#tuft and mortimer

[hamsamwich23]

THE OFFICIAL REFS FOR UNREALITY SCOUT

Trigger warnings for: self harm, experiments, autospys, (heavy) scars + injuries and body horror

Note: a lot of these ideas were inspired and also made with help from my good bud @silent-bull

Scout H Ruckus Is one of the last living felt puppets Riley has created over the years.

She (16) and her brother (Axe, 19), are the only ones who survived Riley's tests and her experiments

Scout was the youngest out of the batch of puppets she was made in, the other four were killed by the time she was eleven. Axe had left days before her 11th birthday but was assumed dead. She was officially the last living puppet child in the warehouse.

She had been used in Riley's experiments, especially after the jaw incident, where she had developed her regenerating abilities days after, and the jaw was fixed…. however it didn't remain the same.

Riley had been yelled at already for the jaw incident, and continued to keep up with the experiments until Scout was twelve, and Mortimer finally stepped in when confronted by Nick with overwhelming evidence of what Riley was doing behind their backs

Scout is currently sixteen in present times, things have. Somewhat gotten better. Her relationship with Daisy and Nick has always been strong and well. And her relationship with Mortimer has improved. Her relationship with Riley is…complicated.

She is happily dating Twenty

Body reference:

Head + Neck:

Scouts mouth is inspired off of this image: (credit to the original artist)

As far as some scars on her jawline from when their jaw was removed, and the stitching for her face and neck that we see in the game, there's really nothing here injury wise. There is a knife cut on the left side of her neck from an incident (it wasn't her fault, but it did nearly cut her head off)

The mouth can also bleed on occasion if it's hurting at the moment for whatever reason. It might LOOK cool to some people but it is, very painful

She has deer ears, they sort of seemed to develop a few years into scout being brought to life (for the second time, shhhhh lore) (ear pattern example by silent-bull)

the left hand is a clawed hand with pitch black fingers, five of them, as shown above The right hand is just her normal puppet hand.

Arms + hands:

The arms are usually covered up, because of what is under them. There are many scars and cuts, new and old, that are all over them. (They're normally covered up by shirt sleeves and/or bandages)

side note that's to be added when her powers are discussed: her regenerating abilities only work when something is REMOVED. like her organs or her arms, or head. If the skin is only injured or pricked, it heals as human skin normally would.

There are scars all over the shoulders as well, but those are easier to hide

Body/Torso:

Scouts body In general is along the lines of being chubby (my own body type), but she's very strong, and she will not hesitate to kick someones ass if necessary.

She's exactly 5 feet tall, and again, will not hesitate to fight someone. Height does not concern them

Due to undergoing many, many dissections and experiments by Riley, her chest, stomach, and lower back are all covered in healed scars, cuts, sewn up stitches from the past

Lucky for scout these all healed up after Riley was stopped from continuing her dissections on them. The stitches were all removed, and so far everything (except for some scars they make themselves), they're all healed. Very visible. But healed.

The only fresh ones showing on her body would be any that Scout had gotten recently. Be it an accident or not ..

She has retractable moth wings.

Scout has a tuft of light blue fuzz/fluff, where the moth wings spread when they are in use (they're retractable.). They spread all over the back of the shoulders, center of the upper back, and a little on the neck. But it's barely visible unless you're behind her. This is where her retractable moth wings are usually hidden.

She also has a deer tail, similar to the ears.

Legs:

Scout has robotic legs and feet that are waterproof, courtesy of Twenty who provided each of the Handeemen with robotic legs. They're very durable as well.

Outfit refs:

The "default" Outfit or information:

A black mask to cover up their mouth in public

Normally wearing a short sleeve shirt or a hoodie, sometimes a shirt with a long sleeve shirt underneath it (the long sleeve shirt is usually black or a dark color), but they wear bandages around their arms whether or not they're wearing long sleeves or not

They love wearing shorts or torn up skinny jeans (because they hate how the pantleg ends of some jeans hang over the shoes (self projecting)

Sneakers

Socks (sometimes)

A moth necklace that was given to them by Twenty

For other outfits:

they focus more on what's comfortable for them to wear and don't usually like wearing anything too complicated or difficult to assemble or put on. They're a fan of hoodies (specifically ones they stole/got from Twenty). They wear feminine and masculine things, but it's mostly darker colors unless stated otherwise. They do mix things up a lot sometimes

Their hair can be styled into whatever they wish, they found out how to make their hair shorter without cutting it (hair accessories/clips), of course the usual pigtails can stay, but it can be styled to be other things as well, as long as it doesn't require very long hair

Random facts!!!:

Scout Is genderfluid and uses he/she/they pronouns, although it usually varies.

She has the ability to make plushies in this au, off of things she's created, or real creatures and people. If you ask her to make you one she would probably do it

She has a lot of artistic talent and hobbies, and she has learned a lot of her skills from Nick himself

Scout is also popular in the YouTube+ gaming community and has her own YouTube channel

She's not as scared of blood as she used to be. Unless it's a huge amount of blood spilled, she's usually fine.

She has ADHD (like me fr)

She has dark magic, magic in general(inherited), it's purple (like the eyes)

Artwork received!

Made by @silent-bull :]

one of my favorites so far: (made by @im-nobodys-drawing-coner (go follow them)

Fanart is also always welcome as long as you check in with me beforehand!

THANK YOU FOR READING AND I APOLOGIZE FOR THE MULTIPLE TAGS N SUCH

[whumpsstuff]

Promt 2 - The Demon and the Angel

In a sight most infernal, a demonic creature stood in their presence. Adorned with a refined and wicked style, their short raven hair sat perfectly groomed with an enflamed tuft of crimson atop. Two jet-black horns of obsidian emerged from their scalp, poised distinctly and sharply, emphasizing the already intimidating outline of the fierce beast. The skin of this demon burned a true scarlet, lustrous and bright, as if lit from within. Two dainty, bat-like wings of onyx clung to its back and twitched with delight. Lastly, its tail was nothing less than spiky and long, evoking feelings of terror and unease in any who had the bad fortune of beholding it.

"My name is Mortimer. Not. Morty!"

He huffed in annoyance staring up at the way taller angel before him. His huge snow-white wings spreaded, making him look bigger and more intimidating. His golden glowing eyes softened looking down at the demonish creature. A warm smile on his face.

"Sorry Morty, i forgot."

The Angel teased with his soft and calm voice as he petted the demon’s head from above. He walked past the beast with a low laugh. Mortimer trully wanted to jump on him and rip his eyes out, but he knew he couldn’t. After all, the angel was way stronger than him and could easily take him down. Mortimer was filled with fury but remained silent as he watched the angel walk away.

[pocket-dragon]

Some leetle dudes

[lawrising-a]

@relicsunk voted : “I wish we knew each other sooner.” ["Better conditions", he breathes it like a sigh, what might have been a proper friendship if not born from this...]

a chill rustles through the carnival town, carrying mortimer's wishful thinking with it. clever eyes avoid contact when the topic arises at first, glued to the sky and watching as nothing ( not a single sign of life outside themselves ) drifts by. chilled hands once warmed shoved into the depths of trenchcoat pockets rather then pronounced on his hip like usual. he considers the words even if they make him want to curl up ; hide someplace far away at the implications. when you're told you're wanted by another, it's typically a sensual feeling. like being touched upon the most tender areas of your soul. to say, essentially, 'i wish i had more time with you' or 'imagine us younger together' is affection at its finest. matthew would know. he's had similar fleeting thoughts his entire life ; trying to fill gaps of a lonely childhood with friends he currently adorns. and he's had said thoughts here too, in a cursed place where he doubts even the smallest wish could come true without some warping. firmly, the detective knows he yearns for life where he had known this group sooner ---- but was mortimer apart of that fantasy?

while tufts of dark hair frames his forehead ( slipping through the gel he applied earlier ) he says something to fill the silence, all in the name of buying more time to consider. “oh, come on, i'm not that extraordinary! you probably would've seen me as a real thorn in you side if we had known each other sooner! i wasn't exactly the most fun.” an almost forlorn glance is casted mortimer's way. “especially not enough for the mayor's son. we probably wouldn't have crossed paths regardless.”

under better circumstances, hm? matthew's eyebrows furrow at the aspect. he tries to conjure up a world where he visited everlock in the summer ; where he was born in the 70s or mortimer reigned in modern times. the neon lights would glare on his yellow lenses like they do now ; but there would be a different kind of feeling in his stomach. jittery nerves from the adrenaline inducing rides, a nausea tingling within from a belly stuffed of greasy food, and butterflies, of course. smitten with everlock's beauty and how easily he could weave between the small crowds gathered around. charmed by the smiles of strangers. it's what he almost felt, hours ago, when everything was still perfect. to the best of his ability, the detective pictuer as flirty as ever ---- hung up on nikita or another one of their plentiful friends that he picks from like a berry bush. an appetizer tray, if you will. matthew almost smiles at the ridiculousness of this other word. maybe they could all sing cheesy songs and claim to be friends forever? was that what the other was creating in his own mind too? or was mat softening the idea too much? probably the latter. wincing, he tunes back into reality. everlock wasn't something pretty nor fun, not some grand town of opportunities.

things die here. his ... his group was dying here ( friends was a bit much, even if he considered them so ). this town is rotten inside out and there's no point in dwelling in it when things can go off the rails any second.

“well, our circumstances aren't great. so let's focus on the task, alright?” he doesn't offer acceptance ... yet. after a couple more beats, mat decides to enable him. just a bit. now that the seed's been planted in his own mind, the detective can't shake it off either. “out of everyone in the group, minus a certain troublemaker, who would you spend hours with at the fair? i-if that was possible!”

there's a few names flicking in his head already.

[sarahwritessirens]

Advice Needed

While I’ve been trying to give out advice about publishing and writing, I’m now in need of some advice.

There’s a short story competition where the grand prize is $20,000. The requirements are a story between 600-2000 words in which the character comes into $20,000 somehow and somewhere in the story is mentioned a little black book. I have two stories I’ve started: the first is a completely original story, the second is based on my story, Hubris.

If anybody that comes across this can take a look at the intros and tell me which one is more interesting, it would be immensely helpful!

Intro #1

I stared at the announcement on the screen, barely aware of the shivers rippling over my skin in the absence of my electricity.

“Congratulations! Your story has been chosen for the $20,000 grand prize!”

I shook my head again, closing my eyes and opening them.

“Your story has been chosen….”

My story.

They chose my story.

But it wasn’t just my story, was it? I had a ghostwriter.

No; a ghost writer. A writer that was an actual ghost.

I read the words again and again, wondering many things, such as how long it would take for my utilities to be restored after I finally paid them, how much money I would get after taxes, or if retaining the help of an incorporeal entity would disqualify me if the judges found out. Though, I’m not sure how one finds out these things. They would have to have access to that strange little black book, and I wasn’t about to show them—or anybody—that thing any time soon.

Speaking of which.

I picked up the book and flipped the pages until I came across the first blank page. I picked up my pen and began writing.

We won.

I waited for a moment. Slowly, black ink dripped like blood spatters in a horror movie until letters formed.

Naturally. Now we build.

Intro #2

The air was warm and sticky, pooling over Allie’s skin, mingling with the sweat from heat and nerves. She watched the shadowy figure—something like an eel made of black smoke with red eyes—slither around her feet.

“Anything I want,” she asked again. “How many ‘anythings?’”

“I can fulfill only one request,” the creature said, drawing out the ‘s’ in ‘request.’

Allie sighed, looking up into the night sky. Gray tufts were creeping along the inky black, promising rains that would help wash away the stickiness of the air.

“I could ask you to help her situation, but her problems wouldn’t be over,” she said. “What if I asked for millions of dollars?”

“The number is too high for your deal. You would have to add more years of service to our pact.”

Allie nodded, as though expecting this.

“Okay, what about $20,000 paid to me. I can give her the money slowly.”

“That would be well within your agreement.”

“Fine,” Allie said. “Fine, $20,000 appears in my bank account and I’ll give up 100 years of work for whatever your kind want.”

The eel floated up as if truly swimming deep in the sea and met her at eye level. She tried not to avert her gaze from the bright red stare in front of her.

Suddenly, she felt a jolt of electricity, followed by a feeling of a heavy burden being removed from her shoulders. She closed her eyes, feeling nauseous at the sudden shift.

When she opened them, the creature vanished, and a man stood in front of her. He was tall and thin with black hair that fell to the nape of his neck and dark blue eyes that looked like they were glowing.

He looked her over for a moment, then pulled out a black book, reading something inside of it.

“Allie Macintosh,” he said in a Southern drawl.

“Yes?”

He looked at her and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you. My name is Mortimer, and I’ll be your new boss for the next 100 years.”

[jnadonza]

“Beaky Buzzard is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. Description Beaky is a lanky buzzard (although he more closely resembles a vulture or condor) with black body feathers and a white tuft around his throat. His neck is long and thin, bending halfway at an enormous adam's apple. His neck and head are featherless, and his beak is large and yellow or orange, depending on the cartoon. Beaky bears a perpetual goofy grin, and his eyes look eternally half-asleep. Production Proto beaky.jpg Beaky's early design Beaky was based on Mortimer Snerd, the popular dimwitted dummy of famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, with Beaky's original voice actor Kent Rogers even managing to mimic Snerd's voice.[2] History The character first appeared in the 1942 cartoon "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid", directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon's plot revolves around the hapless attempts of the brainless buzzard, here called "Killer", to catch Bugs Bunny for his domineering mother back at the nest. Beaky's voice, modeled after ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's character Mortimer Snerd (and similar to that of Cecil Turtle), is provided by voice actor Kent Rogers. Clampett brought the character back in the 1945 film "The Bashful Buzzard", a cartoon that closely mirrors its predecessor, only this time featuring Beaky's hapless hunting without Bugs as an opponent” https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Beaky_Buzzard BUZZARD Design: ? Paper: kraft, triangle 1/2 (30”x 30”) #origami #instaorigami #paperflexn #origamiartist #origamifun #origamilove #origamilover #paperfolding #origamifolding #paperoflexia #paperliscious #paperart #foldingpaper #origamiwork #origamilove #foldoftheday #bird #birds #birdsofinstagram #birdstagram #audobonsociety #audubon #Vulture #beakybuzzard #buzzard #beakybuzzards (at Palmdale, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKhAGgMJpl3/?igshid=s5itv01n9o2y

[southsidemolly]

By God’s Bones, There Has Been Unnatural Fornication in the Palace

This is a rather fascinating story about my 19th Great Grandfather, Edward II, who died a most horrible death due to his love for another man.

Edward II and Piers Gaveston ‘Fair of body and great of strength’, Edward of Caernarfon, England’s first Prince of Wales, was widely welcomed when he came into his inheritance as King Edward II at the age of twenty-three. But as he made his way down the aisle of Westminster Abbey at the end of February 1308 with his young queen Isabella, daughter of the French king Philip IV, all eyes turned to the individual behind him – Piers Gaveston, a young knight from Gascony. The new king had awarded Gaveston pride of place in his coronation procession, bestowing on him the honour of carrying the crown and sword of Edward the Confessor, and Gaveston, in royal purple splashed with pearls, was certainly dressed for the occasion. His finery was such, wrote one chronicler, that ‘he more resembled the god Mars, than an ordinary mortal’. According to the gossips, King Edward was so fond of Gaveston that he had given him the pick of the presents that he had received at his recent wedding to Isabella. The Queen’s relatives went back to France complaining that Edward loved Gaveston more than he loved his wife. Edward’s father, Edward I, the pugnacious ‘Hammer of the Scots’, had been infuriated by his son’s closeness to the flamboyant young Gascon. The old king had made Gaveston, the son of a trusted knight, a ward in the prince’s household, but there were complaints that the two men got up to mischief together, frequenting taverns and running up debts. On Edward I’s last unsuccessful campaign against the Scots in Carlisle in the winter of 1306–7, the prince had suggested giving Gaveston some of the royal estates in France. His father exploded, seizing Edward by the hair and tearing it out in tufts. He ordered Gaveston into exile. On coming to the throne, Edward II’s first concern had been to expedite the return of his friend Piers. When he went off to France to marry Isabella in January 1308, a few weeks before the coronation, he placed Gaveston in charge of England, and, to the fury of just about every baron in the land, he also bestowed on him the rich earldom of Cornwall.  The reckless passion of Edward II for Piers Gaveston ranks as the first of the momentous love affairs that have shaken England’s monarchy over the centuries. Homosexuality was deeply disapproved of in medieval England. It was considered by many a form of heresy – a ticket to hell – though there is enough evidence to make it clear that many a monk and priest might have been seen at the ticket barrier. ‘The sin against nature’ was usually referred to indirectly, with comparisons to the Old Testament love of King David for Jonathan – ‘a love beyond the love of women’. When writing specifically of Edward’s love for Gaveston, the chroniclers of the time would call it ‘excessive’, ‘immoderate’, ‘beyond measure and reason’. But one source referred directly to a rumour going around England that ‘the King loved an evil male sorcerer more than he did his wife, a most handsome lady and a very beautiful woman’. It should be stressed that the details of Edward’s physical relationship with Gaveston are as unknowable as those of any other royal bedchamber, and we should not forget that the King had four children by Isabella. It has even been argued that the two men were totally chaste, cultivating their relationship as devoted ‘brothers’. Certainly, none of this would have been an issue if Edward had not allowed his private affections to intrude so fiercely into his public role. Other kings had no problems with same-sex relationships. It is generally assumed that William Rufus (who ruled from 1087 to 1100) was gay – he produced no children and kept no mistresses – and the same has been said of Richard Coeur de Lion, though this is hotly denied by recent biographers. Whatever their predilections, these monarchs did not allow their private passions to impinge on their royal style or, more important, to influence their decisions when it came to handing out land and other largesse. Edward II, however, displayed an assortment of characteristics that were viewed as unkingly. For a start, he dressed like his friend Piers, a little too extravagantly. He enjoyed the unusual sport of swimming and also rowing, which was considered demeaning – kings traditionally showed their power by getting others to row them. He kept a camel in his stables. He pursued a whole range of ‘common’ pursuits such as digging, thatching, building walls and hedges, and he enjoyed hammering away at the anvil like a blacksmith. Nowadays England might welcome a DIY king, but in the fourteenth century such activities, not to mention the pleasure Edward took in hobnobbing with grooms and ploughmen, were considered abnormal.  The major grievance, however, was the disproportionate favour that Edward showed Piers Gaveston. When the barons in Parliament called for the exile of the favourite, Edward’s response was to endow him with still more castles and manors. He did agree, reluctantly, that Gaveston should go over to Ireland for a while as his representative, but he was clearly unhinged by his departure. The King took his entire household to Bristol to wave Gaveston off and pined for him in his absence, getting personally involved in such petty problems as the punishment of trespassers on Gaveston’s property on the Isle of Wight.  When, in an attempt to curb the King’s aberrations, Parliament presented him with a set of ‘Ordinances’ in 1311, along the lines of Simon de Montfort’s Provisions of Oxford, Edward took the extraordinary step of offering to agree to any restriction on his own powers provided that his favourite was in no way affected. The muscular Gaveston did not make things any easier. He took delight in defeating the barons in jousts and tournaments, and then rubbed salt in their wounds by mimicking his critics and giving them derisive nicknames. The Earl of Gloucester was ‘*****son’, Leicester was ‘the fiddler’, and Warwick the ‘black hound of Arden’. ‘Let him call me“hound”,’ the earl exclaimed. ‘One day the hound will bite him.’ As approved by Parliament and reluctantly agreed by the King, the Ordinances of 1311 imposed stringent controls on royal power. Building on Magna Carta and the Provisions of Oxford, championed by Simon de Montfort, it was now laid down that the King could not leave the kingdom without the consent of the barons, and that parliaments must be held at least once or twice a year and in a convenient place. Clearly, the immediate purpose of the Ordinances was to deal with Gaveston, who was promptly sent out of the country for a second time. But he sneaked quietly back, and by the end of November there were reports of the favourite ‘hiding and wandering from place to place in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset’. That Christmas he appeared openly at Edward’s side at Windsor. For the indignant barons, this act of defiance was the last straw. Using the authority of the Ordinances, they summoned troops, while Edward and Gaveston headed north to rally forces of their own. Cornered at Newcastle, they managed to escape, Edward to York and Gaveston to Scarborough, where the barons besieged him. Lacking supplies, Gaveston surrendered, and under promise of safe conduct he was escorted south. But just beyond Banbury the party was ambushed by the Earl of Warwick, who whisked the favourite back to his castle and delivered the promised ‘bite’. On 19 June 1312, Piers Gaveston was beheaded at Blacklow Hill on the road between Warwick and Kenilworth. The killing of Edward II’s beloved ‘brother’ devastated the King and prompted a backlash of sympathy in his favour. But two years later, finally doing what a king was supposed to do and leading his army north against Scotland, Edward was heavily defeated between Edinburgh and Sterling in June 1314. Robert the Bruce’s brave and cunning victory at Bannockburn is one of the great tales of Scottish history, but in England its consequence was a massive further blow to Edward’s authority. Early in 1316 at the Parliament of Lincoln, the King humbly agreed to hand over the running of the country to the barons.  The trouble was that Edward had found himself another Gaveston. Hugh Despenser was an ambitious young courtier whose father, also named Hugh, had been an adviser and official to Edward I and still wielded considerable power. The Despensers came from the Welsh borders or Marches, and they used their influence shamelessly to extend their lands. Once again the barons found themselves rallying together to restrict the power of a royal familiaris – a favourite – and this time a new element came into play. In 1325 Edward’s long-suffering wife Isabella seized the chance of a journey to France to take a stand against the husband who had humiliated her, first with Gaveston and now with the younger Despenser. She took a lover, Roger Mortimer, another powerful Welsh Marcher lord, who had taken up arms against the King and the Despensers in 1322, and who, after being imprisoned in the Tower of London, had been lucky to escape to France with his life. When Mortimer and Isabella landed in England in 1326, they had only a few hundred men, but they held a trump card – Isabella’s elder son by Edward, the thirteen-year-old Prince Edward. As heir to the throne, the boy represented some sort of hope for the future, and London welcomed the Queen, whose cause, according to one chronicler, was supported by ‘the whole community of the realm’. In a widespread uprising, the hated Despensers were tracked down and executed – in the case of Edward’s favourite, at the top of a ladder in Hereford, where his genitals were hacked off and burned in front of his eyes. England now set about doing something it had never attempted before – the deposition of a king by legal process. Prelates prepared the way. Early in January, the Bishop of Hereford preached to a clamorous London congregation on the text ‘a foolish king shall ruin his people’, and a parliament of bishops, barons, judges, knights and burgesses was convened in Westminster. Preaching to them on 15 January 1327, the Archbishop of Canterbury took as his text ‘Vox populi, Vox dei’ – ‘The voice of the people is the voice of God.’ By the unanimous consent of all the lords, clergy and people, h e announced, King Edward II was deposed from his royal dignity, ‘never more to govern the people of England’, and he would be succeeded by his first-born son, the Lord Edward. So Edward III would be the first English monarch appointed by a popular decision in Parliament.  It remained to break the news to the King himself, then imprisoned at Kenilworth Castle, and a deputation of lords, churchmen, knights and townsfolk set off forthwith for the Midlands. Dramatically clad in black, Edward half fainted as he heard William Trussell, a Lancastrian knight, read out the verdict of the whole Parliament. It grieved him, he said in response, that his people should be so exasperated with him as to wish to reject his rule, but he would bow to their will, since his son was being accepted in his place. Next day Trussell, on behalf of the whole kingdom, renounced all homage and allegiance to Edward of Caernarfon, and the steward of the royal household broke his staff of office, as if the King had died. The deputation returned to Parliament and the new reign was declared on 25 January 1327. Now formally a non-king, Edward was imprisoned in the forlorn and ponderous Berkeley Castle overlooking the River Severn just north of Bristol. It is possible that, with time, his imprisonment might have been eased so as to allow him to potter around the grounds, digging his beloved ditches and hammering out a horseshoe or two. But in the space of just a few months there were two attempts to rescue him, and the Queen’s lover, Mortimer, decided that he was too dangerous to be left alive. In September 1327 a messenger took instructions down to Berkeley, and two weeks later it was announced that Edward of Caernarfon, only forty-three and of previously robust health, was dead. Abbots, knights and burgesses were brought from Bristol and Gloucester to view the body, and they reported seeing no visible marks of violence. Edward had had ‘internal trouble’ during the night, they were informed.  But in the village of Berkeley, tales were told of hideous screams ringing out from the castle on the night of 21 September, and some years later one John Trevisa, who had been a boy at the time, revealed what had actually happened. Trevisa had grown up to take holy orders and become chaplain and confessor to the King’s jailer, Thomas, Lord Berkeley, so he was well placed to solve the mystery. There were no marks of illness or violence to the King’s body, he wrote, because Edward was killed ‘with a hoote brooche [meat-roasting spit] putte thro the secret place posterialle’. ****************************** From "Great Tales of English History", by Robert Lacey Robert Lacey

[bagdyernoke]

Sackler family - Wikipedia

The Sackler family has made a name as philanthropists and supported major cultural institutions, including the Jewish Museum (Manhattan); Metropolitan Museum of Art; the American Museum of Natural History; the Guggenheim; the Smithsonian; the Tate Gallery; the National Gallery; the Natural History Museum, London; the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; the British Museum; Shakespeare's Globe; the Serpentine Galleries; and the Louvre.

The family also supported universities, including Harvard University, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Columbia University, Tufts University, New York University, the Royal College of Art, the University of Sussex, and the University of Edinburgh. The Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University is named after Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler for their donations. Similarly, the Sackler Institute of Pulmonary Pharmacology at King's College London was named after Mortimer and Theresa Sackler.

The Sackler family name, as used in institutions which the family have donated to, saw increased scrutiny in the late 2010s over the family's association with OxyContin. David Crow, writing in the Financial Times, described the family name as "tainted" (cf. Tainted donors). In March 2019, the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate galleries announced that they would not accept further donations from the family. This came after the American photographer Nan Goldin threatened to withdraw a planned retrospective of her work in the National Portrait Gallery if the gallery accepted a £1 million donation from a Sackler fund. In June 2019, NYU Langone Medical Center announced they will no longer be accepting donations from the Sacklers, but have yet to change the name of the Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. Later in 2019, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, each announced they will not accept future donations from any Sacklers that were involved in Purdue Pharma.

On July 1, 2019, Nan Goldin, an American photographer, the founder of P.A.I.N.,[34] led a small groups of protesters who unfurled a banner "Take down the Sackler name" against the backdrop of the Louvre's glass pyramid. According to The New York Times, the Louvre in Paris was the first major museum to "erase its public association" with the Sackler family name. On July 16, 2019 the museum had removed the plaque at the gallery entrance about Sacklers’ donations made to the museum. Throughout the gallery, grey tape covered signs such as Sackler Wing, including signage for the Louvre's Persian and Levantine artifacts collection, which was removed on July 8 or 9. Signage for the collection had identified it as the Sackler Wing of Oriental Antiquities since 1997.

[mcrtimersmith]

Memory 1

A head peaks up over the back of the couch, eyes scanning the length of the living room for any signs of life. Although, ASIDE from the sleeping dinosaur on the couch, it appeared that no one was there besides dear Mortimer and Dante. With a tantalizing smile, Mortimer crawls over the back of the couch like some weird bug, startling the little Velociraptor out of whatever dream he was having. Continuing his path, Mortimer crawls right up to the television and opens up the DVD player.

It was only days like this, when no one was home, that Mortimer would return to the memories that NO ONE else knew about. It didn’t matter on IMPORTANCE, but each of these little disks were still APART of him. Every now and again, Mortimer would FORGET them; they were memories after all, so he just started SAVING them. Every memory, either important or not so, was downloaded to a disc to be viewed at a later date.

There were some from long before he even MET his First Rick to the more recent ones.

The current disc reflected in his hands, shining back at him with a little bit of rubbed out MARKER. It wasn’t too old. Probably before he’s yet to meet any of the family members. A quick check of the back proved his hypothesis to be correct. Still, Mortimer tucked the disk away into the DVD, hurrying back to the couch, where the Raptor immediately curled up against him, rumbling contentedly.

The screen was black for a little bit, before color BURST from the screen-

“It just seems useless to me. Those Government Types don’t EVER change.” Mortimer’s voice came clear through the screen, yet he was nowhere to be seen. “Then again....Ricks don’t ever change either, do they?”

Partnerships never lasted long with him.

THIS was no exception.

“Y-YOU’RE A PIECE OF SHIT MORTY! A REAL-” A gunshot cut the Rick off; the body tipping forward in the seat he was tied to. Mortimer didn’t even have to raise a gun. The aliens that he stood with laughed and jeered at the corpse. They’d have the power to travel time! They could make their escape! They could leave this planet! They could-

Here was where Mortimer’s arm shot up, planting a few BULLETS through their craniums before anything MORE could happen. There wouldn’t be MUCH good to go around if there were a bunch of hired SCUM of the galaxies running around without restraint. Another Rick done. Finished.

Sniffing, Mortimer heads towards the bodies, ducking down to SMEAR their blood across his hands, his face, his CLOTHES. There was only a certain amount of time NEEDED before the Council of Ricks picked up on another death of a Rick.

By the time the portal opened and a horde of guards stepped out, Mortimer had buried himself into the far corner of the room, shaking, trembling, CRYING. While half of them went to gather the body, BURN the evidence, two guards, one with a TUFT of hair that stuck out haphazardly from the rest of his hair and another with an awful looking mullet approached him, taking the gun from his SHAKING hands and helping him stand.

“You did the best you could.”

“We gotta get you back...hurry now.”

Mortimer doesn’t say anything. He lets them BELIEVE that the trauma got him. Whispered words came past his ears. ‘This is the fifth time it’s happened.’ ‘He’s got to just be insanely unlucky...’ ‘is it worth traumatizing him even more?’ Was it worth it? No matter what HAPPENED, no matter who Mortimer was ASSIGNED to, they’d all end up DEAD one way or another. He wasn’t going to keep a Rick alive for longer than he NEEDED to.

Eventually, they’ll just send him to MortyTown to ROT.

But, until then, it was all just a game to him. And he was always the WINNER after all.

                                                                   -----------------------------

Mortimer’s head PERKS up as he hears the back door open. Shit. Had Merty been here the entire time? He nudges Dante off his lap, scrambling towards the DVD player to remove the disk as quickly as possible WITHOUT damaging the disk in the process.

Merty would find Mortimer a second later, laying on the couch, pinned underneath a cuddly and lovable dinosaur. As if he never even WATCHED the video in the first place.

[edsenger]

The Evolving Role of Patient Influencers in Pharma Marketing

If the last year is any indication, the buzz surrounding influencer marketing is only going to grow in 2019. According to a report by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), 65% of global brands are planning to increase their spending on influencer marketing in the coming year, with two key goals top of mind: boosting brand awareness (86%) and improving brand advocacy (69%).

Pick any consumer-driven industry and you’ll find marketers scouring the web for brand champions who appear to be bona fide micro-influencers. More and more brands are forgoing high-priced and high-maintenance celebrity influencers for people with fewer followers but a higher degree of trust.

From clothes to cars, when it comes to things we buy, the power of micro-influencers is real. A study by Collective Bias found that 60% of consumers said their purchasing decisions were influenced by a social media or blog post written by a trusted peer.

The emphasis on influencer marketing makes sense. When well-executed, these campaigns can have a big impact on ROI and brand awareness. In “The State of Influencer Marketing” report by Linqia, nine out of ten marketers who used influencer marketing said they found it effective.

  It’s the trust factor, stupid

With trust as the fulcrum upon which influencer marketing campaigns succeed, it should be of little surprise that marketers in the pharmaceutical industry want in.

In survey after survey, consumers place pharma just a notch above big oil and big tobacco on their list of least-trusted industries. And that’s after the industry spends nearly $6 billion dollars annually to get people to, as they say, “talk to your doctor about whether this drug is right for you.” Even then, only nine percent of consumers believe pharma companies “put patients over profits.”

This is a stubborn PR problem for pharma – one that makes marketing of new drugs a bigger challenge. It also undermines other important initiatives whose success hinges on trusted engagement, such as clinical trial recruitment or adoption of new tools designed to bolster medication adherence.

These challenges keep pharma executives up at night – and their marketing teams scrambling. Low levels of trust translate into low levels of patient engagement.

Patient influencers are allies who can help. They are trusted intermediaries that other patients look to for information, guidance, and support.

In fact, trust is the glue that binds influencers to their followers. Our research reveals that when health information is shared by a trusted patient influencer, nine out of ten of their followers are likely to ask their physician about the information.

For some industry observers, that degree of influence among patients is a double-edged sword. In their eyes, it raises thorny questions about whether influencer marketing in healthcare could have unintended consequences.

  Taking a closer look

In an article on Biospace.com, Sasha Mortimer wrote that skeptics of influencer marketing include doctors and researchers who see an inherent conflict of interest if patient influencers are paid by drug companies. “It is possible,” Mortimer writes, “that some of these social media influencers could end up blindly advertising products just so that they can be paid, without thinking about the kinds of damage that they could cause to the people who end up listening to them.”

The article highlighted WEGO Health’s work with patient influencers and noted the growing number of pharmaceutical companies that hire us to execute these campaigns. And it raised questions as to whether the use of patient influencers should be of concern not just to other patients, but to the industry as a whole.

We think scrutiny of these programs is healthy. Sunlight is a powerful disinfectant, and questions about the implications of influencer marketing are fair game in an industry that can affect a person’s health and wellbeing.

That said, we also think it’s important to share what we’ve learned, based on our experience facilitating collaboration between hundreds of patient influencers and many of the world’s largest pharma companies. There are misconceptions out there, especially in relation to the role patient influencers play in the life sciences industry.

  Questions of safety and safeguards

Some brief context may be helpful here.

Long before influencer marketing became a thing, pharma companies began working with patients as brand ambassadors. The reason was simple. As patients got more informed, more engaged, and more connected through social media, brand marketers and their agency partners saw that many were openly sharing their stories with their peers. These were patients who talked about all aspects of their health journey – challenges getting a proper diagnosis, discovering new treatment options, which medications they liked, and more.

Because these patients were open about their experience and passionate about helping others, it stood to reason that some would make outstanding brand ambassadors. Pharma marketers rightly discovered new opportunities to learn from these patient leaders. Some enlisted their help connecting with the broader patient community.

Today, patient ambassadors are a staple of pharma companies looking to improve engagement with consumers. It’s widely understood – both inside and outside the industry – that ambassadors are authentic brand advocates who are genuinely grateful for medications or therapies that have changed, or in some cases saved, their lives.

Few suggest that it’s wrong for patient ambassadors to share their positive experiences with others. But some argue that a line gets crossed when they are paid to do so. “There’s a myriad of ethical issues around this,” said Lisa Gualtieri, an assistant professor at Tufts’ School of Medicine, in a piece written by Kate Sheridan for STAT. “What’s the responsibility of various stakeholders to educate people that this is potentially dangerous and harmful?”

  “I would rather be honest with my readers and share both the good and the bad than to be swayed by compensation. I am upfront with brands and tell them I will write my honest opinion as well as disclose any payment or free products.” – Erin Smith, Celiac Patient Influencer

  In our experience, patient influencers take this responsibility seriously. Erin Smith, a leading patient influencer in the celiac community, wrote on Facebook, “I would rather be honest with my readers and share both the good and the bad than to be swayed by compensation. I am upfront with brands and tell them I will write my honest opinion as well as disclose any payment or free products.”

This sentiment was echoed by Kat Leena, a patient influencer in the gastroparesis community. “I have never accepted anything that doesn’t align with my values and have built my reputation on that. The patients trust me…so I don’t compromise on it.”

Other safeguards exist to ensure transparency. The Federal Trade Commission requires that influencers disclose when they are being paid for their endorsement. Similarly, if an influencer endorses an FDA-approved drug, they are required to provide a link to information about the approved indications and the risks.

  “I have never accepted anything that doesn’t align with my values and have built my reputation on that. The patients trust me…so I don’t compromise on it.”

– Kat Leena, Gastroparesis Patient Influencer

  The ultimate safeguard, of course, is the doctor. Unlike virtually every other consumer product, the patient is not at liberty to simply purchase on a whim any new drug or device they may have just learned about through a peer.

There are limits to what even the most persuasive patient influencer can possibly do in an industry as highly regulated as healthcare. If one of their followers believes they could benefit from a new therapy or treatment option, they have only one choice: Consult a doctor.

  Sharing over selling

As a practical matter, most life sciences companies we’ve worked with do not hire patient influencers solely to promote a specific drug. Influencers are often enlisted to help with disease awareness campaigns and to educate others about steps they can take to better manage a complex or chronic disease.

For example, one major pharmaceutical company we worked with in 2018 asked patient influencers with a rare disease to encourage their peers to download a resource kit designed to help them better track and manage their symptoms.

The 90-day campaign targeted women in under-served, minority communities who can be difficult to reach through traditional channels. The company hired patient influencers to create educational videos that could be shared on Facebook and Instagram. The campaign drove 1.6 million impressions and more than 240,000 views of patient videos. In the end, from an engagement perspective, the company reported results that were three times better than other channels it had previously used to connect with this patient population.

Forward-thinking brand marketers recognize that asking patients to help them pitch drugs is counter-productive. Instead, they collaborate with influencers to help them reach patients through a voice that is both empathetic and authentic. Patient leaders use their stories and real-world experience to help their peers both understand and cope with their condition. That, in turn, builds brand trust.

Is it reasonable to ask patient influencers to support these pharma initiatives without compensation? In our view the answer is simple: Absolutely not!

Like their counterparts in other industries, patient influencers are right to both request and expect reasonable compensation for the time and effort they put into these initiatives. It typically amounts to somewhere between $300 to $500 per campaign. That amounts to a modest but welcome source of extra income for patients who bear disproportionately high out-of-pocket costs for healthcare.

All of this is not to imply the influencer marketing industry does not need policing. As with any industry, this one requires a high degree of scrutiny to ensure that unethical and risky practices are identified and mitigated. As 2019 unfolds, we’ll continue to educate ourselves and our clients about the influencer ecosystem, with a continued commitment to transparency and accountability.

We will also continue to advocate, as we always have, for the right of patient leaders to request that they be paid for their time, effort, and expertise. That has been the cornerstone of WEGO Health since the company was founded in 2007 and will remain a bedrock commitment going forward.

The post The Evolving Role of Patient Influencers in Pharma Marketing appeared first on WEGO Health.

The Evolving Role of Patient Influencers in Pharma Marketing published first on https://brightendentalhouston.weebly.com/

[jesseneufeld]

The Evolving Role of Patient Influencers in Pharma Marketing

If the last year is any indication, the buzz surrounding influencer marketing is only going to grow in 2019. According to a report by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), 65% of global brands are planning to increase their spending on influencer marketing in the coming year, with two key goals top of mind: boosting brand awareness (86%) and improving brand advocacy (69%).

Pick any consumer-driven industry and you’ll find marketers scouring the web for brand champions who appear to be bona fide micro-influencers. More and more brands are forgoing high-priced and high-maintenance celebrity influencers for people with fewer followers but a higher degree of trust.

From clothes to cars, when it comes to things we buy, the power of micro-influencers is real. A study by Collective Bias found that 60% of consumers said their purchasing decisions were influenced by a social media or blog post written by a trusted peer.

The emphasis on influencer marketing makes sense. When well-executed, these campaigns can have a big impact on ROI and brand awareness. In “The State of Influencer Marketing” report by Linqia, nine out of ten marketers who used influencer marketing said they found it effective.

  It’s the trust factor, stupid

With trust as the fulcrum upon which influencer marketing campaigns succeed, it should be of little surprise that marketers in the pharmaceutical industry want in.

In survey after survey, consumers place pharma just a notch above big oil and big tobacco on their list of least-trusted industries. And that’s after the industry spends nearly $6 billion dollars annually to get people to, as they say, “talk to your doctor about whether this drug is right for you.” Even then, only nine percent of consumers believe pharma companies “put patients over profits.”

This is a stubborn PR problem for pharma – one that makes marketing of new drugs a bigger challenge. It also undermines other important initiatives whose success hinges on trusted engagement, such as clinical trial recruitment or adoption of new tools designed to bolster medication adherence.

These challenges keep pharma executives up at night – and their marketing teams scrambling. Low levels of trust translate into low levels of patient engagement.

Patient influencers are allies who can help. They are trusted intermediaries that other patients look to for information, guidance, and support.

In fact, trust is the glue that binds influencers to their followers. Our research reveals that when health information is shared by a trusted patient influencer, nine out of ten of their followers are likely to ask their physician about the information.

For some industry observers, that degree of influence among patients is a double-edged sword. In their eyes, it raises thorny questions about whether influencer marketing in healthcare could have unintended consequences.

  Taking a closer look

In an article on Biospace.com, Sasha Mortimer wrote that skeptics of influencer marketing include doctors and researchers who see an inherent conflict of interest if patient influencers are paid by drug companies. “It is possible,” Mortimer writes, “that some of these social media influencers could end up blindly advertising products just so that they can be paid, without thinking about the kinds of damage that they could cause to the people who end up listening to them.”

The article highlighted WEGO Health’s work with patient influencers and noted the growing number of pharmaceutical companies that hire us to execute these campaigns. And it raised questions as to whether the use of patient influencers should be of concern not just to other patients, but to the industry as a whole.

We think scrutiny of these programs is healthy. Sunlight is a powerful disinfectant, and questions about the implications of influencer marketing are fair game in an industry that can affect a person’s health and wellbeing.

That said, we also think it’s important to share what we’ve learned, based on our experience facilitating collaboration between hundreds of patient influencers and many of the world’s largest pharma companies. There are misconceptions out there, especially in relation to the role patient influencers play in the life sciences industry.

  Questions of safety and safeguards

Some brief context may be helpful here.

Long before influencer marketing became a thing, pharma companies began working with patients as brand ambassadors. The reason was simple. As patients got more informed, more engaged, and more connected through social media, brand marketers and their agency partners saw that many were openly sharing their stories with their peers. These were patients who talked about all aspects of their health journey – challenges getting a proper diagnosis, discovering new treatment options, which medications they liked, and more.

Because these patients were open about their experience and passionate about helping others, it stood to reason that some would make outstanding brand ambassadors. Pharma marketers rightly discovered new opportunities to learn from these patient leaders. Some enlisted their help connecting with the broader patient community.

Today, patient ambassadors are a staple of pharma companies looking to improve engagement with consumers. It’s widely understood – both inside and outside the industry – that ambassadors are authentic brand advocates who are genuinely grateful for medications or therapies that have changed, or in some cases saved, their lives.

Few suggest that it’s wrong for patient ambassadors to share their positive experiences with others. But some argue that a line gets crossed when they are paid to do so. “There’s a myriad of ethical issues around this,” said Lisa Gualtieri, an assistant professor at Tufts’ School of Medicine, in a piece written by Kate Sheridan for STAT. “What’s the responsibility of various stakeholders to educate people that this is potentially dangerous and harmful?”

  “I would rather be honest with my readers and share both the good and the bad than to be swayed by compensation. I am upfront with brands and tell them I will write my honest opinion as well as disclose any payment or free products.” – Erin Smith, Celiac Patient Influencer

  In our experience, patient influencers take this responsibility seriously. Erin Smith, a leading patient influencer in the celiac community, wrote on Facebook, “I would rather be honest with my readers and share both the good and the bad than to be swayed by compensation. I am upfront with brands and tell them I will write my honest opinion as well as disclose any payment or free products.”

This sentiment was echoed by Kat Leena, a patient influencer in the gastroparesis community. “I have never accepted anything that doesn’t align with my values and have built my reputation on that. The patients trust me…so I don’t compromise on it.”

Other safeguards exist to ensure transparency. The Federal Trade Commission requires that influencers disclose when they are being paid for their endorsement. Similarly, if an influencer endorses an FDA-approved drug, they are required to provide a link to information about the approved indications and the risks.

  “I have never accepted anything that doesn’t align with my values and have built my reputation on that. The patients trust me…so I don’t compromise on it.”

– Kat Leena, Gastroparesis Patient Influencer

  The ultimate safeguard, of course, is the doctor. Unlike virtually every other consumer product, the patient is not at liberty to simply purchase on a whim any new drug or device they may have just learned about through a peer.

There are limits to what even the most persuasive patient influencer can possibly do in an industry as highly regulated as healthcare. If one of their followers believes they could benefit from a new therapy or treatment option, they have only one choice: Consult a doctor.

  Sharing over selling

As a practical matter, most life sciences companies we’ve worked with do not hire patient influencers solely to promote a specific drug. Influencers are often enlisted to help with disease awareness campaigns and to educate others about steps they can take to better manage a complex or chronic disease.

For example, one major pharmaceutical company we worked with in 2018 asked patient influencers with a rare disease to encourage their peers to download a resource kit designed to help them better track and manage their symptoms.

The 90-day campaign targeted women in under-served, minority communities who can be difficult to reach through traditional channels. The company hired patient influencers to create educational videos that could be shared on Facebook and Instagram. The campaign drove 1.6 million impressions and more than 240,000 views of patient videos. In the end, from an engagement perspective, the company reported results that were three times better than other channels it had previously used to connect with this patient population.

Forward-thinking brand marketers recognize that asking patients to help them pitch drugs is counter-productive. Instead, they collaborate with influencers to help them reach patients through a voice that is both empathetic and authentic. Patient leaders use their stories and real-world experience to help their peers both understand and cope with their condition. That, in turn, builds brand trust.

Is it reasonable to ask patient influencers to support these pharma initiatives without compensation? In our view the answer is simple: Absolutely not!

Like their counterparts in other industries, patient influencers are right to both request and expect reasonable compensation for the time and effort they put into these initiatives. It typically amounts to somewhere between $300 to $500 per campaign. That amounts to a modest but welcome source of extra income for patients who bear disproportionately high out-of-pocket costs for healthcare.

All of this is not to imply the influencer marketing industry does not need policing. As with any industry, this one requires a high degree of scrutiny to ensure that unethical and risky practices are identified and mitigated. As 2019 unfolds, we’ll continue to educate ourselves and our clients about the influencer ecosystem, with a continued commitment to transparency and accountability.

We will also continue to advocate, as we always have, for the right of patient leaders to request that they be paid for their time, effort, and expertise. That has been the cornerstone of WEGO Health since the company was founded in 2007 and will remain a bedrock commitment going forward.

The post The Evolving Role of Patient Influencers in Pharma Marketing appeared first on WEGO Health.

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