specific statement is accurate for me. 

You have one or more friends who are in bands. >> I don’t think I know any musicians anymore. I used to know quite a few.

You live in a place where it snows at least a foot every winter. >> I’m pretty sure this is true, yeah.

You live at least 10 miles from the nearest supermarket. >> I live one mile from a supermarket, 1.5 miles from another one, and by the time you’ve gone 5 miles north you’ve been in the vicinity of at least 3 more supermarkets.

You own a pair of noise isolating headphones. >> I do, and I’m wearing them right now. I got them with the stimulus check they sent out earlier in the year. These are one of the most favourite things I’ve ever owned, and I will probably have a full breakdown if/when they stop working (which, hopefully, will be far enough in the future that I can at least buy an almost-as-good pair to replace them?).

[bountyofbeads]

Latinos, Sanders's secret weapon in Nevada, could make him unstoppable on Super Tuesday

https://news.yahoo.com/latinos-sanderss-secret-weapon-in-nevada-could-make-him-unstoppable-on-super-tuesday-015922411.html

BERNIE SANDERS SECRET WEAPON, LATINOS, COULD MAKE HIM UNSTOPPABLE GOING INTO SUPER TUESDAY

By Hunter Walker and Andrew Romano | Published February 22, 2020 | Yahoo News | Posted February 23, 2020 |

LAS VEGAS — Bernie Sanders’s Nevada caucus campaign ended with a convincing win Saturday afternoon, thanks in large measure to a 37-percentage-point victory among Latino caucus-goers. But the seeds of that victory were sown five years ago when a staffer on Sanders’s first presidential bid had trouble reading a Spanish website.

It was Memorial Day weekend 2015, about a month after the Vermont senator launched his long-shot challenge to Hillary Clinton. Sanders was short on resources; his staff was a skeleton crew, with no one who could translate Spanish. So the campaign summoned Chuck Rocha, the founder and president of Solidarity Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in reaching Latinos and blacks that was launched by Rocha in 2010. He charged Sanders triple his usual rate to work on the holiday.

“I remember sending him an invoice for $824, which was a big invoice for me,” Rocha told Yahoo News in an extensive interview five days before the Nevada caucus. “Little did I know that that $800 invoice would turn into millions and millions of dollars of work for Bernie Sanders.”

In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted two Sanders events, claiming the candidate wasn’t paying enough attention to racial issues. Jeff Weaver, the 2016 campaign manager, hired Solidarity Strategies to ensure that the senator’s work was, as Rocha put it, “reflective of the larger diverse communities.” Soon Rocha was consulting on minority hiring, outreach and advertising for Sanders. By the end of the race he was in charge of all of the campaign’s print communications.

Now Rocha, a 51-year-old self-described “Mexican redneck” who campaigns wearing a cowboy hat and driving a rented pickup truck, has become a leader of Sanders’s 2020 operation. While he remains in charge of his firm, Rocha officially joined the campaign last year as a senior adviser with a broad purview that includes general strategy, hiring staff and overseeing print ads and merchandise. Rocha also crafts the campaign’s Spanish-language ads on television, radio and the internet. If anyone is responsible for the huge Latino outreach effort that has helped propel Sanders to the front of the Democratic pack, it’s Rocha.

The innovative program is a dramatic contrast to 2016, when Clinton had highly specialized minority outreach operations and Sanders struggled to woo voters of color.

“This time around the Sanders campaign really has invested, and you see them everywhere,” says an operative who worked on Latino outreach for the Clinton campaign in 2016 and then worked with a 2020 candidate who left the race. “They are the ones who have consistently shown up at community events, in radio ads and newspapers. It’s very different from what they did in 2016. You have to understand the community first and then build your program around it — and I think they've done that."

That strategy could help make Sanders the nominee. The last time the senator competed in the Nevada caucuses, in 2016, he lost to Clinton by 8 percentage points. The defeat blunted Sanders’s momentum after his near-victory in Iowa and his New Hampshire landslide, and it put Clinton on a trajectory to win the nomination.

Yet there was an upside for Sanders that day: The Nevada entrance poll showed him beating the former secretary of state by 8 points among Latinos. The exact percentages were later disputed — the sample size was tiny, and precinct-level data suggested that Clinton did better than the poll indicated — but the larger implication was clear. In a race against America’s best-known Democrat, Sanders could hold his own in the Latino community.

The revelation took the senator’s own team by surprise.

“We didn't learn ’til the campaign was almost over how popular we were with Latinos,” Rocha said. “We had an idea, you know; 19-to-22-year-old Latinos thought Bernie was cool in ’16. But we didn’t realize that we could win their votes the way that we did, and we didn’t have enough time to take advantage of actually building the infrastructure to capture those votes.”

The lessons of 2016 gave Rocha an advantage heading into 2020 — and it was an edge that paid off Saturday, when entrance polls showed Sanders topping his nearest rival, Joe Biden, 53 percent to 16 percent among Nevada’s Latino caucus-goers. The same statistical caveats from 2016 still apply today. But this wasn’t an isolated incident. In Iowa, the entrance poll showed Sanders winning 43 percent of nonwhite voters; the next closest candidate was Pete Buttigieg with 15 percent. In New Hampshire, Sanders was nearly as dominant, winning nonwhite voters by 18 points and Latino voters by 22, according to the exit poll. Across the board, national surveys also show Sanders with anywhere from 30 percent to nearly 50 percent of the Latino vote.

To date, the Democratic Party has awarded only 2.5 percent of its 3,989 pledged delegates, so Sanders’s growing strength with Latinos hasn’t made much of a dent in the delegate math. But that’s about to change on Super Tuesday (March 3), when nearly 40 percent of the remaining pledged delegates will be doled out.

The good news for Sanders is that Super Tuesday’s two biggest prizes are California (415 pledged delegates) and Texas (228 pledged delegates) — states that also boast the largest Latino primary electorates in America (31 percent and 32 percent, respectively).

The calendar, in other words, is about to heavily favor the candidate who’s leading among Latinos. Mathematically, it could even make that candidate unstoppable.

The Sanders campaign has been preparing for this moment since last summer. On Saturday, the candidate skipped the usual in-state victory party in Nevada and traveled instead to Texas for a series of rallies. Two polls released this month show the senator leading in the Lone Star State for the first time. The day before the caucus, Sanders opted to leave Nevada to campaign in California, where the latest surveys show him ahead of the competition by more than 10 points overall and by more than 20 points among Latinos. Along with Texas and California, Rocha noted that Florida and Arizona primaries are both coming up, are heavily Latino, and are “loaded with delegates.”

“The math is right,” he said.

If Sanders wins both California and Texas, he will likely amass an insurmountable lead in the delegate count — and Rocha’s innovative Latino outreach effort will be a big reason why. Rocha believes campaigns have long botched their Latino outreach efforts by relying on largely white teams, insufficient investment and messages that aren’t “culturally competent.” He has sought to mount a push for Sanders that is historically diverse, large and involves a tailored advertising blitz.

“People say Latinos don’t vote. It’s because motherf***ers don’t ask them to vote,” said Rocha.

With his East Texas drawl and colorful sayings, Rocha is a natural raconteur who veers between swagger and self-deprecation. He’s clearly fond of telling his personal story. It begins in the town of Tyler, where he was born to two teenagers: a Mexican immigrant father and a white mother. After Rocha’s dad left five years later, he grew up eating “government cheese” in a mobile home on the grounds of his mother’s parents’ farm.

When Rocha was 18 years old, he had a child of his own. The experience led him to reconnect with his own father, who got him a job at the local tire factory. The gig ended up being Rocha’s entrée into union organizing — and ultimately, politics.

“Nobody in my family was involved in politics at any level,” Rocha said. “Nobody in my family had ever really graduated from high school, much less college. I was not a rabid activist in any way. I just wanted to get off my regular job to do union work, if I could, so I could drink more beer.”

Rocha became an officer with the local chapter of the rubber workers union, which merged with the United Steelworkers of America in 1995. Through the union hall, Rocha also began working on Democratic campaigns. In 1998 the national union summoned Rocha to Pittsburgh to serve as political director at the age of 30.

A decade later, Rocha left the union to start his firm. His career survived a potentially fatal setback in 2013 when he pleaded guilty to one felony count of embezzling from the union during his tenure as political director. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and fined $2,000 after paying about $12,000 in restitution. Rocha describes the case as a partisan prosecution but also admits he “totally messed up” his expense reports, and he’s well aware the issue could have made him a liability for a presidential candidate.

“I am a convicted felon,” Rocha said. “And when you work in politics, that's not cool.”

Rocha claimed he tried to work for Clinton’s 2016 campaign before Sanders entered the field but wasn’t hired because his conviction came up during vetting. He nearly choked up while recounting the early meeting where he told Sanders and Weaver about his background. According to Rocha, they were both adamant that he shouldn’t spend his life paying for a past mistake.

“I’m not politically afraid of this story at all,” Weaver said in 2016 after Politico highlighted Rocha’s conviction, adding that he wanted the world to see that Sanders believed in giving a former felon a chance. “Please, I’m asking you to print.”

Staff diversity has, in turn, become the cornerstone of Rocha’s Latino outreach efforts for Sanders. He said the campaign has “Latinos in senior management in every department of the headquarters and in every state” — including 76 Latino staffers in Nevada alone, where Sanders also opened 11 offices and spent more than $3 million on Spanish-language advertising. Despite the encouraging signs from 2016, not everyone on Sanders’s campaign thought that a substantial investment in the Latino electorate — which typically turns out at a rate of less than 50 percent — would pay off. But Sanders himself was a believer, according to Rocha.

“It's something he talks to me about every time he sees me,” Rocha said of Sanders. “‘How is it going? What are we doing?’ He wants to know because he’s such an organizer. … He wants new people to vote, and he knows that there’s a treasure trove in the Latino community.”

Rocha’s ads for Sanders aren’t straightforward translations of his English messages; they are written specifically for Latinos and focus on the aspects of Sanders’s platform that most resonate with that audience, including raising the minimum wage, eliminating student debt, reinstating the DACA program, breaking up ICE and the Border Patrol and placing a moratorium on deportations to allow for an audit of past immigration policies.

The pitch is also heavy on Sanders’s own immigration story, which has been much more central to his 2020 campaign than it was in 2016; in fact, the first Spanish-language ad that Rocha ran in each medium focused on Sanders’s father coming to the United States from Europe “broke” and unable to speak English.

“Guess what? That's my grandfather’s story,” Rocha said. “That’s Latinos … somebody in our family. It’s their story.”

But while the overarching messages may be similar, the Sanders camp also adjusts its ads for different audiences within the Latino community. Ads targeted at Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans have slightly different scripts; print and radio ads designed to reach older Latinos have a different emphasis than digital commercials. And some ads aimed at Latinos aren’t in Spanish at all. In Iowa, where the population skews toward more recent immigrants, the campaign largely spoke Spanish; on Spotify, where they’re aiming for young Latinos, many ads are entirely in English.

Because Rocha’s own Spanish is “horrible,” he mainly relies on a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant named Luis Alcauter to design and write them. (Sanders speaks the language haltingly; Rocha told The Hill that he discourages his Anglo clients from using Spanish on the trail “because it normally does not go well.”) Rocha describes Alcauter as his “right-hand man.” He may also be the brash Rocha’s polar opposite: a soft-spoken Mormon who came to California’s Central Valley from Mexico as a teenager.

“It’s an incredible opportunity and a lot of responsibility to make sure that I represent my community and I talk to them and they’re able to understand,” Alcauter told Yahoo News.

Alcauter and the other Latinos on Sanders’s team aren’t just helping with campaigning. They’ve also influenced policy and helped craft Sanders’s immigration platform.

“We care about the issue, and it affects our lives,” said Alcauter. “So we wanted to make sure that we gather together, we put our minds together and we work on something that we're going to be proud of.”

It’s a clear example of one of Rocha’s core beliefs — that minority outreach work should be fully integrated into larger operations.

“We do all of this without a Latino department,” Rocha explained. “I was sick and tired of Latinos being window dressings for campaigns ... of seeing Latino outreach programs that were siloed off, underfunded, understaffed and never listened to.”

According to Belén Sisa, another undocumented staffer, this integration is emblematic of Sanders’s approach to politics.

“It shows what a Bernie Sanders presidency will be,” Sisa told Yahoo News. “It will be the people who were in the frontlines fighting for these things for years who are going to be putting together the solutions.”

Besides advertising, the Sanders campaign is reaching out to Latino voters personally. Bilingual staffers and volunteers are deployed to voters’ homes and have mailed out handwritten notes. Rocha has used databases to identify phone numbers that likely belong to Latinos to receive bilingual texts.

Over the past eight months, Sanders’s Nevada campaign hosted a slew of community events while also dispatching its massive volunteer army to knock on doors around the state. The day before the caucuses, the Sanders campaign announced that it had visited 500,000 homes in the state.

Jose Mariscal-Cruz, a 23-year-old Mexican-American from Reno, told Yahoo News that he made at least 2,000 of those visits. He took a year off from college to work as a field organizer for the Sanders campaign in Las Vegas. On Monday, Yahoo News followed Mariscal-Cruz as he campaigned among the colorfully painted bungalows in the heavily Latino neighborhood of East Las Vegas. He was accompanied by José La Luz, a prominent Puerto Rican labor activist from New York who served as a surrogate for Sanders in Nevada ahead of the caucus. The pair visited about 40 homes to deliver their fluent, finely tuned message to potential voters.

At two of the homes, Spanish-speaking elderly residents indicated that they were from Guanajuato in Mexico. Mariscal-Cruz rattled off his own family ties to the region, and La Luz piped in with a few lines from a ballad about the area by the famed Mexican singer Pedro Infante. The song brought a smile from a woman named Maria who said she and her husband had already voted for Sanders.

“We have a lot of faith,” Maria said.

“With faith, we can move mountains, God willing,” La Luz replied. “We know that the vote of our people is the vote that will be the difference.”

The Sanders campaign has already set up similar ground operations in California and beyond. During a debate watch party Wednesday at Sanders’s East Los Angeles field office, L.A. County Area Director Daniel Andalon and L.A. County Area Field Director Lewis Myers stepped outside to discuss how the operation in America’s most Latino metropolis has expanded over the last eight months.

“I get goosebumps just thinking about it,” said Andalon, a longtime operative who managed Hilda Solis’s winning 2014 campaign for county supervisor. “In the summer it was just us. We were meeting at McDonald’s and Denny’s and working out of our homes, much to our wives’ chagrin.”

According to Andalon, “Sanders has not spared any expense here.” That means opening four offices in L.A. County alone — including East Los Angeles, where the population is more than 96 percent Latino.

“We’ve knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors and made millions of phone calls out of this office,” Myers explained. “Last weekend we knocked on 62,000 doors. The weekend before that was 58,000 doors.”

As a result, Andalon said, “we’ve been able to broaden Bernie’s base to include “a lot more brown faces.”

Both Andalon and Myers said they haven’t seen their rivals competing for Latino votes in the area, with less than two weeks until the vote.

“There is no one who is running a program this robust,” Andalon said.

For Sanders, the hope is that California as a whole is a similar story to Nevada. The campaign is the largest in the field, with 105 staffers and 22 offices statewide — “most of them,” according to California State Director Rafael Návar, “in heavily Latino communities,” with “more in the [blue-collar] Central Valley than any other region.” Sanders’s own travel to the state has followed a similar pattern. According to a tally compiled by the Sacramento Bee, Sanders has held far more public events (37) in the state than any other candidate.

“Bernie came to Coachella for an office opening — a place no presidential candidate has come to since JFK,” Návar told Yahoo News. “That’s just not a place you have a presence usually. We’re in every congressional district and we’re playing for every delegate in the state. We’re not just focused on the urban hubs.”

In 2016, Sanders hoped to make a last stand against Clinton in California’s June primary, but he lost by more than a dozen points in part because she trounced him in the state’s top Latino areas. Sanders’s team also wasn’t sophisticated enough to focus its efforts on the less-populated, less-contested inland areas where they could claim a disproportionate number of delegates, some of which are awarded by congressional district. Ultimately, Sanders carried just eight of California’s 53 districts, allowing Clinton to widen her delegate lead and clinch the nomination. But Návar insisted that “having that experience means we have a lot stronger strategy than in the past.

“In 2016, we weren’t here until a month before the election. This time we’ve been very strategic about where we’ve homed in and are building up our base,” he said.

And Sanders’s campaign isn’t just courting Latinos in states like California and Nevada. Latinos make up just about 6 percent of the population in Iowa, which was the first state to vote in caucuses on Feb. 3. Still, Rocha mounted a Latino outreach effort there. According to a report from the UCLA Latino Politics and Policy Initiative, Sanders won a majority of the vote at Iowa’s high-density Latino caucus locations. That edge helped Sanders win more votes than anyone else in the crucial first state.

Rocha said the results in Iowa helped soothe skeptics of the campaign and gave him “some job security” by demonstrating that the campaign had not “spent all this money for nothing.” Rocha and his team plan to continue targeting smaller Latino populations in other key states, such as Wisconsin.

For Rocha and the other Latinos on his team — particularly the undocumented immigrants — the effort is deeply meaningful. Over lunch at a Mexican café in East Las Vegas, Sisa said the experience was beyond her “wildest dreams” — an opportunity to make the case that “immigrants deserve better, regardless of being documented or not.”

“I think no one [else] has been bold enough to say, ‘You may be undocumented, but you deserve health care,’” Sisa said. “‘You may be undocumented, but you deserve tuition-free college’ — because we all deserve those things.”

With his decisions to limit legal migration, end the DACA program and separate undocumented immigrants from their children, President Trump loomed large over the conversation.

So, it turns out, did his plane. In keeping with his strategy to shadow the Democratic primary by holding rallies in each early voting state, Trump visited Las Vegas during caucus week. As Alcauter left the café, he pointed to the sky.

“Look,” he said. “It’s Air Force One.”

As an undocumented immigrant, Alcauter said he believes Trump “from day one has been fighting against me.” But if the campaign is successful, Alcauter could go from feeling targeted by the president to being on his staff and taking flight with Sanders on Air Force One.

“I definitely dream about it,” Alcauter said. “That’s the reason we’re doing the work we’re doing.”

_____

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Americans hit hard by layoffs worry about homelessness (Yahoo Money) With unemployment claims at historic highs as the pandemic grounds the economy to a halt, many Americans are struggling with diminished savings, unpaid bills, and worries over homelessness, according to a new study from Varo Money shared exclusively with Yahoo Money. One in 4 renters who lost a job or income due to the COVID-19 outbreak worry they could become homeless, while 1 in 7 homeowners with a mortgage said the same, the survey of 1,234 lower and middle-class Americans earning up to $75,000 found. Among the renters who have lost their income, 2 in 5 expect to make their rent for a maximum of three to four weeks and 1 in 4 expect to be able to afford their rent for one to two months. “Many of these people actually fear if they will be able to cover the rent, and homelessness is becoming a real issue,” Varo Money’s CEO Colin Walsh told Yahoo Money. “We’re talking about people that do not have emergency savings, they really don’t have any backstop.”

Reopening Has Begun. No One Is Sure What Happens Next. (NYT) Politicians and public health experts have sparred for weeks over when, and under what circumstances, to allow businesses to reopen and Americans to emerge from their homes. But another question could prove just as thorny—how? It isn’t clear what, exactly, it means to gradually restart a system with as many interlocking pieces as the U.S. economy. How can one factory reopen when its suppliers remain shuttered? How can parents return to work when schools are still closed? How can older people return when there is still no effective treatment or vaccine? What is the government’s role in helping private businesses that may initially need to operate at a fraction of their normal capacity? “We live in an economy where there are lots of interconnections between different sectors,” said Joseph S. Vavra, an economist at the University of Chicago. “Saying you want to reopen gradually is more easily said than done.”

Advertising adjusts for a new reality: Sweatpants for staying home and toilet paper that cares (Washington Post) “Just stay home” seems like an unusual sell from a hotel-booking service, but these are unusual times. Companies large and small are figuring out how to make ads that don’t seem insensitive or as if they’re from a different time, when people took beach vacations, ate in restaurants and wore shoes. On television, brands are switching to reassuring platitudes, telling viewers, “We’re in this together,” or in the touching words of one toilet paper company, “Together, we’ll keep America rolling.” On social media sites like Instagram, more advertisements are targeting those shut in, with extremely to-the-point messages shilling sweatpants, wine and food delivery, DIY hair dye kits, and home-office gadgets.

Foreign Students Stranded by Coronavirus (NYT) When universities abruptly shut down last month because of the coronavirus pandemic, many students returned to their parents’ homes, distraught over having to give up their social lives and vital on-campus networking opportunities. Graduating seniors lost the chance to cross anything but a virtual commencement stage. But the campus closures have created much greater calamity in the lives of the more than a million international students who left their home countries to study in the United States. Many had been living in college dorms and were left to try to find new housing, far from home in a country under lockdown. A substantial number of international students are also watching their financial lives fall apart: Visa restrictions prevent them from working off campuses, which are now closed. And while some come from families wealthy enough to pay for their housing or whisk them home, many others had already been struggling to cobble together tuition fees that tend to be much higher than those paid by Americans. As their bank accounts dwindle, some international students say they have had to turn to food banks for help. Others are couch surfing in the family homes of their friends but don’t know how long they will be welcome.

Skip college this fall? (Miami Herald) With time growing short and the future uncertain, many high school students are considering skipping college in the fall. The coronavirus pandemic has left many universities uncertain whether they’ll be able to welcome students to campus after summer, and many students don’t want to pay for top-flight universities if they can’t get the full in-person experience. Some say they may skip a year. Some may opt for cheaper alternatives like community colleges. Either way, the coronavirus could leave its mark on higher education long after the pandemic fades.

US senator Lindsey Graham believes Kim Jong Un ‘dead or incapacitated’ (The Independent) US senator Lindsey Graham said he believes North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is “dead or incapacitated” following unconfirmed reports of his demise. Rumours of Kim Jong Un’s death have swirled since he missed the commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, ten days ago. North Korean authorities have said nothing to counter media reports that Mr Kim is unwell, prompting concerns about who is next in line to run a nuclear-armed country that has been ruled by the same family for seven decades. South Korean and US officials have repeatedly indicated that there have been no unusual signs that could indicate health problems for Kim. A US official told Reuters the latest rumors about Kim’s health had not changed the US assessment of the information as “speculation.”

A pandemic of corruption mars the coronavirus response (Washington Post) When officials in his home state began giving food boxes to families hit by Colombia’s coronavirus lockdown, lawmaker Ricardo Quintero was struck by the exorbitant prices being paid to the vendors. So he armed himself with pictures of the coffee, pasta and other goods and went down to his local grocery store. There, he bought the same products for roughly half the supposedly bulk-rate prices being paid by the government of Cesar state. The comparison shopping prompted one of what is now 14 coronavirus-related criminal probes in Colombia. The South American country is one of many around the world now seeing a surge in corruption allegations. Countries large and small are shelling out trillions of dollars to combat both the coronavirus outbreak and its brutal economic fallout in what analysts are calling the largest financial response ever to a single global crisis. As governments race to source everything from food aid to face masks, they are prioritizing speed over transparency, dropping competitive bidding and other safeguards to keep pace with the pandemic. Most have no choice. Given the speed of the still unfolding crisis, it’s either buy quickly or put millions at risk. But concern is rising about the percentage of the taxpayer dollars—and euros and yen and pesos and more—lining the pockets of corrupt bureaucrats, crony contractors and crime syndicates.

UK PM Boris Johnson returns to face growing virus divisions (AP) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is returning to work after recovering from a coronavirus infection that put him in intensive care, with his government facing growing criticism over the deaths and disruption the virus has caused. Johnson’s office said he would be back at his desk in 10 Downing St. on Monday, two weeks after he was released from a London hospital. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been standing in for the prime minister, said Sunday that Johnson was “raring to go.” Britain has recorded more than 20,000 deaths among people hospitalized with COVID-19, the fifth country in the world to reach that total. Thousands more are thought to have died in nursing homes.

Kids in Spain relish outdoor hour as virus lockdowns ease (AP) Shrieks of joy rang out Sunday in the streets of Spain as children were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in six weeks, while people in Italy and France were eager to hear their leaders’ plans for easing some of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns. The sound of children shouting and the rattle of bikes on the pavement after the 44-day seclusion of Spain’s youngest citizens offered a first taste of a gradual return to normal life in the country that has the second-highest number of confirmed infections behind the United States. “This is wonderful! I can’t believe it has been six weeks,” Susana Sabaté, a mother of 3-year-old twin boys, said in Barcelona. “My boys are very active. Today when they saw the front door and we gave them their scooters, they were thrilled.”

Japan challenged in working from home amid pandemic (AP) When the Japanese government declared an emergency to curb the spread of the coronavirus earlier this month and asked people to work from home, crowds rushed to electronics stores. So much for social distancing. Many Japanese lack the basic tools needed to work from home. Contrary to the ultramodern image of Japan Inc. with its robots, design finesse and gadgetry galore, in many respects the country is technologically challenged. But the bigger obstacle is Japanese corporate culture, experts say. Offices still often rely on faxes instead of email. Many homes lack high-speed internet connections, and documents often must be stamped in-person with carved seals called “hanko,” which serve as signatures. So many Japanese really cannot work remotely, at least not all the time. A survey by YouGov, a British market researcher, found only 18% of those recently surveyed were able to avoid commuting to school or work, even though a relatively high 80% of people in Japan are afraid of catching the virus.

Netanyahu ‘confident’ US will support West Bank annexation (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is “confident” he will be able to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank this summer, with support from the U.S. Netanyahu says President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan envisions turning over Israel’s dozens of settlements, as well as the strategic Jordan Valley, to Israeli control.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, early February 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the late January report, although some may be older than that. Report is a bit short because I was sick this last week; don’t worry, I used hand sanitizer before typing this up, so you are all safe 🤒

I am currently looking into setting up a new ecommerce business forum where we can discuss this sort of news, as well as any day-to-day issues we face. I need some good suggestions for a cheap or free forum space that has some editing tools, is fairly intuitive for inexperienced members, and is accessible. If you have any suggestions, please reply to this post, email me on my website, or send me a tweet. (I will put out a survey once we narrow this down to some good candidates, but if you have any other comments on what you want from such a forum, please include those too!)

As always, if you see any stories I might be interested in, please let me know!

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Searchmetrics says Etsy did quite well [podcast & text] in the Google January Core Update, while both Amazon and Walmart lost a little bit. “Who won January? I’m going to say Etsy. Etsy has really done a tremendous job [with Google visibility] over the last two years. Sure, they’ve been on the winning side of the algorithm update, but consistently, being in that a position, from my experience, isn’t by chance.” Here’s more analysis listing the US winners and losers, including by subject category (sadly, not shopping sites). Marie Haynes says that the update likely targeted sites that aren’t properly disclosing affiliate links, as well as some pet health sites. 

Since a quarter of Americans have a disability, your website, your products & your marketing should be more accessible. Lots of good ideas in here! 

ETSY NEWS 

TOU alert: Etsy has banned the sale of spent bullet casings (often used as craft supplies). It’s not clear why. There is a thread from a seller whose listings were pulled here.

The 2020 wedding trends blog post is one of those pieces that is useful to sellers & buyers alike, and is also good for Etsy because it attracts outside articles and links. Some trend & keyword info of interest: ”there has been a 171% increase in searches on Etsy for bridesman items and a 72% increase in searches for best woman items”... “searches for ‘70s invitations increase 18% and searches for disco ball items increase 18%” ...”24% increase in searches for bridal jackets and a 4% increase in searches for women’s pantsuits” …”searches for reused, recycled, or reclaimed wedding items increasing 7%” in the last six months (compared to the same time the previous year).

Etsy released its annual diversity & inclusion report on January 29, getting some media coverage along the way, for example here, here and here.

Reverb hired David Mandelbrot as their new CEO; he most recently ran Indiegogo. (Etsy bought Reverb last year.)

The 4th quarter 2019 results will be out Feb. 26. I am currently planning on doing my usual summary thread in the forum. 

Decent overview of product photography for beginners, with some pointers on what Etsy wants you to do with photos. For example, “The recommended size for listing images is 2000px for the shortest side of the image, and a resolution of 72PPI.”

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

So you know what Etsy tags are, but you get confused when people talk about tags for search engines? Read this beginners guide to SEO meta tags. (not needed for Etsy shops, but it is terminology used by some website builder sites, as well as coders of course.)

Data provider Jumpshot will be closing due to the controversies over the revelation that their parent company Avast (the anti-virus software) provided user activity to Jumpshot while perhaps not always fully disclosing this to the users. This will affect some SEO tools that relied on these click stats to generate estimates for traffic & search term use, Hitwise & Moz among them.  “In all likelihood, Avast took the action to protect its core business, as multiple articles, including from Consumer Reports, called out the company for its data collection practices, while some called for the uninstallation of the Avast software. This is probably as much PR damage control as it is driven by any principled position.”

Forbes appears to have been hit by some Google search issue, but it happened later than the Core Update, so no one is sure what is going on.They were previously penalized for selling links, but that was years ago.   

John Mueller listed all of the big Google search news from January in this almost 9 minute video. Click to see the detailed info under the video, because they helpfully summarized the important topics by timestamp, and linked to text resources as well. (Some of it is technical/coding relating; you have been warned!)

There may be another big Google ranking update happening right now (Feb. 9), as tracked by Search Engine Roundtable. Check that site over the next few days for any updates. 

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

The time you send your marketing emails matters, although it’s going to vary more than this article lets on. Keep track of your own stats. 

Debunking some myths about Instagram, including the importance of your follower count. “...your follower count isn’t the most important metric on Instagram. Your engagement rate is. Your engagement rate (which is found by calculating the number of engagements you receive divided by EITHER the number of people who saw it OR your total followers, depending on who you ask) is crucial.”

If you use the app Social Captain for Instagram, be aware that your Instagram password was publicly available in the source code. 

Facebook’s algorithm has a lot of different factors controlling who sees your posts, including actually having conversations with others, and including “quality, original videos.”

Facebook’s revenue was up 25% in the 4th quarter of 2019, to $21.1 billion, but they expect the privacy controversies to cut into growth this year.

Pinterest is testing an augmented reality tool called “Try On” that allows users to see what they will look like with specific lipstick colours. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Google Shopping Ads will soon be shown in Gmail accounts, YouTube and the Discover feed, starting March 4th. Note that “Retailers have been steadily shifty more of their search budgets from text to Shopping ads.”

A comparison of Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads, with plenty of tips. According to them, if you are seriously considering one, you should probably do both. “When we talk about Facebook, we’re also talking about Instagram, What’sApp, and Facebook Messenger. Google also includes YouTube, the second-most trafficked site in the world (behind Google itself).”

Google’s revenue was up 17% in the 4th quarter in 2019, almost all of it from advertising. YouTube makes more on ads than Amazon does. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

eBay released its 4th quarter results for 2019 on January 28, with revenue down 2% and gross merchandise value down 5%. Amazon’s sales were up 21% for the 4th quarter. 

BigCommerce now allows customers to check out in over 100 currencies, integrated with several different payment processors. 

Wondering what a good conversion rate would be for different ecommerce pages? Here’s a brief overview of the known stats, with some tips on improving.. (Note that any action can be counted as a conversion, including signing up for an email list, so this isn’t just about purchases.)

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Are you marketing to Generation Z, or think you should be? Here are 52 facts (with the citations); some highlights: Gen Z has more members than millennials do, and “As of 2020, Gen Z makes up more than 40% of U.S. consumers.” and finally “When shopping online or in stores, 65% of Gen Z prefers to see as few items as possible out of stock” (that last one explains a feedback I received, I think LOL Kind of hard on Etsy when you might have a listing with multiple choices & you only have the one left.)

A study of Cyber Week email open & click rates shows that it might be better not to mention the holidays or discounts. 

This article warns consumers of the tricks ecommerce sites use to nudge people to buy more, including some clear examples of deception. “A study by Princeton University and the University of Chicago singled out online clothing seller Fashion Nova, which tells customers that items in their cart “are in high demand.” The problem? The message appears for any item that’s added to the cart. Fashion Nova’s cart also tells shoppers that their items are being “reserved” for 10 minutes. But nothing happens to the items after the 10 minutes are up.”

MISCELLANEOUS 

YouTube wants Clearview AI’s face recognition program to stop scraping its videos for content, and to delete anything it has already collected. (Twitter did the same last month.)

[lovemesomesurveys]

1. Are you related to the last person you spoke to? Yes, I was talking to my mom and brother. 2. Are your blankets normally kicked all over the place when you wake up? No. 3. Do you wear an eye mask when you go to sleep? Nope. I’ve been wanting to get one of those eye cooling sleep masks, though. I get bad headaches and cold washcloths help with those, so I figured a cooling sleeping mask would be great for that. And for when it’s hot. 4. Are family get-togethers fun or awkward for you? I like them.  5. Are any of your friends hoping to be famous one day? No.

6. What do you do if someone way too old for you hits on you? I’d decline. 7. Can you eat a whole pizza by yourself? I typically only eat 2-3 slices at a time. 8. Do you wear a lot of red clothes? No. 9. Do you lock the doors? Of course. 10. Is coffee better with or without milk? I only use milk (well soy milk) when I order lattes/mocha/macchiatos. If I order a regular coffee at like a restaurant then I use Half and Half and sugar. At home I use flavored creamer.  11. When was the last time you were at a hotel? Last weekend briefly when dropping my brother off. My mom and I went up to check out his room and stuff before we left. 12. Who would you kiss right now if you could kiss anyone? My doggo. 13. Are you afraid of the dark, or were you ever? I mean, I sleep with the TV on for some light and sound because I can’t have it completely dark or silent. 14. Do you have trust issues? Not really. I just have a hard time opening up and expressing myself to anyone. 15. When was the last time you cried from laughing so hard? I don’t remember. It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed that hard. 16. What are your plans for Thursday? I don’t have any plans for tomorrow. 17. Have you had your birthday yet this year? Yes, back in July. 18. Are you playing hard to get right now? No. I’m just hard to want. 19. Do you still talk to the person you were dating five months ago? I was single and still am. 20. Does cuddling freak you out? No. 21. Are your toenails painted? Nope. 22. Have you ever told someone you were in love with them? Yes. I laid all my feelings out on the table for Joseph, which took every ounce of courage I could muster up. It was so hard for me. 23. Ever slapped a guy in the face? Only playfully, and it was lightly. 24. Would you ever dye your hair blonde? Nah. I had blonde highlights for several years, but I never went full on blonde. 25. Did you make anything to eat today? I had a sandwich for lunch. 26. Do you wear eyeliner? When I wear makeup, which is rare nowadays.  27. What’s your favourite part of the song that you’re listening to? I’m not listening to music right now. 28. Do you think you’re a good friend? I haven’t been at all for the past few years. I’ve been very shitty. :/ I can’t even call anyone a friend anymore. 29. If the year consisted of only one season, which would you choose? Fall. 30. Could you go out in public looking like you do now? I’m wearing leggings with Santas all over and A Christmas Story shirt at the moment... in October. :X lol I’d really rather not. Plus, my hair is messy. Like,  I couldn’t even just throw a hat on it.  31. What was on your mind mostly today? Blah. 32. Who was the last person you got into a small argument with? My mom and I bicker sometimes, mostly cause my moody moods get especially bad and I just end up butting heads with everyone. :/ 33. Can you handle the truth? Depends. 34. Are there some songs you can’t listen to because they remind you of someone? I listen to them anyway and get sad. 35. Last night, did you go to sleep smiling? I never go to sleep smiling. 36. Where did you sleep last night? My bed. 37. Did you have a good day yesterday? It was alright. 38. What was the highlight of today? I’m getting my favorite pizza for dinner.  39. Do you hate anyone? Besides myself, no. 40. Do you wish you had the chance to tell someone something right now? Not right now. 41. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My mom. 42. Do you think someone is thinking about you right now? No. 43. Do horror movies these days scare you? I love horror movies now it’s so weird. I used to be such a scardy cat. It’s October aka spooky time and I want to watch a ton of scary movies. 44. What is the best thing that’s happened in the past week? Spending the afternoon this past Sunday in one of my favorite touristy cities  that’s near water so it’s a lot cooler there temp wise and it was great and getting my favorite pizza twice. 45. What colour is your hair? Naturally it’s dark brown, but I dye it red. 46. What did you do yesterday? Same stuff I always do. 47. What are you doing tonight? Eat pizza and watch AHS. 48. Have you ever thrown your cell phone in anger? When? No. 49. Do you think you will be in a relationship three months from now? No. 50. Do you want to fix things with anybody? Yes, but I know I’m not in the right space mentally to do so yet. 51. Could you go the rest of your life without drinking alcohol? I’ve gone 6 years so far since the last time and I have no desire to drink as of now. 52. Is your hair long enough to pull over your face like a mustache? Yeah. 53. Do you ever find yourself making up survey questions throughout the day? There’s been times I’ve thought up a question or two. 54. Who is your favourite online friend? I think the survey community on here is pretty cool. 55. What was the last thing you tried for the first time? Hmm. I can’t think of something at the moment. 56. What was the last thing you said out loud, and how loud were you speaking? I was saying goodbye to my mom and brother who were leaving to go get our food. 57. What’s your favourite nail polish colour to wear or see on others? I liked wearing black the best. 58. What was the last thing you learned? Hmm. 59. How warm do you like your showers/baths to be? Not scorching, burning hot, but hot.  60. Are there any advertisements/commercials you actually like? Which? There’s been some commercials that I actually like, but generally I don’t pay much attention to them. 61. How often do you visit your relatives? Not often these days. There’s some family members I was really close with that I haven’t seen in a few years, which is crazy. I just really became withdrawn, distant, and reclusive these past few years from everyone. :/ 62. In your opinion, what is the scariest natural disaster? All of them sound terrifying. I’ve thankfully never experienced one. So far anyway... 63. What design is on your bed sheets? They’re just pink. 64. What is your favourite brand of fizzy drink? Like soda? I like Coke and Dr. Pepper, but I haven’t actually soda, only just a bit when I take my medicine, in like 2 years. I used to have one a day and I had been drinking soda since I was a kid (not regularly as a little kid, but I had it sometimes. I regularly started having it in middle school). 65. As a kid, did you use toothpaste that wasn’t minty? Yeah, I remember having bubblegum flavored ones. 66. What is your favourite vegetable? Spinach, potatoes, broccoli.  67. Do you have any other countries’ timezones saved to your computer/mobile phone? No. 68. Is your username the same for every website? No. 69. What do you have in your online bookmarks? On the bookmarks bar on Chrome I have Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube. 70. Do you have a lucky number? Why is it so lucky? I don’t believe in luck, but my favorite number is 8. 71. Do you set your browser to remember passwords? No. 72. Describe the perfect burger: I’m not a big burger person, but if I were to have one I’d just want cheese, ketchup, mustard, and mayo. 73. What was the last thing you made yourself to eat? A sandwich. 74. Do you agree that the nude scenes in movies are generally unnecessary? Uhh sometimes, but it’s whatever. I still act like a kid and mostly look away, though lol. 75. Have you ever stood on a sea creature while at the beach? Uh, no? 76. What’s worse; speaking in all caps, or all lowercase? When people type in all caps my mind reads it like yelling. 77. What’s your favourite place to go for fast food? Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A, or Jack in the Box. However, I haven’t really been into fast food at all for the past few months, oddly enough. 78. How many fillings do you have? A lot. 79. Do you prefer warm or cold hands? I’m fine with my hands being warm, just not me overall being hot.  80. Have you ever had a mud fight? No. 81. When you see people in love, is your first reaction “ew” or “cute”? Cute.

82. Have you ever woken up from a dream and thought it had actually happened? 83. Do you know anyone who closely resembles someone else? Yeah, family members. lol. 84. When your sunburn peels, do you leave it or pull at it? I’m the worst cause I pull it. :X 85. What type of food do you find yourself craving most (sweet, savoury, meat, etc.)? Savory. 86. Why did you last go to the doctors? Monthly checkup for one of the ongoing things I’m dealing with. 

[psychotherapyconsultants]

Does ’13 Reasons Why’ Increase Suicide Rates?

Conflicting research released last month gave us a very unclear answer about whether simply watching or being exposed to a television show about teen suicide — Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why (13RW) — results in an increase in actual teen suicide in real life.

One study found a correlation (not a causal relationship) between the two, while another study found declines in suicidal thoughts and self-harm behaviors.

So what’s the real story?

13 Reasons Why is a Netflix television series that explores the first-hand account of a fictional teenage girl’s life and eventual suicide. The second season delved deeper into the aftermath of all the people touched by and potentially responsible for the teen’s suicide. Researchers, psychologists, parents, and experts were all concerned that after the release of the first season of the show, teens would be inclined to greater suicidal and self-harm behavior.

The media suicide effect (or Werther effect as coined by David Phillipps in 1974) has been well-researched, as summarized by Hawton & Williams (2002):

The impact of the media on suicidal behaviour seems to be most likely when a method of suicide is specified—especially when presented in detail—when the story is reported or portrayed dramatically and prominently—for example with photographs of the deceased or large headlines—and when suicides of celebrities are reported.

Younger people seem to be most vulnerable to the influence of the media, although limited evidence also shows an impact on elderly people.

In short, there is legitimate concern that the suicide rate tends to increase after the publicity of a suicide, especially that of prominent people or celebrities.

What research hasn’t looked into is whether this effect extends to fictional portrayals of suicide, such as the one in 13RW.

The University of Pennsylvania Study

Today, we have two conflicting studies that provide some possible answers to this question.

The first study, conducted by a team of international researchers (Arendt et al., 2019) led by a University of Pennsylvania professor, recruited subjects who were “young adults (ages 18–29; N = 729) with access to Netflix who completed surveys shortly before and one month after the release of the show’s second season.” Subjects were recruited from online gaming sites; women were over-represented due to methodological limitations (using a third-party audience survey panel).

The researchers also carefully considered the fact that there may be a self-selection bias when studying this issue, since only some people watch the show. And, importantly, “[t]hose who choose to watch in the first place are likely to differ from those who do not. To overcome this selection effect requires analyses that can compare viewers with non-viewers while holding constant predispositions to watch.” So the researchers took this into account when designing their study.

Subjects took a battery of surveys before season two was released, and then took the same surveys four weeks after the release of the second season of 13 Reasons Why.

The researchers found some unexpected and seemingly contradictory results: “our findings suggest that over the course of a month, the show exerted a beneficial effect on students who watched the entire show.” And even better, those at highest risk for suicide benefited the most by watching the entire season:

[… A]mong this higher-risk group, we observed unexpectedly that those who watched the entire season showed less suicidality than those who did not watch at all. (Emphasis added.)

Contrary to many people’s expectations, these researchers show that 13RW actually can help people at greatest risk for suicide. But only if they watch the entire season.

For those who didn’t watch the entire season, the findings are more grim: “For those who only watched some of the second season, we found that the experience predicted elevated suicide risk, especially among current students.” The researchers hypothesized that those who didn’t stick with the second season were exhibiting a sign of distress. When those people stopped watching the show, it may have been as a coping mechanism to stop their own upset and reduce the risk of harm.

The “full dose” effect seems to have outpaced the effect that emerged from only watching some of Season 2. This finding may also be consistent with the results of Zimerman et al. (2018), who found that those who watched the entire first season and who reported prior suicidal ideation were more likely to report improvement in their mental state than a reduction.

The show had no significant impact on people who had a lower initial risk of suicide.

Overall, this was very good research with solid methodological design. It didn’t have the best, most randomized sample in the world, which resulted in an over-representation of women and people who visit gaming sites (who may be different than those who don’t).

Does a Warning Make a Difference?

Netflix failed to include any type of pre-show warning about the content the viewer was about to view in Season 1. The lack of a “viewer warning card” led to an outcry among suicide experts, school psychologists, and well-meaning advocates. So in Season 2 Netflix included such a warning, which begs the question, did it help to keep vulnerable viewers from watching the show? Not according to this research: “Our analysis of the warning that Netflix put out prior to the second season suggests that it may have mainly served to increase viewing.” File under “Good intentions not borne out by the data.”

The Ohio State University College of Medicine Study

Unlike the UPenn study, Bridge et al.’s (2019) study simply looked at the association between suicide data in the U.S. (from data provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) before and after Season 1 of 13RW. The researchers hypothesized that the release of 13RW would have an “immediate and sustained impact on suicide rates in youth and emerging adults.”

Season 1 was released on March 31, 2017, and the researchers found statistically significant increases in the 10-to-17 year age group of suicide deaths during the months of April, June, and December. This means that after its release, the increases happened in only 3 of the 9 months during the study period.

To make this result seem stronger than it is, the researchers also proposed that since March’s suicide death rate was also statistically higher, the mere promotion of the show and the release of its trailer also contributed to this increase. If you feel like the researchers were reaching with this — that a mere advertisement can also significantly contribute to suicide deaths — you wouldn’t be wrong.

But this is not what the media highlighted. Instead of noting that the researchers did not find a sustained impact on suicide rates, they went with the highlights — that 13RW was associated with increased suicide deaths among those in one age group, 10-to-17 year olds. When teasing out the data by gender, the researchers furthermore found that this increase did not apply to girls — only boys.

The researchers offered no explanation as to why their study did not find increased suicide deaths during the months of May, July, August, September, October or November. And why December was the outlier, given that the series was released 7 months prior to then.

This data clearly shows there was no sustained effect of the release of the show on suicide rates in this age group, nor was the effect found in girls. This is particularly odd, given that the protagonist in 13RW is a girl. And while there was indeed an association of increased suicide deaths in the month immediately following Season 1’s release, it did not continue into the next month — which is also odd.

Data correlation studies such as this can be difficult to generalize from, since they seek to associate a population trend with a single variable from our environment — the release of a television show. Such a study needs us to suspend our understanding about the hugely complex social lives that teenagers live nowadays — that they could be so readily influenced by a single fictional account — as well as ignore national and international events happening in the world around us (which could offer alternative explanations for the uptick in suicide deaths).

Click for larger image

What 13RW Does for Suicide Awareness

The stronger of the two studies is the University of Pennsylvania study, since it was designed from the ground-up to examine the effects of 13RW. The second study was a retrospective examination of data, and while we shouldn’t ignore the uptick in suicide deaths in the month following the series’ release, we also shouldn’t panic about it. As the UPenn study demonstrated, the series may have a beneficial effect for those most at risk. But it may also negatively impact those who don’t take in the entire show’s message — which is ultimately uplifting and important.

In short, it’s not surprising to find that a television show may have an impact on people’s perception of a topic. But at the same time, we shouldn’t over-emphasize the impact such a show can have while ignoring the impact that others can provide to help a person with suicidal thoughts and feelings. If our country had a working mental health system, people who are suicidal wouldn’t be forced to turn to volunteer-run helplines as their first-line treatment option (which is a travesty). If people who were concerned about a friend simply asked them about how they’re really doing — and if concerned about suicide, asking specifically about suicidal thoughts — we could do a better job in making a dent in the suicide rates in this country.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

  References

Arendt, F. Scherr, S., Pasek, J., Jamiseon, P.E., & Romer, D. (2019). Investigating harmful and helpful effects of watching season 2 of 13 Reasons Why: Results of a two-wave U.S. panel survey. Social Science & Medicine. In press.

Bridge, J.A. et al. (2019). Association Between the Release of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and Suicide Rates in the United States: An Interrupted Times Series Analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. In press.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/does-13-reasons-why-increase-suicide-rates/

[written-rebellion]

Perfect Distractions

A/N: Happy Thursday! And Merry Christmas in May I guess? I actually wrote this chapter ON Christmas Eve, so you can sort of get an idea of just how long I’ve been sitting on this fic, writing only for myself LOL 

Jamie plays Santa Claus, Claire de-ages roughly 16 years, and as always, all the facts of this fanfic are contrived specifically to make fluffy university/modern-day au scenarios. Please let me know what you think!

Part One: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] | Part Two: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Three: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Four: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Five: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Six: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Seven: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eight: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2]

Part Eight: Give and Take | Chapter 3

Sufficiently filled with both food and Christmas Eve cheer, Jamie had passed blissfully out with Claire pressed against him.

It wasn’t until the wee hours of the night when he rolled over, already searching instinctively for her warmth, that he awoke to an empty dent in the mattress where Claire should have been. He floated up to consciousness, bleary eyes adjusting to the room’s darkness only to focus on the angel in a white nightgown leaning against the edge of the window.

He rose slowly, feeling some sort of reverence about her that he didn’t want to interrupt just yet. Before him was a nearly cinematic still, with Claire’s dark hair brushed out so the curls gently hung just past her shoulders. The moonlight seeping through the window picked out her features like a fine artist: the upward wisp of her lashes, the auburn strands often hidden by the darker brown of her hair, the light like fire in her gold eyes. Without realizing, he had padded slowly across the room towards her.

If she knew he was awake – he thought she must, considering how close he was to her now – she made no move to acknowledge him. Instead, she filled her lungs slowly and contently as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, nestling his chin in her neck.

“What are ye thinking about, mo nighean donn?” He peered up at her as she closed her eyes and smiled softly.

“Just imagining, I guess,” she replied in a whisper. “You and Jenny, and Ian and William gathered around a Christmas tree opening presents.” She pressed her cheek to the top of his head with a chuckle. “You all must have looked like one of those TV advertisements, with the fireplace going and everything.”

“Aye, our parents always liked proper Scottish tradition and spectacle for us kids. Jenny thought to keep it that way for wee Jamie as well. Church in the morning before any presents, aye?”

Her eyes had focused on something far off in the field and he clamped his mouth shut, instead tightening his hold around her, anchoring her before her thoughts carried her away.

“What were your Christmases like, a nighean, you and your Uncle Lambert?”

She snorted, her nose wrinkling.

“They were spent mostly on planes or hotel rooms, or the occasional university hall.” She took a moment to sigh, running a hand smoothly down Jamie’s arm until she could twine her fingers through his. “I did get in trouble once, when I was seven or eight, for digging up a very small pine tree and insisting we bring it into our hotel room.”

They both laughed, swaying gently with each other.

“Verra determined lassie, ye were, aye? But then, ye still are, I guess.”

She sighed again, her head lolling back onto his shoulder as she stared at the ceiling.

“I’d seen Christmas trees enough times to know I wanted one.”

He felt a small twinge of guilt in his chest. How many Christmases had he celebrated without a care, living out traditions he thought festive, but mostly commonplace, while Claire was out there dreaming of those very things? He kissed her neck, drawing her back to him.

“Will ye help me then, mo chridhe?” he whispered, lips lingering on her skin. He knew there was a ridge forming between her brows without having to look.

“With what?”

He grinned up at her, eyes shining. If it was a proper Christmas she wanted, he’d make damn sure she got one.

“A verra integral part of the Fraser Christmas experience, aye?”

“Oh? And what might that be?” She narrowed her eyes at him, evidently trying for nonchalant even though – with him pressed so tightly against her – he could literally feel the dart of excitement that ran down her spine.

He straightened his back, reluctantly letting his hands fall from her waist, and kissed her forehead before walking over and reaching for the large wrapped box hidden underneath his bed.

“’Tis about midnight or so, aye? We’ve got to place wee Jamie’s gift from Santa under the tree.” He tucked the gift under one arm and extended the other to her. “Will ye help me?”

She tried to contain her smile, but her eyes were as alight as wee Jamie’s were expected to be in the morning.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” he laughed, taking hold of her hand.

“Lead the way Jamie Claus,” she said, swinging their arms as he walked her out the door.

“Ye ken how adorable ye are, Sassenach?”

“Bah humbug,” she said, swatting his arm. “I’ll have you know, I—Jesus H. ROOSEVELT—sorry!” She clapped a hand over her mouth.

Jamie would have let out a barking laugh if he knew it wouldn’t wake up the whole house. Jenny had finished up the decorations in the living room and left the tree lights on. The red and green glow flickered intermittently against Claire’s pale skin and her wide, spellbound eyes.

He was sure he had the same look on his face, only it wasn’t the tree he was staring at.

“They’re no’ going to bite ye, Sassenach, go on.”

She stayed rooted to the ground a second longer before dashing ahead of him to ogle the tree up close.

The fireplace was smoldering, a comfortably natural glow working in odd harmony with the artificial lights on the tree. Both painted Claire’s white nightgown in soft washes of colour turning and changing like a kaleidoscope as she circled the tree and mass of presents slowly.

He’d never really given a thought to Jenny’s decorations before, or at least not since he was a child, but he found himself following Claire’s gaze, mirroring her smiles and gasps as she spun an ornament or poked at a bit of tinsel.

Christ, what was God thinking when he made this woman? Fierce and stubborn, with eyes that could storm and yet, were still capable of such childlike wonder.

He watched her, mesmerized, even as he slid wee Jamie’s gift under the tree. It was only when she crouched to survey the neatly wrapped gifts – done up in smooth craft paper with ribbons tied by Mrs. Crook and Jenny’s meticulous fingers – that Jamie turned his back to her. He headed for the large grandfather clock in one corner of the room, lifting a cookie from the plate on the desk as he strode by.  

“What are you doing over there?”

He turned, amused that she was still paying him even the slightest of attention. He scarfed down the cookie, retrieved the two presents he’d hid inside the clock and closed the door softly, sliding the smaller of the two into the back of his waistband.

“Remembered I was still in the room, did ye?”

He stopped her imminent reply with a cookie held right up to her open mouth. She took it and looked up at him from under her lashes.

“Don’t try to distract me.”

“I didna think I had to try, Sassenach. No’ with the tree doing such an excellent job.”

She smiled at that, taking a bite as Jamie slid past her to bend and place one last gift under the tree.

“Who’s that one for?”

“Fergus,” he replied, frowning at the lopsided ribbon. “Didna seem fair for him to miss out on the fun, simply because he showed up a bit late to the party, aye?”

Claire bent next to him, pressing down a stray piece of tape on the wrapping with her thumb.

“You did that?”

He shrugged. “‘Tis a far cry from Jenny’s work, aye?”

She kissed his cheek, then snuggled her head into his shoulder.

“You’re really something, James Fraser.”

“Aye? And what does that make you, a nighean?”

Her hand reached for his and laced their fingers together, tugging him up with her as she stood. He couldn’t seem to look away from her, not that he’d ever been able to do that. Gold anchored blue and vice-versa as their arms naturally curved around each other’s bodies.

“Thank you for this,” she said finally.

He squeezed her waist in acknowledgement, too content in her arms to ruin it with words. Her hand, however, drifted down his back and – before he could react – grabbed the thin rectangular box he’d had tucked inside.

“Claire!” He snatched it back immediately as she tried to muffle her laughter before the whole house woke up.

“And who’s that one for, hmm?”

“What’s yer best guess?” he said, holding it some distance away from her, just in case.

Comprehension bloomed slowly into a smile.

“I suppose it is Christmas day already. Shall I give you yours?”

“Well, that all depends.”

She blinked, head tilting to one side.

“On what?”

The corner of his mouth quirked up, one eyebrow rising in delicate suggestion.

“On whether we need to head back to the room for ye to give it to me.”

“Ha bloody ha!” She rolled her eyes, undoubtedly enjoying his whine of protest as she stepped out of his arms.

“Ye laugh, but ye’re still walking back to the room, are ye no?”

“I’m getting your present. You are going to wait right here for me—with your clothes on, James Fraser!” she added with a pointed finger before she left the room.

Another whine of protest, only stunted by his grin as he watched her go.

Read Chapter 4

[artificialqueens]

hollywoof hills [vet au] - chapter 4 - akita

A/N: took me a long time to finish this, but its way longer than i expected. the meeting regarding the groomers takes place, and theres some exciting news from sasha

It was meeting day, and everyone was crammed into the room around the folding table, in the variety of repurposed chairs and stools. Farrah was squeezed into an old computer chair with Sasha, currently hiding her face in her shoulder and whimpering. As it turned out, going out for drinks and getting a little wild on a work night was a horrible idea, and her head was pounding. Milk was looking worse for wear, Adore looked like she was dying, and Max looked exhausted, but better off than the other girls that had been out that night. They were lucky; they could go home and sleep after this. Farrah would have to answer the screaming of the phones and talk to people all day. Plus, she was rota-ed with Alyssa, who hardly knew what quiet was.  

While Chad was setting up, there were some mixed pockets of chatter going on around the table. The wireless phone in the room had been set up so the receptionists wouldn’t have to walk back and forth for calls, but it hopefully wouldn’t go off too much during the meeting, especially since they had some guests arriving. No one else had actually been warned of this, so when two blondes came into the room, everyone was aptly puzzled. Those who’d seen Katya the first time recognized her, and those who looked her up on Facebook recognised them both.

Regardless, they came to the front of the room near Chad, saying a quick hello. They were both in their uniforms, which was comprised of a polo top with the company name and logo embroidered on the back, and over the breast on the left side. One of them, the one in the heavier makeup, squealed excitedly when she saw Dela, moving over to greet her with a hug. If it wasn’t a stranger in the room, all four of the girls laboured with a hangover would have thrown something at her. Sweetly, Sasha covered Farrah’s ears against the noise. The other three had to just suffer, grumbling between each other.

As she was called back over, Trixie pouted a little, reluctant to leave her catch up with Dela. Katya appeared to be surveying the room, looking at the many faces. Everyone looked pretty friendly, bar the ones who were clearly feeling rough today. Despite being in the grooming business for 10 years, and attending most of the vet meets for advice and in search of a business partnership, she didn’t seem to recognise anyone here. She felt a little nervous to be up in front of everyone, and more worried by the fact that they were here now to give a presentation about their grooming company. They’d already sold the pitch to Chad, she’d not imagined having to come in front of a group and do it all again.

Trixie didn’t seem to have an ounce of worry about her, a brightness in her big blue eyes and a grin across her lips. Though they were here to be professional, she kept getting distracted, caught up in conversations when she was supposed to be preparing to speak. As Chad cleared Katya to start, she tried to subtly get the blonde’s attention back, and once she did, she turned her own attention to the projector screen on the wall. Everyone was looking up at her, and the powerpoint, and it made her feel a little queasy, but she knew she’d have to push through it.

“Good afternoon,” That felt too formal, but she’d already said it, “My name is Katya Zamolodchikova, this is Trixie Mattel.” “Hi!” She waved sweetly when she was introduced, trying to work out where she should be looking. “So, our company, Pampered Paws, is going to be operating out of the room next door to this. We’re a fairly established groomers, but we’ve been running out of my garage and with an increase in clients, it only seemed appropriate to set up shop somewhere better.” She kept second guessing what she was saying, feeling like that was a brag about the business, “Hopefully, with us being here, it’ll bring a new customer base to this surgery.”

As the slide changed, she was immensely relieved that it was now the younger woman’s turn to speak. “So, we bring a lot of different services,” Her voice was bouncy and quite loud, and she gestured to the screen, “Including using petsafe dyes! We make sure to buy and use only natural products, and carefully screen what’s used, in order to avoid anyone’s pets having a reaction to it. If anyone here’s got a pet they’d like to see in pink, let us know!” “Something else we’re bringing to the table,” Katya followed, “Is grooming with sedation. The price based off of the drugs will be paid to your practice, and then the add on for whatever service was wanted will go to us. To the vets, you can advertise our service to clients, but it goes without saying, it needs to be agreed through us.”

With a few more bases covered in introduction, including the rent fees they were paying, what day of the month those would be paid on, and confirming the moving date, their presentation was done, and Chad directed them to take a seat. She seemed fairly pleased with the presentation. Once she’d finalised some points, the meeting was closed, and people started getting up to leave. Max, Milk and Adore were out of the door like a shot, all pretty desperate to get home and sleep off their hangovers. Everyone else off rota hung around for only a few minutes, mostly to introduce themselves to the groomers, then they headed off.

Naturally, now that things were done, Trixie giddily returned to her conversation with Dela, having a bit of a catch up. While they weren’t regular friends, and had only really met at some vet conventions, a familiar face was exciting, and she could remember how sweet she’d been when they first met. It was only natural that she was latching on to the cheerful nurse. That, however, left Katya without anyone she knew, and she was uncertain who to approach. Chad had left to go make some notes, and she didn’t want to intrude on her friend’s catch up.

That was when she noticed someone watching her with what was either an aggressive or nervous gaze. She figured, and hoped, it was the latter, because she couldn’t think of a reason why anyone would dislike her this quickly. Wandering over to her, she noticed that they shied away a little. “Hey, you’re Chad’s nurse, right?” She’d been told about her when she visited last time, but seeing as she wasn’t rota-ed then, she couldn’t meet her. “Yeah, why?” “I just thought I’d come over and say hello.” The abrasiveness of the reply caught her off guard. “Are you hanging around for long?” Phi Phi’s tone was a little cutting, but the way she shifted from foot to foot betrayed that she was getting her back up in fear. “We’re going whenever Trixie’s had her fun talking to everyone, so… Yeah, probably.”

When she’d backed out of the conversation, Alyssa came over instead, apologizing for her behaviour. “See, Miss Phi Phi over there’s hardly a sweetheart. She might look all small and cute, but that girl’s the devil.” Katya couldn’t help but laugh at that, shaking her head, “She seemed scared.” “Trust me, she doesn’t know fear. Anyway, my name’s Alyssa Edwards,” She offered a handshake, “So, how do you and Trixie know each other?” “She did her training with me a couple years back, then I decided to keep her around as an assistant groomer. Sweet girl, really loud.” As if on cue, she laughed at something, and it almost seemed like the laugh echoed. She let her have a few minutes, finished her own conversation with Alyssa, then called over to Trixie that they had to go.

-

In spite of the wonderful meeting, today wasn’t the happiest of days. Farrah had seen Aja, who was trying hard to encourage an unwilling Brutus to amble through the door, and their chat together wasn’t as fun as the previous day’s had been. The poor dog was taking a strange turn, and his wound was oozing slightly. He’d not eaten since yesterday morning, had a fever, and wasn’t drinking. For the time being, he was in the large dog kennel, on a drip, sitting miserably while he was under observation. She’d left Alyssa in charge of the phones, wandering down to sit on the floor in front of his cage, reaching a finger through the bars to scratch his paw.

This was a part of working here that she hated. She could manage the animal death, she could even restrain in euthanasia if necessary, and she had been called in to help with a PTS before when there wasn’t a nurse there. It was seeing the heartbreak and panic in the owner’s face when they didn’t know what was wrong with their baby that got to her; it was seeing them fearing the worst. Sasha came through now to have a look at him, and crouched down at Farrah’s side, giving her a warming smile. “You feeling any better than this morning?” “A little bit, the brownie bites helped.” She laughed a little, “You want help getting him out or is a nurse coming down?” “You can give me a hand, thank you.”

Coaxing the large dog out of the kennel, Farrah put a slip lead around the Mastiff’s neck, and held him by the collar. It didn’t seem like the poor boy would make much of an attempt to wander off, but it was important to be careful. Sasha was checking his wound, pulling a bit of a face at it. “It looks like its getting infected, who seen him for the op?” “Chad did.” “Oh. Well that doesn’t make as much sense as I wanted it to. Can you go get her for me, if she’s not busy?”

Farrah went and retrieved the woman, who was just having a catch up with Alyssa and writing notes. When she explained it was about Brutus, Farrah was frustrated to be told she should stay at reception for a bit. Taking a place where she was meant to be, at the front desk and by the phone, she went to sulk. But, before she could commit to her role of having a grump about not getting to go and help, Chad explained to her that she didn’t know what the full plan was regarding him, and that the conversation might not be the most pleasant for her to stand around listening to.

When she came into prep, Chad crouched down to get a good look at the wound on the dog’s belly, also drawing the conclusion that it looked infected. “Did you send him home with antibiotics?” “Now that you mention it, I don’t think I did.” She frowned a little, “I’m not sure how that slipped past me, I normally would have for his case. We can always prescribe them now, and give him an antibiotic shot. Plus they’ve got an e-collar, and they told me they’d been bathing the wound with the hibiscrub we gave them.” “It just worries me, given the nature of his op.”

Taking his temperature, they made some additional notes, following up from Dela’s only half an hour ago. His fever was coming down, and he was looking a little brighter. They checked his gum colour and refill rate, and it seemed like he was starting to heal physically, though he was a little mopey about being in here again. After a short discussion about it, they decided to give him a tablespoon of food, to see if he’d try and eat it, but he turned his nose up. Not many of the pets staying here ever seemed to like the digestive support food, but it was the easiest thing for them to stomach, so it was all they were offered. Sasha scribbled on the notes that he was offered some food but rejected it.

“Actually, I remember now why I didn’t give them. They’re in a bad place, financially. It was the mother who brought him in the first time, and she was panicking over not being able to afford it.” “No insurance?” Chad shook her head, “Not anymore. When I asked her about it when I was speaking to her post op, she said they had to cancel it recently because they couldn’t afford the £60 a month they’d been paying for him anymore. And, ironically, this happens only a few weeks after they cancelled it. He’s eight years old, and a large breed, so she’d not been able to find an affordable quote.” “How did they pay for his op?” “Borrowed money from a relative, who fortunately also loves the dog.” “Thank God for family.”

-

“Alyssa, did you know your kids were out with us last night?” Farrah asked, smirking a little bit. She’d obviously been begged not to tell her, judging by the face she was pulling, but Laganja was refusing to pay her back for the drinks she’d bought her, and she was feeling bitter about it. That didn’t mean she had to sell the rest of them down the river, but they were facilitating this rudeness, and she wanted to show that despite being ‘a cute little thing’ that she wasn’t messing around. The Texan had a face like thunder when she turned around, brows raised. While all three of her daughters were of the legal drinking age, two of them had college, and Shangela had work.

“Now I knew those girls were lying to me but that is a surprise. Did they come out with you or did they just show up?” “Technically yes, because Shangela’s friends with one of Milk’s friends, and then the other two just tagged along.” Farrah shrugged a little, “And, please don’t be mad at me, but I paid for Laganja’s drinks since she forgot her card, and she’s now not paying me back.” “How busy we about to be?” Alyssa’s hand was digging through her bag for her phone, absolutely willing to phone her daughter up and tell her to give the money back. It was clear the other receptionist was stifling a laugh as the woman yowled, “Miss Dela!!” “Yes, honey?” Dela peered around from her desk. “Can you man the phone just a second? I need to sort something out.”

As they switched seats, Dela watched Alyssa pace over to the desks, getting ready to make a call. Fortunately, the vets were in appointments, and Phi Phi was doing a final check on Brutus, so there was no one here to tell her off for making a call or being loud. “Hey baby, is Ganja there? Okay, can you put her on the phone?” She’d heard the hesitation in her eldest’s voice, because she knew Laganja would be in trouble for skiving at very least, “Hey Ganja. Why aren’t you at college? You’re ill? More like hungover. Yes. I know. Now, a little birdy told me you owe money that you’re not paying back, and I’m telling you if you don’t give that money back, your phone is gone, and so’s the laptop. I don’t care that you’re an adult, you’re under my roof and I am your mother, I can take them off you if I want. So are you gonna pay Farrah back? Good girl, I’ll see you when I get home.”

Turning the corner, swapping chairs again, she smiled at the now grinning girl on the desk with her, “Sorted.” Leaning forward on the wood, she set her head on an outstretched arm, which Alyssa put a hand on the back of, “Thank you, if you ever need me to spill more dirt on your kids, I’ll do it.” “What else do you know?” Now she looked interested, leaning forward on her other hand. “One of Max’s friends is Laganja’s dealer, and I assume that you know about the smoking weed because she’s done snapchats smoking in her room.” “I knew but now I know I can make it difficult for her. I think she thinks I don’t know, like I’ve got no sense of smell or something.” Just as Farrah went to make a jibe, someone came through the door for an appointment.

-

In the last appointment of the day, Aja came to pick up Brutus again. They had taxi money, but were hoping that he could walk the short distance home. Hanging by the desk, they smiled warmly at Farrah, who was trying desperately to cover up the fact she was eating. One hand over her mouth, one hand trying to check Aja in as being here, and eventually, she swallowed, embarrassed to see them laughing at her.

“You’re lucky I have to be polite.” She whined. “Like you could come off rude? You’re the sweetest little thing.” Her cheeks flushed, and she grumbled, “You barely know me. I could be a bitch for all you know.” “Sure. Anyway, how’s my boy?” “A bit on the mend, but Chad wants to talk to you about him before you go. You can go take a seat if you want, she’s just giving him a once over now.” “Nah, I’ll wait here, unless you’re meant to be doing something?” “Not until you’re gone,” She went back on herself, “I mean, I still have to cash up. But I can’t do that until you’re gone.”

Farrah was completely flustered, looking between the screen and Aja, tapping her nails on the desk. She didn’t have much to say, though she wanted desperately to maintain some conversation. But, they were almost intimidating, quick witted and cheeky, and even as they stood there, watching pink nails near enough hammering at the desk, they looked quite smug. It looked like they found her embarrassment kind of funny, but were biting back any unnecessary teasing.

“You’re off til Monday, right?” Aja asked, leaning forward on a palm and glancing down at her. “Yeah, why?” “Just wondered. You told me the days you worked. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.” She gave a nervous laugh, “Well, thanks for remembering. I didn’t think you would.” “How could I forget?” That, and a wink, were what she left Farrah with before being called in by Chad. Once again, Aja had left her feeling a little ruffled, and was clearly quite chuffed with themself for it. Pawing through the till, she sighed, not wanting to cash up at all. Even though Brutus’ post op check would be free, it was likely he was being given antibiotics, and that would cost. When Alyssa came back into the office, she near enough begged her to do it instead.

“I’ll cash up only if you do all those dishes everyone’s left in the kitchen from the meeting.” Groaning, Farrah shoved herself back in the chair, getting up with a stomp. That was better than having to count money over and over to make sure it matched up with what the computer said was there, but it was still a terrible, boring job. Plus, now she probably wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Brutus (and his owner). No doubt they’d be back soon enough anyway - that dog had to get a lot of check ups.

It took a full twenty minutes to clear all the mess in the kitchen, and just as she was tipping the basin of water into the sink, a familiar ‘click, click’ of claws sounded on the vinyl flooring. A large muzzle pushed through the gap in the door, and all of a sudden, the lumbering mastiff was in the kitchen with her. He came to stand against her, sighing loudly, as though the walk from the reception to here was exhausting. Aja, after a moments delay, noticed that their dog had disappeared, and called for him. Farrah laughed a little when he just walked off towards the fridge.

Gently seizing his collar, the receptionist lead the dog back out to his owner, smiling up as Aja rolled their eyes. “Thought you were about to die this morning, and you’re out here giving me all this cheek?” They teased, ruffling one of the panting pooch’s ears before clipping on his leash. Turning to Alyssa, they resumed the important detail, “Slight hitch on the payment front. I have just enough to pay for his antibiotics, but I would have to walk him home, do you think he’ll be alright?” “How far’s the walk?” Sasha called from her seat, coming through to answer properly. “Only like five, ten minutes. I’ve only got enough for a couple days worth of antibiotics, but Chad said that was all fine. Mum’ll come pay for the rest tomorrow probably.” “If you walk him slowly, then he should be alright. He’s a lot brighter than he was this morning.”

Farrah mused on an idea, but tried to consider if it would be deemed unprofessional to offer. When she considered that she knew Aja’s address anyway from seeing it on the system, and had helped on a house visit in the past, her offer didn’t feel too invasive. “I can run you home with him, if you want? He’d fit in the back of my car, and if it’s only a couple minutes to get there, it’s no hassle.” “You sure?” Aja looked between Farrah, and the people behind the desk. “Should be fine, shouldn’t it?” Sasha nodded, before turning to Aja, “Are you alright waiting for a couple minutes? We just need to finish up, then it’s hometime.” “Sure thing.”

Normally, Sasha would have said that she could go now, but she had an announcement to make. It was hard to finish on her notes, as concentrating was growing a little difficult. Everyone would be in this room soon enough, or at least, near the room, and then she could say it. When she finished writing up the notes for a dog she’d seen that day, Chad came through, tailed by Phi Phi. Then, a few minutes later, Dela came into the room, having finally finished her call (or rather, debate) with one of their medication suppliers. With Alyssa at the desk, and Farrah called back over, that made for everyone on this shift being here.

“So, I have some exciting news. It would have been nice if Shea could have come in to give it with me, but she’s working late.” At some point in this, Aja and Brutus had snuck over, taking a place beside Farrah. “I didn’t want to say until it was all confirmed, but now it has been,” The woman swallowed hard, before smiling, “Shea and I applied to an adoption agency, and we were approved! We’re now on the waitlist for a child.”

The office near enough exploded into cheers, and there were a lot of exchanged hugs. Even Aja, a stranger in this situation, was tearing up. No one here had known about it, as the referees were picked as a family member, and people outside of both of their jobs. Both Sasha and Shea agreed that they didn’t want anyone to talk about it to them until it was all confirmed. But now, it was just a waiting game, and as long as there was a child to be given to them that the agency deemed a good match, they were definitely getting one.

That news was well timed, as everyone was pretty much ready to go. Once the building was locked up, and they were outside in the open space, there were more hugs, more excited wishes, and then finally, goodbyes. Farrah lead Aja over to her car, hoisting Brutus up into the backseat as carefully as they could before they set off. It was a really short drive, and it was the opposite way to the direction she had to drive home in, but it wasn’t a big deal. She helped Aja to get the canine back out, and walked to the door with them, mostly because they were caught in a chat. “No doubt we’ll be back on Monday, so see you then?” “See ya!” Farrah was embarrassed by the enthusiasm in her response, and she made her way back to the car. As she went to drive off, she noticed Aja waiting by their door still, and grinned as they waved a goodbye. When she pulled out from the curb, they went into the house.

[iishipallthethings]

The Hunt Chapter 1

Story Summary:  Its been thirteen years since Mabel helped Dipper defeat Bill. And five years since she last step foot in Gravity Falls or even seen her twin brother. Desperate for information and help, Mabel returns to Gravity Falls in hopes of finding her Grunkle Ford but instead, she finds Wendy Corduroy, the new sheriff of the strange town. Why did Mabel leave? What is Wendy hiding?

Chapter Title: Cheers!

Pairing: Wendy x Mabel (slow burn)

Coffee?

The Skull Fracture was the only bar in Gravity Falls. It was advertised as an extreme biker joint and it certainly lived up to that reputation. Mabel parked her motorcycle and headed up to the bouncer guarding the door. He glared down at her and she had to bite her tongue from laughing at his ridiculous “CHIN” and “HEAD” tattoos. She pulled out her ID, well one of them, and handed it over. He glanced at it and jerked his head to the door as he gave it back. “Don’t summon another gnome, kid. I still have the scar from before.” Apparently he remembered her from the time she let loose the gnomes on him when he worked for Gideon. At least he wasn't holding it against her.

Mabel slipped into the bar and surveyed the area. Everything looked pretty much the same from the first time she visited the bar as a child, except there was no Manly Dan destroying the game, Bicepticus. There was however, his daughter waving Mabel over to a table in the back corner. Mabel walked quickly to the older woman, expertly dodging a pair of fighting patrons.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Wendy said with a smile. She was already nursing a bottle and pushed over one that was opened but untouched. Wendy watched Mabel take a gulp, mildly surprised that the older Pines twin could without making a face. “Did anything interesting happen once I left the Mystery Shack?” Wendy asked, sipping her own beer. She had been in Skull Fracture for well over an hour now and she was glad she had the bartender clear away the three previous beers.

“Nah but Soos and I talked a bit more.” Mabel noticed how Wendy’s eyes were slightly more closed than usual and how the older woman had an ever pleasant smile on her face. She wondered how many beers Wendy already had. “He told me about you joining the police force and quickly rising through the ranks because,” she looked around to make sure there were no outsiders present at the bar. Finding none, she continued, “of your involvement with the magical creatures of Gravity Falls.”

Wendy showed her confusion and tightened her grip on her bottle on instinct. Realization dawned on her face and she loosened the bottle to wave away Mabel’s words. “Oh that? It’s not a big deal, really.” Wendy took a gulp from her bottle and frowned when only a little came out. She sighed and pushed the empty bottle away. “After all the weird stuff was exposed during Weirdmageddon, the magical folk didn’t want to stay in the forests anymore. I guess they figured if people already knew about them, then why not venture out?” Wendy rested an elbow on the table and then her chin in her palm so her vision of Mabel wouldn’t sway so much. “We obviously couldn’t let them roam free with all those tourists coming and going so we, or rather I, came up with a deal when I got onto the police force.” She turned her head so she was looking at the bar’s counter. “Hey! I want some sex on a beach!” Several of the bar’s attendees hooted at the words and Wendy rolled her eyes. It took Mabel a few moments and a blush later to realize the older woman was ordering the drink and not making a sexual request. Wendy looked back at Mabel, “Three, two, one.”

Just as she hit one, the doors leading into the kitchen slammed open and a Manotaur came walking out. He had to hold the drink up high and sidewalk through the little opening in the counter. The bar’s patrons didn’t react to the half-man, half-taur moving about, humming some tune. He set the drink down in front of Wendy. “Here you go, sheriff. It’s on the house, along with your other drinks.”

“Thank you, Chutzpar.” Wendy winked at Mabel and pointed to the charm hanging from the Manotaur’s neck. “See that?” Without asking permission, she reached over and grabbed the charm. Chutzpar didn’t seem to mind, he even leaned closer so the two women could better see the little trinket. It was made from ancient oak dyed red and carved into an eight-pointed star. “This is the alchemical symbol of life. Inside it, there is a small vial of the wearer’s blood. To anyone who doesn’t know Chutzpar’s a Manotaur, he would appear as an average, unremarkable human being.”

Chutzpar stood up straight and Wendy let go of the charm. He slammed a closed fist into his chest, careful not to crush his charm. “Even if I did look human, I look like the manliest man there is!” he declared. Wendy rolled her eyes again and grabbed her drink. Before she could take even a sip of it, Chutzpar laid a hand on her arm, covering it entirely. “Wait, I forgot the most important part!” He reached into the pocket of the apron he had tied around his waist. Chutzpar opened up a bright pink tiny umbrella and carefully set it into the drink. “There! Perfect!”  He turned around and headed back to the kitchen, taking orders from the other customers as he walked past.

“I got to hand it to him, he makes a killer sex on a beach,” Wendy said, plucking out the umbrella and holding it out to Mabel. The older Pines twin however just stood there with her mouth agape. Wendy frowned and poked her forehead. “Uh, you still there Mabel?”

Mabel came back to earth and shook her head, her eyes glued to the closed kitchen door. “Wha?”

Wendy chuckled and grabbed Mabel’s hand, turning it over and opening it. She placed the umbrella into her palm and settled back to her seat. “Cool, right? Gideon made them after a bus of tourists got flashed by something called the Hide Behind near the Mystery Shack. A kid got really freaked and started screaming it's the Slenderman or something, I don’t know. Either way, we had to erase their memories and Gideon made all of the magical creatures their own charm.” The sheriff shrugged like the entire incident wasn’t a big deal.

“Gideon!?” Mabel choked on her beer and Wendy gave her a few slaps on the back. The sheriff was a lot stronger than she looked, it felt as if she was being punched by Manly Dan. Mabel shook her head at another slap and caught her breath. “He made them?”

“Well yeah. I mean Mr. Ford helped but Gideon did all the carvings.” Wendy drank from her glass and looked down at it with a grimace. “Why did I even order this?” She looked at Mabel and a sly grin spread across her cheeks. She nodded to the beer Mabel was holding. “I’ll trade ya. I know how much you like girly things and this isn’t nearly as strong as those beers, I swear.”

Mabel cocked an eyebrow. “What, you think I can’t drink?” Wendy nodded, her smile becoming cocky mixed with a little mockery. Mabel looked over to the bar and slapped a hand against the table. “One mongolian motherfucker, please!”

“Whoah, Mabel wait,” Wendy immediately began protesting. “Don’t you know what’s in those?” She knew she might have been teasing the younger woman too much by suggesting she couldn’t drink but this was definitely not the right response. Mabel was going to end up even drunker than her if she gets that drink. And Mabel was supposed to be her ride home!

Mabel simply smirked at Wendy and tapped her fingertips on the wood. “Take back what you said about me not being able to drink and I’ll cancel it.”

Wendy didn’t even take the time to consider the proposition. “You can drink, okay! I mean, man can you drink. You finished that beer in like what, twenty minutes?” Mabel’s eyes narrowed and Wendy scrambled to say something else. “Not that that means you can’t hold your liquor! You just wanted to savor the taste, I get that more than anyone!”

But it was too late. Chutzpar had come out of the kitchen, looking as dubious as Wendy felt. He placed the drink in front of Mabel and cleared his throat. “Before you drink that, I’m going to have to ask for your keys.” Mabel handed them over without any complaint. He stuffed them in his pocket and walked back to the kitchen, telling people their food would be ready soon enough.

“Any last words?” Mabel asked, lifting the drink.

“Please don’t,” Wendy pleaded, doing her very best puppy dog face.

To her credit, Mabel hesitated for a moment but it ended with a smirk as she took a huge gulp from the glass. Wendy watched in stunned disbelief as Mabel gave a sound of appreciation and set the glass down, not grimacing or gagging as the fiery mixture went down her throat. “Not bad,” she praised.

Wendy blinked a few times, trying to connect this new Mabel to the one she first met thirteen years ago. “What’s gotten into you?”

Mabel shrugged and took a swig from her drink, much less this time Wendy noticed but still too much in her opinion. “When you go out and travel the world, you learn how to drink.”

The words seemed to have stolen some of the drunken happy atmosphere that was being created around the two. Wendy sheltered her meager sex on a beach in both of her hands, staring down at the fruity mixture. “It was really unexpected you know.” Wendy glanced away at where two men were singing a song about a woman stealing their heart and money at the top of their lungs at the bar. “It was like you were here and then poof! You left us.” She lifted her eyes to look at Mabel’s and the younger woman had no idea she could cause this much pain with her absence. “Can you at least tell me why?”

“I- uh,” Mabel bought herself some precious time by taking a long sip from her drink. Now the bubblegum flavor tasted like motor oil. “I wanted to go off on my own for a bit,” she said lamely. She wasn’t sure if she could tell Wendy the truth. The sheriff would have worried over her too much.

Wendy frowned at Mabel, seeing through the lie easily. “Without Dipper?” she pressed. “He’s your twin, you two went to literal hell and back. You defeated Bill together!” The way Mabel’s grip tightened on her drink made Wendy’s eyes soften with regret. “I’m sorry, I should have figured that it was a sore spot.” It was for her too in truth, after everything settled, it took months for her not to wake up screaming and sobbing and even longer for the nightmares to stop plaguing her on a regular basis. Mabel must have gotten a lot worse from that monster.

Mabel held up a hand of truce. “It’s okay. I shouldn't be like this now, it’s been more than a decade since that Bill fiasco.” She looked around her at the laughing and occasional fighting. “I should have moved on by now.” Mabel was jolted by the hard slap Wendy gave the table.

Wendy jabbed a finger at Mabel’s face. “That’s it. No more sad times.” She looked at the door where Chutzpar’s head was poking out. “Two rounds of tequila and keep them coming!”

The Manotaur disappeared for a quick second and came back, balancing a tray of fresh food and the two women’s liquor. With expert ease, he handed the food to the respective customers before standing in front of the two. He set two shots of tequila in front of Mabel and two more for Wendy. He held the tray under his arm and held out his hand. “Keys,” he said. Wendy placed her own into his palm and he walked back to the kitchen. “I’ll tell your friend to take over your shift.”

“You’re still on work!?” Mabel exclaimed.

The sheriff laughed and pointed an accusing finger at Mabel. “What did I say about not having more sad times?” She took her first shot and raised it in a salute. “Besides, nothing serious happens around here anymore. It’s totally fine if I get a little tipsy.”

Mabel wasn’t sure if she agreed with that logic but her hand already found its way to the shot. She saluted Wendy and they downed the drinks, foregoing the lemon and salt altogether.

The rest of the time at Skull Fracture was a blur. One shot turned into two, then three, then Mabel couldn't count anymore. All she knew was that Chutzpar cut them off sometime later and when Wendy threatened to arrest him for not letting her to continue to drink, he called a cab. Mabel didn’t like how calm the Manotaur was about dealing with a drunk Wendy. She did like however how Wendy slurred the words to the song she claimed to despise when they were younger. She especially liked how Wendy tried to grab her leg to chew at her uniform pants when she belched out the “Eat your pants” part. Now Mabel was staring up at a ceiling on some couch. It was so comfy and the pillows had cute robins sewn on them. She traced one and imagined it spread its wings so she would have more to touch. “So soft,” she murmured. A loud and rather carefree bout of laughter brought Mabel’s attention down to the floor. Wendy laid on her back, looking up at the older Pines twin. “Hey you,” Mabel called out, swinging down an arm to touch Wendy’s face.

The sheriff just laughed harder and batted the hand away. “You’ve changed a lot but you’re still a dork.” She reached up to pat at Mabel’s arm. “What do you do on your travels?” Wendy giggled at her choice of words.

“Stuff,” Mabel answered, rolling so she laid on her stomach to better see Wendy. She was half on the couch and half off but she couldn’t find herself to care.

“What kind of stuff?”

Mabel chewed her bottom lip and figured what the hell. “Hunting.” She saw Wendy’s eyes narrow in confusion. Mabel could have hunted in Gravity Falls. The younger woman laughed and slapped at Wendy’s arm. “Not like that! I mean I’ve been hunting bad things.” She knew it was dangerous to tell her friend of her adventures but it was like a floodgate was opened. She couldn't close her mouth, even as understanding and horror spread on Wendy’s features. “I’ve actually met a couple of hunters like me. They’re really nice, except for Jake. Jake’s a dick.” Mabel giggled and slapped a hand on her forehead, but missed and ended up hitting herself right in the middle of her face. She winced but shrugged off the sting. “Wait, that’s mean. But it’s true.”

Wendy sat up and rested a hand on Mabel’s arm, staring into the woman’s eyes. “You’re killing magical creatures?” she whispered like speaking too loud would alert said creatures of Mabel’s deeds.

Mabel didn’t like the look Wendy was giving her and it twisted her insides to see a tiny bit of fear in her eyes. She should be smiling. Wendy said it herself. No more sad times, damnit! “I’m only putting down the evil kind. The ones like Bill and his asshole buddies.”

“Oh,” was all Wendy could say to that. She licked her lips, suddenly parched. “Are you being safe?”

“As safe as I can be.” Which meant not safe at all but Wendy didn’t need to know that. She worried enough as it was in Mabel’s mind. She patted Wendy’s head as if she was a dog and giggled at the responding grimace and drunken glare. “I’ve already escaped death once or twice even before meeting Bill. I got this,” she said confidently. Her head fell back to the couch. She didn’t realize how comfortable it was until now. It was so soft and comfy. “Night night,” she yawned.

Wendy opened her mouth to continue the conversation but a light snore came out of Mabel. She had completely passed out on her. The sheriff released a shaky breath and moved a strand of hair out of Mabel’s mouth. She got up on trembling legs and made her way to her bedroom. Wendy collapsed on her bed and held the penguin, panda thing that Dipper had won her all those years ago close to her chest. The way Mabel talked about ‘hunting’ made Wendy’s blood freeze in her veins. There was something in her eye. If Wendy’s mind wasn't so obscured by so much liquor she would have recognized it as pride. As bloodlust.

[pyropsychiccollector]

Danganronpa, Another IF: Goodbye Despair (Prologue)

            “Makoto…!” Mukuro Ikusaba called out to the Luckster as she dashed over to him. Contrary to the usually stoic expression she had on her face two years ago, Mukuro appeared genuinely concerned and emotional. The area around them had previously been a battlefield – before that, it had been a city – and the sky was tainted a blood red. The soldier gave a quick once-over for any injuries, but there didn’t seem to be a hair out of place, so she didn’t have to fret over his wellbeing… Yet she still did, because this was Makoto… “I told you not to go running off on your own! It’s not safe

            Naegi just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

            “Sorry for worrying you, Mukuro! I just thought… with this area cleared…” He trailed off in embarrassment.

            Mukuro sighed patiently. The Luckster didn’t need to explain himself anyway; she knew why he had gone off on his own. It didn’t justify his actions, but, at least she could understand.

            That was Makoto for you, though. Transparent as an open book, friendly as a scruffy little puppy… Just as adorable as one of them, too.

            … But don’t you dare tell him.

            He must never know she has such thoughts….

            “Makoto… You know you can’t confront these people by yourself…” Mukuro told him softly, but firmly. If it was common Despair soldiers wearing Monokuma helmets, Mukuro might trust Makoto to handle himself…

            But Makoto was wanting to meet with the Ultimate Despairs themselves. Or, as they were known since Junko’s death, the Remnants of Despair. And while they had managed to capture a few of the Remnants… it was through force, not diplomacy. They were known as million-class murderers because they had earned those violent reputations… Compared to them, their former classmate Genocide Jack (Touko Fukawa’s alternate personality) would have looked normal, and that was saying something.

            Hiyoko Saionji and Ibuki Mioda were in their custody, as was a man impersonating their former classmate, Byakuya Togami. They were the Ultimate Traditional Dancer, the Ultimate Musician, and the Ultimate Imposter respectively. Despite their fearsome reputations, through some… miraculous luck, the Future Foundation had yet to realize just who was in their custody. Even with a mole for the Ultimate Despairs lurking within the walls of Future Foundation, Makoto had found it amazing they’d been processed and confined like regular Despair agents. Mukuro wasn’t too surprised; given that it took them watching Junko’s Killing Game to work out that Junko was behind everything. The Ultimate Despairs didn’t exactly advertise that they were the leaders of the apocalyptic movement – there were just whispered rumors about their existence, and even then, there were a good number of Future Foundation personnel who assumed “Ultimate Despair” referred to just Junko. And they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong; while Class 77 were technically Ultimate Despairs like Mukuro had once been, Junko had been something akin to Despair incarnate. The problem was the ambiguity about the title. It did refer to a group just as much as it did Junko herself. Junko meant for it to be confusing that way.

            And yet, as accountable as they were, Class 77 were just as much victims as perpetrators. Junko had made them into Ultimate Despair, twisted their very natures. Future Foundation higher-ups would never acknowledge that, only look at their innumerable crimes. Foundation policy was to exterminate Despair, not save people who had been brainwashed into a ludicrous cause.

            Naegi and the rest of Class 78 knew, though. Knew the kind of people they once were. Thanks to Miaya Gekkogahara and Fujisaki for going over Yasuke Matsuda’s notes, they were able to restore their memories of their school years. And they had a plan to save their former senpai. Two years later, and they were finally making strides to round them up. Makoto didn’t like that it took this long to make progress, but the Future Foundation hadn’t made it easy for them since escaping – and that was largely because… they wanted Mukuro executed for working directly under Junko. It took… all of her surviving classmates to stand up for her changed character, as well as the Foundation’s leader, Kazuo Tengan, to earn Mukuro’s right to live… her right to atone. In spite of the victory, they had all been watched closely, and had been heavily evaluated by Gekkogahara, the Ultimate Therapist, to make sure they weren’t tainted by Despair.

            Two years… But finally, the Foundation was allowing them some mobility. They’d split ways for the time being; Leon and Mondo were absorbed into the Sixth Branch, the custody enforcement unit; Celes joined the Tenth Branch, which dealt with reviving education and culture; and Fujisaki joined Gekkogahara in Seventh Branch, as he had a personal collaborative project to be working on with the therapist. The remaining four – Makoto, Mukuro, Sayaka, and Kyoko – remained in the new Fourteenth Branch, which was more or less set up to keep an eye on Class 78 as it was to stroke the Foundation’s ego so to speak, spreading word about their efforts to fix the world. Makoto and Sayaka actually fit quite well with this branch, but Mukuro was forced to remain a part of it because the Sixth Division Head, Juzo Sakakura, didn’t trust the Ultimate Soldier to work under him, believing she’d sabotage their branch at every possible turn; he and Kyosuke Munakata, the second-in-command of the organization, were the most suspicious of Mukuro out of everyone in the Foundation. As for Kyoko… while she would have been a fit for the Sixth Branch, being a detective, she wanted to become a Division Head so Class 78 could have some authority in the Foundation, even if it wasn’t much. Makoto would’ve taken up the role in her place, but because he defended Mukuro so fervently, he was under heavy suspicion as well, “Ultimate Hope” title or not.

            “Must you make so much noise…? I do not know which is more astonishing… that you are arrogant enough to lower your guard this deep in enemy territory, or that you have not been attacked yet…”

            Mukuro’s eyes snapped wide open, and her entire body tensed as it moved to get in-between Naegi and the newcomer. She knew that voice. It was little wonder this man had evaded her sharp senses… But even so. She hadn’t expected a confrontation so soon after leaving Hope’s Peak… Hell, she’d wondered if she would ever see this expressionless face again.

            “Makoto, stay behind me.” Mukuro sternly told the Luckster. Still, he couldn’t help himself as he peeked over her shoulder at the newcomer. The man seemed rather tall and lanky, wore a pressed black suit, and had very long untamable dark hair that ran far down his back. What’s more, while he was expressionless and didn’t seem to have hostile intent, the man’s red eyes were intense, and Makoto felt himself fixated on them.

            “How come, Mukuro? Who is he?” Makoto asked instinctually. Though Mukuro was protective, he’d never seen her so… unsettled. Like a cobra waiting to strike at any moment.

            Mukuro didn’t get the chance to respond.

            “You know you cannot fight against me and win. If I so desired, I could knock you out and take Naegi with me… If I wanted, I could kill you both.” The young man spoke in a light, flat tone, as if they were just talking about the weather. “Why do you insist on confronting me? I happened to be passing by, for I have luck as well… There is no need for conflict.”

            Unsurprisingly, Mukuro didn’t buy that. Ever since meeting him, he had always rubbed her the wrong way… And that did not change, even with her being against Ultimate Despair now. He was dangerous. And any threat to Makoto needed to be treated cautiously…

            She would not lose Makoto.

            “Then why are you here…?” Mukuro could not conceal the suspicion in her voice, nor did she have a desire to.

            The man continued to regard Mukuro expressionlessly, and Makoto grew all the curiouser. There were few who could face-off with Mukuro and not be intimidated… Most of them were simply unfamiliar with her talent, but there were those who knew she was the Ultimate Soldier and refused to be intimidated – because they had an intense hatred for her, and wanted to see her dead. Back during their school days, Sakura respected her as a warrior, yet was unafraid of her because she could handle the soldier in a straight-up fight…

            This man felt like he fit into that last category. He just didn’t show emotions, and they seemed familiar with each other. What sort of talent did he have? He had to be an Ultimate for Mukuro to be on edge, and for him to face off with her like this…

            “I came to talk with Naegi.” The young man intoned flatly. He eyed the Luckster from over Mukuro’s shoulder. “… Alone.”

            “Absolutely not. Out of the question.” Mukuro hissed furiously. The man raised an eyebrow at her dully.

            “I do not need your permission. I will be talking with Naegi. Whether I have to incapacitate you first to do it will be entirely up to you…” As her defensive stance grew more rigid, he sighed airily. “I am willing to let you watch us from a distance, and you are even free to survey the area for threats first. … Though it will be pointless, as I have eliminated all Despair agents.”

            Mukuro still seemed unconvinced. That is, until Makoto placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

            “It’ll be fine… I don’t know why, but I get this feeling we can trust him for now. If he’s the Ultimate Despair that was in the area… I wanted to talk with him anyway.”

            Mukuro shook her head fearfully as she looked back at him.

            “M-Makoto, this man’s not like the others…! And there was supposed to be someone entirely different, but instead…!” She stopped as the man pointed to a location a short distance from where they were.

            Crumpled on the ground was the unconscious body of a man who appeared to be in a fur coat… There was a wild look to his physical appearance, but he was clearly incapacitated.

            “Tanaka Gundham, the Ultimate Breeder.” The man flatly intoned. “You are welcome to take him with you when you leave. All I require is a little time with Naegi…”

            Mukuro continued to look uneasy. Conflicted. But… Makoto was earnest about talking with this dangerous man. And she was supposedly being allowed to watch them from afar…

            Squeezing her eyes shut, Mukuro felt like she was going to regret this…

            “N-No more than fifteen feet away…!” She bit out. The man just stared at her passively.

            “… Acceptable.”

            ~*~

            It had not taken long to rid Towa City of the Despairs plaguing it… Though Monaca Towa was formidable with her army of Monokuma’s, Celestia Ludenberg, along with Mondo Oowada and Leon Kuwata, managed to lead the Future Foundation to success. And they even managed to prevent the conflict from turning into a full-scale war…

            The Warriors of Hope that Monaca manipulated, they managed to escape during the final battles… But Celes had let them go, as a sign of good faith.

            In terms of hostages, they had saved most of them. Notable fatalities were Kirigiri’s grandfather, Sakura’s lover, and Hagakure’s mother… But the rest of the hostages, Class 78’s loved ones, they rescued them and put them under the care of Future Foundation.

            Probably one of the better spoils of war… was the “Servant” that had been working under Monaca and the Warriors of Hope. They captured him, and discovered he was one of the Remnants of Despair that Mukuro gave them details on.

            “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised…” The white-haired man smiled amicably at Celes as he was handcuffed. “With such bright beacons of Hope leading this Towa City operation, it’s little wonder the Future Foundation overcame the Despair here. Still, I’ll confess I never saw you capturing me. To overcome my abysmal luck… You must truly be worthy of your Ultimate Gambler title!”

            Celes narrowed her eyes at the man, electing to say nothing as he was taken away.

            Nagito Komaeda. The Ultimate Lucky Student of Class 77. It was suspicious how he didn’t put up a fight, but then again, he didn’t seem like the other Remnants they’d captured… Unlike them, he seemed to have a fascination with Hope, even if he was a bit… obsessive about the topic. That, and he was arrogant to anyone who didn’t possess a talent…

            Still, he was processed like all the other Despairs…

            ~*~

            “My, my~ What’s a sweet little morsel like you doing, stepping into my kitchen?” The chef wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as he stepped out from behind the counter.

            Though she was dressed rather seductively – wearing a skirt that didn’t even reach her knees, a tight shirt that revealed her ample chest, and a coat with a fur fringe that she’d loosened around her bare shoulders, showing them off – the blue-haired woman beamed with a tinge of uneasiness at the young chef’s perverted leer.

            “Oh, well, you know… I was just looking to order some sort of meat dish.” The woman’s smile twitched the slightest amount.

            The chef in red widened his eyes as a stream of blood spurted from his nose.

            “Oho… Ohohoho… I think I can help you find just what you’re lookin’ for, my dear… My culinary abilities are second to none.” As the brunet chuckled uncontrollably, the blue-haired woman turned around to walk back to the front of the diner, where there was meat on display. As she did so, she made sure to shake her hips sensually.

            “Then, come and help a girl out~…” She beckoned him, and she heard the excited footsteps of the stout chef behind her.

            She didn’t miss him secretly picking up a butcher knife while her back was turned…

            “Avril Lavigne…! I never thought I’d see the day a goddess stepped into my quaint Hanamura Diner!” The man gushed. Again, the woman ignored his perverted antics.

            For a while, the woman seemed to genuinely peruse the selection of choice meats. The chef explained each of them in vivid and exquisite detail, while the woman patiently listed. And when it finally seemed like the woman had settled on her choice…

            “Oooh…” The chef moaned as he fell forward, unconscious. His knife fell from his grasp and clattered on the floor. Behind him stood a short-haired woman with narrowed eyes.

            “…” The soldier said nothing as she glared somewhat moodily at the blue-haired woman.

            “I thought you were out on another assignment?” The blue-haired woman pouted. She’d been prepared to knockout the chef before he could try to murder her.

            “I finished up early.” Mukuro deadpanned. “Happened to be in the area.”

            “I had it under control!” She insisted stubbornly.

            “You’re a little too good at seduction…” Mukuro deadpanned again, though the accusation was clear. The blue-haired woman just laughed it off.

            “Relax! It’s just practice for Makoto-kun, anyway. I’d never cheat on him.” Never ever.

            Mukuro didn’t seem convinced.

            “… You will be watched.” The soldier decided, dragging Teruteru with her as she left. Sayaka huffed as she crossed her arms moodily.

            “Not like you aren’t doing that already…”

            ~*~

            “There we go…” The nurse panted as she finished strapping in her ‘patient’. She stroked his face intimately – the man was gagged, unable to reply. But his pleas for her to stop could be heard, muffled through the gag. “Shh, shh… I’ll make everything better~… Make the ouchies go away.”

            To the man’s dismay, the nurse climbed on top of him, with a needle that had an ominous pink fluid within the attached vial. In the dim green light of the ‘surgery room’, the nurse’s red eyes glowed with malicious intent.

            However, just as she was about to inject the man with the needle, a second woman broke into the room, taking a firm hold of the nurse’s wrist and revealing she, too, was not ‘normal’. She was on some sort of drugs that enhanced her strength, and as such, it did not take all that much for Seiko Kimura, the Ultimate Pharmacist, to subdue the Ultimate Nurse…

            ~*~

            The factory was a madhouse. Motorcycles were revving all over the place, running over normal-sized Monokuma’s while avoiding the larger ones. The pink-haired overseer of the facility waved his fist at the idiot bikers who were disrupting his work, but he went largely ignored.

            At least until a man with an aippa – a cross between an afro and a pompadour – somehow managed to get his bike up to the upper level where the mechanic was holed up, and gunned straight for him. Obviously, the mechanic panicked with a motorcycle bearing down on him, but then he grinned maniacally before revealing he was well defended. Two Monokuma’s that towered seven feet each climbed up the railing beside him and knocked the biker off his ride and destroyed it before it could harm the mechanic.

            “Hehe! Serves you right for underestimating me!” Kazuichi’s shark-like grin earned a growl from the biker who was now crouched on the floor and looked ready to pounce.

            Just as the mechanic maneuvered his Monokuma’s to advance on the biker, though, there was a sort of rumbling sound throughout the factory as everything – everything – abruptly stopped working. The machines that produced the animatronic bears, and even the bears themselves – they all shutdown. Kazuichi hammered at the controls in anger.

            “Get up, you damn machines…!” Souda howled in fury. But as he was caught up in trying to regain control of his factory, Mondo took that opportunity to get in close and knock him out without a moment’s hesitation. And then as he scooped up Souda and slung him over his shoulder, Mondo noticed his friend’s smiling face flash across the terminals all around the facility.

            Chihiro Fujisaki had taken over the main Monokuma production facility. Near effortlessly at that.

            “Way to go, kid!” Mondo grinned as he gave the programmer a thumb’s up.

            ~*~

            Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu stood arrogantly in front of an organized faction of yakuza wearing Monokuma helmets. He was facing down Kyosuke Munakata, who was similarly backed up by a faction of Future Foundation soldiers.

            A harsh wind blew past, and then a swordswoman appeared out of nowhere, assaulting the Future Foundation’s second-in-command. However, Kyosuke repelled her easily enough, and Peko skidded back to a defensive position as she stood between Munakata and Kuzuryu, the gangster’s sole red eye glinting dangerously.

            Peko was soon joined by two others – Akane Owari and Nekomaru Nidai. Both had their dukes up, and looked like they would fight to the bitter end. On Munakata’s side, the Great Gozu, Juzo Sakakura, and Sonosuke Izayoi appeared to even out the battle of Ultimates.

            It would be a drawn-out and intense battle… But the four Ultimate Despairs were detained and processed like all other prisoners of war.

            ~*~

            “Well, would ya look at that!” Leon grinned roguishly as Mukuro dragged in the last two Ultimate Despairs. Mahiru Koizumi and Sonia Nevermind.

            “They were both in Novoselic…” Kirigiri pointed out, glancing at the soldier shrewdly. “How did you…?”

            “They were ‘donated’ to us…” Mukuro answered, glancing off to the side toward a camera in the room. While Fujisaki could wipe the camera feeds, they still had to be cautious while within the Future Foundation.

            Regardless, Mukuro’s answer explained everything for the Ultimate Detective. Clearly, the man who had spoken to Naegi had done as he’d said, and had rounded up the Ultimate Despairs that they would have had the toughest time acquiring… It made Kirigiri suspicious that both Makoto and Mukuro would not reveal who that man was, but that was apparently part of the bargain in order to round up all the Ultimate Despairs. The man’s identity could not be revealed to their friends.

            It pained Makoto to keep that information from them, but… even with Mukuro’s knowledge of Ultimate Despair’s movements, it would’ve taken an even more considerable amount of time to capture them all; time that the Future Foundation would have used to discover just who these Despairs were. And Class 78 couldn’t let that happen – not when the Future Foundation would have executed them all on the spot, upon discovering their identities as Ultimate Despair.

            ~*~

            Though all of the Ultimate Despairs were rounded up after an intense period of months… There was one more Despair agent that Mukuro wanted to be rounded up with Class 77. She would be the trickiest because she was one of the Division Heads of the Future Foundation, and getting her alone took quite a bit of time and effort to arrange…

            But they did it. They accomplished what they set out to do. The abandoned Future Foundation facility on Jabberwock Island had been converted by Miaya Gekkogahara and Chihiro Fujisaki into a rehabilitative facility, where the Ultimate Despairs would be placed into a virtual world program and have their memories wiped so that they could revert back to the people they used to be…

            The ethics were questionable, but when the only other option was for Class 77 to be executed for being brainwashed into Despair, extreme rehabilitation seemed like the more inviting option. Yukizome’s disappearance would most likely raise some flags and put the Foundation on high alert, but hopefully between her leaving a message that she would be out of the office, combined with Class 78 taking a long confusing route to Jabberwock Island, hopefully that would buy them enough time to cure everyone.

            … They should have known it would never be that simple… Not when their enemy was Despair itself.

[dinofixedcom]

Catch Me a Catch - Tips For Getting Coordinated With Your Match

Alright all you single folks out there. Tune in up. 

I know how hard it is tracking down that unique individual. I was single for a very long time. I did everything; Blenders; speed dating; Web matchmaking; get-togethers; individual advertisements, meals for six, singles bars. Then, at that point, nine years prior, after the entirety of my hard-battled endeavors, I at last met my better half on a prearranged meeting - a fix up from a dear companion who had a specific talent for matchmaking. She met her own better half on-line. 

  Is it accurate to say that i was one of the fortunate ones? You could say as much. I had essentially surrendered. I wore overalls on our first date - something my stressed mother would have killed me for in the event that she'd had any say. Luckily, my significant other's response was distinctly unique. He took one glance at me in the entryway of my apartment complex as we made proper acquaintance interestingly and later disclosed to me he was thinking, "Express gratitude toward God, an ordinary individual." I took one glance at him, wide bore, mustached, turning gray sanctuaries and well fitting, pants and thought, "Say thanks to God, an adult." 

  Anyway you decide to discover your find, or catch your catch, that match will not get in case there's no sparkle to light it. 

  Looks aren't everything except... 

  Dating resembles shopping. You try not to purchase in the event that you don't care for what you see. 

In the event that you truly need to be fruitful at it, characterized in any case, you wish - a date for Saturday night, an opportunity to experience passionate feelings for, a drawn out relationship - you need to accomplish something beyond make a cursory effort. 

  This idea happened to me as of late when I was examining a Web matchmaking webpage for some statistical surveying I was doing on singles. (It had been Match.com however it might have been any Web dating webpage.) 

  As an expert coordinator, a large number of my customers are single folks in their 30s and 40s who have chosen after a long drought that they feel prepared to get out there once more. Some have imparted to me that they need to welcome their dates home yet fear the idea since they look like something likened to the Delta Tau Chi crew in the film Creature House. At the end of the day, they need my assistance to turn their "man spaces" into "adoration caverns." 

  Put your best face forward 

In case you are single now, and pondering joining to utilize one of these destinations, or as of now have, and engage any likelihood of coming out on top, kindly, read on. You'll say thanks to me later. On the off chance that you don't, you should toss that cash out the window. That is on the grounds that except if you see how to put your best face forward, none of the other single individuals seeing you will at any point know what an awesome individual you are; they'll simply click "next." 

  I know marriage or monogamy isn't ideal for everybody. Indeed, even supper and a film can feel like a drawn out responsibility for a few, yet in the wake of taking a gander at in a real sense many photographs of all kinds of people on these locales I was astounded to find what a small number of them were in reality acceptable pictures. I needed to ask these individuals, "What were you thinking?" 

  I mean truly! In the advanced age, how troublesome is it to post an image that is in center? In case it's such a problem to track down a decent picture, what does that say concerning what amount of exertion you will place into a relationship? Hello, I can advise you, in the wake of being hitched for a very long time and together for nine, it's not continually going to be heartfelt walks around the sea shore and eye staring. In the long run the clothing needs to finish and the dishes need to move set aside. 

  So being the issue solver that I am, I concluded that this issue required my assistance as well. First of all, get a decent picture. 

  Your profile picture is your image. In a nanosecond, it passes on what your identity is and how you need others to see you. Assuming you need your optimal mate to pause and look, don't utilize a foggy preview from your new Paintball game or an image of yourself standing thirty feet away on a boat. All things considered, share about those leisure activities or interests in your composed profile. Dislike when you were in middle school. You don't get additional credit just by appearing. It isn't nonetheless, advanced science, possibly; you needn't bother with an expert photographic artist to take a decent picture. 

  Ask a companion, relative, neighbor or even your child to take about six "head shots" of you. Then, at that point select your top choices and request that they choose their top picks. Whichever ones cross-over, ought to be the one you use for your profile picture. In the event that you share more than one for all intents and purpose, substitute them. It will fill in as your own statistical surveying by showing you the number of more individuals react to one picture over another. 

  Establish a Connection; Not an explanation 

Like it or not, initial feelings check. Do you figure your planned mate will truly be slanted to take in additional with regards to you from taking a gander at your shirtless middle? Except if you look like Mr. or on the other hand Ms. Universe, avoid the half-naked shots. Additionally, gaze straight into the camera. Try not to go for the 'diletantish look' with your face in shadow like the Ghost of the Show. 

  While the vast majority of the photographs I spotted had comparable disadvantages, I saw a few things specific to people. As far as one might be concerned, what's with the shades, folks? You are not one of the Blues Siblings and nobody is mistaking you for a popular demigod. We ladies are about the eyes - blue, green, hazel, brown - not Beam boycott. Show those peepers. In the event that you wear glasses, that is OK. Simply ensure your eyes appear through not the glare of a flashbulb. 

  At last, folks, in the event that you don't have a facial hair growth or mustache for the most part, shave. The rosy, manly "just carried up" look requires exertion. Try not to snap the photo in the event that you truly carried up (or on the other hand in the event that you appear as though you did). 

  Young ladies, while your photos generally are in center, I have two or three hints for you excessively beginning with, get your hair out of your eyes! Additionally, I implore you; don't present with your pets. Do you realize what presenting cheek-to-cheek with your pooch passes on to folks? It says, "I love my doggie more than I will at any point love you." All things considered, expound on pooch in your profile. Do you think anyone needs to contend with a canine? It's terrible enough to contend with your BFFs. 

  Here are a couple of different tips for putting your best face forward on the web based dating circuit: 

  Open your eyes, and grin. On the off chance that you look hopeless or troubled, that is likely what you'll draw in. 

  On the off chance that you're stressed over your teeth, go sort them out, on the off chance that you can bear to. S/he will see them in the long run at any rate. 

  In case you're fair looking, consider capturing yourself against a light-impartial foundation. In case you are darker looking, utilize a dull impartial foundation. Your complexions will both appear better along these lines and you will not resemble an apparition or an outline. 

  Set aside the effort to utilize the "red eye" rectification accessible on most photograph altering applications and keeping in mind that you're grinding away, utilize the "eraser" to cover the imperfection. Hello, not style models are wonderful consistently. 

  When you get the right picture, don't stop there. Make certain to have a wise, proficient companion edit your profile. Incorrect spellings are a side road. This isn't a period for messaging. You need to place yourself in the best light conceivable to welcome others to find out about you. Additionally, avoid miserable stories, sassing past darlings, or discussing your infirmities. 

  One last idea, limit the utilization of negative words or portrayals of yourself in your profile. For instance, rather than expressing, "I lack the capacity to deal with anything" or "I don't care for eating out" better to say, "I'm dynamic and keep occupied with my pastimes," or "I partake in my own cooking." That way as opposed to hearing "no" when you ask somebody out on the town, you are bound to hear "indeed, I'd love to." 

  For More Info :- 

Real Fixed Matches

Best Fixed Matches

Fixed Matches

[jupiterinthe7th]

Snowed In | Chapter 1

Pairing: Tom Holland x reader

Chapter: 1 | 11:00 PM

Summary: Reader and Tom are stuck in an airport in NYC due to a snow storm. They think of different activities to do while they wait throughout the night.

Words: 1.3K

Warnings: Language, because I have a potty mouth… sorry.

A/N: New series! I meant to post this earlier in the week but school has been a shit storm lately. Anyway, chapters for this will be kind of short and each one will consist of a different activity. Enjoy, and thanks for reading! (This wasn’t beta-ed, so please excuse any mistakes.)

Snowed In Masterlist

“No, no, no!” You reloaded the page on your phone once, twice, three times. The same words appeared in bright red letters each time: FLIGHT CANCELLED. You lept out of your seat, running to the wall of screens that advertised each flight and its corresponding gate. One by one, their scheduled arrival times were switched with the same damned word: CANCELLED. “Shit! No!” You buried your head in your hands, letting yourself comprehend that your worst case scenario was actually happening. The people surrounding you were groaning in frustration right along with you.

A plump woman rushed into the throng of travelers surrounding the screens, stood on one of the chairs, and gave a long, loud whistle. It was strange how quickly silence replaced the chaos. Her sleek ponytail swung side to side as she gave equal attention to both sides of the crowd. “Excuse me everyone, we are very sorry for the inconvenience. Due to the snow storm, all outgoing and incoming flights have been cancelled.” A dull roar rose from the crowd as they all expressed their collective exasperation, and she raised her voice to match. “Excuse me! We will have shuttle services available to surrounding hotels if needed, but I suggest that those who can go home do so. Thank you for your attention. And once again, the staff apologizes for the inconvenience.”

It was the week before Christmas, quite possibly the worst time for cancelled flights. Everyone was trying to get home to their families, including you.

A good portion of the crowd dispersed in several different directions, presumably going home as the woman had suggested. The rest of them, however, flooded the customer service desk in desperation. They, like you, were in denial.

You elbowed your way to the front, clutching your boarding pass. Figuring you’d get further with kindness than pushiness, you reached deep down to the last bit of patience you had left, and plastered on a smile.

“Good evening! Listen, I really need a flight to London, as soon as possible. I know the storm has kind of put a hold on things, but when is the next flight out?”

“I’m sorry ma'am, but until the storm clears up we won’t be able to schedule any new flights.”

Your face fell, and you couldn’t help the little groan of disappointment that escaped you.

“I’m very sorry, ma'am. I wish there was something I could do.”

“No, don’t be sorry. This isn’t your fault. It’s not like you conjured up the storm.”

She gave you a sympathetic smile. “We do recommend that you go home if you can. If not, I can help you find a nice room somewhere close by.”

“No, no. Thank you, but I need to be on the next flight out of here. I think I’ll just wait it out here. I mean, how long can these things last?”

The poor woman didn’t have the heart to tell you that these storms could last for up to several days. She gave you a nervous smile as you sighed dejectedly, and managed your way back out of the dwindling crowd.

You surveyed the gate. Almost every seat was taken by idiots like you who had decided to stay. You spotted one seat that was taken up by a large duffel bag, it’s owner lightly napping next to it. You walked up to the young man and gently tapped him on the arm. He awoke with a start, eyes frantically meeting yours.

“Hi, I’m so sorry to wake you. Do you mind if I take the seat next to you? It’s the only one left.”

He sat up quickly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and moved his belongings. “No, yeah, of course.”

You plopped down next to him, leaning on the armrest and massaging the bridge of your nose in the hopes of soothing your headache.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t realize I was taking up space. It was much emptier when I first got here.”

“Yeah, well, it’s probably gonna be this crowded for a while. Everyone is trying to figure out how to get out of here.”

“Why?”

You looked up at him in confusion, but he just looked equally as confused. “You weren’t listening?” He just shrugged. Then you remembered he had been asleep. Of course you had to be the one to deliver bad news to the cute guy with the cute accent. “All of the flights have been cancelled. I guess there’s this giant snowstorm headed our way.”

“Oh, you’re kidding.” He huffed out a breath and dug his phone from his pocket, probably to let someone know he was stuck. A few minutes later he had said nothing more, so you clammed up and decide to browse your own phone.

Only a half hour had gone by, and you were already getting antsy. How long would you be sitting here? Was it even worth it? Should you just go home?

The man next to you got up suddenly, interrupting your thoughts. “I’m going to go buy myself a water. Can I get you anything while I’m up?”

“Oh, no, I’m okay, thank you.”

“Are you sure? The restaurants are quite far, and I’m already going.”

You bit your lip, and he could see you wanted something despite your hesitation.

“It’s no trouble at all, really,” he gently pressed.

“Okay, if you’re already going. I’ll just have a water too.” He turned to walk away, and you quickly called after him. “Wait! Let me give you some money.”

“Don’t worry about it darling, it’s no big deal.”

You felt your cheeks heat up at his use of the word ‘darling’, but ignored it. It was obviously just a cultural thing. “Are you kidding? These airport water bottles are, like, six bucks. They’re worse than movie theater prices.” He chuckled lightly. “Please take the money, I can’t ask you to do that.”

He sighed, seeing that you were adamant about paying for yourself, and took the bills from your hand. He returned 10 minutes later, two bottles in hand. He handed you your change, and sat back down next to you, chugging most of the bottle immediately.

“So, what were you going to London for?” he asked when he finally came up for air.

“Visiting family for the holidays. My sister moved out there a few years back. Everyone decided they wanted a destination Christmas, so we’re all flying out to her house this year.” You sipped your water slowly as he nodded along. “What about you? Are you flying home or just visiting?”

“I sort of split my time between the states and England. I do a lot of work here, but London is home, so that’s where I spend Christmas.”

You nodded in understanding. Suddenly a thought came to you, and you groaned in frustration. “Oh, crap!”

“What?”

You sighed. “Well, every year since my oldest brother turned 21, my family has had a tradition of playing a drinking game on the first night we get together. It’s sort of a rundown of everything we did throughout the year, like, “drink if you got a new job this year,” or “drink if you went through a breakup.” This was the first year I’d be the right age to drink, and I’m gonna miss it.” You had been talking with your hands, and let them flop into your lap.

“Well, that sucks.” He glanced over at the bar, then shifted in his seat toward you. “Hey, uh…” You looked at him, a bit of mischief in his big, round eyes. “I have an idea.”

Chapter 2

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