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localcactushugger · 4 years ago

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Is anyone else amazed that Hawks was only "undercover" with the Leauge for 6 months at the most.

Not only that, one and a half of those 6 months were spent just trying to gain enough trust to infiltrate.

I know it seems like much longer since Hawks made his Manga debut 2 years ago. But he had such a short amount of time on this mission. Hawks was introduced in the manga with his role being the "double agent". We literally have not seen Hawks outside of his "spy" role. Even when he is interacting with other characters outside of the Leauge, his "mission" is still happening in the background.

It seems Hawks made contact with Dabi right before the Hero Billboard chart, this is when he starts trying to infiltrate. His interaction with Dabi in the warehouse begins immediately after Endeavors fight with High-End:

During this time, Dabi is testing out a High-End Nomu for doctor Ujiko. Which means by the time Endeavor fights High-End, the My Villain Academia arc is already happening. Hawks is assumed to be one of the "members" Dabi is trying to recruit:

The Leauge has already made contact with doctor Ujiko, and the Doctor sends Dabi to test his High-End Nomu out on Endeavor (even though Dabi didn't know it would be Endeavor) while the rest of the Leauge battle Machia. At the time, Dabi still doesn't trust Hawks at all and he keeps the hero at arms length. While Dabi and Hawks are sharing ominous phone calls, the Leauge is hauling ass and it take's Shigiraki a month and a half to finally beat Machia. (The MLA is "defeated" too):

After a month and a half of phone calls (while the Leauge gets their asses handed to them by Machia in the background) Hawks is finally allowed into the Leauge when the battle of Dekia City is finally over. Dabi let's him in because Hawks "kills" Best Jeanist.

But there's a problem. By the time Hawks is let in, The Leagues numbers have drastically increased. They have an army at their side, multiple High-End nomu, and are now called the MLA:

Hawks blames himself, saying that he was "too late". That so many civilians would be alive now if he had been faster. He couldn't round up the Leauge when they were a small group, and now they have an army. A powerful one:

He's in too deep now. And you can see the stress on his face. I bet he never expected to be part of an army. He was simply tasked to round up the Leauge members while they were a small group, but the MLA was completely unexpected. Still, he decides to improvise and do the best he can with the shitty cards he's been dealt. It's not like he has another option at this point.

So he slips a coded message to Endeavor ASAP. Basically saying "yo, in four months shits about to go down. Ttyl I'll keep you posted lol". He can't tell the guy in person now, because to make things harder, he has camera's on his wings. (and even though he's being watched by camera's, he also gets followed by guards at the mansion):

After Hawks relays the massge, he stroles around the mansion with his bodyguard and heads towards the cafeteria. With a little eavesdropping (courtesy of his feathers) he also finds out that the Leauges plan is to "Destroy Everything" in four months:

After he relays the massage to Endeavor, he listens to the Leauges plans of destruction as his thoughts run a thousand M.P.H.

Because now "capture the Leauge" has turned into "Holy shit I now only have 4 months to take down a full fledged terrorist organization/army from the inside-out by myself while I'm being monitored 24/7 with absolutely no privacy & also a full time job as a hero + a public image to maintain. And I can only contact my fellow pro's about this mission through code because if the villains find out I'm a double agent I could be killed and Japan could be destroyed. Also some heros have even joined the MLA so who on my own side can I trust? Only a select specific few for now I guess."

If you thought things couldn't get worse your wrong.

Because around 2 months before the raid Hawks' heart (that wants to be free & has a genuine desire to help people) takes shit a bit too far when it makes him get attached to a certain powerful villain.

Hawks quckily finds out that Twice is easily the second most powerful villain in the Leauge after Shigiraki. He's an S ranked villain and he'll kick your ass with the power of friendship anyday. He's a great guy, but him and the Leauge are still planning on doing horrible things within the next 2 months. Twice is going along with it because he wants to stick by his friends, which y'know, is a cool motive. But considering that fact that the people Hawks is trying to protect ALSO have friends, and family's, this makes shit difficult and sends Hawks on some major guilt trips. (I would show all the panels of Hawks sadly smiling as Twice calls him a "good guy", but alas- Tumblr has informed me that I've reached my 10 image per post limit)

And tbh who wouldn't feel bad about suddenly getting attached to such a golden retriever of a man and then realizing you'll have to double-cross him at some point! I'm not surprised Hawks would feel this way, especially considering the fact that he never wanted to take on this mission in the first place.

Hawks is very much a people person, and he HATES lying even when he has no other option. This is a man who got "shivers up his spine" when he had to put on a serious face while handing Endeavor a book with coded messages inside. He literally felt icky and thought "this is low even for me" just because he had to use a deadly expression so that Endeavor would get the gist.

And when the Commission made their "proposal" about this mission, Hawks' first reaction was to call them out on their B.S. for asking him to put civilian lives at risk. He even admitted that he was feeling bad about sending Tokoyami away while talking to Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo. Hawks felt guilty about not being able to spend more time with his student, but considering that things with the MLA were starting to get riskier, and that Hawks literally handed Endeavor a book with a coded message inside about an uprising 2 seconds later, I can see why he wouldn't want to risk Tokoyami being around him. The fact that the camera's on Hawks' wings caught his interactions with Endeavor & the students also makes the creep‐factor worse. The MLA saw everything AND talked about it in a meeting later. Continuing to train with Tokoyami would put him at risk.

I love the complexity of Hawks' character, he's incredibly intelligent, logical, and intuitive. But at the same time throughout this entire mission his heart is constantly battling with his mind. Even when he knows he has to grit his teeth and do something shifty, his heart never fails to put up a fight with his logistics. Honestly it's been a pattern for a while that Hawks' sympathy always "Trips him up" in some way, so idk why I didn't see it coming around to bite him in the ass later.

(Tbh it's hard for me to see Hawks as a this super "Morally Gray" person that the fandom likes to paint him as because of a mission that he only spent 6 months on. I personally, kinda see Hawks as a "good person" who works for a "morally gray" agency. But that's a whole different meta)

Basically, Hawks getting attached to Twice wasn't a surprise. But considering how powerful Twice was, along with his role in the League's destructive plans (He was a lieutenant in one of the MLA's "Units") the discourse going on in Hawks' mind makes sense. By this point Hawks has already figured out all of the MLA's "Units" along with the three "bosses" that support the lieutenants of those "Units". It's noted that those "bosses" are extremely powerful and can match the strength of the heros as well. It took Hawks an entire month just to figure out all of the "Units" members. (I would show the panels explaining all of this but I'm at my photo limit)

All of these members were tasked to follow their lieutenants and bosses, and the plan was to attack all of Japans major cities at the same time. Once the cities were destroyed and chaos had set in, Redestro and feel good inc. Would distribute support items to the remaining citizens in the name of "self-defense". It would create a country full of discourse and destruction where Redestro and Feel good inc. Would rule from the shadows. But Shigiraki would be the main leader. He would become "king" and sit upon a "throne of rubble". (At least this was the MLA's plan, Shigiraki himself just kinda wants to destroy everything. But I suppose this would make things easier for him to do that.)

needless to say, the stakes have been upped excessively. But it took Hawks an entire month to gather this info.

This post is honestly just me marveling at what an M.V.P Hawks is

My guy literally only had 4 months to take down an entire terrorist organization for the inside-out. AND he was being monitored during that entire time. He figured out the MLA's intentions within the first month of being there. And it took him another full month to go into detail and figure out all the members, bosses, and lieutenants, for each of their "Units". Hawks even went as far as to immerse himself in the MLA's ideology, and he had in-depth discussions with the MLA's members. HELL HE EVEN FAKED HIS CO-WORKERS DEATH JUST TO GET IN.

AND HE PRETTY MUCH IMPROVISED ALL OF THIS SHIT!!! The original plan was to capture the Leauge when they were a small group! But by the time Hawks managed to infiltrate, The Leauge already had an army! They were a full-blown organization! And Hawks just kinda rolled with it??? He just kinda bullshitted his way through??

Like, "okay I'm now apart of an army I guess. The Leauge is now an entire organization and they're planning on destroying Japan in March. Let's see how this goes. I'll just have to make this work"???

LIKE HOW THE FUCK IS HE NOT DEAD! WHAT A FUCKING MADLAD

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maddiviner · 4 years ago

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Could studyblogging jumpstart your personal grimoire?

A witch should be a lifelong learner. To practice effective magic, you must grow in new directions at a constant pace. A witch should approach magic with a sense of devotion to their own growth.

I’ve practiced magic and divination for two decades now. The most solid advice I can give? Start journaling. Start keeping a notebook. Start studying.

Witches who keep a notebook record their research and ideas about the Craft. This helps them build a wide repository of knowledge, right there when they need it.

The format and content of my notebooks changed a lot over the years. But they all helped me become the witch I am today. I devoted the bulk of these notebooks to my journey in magic, techniques to try, and lessons learned.

There are few people who haven’t studied. In school, we pore over geometry and classic literature in hot pursuit of elusive high marks. We spent time learning about our interests. Whether that’s witchcraft, philosophy, or astronomy, notes are helpful.

Everyone learns in a different fashion. Still, studying and learning about the world remains with us from our first breath, to the last. My Craft took leaps forward when this dawned on me. I’d always enjoyed school. I realized that I could apply the same study techniques to witchcraft and the occult.

What’s studyblogging?!

As a regular user of both Tumblr and Instagram, I soon came across the studyblogging trend.

Caitlyn Tiffany of The Verge describes the studyblogging phenomenon as “a beautiful, stressful wonderland.” An apt description! But what is a studyblog?

Studyblogging hashtags like #studyblr and #studygram are popular (on Tumblr and Instagram, respectively).

For someone just coming across the phenomenon, though? It can be difficult to penetrate this strange world. Expect calligraphic chaos, a plethora of highlighters, and fine-tuned aesthetics.

Studyblogging focuses on the quest for knowledge. In practice, studyblogs share tips and handwritten notes on various subjects. Studybloggers encourage each other to be the best learners they can be.

The photos of notes, assignments, and other tasks make up the bulk of the phenomenon. Studyblogs often feature photos of elaborate calligraphy and heavy illustration in note form.

Expect to see self-made diagrams of mitochondria. Essay outlines on postcolonial theory with nigh-perfect bubble lettering. Vast, illustrated mind-maps of Shakespearean themes. It's a big community, and there's room for a lot. Room for witches? I think so!

Studyblogging for Witches

In witchcraft, our grimoires function much like a non-magical student's study notes. The content, and some of the form, may differ, but the principles are the same.

The quest for an aesthetically-pleasing grimoire stymies many a beginner (and not-so-beginner) witch. The wise remind us that our grimoires needn’t be complex. Functionality is more important than aesthetics in most cases.

That said, there is something worthwhile about keeping a grimoire that suits you. A grimoire can speak to your soul, both by way of aesthetic appeal and your own abilities. For some of us, this might mean a lavishly-illustrated tome. Others might find minimalist styles more resonating. It varies.

The truth is that yes, your grimoire needn’t look a certain way or be perfect. Still, a level of aesthetic appeal can help with information retention. It can also boost your magical productivity. Humans respond in an intuitive fashion to that which they consider beautiful.

Aesthetics can help to put you into a liminal state. Liminality can be a powerful tool in self-improvement. This, in turn, is useful not only for normal studying, but also for the Craft itself.

If you see art as part of your life path, you might find that approaching your grimoire as a work of art helpful. Part of this means realizing that it won’t be perfect, but also always striving to learn and grow.

Studyblogging, as a community, showcases a lot of excellent notebook and journal-keeping techniques. Studybloggers often provide tutorials and guides to effective learning methods.

This is, of course, all while celebrating the joy of learning itself. Traditional studying methods can apply to magical topics. I have found that the techniques of the studyblogger can help with keeping a useful grimoire.

Ask your intuition if studyblogging is right for you!

Will studyblogging help you? For some students, lurking or keeping a studyblog inspires and motivates them. It also increases accountability. By posting their goals and progress, studybloggers have an impetus to progress.

In a way, it’s a bit like livestreaming a video game - it makes the experience more challenging, and also more exciting. The difference, of course, is that, in this case, your game is learning!

And the notes? Many find the calligraphy, fancy scripts, and illustration soothing. It can be a way of making otherwise impenetrable subjects more captivating.

Without a doubt, aesthetic presentation improves information retention for some people. Humans have a positive response to beautiful imagery.

Some folks find the gorgeous landscape of studygram and studyblr overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. Gorgeous calligraphy notes, after all, aren't easy for most people.

For some, posting about your studies on a blog might only increase worry. We're all different, and studyblog techniques are hardly universal in form.

You should use your intuition to decide whether to dip into this community. Ask yourself whether an audience will help your quest for deeper knowledge.

Will you feel empowered, or nervous about it? If you struggle with comparing yourself to others, you might find studyblogging discouraging.

I myself am somewhat of a perfectionist. For me, though, the artistic aspects of note taking and information illustration soothe me. Studyblogging suits me, but will it help you?

You should tailor your learning experience to your own strengths. If that means studyblogging won’t help you, be honest with yourself and don’t chase the anxiety of it all. Find another method of learning.

Browse some existing studyblogs - I recommend EmmaStudies and StudyQuill. Ask yourself how it makes you feel. Do the images and writing seems inspirational?

Would you enjoy sharing your work with the world? Studyblogging might become an ally on your magical path!

Taking the Plunge

So, how do you start a studyblog? How do you get involved in the community?

The most popular studyblogging platforms are Instagram and Tumblr. Instagram lends itself to posting tons of pictures and very short-form posts. Tumblr favors longer prose.

When I started studyblogging, I created both a studyblr and a studygram. I recommend starting a new account on the site of your preference for studyblogging.

Follow some existing studybloggers as a way of introducing yourself to the community! Also, follow the hashtags #studyblr and #studygram, to start.

What to study?

Studyblogging features students focused on all kinds of topics. I’ve been studyblogging for over a year. In case you’re wondering, it's rare for someone to complain about my witchy take on studyblogging.

You’ll find the studyblogging community very welcoming in most cases. But what will you study? I always recommend witches focus on only one or two things they’d most like to learn at a time.

Studyblogging lends itself well to in-depth topical research. This can mean learning the signs and language of astrology or the basics of gemstone magic.

Topics like shadow work or personal Tarot readings might be a bit too personal to blog about. Those might be better suited to normal, private journaling rather than a blog. My own studyblogging tends to focus on my writing preparation, astrology, and Tarot.

Though I’ve been reading for over twenty years, there is always something new to learn about Tarot. Astrology, like Tarot, is a lifelong discipline. Though I’ve only recently made my first steps into it, there is much to learn. My writing, especially the book I’m working on, has its own notebook.

Possible topics include, but are in no way limited to:

Crystals and gemstones

Astrology

Spellcraft

Mythology and legends

Magical history

Energy work techniques

Seasonal and Lunar cycles

Herbology

Tarot, Lenormand, or oracle deck divination!

It is important to choose topics that interest you in a personal way. At the same time, try not to get distracted. Witchcraft includes many paths of study. Try not to jump from topic to topic - finish what you start!

Supplies

If you’re in school, you may already have a lot of the tools necessary for studying. If not, you can get them for an affordable price in most cases.

Paper matters! You'll want a notebook or loose leaf binder paper. For hardbound notebooks, you can’t go wrong with a Leuchtturm 1917. That popular notebook boasts dot grid paper, includes page numbers and a place for an index.

Seeking something more aesthetic? Check out the Paperblanks series from Peter Pauper Press. You might also like the notebooks you can order from Citrus Bookbindery. For me, a binder (I use A5 size) works best, because I can add and remove pages as necessary.

You can find some great guides out there about organizing grimoires. Much of that advice applies here. Your notebooks will soon fill the role of a grimoire. They will contain your notes, research, and more.

It is usually best to have one notebook (or binder) for each subject you’re studying. As you move forward, you’ll have a collection of grimoire notebooks on different topics.

You’ll also need pens or pencils. Really, you only need one. If you feel like getting fancy, you can get multicolored fineliners. I prefer Sakura Micron pens. They use waterproof micropigments that don't bleed when you highlight over your writing.

Highlighters are fun! These add color to your notes and help emphasize the important things. If you want nice highlighters, I recommend Mildliners. Any highlighters will do, though - choose colors that appeal to you. I recommend several different colors, because that allows you to color-code your notes.

Plan!

Plan out, at least in a rough fashion, how you’d like to organize your notes. This can be rather freeform, or complex, depending on your preference.

When I began my astrology journey, I knew what sections I would include in my stars grimoire. I also created a rough map of the path I’d take in my research.

I began with the simple Zodiac signs. I then moved forward through the planets, houses, aspects and transits. My organization, loose though it was, benefited from my use of a binder which allowed me to add and remove pages.

No matter the notebook, it is important to have, somewhere, a rough idea of where you’re going.

You will also find it important to set attainable, realistic, and measurable goals. For me, this was things like memorizing the astrological house system. I set the goal of reading my astrology textbooks completely and summarizing them. This kind of goal leads to personal accountability.

I also created a set of astrological flashcards for my Tarot-related work. It can be motivational to post your goals on your studyblog in some form. Then, you can provide your followers with regular updates on your progress.

Start posting!

Once you feel ready, go ahead and introduce yourself to the studyblogging community! An introductory post, explaining who you are, your goals, and methods, will help others get to know you.

I recommend tagging your posts with studyblogging hashtags (mentioned above). Also include some witchcraft-related tags! This will help you connect with other witches who might be helpful on your journey.

Don’t be shy when it comes to posting photographs (taken with a phone or other camera) of your notes! You might not feel that your notes are as neat or pretty as other bloggers. Regardless, they’re unique and might resonate with others!

If you’re taking notes about a very personal topic, like shadow work, you might want to forgo the pictures. Some bloggers obfuscate or blur potentially sensitive parts of their notes. You’ll likely find nothing but encouragement for sharing your research topics, though!

Some studybloggers will also photograph their study space. Some of us even use photos of fun things like their breakfast or pets to illustrate their updates. If pictures don’t suit you, post regular bits about your life and your progress towards your goals.

Get to know other bloggers! This is important, whether they’re witches or from the studyblogging community. Both can be helpful!

Watch or read some of the tutorials you’ll find in the studyblogging community. These focus on things like calligraphy, organization, and memory techniques.

While your notes needn’t have fancy headings, calligraphy can be fun to learn. I don’t currently use calligraphy in my notes, but am learning it on the side, so to speak.

I find it relaxing, and you might enjoy it too. If not, don't feel bad - not everyone uses fancy handwriting, and that's okay!

Moving Forward

If, after a few weeks, you find yourself really vibing with studyblogging, stick with it! Most witches would agree that there’s no real wrong way to be a witch. To me, though, there are wrong (and right) ways for you yourself to learn and grow in your craft.

You need to find what works for you, what adheres to your soul and keeps you connected. If studyblogging ends up helping you, and I hope it will, keep going!

After a while you might find yourself ready to move onto another topic. We all end up “graduating” forward onto other subjects. You’ll quickly find that your grimoires will be an invaluable record.

They will contain not just your gathered information, but also your intuition, insight, and more. Cherish your notebooks - they will come to reflect your essence!

#magic #witchcraft #witchblr #witch #studyblr #occult #pagan #journal #book of shadows #grimoire #eliza.txt #eliza reads

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infinitypassiveincome · 3 years ago

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SociRobotic Review

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SociRobotic Review – Overview

SociRobotic Review – What is SociRobotic

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SOCIROBOTIC RATING

EASY TO USE

PRICE

FEATURES

QUALITY

SUPPORT

BONUSES

SUMMARY

SociRobotic is a one-of-a-kind social media management suite that generates endless traffic, leads, and sales from over 11 different social media platforms without requiring any special expertise.

OVERALL

Pros

Simple Yet Powerful User Interface

Easy To Use Graphic Ready Made Templates

Emoji Library To Make Your Posts Pop

Track Everything From One Dashboard

Create Amazing Looking Blog Posts

Upload Video and Images To Increase Engagement

Send Email To Multiple Contacts In One Click

Commercial Agency License Included

Cons

So far, there are no downsides for SociRobotic. My experience using SociRobotic has been flawless.

SociRobotic Review – Features and Benefits

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SociRobotic Review – My experience in using it

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MY OPINION:

SociRobotic allows you to add multiple profiles from various platforms and schedule social media updates at your leisure or utilizing a queue with times that you set.

You can configure the listening stream to display whatever profiles/hashtags you desire at any given time. From the news feed, you can reply, assign posts, forward posts, retweet, and retweet with comments.

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Pros and Cons

SociRobotic Review – Pros:

Simple Yet Powerful User Interface

Easy To Use Graphic Ready Made Templates

Emoji Library To Make Your Posts Pop

Track Everything From One Dashboard

Create Amazing Looking Blog Posts

Upload Video and Images To Increase Engagement

Send Email To Multiple Contacts In One Click

Commercial Agency License Included

SociRobotic Review – Cons:

So far, there are no downsides for SociRobotic. My experience using SociRobotic has been flawless.

Price and Evaluation

FE (SociRobotic Pro – $21/$27):

One-Click Posting on Facebook pages, Facebook groups, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest, Telegram and YouTube (plus Reddit) 8 Social Media Platforms

Facebook Group (Admin) & Page Posting

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neon-dynasty · 4 years ago

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Kamigawa was a failed endeavor. Released in the autumn of 2004, Champions of Kamigawa promised some new things for Magic the Gathering, and the return to some old things as well. Most importantly, in my opinion, it showed that Wizards was paying attention to what fans were interested in (outside of Magic) and wanted to provide a way of relating to the fans. However, just about everything they did with the setting and game either couldn’t live up to expectations or outright failed. Here’s why I think the original Kamigawa block failed, and why I think a return would be a resounding success.

This came out much longer than I’d expected, so hit the jump.

For its entire existence up until 2004, most of Magic’s settings were a hodgepodge of fantasy tropes, and the storyline had been following or tying into a single thread for years. Kamigawa was the first setting to truly be free of the ongoing Magic story. Nowadays, however, Magic is known for its settings based on real-world places and cultures. Just this past year, we’ve visited Eldraine (Arthurian Britain), Theros (ancient Greece), and Ikoria (less a real culture and more about giant monster tropes). Back in 2004, however, visiting a clearly defined theme world like this was something that hadn’t been done in a long time. In fact, it’s something the franchise traditionally shied away from. 1996’s Mirage block took place in Jamuura, a continent on Dominaria based on sub-Saharan Africa.1995’s Ice Age was set in a Viking-inspired Terisiare. (You could say that Arabian Nights and Portal Three Kingdoms also count, but those were more wholesale copies than homages.) Based on ancient Japan, Kamigawa was the first herald of a new worldbuilding philosophy for Magic, one that would see the creative team at Wizards of the Coast put their own spin on familiar cultures and mythologies, while still keeping them distinctly their own. Kind of like Disney movies.

The mechanics also promised to shake things up. While I don’t remember any of the card announcements, Kamigawa block introduced many new pieces for the game. Samurai and ninja had their own keyword abilities in bushido and ninjutsu, and most of the sorcery and instant cards dealt with arcane and spirits. Legendary had its own theme as well, with 138 unique creatures (139, if you count the other Yamazaki brother) and 39 other permanents, with a number of cards that cared about the supertype. Finally, there were flip cards, a mechanically and visually interesting way of getting more value out of those creatures and introducing a sort of sidequest to your game.

Kamigawa was gearing up to be something special in Magic. But as I said at the very beginning of this piece, it failed.

The mechanics were kind of a disaster. Splice onto arcane was parasitic and to get any value out of it, you’d need to go all-in on overcosted cards. Bushido, sweep, offering, and most of the rest of the keywords were similarly underwhelming, either providing minuscule value or actively getting in the way of what you wanted to do. Putting the legendary supertype on a card is a downside when Commander doesn’t exist and singleton formats are not a popular way of playing. It doesn’t help that having too many legendary creatures in a set thend to make them feel less special, as well. Flip cards, while cool in theory, wound up being a logistical mess that didn’t add much to the enjoyment of casual games, and barely saw tournament play. All of this meant the cards didn’t really impact Standard, and Limited was a clunky ordeal more often than anyone would have liked. Following Mirrodin block, the most powerful three sets since Urza’s block, was also a tall order, and one that almost no set was equipped to fulfill.

Admittedly, while I love the card game, I absolutely adore everything else about Magic. The storyline intrigued me when I started playing during Onslaught block, and knowing that there was this vast body of lore kept me hooked. Hearing that there was a Japanese-inspired setting coming up was pure hype for someone who’d also been into anime for years and video games for years before that. The early 00s were an interesting time for entertainment, as Japanese animation had finally infiltrated American mainstream media. Pokémon had been a successful card game for years (another story for another day), and Yu-Gi-Oh had just hit the scene in America after doing well in Japan for a few years. With all this and a burgeoning internet, fans of anime, video games, and Japanese culture had certain expectations. To say Kamigawa did not meet them would be an understatement.

The general setting was based on an older Japanese culture, one which didn’t see much representation in media. Samurai, ninja, youkai, along with other popular figures and tropes were either later inventions or had a more solidified image hundreds of years after the source material took place. While I remember many Magic the Gathering fans being worried that the game would take on an anime aesthetic to capitalize on what was popular with the wider geek audience, they actually took it in the opposite direction. Instead of bright colors and bold outlines, Kamigawa was a dark and gritty place, which was made even more evident by the increasing demand for realistic detail in the art department. The kami themselves, one half of the conflict, were alien and foreign to behold. These weren’t based on images that otaku would have been familiar with, Japanese or Western, but based on much older stories that had been phased out of the public consciousness.

In short, there is no “in short.” There are many reasons why it didn’t succeed, but ultimately, it came down to being something that no one really expected or wanted. Instead of taking the cheap, easy, and profitable route by leaning into anime culture, Wizards bucked the trend and used a setting that most Magic fans would not have been familiar with, forcing it to fit within the franchise. They also filled the block with parasitic mechanics that were clunky and actively detrimental to play. And yes, I’m leaving out dozens of other reasons why Kamigawa failed, but those are the main ones that I personally feel hurt the setting.

Sadly, as public-facing employees remind us constantly, Kamigawa is a very difficult sell to the higher-ups. It was one of the company’s biggest failures, and they can’t use tweets and Tumblr asks from enfranchised fans as justifications for its return. And yet, the requests still pour in. I believe that the reasons for this desire are the key to a new set based in Kamigawa.

Let’s start with the biggest one: Commander. In many ways, this format is kind of the anti-MtG. It’s a long, drawn-out process that uses decks built with your whole collection, rather than the newest releases. Cards that are awful in most other formats are amazing in Commander, and one of the biggest drawbacks a card can have - the Legendary supertype - is a major boon here. It’s also the current most popular format for old and new players alike. I think that more than anything else, Kamigawa’s legendary theme is what draws new players, as Commander enthusiasts will inevitably find some interesting cards that would never have worked well in the old days.

I also think that Wizards of the Coast has learned a lot since 2004 (and whenever they started work on the original block). Remember, Kamigawa was the first of its kind: a real-world inspired setting completely separate from what the entire franchise had been doing for years. There were bound to be mistakes, and they’ve clearly learned how to rectify them. The following setting, Ravnica, used an Eastern European city aesthetic to compliment its two-color guild theme, but was still constrained by the block structure. Upon our return there, they changed the block structure to better fit what the themes and story wanted. On the other hand, Zendikar, their D&D-inspired adventure world, was beloved for its fast and fun mechanics, as well as the feeling of exploration on the cards and in the media. The return, however, involved destroying all of that in favor of an extradimensional war setting. Guilds of Ravnica and Zendikar Rising each supplied what the fans wanted out of those settings, to varying degrees of success.

Wizards also keeps showing us glimpses into Kamigawa through Core Sets and supplemental products. Tamiyo showed up on Innistrad and Ravnica. They printed new shrines (compatible with the old Honden) in Core 2021. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow, is one of my favorite commanders of all time, and she’s from the 2018 Commander set. They still value the setting, and don’t seem to be interested in ignoring it to the point of obscurity (like, for example, Mercadia).

And, obviously, there are the rumors. With a blog name like mine, you have to have known this was coming. The three planeswalker concepts from surveys could point to anything: Commander products, supplementary sets, etc. However, I think that the web domains for Kamigawa Neon Dynasty point to a full set of some kind.

Interestingly enough, the events of the original Kamigawa block take place in Magic’s very distant past, so it’s been a tantalizing prospect to see how the place might have changed in the past few thousand years. Skipping over medieval fantasy and bringing it past the present into a cyberpunk future might be an excellent way to go about it. Aesthetics from early 90’s anime could still be stylistically unique in Magic, while keeping elements from the old setting would root us to the original block. I could see the new story centering around a conflict between one faction clinging to ancient traditions and another pushing magical technology to its futuristic limits. After all, Tamiyo still dresses in old-fashioned robes and reads from scrolls, and the moonfolk were known to be almost completely isolated from everyone else. I wonder what the kami would look like, if we even saw them at all.

Ultimately, I think that Wizards is in the perfect spot to try Kamigawa again. Between their worldbuilding experience, the rise of the Commander format, and a willingness to push the aesthetics of their game in different directions, there’s a lot of reason to hope that we’ll be heading back sooner or later.

Please feel free to let me know if I missed something or got any details wrong. And please discuss what you’d like to see in a return to Kamigawa, either new stuff or old.

#mtg #kamigawa #kamigawa neon dynasty #tamiyo

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dbzebra · 4 years ago

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Surpassing The Strongest CH 2

A/N: Sorry this took so long, I hit a wall for a long time but finally got past it! Just a reminder, this is kind of an End of Z retelling but will have obvious changes going forward. Also i apologize in advance for the linebreaks, tumblr ruined my formatting so i had to imprpovise lol Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Goten’s Resolve

“Train hard, study well, eat well and sleep well. That is the Turtle Hermit way to learn!”

Those were the words Master Roshi had told Goku and Krillin during their first day of martial arts training all those years ago. That motto had stuck with Goku his entire life, and molded it into how he trained both himself and his sons throughout their lives, even to this day.

It was break time from training. Father and son were lying in the grass with their hands behind their heads, watching the fluffy clouds roll by. Pan wasn’t due back for a few more minutes going by the speed of her approaching energy, so they took the time to relax for a bit.

Neither really spoke for a while, just listening to the sounds of nature. Birds chirped happily, the wind softly rustling the leaves above their heads, and the quaint sound of the river flowing nearby.

It was Son Goten who finally spoke up, breaking the silence, not breaking his gaze from the clouds.

“So, what’s next on the agenda?” Goten knew his father likely had an intense training schedule planned, but he was ready.

“Well, besides our regular sparring, our next step-- is to help you reach Super Saiyan 3.”

“Me? Reach level 3?” Goten quickly sat up, pointing to himself with a dumbfounded look.

“Of course!” Goku replied, sitting up as well. “That’s been your goal from the start since you began training again, right? And after what you showed me earlier, I think all that’s left is for you to push for the top.”

“Easier said than done! Trust me, I’ve been trying, it ain’t working!” Goten said.

Goku grinned and put both hands on Goten’s shoulders. “You did it before as Gotenks, and you were only a kid back then. I can feel it in your energy, Goten. You just gotta break through that last barrier.”

“How did it work for you? Like how did you reach level three?”

Goku looked up to the sky for a few moments, trying to recall just how he ascended beyond Super Saiyan 2 back in Other World. “Super Saiyan 3 was much different than the previous two forms. While levels one and two required intense rage--in most cases, level three was a different beast entirely. It took intense training and complete mastery of Super Saiyan 2. At the time, I was wondering how I could go even further beyond or if it was even possible. So one day, I was training with this guy called Pikkon. I kept feeling this really tiny tugging feeling deep inside.” Goku pointed to his stomach, and mimicked a back-and-forth motion with his hands. “And over the years of focus and training, the more I fought the more I felt it. So I worked towards that. I kept pulling back every time I felt that pull. Harder and harder, until--” he made a fist and then opened it-- “Bam! I unleashed all my energy once. And that’s when it happened.”

“...I don’t get it.” Pulling? It all sounded like crap, if he was being honest. But to be fair, he probably wouldn’t be able to explain the feeling either.

“Just try it out. I know you did this earlier. Remember how you went level three as Gotenks, and combine that with what I told you.” Goku stayed in his cross-legged position, while Goten jumped up to his feet.

The teen took a deep breath. “Alright. Here I go…!”

Goten bent his knees and let out a mighty roar that reached the heavens. His muscles bulged and once again electricity swirled around the teen as he ascended to Super Saiyan 2, bringing his ki to its utmost limits. The earth itself seemingly began trembling in fear of the awesome display of raw power.

‘This next energy… has to come from deep inside! Push hard to find it!’

The words that Goku had said to him and Trunks that day long ago echoed in his mind. The same words from when they took a break from learning the Fusion technique to see a first-hand demonstration of the ultimate Super Saiyan transformation.

“I did it back then, so I can do it now!” Goten told himself. He gritted his teeth hard and when he closed his eyes, he could almost see the visage of a Great Ape roaring. As he continued powering up, he felt a tiny, almost insignificant tug from within. That miniscule flicker deep in his stomach was like a just-barely-lit candle. “There!”

This was it. He had found it! The tremors began increasing in ferocity as the ground cracked beneath him and small rocks rose up into the air. The ‘flame’ from within grew in size and heat. Goku watched on, smiling with pride.

But just as he had it, he lost it. Goten’s golden hair reverted to its original black color and he dropped to his knees. The stones that floated around the teen fell back to the earth and everything was quiet again. Panting and out of breath, the disheartened teenager cursed under his breath and teen slammed the ground with his fist, causing it to shatter beneath him. “I… I can’t do it, Dad! I just can’t! I’ve been stuck doing the same thing for months, it’s not working! I’m just not strong enough to turn Super Saiyan 3!!”

For the last eight months, Goten tried and failed to ascend. He thought he wasn’t making any progress at all, but that was usually the case with self evaluation: you judge yourself much harder. To Goku, however, he noticed as clear as day that his son was making leaps and bounds of progress in strength.

Goku went to console his son, gently putting a hand on each of his shoulders. “Hey, don't be that way! It’s totally okay! You are good enough, Goten. Remember, you were the youngest Super Saiyan ever, and reached Super Saiyan 2 at only fifteen! You were right there! I promise you!! It took me six years to reach level three, and I was dead! You're doing great.” Goku said, and it seemed to encourage his son going by the faint grin that dared to appear on the teen’s face. ”Let’s switch gears. How ‘bout we try some image training instead?”

“Image training? What the heck is that?” Goten looked completely lost.

Goku put his hand on his chin to think how to explain it. It was one of those things where it was easy to understand, but putting into words was a bit more complicated. But after a moment, it came to him. “Basically, it’s kinda like meditating, but you project an image of yourself in your mind. Then, you link up with someone else using telepathy, and fight that way.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. How do you get stronger just by thinking about it?” Goten flatly said, causing Goku to chuckle in response. Much like himself at that age, Goten was never one to mince words.

“Just trust me, Goten. Your brother and I did the same thing while we were training to fight Cell.” Goku said and crossed his arms, keeping the same grin. “And besides, if we do this image training, you might get to see my secret ultimate technique.”

Now Goten was interested. It never took much to convince him. “Really? What’s it look like?!”

“You won’t know unless you try it out!” Goku goaded his son further. In all honesty, the new technique he developed was a finishing move, meant for a new enemy in case one ever came. It normally took a lot out of him, but just showing Goten once wouldn’t hurt.

Just as they were about to continue however, the two Saiyans sensed a familiar energy source rapidly approaching. Goku had sensed it from far off from a while ago, but he could see that his son was too preoccupied to notice until now.

“Guess we’ll save the image training for later then!” Goku said and jumped back to his feet.

Still seated in the grass and leaning backwards on his hands, Goten turned to the direction of the approaching person. It was far too large to be Pan’s. He knew who this was. The teen’s wide smile returned as another young man with short lavender hair wearing a sleeveless yellow vest and black pants dropped down on the grass in front of his oldest friend.

“Hey bro! What brings you by our neck of the woods?” Goten asked. Still a little sore from training, he held out his hand and Trunks pulled him up.

Trunks smirked and poked Goten playfully in the chest. “I heard through the grapevine that you were gonna enter the Tournament next week. Tryin’ to sneak a win by without telling’ me?” He raised an eyebrow at his friend. Knowing Goten like he did, he figured there wasn’t any malicious intent.

“Ah, Mar told you? Sorry about that.” Goten replied with a sigh. “I legitimately thought you already knew and planned on entering. I meant to tell you, really!” Between spending hours with Marron after school on their date yesterday, the excitement over his new gi the night before, and then the morning training, he didn’t really get an opportunity.

“It’s fine. I’m just glad to be out of my house. My dad hasn’t shut the hell up about it since! He was grilling me all morning! God, I had to practically throw Bulla at him just for a momentary distraction then I just bailed.” Trunks threw his hands up in frustration. His family got on his last damn nerve sometimes.

“I hear that. This one over here,” Goten said, gesturing to his father with his thumb, “pulled me out of bed at the crack of dawn while I was in the middle of an awesome dream!”

“Oh quit complaining.” Goku scolded his son while Goten shrugged.

Trunks snickered. “An awesome dream, you say? What kinda dream was it?”

Goten shot him a dirty look, but before he could think of a comeback, a little toddler dressed in a red gi flew in and landed in the middle of them.

“I’m back Grandpa!!” Pan chirped, raising her little fists in the air. “I flew around the whoooole world again, just like you said!”

With that signature Son grin of his, Goku smiled down at her. “That’s amazing, Pan! Thats your fastest time yet!”

Pan’s dark eyes lit up at hearing that she was getting better. “Think I’ll be ready for the Toonament?” She asked, innocently tilting her head to the side.

“Wait, Pan, you’re seriously going to enter the Tournament? There’s no Junior Division, don’t tell me she’s gonna fight with the rest of us!” Trunks was baffled. Pan nodded up at him, her smile still as wide as could be. She didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

Goku proudly pat his granddaughter on the head. “Don’t worry about her. She may not win, but she’ll do just fine!”

“She might end up doing better than Goten.” Trunks added.

“Very funny.” Goten dusted some blades of grass off of his pants, and glanced over to Trunks again, who teasing smirk only seemed to get bigger. The younger Saiyan sighed, shaking his head with a smile. “Dad, can we take a little break?”

“Sure, don’t go too far though. We’re gonna pick up where we left off in a bit.” Goku replied and Goten nodded in affirmation.

The two teenaged Saiyans walked over to the riverbank for a private chat. They kept their voices low, so a certain little toddler didn’t accidentally overhear certain stuff and then go repeating it, which would end badly for the both of them.

Trunks stood peering over the rushing waters with his hands shoved into his vest pockets. It was mesmerizing.. His phone buzzed, but decided it wasn’t that important. Meanwhile Goten put his hands behind his head and leaned on the tree nearby, staring up at the branches above. The sun was shining high in the sky; its warm light breaking through the gaps between the trees.

When he was small, he used to play a game where he had to only stay in the shaded parts and couldn’t touch where the sun hit. He smiled at the memory for a moment as his thoughts drifted back to the upcoming main event.

“So, you gonna enter?”

Trunks blew air out his nostrils and smirked. “You bet your ass I am. I’m not just gonna let you just walk in and sweep the competition against a bunch of nobodies! I’ll win, just like I did last time. If only Mr. Satan was entering, I’d smack him into next month.”

“Yeah right!” Goten fired back and puffed out his chest a bit, the confidence in his voice building.. “The outcome won’t be the same as last time, I can promise you that. I’ve been training constantly!”

“HA!” Trunks scoffed. “Good one, man. If by ‘training’, you mean you’ve just been getting handsy with Marron all the freakin’ time, then sure! Meanwhile, I’ve actually been training!” Trunks said, with his usual smug smile. He felt a little bad, but busting on Goten was too easy.

Goten’s whole face flushed a scarlet color at how nonchalantly Trunks could just bring up what he did with his girlfriend in private. Any confidence he had in that moment fizzled right out. “H-Hey!! Mar and I aren’t getting handsy!!” Goten blurted out louder than he intended and then swiftly covered his mouth with his hands. “That much…” He said again, practically as a whisper that time.

Trunks tried not to burst out laughing as Goten looked towards Pan, hoping she didn’t overhear him and then go repeating it to Videl or Gohan. Or worse, his mother. Not that she would get mad, just that her teasing comments would only get worse!

“Cut the bullshit, Goten. We’ve been friends for like, seventeen years, and I know when you’re lying. Even after all these years, you still have no poker face. And Marron isn’t exactly the best at keeping something like that hidden either.”

Was he really that obvious?! Goten kicked himself for being such an open book. He huffed and kicked a nearby pebble into the river.

“Look, no shame! I’m proud of you, man. Good for you. Marron’s a real catch!” Trunks said and proudly patted Goten on the back. The older Saiyan figured Goten would fire right back with a comeback of his own, likely about all those vulgar girls who kept throwing themselves at him at school. It wasn’t his fault he was so good looking! Trunks may have had the outer confidence and charisma of his mother, but like his father Vegeta, Trunks was a bit of a prude when it came down to it, for the lack of a better word. He was all talk, as Marron had pointed out.

However Goten’s gaze didn’t leave the gentle flowing river, his eyebrows furrowed as if he were lost in thought. Trunks’ face fell. “Hey, my bad, man. I didn’t mean it that way. I really am happy for you.”

“Huh?” Goten blinked, coming out of his thoughts. He put a hand behind his head with an apologetic smile. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s fine. I should be the one apologizing. I’m just… really distracted.”

“You alright, bro?”

Goten didn’t respond immediately, but after a moment he slowly nodded. “I dunno why, but I’m really nervous about this Tournament. I’ve hit a wall trying to reach Super Saiyan 3, and it’s stressing me out. Nothing’s working, and I don’t know what to do. At this rate, I’m almost afraid I’ll end up fighting my dad in the first round and getting wiped out like some chump.”

Trunks knew how Goten felt. Living up to Vegeta’s expectations was tough at times. And frustrating. He also had no luck on reaching the third level. What came easy to them while fused together proved to be their ultimate challenge while separate. But he wasn’t giving up. And he wasn’t about to let Goten give up either.. “Tell me something, Goten. Why do you choose to fight?” He knew the answer fully well, but wanted to hear Goten say it.

“Why does that matter?”

“Just humor me.”

Goten sighed, and then his lips curled into a smile when he thought of a certain pretty blonde. “Marron.” Her name rolled off his tongue effortlessly. “Mar is the reason I started training again. She’s the reason I want to get stronger. She means the entire world to me. I’d do anything to keep that smile of hers safe.”

After the fight against Majin Buu, Son Goten slowly grew out of fighting over the years. Sure, he trained for exercise or if he had nothing else to do, but it wasn’t much of a priority for him until he started dating Marron two years ago. Once they became a couple, it was like a lightbulb went off in the boy’s head. He knew what he had to do--what he wanted to do. And so he trained intensely, day after day. To prevent anything like the Majin Buu incident from happening ever again.

Feeling a second wind, and not wanting to be left behind, Trunks soon joined him as well. It wasn’t long before Goten had closed the gap between them, and together the boys broke through the first Super Saiyan barrier: finally reaching Super Saiyan 2.

“My point is, look how far you’ve come since then. Marron may be a loudmouth, but she’s a true ride-or-die girl. If there’s anyone who doesn’t care where you place in the Tournament, it’s her.”

“Yeah, you’re right. She said something similar yesterday.”

“See?” Trunks smiled. “I’m far from being the best at pep talks, but I know for a fact that you’re much stronger than you think. I wouldn’t count yourself out just yet. Forcing Super Saiyan 3 won’t help things either. It’ll happen, man. For both of us. Basically, what I’m getting at is; it’s just a Tournament. We have our whole lives to surpass our dads. Let’s just make this one a fun reunion where there’s no genocidal egomaniacs for once.”

Goten truly started to feel better. “Thanks, man. Really.” He said and the duo did their signature double fist bump.

“Hey, I have an idea.”

Goten turned, eyeing his friend suspiciously.. Whenever Trunks Briefs uttered the words ‘I have an idea’ it usually was always something insane, but he decided to hear him out. “Lay it on me.”

“Why don’t we enter as Gotenks? Nobody could stop us that way, not even your dad!” Trunks said excitedly, pumping his fists. “I don’t care about the prize money either, so when we win, I’d just give you my half.”

Goten was touched. Trunks really was a true friend. Sure, they busted on each other constantly, to the point where outsiders may think they disliked each other, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When it came down to it, they had each other’s back.

“I appreciate it, really, but… I can’t. I want to go up against my dad with my own strength. If we won the Tournament that way, I’d feel like I cheated. Besides, the fusion only lasts for thirty minutes; less if we went full power. And then we’d have to wait a whole hour to be able to fuse again, so it’s not exactly practical.”

“Shit, you’re right. I forgot about that.” Trunks replied, scratching his head. His phone buzzed from his pocket again, but ignored it. “Was worth a shot!”

After the third time his phone buzzed, Trunks picked up and immediately got an earful from his mother, ordering him to come home. He groaned and quickly hung up. For a moment he considered tossing his stupid phone into the river. But used his better judgement and shoved it back into his pocket.

“Well that’s my cue. Gotta get going before I really get in trouble. My mom just realized I snuck out. Besides, I should let you get back to training.”

“Good luck. You’re gonna need it.”

Trunks chuckled. “Next time I’ll see you it’ll be Tournament day. I hope you’ll be ready, man. It’s gonna be me versus you in the final round.” Trunks said with a smirk. “Oh, and tell Marron I said hi.”

“You can count on that.” Goten replied. “And sure.”

A translucent white colored aura surrounded Trunks’ body. He waved and he took off to the west like a torpedo. And like that he was gone over the horizon.

Goku came up, with Pan trotting along behind him. “Feelin’ up for some lunch before we continue?”

“You bet!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days had passed since then. Only four days remained until the big day.

Feeling revitalized, Son Goten continued his training. The day quickly approached, and he wanted to be ready. Super Saiyan 3 or not. The young half Saiyan blitzed back and forth, kicking and punching ferociously into the air, appearing only as a blue to the untrained eye. He kept vanishing and reappearing across the whole sky, leaving a golden trail in his tracks. Lighting swirled around his body like a thunderstorm. Goten fired blasts forward, and teleported in front of his own oncoming attacks and blocked at the last possible second.

On both of his wrists and ankles, he wore large, red colored weighted training bands. Each one had twenty-five tons of force. One hundred tons total. And yet, Son Goten made it look easy.

Meanwhile, a small hot-pink colored air jet sped towards Mt. Paozu. On the side of the left wing had the number 404 written in big black font. The opposite side sported the signature Capsule Corporation logo.

Bubbly pop music blared from the radio as the teenage girl with hair tied into twin tails piloting the car enthusiastically sang along. She had sunglasses resting on top of her head and wore a small pink crop top and blue short-shorts that showed off her fit, athletic figure. The blonde was giddy with excitement- she was planning to surprise Goten during his training today. She could already picture his adorably stupid face, and giggled to herself just thinking about it!

From the sky Marron could see Goku and Gohan’s home sitting side by side, in front of Grandpa Gohan’s old nut. It made a picturesque sight for the blonde. She wondered if she’d be living out here with Goten in a house of their own someday.

Just then, shockwaves shook the air car violently back and forth, but Marron was no chump when it came to this. She easily got the vehicle under control and continued on her path. Sure, she knew how to fly now, and her fear of heights was long gone, but she still overall preferred traveling this way. The wind while flying was still a bit too much for her. Unless of course, she got to ride on the Nimbus with a certain boy.

Out of the corner of her light blue eyes, Marron saw a flicker of gold. She could just barely see, but she knew. High in the air appearing like a golden star in the middle of the day. It was beautiful. The blonde smiled as she lowered in altitude as she approached a field next to a river located nearby from the two homes, touching down on the grass a few moments later.

Marron hopped out of the vehicle and stretched, taking in the clean air of the country and the quietness of nature. She was a city girl at heart, but in some ways this came pretty close. The blonde pressed the button on the side of her jet and with a puff of smoke, the jet returned to its capsule. She moved the sunglasses to her face to cover from the sun. Once her eyes adjusted, Marron pulled out the ribbons from her hair and shook her head from side to side, freely allowing her blonde locks to cascade down to her shoulders. Much better, she felt,

She squinted and looked up to see if she could see him, but the sub was too bright even with her sunglasses.

Just then, as if on cue, a golden haired boy dropped down on the grass in front of her.

“Hey, babe!” Goten said. Seeing Marron was exactly what he needed right now. He sensed her up in the air and he waved, but he was too far away for her to see. A warm smile curled onto the boy’s lips. He wore a white muscle shirt with blue sweatpants, and his signature yellow boots.

“Hey yourself~” She couldn’t help but gawk. Her blue eyes glanced over his muscles, and for a moment she wondered if it was more than the summer heat that made her feel hot all of a sudden. Marron fanned herself with her hand, trying to ignore the obvious that ran through her mind. But the blonde shook off her dirty idea when he walked up to her. “I hope I’m not interrupting your training.”

“Nah, perfect timing actually. Was gonna do one more thing then take a break. It’s great to see you, Mar. You look great--like a movie star.” Still in the Super Saiyan 2 state, Goten went over to his girlfriend and kissed her forehead. “I’d hug you right now, but I’m all gross and sweaty from training.”

Marron giggled, and ran her freshly manicured fingers through her hair. “There’d be plenty of time for that later~!” She winked at him and he grinned. But when she noticed he was alone, she was a little confused. Not too long ago, she sensed another ki with Goten, who she assumed was his dad. “Oh! Where’s Goku? I thought he’d be with you.”

“Dad? He’s out doing some solo training somewhere in the wilderness. We sparred earlier, but said we should train separately for a little bit. So he got me this heavy training gear. I’ve been out here pretty much all day. After today though, I’m all done training until the Tournament. My dad recommended that I should rest my muscles a bit beforehand so I don’t mess myself up for the fights. I’m free tomorrow, so let’s go somewhere!”

Marron clasped her hands together happily. “Oh, that sounds amazing!”

“Then it’s a date.”

But for now, he had to get back to work. He removed the weights from his wrists and ankles, placing them back in their box. With a click of the button on the side, the box returned to its capsule form.

Sighing with relief, Goten stretched his arms and legs as Marron watched. He punched the air a few times, satisfied with the result. She loved watching him. Not just because she generally preferred watching fights over fighting herself, the blonde genuinely loved watching her Goten grow and get stronger. She was so happy for him.

Next, he moved to doing ten thousand push-ups wearing a fifty ton turtle shell on his back, courtesy of Master Roshi. It was a bit of a struggle getting it on, but he managed. Marron sat on top of the shell, her long legs dangling off to the side. She almost wanted to mess with him, but didn’t want her Goten to get distracted when he looked so serious.. So instead she just gave him support. It was getting warmer out, but the mountain breeze made the humidity doable. She didn’t care if her hair got frizzy.

“Ok, here goes!!”

Fifty tons on your back was heavier than he thought. Harder than the previous exercise, if he was being honest. But transforming into Super Saiyan 2 made it much more doable. In his training, Goten had discovered a form, not quite Super Saiyan 3, but something beyond Super Saiyan 2. However that form was for another day. He wanted to perfect the second level as much as possible.

He started off strong, but about halfway through he really started to feel the strain. But this was normal for him. Unfortunately, it didn’t get any easier from then on. Normally, it was child’s play. But coupled with wearing a heavy turtle shell on his back, it was no easy task. Still, Goten thought it was fun.

He counted off the numbers, quickly approaching his goal of ten-thousand.

“Hey~~” Marron hummed, cutely twirling a strand of hair in between her thumb and index finger. “You’re doing an awesome job! When you finish, I’ll give you a present~”

Goten grinned. “What kind?”

“You’ll just have to see~” She said, giggling.

“Easy for you to say, you’re just sitting up there looking all hot in that little outfit!” Goten joked as he continued his workout. Marron gasped slightly and touched her blushing cheeks at the compliment. He was too sweet. Always knew how to make her blush.

The minutes rolled by. Marron happily timed him. And soon he was in the final stretch.

“9,998…” He grunted, his arms felt like jelly. “9,999…. 10,000!! Aaaand, done!” Goten cried out and practically collapsed onto the grass, drenched in sweat. In between his heavy breaths, he laughed slightly. He could feel he was progressing. A little more each day. He recalled what Trunks and his father told him, which only fueled his refound drive further.

“You beat your record! Congrats, sweetheart!” Goten winced, almost losing his balance, and it weren’t for Marron helping him up, he very well might have. With a grunt, Goten dropped the ten ton turtle shell, cracking the ground around it upon impact. She happily pecked him on the cheek for a job well done.

He dropped back to base form--his hair and eyes now their original black color. “I’m exhausted…” He grabbed a fruit from a nearby tree and ate it whole. And then loudly burped. Goten sheepishly smiled. “That hit the spot…”

Marron giggled, walking up to him with her hands behind her back. “Well, I’m a woman of my word. Time for your surprise. Okay~ Close your eyes.”

“Why should I? You might play a trick on me.”

Marron pouted. “Rude. I’d never do that!” Her voice came out squeakier than she intended but it just made him smile bigger. He thought her voice was adorable.

“There. They’re closed.” Goten said, still grinning. He liked to playfully push her buttons; her cute pouting face made it worth it. “Now can I have a hint?” He sniffed the air, trying to guess. “Is it a snack?”

“No peeking. Or else.” Marron said in a demanding voice, but it still just came off as cute.

Marron leaned up, and cupped Goten’s cheeks in her hands. Before he could respond, the blonde gently kissed him on the lips. It was only for a moment, but they were both smiling when she pulled back.

“Pretty great surprise.”

“You’re welcome.” She purred and they kissed again, deeper this time.

After breaking apart that time, she held his hand in hers as they walked along the riverbank, which led to a large lake with multiple branching paths. The same lake where he taught her how to fly. Marron smiled at the memory.

“I’m dying out here!” He took a whiff of his black muscle shirt and grimaced. “Ew. And I smell like crap too. I'm gonna take a swim and cool off. Wanna join me?”

“I would, but I don’t have my bathing suit with me.”

“So?”

“So I’m not getting down to my underwear!” Marron huffed.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you in your underwear before. Besides, nobody else is around. We’re all alone out here.”

“T-T-This is different! Idiot Goten!” Marron’s entire face turned a bright crimson-red from ear to ear at the implication. The blonde definitely didn’t mind if one thing led to another and passion got the best of them right there on the grass, but… but what if they got caught??! She’d probably die of embarrassment if that happened.

Goten only kept his smile; he could tell her imagination was running wild again. He threw off his clothes and laid them on the grass nearby. threw them in a pile nearby. He’d wash them later. Now down to just his boxers, he jumped high into the air and did a cannonball into the lake causing a big splash. He emerged a moment later, spitting water out of his mouth. He swam on his back, just relaxing. The cold temperature instantly made him feel refreshed. It was like he could feel his sore muscles being healed.

Marron dipped her feet into the water.. She closed her eyes and exhaled happily. Life didn’t get much better than this. She sighed blissfully and closed her eyes. “Hey~ Where should we go tomorrow? The waterpark? Aquarium?”

No response.

“Goten?” She opened them again to see that he was gone. Cracking a smile, Marron tried to listen for where he could be. “...Come on out, you dork.”

Something touched her foot and she yelped.

“Goten!!” Marron said again, the panic in her voice growing and she pulled her feet out of the water. She looked around, still nothing. She pouted. He was playing with her. Well she’ll show him. She had her own ways of playing with him.

Just then, the teenaged Saiyan poked his head out from underwater and splashed the blonde right in the face.

“Got ya!” He snickered.

She really didn’t have plans on going in the water.

Until of course, he just declared war.

“Oh, that’s it. It is so on.”

“Bring it, Blondie.” Goten deviously smiled back as he disappeared underwater, preparing for his next attack.

Marron smirked and dove right in after him.

She’d made him pay for that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four more days rolled by.

This was it.

The 28th ‘Strongest Under the Heavens’ World Martial Arts Tournament had finally arrived.

Skilled fighters who wanted to test their abilities against the best of the best. Devoted fans who wanted to see one of the world’s biggest events from across the planet. All flocked to Papaya Island. It was the most anticipated event on the planet. Even those who didn’t attend planned to have their eyes glued to the television and radio for this year’s competition.

Krillin, 18, and Marron were the first of the group to arrive. The family of three stepped out of their red capsule jet and then returned it to their capsule. Roshi and Oolong were next. Marron happily greeted the old man with a hug, Master Roshi was practically her grandfather: always kind to her and gave her wise advice whenever she needed it. If Marron ever got into an argument with her parents, Roshi’s island was always her first stop.

A blue aircar landed nearby, and out jumped Yamcha, wearing a yellow suit and his black hair tied back into a ponytail. Puar sat on his shoulder “Hey man! Good to see ya!” He greeted his old friend and then waved to 18 and Marron, his goddaughter. It felt like yesterday he was babysitting and telling her stories as a toddler , and now she was a beautiful young woman. Time really flies.

“Yamcha! How are ya, man? You here to enter?” Krillin asked.

Yamcha shook his head. “Me? No way. With all those Saiyans, and mostly likely Piccolo too, I’d just embarrass myself. I’m just gonna watch.”

“I’d think you’d do great, Uncle Yamcha!!” Marron exclaimed, coming to his defense.

Yamcha smiled at her. “Never change, Marron.” The blonde giggled in reply.

“By the way, have you seen Tien?” The former monk asked.

Yamcha shook his head. “I mentioned the Tournament to him when I went to visit last month, but haven’t heard much since. Knowing Tien though, he’ll be here.”

18 looked around, honestly unconcerned with what they were talking about.

She could tell Marron was preoccupied too. The teen kept fixing her hair in her pocket mirror, wanting it to be perfect.

18 smiled. “Teenagers.” She fondly remembered those times when she was that age, just her and her twin brother against the whole world. “Are you here or not, 17? You better not have bailed.”

“Goku said he’d meet us at the main gate. No use idling around here.”

“Let’s get movin’ then!”

The Son family arrived at the southwestern side of the island. The family of seven, consisting of Goku, Chi-Chi, Gohan, Goten, Videl and the Ox King all made their way towards the registration tables to meet up with their friends and sign up.

Goten felt nostalgic as he walked with his hands behind his head, wearing his new gi. This was the place he finally met his dad for the first time. Changed his life for the better.

Pan clung to her grandfather’s pant leg, in awe of her surroundings. Everything looked so much fun!. Gohan and Videl prepped the toddler for today's fights the previous night. They were admittedly a little worried, but knew Pan could handle herself. And there were so many of their friends and family around--Gohan himself included-- that in the slim possibility of something going wrong, they’d intervene in an instant.

“This place is really buzzing! Far cry from when I entered way back when.” Chi-Chi said.

“It doesn’t even feel like a Tournament anymore.” Videl added. “It’s like a festival! Even more so than last time.”

Pan tugged on Goku’s pant leg. “Hey Grandpa! Grandpa! Let’s go play!” The toddler said and ran off into the crowd.

“Be back later guys!” Goku called and ran off.

“Don’t go too far, Dad! You’ll miss registration!!” Gohan called. Goku gave his older son a thumbs up and disappeared into the crowd after his young granddaughter.

“Two peas in a pod, those two.” Chi-Chi sighed.

“They’ll be alright, Mom.” Gohan said. “Dad’s great with Pan, He won’t lose track of time.”

Pan and Goku went on a ‘carnival adventure', as Pan described it. Well, it felt like one to her at least. She got to try all types of good food, fed the birds, met a giant robot bunny, and even won first place at one of the games, winning her a giant teddy that was at least three times her size!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, a small boat arrived at the docks on the southeastern port of the island. Out stepped a small boy, no older than ten. Frail, almost appearing malnourished. He had dark skin, and black hair styled into a spiky mohawk. The young boy’s clothing was dirty and torn up a bit from his life on his family’s farm.

“T-Thank you for the ride, sir.” He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small sac. “Please, it’s not much, but please take this zeni for helping me.” He was supposed to use it to buy food, but the boy couldn’t just accept a free ride.

“No, please, put your money away, my boy.” The jolly old boat captain said with a laugh. “You came quite a long way to get here, I couldn’t take the last of your change like that. It’s the least I could do. After all, you’re fighting in the Tournament, correct? You’ll need food to keep yourself strong!”

The young boy’s eyes sparkled a bit, and he smiled for the first time all afternoon. It helped ease his pounding nerves somewhat.

“Do you by any chance know which way I have to go? It’s my first time in a big city like this, and it’s rather intimidating.” He said, trailing off and looking around behind him at the bustling crowds and stalls that seemed endless.

“Head straight that way.” The captain replied, pointing behind the boy. “You can’t miss it, it’s the huge building with the multicolored streamers coming out in every direction.”

“Thanks again! I’m in your debt.” The boy bowed his head, clasping his hands over his chest gratefully.

“Wait, I never caught your name, son!”

“Uub. My name is Uub.” The boy now known as Uub replied meekly. He always felt his name was weird,

“Well Uub, good luck in the Tournament.”

Uub bowed to the captain one last time, and was on his way.

The captain waved as he watched the boy go, happy he could help. “What a nice lad. I hope he makes it to the top.” He got back into his boat and made a U-turn back to the mainland to pick up the next round of passengers. Hopefully they were as nice as Uub was.

As Uub made his way through the city, he was shocked how big everything was. Skyscrapers that seemed to go on forever. He felt so tiny in comparison. Uub looked down to the ground, avoiding eye contact with most people. Just keep following the signs, he told himself.

Eventually, Uub reached the Tournament grounds. Bustling crowds lined multiple stalls. Food, games, merchandise, you name it. Uub was in awe. They were practically giving food away! His stomach grumbled just thinking about it. Figuring he should fight on a full stomach, young Uub got in line at the nearest burger stand. He never had one before, as his village was very poor. Uub’s village, a tropical settling to the south of Papaya Island, didn’t have the luxuries of fast food. He hoped to change that.

While he was in line, a little girl with short black hair wearing a red gi ran by a few yards behind him, happily giggling. Not too long after, a certain man with a signature palm tree hairstyle ran after the girl. When the man passed Uub, he stopped for a moment to stare to really confirm it.

“So it’s really true. He’s here!”

“Grandpa, come on!!” The little girl’s voice could be heard from up ahead. But when Uub turned around, the little girl and whoever she was talking to were already gone.

Uub paid for his burger with his last two hundred zeni. He just stared at it for a moment, his mouth watering. “My first burger… Mom, Dad, everyone, I hope you’re proud of me! I’ll try my best!”

Uub devoured his burger and got on his way. As he walked, he saw monks directing people where to go. Up ahead he saw a man at a booth with ‘Registration’ written on the front in big bold letters. Uub smiled. He made it. He really made it. Uub timidly approached the table when he saw there wasn’t much of a line.

“Hello!”

“Hi…”

“Are you here to register for the Tournament, my boy?” he smiled warmly at the young boy.

“Y-Yes. M-My name is Uub.” Uub averted his eyes. This was too nerve wracking.

The monk looked him up and down for a moment and then wrote something down on his clipboard. “Uub,” he repeated, “okay, you’re all registered. Please follow the path behind me to the courtyard. There you will draw a number.. The preliminary test will begin in about a half hour.”

“Thank you, sir.” Uub nodded and continued on his way. It was becoming real for him now. He gulped. This was it. No going back now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Goku returned with Pan, lugging along her prize from earlier. He found the rest of his family idling around the foot court about an hour later. Still plenty of time to register.

“Mama! Papa! Look! I won at the hammer game! I rang the bell and then it exploded!! The nice man gave me Mister Bear!” Pan cried happily, jumping up and down. Videl and Gohan looked at each other and smiled.

“That’s amazing, Panny!” Videl said. “I’ll take your bear for you so he doesn’t get lost, okay?”

Pan happily nodded her agreement and then ran back over to Goku. “Grandpa are we really at the Toonament?”

“Sure are, kiddo! You still wanna fight, right?”

“Mhmm!”

Goku’s ki sense picked up on someone familiar approaching. He turned around and saw the Briefs family: Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks, and little Bulla.

Bulla and Pan ran over and hugged each other.

Trunks nodded to Goten. The lavender haired teen wore sweatpants and a black muscle shirt with ‘Capsule’ written on the front in big white letters.. For a moment the two teens stared each other down, electricity sparking between them. Their friendly rivalry was reaching its peak, both believing they’d face the other in the final round.

Chi-Chi pinched Goten’s ear while Bulma clonked Trunks on the head.

“Be nice, Goten!”

“Yeah, don’t be a hotshot! We already have enough of those with your father around!”

Chi-Chi and Bulma playfully scolded their respective sons. Even when they were practically adults, Goten and Trunks were still easily defeated by their mothers, just like when they were small.

“You’re entering too, Vegeta?” Goku asked his former rival, now close friend.

Vegeta smirked. “For once, Kakarot, I’m fighting just for the fun of it.”

“Plus, he’s been gettin a little tummy lately!” Bulma poked her husband’s chest causing him to blush and storm off with a scowl. Trunks sighed in exasperation while Goku and Bulma grinned.

Bulla trotted after Vegeta. “Daddy, why do you call Mister Goku a carrot?”

Vegeta knelt down and patted his daughter on the head. “I’ll explain it later, Princess.”

“I almost forgot!” Chi-Chi exclaimed. “Before anything happens, boys, are you gonna ban Super Saiyan this time around too?”

Everyone glanced to Goten and Trunks. The two most likely culprits to break the rule anyway.

Goten put his hands up in defense. “Hey, don’t look at me! It was an accident last time!”

“Yeah, besides, we should give those sheep out there a show! Something they’ll never forget.” Trunks added.

“That’s that then. Anything goes.” Goku said and Vegeta smirked in affirmation. The boys high-fived each other, and with that, once the group finished their little pit stop they were on their way.

The two families went as one big group and together they reached their meetup spot and linked up with Krillin and the others. Even Piccolo and Dende showed up, but they were off to the side, not liking the attention and looks from the crowd.. Piccolo had decided to enter rather last minute, upon the request of little Pan. He couldn’t say no to her, no matter how hard he tried.

“There they are!” Krillin pointed at them, about ten yards away. Goku waved from afar.

When Marron saw Goten, standing clad in his brand new orange and black gi, the blonde practically flung herself at the young half Saiyan. He happily caught her and spun her around, and they shared a quick smooch.

“I’m so glad you came, Mar.” She looked gorgeous with that pretty red dress of hers. She was his cheerleader. His number one fan and reason for going on. With her in his corner, he felt like he was the strongest guy in the universe.

“Of course, sweetheart! You’d think I’d ever miss my boyfriend becoming World Champion? She winked at him. She started fussing over his gi, adjusting it so he looked neat. He looked so handsome, she thought. “I’ll be cheering for you~”

“Can I have one more good luck kiss?” Goten said in a low tone, so nobody heard him but her. His strong yet gentle arms wrapped around her waist. She smelled really good.

“I’d be happy to.” Marron replied with a sultry grin.. She flipped her hair behind her back, draped her arms around Goten’s neck.

Just before their lips touched again though, Goten was yanked backward. Marron pouted at the culprit.

“Come on, lover boy. You two can be gross and suck face all you want later, unless you want to watch the Tournament from the stands. As a spectator.” Trunks grumbled as he dragged Goten away over to the registration stands.

Marron only giggled and blew her boyfriend a kiss. “Byyye! Good luck! I love you!”

Goten waved back with both hands as he got dragged away, mouthing ‘I love you too’ and Marron just about melted.

The two teenaged Saiyans went to sign up while Marron went with Chi-Chi and her mother to find a seat. Krillin stayed around to chat with Goku and Yamcha, catching up and reminiscing about the previous times they were all here.

From deep in the crowd, a blonde woman with a big red ribbon spotted that signature hairstyle. That was unmistakable, even with his back to her. After all these years she could spot him from a mile away. Luckily, she kept her firearms at home. Well, most of them. She had no plans on using them. Unless they needed a crowd clearer. Maybe.

“I knew he’d be here.” She said to the taller man, her husband, beside her.

“Yes. It’s been too long.” The bald man said. He turned to the smaller man on his shoulder and smiled. “Figures we’d reunite here, right Chiaotzu?”

Chiaotzu nodded. “I’ll be fighting as well.”

And like that, the blonde ran off ahead in the direction of their old friends. She ran right up to Goku and playfully slapped him on the back. “Long time no see, boys!”

“Hey, what’s the-- L-Launch?!! Is that you?!” Goku’s irritation immediately turned to joy at the sight of his lifelong friend. All three of the former Turtle School fighters greeted Launch happily.

“Wait, if you’re here, that must mean…” Krillin started to say, and then the duo in question appeared. Tien and Chiaotzu.

It didn’t need to be said, but both Tien and Chiaotzu had gotten stronger. Much stronger. Goku couldn’t wait to see their new abilities.

“My apologies for the surprise.” Tien said with his usual serious expression. Launch stuck her tongue out and blew raspberries at him. Chiaotzu laughed at that. “It’s good to see you all again.”

Yamcha patted Tien on the shoulder with a grin. “Come on, man, we’re your pals. No need to be so serious!”

“So how’s married life treatin’ ya?” Krillin smirked jokingly.

“Great! Right Tien?” Launch poked Tien in the chest.

“Um, y-yes.” Tien blushed. The Turtle trio all exchanged similar grins. He still wasn’t the best at expressing his emotions in public, especially when teased, but they also knew him too well.

“This one is a big worrywort. Especially now.” Launch patted her stomach. She was pregnant with her first child. Eight weeks. Admittedly it was a little trippy to find out, after her blue self was the first to learn the news, but her blonde self was equally as happy. Her life on the farm in the western mountains--a life without crime-- was much better than she had imagined.

Each of the Turtle School trio and Master Roshi sported similar elated grins, as they hugged Launch and gave their congratulations to the future parents. Their little gang would soon have one more member.

A voice came over the sound system. “Last call for registration! I repeat, last call for registration. Please come to the registration desk! Registration will be closing in three minutes!”

“Well, that’s my cue!” Goku said and went to sign up along with Tien and Chiaotzu. The three fighters signed up at the very end, in their typical fashion. The three fighters waved and parted ways with Yamcha, Roshi, Krillin, and Launch, who went to join the others.

“Just wait till everyone sees you! This’ll be a great surprise!” Yamcha exclaimed. Just like old times.

The last remaining fighters signed up, and registration came to a close.

In a private room of the main building, a middle aged man with blond hair adjusted his tie in the mirror. He wore an impeccable suit, ready for another year at the best job in the world.

He peered out the window at the crowd of participants gathering in the fighters courtyard while thousands of guests filed into their seats of the main stadium. The man cleared his throat, smiling. Announcing and commentating the World Martial Arts Tournament was second nature to him now.

Tournaments past were some of the most exhilarating moments of his life.

And only one thought echoed through his mind.

“They’ll be here this time. I just know it.”

#dragon ball #dbz #dragon ball z #goku #goten #marron #trunks #uub #pan #marten #goten x marron #other background ships too #reblogs are appreciated

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ask-de-writer · 5 years ago

Text

LEZON (part 1 of 3), a Science Fiction tale.

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to Science Fiction

Lezon

Glen Ten-Eyck (De Writer)

17837 words

written, 2003

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Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge. I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

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“Ma’am, Registry shows that this system has been surveyed by distant scan only. The primary is too big and too far into the blue to have habitable worlds. Long range scan charts show four stony-giant worlds in orbits from 1.5 to 20.4 C minutes from the star. There are five gas-giants in orbits from 45 to about 300 C minutes in average radius.” Lezon reported to M’rel, one of her three mistresses.

“What to you think, Lezon? Should we dive in near the star to refuel the power capsule or go on to the Clan Colony at Thress T’cull?”

“We M’cratti are opportunists, Ma’am. Part of the Warrior’s Way is to eat when you can, rest when you can and fight when you must. It never hurts to have a fully fueled capsule. That star’s corona is rich in positive particles for fuel and negative ones for direct and stored power. While we are at it, we could divert to the ecliptic and run a tighter survey for the Treaty Commission Maps. That’s always worth some cash credit.”

“What of the delay to decelerate below C, drop the Restriction field, conduct the survey and then get back to course and speed?” inquired T’cass, one of Lezon’s other mistresses.

“Four days at most, unless we find something of interest,” Lezon replied.

K’ress put her vote simply. “I trust Lezon’s instincts. Let’s do it.” Her fingers played across the keys and touch screens of the navigation console. A course that swept near to three of the gas-giants and two of the stony-giant worlds on the way in, passed through the corona of the star and found another of the stony-giant worlds on the way out, appeared on the navigation screen. “This should answer the need quite well.”

Lezon and the others looked approvingly at the course. Heads nodded, whiskers twitching agreement. Lezon laid in the course and began setting up the piloting computer to handle it.

Her three mistresses looked on in curiosity. Two of the three, T’cass and K’ress, had flown in combat during the last war of the Clans and the M'cratt Empire. M’rel had been a medical technician. After all of her years of service, they still admired the economy and efficiency of their slave. Lezon had been a Talon pilot on the M’cratt side who was taken prisoner and claimed as war booty by T’cass.

T’cass, M’rel and K’ress had met during the war and fallen in love. T’cass had brought little but her slave to the Triad having spent her earnings to save Lezon’s life and heal her severe injuries. The other two had brought rich medical rewards, bounties and carefully saved combat pay. Together, they had bought a small star ship, formed a Clan and now had three kits of their own.

Lezon located the kits in the recreation room and herded the youngsters up to the bridge. “School time,” she announced cheerfully. “T’lass, you’re the youngest, so you get the easy job. Navigation. Sit over there and keep track of our course. We may have to divert for exploration or hazards.

“K’sere, you get the long range scanners. Your job is to watch out for hazards and give orbital scan information to T’cill.

“T’cill, your job is data interpretation. You take the scans and get us planatographical information. We want composition, orbital elements in detail, and exploitation potentials.”

“I want to fly the ship,” stated T’cill rebelliously.

“Sorry,” said Lezon firmly, “that’s my job. I’ve been the D’ancer’s driver ever since your mothers bought her.” She sat at her console and began the process of cutting down on their 28 C speed and bringing them to the calculated course. T’lass’s information was flowing steadily across her screens, letting Lezon know how close she was to the optimum course. What the other two were doing was displayed on a split quarter of her main screen.

To keep the three kits occupied for the coming hours, Lezon began drilling them in basics.

“Who can tell me what the Contraction Restriction field does?” she asked.

It was K’sere who chimed in first, “It prevents the relativity contraction from happening by converting the mass increase required by relativity into tachyons.”

“One snack point for K’sere,” said Lezon. Ears pricked up, tails twitched and whiskers went dead still as kits suddenly concentrated.

“What’s the theoretical maximum for the Restriction field?”

“0.7,” said T’cill dismissively.

“Anybody else?” asked Lezon softly.

It was T’lass who answered thoughtfully, “1.0. 0.7 is an engineering limit. If a generator overloads it will blow a ship into a cloud of tachyons headed for the next galaxy.”

“That’s what I meant,” said T’cill grumpily.

“Unfortunately, not what you said,” Lezon replied. “Snack point for T’lass.”

“What limits the speed of a ship?”

“Four things,” T’cill responded promptly. “Without a Restriction field, relativity forces the ship to contract to an infinitely massive wave front at C. This makes it impossible to go to or beyond the speed of light.” She curled one finger down.

“With a Restriction field, speed is a relationship between field intensity and thrust.” A second finger counted down.

“Thrust is produced by the inertial drive as a function of tachyon energy states inside a conducting surface.” A third finger folded into her growing fist.

“The last thing that governs ship speed is the fusion ramjet. In terms of thrust, it’s bitsy. Less than one standard gravity. Using magneto-hydrodynamics, it supplies the power to run the inertial drive at high C numbers by fusing interstellar hydrogen into helium and lithium.” Her fourth point made and finger folded, she was left with her small finger and thumb triumphantly held spread.

“Snack point,” Lezon said cheerfully.

“Planetary data coming in,” said K’sere. Everybody applied themselves to their screens. This was the real lesson, and the first time that the kits had first crack at the gathering and analysis of completely new data. They meant to get it right, and not just for snacks. They wanted to please Lezon, who had raised and educated them every bit as much as their three biological parents.

Planet size, accurate orbital elements, composition and tachyon output were duly recorded. The planet itself was nothing special, a smallish gas-giant; ammonia, methane and about 2.3 standard g gravitational pull. Two of its four moons had exploitable resources. The inner moon was a stony one with several metal ores in reasonable abundance. The second moon had usable hydrocarbons and sulfur volcanoes.

The next world was likewise ordinary. It was a near duplicate of the first, without the resource laden moons. The third, closest in of the gas-giants, was a different story altogether.

It was a large world with a monster gravity well, nearly 3.9 g’s. It was big enough to hold nearly all of its hydrogen in addition to ammonia, methane and a variety of complex organic compounds. Its fourteen moons held huge amounts of free water as ices and even some liquid. The moons were rich in silicates and metal ores. This one planet and its moons was well worth a mining claim due to the available water, easily separated for oxygen to breathe and hydrogen for fusion fuel.

One of the expected stony-giant worlds about 20 C minutes out from the primary had a planet-sized moon.

///////////////////////////

Well out-system, Commander M’ase watched the main screens on the command deck of the M’cratti Talon carrier ship Hand of Claws. The long range scans were no more informative than the Treaty Commission maps which were also displayed. Blue Giant stars never had habitable planets but they often had ones that were rich in resources.

“Why has the Triad-Empress sent us out here to this place?” grumbled detection, knowing full well that if it was necessary or desirable for her to know the answer, she would have been told.

It surprised the entire bridge crew when the Commander, who had earned the full compliment of three Names, answered quite calmly, “It is within my discretion to reveal our mission and it may assist your evaluation to know what it is. We are searching for worlds worth exploitation, in spite of the hostile environment of giant star systems. We must confine our search to those stars nearest to concentrations of Clan colonies here at the border of their space.

“These worlds must be claimable through the Treaty Commission without contest. They will become legitimate centers of mining and manufacturing for the Empire. They will also become shipyards and launch bases for the next war. Keep these factors in mind as we conduct our search.”

“War with Clan?” said the pilot disbelievingly. She was young and had earned no Name yet. “They are no worthy adversary. They are not Warriors nor do they fight willingly.”

“True, their goals and desires are utterly alien to us, in spite of their being the same species,” said M’ase thoughtfully, “but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that they can’t fight. They won the last War. Never forget that.

“I know that your histories have glossed it over but the Treaty Commission Fleet is all that saved M’cratt from being turned into an asteroid field. The T.C. will not stop wars. They just protect habitable planets and make certain that the wars are fought within the terms of the treaties.”

“Huh,” said pilot dismissivly, “the Clans only won because Lezon was killed at M’onafar. We were beating them up until then.”

“Then your study of the history of Warriors was wasted time,” said M’ase in sharp rebuke. “Our loss proved that it was Lezon Treh K’lass who was beating them. Not us. How many engagements did we win after M’onafar?”

“One,” said the pilot sullenly.

“Correct,” M’ase said more calmly. “And Lezon had planned that battle before she was lost.”

///////////////////////

The kits nearly went wild as they unbelievingly read their data. “0.98 g’s! Oxygen! Nitrogen! Carbon dioxide! Habitable temperatures! Living biosphere!” They checked and checked again.

That moon was a rare treasure. Habitable worlds were almost beyond price. The glaring primary was eclipsed for a portion of each orbit around its stony giant parent, holding the moon’s temperature to comfortable levels.

T’lass frantically began to enter new data for the navigation computer. Lezon could have done it in a tenth of the time but kits don’t learn if they don’t do.

Lezon made a major change in the flight path planned by T’lass. “Your course puts the D’ancer into an orbit around this new world. Why have I changed it?”

They all looked at her as if she had lost her fur. Lezon explained as if it were elementary, “Being prepared for conflict is one of the most important parts of the Warrior’s Way. If there are technically advanced natives on that world, just barging in could panic them into shooting at us. We will park safely out of the way and use the lighters to scout and be sure that all is safe before we risk taking our home into harm’s way. We don’t want a repeat of how the Feront was found.”

The kits looked at each other and nodded, just slightly abashed that they had not remembered their history.

M’rel and T’cass, won the toss and went out exploring the newly found world in the D’ancer’s two lighters. The D’ancer itself was parked in orbit around the big gas-giant nearly 25 C minutes further out from the primary.

“Lezon,” K’ress asked, watching the spectacular rise of the primary through the giant’s atmosphere, “why have you never tried to leave us?”

Uncomfortably, the M’cratt twitched her tail and ears and looked down at the deck of the Clan ship D’ancer. “Ma’am, I owe you all too much. When T’cass pulled me from my destroyed Talon craft after the battle at M’onafar, I was nearly as dead as my ship. She spent all of her fortune to save me, and I had been your enemy. When I awakened in the hospital, she took my submission. It would be unethical to try to escape until the debit is paid.” That is true, except that the debit is long paid, she thought.

“You do know that we tested you. We gave you errands that you could have used to escape back to your own people. You never did.” K’ress cocked her ear quizzically. “Most M’cratti would not have been so ethical. I know this and so do my Clan-wives. Would it bother you to know that we have considered manumission for you?”

“Where would I go? The M’cratti would not give me any position of honor, having let myself be taken,” Lezon asked in genuine dismay.

“Surely, if we returned you, we could explain that you were unconscious when we took you. You discharged your ethical debit with the honor that your race is famous for… Why, they would have to give you a place of honor!”

Bitterly, Lezon replied, “You are Clan, I am M’cratt. You fight fiercely and are good opponents, worthy of respect, but you seek peace. We are warriors. We are the same species separated by ways of thought. We are even more alien to each other than the Feront is to our species.” How do I tell her that I have come to share their love of ship and Clan — And close personal feelings are forbidden to the M’cratti. Now I love them all. T’cass who saved my life at the cost of her own fortune. She knows who I am, and has shielded me. M’rel, the friend who would not ask or allow any other to ask my Name beyond what I was willing to give. K’ress, who trusted me with their first kit. I would miss playing with and teaching their kits. They trust me, and I them. What I feel for them all outweighs a lifetime of training and discipline. How can I tell her that without losing all of my honor?

Just then they began to receive a comm call from M’rel, saving Lezon from difficult introspection. She knew that what she felt for the D’ancer Clan was wrong but it felt right, too. She was not happy about it. That meant that her inner conflict was poorly managed.

“M’rel here,” said the familiar, softly furred face in the comm screen, both pointed ears leaning forward, her vertically slit eyes wide with interest, “the analysis is complete. The DNA is only a double spiral instead of our triple, but it uses the same amino-acid bases! We can safely eat most of the native proteins! More, we can’t get any of the local diseases! The data is in the secondary transmission.

“See you all soon, K’ress. Tell Lezon that there is no intelligent life here. She fretted about safety for noth …” The transmission ended in a hiss of static.

Seeing the data display, part of Lezon’s heart shattered but the Warrior’s Way allowed her no time now for grief. She hit the controls swiftly, diving the D’ancer in a fast, hard entry into the Giant’s atmosphere. Throughout the ship, the soft penetrating bong of the emergency gong was sounding. Emergency maneuvering fields had locked everyone tight to the floor unless they were in a crash couch, preventing them from moving or being moved until released.

The ship ended its dive, resting quietly hundreds of miles under the atmosphere’s opaque cloud deck using minimum power to fly aerodynamically, barely above stall speed. Only dim emergency lights were on. The gravity compensation system was down, exposing the occupants to the full 3.9 g’s of the planet’s unmodified pull.

The kits, T’cill, T’lass and K’sere could be heard in the education quarters calling out, “Mothers! Lezon! What’s happened? Have we crashed? Why is the grav shield off? Everything’s too heavy!”

“Yes, why is the shield off?” asked K’ress, sensibly not reaching for any control that her trusted pilot had shut down.

“Lady K’ress, we are hiding. Your sister-wife is dead.”

Shocked, K’ress said, “M’rel? Dead? Are you sure?”

“Madam, I am certain. I’m sorry.”

Lezon called up the static at the end of the call and put it on the screen as data. She adjusted the scales to show clearly to the others what she already knew. She tapped a few keys and put the information onto the kit’s education screens as well. Speaking to all of them through the computer, she highlighted the first part of the static, which now showed a very regular pattern. The last section was wildly erratic with several high peaks.

“This portion is the cycle pattern of a Talon disruptor. I was a Talon pilot. I am sure of this.” Lezon moved the highlight to the last part of the static, adding red bars to some of the peaks. “These are helium and lithium ions at very high energy states. They could only have come from the detonation of M’rel’s power capsule. There is nothing left of her for us to recover. All that we can do is hope that T’cass has not been found as well.

“Disruptor patterns are nearly as distinctive as iris scans,” Lezon said as calmly as if for a classroom lecture to the kits. “That shot was fired by a Talon launched from my old carrier ship, the Hand of Claws.”

K’ress’s golden eyes looked questioningly at Lezon. “You could have surrendered us. You would have been back with your friends and we would be the slaves. Why didn’t you?”

“You have not treated me as a slave, in spite of my status on the crew manifest. You have not even required my whole true name. You spent a fortune to heal my body of injuries and vacuum damage and never even demanded the knowledge of who I was.”

“What you were not willing to give, we did not need. We know how important names are to M’cratt. You had to earn your Name and as far as we are concerned, you earned the right to keep it,” said K’ress firmly.

“I figured that out quickly. At first, I thought that your failure to demand my name was a gesture of contempt. The rest of your treatment of me proved otherwise. Now, I will give it to you freely. Ask me my name.”

“Your name? It is Lezon, common enough among the M’cratti who have earned their names. It is your people’s goddess of death, I believe. Is it important to know more?” K’ress was clearly puzzled.

“It is to me. Please ask,” pleaded Lezon.

“Very well, then. Please tell me your name.”

“I am Lezon Treh K’lass. By the Triple Goddess of Battle, while there is breath in this body that you gave back to me, I will save you if I can. I know how M’cratti treat their slaves. You and the kits deserve better.”

K’ress was truly taken aback. “I know that name. No M’cratti tactician is more feared by the Clans. Even the Feront is afraid of entering a battle that you lead. No wonder that you have kept your name a secret.”

“Lady K’ress, with due respect, when T’cass captured me and held my Name, your Clan respected that and never asked beyond what was given.

“Now that you have asked my name, I have told you. What I swear by my whole name, I must do. I could not escape before because T’cass took my submission, not my surrender. She acknowledged that she had not beaten me and so could not take my surrender. That required me to stay as a free Warrior and learn from her and fight by her side.”

“So — Now you must save us from your own ship by the oath you just took.” K’ress looked sympathetically at Lezon. “That must have been a hard thing to do.”

Tears fell like liquid stones in the high gravity of the Giant planet. “Madam, it was the hardest thing that I have ever done. War is easy by comparison. I love you all, the kits, too. I had no choice.” There, I’ve said it. My M’cratt honor is gone for good. I wonder if she knows what those words have cost me?

Lezon was surprised by the next words that she heard. K’sere, the second of the three kits, spoke through the ship’s comm. “I thought that M’cratti didn’t have Clans and couldn’t love.”

With a catch in her throat, Lezon replied, “You are right. It is not allowed. It violates the honor of the Warrior Way. It leads to weakness.”

The voice of T’cill said quietly, “you taught us the precepts of Clan. The first of these is that love is the source of Clan strength. Did you lie to us?”

T’lass, the youngest of the kits, spoke up at once, “Lezon never lied to us. Not ever. She taught us what we needed to learn, not what she believed. None of us asked her about her ways.

“She has just told us that she had no choice, that she loved us enough to swear to save us. That must have broken her Warrior Way’s honor. She chose us over her whole life’s training and belief.”

Speaking to Lezon directly now, T’lass, wiser than her few years would indicate, asked, “What can we do to help you save us, Warrior?”

Pride filled Lezon’s heart at the calm way that they were turning to her for leadership. “T’cill, get your sisters into the liquid exercise tank. Use the gill packs so that you can all stay underwater. We will soon be doing some maneuvers that will be truly savage. Pray to your goddesses that the ship holds together. It is well built and I have worked to make it better since I knew that I would stay with you, come what may. Still, the D’ancer was not made for war.”

“Lady K’ress, call up passive detection subroutine 14-25. I have put three profiles on your screen, if you find any of them, put them onto my screen immediately.”

“I have never seen this routine before,” remarked K’ress. “How does it work? Where is the tachyon emitter source?”

“The routine is a secret that I was working on when my Talon was hit and lost. It uses any natural background source, like the planet under us, and if there are more than one source available, like the star, it triangulates even more accurately. It still needs work before it can be used for fire control. Even so, it makes things enough better that we will only need one targeting ping to fire accurately.”

The D’ancer’s decks could be felt shuddering underfoot as the eight hundred mile per hour winds outside buffeted her. That brought another concern to the forefront of K’ress’s mind. “Should we be so deep in this atmosphere?” she asked anxiously.

“No, my Lady, we should not,” answered Lezon absently, as she scanned her instrumentation. “We are fifty five percent over the safety limit of our hull. I looked into the D’ancer’s specifications long ago. The safety limit was set with a factor of two, so if all is well made, and I have made sure that it is, we still have a small reserve.”

“I see that we have long underestimated the complexity of being a Warrior — I have targets.” She transferred the screen information to the pilot.

“Good,” approved Lezon. “T’cass has landed on the second planet and powered down. The Talons know where she is though, see the courses that they’ve set? I hope that she has the sense to get clear of the ship. They won’t have to be closer than about 10 C seconds to open fire with their disruptors.”

“What is that fuzzy looking target?” asked K’ress, highlighting one of the objects on the screen.

“That is the Hand of Claws,” said Lezon. “She appears indistinct in this detection mode because her shields are at maximum. If Commander M’ase still has her bridge, she knows that the lighters have a ship in the near neighborhood. We are masked by the planet’s bulk and natural tachyon flux for now. M’ase will be worried about where we are. A Clan ship should have come to investigate when one of its lighters went off screen.”

/////////////////////////

On the command deck of the Hand of Claws, Commander of Talons, M’ase Carra L’on, was twitching her ears in annoyance and her green eyes were slitted narrow as she tried to will the Clan ship to show itself.

“This one doesn’t act like a Clanner. Where is the mother ship?” She demanded of the empty air. She spun on her heel and nearly pounced on her hapless detection officer. “Where are they? How could a minor Clan ship hide from us?”

Cringing, the officer replied, “We never did see the main ship. Perhaps they are out-system, recording the find.”

It was the wrong thing to say. M’ase had gone totally still, utterly focused. “If they record the find,” she purred in a voice that reminded everyone on the command deck of a leather strop honing a blade past razor sharpness, “we have struck to no point, wasted resources and time. It was you who said that they had to be near. We attacked on your assessment. We will proceed. If they are not found soon, this will come out of your shares.”

The Talon flight officer called in, saving the detection officer from further wrath, “Target on planet two eliminated. The capsule was powered down and failed to detonate but instruments recorded the destruction of the vehicle.”

M’ase said in satisfaction, “That should bring them running to see what happened to their other mate. Set scans wider to spot them as far out as possible.”

Relieved to have a task, the detection officer did as she was ordered. “Detection limits out to 2 C hours, Ma’am! Resolution at two and a half minutes of arc. We will focus more tightly after contact,” she reported in a matter-of-fact voice.

M’ase ordered, “Talons, return to ship. Well done. Your actions have secured this rich system for us. We only need to find the Clanner that those lighters came from and all is ours. They cannot hide for long.”

Detection looked at her screens and fretted whether to report what she had seen. Gas-giants always contributed some background tachyon flux. She debated whether to report the tiny, unfocused flux increase to the Commander. Caution won out.

“Commander, there is something happening on the nearby Gas-giant. The unfocused tachyon flux is up by a tenth of one percent.”

“Is that significant?”

“No, but it does lower our scan resolution in that area by a fraction.”

/////////////////////////

“Lezon, what are you doing?” asked K’ress as she watched Lezon get up and walk heavily aft.

“I need to re-route some power. The cables are heavy but it must be done.”

“I will unlock the engineering panel. We can do it from here,” said K’ress, reaching for the panel lock.

“I wish that it were so easy, K’ress,” sighed Lezon. “That panel will allow us to reconfigure power within the system. We need to reconfigure the system itself.”

K’ress got out of her crash couch and staggered aft with Lezon. “I will help, if you show me what to do.”

“Lady, you are our eyes. I need to know when the Talons get close to the Hand of Claws.”

“How close?” asked a voice from the education room.

“T’cill! Get into the tank with your sisters,” said K’ress sharply.

“I have a screen here,” replied T’cill, “and a couch. I can watch for you while you work.”

“Call me when they are two C seconds from the Hand of Claws,” said Lezon, tacitly accepting the help. “The Hand is the fuzzy one not far off from us. The Talons show as arrows pointing their course. T’cass shows as a circle on the second planet. Let us know all that occurs.”

Lezon and K’ress went on to the power room in the ship’s core. The power capsule sat, a squat oblong with rounded ends and edges, floating in the midst of its cradle. It only touched the cradle when it was shut down. The collector was like an assemblage of silvery rings about the capsule. Each one had a superconducting cable emerging from it. They all joined together into a single large high saturation superconductor that went into the distribution room. There the cable became a monstrous hydra of quick-connectors and smaller cables, each routed to a specific other cable or piece of equipment. There were many connectors that had no cables attached and each of the cables could reach any of the empty connections.

K’ress looked at the arraignment in surprise. “When did we get all of this slack in the cables and all of these extra connectors? What is the purpose?”

“Lady K’ress, I had it installed during the refit last planet-fall. It is one of the improvements that I have made,” said Lezon, struggling to release a connector in the heavy pull of the Gas-giant’s gravity. “Would you turn this handle one third of a turn?”

Still mystified, K’ress did as asked. It wasn’t easy. A small spray of icy vapor from liquid nitrogen coolant accompanied the release of the connector. As the two of them struggled to shift its weight over and attach it to one of the other heads of the hydra, Lezon continued, “When I was injured and trapped in my shot-up Talon after the battle at M’onafar, I was only three inches of cable from safety. Those three inches of slack that weren’t there nearly cost me my life. Only T’cass checking out a wrecked enemy ship for salvage saved me.” They both were panting when the job was done.

They were interrupted by T’cill’s despairing call, “They just destroyed mommy T’cass’s ship! It’s gone!” The kit began to cry inconsolably.

Lezon felt another part of her shattering but she had to save the others before she could mourn. A new determination settled over her. The Hand of Claws was going to pay.

She and K’ress hurried for the education room as swiftly as the gravity allowed. There they enfolded the sobbing T’cill in their arms and held her close.

“You did well,” Lezon told her. “That was hard for you to watch. I could not have changed that cable by myself. We shall mourn together later. Now we must battle for our lives. I do need you in that tank. Put on your gill. Without the water for a cushion, you will be hurt, and I don’t want that.”

Lezon left the kit in her mother’s arms and went to the control room. Settling thankfully into her crash couch, she began delicately working to get the D’ancer, hidden down in the giant’s atmosphere, lined up so that she could get the shot that she wanted. She began to slowly trickle up the tachyon flux of the targeting system, carefully unfocused.

She had never entertained much hope that the seven little five kiloton per second guns of the D’ancer’s forward battery could do much damage, so long as they stayed strictly Clan legal. So — the guns of the ship’s batteries were still technically legal. They now used a few pounds per second of targeting flux followed by a short ten megaton pulse per weapon. Each blast was brief enough that the five kiloton per second per weapon limit was observed. The T.C. had reluctantly put their seal on her fire control software.

Even with this change, it would be touch and go to strike the Hand of Claws at far closer range. The Talons were a different story altogether. They were lightly shielded, high speed, short range heavy firepower. At only four C seconds range, they would be sitting ducks during the one time that they were forced to be nearly still. While they were entering or leaving the Hand of Claws’ shield they had to match speed, position and shield intensity with the big ship.

///////////////////

M’ase was still nervously pacing the control deck of the Hand of Claws. So far everything had gone perfectly, except that the Clan ship itself had yet to be found. She was certain that the detection officer’s assessment was accurate or she would never have acted against the Clanners. Their ship was somewhere nearby. When it was found, the big homing missile launchers and long range tachyon batteries of the Hand of Claws would make short work of it.

The Talons, having done their work, were returning to their mother ship. In an hour, they would begin a serious combined search spiral through the system and conduct a detailed survey while they were at it. They already knew, thanks to the data transmission that they had picked up just prior to the destruction of the first lighter, that the moon of the stony giant was a rare and valuable habitable world. That would make the rest of the system’s resources easily exploitable and provide a safe haven where people could relax without fear. A good place to raise more Warriors.

It was just the Clan ship’s bad luck that they had found it first, by days only, apparently. Their ship log would be compared to the log of the Hand of Claws and the matter of ownership would be settled by an Interstellar Treaty Tribunal. Unless, of course, the Clan ship’s otherwise indelible log dissolved in disruptor or tachyon fire, or a missile’s nuclear fireball.

The Talons were now coming close in so that they could resupply in their launch bays. M’ase listened with half an ear to the chatter of the docking procedure. The Hand of Claws’ defensive fields were matched and phased to the Talon ships’ shields so that they could get into their berths.

The first warning that all was not right was the panicked voice of fire-control shouting “Ping!” as she desperately pulled the shields as hard and tight as possible. The blast slamming into the ship caused more damage than she had taken during the whole of the last war.

The Hand of Claws was spinning about her short axis, tumbling away from the expanding cloud of vapor that was all that was left of the nearer Talon. The other’s smashed wreckage was already showing on the screen as it spun wildly away. M’ase picked herself up from the base of life-support’s crash couch and looked about the bridge. Even here in the most solidly protected part of the ship except for the power capsules, there was damage.

M’ase listened as the damage reports flowed in. All Talon bays damaged too severely for launch. Attitude control at only sixty percent. Primary tachyon radiator destroyed. Drive at sixty five percent. Eight hull breeches. Main batteries number one four and five off line entirely. All missile launchers out of action. Shielding was still functional but the generators had damage. There were crew injuries all over the ship.

They were only barely operational. Crews were doing what was needed to contain the damage. M’ase smiled and put damage control from her mind. Her crew knew what to do. “I would like to meet you, Clan. You think like a Warrior,” she said, pleased that she had found a worthy adversary. She turned to detection and fire control. “Where did that come from and what was it?”

Next==>

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#LEZON #Part 1 of 3 #Science Fiction #Written by De Writer

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the-lupine-sojourner · 5 years ago

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Sarada, Princess of the Saiyans [’Season’ 1 Episode 1]

Okay! I know I do not need a new story, but this won't get out of my head so here we go!

So I am using the Super Broly movie for how Vegeta and Sarada found out that their race and planet were gone. So anyway, let's get this going, shall we? Lemme know if y'all want more of this story, okay?

Okay, and one last thing: the fantastic cover art was done by Stupidoomdoodles on Tumblr. I believe the picture is supposed to be female Vegeta, but I also see it as pretty close to my mental image of Sarada, so...here we are!

Real quick, I wanted to tag my bestie @elite-guard-hardygal who very graciously let me show them the first handful of episodes of Dragonball Z when I was able to go up there for their birthday! Wow I had so much fun and a lot of great memories from those few days. :) Let me know if you have any questions, galfriend!!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this story and let me know if you guys want more!

God bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

"Vegeta?" He turns his head to me from when we were doing our exercises in an effort to raise our power levels.

"What is it?" He asks sharply, not liking the interruption of his concentration. I move on to the next exercise before replying.

"Why do we have to kill everyone on the planets we're assigned to?" I ask. Vegeta halts and so do I, the question hanging in the air like the increased gravity in the chamber.

"What kind of question is that?" Vegeta snaps back. "We- -that's how it's always been! We Saiyans are warriors, conquerors!"

"But why can't we just let them live under us?" I press. Vegeta sighs, crossing his arms before turning a slightly annoyed look toward me.

"You want to be stronger, right, Sarada?" He asks. I nod.

"Yes, of course!"

"Then you have to prove yourself, keep testing your limits! Destroying weaker species is just Survival of the Fittest at work! It's not our fault our opponents are so weak." I blink.

"So if we find opponents stronger than us...do we let them live with us?" I ask. By Vegeta's logic, that made sense, at least to me.

"There are no species stronger than the Saiyans," Vegeta replies in a no-nonsense tone.

"Oh. Okay." I didn't quite understand, but I had learned, even as a five-year-old, that these things were not to be argued, so I went back to training.

=#=#=#=#=

"Sarada, come on!" Vegeta hisses at me as he tugs me along behind him. I stumble and try to keep up with him.

"Vegeta, what's going on?" I pant out. Vegeta briefly stops.

"Father is meeting with someone. Someone he demanded to see alone. I've never heard of Father insisting on such a meeting. Figured we should see what this is all about." I could never deny Vegeta, so I nod as we continue moving.

"Okay, you don't have to tug my wrist," I complain and he lets go with a huff.

"You don't have to be a wimp about it." He counters. I stick my tongue out at him and we continue on our way. Soon enough, we slip through the passage we discovered that led into Father's private meeting room. We look out and see a figure looming over the King of the Saiyans, cat-like ears extending from his head and odd clothes over his body, a tail laying limp toward the floor. He was purple, his shoed foot against Father's head as Father knelt before him, and was shaking as if in terror. I flinch. Who could make the King of the Saiyans bow and tremble like that?! I halt Vegeta's movement. If Father was scared, we had no business meddling in this. Better to be silent observers.

Despite myself, I creep a little closer to the pair with Vegeta, beginning to shake in fear myself. Just who was this figure and why was Father so afraid of him?

"Can your miserable little brain comprehend why I'm so angry, Saiyan King?" A booming, authoritative male voice rang out, freezing me in my tracks. Vegeta tugged me to him, positioning me subtly behind him as the figure applied a little more pressure to Father's head. "Answer me." The man growls.

Father took a few moments to reply and I could hear the fear and hesitance in his voice. "Because I promised to fulfill your mission in the time you gave me, Lord Beerus, but it took longer than I thought it would."

"Wrong." 'Lord Beerus' replies, voice icy and stern as he continues the pressure. Beside me, Vegeta's jaw clicks in anger.

"Father's being humiliated!" He hisses. "How can he take that?"

"I don't know. Whoever this man is, if Father's scared, we should be, too." I whisper back, hand reaching out and grabbing Vegeta's cape as a comfort. This was bad!

"We're Saiyans!" Vegeta snaps back, mindful to keep his voice down. "We aren't afraid of anyone. Just who is this filth?!"

"Vegeta, Father called him a Lord. That means this man is important! We shouldn't interfere!" I whimper. What Vegeta had said was true, but this seemed to be an appropriate reaction in this instance. Anyone who can subdue the King of the Saiyans so completely must be someone we don't want to mess with.

"I don't care!" Vegeta replies hotly, barely managing to keep his voice low. "This man should remember his place!" I tighten my grip on his cape. Something told me if we intervened, it would end disastrously. Before I can speak, however, Lord Beerus' voice booms around the room and once again I'm stiff with fear.

"I consider myself a rather flexible diety." He begins. I flinch. Diety?! "I know you mortals have your limitations, but there is one thing I cannot tolerate; the callous arrogance of those who do not pay the respect a Destroyer is due." I gulp. A destroyer? A diety?! And he was here!? Why? Why would a diety come here and- -Father's head slams into the ground, cracking it slightly, and Father grunts in pain. Vegeta and I flinch. I put my hand over my mouth to stifle any noise. The last thing we needed was for Lord Beerus to see us. We likely wouldn't survive such an encounter. "I ordered you to find me the most comfortable pillow in all the universe, and I know for a fact you obtained it." Come again?! This diety, this Lord Beerus, came here and demanded that the King of all Saiyans find him the universe's most comfortable pillow?!

A rage slowly began to build inside me. Not enough to make me act, but enough to slowly begin eating at my fear for the figure threatening my father.

"Your tenacity is impressive," Lord Beerus continues, grinding Father's head into the ground, "although your methods? A bit severe." He adds, an almost coy undertone to his voice now as he leans closer to our father's prone body. He was playing with Father, taunting him! Beerus knelt in front of his victim, grabbing Father's hair and hauling Father up to face him. "I bet you don't even know how many creatures you killed in that raid." I blink. Was he talking about Father's rushed reentry to the planet a few days ago, followed by a secret meeting with a few choice advisors? I think I did see someone carrying something that could have been a pillow toward our bedrooms, but...I didn't want to intervene and tell this man my suspicions as to the location of this pillow. "Of course," Lord Beerus' voice snaps me back to the matter at hand. "being what I am, I could have accepted all that if you had simply given me the best pillow instead of keeping it for yourself and trying to fool me with the second best." Beerus hauls Father up further and punches Father in the chest, hard enough that Father instantly keels over, winded and groaning in agony. Tears prick my eyes as Father collapses and I don't notice that I had let go of Vegeta's cape at some point until he's stepping back in utter shock before his fists clench and his eyes narrow in outrage.

"Bastard!" He growls, and I can tell by the look in his eyes, he is going to charge.

"Vegeta, no!" I snap, trying to grab the cape, racing after my headstrong brother, but it's no good.

"That is the King of all Saiyans!" Vegeta roars as he runs forward. My mind replays what Lord Beerus said about being respected, just as I move to cut in front of Vegeta. But before I can speak or stop my brother, I feel something strange happen and suddenly, I feel sluggish and as if I were in the training room with the artificial gravity increased far beyond what I could stand. Just before I collapse, I manage to move in front of my brother, trying to form any kind of shield I could. I fall to the ground, trying as hard as I could, but I can't speak or move hardly at all. I try to move to better protect my brother, but it doesn't make much of a difference.

"Children should not interfere with the affairs of gods." Lord Beerus growls and I feel my mouth dry in terror. This was how I die. Lord Beerus then yawns. "I think I'll retrieve what's mine and put the pillow to use; I grow weary of you mortals and your disappointments. Come, Whis." From behind us, I see a man in strange robes come forward, following Lord Beerus toward the door. Suddenly, we can move and instantly, I have to move to restrain Vegeta, who seemed too blinded by rage and frustration at how easily we were restrained to even speak.

"Take a left down the hall. I think our father has the pillow in his bedroom." I murmur, resigned to let the god go about his business. Lord Beerus huffs.

"At least one of you has some small fraction of sense. Thank you, child. I think I might spare this planet, but know this; if you test me again, I will annihilate the entire Saiyan race before you can comprehend that you've died." Beerus growls menacingly, then turns and walks away. I breathe a sigh of relief, then am promptly punched in the face. Winded, I fall to the ground.

"What the hell was that, you traitor?!" Vegeta roars, looming over me, shaking in rage. He hauls me up to face him. "How could you let that scumbag steal from us like that!?" I pry his hand away, getting in his face.

"Didn't you hear him, Vegeta!?" I snap. "Lord Beerus told us not to intervene in gods' affairs!"

"That doesn't mean you listen to him!"

"I think you should be thanking me! He could have easily killed us and the planet!"

"That doesn't matter! Where's your Saiyan pride!? Don't you care about the humiliation we suffered because of that filth?!"

"He's a god! There isn't anything we can do against him!"

"That doesn't mean we can't try!"

"Silence...you two..." Comes Father's voice before I can reply, and we instantly stop arguing and help him up.

"Father, tell Sarada she shouldn't have- -"

"Enough! What's done is done."

"But Father!"

"No arguing!" Father interjects sternly, resulting in a fit of coughing.

"Are you alright?" I ask. Father nods.

"I will be, Sarada. Now, help me clean myself up, and tell no one what you saw in here, got it?" I nod.

"Of course, Father." Vegeta huffs.

"...If you say so, Father."

=#=#=#=#=

I don't know why, but I woke up late at night, throat dry and feeling groggy. I went to get a glass of water when I heard a strange noise and got a weird feeling, so I made my way forward, sensing something very strange. There was someone down near the room with the pods but hadn't made it there yet.

"C'mon where are they?" The man hisses to himself when I arrive. Based on the description, it looked like it could be the new military recruit, Radditz's father, Bardock. What he was doing, I didn't know. He did seem to want a pod, though...

"If you're looking for the pods, they're down the hall, second door on the left." I murmur, rubbing my eyes. "But why do you- -"

"Thanks!" Bardock (if that's who this guy is) interrupts, starts running away, then turns to me. "...this needs to be a secret, okay?" For some reason, I trust him, finding myself nodding.

"Okay." Bardock's face lights up a bit and he gives me a small smile, walking over and ruffling my hair.

"Thanks again, kid." I smile back at him, then the smile fades as I remember I still didn't know why he wanted a pod.

"Why do you need a pod?" I ask. Bardock sighs.

"It's for something very important," Bardock explains. I move to stand in front of him.

"What precisely is so important you need to steal a pod?" I press. Bardock crosses his arms.

"Listen, kid, I don't have time to keep talking to you."

"Then I don't have to remember that this is supposed to be a secret." I retort, crossing my arms and glaring at him. "Now, as the Princess of the Saiyans, I demand you tell me why you need a pod!" Bardock groans then sighs heavily.

"Fine. For my son. Now get out of my way and don't breath a word of this to anyone, got it?" I huff.

"Was that so hard?" I reply sarcastically, side-stepping to let Bardock by. "I won't tell anyone, but you'd better hurry and use that pod. Its absence will be noted soon enough." Bardock doesn't reply, walking away down the hall. I roll my eyes, face back down the way I'd come, and return to bed, someone finding myself able to go back to sleep, feeling like I did something right.

No one would ever notice the stolen pod, turns out.

They'd all die in a freak meteor strike within a week of the incident.

=#=#=#=#=

At only about ten years old, we were going on assignments to planets in need of...repossession. Each assignment was more dangerous than the last and we kept getting stronger, as is usual for Saiyans. Then...

We were assigned to some planet I can't remember, just a day or so after I met Bardock.

It was a relatively easy assignment, considering we had Radditz, two adults and Father's advisor, Nappa, with us. However, it was a large enough planet that the assignment took longer than we thought.

Partway through, we all got an order to return to Planet Vegeta, but we weren't done with the assignment, so we all agreed to ignore it. Once we were all done with our part, we met back near our pods to eat and rest up a little before the trip back home. That's when we got the worst message possible.

"Did you hear that?!" One of the adults asks, voice shaky in fear.

"Something wrong?" Nappa asks.

"We got a message from the Frieza Force!" The first adult continues. "A meteor collided with Planet Vegeta and- -what?!" He grows even more shocked and terrified, if possible. I find myself falling into the same response despite not knowing the full reason behind his reaction. His cry of shock makes me flinch subtly, my food forgotten in my hand. "Our whole world was obliterated!" He exclaims. I have to sit down.

"No way..." I mumble breathily, hardly aware I was even speaking.

"Impossible!" Nappa asserts. My head whirls under the weighty implications of the Saiyan's words.

"That means most of the Saiyan race was completely wiped out!" The second adult notes, eyes as wide as the rest in shock. I swallow. That means...that means...Mother and Father were...were gone! Father and I’s relationship had somewhat soured over the years, fraying a little over my power level, a bit lower than Vegeta's. That didn't mean his loss didn't affect me, but it made my emotions regarding his death a bit...complicated. I sat there, trying to process what happened when I see the adults jog toward us.

"Well, I guess we're pretty lucky, aren't we? It's a good thing that we decided to ignore Frieza's order to head home." I swallow.

"I guess, but...we all had family...and they're just...gone." I murmur. Vegeta huffs.

"Now I'll never get to be King Vegeta!" He groans. I blink.

"Is that all you can think about?" I ask in shock.

"Of course! I was destined to rule Planet Vegeta one day! Now I'll never get the chance!" I decide not to press the issue and blankly stare at the adults that were approaching.

"Vegeta, Sarada, you two have a brother, don't you?" Someone (I'm too frazzled to really process who it was) asks. I flinch. Shit! I'd almost forgotten Tarble!

"Oh no! Tarble!" I squeak, hand over my mouth in horror at the thought of him being gone as well.

"Yeah. Wonder if he got blown up, too." Vegeta muses apathetically. “Not that it really matters.” I whirl on him.

"How can you be so calm?! We lost our planet and almost all our people!"

"Like I've been telling you our whole lives, Sarada; Survival of the Fittest. Guess most of the Saiyans didn't fit the bill." I bite my lip. I felt like crying, screaming, doing anything that normal people would do in this situation, but not here, not in front of everyone. So I simply don't speak, and no one really questions it as we fly back to the Frieza Force.

Later that night, in the privacy of the dormitory I was given on a ship, I let the tears flow and the sobs echo around my room for who knows how long. I never told Vegeta about all the nightmares and sleepless nights I've had since losing Planet Vegeta, and he doesn't ask. He's far too concerned with bettering himself to actually talk to me or relay his own emotions about our endangered species status.

He just assumed I was over it, and I never corrected that notion. No, as far as Vegeta's concerned, I was as apathetic and cold as he was, but there was an ember inside me, a shred of decency left, and I was determined not to let it get put out.

=#=#=#=#=

Being one of the last Saiyans in existence was easily the worst thing I'd ever gone through.

Being forced into employment under someone like Frieza and accumulating more genocide charges than any other decent living being was somehow even worse.

"Pl-please, don't!" These words never failed to make me miserable. However, if I caved every time I heard them, I'd be long dead for my disobedience. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Look, this isn't anything personal. But I have my orders; nothing living is to be left on this planet. That's just the way it is." I reply listlessly. It was a usual response for me. No one ever understood how much I hated doing this.

"Sarada, are you done yet? We're behind schedule!" Comes Vegeta's voice, reminding me why I needed to stay strong and complete the assignments I was given.

I had to stay with Vegeta, no matter what. He was all I had left. He was all I cared about. So, without any more excuses to stall, I send a ball of ki into the house as I walk away, having to ignore the screams and horrible smell as I rejoin my brother. "Just finishing now," I reply. "Let's go." We did, and I watch the fires crackle til we were out of sight of the village. Vegeta gave the report to the Frieza Force, and I got something to eat, trying not to feel sentimental. But, this was another entire species that was now extinct. And another charge of mass genocide on my conscience.

Honestly, the only reason I stay in the Frieza Force and keep massacring aliens is because I want to get as strong as I can, so I can kill Frieza and run away with Vegeta to find something else to do in our life besides kill and destroy. But we were still far, far away from Lord Frieza's kind of power level. It was so far beyond ours that all I could do was keep training and pushing myself, and hope that one day, we'd be able to finally put an end to this monster.

...I hope. I join my brother and Nappa around a fire and begin to eat. I don't even complain about eating the people we killed since I am rather hungry and I'd already eaten the food I brought.

"Radditz stinks." Nappa groans. I blink, having ignored anything on the radar while forcing myself through the assignment.

"What?" I ask.

"Radditz was slain by pathetic Earthlings and his very low-level brother, Kakarot," Vegeta explains testily. "He's a complete disgrace!" I sigh.

"He was a Saiyan. Now there are even fewer Saiyans left." I muse. "All the same, I suppose it's better this way; the Saiyans that do remain are strong, it seems." Vegeta spits near the fire.

"Don't make me laugh, sister. Kararot isn't any better than his brother; it was Radditz's foolishness that cost him his life. Kakarot himself is a low-level peasant compared to us, a bug in need of squashing."

"You're saying we're going to teach those Earthlings a lesson?" Nappa asks. Vegeta shakes his head.

"No, that's a waste of time. I was mainly saying that even you could squash him quite easily if you wanted to, Sarada. I am curious, however..."

"Ah. Are you thinking about what Radditz said?" Nappa asks. I don't bother asking what Radditz said. It didn't matter. Vegeta stands, chuckling.

"Exactly. Those Dragonballs caught my interest." I raise a brow.

"Dragonballs?" I ask. "Sorry, I'm a bit behind. I was focused on the assignment and didn't pay attention to the scouter." I explain. Vegeta nods.

"Well, there are apparently seven items called Dragonballs, and if we can get our hands on them, they grant us anything we want. Anything at all." I blink.

"Are you serious?" I murmur, shocked at the implications. This was crazy! One single wish for anything I wanted? "That definitely warrants investigation," I add, smirking. Maybe I could wish for a way to beat Frieza!

"Yeah, let's go!" Nappa cheers, and we begin heading back to our pods.

"Once we force Kakarot's friends to tell us how to find the Dragonballs, we'll eliminate them, along with anyone else who tries to stand in our way."

"And then we can wish Radditz back to life," Nappa suggests. I scoff.

"Yeah, right. If we can have anything at all, we can't waste a wish on Radditz. We need to aim higher." I reply.

"Sarada's right. Radditz was a weakling and a fool. Any Saiyan who could be defeated so easily doesn't deserve to live." I nod. I'd gotten used to those harsh declarations from Vegeta, even subconsciously began to accept them, but it wasn't enough to make my heart harden like Vegeta's had. "Actually, Nappa, I had something far more grand in mind. Now tell me, how does the idea of eternal life sound to you?" Vegeta asks. Nappa smirks.

"What? Living forever?" He asks. "That sounds great," I smirk, too. With eternal life, we could keep battling Frieza until he died, no matter how long it took, and then spend the rest of eternity figuring out what else we wanted to do with our lives. "And if we can't die, then that means no one would ever be able to defeat us, so what the heck would we need Radditz for?" I nod. Harsh as it was, it made sense not to wish him back. I climb into my pod, smiling to myself at the thought of finally making that bastard pay for all the years we'd been kept under his heel.

"Yes, what for indeed?" Vegeta replies smugly. "We'll be the greatest fighters in the universe, and we will ascend to our rightful place among the Saiyan warriors of legend." I blink.

"Do you mean..?" Nappa begins.

"You think we can become the legendary Super Saiyan?" I add. Vegeta nods.

"That's exactly what I mean. We will become Super Saiyans!" I grin.

"Well, what are we waiting for, then? We gotta get to Earth!"

#Fanfiction #DragonballZ #DBZ #OC Insertion Series #OC #Original Character #Original Female Character #Sarada (My OC)#Piccolo #Vegeta #Bulma #Goku #Vegebul #GoChi #Vegeta/Bulma #Goku/ChiChi #Piccolo/Sarada

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kyouryokusenshi · 6 years ago

Text

Oxytocin

Authors: KS & MF @marinafrenzy

Summary: June 2018 XF PB on tumblr, prompt #50, S11 pregnancy sex with Scully on top

Note: Big thanks to our awesome beta, Steph, for her quick turnaround on this piece!

******

Tagging: @today-in-fic @xfpornbattle

From his side of the bed, Mulder watched lazily as Scully stripped off her satin nightgown and waddled towards the bathroom. He heard the plinking of bottles, followed by the zip of her toiletry bag closing.

The muffled sound of water hitting the shower floor filled the bedroom. Scully had just entered her third trimester. Showers for two would soon be a thing of the past. He pondered his next move. God, why was he even hesitating? He swung his legs out from under the covers and made a dash for the door.

Clouds of steam had taken over the bathroom. The shower heat was turned up to the max. Mulder dropped his boxers to the ground, kicking them across the floor in the general direction of the laundry basket.

“Hey there,” he whispered easing the shower curtain open.

“Jesus, Mulder. You startled me.”

“Sorry,” he replied and stepped in behind her.

He deposited a quick peck on her cheek before proceeding to wrap her rounded belly like a support belt, lifting the baby’s weight off her back.

“Hmmm this is nice,” she said.

She relaxed her shoulders and settled her aching body against his chest. She’d been dealing with lower back pain more often lately, something about her organs shifting and her uterus expanding, she’d explained. Warm soothing water poured over their bodies. They stood there holding each other without the need for words.

Scully leaned back her head against Mulder. Her wet hair tickled his neck, sending little shivers up and down his spine. She was growing it out again. He missed that long hair of hers. Some say you’re either a breast man or an ass man, and Scully didn’t disappoint on either front, but long-haired Scully did things to him. Mulder shifted slightly to adjust his growing erection snuggly between them.

“Mulder, what are you…?”

“Shhh,” he hushed and reached for the bottle of body wash. He squeezed some of the creamy substance onto his hands then lathered her shoulders.

“Let me take care of you,” he said as his hands moved to knead the soft tissue around her neck. Scully moaned and her right hand disappeared between her legs. Mulder’s view was limited, but he had his imagination, and there were also memories. Vivid images of Scully’s fingers making their way to her wet folds, her index finger drawing slow circles across her clit, flashed in front of his eyes.

He rubbed the deep muscles in her shoulders, his fist and fingers mirroring the circular motions of his daydream vision. After a few minutes, he sensed the tensions in Scully’s back dissipate, and his own circulation increased.

Hard and pulsating with anticipation, he rocked his hips against her small fame, careful not to throw off her balance. Scully moved to cup her left breast with her free hand. Gently she traced her thumb around her nipple until it formed a perfect little pink peak.

Mulder rinsed off the leftover body gel from his hands. Scully’s moans were growing louder and he wanted in on the action. He started pumping himself. Long, strong up-and-down strokes built up his pleasure. Too much too soon, he thought.

Mulder exhaled and softened the three-finger grip on his cock. He took a step to the side. Once within reach, he slapped his penis against her waist.

“Mulder!” Scully let out a surprised giggle. Her upper teeth biting down on her lip, she tilted her head to grin at him, a mischievous look in her eyes.

She stopped touching herself to bring both of his hands up to her chest. Nestled warmly in his palms, her breasts felt round and heavy. Last he’d heard, Scully had grown two cup sizes and she still had eleven more weeks to go before her due date.

“The water is getting cold,” she whispered between rapid breaths. A shiver travelled across her shoulders. The water droplets running down her neck sparkled like little crystals. He scooped them up by running his tongue across her cooling skin.

“We should have gotten the fifty-six gallon water heater,” he said smiling.

Scully turned around to face him. Her bump hit his erection, sending it wobbling in front of him like a jelly. Mulder chuckled at the silliness of the moment. He looked down at her. His wife. The mother of his children. She was so beautiful. The blue of her eyes was even deeper in the dim ochre light of the shower. He placed a kiss on her mouth. She parted her lips to invite him in. The lukewarm water from the shower mixed with the heat of their tongues. He would have stayed longer, cold water be damned, but she pulled away.

“Let’s take this to the bedroom,” she said pressing her hands against his chest, just firmly enough to nudge him out.

******

The shower had worked its magic. Well, the shower and Mulder’s hands, Scully corrected herself. When she walked out of the bathroom, relaxed and smelling of her Jasmine-Coconut body wash, Mulder was already waiting for her in bed. He had those dark eyes that screamed sex and made her inner thighs twitch with need.

“Come over here,” he said patting the empty space next to him on the mattress.

She stripped off her cotton bathrobe.

“I’m having déjà-vu,” he noted, and his eyes followed the trajectory of her robe as it joined the satin nightgown on the floor.

Naked, Scully began a slow walk to the bed. After a few steps, she stopped to take in the sight.

“You look comfortable,” she teased. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

Mulder had propped himself up with all their pillows. Leaning back against his little makeshift mountain, he looked effortlessly attractive. His forearm was tucked in behind his head, his right hand massaging his erect penis.

Watching him lie there, exposed, Scully suddenly fancied herself a hungry lioness. She wanted to pounce. Her growing belly would get in the way though, so she compromised. Carefully, she climbed into bed, making long strides with her arms and legs. Like a cat circling its prey, she straddled Mulder’s thighs.

“Touch this,” she hissed and lifted his right hand from his cock to her breasts. He let out a surprised breath but did not dare disobey.

Still on top of Mulder, she shifted right then left to get comfortable. She had really popped this last month. There was no getting around it; she’d have to let her bump rest on the smooth skin below his navel if she was going to lead this ride.

She leaned forward for a kiss, but quickly found herself pulling at his lower lip instead. Each time she rolled the soft skin through her teeth, she tugged a little more forcefully.

“Good evening to you too, beast woman,” he whispered.

Mulder responded to the attack on his lip with a quick succession of bites to her neck and shoulders. Scully gasped, and her body shook with pleasure. She didn’t let him get the better of her though, and quickly straightened her shoulders to resume her commanding posture.

“Grab my ass,” she ordered while raising herself onto her knees.

She placed one hand on his shoulder to steady herself. With the other, she guided him to her and eased herself onto him. She raised and then lowered herself, repeating the motion until she felt the initial tightness subside.

“You feel so good,” he said.

“Hmmmm,” she moaned.

Once she found her rhythm, she began to rock back and forth, rubbing her clit against his skin with each push of her hips. Underneath, Mulder was bucking into her, both hands firm on her behind. Twice, he almost slipped out of her but caught himself in time to thrust back stronger and deeper, causing her to arch her back and moan.

“Oh god… Don’t let go of me,” she urged. Her grip on his shoulders intensified and her nails scraped the surface of his skin.

Suddenly, Scully was thrown out of sync by a kick to her ribs. The baby’s movements heightened her awareness to her physical state. She was pregnant. She was fifty-four and pregnant.

Thoughts of darker times came rushing through her mind. When they first moved to the unremarkable house in 2003, she told Mulder she missed motherhood. He never asked her if she wanted another child, but he also never asked about birth control. For a decade, they lived in uncertainty, not really trying for a baby, yet not preventing it either. Patiently, she waited. Then the darkness pulled them apart.

“Something on your mind?” He asked out of breath, slowing his pace. His hands moved to caress her back. He brushed her skin lightly and she purred under the warmth of his finger tips.

“I’m fine,” she responded and plunged in for a kiss. It had taken them a couple of years to find their way back to each other, but their lives were destined for the same path. The tiny heart beating a hundred and twenty beats per minute inside her womb was a daily reminder to never give up on a miracle.

“I’m more than fine,” Scully murmured. She cupped his face to gaze into his eyes. They exchanged smiles, and then resumed their vigorous rocking.

There was a curious erotic purity to pregnancy sex, she thought, as their bodies moved in rugged unison, hers leading the way in the chase for release. Her biological imperative to procreate fulfilled, she could finally enjoy sex for its own sake. No more prayers, no more silent waiting, she’d beaten the odds.

Rocking back and forth and up and down, she held on to Mulder for support. Her orgasm hit her like a tidal wave. Long and high. She fell against his chest, legs spasming, and arms like Jell-o. Her eyes opened just in time to witness Mulder’s own dive into the ocean of sweet deliverance. His eyes rolled back in his head as he thrust inside of her one final time. Holding him in her arms, wet and sticky from their lovemaking, she inhaled his animal scent. He moaned her name and nuzzled his nose against the crook of her neck. She pressed her pregnant belly hard against his body. The life inside of her stirred and she breathed out a soft chuckle. She felt powerful. She was free.

#xfpornbattle #xfilesfanfic #smut #season11 #pregnancysex

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 5 years ago

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15th February >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Mark 8:1-10 for Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘I feel sorry for all these people’.

Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Mark 8:1-10

The feeding of the four thousand

A great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat. So Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat. If I send them off home hungry they will collapse on the way; some have come a great distance.’ His disciples replied, ‘Where could anyone get bread to feed these people in a deserted place like this?’ He asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ ‘Seven’ they said. Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd. They had a few small fish as well, and over these he said a blessing and ordered them to be distributed also. They ate as much as they wanted, and they collected seven basketfuls of the scraps left over. Now there had been about four thousand people. He sent them away and immediately, getting into the boat with his disciples, went to the region of Dalmanutha.

Gospel (USA)

Mark 8:1-10

They ate and were satisfied.

In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people.

He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

Reflections (4)

(i) Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

This is the second time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus feeds a large crowd in the wilderness, the first feeding having occurred less than two chapters earlier. At this point in his gospel, Jesus is in a region that would have been inhabited predominantly by pagans. The fact that the disciples had already witnessed Jesus feed a large crowd in Jewish territory shortly before makes their somewhat despairing question all the harder to understand, ‘Where could anyone get bread to feed these people in a deserted place like this?’ It seems odd that the disciples have learned nothing from the earlier feeding. If Jesus can feed a Jewish crowd in the wilderness, why could he not now feed a predominantly pagan crowd? The disciples seem to have lacked an expectant faith. The fact that God had already provided for a hungry crowd in the recent past through Jesus did not lead them to expect that God would provide for another hungry crowd in the present. The question of Jesus, in contrast to the disciples’ question, was rooted in an expectant faith, ‘How many loaves have you?’ Jesus expected that God would provide again for this predominantly pagan crowd, even though the resources seemed meagre, seven loaves and a few small fish. This would be God’s work, which is why Jesus first gave thanks to God for the seven loaves and the few small fish, before feeding the multitude. Jesus teaches us to have an expectant faith, even in the face of situations that seem beyond us, humanly speaking. We can all be tempted to pose a version of the disciples’ somewhat despairing question when the task before us seems beyond us. However, Jesus shows us that if we engage with such situations out of our prayerful communion with God, then he will often accomplish far more than we could have imaged possible.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading the disciples find themselves faced with a situation which they feel is beyond them. There is a large crowd of hungry people in a deserted place with no means to feed them. Their desperation comes through in the question they ask Jesus, ‘Where could anyone get bread to feed these people in a deserted place like this?’ There are times in all our lives when we feel like the disciples. We find ourselves facing into a situation which seems beyond our capacity to deal with. We wonder how we are going to manage. In the gospel reading the disciples discovered that the Lord enabled them to deal with the situation and to feed the crowd. Working with very few human resources, seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, Jesus made it possible for the disciples to feed the crowd. Sometimes in our own lives too, the Lord enables us to do something that we would be quite unable to do if left to our own resources. The Lord can work powerfully through the few resources that are at our own disposal if we offer them to him and invite him to come and use them. Saint Paul knew this from his own experience. He wrote in his letter to the Philippians, ‘I can do all things through him who gives me strength’.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

There are two questions asked in today’s gospel reading. The question of the disciples is a somewhat despairing one, ‘Where could anyone get bread to feed these people in a deserted place?’ The question of Jesus is much more hopeful and already points to how the crowd will be fed, ‘How many loaves have you?’ When we are faced with a situation that seems beyond our resources to deal with, it is important to ask the right kind of question. Some questions only increase our sense of powerlessness. Other questions encourage us to take whatever step we can take, no matter how small. Jesus wanted his disciples to take whatever step they could take to address the hunger of the crowd. There were some resources there which they could place at the Lord’s disposal. They could not feed the crowd on their own, but their contribution was essential to the Lord’s feeding of the crowd. As people of faith, we believe that the Lord wants to work through us for the good of humanity. It may seem as if our resources are very limited before the task in hand. Yet, if we are generous with those resources and invite the Lord to work with them, he can accomplish far more through us than we could ever imagine.

And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Different people react in different ways to the same situation. In today’s gospel reading, there is a striking difference between the reaction of Jesus and the reaction of the disciples to the sight of a large hungry crowd in the wilderness. The disciples’ question, ‘Where could anyone get bread to feed these people?’ suggests that they wanted Jesus to send the crowd away. Jesus’ question to his disciples,‘How many loaves have you?’, suggests that he wanted them to make some effort to feed the crowd. Jesus got them to bring him the little food they could find among the crowd. Then with those few resources of seven loaves and a few small fish, he fed the crowd, with the help of his reluctant disciples. The gospel reading suggests that the Lord will always encourage us to give ourselves in service to others, even if we may feel that our resources are inadequate, that we have very little to offer. If we are generous with those few resources, the gospel reading suggests that the Lord will then work with them and through them in ways that will often surprise us. The Lord can work wonders through the very ordinary resources and gifts that we possess. He asks us to do what we can with what we have, but he will always do so much more. If we are not willing to do the little we can with what we have, the Lord’s own capacity for ministry to others is curtailed. The Lord needs our resources, small and inadequate at they may seem, if he is to continue his good work in our own time and place. If we are generous with our equivalent of the seven loaves and few fish, then, in the words of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, the Lord’s power at work within us will be able ‘to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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joshuajacksonlyblog · 5 years ago

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Ethereum Slower than a ’90s Calculator, Can 2.0 Save the “World Computer”?

In terms of computational speed, Ethereum is pretty slow. In fact, a managing partner at a crypto investment fund says it is actually slower than a 30 year old calculator. The network’s meagre speed certainly limits its applications. However, planned upgrades coming to the Ethereum network should increase the number of computations it can perform a second. World Computer Doesn’t Mean Good Computer… According to Haseeb Qureshi, a managing partner at Dragonfly Capital, the Ethereum network is a pretty lousy “world computer”. Qureshi took to Twitter earlier today to demonstrate that the network is actually slower than a 30-year-old calculator. Qureshi shows that the TI-81, released in 1990, has a computational speed of around 500,000 adds/sec. This is thanks to the device’s Zilog Z80 processor – rocking a pretty tasty clock speed of 2MHz. According to the Dragonfly partner, Ethereum only manages around 360,000 operations per second: “Ethereum can increment a counter in memory for 2 gas. If all of mainnet was filled with a single transaction incrementing a counter over an over, it’d be able to do about 360K operations/sec.” Reality check: Ethereum is slower at computing than a TI-81 calculator, which was released in—wait for it—1990. (Stop calling it a world computer! Bad analogy!) pic.twitter.com/nCLyS6LOeh — Haseeb Qureshi (@hosseeb) February 10, 2020 Although the raw data is difficult to argue with, some respondents were quick to remind Qureshi that for something to be global, it doesn’t need to be fast. Lead developer of the Ethereum Name Service project Nick D Johnson made the point that “world computer” was never meant to imply it was a powerful system. Instead, the analogy is fitting because operations on Ethereum are globally verifiable. Similarly, Nate Maddrey, a researcher at Coin Metrics, said he too interpreted the description differently: “To me “world computer” always referred to shared global state, not to speed. Yes a TI-81 may be faster than Ethereum, but a calculator does not give you access to a secure, public database and shared execution environment.” Will Ethereum 2.0 Power Up the “World Computer”? Possessing less power than a 1990s calculator, clearly Ethereum in its current version will struggle to transform the world as many believe it will. However, Ethereum developers are busy working to change that. As NewsBTC has reported on previously, a major upgrade to the Ethereum network is under development. The upgrade, known as Serenity, will introduce proof-of-stake, sharding, and other advances aimed at improving the network’s performance. Replying to someone’s concerns about Ethereum’s future in the above tweet’s comments, Nick D Johnson explained how improvements in Ethereum 2.0 would ramp up the network’s speed. He reasoned that any reduction of a node’s verification requirements that doesn’t reduce security will increase its speed. Related Reading: This Simple Pattern Suggests the Recent Crypto Rally is Far from Over Featured Image from Shutterstock. The post appeared first on NewsBTC. from Cryptocracken Tumblr https://ift.tt/2SzV2eD via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Cryptocracken Tumblr

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hysteia · 8 years ago

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On Altmer: Lore and Appreciation Post

cw: references to fictional war, death, racism, volatile politics, also spoilers for Elder Scrolls universe and lore!

Hi Elder Scrollers on Tumblr!

I have an announcement! I even brought my soapbox!!!

Altmer/High Elves aren’t as shitty as you think!

A few days ago, I made a post about this, but I need to set it straight once and for all. I’m tackling (what I believe to be) the most pervasive stereotypes regarding High Elves. I’m most familiar with the Altmer in ESV: Skyrim and ESIV: Oblivion, so my arguments apply to the race as they are represented in those games.

In my experience with The Elder Scrolls community (fans as well as npc’s), there’s a persistent hostility towards Altmer that is generally accepted and unquestioned. In general, the hostility seems to believe that Altmer are:

Narcissistic

Racist

Tyrannical

Irresponsible with magic

Now, one could apply aspects of these to the images of the other races, but High Elves seem to embody these traits above all. I ask myself: why?

Now, considering Skyrim and Oblivion, there are astonishingly few Altmer in leading protagonist roles. In Oblivion, the Altmer Mannimarco has some prominence, but only because he has the gall and megalomania to wage war against The Mages’ Guild. Then, there’s every Thalmor ever in ESV: Skyrim. How does this relate to the stereotype and what is the full story? Let me begin with some history. Skip over this part if you wish, and I’ll get to conclusive arguments.

The Altmer is not the Dominion is not the Thalmor.

It all goes back to a not-so-cold Cold War between Talos and the Dominion. The Dominion was originally formed as a joint political operation between the Khajiit, Bosmer, and Altmer. The Empire was also undergoing the Interregnum at the same time, in which most kingdoms of men were basically leaderless and dissolved into factionalism. It was tough for races of men to stabilize under one government and, well, someone had to step up. The Dominion was trying to neutralize the situation, but dissolved after little success. More on this in a moment.

The Second Dominion started with the High Elves, in an attempt to hold onto Valenwood . The Altmer effectively dominated the Bosmer, but the control was chiefly motivated by concerns of pirates along Valenwood’s coast. Summerset Isles was attacked constantly by pirates and they were just sick of the threat. Seizing Valenwood allowed the elves to quell the operations. The Thalmor gained more power here, promoted from “safeguarding Altmeri heritage” to executive representatives of the Dominion and the ruling governing body of Valenwood. Meanwhile, the Interregnum was still going on, and Tiber Septim (Talos), a Nord, was able to reclaim central power before the Dominion, and went on to conquer all of Tamriel. Yep, Talos ruled everyone, and his victories gave the races of the Dominion plenty of butthurt to mull over. However, both Talos and the Dominion aspired to stabilize the governments under one leadership. The Dominion just happened to lose, inciting resentment.

The Third Dominion comes after Oblivion, when the Empire is very weak. The Thalmor sort-of instigated this Dominion and became (erroneously) synonymous with it. The Thalmor spread propaganda about the pathetic state of the Empire, and that the High Elves were responsible for ending The Oblivion Crisis. The resentment that existed from the age of Talos became a desire to redeem the name of Altmer and Altmeri power. Seeing the Empire vulnerable, the Thalmor’s propaganda started to gain traction. This is a classic case of a radical nationalist group taking advantage of political coincidence to increase its popularity. The Thalmor even hunted and killed Altmeri dissidents of the supremacist regime. There are countless examples from real-world history. What followed is the Great War, in which the Empire lost and agreed to give up Talos worship.

So we’re up-to-date, then. Here’s the synopsis and critical observations:

Why does the Dominion hate Talos?

Talos and the Dominion both wanted to stabilize Tamriel through conquest. Talos won and took over all of Tamriel. The elves are embarrassed of this outcome.

So, why outlaw Talos worship?

Well, Talos is the very effigy of men overcoming elves. The elves don’t want the Empire to attack elvish land again. Worshiping Talos is like worshiping Julius Caesar. He was an amazing military icon, but also an man invading elvish land and leading elvish affairs. It makes sense for the elves to fear people worshiping those ideologies.

Wait, but that’s not religious freedom!

Neither is most of the Empire, if you think about it. The Nine Divines aren’t the only deities, and not just the Daedric Princes either. The Empire leaves plenty of deities out of the Nine, including lesser deities of races of man. The Empire doesn’t specifically ban certain worships, to my knowledge, but the traditions of the Reachmen are oppressed by Skyrim’s people without check, because the Reachmen were once in league with the Dominion. The Nords did to the Reach what the Thalmor do to the Nords. The Vigilants of Stendarr claim to hunt out all Daedra worship, despite the fact that Dunmer religion largely consists of Daedric worship. It is wrong to govern belief, but the Altmer aren’t doing it for no reason. Pettiness could be solved by making amends with the Altmer, instead of affirming their paranoia by pursuing topics of man-over-mer supremacy.

What about that magic stuff? They still cause a lot of destruction.

Altmer do specialize in magic. However, the lack of a strong Mages’ Guild presence in Skyrim limits the gamer’s perspective of how magic is supposed to be taught and practiced. The gamer sees the standard distribution of rogue mages that persists across Tamriel, and disproportionately few trained mages. A stronger presence of institutionalized magic, like Cyrodiil boasts, would reveal the benefits of arcane pursuits for society. The Mages’ college is too small and remote to bring the benefits of education, literacy, and professional opportunity to Skyrim’s people. Mages in office are just politicians, and therefore come with all the same risks as non-mage politicians. Altmer are given a head-start towards becoming powerful mages, but do not necessarily succumb to bad politics.

Additionally, magical aptitude is a subject of more propaganda in Thalmor-Altmer culture, supposedly affirming elvish supremacy. Though the arcane has become the pride of the Altmer, this cultural pressure also may push wizards to pursue very dangerous magic. In a homeland culture where magic is a measure of prestige, validating oneself and competing with other mages may even require taking immoral shortcuts.

If they would stop being so Narcissistic, then maybe they’d be less paranoid and destructive? Elves aren’t “just better” than Nords!

Remember that the Thalmor spread radical and xenophobic propaganda to gain power (sound familiar?). Summerset Isle is a long way from Skyrim, making it difficult for any reasonable Altmer to refute the public opinion with evidence. It would help for the elves to be exposed to other points of view, so they wouldn’t be stuck going along with their government. They don’t have to give up their heritage to do so, either, so it all works out!

What about the Altmer in Skyrim? Don’t they have the opportunity to change their ways?

They do, and they do. The Thalmor might be set in their ways, but there are plenty of generous Altmer outside the Thalmor who live in and contribute to Skyrim’s communities.

There is much that could be done to guide Altmer away from their own toxic hierarchies, in order for Altmer to be tolerant with one another and with other races. Conquering the Altmer did not work under Talos, so this must come through diplomacy, as Emperor Mede tried to extend by signing the White-Gold Concordat. It’s still early in the Concordat’s history, and may soon yield cooperation and peace for future lore, if the relationship is allowed to mature.

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mikemarko567-blog · 6 years ago

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Instagram for Business — Mike Marko

You’ve probably heard about Instagram and what it can do in marketing a business. And I bet you are now wondering if you should be using Instagram as a social media marketing platform for your business.

A lot of business owners are using this platform because of the advantages it can bring to their business.

Now, maybe you’re thinking of using Instagram too as a social media marketing platform for your business. If you have that thought right now, then you should definitely do it.

When we started marketing online, we didn’t pay Instagram too much attention. We were primarily focused on Facebook because that was what we knew.

Turned out that was a huge mistake.

But before you add Instagram to your marketing plan, let’s talk about both the advantages of Instagram and, of course, the disadvantages of Instagram.

Advantages of Instagram vs Disadvantages of Instagram

Just like any other social networking platforms, there are pros and cons of using Instagram. This shouldn’t be much of a deal because there’s no such thing as “the perfect platform” to market your business.

You just need to plan on how to get the best of using Instagram and avoid the potential problems of its flaws. With that said, it’s important to know the advantages and disadvantages it can bring to your business.

Knowing the advantages and disadvantages can help you better create a marketing plan for your business.

But before we talk about Instagram advantages vs Instagram disadvantages… let me answer the most basic question.

What Is Instagram

Instagram is a social networking app made for sharing photos and videos from a smartphone. It behaves similarly to Facebook or Twitter in that everyone who creates an account has a profile and a news feed.

When you post either a photo or video on Instagram, it will be displayed on your “wall”.

Other users who follow you will see your posts in their own feed. Likewise, you’ll see posts from other users who you choose to follow.

Since it’s similar to Facebook, Instagram also has potential in being a good marketing platform. Do you know why? Take a look at the advantages of Instagram for business.

VIDEO: Advantages and Disadvantages of Instagram for Business

Click the button below to learn more about Instagram Marketing Mastery.

Advantages of Instagram for Business

Instagram has all the features you need to market a business. That’s the reason why it became one of the most popular social media platforms for marketing a business. Also, using it can bring the following advantages to your business.

Instagram is About Photos

Instagram makes it very easy to post pictures and video from your smartphone.

Posts of images on Instagram remain there forever as long as the user does not remove them.

Instagram Connects You to Your Target Audience

Instagram is the fastest growing social network.

It currently has 800 million monthly active users and over 40 billion shared photos.

A large number of active users on Instagram are uploading 95 million photos every day. The uploaded photos on this platform are getting 4.2 billion likes per day.

Instagram Has High Engagement Rate

Instagram can also give a high engagement rate to your contents due to its large number of active users. In fact, Instagram has the most engaged users compared to other social media platforms.

The engagement rate on Instagram is 70% higher than Facebook. Aside from that, its follower growth is 9% higher than the follower growth on Twitter (at 0.11%).

Instagram Lets You Post Your Contents Easily

Since Instagram is made specifically for smartphones, you can post your contents anytime and anywhere as long as there’s an internet connection.

You can also make your Instagram posts appear on your other social media accounts. To do this, just link your account to your Facebook, Tumblr or Twitter account.

Instagram Gives Visual Representation of Your Business

Instagram is the best platform for visually promoting your brand or products. With that said, posting eye-catching photos of your products can increase your sales.

People tend to engage more on contents with an interesting photo than with plain texts only.

However, you shouldn’t just focus on posting a good image. Your Instagram post should also make use of the description field.

And posts can drive more engagement if it comes with an interesting caption and a relevant hashtag.

Instagram Allows You to Respond Quickly

If you’re marketing your business online, you have to be active in your niche.

Make sure that you’re responding to your audience’s messages and comments. Since Instagram is specifically made for smartphones, you can respond to them easily.

People will more likely trust your brand if you’re connecting with them. It’s important to have two-way communication between you and your target audience. By doing this, your audience is assured in trusting your products and services.

Instagram Can Increase Your Reach

Your posts on Instagram will remain there forever as long as you’re not removing them. That’s why your old posts can still give you a handful of engagement. However, you need to use hashtags if you want this to happen.

All of your Instagram posts can help you increase your reach. Just make sure that your posts are aimed and visible to your target audience. When used properly, hashtags can be a powerful way to increase the visibility of your posts.

You can use a lot more hashtags in Instagram posts compare to Twitter, and still be free of penalties like that of Twitter.

Disadvantages of Instagram for Business

Probably the first Instagram disadvantage that comes to mind is that Instagram isn’t a platform that just focuses on businesses. Usually, people are using Instagram to pass time and connect with other people. There’s only a small percentage of users who have the intention of buying something they see on their feed.

With that said, using Instagram as the only platform to market your business leads to the following additional disadvantages.

The Biggest Advantage is its Disadvantage

The main advantage of Instagram can also be its biggest disadvantage: it relies on images. That means you need to be very mindful of the images you post because it’s the image that will attract followers.

Poor pictures will have people that follow you skip your page in their feed and not read the messages in your description.

Instagram pictures need to be square to be the most effective. Loading non-square images will cause parts of the images to not show in the feed. That means your message or branding can look sloppy because not all the words, etc, may be shown.

Not Everyone Is on Instagram

This is one of the most obvious disadvantages of Instagram, Instagram is only an iPhone and Android app. If you have a Blackberry or Linux it won’t work. That means you won’t actually reach your target audience.

That‘s why it’s advisable to use other social networking platforms to increase brand awareness. Fortunately, Facebook owns Instagram, and their integrated marketing platform makes it easy to reach a larger audience.

Limitations on Your Contents

On Instagram, you can’t further explain the product in your post. You’re only allowed to upload a video that’s 60 seconds long (note that this was recently changed to 60 minutes). Also, the ideal length of captions on Instagram is 138-150 characters. For advertisements, the ideal length of the caption is 125 Characters.

If you’re planning to use multiple hashtags, it’s advisable to use just 5 to 10. Using too many hashtags may result in getting your account banned.

Advertising Is More Difficult

It’s more difficult to target local markets on Instagram compared to Facebook or Twitter. Instagram has fewer options in narrowing down your target audience. Also, you will be forced to rely on organic traffic.

Large businesses can only afford the advertisement on this platform. The average CPC on Instagram is around $0.50 – $1.00.

Final Thoughts on the Advantages and Disadvantages of Instagram

Instagram is a tool you need to at least consider for your online marketing needs. This platform can help in increasing engagement rate, connecting with your target audience, and communicating with your niche.

But even if you’re getting the advantages of Instagram, you shouldn’t heavily rely on it. There are still disadvantages of marketing on this platform.

Despite the disadvantages of Instagram that are mentioned above, Instagram is still one of the best platforms to market. Just study how you can effectively use its features to boost every aspect of your business.

If you want help in building up your Instagram account (especially using automation to interact with other Instagram users), feel free to contact me and we can talk about the different options we offer.

Be sure to also check out-out this more comprehensive blog post: How to Market Your Business with Instagram And Get Results.

You can also check out Instagram Marketing Mastery by clicking here.

And keep in mind… have fun!

P.S. – If you like this post, feel free comment down below and/or share on Facebook.

P.S.S. If I missed any advantages of Instagram or even disadvantages, please let me know in the comments below.

Have questions and want to connect?

Add me on Facebook then shoot me a message:

https://www.Facebook.com/mike.marko.37

Suggested Articles: 1. How To Get More Instagram Followers That Are Engaged 2. How to Beat Facebook Rules and Build Customer Relationships 3. Essential Twitter Marketing Tips – Scheduling Your Tweets

Author: Mike Marko Click here to contact Mike www.IMConsultantServices.com

If you are interested in learning how to make money online, click the following links to learn more about the IPAS2 and the TotalShortcut system, and get the information to form your own opinion from this Empower Network Review and Jeunesse Review. Be sure to check out Digital Altitude in our Digital Altitude review.

If you want to help marketing online, then check out our services at IM Consultant Services.

#advantages of instagram #disadvantages of instagram #What Is Instagram #instagram #Mike Marko

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nervous-squid · 6 years ago

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Close Enough

Summary:

In which Lance meets Pidge Post S7 and they need to talk about what’s happening next in their lives. (Garlic Knots are involved)

Side note: Summaries and titles are difficult

Side Side Note: Hi, I’m new to Plance part of Voltron, though I can honestly say I’ve shipped it since s1, I’ve only gotten really into it (maybe a little obsessively) due to S7 and finding the amazing Plance part of Tumblr.

So onto the Fanfic:

~2000 words long

The house was peach.

At least, it looked peach in the early morning light or rather lack thereof. It was a pretty standard house for Arizona. It seemed big enough to comfortably fit a family of four and their dog. The garrison was only an hour away on foot. It would have been easier by car, back when there were still roads to drive on.

“Lance?” Pidge said, “What are you doing here?”

Lance felt a shiver tear through his spine at the sound of her voice. He turned to find Pidge walking towards him or rather the house. Her house. She was wearing her familiar green and white windbreaker, covered in tears and loose threads from overuse.

“Me? I was just… out... on a stroll?” he said, scratching the back of his head, “so I thought I’d… pop in and see how you were doing?”

“You were on a stroll?” she said, readjusting her glasses, “From Cuba?”

“…”

“Cuba… the island?”

“It’s not like I walked the whole way” he said, thinking of red just parked close to the garrison, “Besides what were you doing outside at three A.M.?”

“I couldn’t sleep” she said, pulling her windbreaker tighter against the early morning chill, “So, I took a walk around my neighbor-hood like a normal human being”

“We pilot cat themed intergalactic warships” Lance said, “It’s not like we’re still normal human beings”

He watched Pidge’s eyebrows crinkle together over her narrowed eyes. He recognized this look, it was the look she reserved for projects that were annoying her or when he was the one annoying her.

“Do you want to come in?” she sighed.

“Can I come in?” he said, an alien feeling of discomfort spreading over him. He had to remind himself that they’ve spent the last few years living together in an ancient space-castle.

“Well, seeing as you just inappropriately used an intergalactic warship for a midnight stroll, you might as well come in” she said, already leading the way.

“Hey, Red needed the exercise” he quipped automatically, the discomfort dissipating as he entered the front door.

Lance had thought that he and Pidge were pretty close friends. Fighting a race of purple space-cats in a giant robot really does wonders for team bonding. He thought he knew everything about her, especially after they got passed the whole secretly-a-girl-in-disguise fiasco. He knew she was stuck in a concerning love affair with peanut butter, he knew about her allergy to everything associated with the outdoors but he couldn’t say he knew much about her home-life.

Was her room as messy as it was back at the castle?

Does she stay up all hours of the night on earth as well?

Did she mother Bae Bae the same way Kaltenecker mothered her?

Pidge flicked a switch and lights flooded the hallway. It took a moment for his eyes to readjust before he noticed the wooden floors underneath various rugs and the plain beige walls covered in family photos. He sees familiar faces scattered in the hallway smiling back at him. He picks up a familiar picture of Matt and a girl in a purple dress. Pidge, he reminds himself.

“We’re going to need to talk about randomly touching my stuff” she said.

“C’mon Pidge,” he said, grinning back at her, “I won’t break anything”

“Lance” she said, arms folding over her chest while she looked up at him, “What happened to my headphones?”

“That wasn’t my fault” Lance said immediately, nervously putting the picture back on the table “Headphones have a limited life-span anyway”

“You left them in an oven!” she said, her voice a mix of a whisper and a shout, conscious that her exhausted family were fast asleep upstairs like normal human beings.

“I thought it was just a cupboard” he said, “Space-ovens aren’t labelled properly”

“Space ovens look exactly like-”

The loud rumble of his stomach ricocheted off the walls interrupting his excuse.

“hungry?” she said, stifling a laugh as she moved them towards the kitchen.

“Are you going to cook?” he said, eyebrows raised sceptically, images of inedible food goo experiments flashing through his mind.

“If by ‘cook’ you mean reheating garlic knots my mom made earlier, then yes I am” she said, pulling out a plate wrapped in tin foil from the fridge.

“You had me at garlic knots” he said, licking his lips at the mention of his favourite food.

Lance found himself leaning against the kitchen counter, the marble top chilling his palms while Pidge busied herself with their garlic knots. His mind drifted to quiet nights on the castle, spent playing video games and trying to cook edible food without Hunk to help them. There’s still the final level of Killbot Phantasm I to finish. They never got around to it in between Galra attacks and lobbying planets to join the coalition. They were too busy trying to survive against an entire empire out to kill them let alone survive a digital mini-boss.

“Are you ok?” she said, snapping him back to reality. The war was over. They weren’t in space anymore. They were on solid ground, turning at a steady pace of 1000 miles per hour. He wouldn’t be attacked by the Galra here, unless Keith and the other blades suddenly decided to enslave the Earth.

“Are you ok?” he said, an invisible presence pushing against his chest, “Why were you out for a walk alone this late?”

“Lance, you realise you’re in my house. In Arizona. 2000 miles away from your home, at-” she said, checking her watch, “now 4 am in the morning, you can’t be worried about my late night walks right now”

“You know, this is actually a reasonable hour to be awake in my time-zone” he said, ignoring the way her eyes focused on him, trying to figure him out.

“It’s 7am in Cuba right now” she said, “That’s still not a reasonable hour to be awake”

“The sun is up by 7am” he said, “Most people like to be awake while the sun is actually up”

She didn’t point out that normal people don’t fly to a different country unannounced at 3am without warning for a walk in the moonlight.

He didn’t explain why he was here in Arizona at 3am waiting in front of her house.

He didn’t know how.

Instead they let the smell of his favourite food fill the space between them.

Lance looked up at her and found a pair of golden eyes focused on him behind her glasses. She was biting her cheeks in a way that made them puff out. He could see the cogs whirring behind her eyes, going too fast for an average person at four A.M. in the morning. She’s not an average person he reminds himself. He feels that uncomfortable presence in his chest rise under her scrutiny. It was too difficult to dispel and too widespread to ignore.

“Is it true?” he chokes out, his voice barely louder than the hum of the microwave.

“There are a lot of things that are true” she said, “Which one are you asking about?”

“Are you leaving us?” he said, her unwavering gaze increasing his discomfort.

“Technically speaking, I’m actually going to be staying” she said, without missing a beat.

“So it’s true?” he pressed.

“yes” she said, her voice steady.

“Why?” he said, irritation scratching at his chest.

“Earth needs to be rebuilt,” she said, “And it needs people to help rebuild it”

“There are plenty of people that can help rebuild earth,” he countered.

“I’m the leading expert on integrating intergalactic technologies,” she said, the pride in her voice, “They’ll need me to help smooth over the transition earth is going to go through with all the new-“

“What about Voltron?!” he said, cutting her off, “We still need to convince the rest of the galaxy to join the coalition, there are still Galra factions out there, there are crazy altean powered mechas to deal with!”

“You guys will be fine without Voltron” she said, “I’ve done the math and I know that the remaining galra threat, even with the crazy altean powered mechas factored in, doesn’t warrant having Voltron around all the time. Even if there was, I’d still have green, I could fly out to you guys in-”

“What if there’s an emergency?”

“My calculations are never wrong, Lance” she said.

“We need you” he said.

“If you guys need the tech support, me and Hunk have already worked out a system where we can-”

“That’s not the same” Lance said, “What if the castle’s been infiltrated and all the tech systems have blown up, we need someone to-”

“That won’t happen” Pidge said, pinching the bridge of her nose, “I’ve done the math. That can’t happen again with the new systems I designed”

“Well redo the math” Lance said, “Because it doesn’t any make sense”

“How doesn’t this make sense” she said, her eyebrows furrowing, “It’s advantageous to have a lion here protecting earth with all the new civilizations coming together”

“Pidge, you know how in horror movies, the characters always decide to split up?” Lance said, making his case, “You know those characters die right?”

He could feel his heart racing, pounding against his chest as he recalled dozens of close calls during combat, too close to forget.

“Lance” she said softly, her gaze steadily meeting his own.

He could feel his breathing slowing to a normal pace as he watched her. She was alive. They were here in her kitchen waiting for their garlic knots to finish heating up.

“We’re not in a horror movie” she reminded him softly, “Not anymore”

She was right, he could admit that at least.

She was always right.

Their nightmare was over.

He was reunited with his family.

All that was left was for them to tie off loose ends.

They were going to be ok, they were all moving on to the next parts of their lives. They just weren’t doing it together.

Distantly, Lance recognised the ding of the microwave, reminding them that their food was ready.

“Are you really not coming with us?” he said, part of him still waiting for her to laugh and tell him that this has been a joke this whole time.

“I’m needed here” she said, finally breaking away from his gaze, “and you’re needed up there”

He doesn’t admit that it hurts. He’s sure it’s clear enough on his face. He’s never been too adept at hiding his emotions like the others. Maybe he’s slightly better than Hunk, but that’s still debatable.

He knew what remaining a part of team Voltron meant. It became clear to him with each tear his parents shed when he told them but that was his duty. The universe needed them and they couldn’t leave Allura to handle everything on her own. He had accepted his fate, his responsibility as the right hand of Voltron but hearing it from her stirred up that discomfort he was feeling, making it grow until it became painful.

The thought of leaving his family hurt but that was a pain he was used to, a pain he was prepared for.

Leaving her behind is something he wasn’t ready for yet.

“The garlic knots are ready” she said, her eyes avoiding his.

“They’re probably cold now” he said.

“They’re not as good when they’re cold” she mused.

“That’s blasphemous” he said, “They’re always delicious. No matter what”

“I’ll miss you” she said.

Her words were quiet, they barely reached him in between the sound of the microwave door snapping open and closed. He wasn’t sure if he imagined it.

“Did you just admit you have feelings?” he said, his lips twitching upwards.

“Do you want your garlic knots or not?” she said indignantly, finally meeting his gaze just to glare at him.

“I’ll miss you too” he said.

He was going to miss her horrible bed-head.

He was going to miss how she rambles when she gets excited over some crazy new alien technology.

He was going to miss their late-night video game campaigns.

He was going to miss the way she laughs until she’s breathless – usually at his expense.

He was going to miss her snark and even her teasing.

He was going to miss her.

A startled gasp from Pidge was the only sign he had that he had even moved. He doesn’t recall closing the distance between them to wrap his arms around her small form. All he remembers is how warm she was fitting snugly against him. He worried if he was squeezing too tight. He smiled into her hair when her arms finally find their way around his waist. The discomfort and pain he felt easing away into warmth.

He heard her mumble something about having to reheat their garlic knots again.

His mind was too busy calculating how fast Red could travel back and forth between solar systems.

Extra. I had no idea how to work this into the angsty conversation above but I couldn’t not let them talk about their space-cow.

After their second attempt at reheating their garlic knots they were finally able to eat.

“I call dibs on Kaltenecker” he said, finishing his fourth garlic knot.

“No way, you can’t have Kaltenecker and the game console” she said in between bites.

“Kaltenecker will get depressed without me” he said.

“Kaltenecker is a cow” she said, “She belongs on earth”

“Who’s going to milk her if I’m not here?” he said.

“I can do it” she said.

“Pidge” he said, “You’re a highly renowned technological genius but you can’t milk a cow”

“Hey!” she said, “I know how to milk a cow”

“Pidge, milking isn’t something you can just know about” he said, making wild gestures with his arms, “It’s an art”

“I’m more than capable of taking care of Kaltenecker,” she muttered, glaring at him over her garlic knot.

“You never had any time for Kaltenecker,” Lance countered, “You were always too busy upgrading everything in the castle”

“I was upgrading castle defences” she argued, “for Kaltenecker’s safety”

“Sure” he said, “because a highly explosive rocket booster is for Kaltenecker’s safety”

“You were too busy getting facials!” Pidge said.

“Those were an essential part of life, Pidge, we’ve discussed this” he said.

“Hey!” Matt said, cutting into their conversation.

The pair turned to find Matt stepping through the kitchen doorway, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“It’s five A.M in the morning” he said, swiping a garlic knot, “Please, finish this custody battle later at a reasonable hour”

They watched Matt leave and shut the door behind him.

“I could take you in a custody battle” Pidge said, throwing a garlic knot at him.

“Oh yeah,” he said, successfully catching the garlic knot and taking a bite, “We’ll see how you fare in court later”

I’m still struggling with formatting on tumblr so please bear with me.

And thanks for making it all the way down here

#Plance #Pidgance #flirtyrobot #seasalt #Lance #Pidge #Voltron #Vld #Post season 7 #Friends to lovers

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thegoodlifebiz-blog · 6 years ago

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How I Attract A Tonne of Free Targeted Traffic To My Blog

How I Attract A Tonne of Targeted Organic Traffic To My Blog

In this post I'm doing a dive deep into the tool I use to promote every blog post I write and how it sends targeted organic traffic to my blog every day. But before I talk about this tool let's take a quick look at Pinterest, what it is and why I've chosen to use it in my business. Using Pinterest Yet...? Here's Why I Suggest Taking a Closer Look A few months ago I made the decision to give Pinterest a go as a way to generate more organic traffic to my blog posts. When I look at my Google Analytics Pinterest has suddenly become my biggest free social referrer even without having a pin go viral ... For months I heard people raving about Pinterest. I was definitely already spread too thin promoting my blog around social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Digital Bloggers and lots of other niche sites and just didn't want to take on another social media channel... But I'm so glad that I did!

Noteworthy Pinterest demographic data to consider:

* With over 175 Million (with a capital M) users on Pinterest there is definitely a reason to be on there! * 81% of Pinterest users are in fact, Women. * 40% of All new members are Men; 60% All New members are Women. * Men account for merely 7% of overall pins on Pinterest (c'mon guys... start creating content!). * Millennials use Pinterest as much as Instagram (this fact shocked me) * The average age of a Pinterest member is 40 years old, but having said that, more than half of active pinners are under 40. * 50% of Pinterest users earn $50K or more per year, along with 10 percent of Pinteresting households generating greater than $125K. * 30% of US social media users are Pinterest users. * 60% of Pinterest users are from US. All Pinterest stats provided by Omnicoreagency.com

Compared To Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram, where posts from preceding days get lost, Pinterest is a micro search engine for searchable images that act like little gateways straight to your blog posts or affiliate offers. Like Google, quality pins (as categorized by # repins, likes, and clicks) rank at the top of search results regardless of when it was pinned. Pinterest pins are searchable by categories, keywords, and hashtags. And because of this Pinterest has the potential to boost your blog and increase your organic traffic. With Pinterest, the more engaged your account is, the more followers you get. And together with more followers, you have increased odds of your pins being discovered. With more discovery comes a surge of organic traffic straight to your post... WooHoo!! Keeping in mind that Pinterest rewards enthusiastic active members, you want to continue to be active by pinning fabulous content frequently. When I first started out, I was trying to physically share at least 30 pins per day but I found it challenging just make sure most my boards had new pins every day.

How I Automated A Tonne Of Organic Traffic From Pinterest

If you feel like you don't have time to try and learn a new system like Pinterest? Don't worry, Tailwind has you covered with their short step-by-step video tutorials, teaching you how to use most important features fast and make your Pinterest experience fruitful fast. But even so, In this blog post, I'll definitely be showing you how to start saving time sending a tonne of organic traffic back to your blog posts using Pinterest and Tailwind! Let's face it... your time is best spent creating fabulous content and Tailwind gives you back the time to focus on doing just that. One of the things that got me to test Tailwind out in the first place is that I got to try out the service for Free for a whole month! If you'd like to check it out for yourself you can do that HERE! Becca from Bloguettes offers a super useful walkthrough of some of Tailwind's most popular features:

1. Bulk Scheduling Made Easy

The Tailwind Chrome Extension ensures scheduling pins from Pinterest or any website you choose to share content from very easy. Also, do you have photos on your device? You can bulk upload images to your Tailwind profile and share them too! The Chrome extension can be found and activated from inside your Tailwind dashboard.

2. What's Your Prime Time To Post?... Don't Know... Tailwind Does!

When you connect your Pinterest account to Tailwind, Tailwind instantly optimizes your pinning schedule so that you pin whenever your followers are most active which really helps with engagement and to send targeted organic traffic to your posts when your visitors are most engaged with your message. This capability removes the uncertainty of trying to figure out when the best time is to pin. But maybe you want to set up your own customized schedule? Tailwind allows you to do that too and it's super easy!

3. Get Board Insights & Pinterest Profile Stats

There's a reason Tailwind insights is ranked close to the top of my list of reasons I love this tool. Having access to this level of insight offers me more detailed information to make decisions on whether I need to pin more or less to specific boards or even leave an inactive Pinterest board altogether.

4. Create Board Lists & Save Time!

One perk of using Tailwind is definitely being able to create board lists. Let's say you see something you want to pin, but that pin could easily go under a number of similar boards you have on Pinterest. Inside Tailwind, you can create group heading and put all the similar boards under that heading. When it's time to schedule a post that fits in all the boards in that board list, simply click on the dropdown for and select that specific board list and Tailwind populates your pin with ALL the selected boards within that list! Making use of this function saves me the time and effort of scrolling through my never-ending list of Pinterest boards in search of similar boards that I want to publish the same pin to. See in the image below; I have 3 board lists set up; now whenever I select one of these board lists when scheduling a pin... Tailwind will automatically select all of the boards in that list for the pin to be published to.

5. Quick & Easy Unlimited Pinning

Who likes limits? Not me! When you sign up for the annual Plus plan you can schedule an unlimited number of pins with Tailwind (or 400 pins/month with month-to-month subscription) . If this isn't reason enough to fall in love with Tailwind... I don't know what is... When I realized I can organize an unlimited number of pins with TailWind and just set and forget.... for months in advance I thought I'd won the lottery!!

6. Set Intervals For all Your Pins

If you are a contributor to a number of boards, you will undoubtedly appreciate the ability to set up intervals for a pin that fits into all of these related boards (super handy for scheduling your content to multiple Group Boards). You could be tempted to post that blog post pin to all Group Boards at the same time but that method decreases your chances of being found and can be looked at as spam. By using interval pinning, you schedule your pin to be posted on each board on a loop cycle according to the timing of your choice (to be repeated on a certain number of minutes/hours/days or weeks). I personally prefer to spread out my pin by a couple of days at a time. By the time the pin gets posted on the following board, it ought to have gotten a few repins on the previous one. More repins means more reach and organic traffic, here's how: A pin that has been repinned has a higher chance of receiving more repins within the Tribe. Repins = Discovery = Quality organic traffic to your offer. See in the image: Here is an example of interval scheduling to multiple boards. You can see I have 6 boards selected and this pin will be posted to those boards every 2 days and 10 hours into the closest open timeslot I have available in my scheduling calendar.

7. Alerts From Tailwind Help You Stay Compliant With Pinterest

There are a number of pins that link to fraudulent websites. Previously, the only way to know if you were sharing a pin that links to one was by examining every pin prior to you publish it on your board... srsly who has time for that? I use Tailwind's bulk scheduling to send a group of potential pins to my Tailwind drafts over the course of the week. When I am ready to schedule the draft pins to be published on my account, Tailwind quickly checks all pins to make sure that they meet Pinterest's guidelines. Tailwind then flags all pins that have no description, have no link, or that link to questionable websites. I can easily choose to correct the pins or just delete them all. Easy as pie :)

8. Shuffle & Lock Pins

By this stage, I have 100's of pins which I have just scheduled in bulk to be published to certain boards at optimized times on an interval loop. But because I usually search for pins to send to my drafts by doing a keyword search on Pinterest... this means that all the Pins on similar topics will all be published around the same time (not ideal). But with the push of a button, Tailwind will random shuffles my pins to mix my content to be spread out evenly among my boards. Also, I like to keep a daily pinning balance of 30/70 = 30% my pins & 70% other peoples pins. By locking my blog pins before I shuffle, I'll be certain that pins from my blog are regularly shared 30% of the time every day!

9. Analytics That Help To Make Better Pinning Decisions

By having a Pinterest business profile, you do get access to a small amount of analytics data. Although this is helpful, it offers only limited information. Tailwind provides very detailed analytics on your Pinterest profile. But you also get to see how viral each of your pins are so that you are able to repin those pins more often resulting once again in more organic trafifc for you. In addition, you will definitely be able to see your top performing boards so you can create a pining strategy to pin there more often. Knowledge is power (insert evil witch chuckle here)

10. Drum Roll Please... Tailwind Tribes!

One very special feature unique to Tailwind, that I haven't experienced on any other scheduling platform is the ability to join and create collaborative groups, Tailwind calls these groups Tribes. Here's a quick walk-through on how to get started making the best use of Tailwind Tribes: * Just search for a niche Tribe from within the Tribe's section of the Tailwind dashboard. * Pin a few of your pins that you want to be repinned by the Tribe * Then start repinning your tribe members pins to your boards. This simple tool is the power boost that is unique to Tailwind that you can use to help each other grow, increase exposure, rank higher in search results but most importantly drive targeted traffic back to your website or blog! How to Add A Pin To A Tribe From Your Blog Or Pinterest Go to your blog, Pinterest board, or any website you want to pin from. Hover over the image you want to pin or add to the Tribe. If on your blog/website: The Tailwind button will show up on the bottom left section of the pic. If on Pinterest: The Tailwind button will show up at the top of the pic. The goal of Tribes is to make it quick and easy to work together and distribute content to expand your reach and drive engaged readers and organic traffic to your business. You can also create your own Tribe for other specific niche partnerships if you like! It's worth mentioning that Tailwind is one of the few partners of the Pinterest Marketing Partner Program. This just means that Tailwind gives us access to awesome capabilities while at the same time abiding by Pinterest's Terms of Use and latest updates.

Take Tailwind for A Spin with A Free Month Trial

Tailwind makes it possible for you to try out their service absolutely free without handing over credit card details. The free trial is actually how I started on Tailwind... and now I'm 100% sure I couldn't live without it! Tailwind provides Shamazing customer service; your questions literally get answered in a matter of hours... not days! Now you have a great overview of some of the different ways Tailwind can be used to expand your Pinterest profile, get discovered, and drive quality organic traffic straight to your blog, let's get you set up with your FREE Trial! Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I will only make recommendations on products and services I personally believe to be of value. Read the full article

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weannoyingbouquetgalaxy-blog1 · 7 years ago

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