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theparanormalperiodical · 4 years ago

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Top 10 Scariest Horror Films You Didn't Know Were Based On A TRUE Story feat. Trailers + Where To Watch

There’s something about horror films that are based on real events that just make me weak.

So weak, in fact, I’ve decided to spend the last *checks watch* one and a half years of my early 20s delving into the facts and the fiction haunting the horror genre.

My parents must be so proud.

Most of these films wear the badge of ‘this is reality or close enough to it, anyway’ with dignity, leveraging gullible paranormalists like me to drive ticket sales. The Conjuring (2013) is just one of these films that is explicit in its basis in reality, going on to rake in 16 times its budget and inspiring me to delve deeper into my occultist journey.

(No, really, they’re so proud.)

But the ventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren are not the only experiences of horrifying and haunting events to be reinterpreted via the silver screen. There are some horror films you wouldn’t expect to have reality flushing through their veins.

Some of horror’s biggest hitters aren’t just living in your nightmares. They actually happened IRL.

Which is, ummm, fine, yeah, it’s not like I need to sleep anyway.

*Stay tuned to discover the horror films you didn’t know were based on true stories and the real accounts that inspired them.*

Jaws (1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1fu_sA7XhE

This cinematic classic follows the adventures of a great white shark as it terrorises the summer resort town of Amity. A couple of corpses later, and the local police chief, rookie marine biologist, and wild-card shark hunter track the beast down themselves.

Most horror films use a person or a story as a basis for a film. Jaws, however, is an amalgamation of experiences recorded by the writer of the novel inspiring the film, Peter Benchley.

Benchley admittedly had a life-long obsession with sharks and was inspired to write a book on a rogue great white after reading about a bloke called Frank Mundus.

"...in 1964, I read an item in a newspaper about a fisherman who harpooned a 4,500-pound great white shark off Long Island. I remember thinking at the time, Lord! What would happen if one of those monsters came into a resort community and wouldn't go away?”

Quint, the wild card shark hunter, was based directly on Mundus.

Another influence, although not referenced by Benchley, was the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks.

In high summer, five Americans were attacked by a great white off the coast of the Jersey Shore with 4 falling victim to their wounds. For the next 11 days, the same shark cruised along the 70 miles of the beach towns and small villages. The shark even performed the first shark attack reported in US history, countering the long-standing belief that sharks couldn’t bite through human bone.

(Spoiler alert: they can.)

When beach goers came to the beach early morning to discover the 3rd victim bitten in half, this was disproven. After that discovery - which bares a striking resemblance to the opening scenes of Jaws - the story hit The New York Times front page.

Just like the film the mayors tried to deny there was a deadly shark making the rounds to secure profit to their seaside resorts. And just like the film a swimmer was even mauled in an estuary.

It wasn’t long before they settled on the identity of the perpetrator and the locals set off with rifles and pitchforks.

(Not sure how useful they’d be against a shark, but okay.)

The shark met its end after it attacked one of the hunters’ boats, a scene we also witness in the film.

You can rent it for £2.50 on Amazon Prime.

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWDM_p68HAQ

We follow a policeman who has a side gig as an exorcist as he encounters strange goings on in the Bronx. Ralph Sarchie chases up the paranormal activity and attempts to untangle why possessed people are painting ancient messages and images in various places.

Here’s the thing: none of this actually happened. As far as we know, anyway.

What this film is based on is the real Ralph Sarchie who wrote the memoir Beware The Night as an ode to his work as a demonologist. It’s based on his character, his tone of voice, and how he carried out his work.

Sarchie presents his work as his destiny, as some form of divine intervention he believes was signalled by his survival of a severe illness he contracted when he was 10.

He claims to carry a splinter of the ‘true cross’ - I guess the one Jesus actually died on - and considers himself more of a priestly figure armed with relics and holy water than a paranormal investigator.

Sarchie has worked on many possessions and hauntings, claiming he didn’t charge a cent despite the high fee he probably got from the book sales and the film’s debut. The most famous tale is that of the ‘Halloween Horror’:

A woman named Gabby began to see a woman floating in a cloud of white smoke in the corner of her bedroom. It wasn’t long before this smoky woman began to speak through Gabby according to her partner Dominick.

Gabby’s friend then says this was the ghost of a woman murdered on her wedding night. She then apparently saw the spirit of her father. Activity followed with flying books, moans and growls, and the word ‘HELP’ written on the mirror. Eventually an incubus rocks up and is hell bent on attacking various family members.

When Gabby gets possessed in the presence of Sarchie and his paranormal-busting-partner, he exorcises her of the spirit.

In total, Sarchie has assisted in 25 exorcisms and hundreds of ‘house exorcisms’.

You can watch it for free on Netflix.

The Blob (1958/1988)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdUsyXQ8Wrs

*cue the canned screams*

In some rural town in America, a meteorite crashes to the ground. Someone investigates and a jelly globule attaches itself to their hand before consuming it. It then begins to consume their entire body. It’s not long before it starts to consume, well, everyone and everything in its path.

8 years before the horror icon first became a cult classic, two police officers in Philadelphia saw something float down from the sky. They thought it was a parachute and decided to investigate.

What they discovered was a six feet wide purple glob of odourless gloop. It was filled with crystals and gave off a mist. One of the police officers took the plunge - quite literally - and dipped a hand in. He kept the hand, but noticed the sticky residue left on his hands.

The gloop quickly disappeared and left the grass underneath it unbent. It was allegedly only there for 25 minutes. They were the only ones that saw it. It soon made its way into the press and the FBI asked the Air Force to investigate. They declined.

You can watch it for £3.50 on Amazon Prime.

Wolf Creek (2005)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S13W69FQhs

Two British tourists are backpacking across Australia when they run into trouble in Wolf Creek National Park. A helpful local offers to help fix their broken down car and provide some shelter. Turns out the helpful local is actually a psychopathic xenophobic murderer. He entraps tourists, lures them to his shelter, and tortures/kills them.

Most gory horror films can be compared to real life murders and other crimes. Unfortunately, even the most imaginative forms of torture or murder has probably already happened. But the film was directly based on the backpacker murders committed by Ivan Milat in the 90s.

Milat murdered 7 people aged 19 to 22, preying on those encouraged to backpack across Australia after several tourism campaigns revealed how cheap and easy it was. In ‘92 and ‘93 the bodies were discovered in Belanglo State Forest with the wounds and injuries suggesting the scenes played out in film were similar to those Milat committed.

In late ‘93 a force dedicated to hunting the unknown killer emerged. It used gym memberships, gun licensing, and police records to narrow down a list of 32 suspects.

It was only when Paul Onions, a British backpacker reported he was nearly murdered near Belanglo State Forest that the police could pinpoint that Milat.

You can watch it for £2 on Amazon Prime.

Open Water (2004)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9q1qJi1nMs

It’s everyone’s worst nightmare: being left in the middle of the ocean. A distant couple decide to take a relaxing break and head out for a scuba-diving vacation. Their holiday is ruined, however, when the guy driving the boat f*cks up the head count and thinks everyone is back on board after a diving sesh. The couple come back to the surface and discover the boat is gone.

Yep, this all happened in real life.

In 1998, Thomas and Eileen Lonergan went on a scuba diving trip to Australia’s Coral Sea. They were mistakenly stranded by the boat crew leading the dive and their absence wasn’t noticed until 2 days later when a bag containing their belongings was discovered.

The crew and other rescue teams searched the area but did not discover their bodies. Personal belongings were found.

A diver’s slate - a device for communicating underwater - was one of these items.

"Monday Jan 26; 1998 08am. To anyone who can help us: We have been abandoned on A[gin]court Reef by MV Outer Edge 25 Jan 1998 3pm. Please help to rescue us before we die. Help!!!"

The other items that washed up, including a wetsuit, suggested they had probably not fallen victim to shark attacks but had become disoriented, dehydrated, or injured by coral. Alternate theories claim it may have been a murder-suicide to avoid the slow, distressing death of being left at sea, or that it was a faked death/disappearance. No bank accounts had been tampered with, however.

Tougher regulations for scuba-diving in Australia shortly followed their disappearance.

You can watch it for free on Amazon Prime.

The Rite (2011)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hG3ktopqv8

We follow exorcist-in-training Father Gary Thomas as he navigates the loss of this faith. When the opportunity for fighting growing demonic possessions arises, Thomas decides to become an exorcist. We see Thomas as he is confronted by evil and reaffirms his devotion to God.

Portrayed by veteran actor Anthony Hopkins, Father Gary Thomas is a real American exorcist - one of the 14 Vatican-verified exorcists working State-side. He did in fact study in the Vatican to become an exorcist, and another student he met there would chronicle his experiences in the book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist.

Thomas even spent a week on set advising the director, utilising his experiences of the 100 odd people he had seen possessed in his career.

Just like in the film, Thomas echoes that most people that come to him for an exorcism have been abused in their past, linking mental health issues to demonic attachment. Thomas also has a lot of praise for the film, claiming the way those possessed moved in a serpentine way is accurate to those he has seen:

“I was beginning to do some deliverance prayers. Within a few minutes she began to tremor and her facial countenance began to change. You saw a snake. She began sticking her tongue out like a snake and hissing and rolling her eyes. She coiled herself up.”

- Father Gary Thomas on a possessed Venezualan woman

You can watch this on Amazon Prime for £2.50.

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Mm8Sbe__o

Anthony Hopkins refers to a staple horror film - a film with truth spilling like blood from a bloated corpse…

This psychological horror sees an FBI trainee as they work with an imprisoned serial killer to hunt down a murderer, Buffalo Bill. Add in just a dash of transphobia and we arrive at the film that made my parents actually walk out of the cinema when they first saw it.

First, let’s talk about Hannibal Lecter and his role as an advisor to the FBI: this has actually happened, using a seasoned killer to catch another. The most famous example of this is none other than Ted Bundy, one of the most infamous in history. Bundy told investigators to stake out the graves of victims or the places where bodies had been dumped as necrophiles like himself would return to the site.

Bundy actually helped them catch Gary Ridgeway who killed an estimated 90 people.

Now let’s turn to Buffalo Bill. The characters were never directly inspired by real people but their crimes were. He was an amalgamation of other crimes with Ed Gein serving as the main inspiration. Ed Gein, most known for skinning his victims and wearing the skins, took 9 lives and would also inspire the character Norman Bates.

He would make clothing out of body parts, make soup bowls from dug-up skulls, and build chairs from human bones.

Ted Bundy even made another appearance in Buffalo Bill’s character in terms of how he lures his victims, acting hurt and helpless until the victim was just within reach.

You can buy this film on Amazon Prime for £8.

Scream (1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWm_mkbdpCA

This satirical slasher redefined the genre, putting comedy firmly into horror as we know it. It follows Sidney Prescott, a preppy high school student, as she navigates high school drama and a rampant serial killer.

Just like The Silence Of The Lambs, the crimes witnessed in Scream had basis in reality. Daniel Rolling - the Gainesville Ripper - was an American serial killer who murdered 5 students in Florida within the short span of 4 days back in 1990.

Rolling would sexually assault, rape, threaten, and kill his young victims before leaving them in ‘sexual’ positions. He even decapitated one of those murdered and left the head on the shelf opposite the rest of the body amongst other vile acts. He later claimed his motive was to become a ‘superstar’ like Ted Bundy.

Yeah, that’s enough of that.

You can watch this on Amazon Prime for £2.50.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977/2006)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUQd9OB75dw

It’s time to hear about another vacay gone cray-cray. In the middle of a roadtrip to California, a family’s car breaks down in a mysterious area closed off to the public and they encounter a strange community of cannibals.

Instead of being based on modern crimes that hit far too close to home, this film is based on a historic event - or the legend of Sawney Bean.

Bean was a mythical leader of a cannibalistic group of insurgents in the 16th century. He grew up in a community of witches and later began his own community full of his children which he expanded with rampant incest. They would leave traps and eat their prey in a cave.

The King of Scotland, James VI, even led a team to root the family out of their lair. According to legend they were burnt at the stake while others were hung.

This tale also bears similarities to urban legends from Russia: there is a trope in the Southern Urals which claims after the Chernobyl accident irradiated peoples would become savage peoples, echoing the nuclear testing themes shown by the film.

You can watch this on Amazon Prime for £2.50.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1978)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKn9QIaMgtQ

In this cult class gore-fest we see a group of friends visit an old homestead but instead run into a family of murderous cannibals.

Yet again the crimes of Ed Gein make an appearance. The friends walk in on a home full of furniture made of human remains and meet a man - Leatherface - wearing a mask made of human skin. We also witness various people butchered in different brutal ways.

But this film also has a more political inspiration. Tobe Hooper - the director, producer, and writer - pinned his inspiration on changes in the cultural and political landscape, focusing on misinformation that overran America during the 70s.

*looks into camera a la Jim from The Office*

Hooper pinned the claims of a true story onto the film, responding to how he felt he was being lied to by the government regarding things like Watergate, the 1973 Oil Crisis, and the Vietnam War. The news only confirmed the brutal acts of humanity.

"man was the real monster here, just wearing a different face, so I put a literal mask on the monster in my film".

You can watch this for free on Amazon Prime.

Well that was, uhh, fun?

If you enjoyed these traumatic discoveries - you know, that some of the most terrifying horror films of all time are based on real people and crimes - then make sure you like ‘n’ reblog to let me know.

I post a new article on horror and the paranormal every Saturday + a new real ghost story everyday so make sure you hit follow to tag along for the ride!

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thosemeddlingducks · 4 years ago

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The Long Road Home 1

Fifteen years after the car accident that changed their lives and tore them apart, childhood friends and members of the Mighty Ducks peewee hockey team are finally coming home for the 20th anniversary of their championship win over the Saurians. Through twists and turns, unexpected stops along the way, and dead ends they paths have once more converged in their hometown of Isboro. This serendipitous intersection would change their paths forever.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318952/chapters/66747010

Night had long fallen over Minneapolis when Will ‘Wildwing’ Flashblade wearily stumbled into his modest two-bedroom apartment. He let out a sigh and finally allowed the exhaustion that had been lingering on the edges of his control flow deep into his bones. Suddenly the false energy that had spurred him on through the workweek fled and his entire body felt like one big weight. He shed his rumpled suit jacket and neatly hung it up on its customary hook next to the front door. He dropped his keys in the little basket where his younger brother’s colorful keychain already sat. Relieved that he didn’t have to worry about his baby brother running around the city like the hooligan that he was. Wildwing wandered slowly into the kitchen where he grabbed himself a bottle of water and a piece of cold pizza from the bare bones of the fridge. He ate the pizza almost robotically, out of habit rather than because he was actually hungry. Once he finished his meager meal, he made his way into the living room where his little brother was passed out at an odd angle on their worn-out couch, the TV blaring nonsense, and lighting up the dark room with its eerie light. Wildwing shook his head fondly and quickly located the remote so he could change the channel and turn down the volume to a level that their sleeping neighbors would no doubt appreciate. He let the monotony of the news drone on in the background as he gazed down at the sleeping form of his baby brother.

Noah ‘Nosedive’ Flashblade was sprawled over the entirety of the couch, his long gangly limbs draped over the back and front of the couch so that he was practically spread eagle. His long golden hair was already a tangled mess from the typical shiftings and squirmings of Nosedive’s nightly routine. Wildwing felt a silent chuckle bubble up in his throat as he took in the almost childish way that his brother’s face was smushed into a couch pillow. His mouth was open and emitting a soft whistly sound but the most important thing was that he looked relaxed, peaceful. In a rare moment of nostalgia, Wildwing remembered nights like this when a young Nosedive would cuddle up next to him on the couch and they would watch reruns of famous hockey games. Nights like these had almost always ended in Nosedive’s face smushed uncomfortably into Wildwing’s side much like it was now. Wildwing reached down and brushed some wayward locks out of Nosedive’s face, and for a second his brother was 5 years old again. In a flash, he was once again staring at the face of a 23-year-old, not a child, but they were one and the same to Wildwing. Nosedive would always be his baby brother, his responsibility, his family.

Content with his memories, Wildwing moved over to the window and gazed out at the vast expanse of the city below and around them. Not for the first time, looking out the window and seeing dense buildings, asphalt and concrete felt… wrong. He shook off the strange feeling, but it lingered in the back of his mind, waiting for another time to strike. He ran a hand through his pale blonde hair and adjusted his glasses in a familiar nervous fidget that he had picked up in his childhood. His glasses were mostly for reading but he wore them constantly at work in an attempt to avoid the inevitable end-of-the-day headache that came from straining to read the small type on his computer every day. He could already feel that pounding sensation in his temples building up and with a sigh, he turned away from the window in pursuit of aspirin. Once he had dug the bottle out of their cluttered medicine cabinet Wildwing made his way back to the living room with the mission of persuading Nosedive to move his hibernation to the pit that was his room. For his own sanity, the anal-retentive man avoided ever entering his baby brother’s self-proclaimed ‘man cave’.

To his surprise, Nosedive was now sitting up on the couch, staring sleepily at a late-night cartoon that they had watched when they were kids. When Wildwing re-entered the room, Nosedive gave him a sleepy smile that quickly morphed into a jaw-cracking yawn.

“Wassup bro?” Nosedive asked through the yawn, pulling a small chuckle from his reserved brother. “You just getting in?” He glanced at the clock and then fixed his older brother with a knowing look when he realized how late it was.

“Yeah.” Wildwing rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “It was a long day. But I’m headed for the sack you should be too. Don’t you have flying lessons in the morning?”

He fixed Nosedive with his patented ‘older brother’ look and held out a hand to help leverage his baby brother off the couch. Reluctantly Nosedive took his offered hand and allowed himself to be shepherded to his bedroom. He paused at the door and looked back at his older brother. Wildwing was tall and broad-chested where Nosedive was slim, his hair was so pale it was almost white where Nosedive had long golden locks. If it weren’t for the shared golden color of their eyes it would be hard to tell that they were related. Wildwing had always been reserved and responsible, which had allowed nosedive’s wacky and often reckless personality to flourish. Looking at his brother now, Nosedive realized that it had been far too long since he saw the spark that used to live in his eyes. To be frank, his brother looked drained in every sense of the word. Wildwing was a shell of himself.

“Yo bro?” he asked suddenly, breaking the silent staring contest that had lingered in the hallway between them. “You okay man? You don’t look so hot.”

His question seemed to stop Wildwing in his tracks as he considered the question for a few minutes before answering with a heavy sigh and a little shrug. “I’m just tired Dive, no need to worry. I’ll be fine after I get some rest.” With that, he disappeared into his room and the door clicked shut softly behind him. Nosedive lingered in his doorway for another minute, staring at the closed door across the hall and thinking. He snapped his fingers as an idea hit him and he hurried into his room to dig up his old contacts. His brother needed a vacation and he was gonna make that happen. After all, what were little brothers for?

As the Flashblade brothers settled down to sleep, the heavy clouds that had been lingering over the Twin Cities for days released a flurry of delicate little snowflakes onto the city, blanketing the world in a layer of pure snow.

The snowfall was light by the time the last bus rolled into Minneapolis and the lone passenger stepped off and onto solid ground. His boots were expensive yet solid and worn and his equally valuable martin overcoat fit his muscular form in the way that only tailored clothing could. Slung over his broad shoulder was a ratty duffel bag that contained his every possession in the world. The only part of his body that was exposed to the growing winter storm was his face, and he adjusted the high collar of his overcoat in an attempt to protect himself from the biting cold of the innocent snowflakes. The man-made his way over to the main building and hurried into the meager warmth that the indoors provided. In the harsh lights of the station the man’s rich umber skin looked a little washed out and his tired dark eyes searched the abandoned station for somewhere to rest. When he caught sight of a cushioned bench squished in between two vending machines, he felt a flooding relief that was extravagant for such a modest couch. With his target acquired, Duke L’Orange sauntered over time the ticket desk where the late-night worker was reading a nondescript romance novel. He weaved through the maze of empty metal barriers, his wet boots squeaking on the tile floor, feeling more and more ridiculous with each passing second. When he reached the desk he took a deep breath, set his ratty bag out of view, and hoped that he didn’t look too bedraggled.

“Scuse me.” He drawled, and the minute the woman looked up he hit her with his most charming and non-threatening smile. Such a smile was equally difficult and easy for an experienced thief like Duke to pull off. It was hard because the long scar that cut through the left side of his upper and lower lip often gave the impression of danger, but the expression came to him like second nature. Despite this slight disadvantage Duke skillfully used his suave good looks and practiced charm on the poor woman.

“I have an early bus tomorrow morning. Would it be alright if I rested here for a while?” He asked, actively suppressing his thick Brooklyn accent to appear innocent. The woman looked him up and down, obviously taking in his expensive clothes and good looks before deciding that he wasn’t homeless and was therefore allowed to sleep in her station. Her stony expression turned to something closer to a slight smile and she gestured to the cushioned seats that he had been eyeing.

“Thanks, sweetheart.” Duke winked at her and then strode over to the bench, this time avoiding the metal maze. He gratefully collapsed into the worn cushions and congratulated himself on his impeccable flirtation despite how insanely rusty and old he had felt the whole time. The now blushing woman returned to her book and Duke was left to his own thoughts in the peace and quiet of the empty station. He positioned himself on the bench so that he was watching the snow flurry uncontrollably, practically dancing about.

It was refreshing to see the world from a window that didn’t have bars on it. To be free to walk out into the snow and truly experience the world rather than the disappointing taste that was yard time. Sure he had technically been outside, but he had still been trapped. Five long years he had sat in a cell and contemplated what he missed about the world, what he missed about living. Sure he had enjoyed being one of the most notorious jewel thieves in the world, the life had been glamorous, fast-paced, and… empty. At the end of the line, he had been alone in that court room. His ‘Brotherhood’ had left him to rot in jail like a common cat burglar. It was cliche, but the experience of being arrested and imprisoned had changed him. The time had reawakened something in him that he had thought long dead, a piece of his childhood had taken root and flourished in the five years that he dwelled on it. It had taken him a whole year in the hole, getting into fights and generally raging at his circumstances before he realized that the change had taken root inside of him. His anger faded just as quickly as it arose and he spent days just remembering what life had been like in the small town of Isboro, sitting on his bunk and wishing that he could go back in time and change the course of his life. It wasn’t until a couple of days later when he was sulking in solitary for what felt like the millionth time, nursing a black eye and a split lip, that he realized that he didn’t have to go back to change the course of his life.

From that day on he had been a model prisoner, his gaze firmly fixed on the day that he would get out of that hellhole and head straight for his icy paradise. Just two days ago he had walked away from Rikers Island with only the clothes on his back and a small rucksack of his belongings that some faceless girlfriend had handed over to the cops after they had raided his apartment. What money he had left in the world he had used to book a bus ticket back to Minnesota. He had been determined to leave his dark past in New York and start fresh back in the one place that he had been truly happy.

Duke settled back into the scratchy cushions of the couch and let his eyes slowly drift closed. He may have next to nothing, no way to get to Isboro apart from his own two feet, and no idea what of his idyllic hometown would be the same when he got there... but he was on his way.

Coming home to Isboro hadn't always been… awkward for Mallory McMallard. At one time she had loved coming back to the sleepy little town nestled in the thick forests of Minnesota. She remembered very vividly coming home from her first tour of duty and finding relief and peace in those wide-open spaces. She had savored the quiet and the simplicity of the small town and it had become a place of rest and recovery before she was once more itching to get back into the service. It wasn’t until now, after her third and longest tour of duty that she felt imprisoned in Isboro. Suddenly she felt vulnerable out in those wide-open spaces. Everywhere she looked people were greeting her, touching her, getting too close.

MUCH too close.

She had been out shopping with her mother exactly once since she had come home. It was their little ritual and one of Mallory’s favorite pastimes and she had been looking forward to it. She had been filled with that familiar happy bubbly sensation for the entire drive, but the moment she stepped out of the car things had gone downhill. The slam of her mom’s car door had made her jump with a sudden jolt of fear and she found herself pressing up against the vehicle, her green eyes frantically searching the busy main street for attackers. Her chest constricted and she opened her mouth to gasp for breath when she felt a warm, familiar hand on her arm. She jerked sideways, stumbling away from her mom who was looking at her with concern, her hand outstretched where Mallory had stood only moments before.

“Mally girl? You okay hun?” Her mom’s voice cut through her paranoia and suddenly Mallory realized that she was in her hometown not in an active combat zone. She was safe here. Mallory stood up, straightening her favorite maroon jacket that she had slipped over her favorite green crop top. She felt herself calming down but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling she was in danger. She gave her mom a shaky smile that was meant to comfort her but she could see the lingering concern in her mother’s slightly wrinkled face.

“Fine mom.” She forced out and linked her arm with her mother’s so she could lead her towards their favorite boutique: The Ugly Duckling. Once they were surrounded by clothes, jewelry, and makeup Mallory felt that weird tension in her body fading away. She was browsing some tops when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind in a tight hug. Mallory immediately went into attack mode and she grabbed the arms around her with a bruising grip, digging her nails in until she heard a pained gasp and the arms let her go. Mallory immediately spun around and swept her leg out as she fell into a crouch. A body fell to the floor in front of her but she didn’t even register who it was as she scrambled back to a dressing room and scrambled for a weapon. She settled for a coat-hanger that she fit between her fingers as she pressed herself against the corner of the dressing room and tried to think over the cacophony in her mind.

Mallory felt her chest tightening in panic and she jerked violently against the changing room wall when someone started banging on the door. She tightened her grip on the coat-hanger and slid down until she was crouching on the floor, panting wildly and staring at a changing room door without even really seeing it. Her mind supplied the gunfire and explosions to the dressing room and Mallory squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to drown out the noise and focus. For a few more seconds that felt like an eternity, she focussed on the darkness of her inner eyelids and the pressure on her chest slowly began to fade, taking with it the sounds of gunfire and leaving behind the sound of frantic knocking on the door.

She slowly opened her eyes and caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror that took up one side of the wall. Mallory was shocked at what she saw. The young woman staring back at her looked haggard and scared, clutching a freaking clothes-hanger like it would protect her from anything. She let her ‘weapon’ drop and rubbed her aching fingers. She had been holding it so tightly that her fingers echoed with the pain of her white-knuckle grip. She ran a hand through her sweat-damp red locks and shakily got to her feet, shuffling towards the door so that she could unlock it.

She came face to face with her frantic mother, a concerned shop owner, and a frightened-looking girl that she vaguely remembered from high school. Ignoring their onslaught of questions she all but collapsed into her mother’s arms.

“Can we go home, mom?” She asked quietly, speaking into her mother’s greying hair and basking in the familiar embrace of her mom.

She hadn’t really left the house since then.

And here Mallory sat, decked out in her ultimate comfort-wear. She was wearing her fluffiest robe, her favorite slippers, and her red hair was wrapped up in a towel. She was perched on her childhood bed, painting her nails as she waited for her face mask to finish its work at relaxing her. In the background, she had Clueless playing. Despite all of this, she was still restless, unable to fully relax and feel at home.

She glanced out of her window and watched as a light dusting of snow drifted down to coat the town of Isboro in its white blanket. She let the gentle dance mesmerize her and a tentative calm washed over her. Her eyes grew heavy and she barely had time to turn off her bedside lamp before she was overtaken by sleep.

The peaceful silence of one of Isboro’s many culdesacs was broken rather unceremoniously by the slam of a car door and a few whispered curses as Tanya Vanderflock wrestled her overflowing messenger bag out of her car and onto her coat-clad shoulder. She let out a little huff at the extra weight of the bag before diving back into her Subaru to retrieve a haphazard stack of papers, notebooks, and folders. Clutching the precious mess to her ample chest, Tanya closed her car door with her hip and used her one free finger to lock the little car. She carefully made her way up her driveway and front steps, self-consciously looking down at the ground in an attempt to avoid slipping in the thin layer of freshly fallen snow. The storm was growing thicker with her every step and she shuffled faster when she saw that the snowflakes were beginning to dampen her papers.

Tanya finally made it under the cover of her modest porch and took a second to let out a frustrated huff of breath before deciding to brave the chaos of her purse in search of her house keys. It was slow going as her increasingly numb fingers fished around in a sea of receipts, pens, gum, allergy medications, and about a million different chapstick flavors. She cursed colorfully again, this time slipping into Russian, and her pale face screwed up in frustration as her searching became more aggressive. After what felt like an eternity in which she had yet to find her keys, her front door yanked open to reveal her younger sister Leona, clad in her winter pajamas, a face mask, and bunny slippers. She was clutching a cup of cocoa and for a moment the two just stared at each other, Leona in judgment and Tanya in exasperation.

“Well, are ya gonna, ya know, help me?” Tanya finally broke the silence between them. Leona merely rolled her eyes and awkwardly snatched Tanya’s purse from where it was dangling on her arm. Tanya rolled her eyes but allowed herself to be ushered into her own home by her much younger sister who was living in her basement.

After making sure she was relatively clear of snow, Tanya abandoned her boots and the door and slid over to her kitchen table in crazy sock-clad feet. Today she had been assigned one frog sock and one hot dog sock. She abandoned her pile on the kitchen table and tossed her messenger bag into a chair with less care now that she was indoors. She made her way into the kitchen where Leona was waiting with a mug of hot chocolate and marshmallows identical to the mug she cradled gingerly in her own hands. She watched as Tanya awkwardly struggled to unzip and she’d her puffy purple winter jacket, her face straining as she held back laughter. When she was finally free of the purple marshmallow Tanya tossed it over a barstool. She snatched up her waiting cocoa and cuddled the warm mug close as she took a tentative sip. The two leaned against the kitchen counter for a while, just enjoying the comforting drink as Tanya recovered from the bone-deep chill of a Minnesota winter.

The two painted an interesting picture in the modest kitchen of Tanya’s house. Tanya was tall and curvaceous with pale skin and golden curls that she piled on top of her head. Her curly mop had evolved over the years until she had gotten tired of it and had shaved the sides and back of her head so that her curls balanced precariously on the top of her head, occasionally spilling over in an attractive, if not slightly messy, style. Tanya wore her signature purple round-framed glasses over her blue-grey eyes. She looked every bit of her Russian heritage personified.

Across from her, Leona was petite with honeyed skin and dark hair that fell in long strands over her shoulders and down her back. Her brown eyes remained uncovered and frustratingly (for Tanya) perfect. Leona was a complete anomaly in the family of tan blondes but the moment she had been brought home by the Vanderflock parents at 3 years old, she had somehow fit perfectly. Though they didn’t share blood, Tanya and Leona had developed a kind of unbreakable bond unique to sisters. It was through this bond that they were able to exchange a silent conversation right there in the kitchen.

‘You’re home late’ Leona said with a raised eyebrow and slightly pursed lips.

‘There’s not enough time in the day’ Tanya replied with a heavy sigh and a slight slumping of her shoulders. Leona chose to remain silent and took the rare opportunity to observe her older sister when she was still. Tanya was usually running around doing one thing or another at home and work so it was often hard to get her to stand still long enough for Leona to get a read on her. Now, however, she could see the lines of exhaustion etched into her sister’s face. They were deep and Leona frowned her concern at her sister.

‘You okay?’ She asked with a slight frown and a deep furrow of her brow.

“I’m fine.” Tanya broke their silence with a wave of her hand and a yawn, “I’m just, ya know, tired is all.”

Frustrated with the brush off, but unwilling to push Tanya, Leona stubbornly stared down at the chocolate depths in her mug, hoping that it held the answer of how to help her sister. The hot cocoa stared back, silent, and unhelpful.

“Is he asleep?” Tanya asked after a long drink of cocoa. Leona shrugged and copied her long sip with an even longer one.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tanya huffed grumpily, unconsciously popping her curvy hip to one side and resting one long-fingered hand on it. Leona rolled her eyes at the familiar pose and grinned into her hot chocolate.

“It means that I put him to bed a couple of hours ago but I can’t guarantee that he’s asleep.” She said sassily and pushed away from the counter and headed back to the living room where her nest of blankets sat waiting in front of the TV, which flashed with the colorful opening credits to yet another Disney movie. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Tanya exit the kitchen a few seconds later, sans mug, and head for the stairs.

“Night.” She called distractedly, not even tearing her eyes away from the screen in front of her.

Tanya rolled her eyes at Leona’s blanket-covered form but her smile gave away her lack of real annoyance. She called back her goodnight and trudged up the stairs with what little energy she had left in her body. She walked quietly down the narrow hall until she reached the door at the end of the hall. It was covered in stickers and hand-drawn signs claiming that a TOP SECRET lab lay beyond the door. Tanya felt a tired but fond smile spread over her face, softening it. She slowly and quietly opened the door to reveal the cluttered bedroom of her four-year-old son.

She picked her way through the mess of toys on the floor and over to the Spaceship bunk bed that she and her father had spent hours assembling. She rested her arms on the railing that came to about her chest and leaned on it. The blanket covered form let out an excited wiggle and an exaggerated snore that she was very familiar with.

“Buzz....” she sighed fondly and grabbed the bundle of blankets, pulling it down to reveal the grinning face of her little boy. His usually spiked blonde hair lay flat on his head and his blue-green eyes squinted at her from his cherubic, glasses-less face. She gave him an unimpressed grin and he sat immediately sat up and wrapped his little arms around her neck like a koala bear.

“Mommy!” He cried out excitedly and Tanya couldn’t help but hug him back. When he finally pulled away she fixed him with her best interrogation look.

“We’re you good for Aunty Leona?” She asked and received an equally serious little nod in reply.

“Then why are you, ya know, still awake?” She fired back, but instead of looking contrite another bright, innocent smile broke out on his face.

“I was waiting for you, Mommy.” And just like that Tanya was defeated. Her heart melted and she laid him back down in bed, running her long fingers gently through his hair in a soothing motion.

“Well, that was very no- nob- sweet of you honey.” She stuttered slightly as her throat closed up with emotion, “But you need your sleep for ice skating lessons tomorrow.”

She smiled when she saw Buzz’s eyelids drooping sleepily as he held back a stubborn yawn. The yawn broke free of his hold and g he e tried to talk through it, resulting in an almost unintelligible protest.

“But I’m not tired.”

Tanya chuckled good-naturedly and kept running her fingers through his hair. Buzz pouted adorably and nuzzled his face into her arm.

“Can I have a story?” He mumbled against her skin.

Tanya could tell that he was already mostly asleep but she decided to indulge him nonetheless. “What do you want to hear tonight?”

“Mighty Ducks.” He crowed out sleepily and Tanya let out a full belly laugh at that.

“But you hear about them almost every night. Are you sure?” She watched as her son nodded vigorously and looked up at her with those big pleading eyes.

“All right.” The minute she gave in he burrowed further under his warm blankets and peered up at her from the depth of his big fluffy pillow.

“Once upon a time there was a hockey team in Isboro called the Mighty Ducks. They were the best team of them all... because they were a family.”

#mdtas #mighty ducks the animated series #mighty ducks #my new fanfic #anybody left in this fandom?#human au #childhood friends #reunited and it feels so good

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zippyreview-blog · 4 years ago

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Zippy Review: The Worlds 1st All-In-One Interactive Viral App

Sick of buying products that gets you nowhere? You know the ones where the sales pages are filled with BS? But then you find out there’s incomplete training on how to make it online. That stops today.

I have something cool you need to check out. A brand new app that lets you leverage… First Of It’s Kind Viral Quiz App For Traffic & Sales… Interested? If yes the you need to check this Zippy Review below!

What is Zippy?

Be honest… you’ve brought a product cause the sales pages are flashy – luxury cars, yachts, vacation spots, houses… Then you discover that the products offered are complicated.

I’ve been there. I’ve learned my lesson. So today… Billy Darr offers a refreshing software that makes it possible for newbies to crush it online. This is the easiest way for anyone to start earning passively at home

First of it’s kind viral quiz app for traffic & sales… With Zippy, you’ll work whenever you want for as long as you like. You’re in complete control. There’s been such a buzz about Billy Darr’s new software.

Others have earned loads from it. Consistent sales every week. And most of them are newbies. If you’re looking for an easy beginner friendly option to earn online. THIS is it.

You’re getting the Worlds 1st AutoPilot Viral Software that leverages viral marketing for hundreds of free viral visitors, you get the step-by-step tutorials, the quick start guide and 5 premium bonuses, worth thousands.

So how do you get ahead of the viral traffic game? Simple. Zippy is the answer. In the details, this is the first of it’s kind ultimate viral marketing software that lets you leverage the power of Quizes, Polls, Quotes and so much more!

The goal of the software is to help turn 1 visitor into 10 and 10 into 100 with power of viral marketing! Zippy is a complete solution & comes with everything you need from the software to the training & everything in between. No list, no website and no hosting is needed.

Zippy is web based which means it works on any device with a web browser. So whether that’s a Tablet, PC, Mac, Android, iPhone literally any device that has a web browser.

With Zippy, you’ll get an all in one suite that can handle just about any traffic generation task you can throw at it. Just take a look at a few of the things Zippy can do in the next parts of this Zippy Review.

Zippy Review Overview

Vendor Billy Darr

Product Zippy

Launch Date 2020-Aug-31

Launch Time 11:00 EST

Front-End Price $17

Bonuses YES, HUGE BONUS

Refund YES, 30 Days Money-Back Guarantee

Product Type Software

Support Effective Response

Official site 👉VISIT OFFICIAL SITE

Recommended Highly Recommended

Skill Level Needed All Levels

Who are the creators?

Billy Darr is a familiar name in the market recently. He is known for his excellent digital products. Some of the products that helped him succeed such as BossFunnels, Surge, Social Profit App, etc.

He always tries his best to create products that serve the needs of the user. They know him by his passion and enthusiasm for digital technology.

Recently, with the help of his colleagues Justin Opay and Dipanjan Goswami, he continued to launch a high-end digital product to serve customers.

Let’s look at the next parts of my Zippy Review to see what he has transformed into it

Features of Zippy

Einstein said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over again and expecting different results…”

That’s why the creators have put together something totally different to what you’ve ever seen before… A solution that not only gets you traffic but a solution that converts that traffic into cold hard cash.

Because let’s face it — you can’t deposit traffic into your bank account! Now what we have for you is not just another software, it’s the ultimate package to getting results online but first let me explain why you’re still stuck.

Once you understand what’s holding you back you can break through and move forward.

Everything you need to succeed is included at an affordable 1-time price!

Brand-New Zippy Software: First-Of-It’s-Kind Beginner Friendly Software Gets You Hundreds Of Free Viral Visitors In 60 Seconds In 1-Click.

Step-By-Step Video Tutorials: The included video training teaches you EXACTLY how to convert the viral traffic you get with Zippy and turn it into unstoppable sales.

Quick Start Guide: If you don’t like going through video’s don’t worry, I have you covered with a Quick Start Guide that just shows you how to fire up Zippy to get viral traffic & sales in seconds.

LIVE Chat Support: We want to offer you to have the best experience ever with Zippy. That’s why we have live chat agents waiting to assist you should you need it.

Zippy levels the playing field for the small guy who’s just starting out. It’s designed and built for the beginner to get “viral visitors”. And you can effortlessly get viral visitors without any of the following:

No Tech Skills

No Being On Camera

No Setting Up Funnels

No Previous Experience

No Paid Advertising

No Huge Budget

With this software, you will be able to create…

Quiz: Generate results based on logic and user profile

Trivia: Create a facts list

Quote: Create a customized post to convey in insight

Poll: Create a poll and ask the users what they think

Flip card: Create a flip card, click and revel back of the card

Personality: determine personality trait based on choices made

Story: Create video based story based on facebook (post, video), twitter, flicker, gist and more

News: Create a featured content using image/gif

👉VISIT OFFICIAL SITE

Zippy Review: Is it worth your money?

So… if you know that viral traffic is the bees knees when it comes to marketing, why aren’t you doing more of it? Or even if you are using it in your marketing strategies, why are you working with so many tools to get the results you’re getting?

Did you know you’re only one click away from getting hundreds of free viral visitors in as little as 60 seconds which in turn let you enjoy sales 24/7 and live a life of total freedom?

If that sounds exciting, listen up and here’s why Billy and his team have built an incredible first of its kind software that lets you harness the power of viral marketing without any of the complicated boring tech stuff. It’s literally as easy as one click

That’s where Zippy comes into play. You’ll have a ton of tools at your fingertips that replaces most of the tools you use to get free viral visitors. There’s a ton of things that Zippy can do, (which you can see at the previous parts of this Zippy Review).

Zippy gets you hundreds of free visitors that multiply leveraging the power of viral marketing. In other words, it gets you traffic which continues to increase on autopilot. It’s literally a case of set forget and laugh to the bank. This is truly a breakthrough in the marketplace

No more fiddling about with expensive software that requires a serious learning curve. All joking aside, if you’re serious about taking your traffic to another level this year, then you owe it to yourself to get a copy of Zippy while the price is incredibly low.

From my perspective, there are several reasons why you need to grab Zippy right now.

Initially, Zippy is 100% fueled by FREE traffic. Undoubtedly, traffic is considered as the lifeblood of any online businesses. If you don’t have any traffic on your website, you don’t have anybody to convert.

But with this all-inclusive system, you would absolutely say goodbye to the days of wasting your time & money for traffic. It will help you tap into hoards of free traffic as well as prevent you from spending a lot of money on buying traffic.

Besides, the software is so SIMPLE and powerful so that ANYONE, even if you are NEW to this whole “internet software”, you can use this software and get results.

To make sure you can maximize the ability of Zippy, it offers you the detailed training that helps you discover all of the ins and outs of the system. Especially, you also get atraining that shows you how to make real money.

But that’s not all. You will be shocked when you know its price that I will tell you in the next part. The vendors offer you a gigantic discount in comparison with what it contains. Believe me, this is definitely cost-effective and worth money investment for you.

Right now however, Zippy is available at a serious discount so you’ll want to head over and check it out before the time runs out and the price goes up.

You’re probably thinking that this unique first of its kind viral software is very expensive and you’d be right to think that. Considering most life-changing software not only started around $97 but typically have a monthly fee too, so it would be fair to charge you at least $97 a month for this…

But today you won’t be paying $97/Month. You won’t even be paying $67/month, not even $47/month. When you act during the limited launch period, you won’t be paying monthly at all.

In fact they’re going to give you an amazing bargain which means today you can get in for a one-time price without any monthly fees. It’s literally less than the price of a large pizza.

And it gets better when you act now, you’ll also get five brand new premium bonuses worth thousands absolutely free.

Pricing

For a limited time, you can grab Zippy with early bird discount price in these options below. Let’s pick the best suited options for you before this special offer gone!

Front-end: Zippy ($17)

Brand-New Zippy Software – Worth $197/Month

Step-By-Step Video Tutorials – Worth $297

Quick Start Guide – Worth $197

Live Chat Support – Priceless

Bonus #1: 1K A Day LIVE Invite – Worth $1,997

Bonus #2: $268 Discount Coupon – Worth $268

Bonus #3: Agency Licence – Worth $497

Bonus #4: 25x DFY Campaigns – Worth $497

Bonus #5: $100 A Day Case Study – Worth $297

365-Day Money Back Guarantee

Gets Results Or Get Paid $300!

OTO 1: Unlimited Edition ($29)

The Unlimited Edition Gets You Unlimited Free Viral Traffic & Sales

With The Unlimited Edition You Can Get Viral Traffic From A Total Of 20 Different Sources

You’ll Get Special Access So You Can Create An Account For Your Friends & Family

There Is No Usage Or Others Restrictions When You Get Unlimited

Unlock Additional Tutorials That Let You Easily Achieve 4-Figures A Day

If You Can’t Scale Up With This Special Upgrade Just Let Us Know & They’ll Send You $500 For Wasting Your Time

OTO 2: Done-For-You Edition – $197

They’ll Setup Everything For You There’s Literally Nothing For You To Do

Then They’ll Ensure The Traffic They Drive Actually Turns Into Sales

Once They’ve Setup Everything For You The Next Thing They’ll Do Is Drive Viral Traffic For You

They’ll Tell You Which Products Produce Sales On AutoPilot & Convert Like Ferocious Wildfire

They’ll Also Include Our Private Rolodex Which Is Worth Its Theyight In Gold

And They’re So Confident That If You’re Lucky Enough To Grab This You’ll Get Results And If You Don’t They’ll Personally Send You $1,000 For Wasting Your Time

OTO 3: Automation Edition – $39

Add the “Automated” edition to your order so you can get autopilot traffic with Zippy and can enjoy making money while you sleep.

The “AutoPilot” Edition Lets You Automate Zippy So You Can Enjoy Traffic & Sales While You Sleep

You’ll Unlock The AutoPilot Function So You Can Experience REAL Automated Traffic 24/7/365

With The Automation Edition You Also Unlock Traffic From Even More Sources..

To Ensure You Know What Todo To Automate The Entire Process Step-By-Step Video Tutorials Will Be Included So You Can Make Money Fast

You’ll Also Get The Rights To Sell The Agency Rights To Others So You Can Make Even More Money

OTO 4: Reseller Edition – $39

How would you like to make 100x times more money from Zippy than the average customer who buys it? The ability to make back 100x times what you’ve spent on Zippy so far?

Now imagine sending people to this exact funnel that you’re going through… imagine them buying products through it just like you have done. But… Instead of me getting money, you keeping all of the money for yourself…

That’s what we’re offering you a proven sales system without doing any of the boring, complicated and expensive tech stuff.

Steal Zippy For Yourself – $9,997 Value

100% Commissions On Everything – $2,997 Value

Leverage Our Marketing Material – $9,997 Value

Ready-Made Sales kit – $4,997 Value

Get Results Or Get Paid $500 – $500 Value

Keep 100% Of All The Money – $9,997 Value

Bonus #1: Affiliate Robot Software – $497 Value

Bonus #2: Affiliate Funnel App – $997 Value

OTO 5: ATM Edition – $197

Their Team Of Experts Will Personally Setup The “100 Dollar Daily Method” For You From A To Z… All You Need To Do Is Grab A Copy Of The ATM Edition Right Now..

They’ll Do All Of The Work For You, Just Sit Back, Chill Out And Watch Traffic And Commissions Roll In Every Day…

If You’ve Ever Wanted Hands-Free Sales & Profits Then This Is It. Imagine Not Doing Any Work Whatsoever Then Logging Into Your Commission Account To See Cold Hard Cash How Amazing Would That Feel?

You Can Do What Your Enjoy Most, While Their Experts Ensure They Do All The Setup For You So You Can Sit Back, Relax And Get Paid Big Time…

Fast Action Bonus: You’ll Get Instant Message Access Directly To Billy And His Support Team To Ensure You Make Money With This Program… This Has $20,000 Value

Zippy Review Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading my Zippy Review. I really hope it did help you with your buying decision. This system is coming out with many bonuses for the early bird. Take your action ASAP for the best deal.

REMEMBER! If you purchase through my link, you will be supported 24/7; That means you can contact me ANYTIME when you get trouble in using or can not contact with the authors/ product supporters. I will help you RIGHT AWAY!

Besides, if you buy this product through my link, you can also get these huge bonuses below (Please remember that these bonuses are not for the TRIAL or FREE versions):

👉VISIT OFFICIAL SITE

You can have an opportunity to receive extra bonuses if you finish 3 steps below:

Step 1: Order the product by Clicking here.

Step 2: Choose 1 of my huge Bonus Packages below! Remember that you can pick one more bonuses pack for each Upgrade you purchased!

Step 3: After your purchase goes through, email your receipt & your chosen bonuses pack to me at [email protected] so I can confirm your purchase and email you information about how to access to your bonus material.

I Will Always Update New Bonus

Now, Check your bonus below!

»»Plugin Bonus Package««

»»Theme Bonus Package««

»»General Bonus Package««

Read more related articles:

LIVIO Review: New App Lets You Start Exploiting 2 Billion Potential Buyers For Limitless FREE Traffic…

Abracadabra Review: New Traffic Siphon Is Like”Magic” & Get Results In Only 5 Steps..

Thank you again for reading my Zippy review & bonus

#zippy #zippy review #zippy billy darr #zippy oto #zippy demo #zippy billy darr review

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kaniacqueen · 5 years ago

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Leverage International: The Diner Job Ch. 13 Smooth Jazz and Acoustic Strumming

“How about a drink, Paul?” Yavetz asked as the last of the customers for the evening trickled out. Eliot glanced toward the kitchen window to see Savannah working away at cleaning up the kitchen with Stella and Alessandro. He took a moment to himself to appreciate her. The amount of focus she put in in the most menial tasks, like scrubbing pans, as she pushed a stray lock out of hair behind her ear, that stray lock that got more and more unruly as time passed.

“No, Kilmer, I’m staying in with my lady tonight.” Eliot dismissed the look of contempt Yavetz gave him as he vacated his chair. “See you at the party tomorrow night.” The reminder seemed to appease Yavetz, and he bowed out.

Eliot glanced over at Hardison. “Don’t worry, her com is disconnected,” Hardison whispered. Eliot subtly pumped his fist as he helped Hardison pull a box out from under one of the covered tables. “Stella and Alessandro have her covered in the kitchen?” Hardison asked. Eliot glanced up to make sure Savannah was indeed focused on the kitchen and not the dining room. He nodded.

Just like that, the table was set for a romantic candle-lit dinner. Hardison finished off by plugging in a set of speakers. “Just hit ‘play’ on your phone when you're ready.”

“Thanks, man.”

“You’re welcome.” Hardison saluted, shucked off his apron, grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. “Now, I'm going to go try another video game night with Parker. Maybe this time I won't get hit in the head with a controller.”

“I wouldn't count on it,” Eliot quipped as the door closed. He stuck his head through the kitchen door. Stella made sure Savannah didn’t notice as Alessandro brought him two hot plates of seafood pasta accented with mussels and truffle oil. He slipped the young man a couple of large bills. “You guys are great. Split that and call it a night.” Alessandro bowed his head gratefully and signaled to Stella to make her exit.

Eliot placed the hot dishes under domes on the table and slipped back into the kitchen. Savannah was still in her own head space. He slid himself behind her as she furiously scrubbed a pan. He put his hands over hers and removed the coarse sponge. He took a few pumps of hand soap and slid it over her skin. She didn’t react to his presence or actions outside a deep sigh and untensing of her shoulders. Then she began to play with his soapy hands as he played with hers. With so many boundaries, a mundane act like hand-washing could become intimate.

He leaned in close to her ear. “It didn’t used to be so easy to distract you.”

“I guess I just feel safe with you around,” she said just audibly.

“Good. You should,” he assured her. She raised up on her toes and kissed his cheek. He wanted to tell her that it wouldn't change if things ended between them, but he didn't want to plant the seed that it would really be okay if things ended.

After hands were rinsed and dried, she asked. “So why did you need me distracted?” It was genuine curiosity; she hadn’t caught on. He took her hand and pulled her into the dining room. “What is all this?” she asked.

He placed himself behind her, caressing her arms. “I know we spend a lot of time together, but it’s hard to focus on just us with the job and the team and everything. I know that you're working through some stuff, and I wanted to tell you, without words, that whatever it is, I’m willing to work through it, too.” He pulled closer and said right in her ear. “I love you, Savannah.”

He felt her shudder. “I love you too, Eliot,” she said, voice breaking, followed by a sniffle.

“Hey, no. You’re not supposed to...This wasn't--”

“I know.” She took a deep breath to compose herself. “I know this wasn’t easy for you from the beginning. And I haven't made it any easier. You need to know that it means the world to me that you keep trying. And one day I’m going to--”

“Food’s getting cold...And don't worry about one day. Just tonight. Just us. Enjoy it.” He pulled out her chair. As she sat down, he hit ‘play’ on his phone, and smooth jazz played softly through the speakers. He sat down and removed the domes from the dishes.

“Mmm,” she admired. And that was all he needed. “Jazz, huh?” she mused before taking a large forkful of pasta.

He reached for his phone. “I can change it.”

She shook her head and quickly swallowed. “No, it's nice. It's just not what I’d assume you would pick.”

“What did you expect?” he asked before following with his own forkful.

“Acoustic strumming,” she answered. He shrugged. It was valid. “I mean, yours would be better, she added, taking another bite. She said it so quietly, almost like she wasn’t even sure if she wanted him to hear. She had been doing that a lot.

“You’re adorable,” he returned at the same volume, but she had definitely heard him. Even in the dim light, he saw her skin flush. He let the invited silence set in.

“What do you get out of this?”

He choked briefly. “What...what are you talking about?”

“I...you...Nevermind.” She shook her head and stabbed around the dish for another bite.

“Savannah.”

She chewed and swallowed deliberately. “You...You’re an amazing chef, a musician on occasion, and an unbelievable fighter. I just have to wonder what I have to offer besides a serious case of blue balls.”

Eliot legitimately had to recover from that one. With her past habits of dancing around words or not using them at all, she sure had timing when it came to being direct. “You don’t have to answer,” she added weakly. There she was.

He didn’t answer immediately. Partly because he wanted to torture her, a little revenge for whatever she was withholding from him. But he also needed to think about his answer. Not because she asked a difficult question, but because he had to consider wording. This was a rare time Savannah needed words.

She jabbed at her plate, frantically taking in forkful after forkful. He gave it another minute and took her hand to still the fork. “It’s always been a struggle to find someone who could deal with the life I live, with the team, with the fact that the job was a priority. You get that. You’re a part of it. You struggle with balancing,and the fact that it’s not always cut and dry. You don’t need me, not the way Hardison and Parker do, but you still need me. And you challenge me in a fight, which is damn near impossible. The fact the you find me an unbelievable with your skills, it’s flattering. I almost wonder if you’re just stroking my ego.”

She shook her head and intertwined her fingers with his. ��No. You make me sweat, and you don’t have the help of some mad scientist steroid cocktail.”

He found himself staring at two hands that had done immeasurable damage caressing each other. “We both know you hold back.”

“Because any further could activate fight or flight, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

#leverage fan fiction #Leverage International #Leverage fan fic #Eliot Spencer #Parker #alec hardison #The Diner Job

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feelingfredly · 6 years ago

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The Fox Guards the Wolf

Part Sixteen

Counting Chickens Before They’ve Hatched

“What do you mean he’s gone?”

Kisuke turned slightly in his seat and cocked his head as he looked at Tessai. “Did the words somehow change meanings when I wasn’t paying attention?”

Tessai raised a hand before the Director could explode. “What Urahara-san is trying to say,” he said calmly, “is that after his meeting with Okura Kagetaka, Kurosaki Ichigo packed his belongings and vacated his Onmitsukido supplied apartment without leaving any contact information. He has not, as far as we’ve been able to discern, moved back into the apartment he had before the incident at the coffee house, or back into his family’s home.”

The Director frowned at Kisuke’s carelessly swinging geta, each slap of it against the bottom of his foot cranking the man’s temper another notch higher. Kisuke kept the rhythm constant, a small aggression in lieu of the larger ones he would prefer.

“I thought you said he was in danger from Okura?” The Director pinched the butt of the cigarette in his mouth and pulled a long drag from it, blowing it towards the men across the desk from him.

Kisuke stilled. “He is still in danger from Okura, and it isn’t as if I could stop him.”

Kawasaki Ryō had been Director for as long as Kisuke had been in the Onmi. His methods had never changed, no matter what the world around him did, and he sneered at Kisuke’s denial.

“Sure. And I’m Ultraman.” His lips twisted in a smirk as he sucked on his cigarette. “You brought him here to get Okura’s attention, and now that you have it you’ve sent the kid out as bait. I didn’t think you had it in you anymore, Getaboshi. It’s almost like the old days.”

Tessai shifted in his seat but didn’t say anything.

“Actually,” Kisuke said, snapping his fan open and waving it in counterpoint to his swinging sandal, “I didn’t.” He raised an eyebrow at the man who’d become his second biggest concern. “Kurosaki signed a contract with Taka-chan that promised him more money than he’d seen in ten years as a med student or an entry level doctor and then he just… left. Stopping him, while probably in his best interests, would have been beyond my purview. He’d done nothing wrong, and his presence was strictly voluntary.”

The Director leaned forward and slapped his palms on his desk. “You’re telling me that you don’t have a line on him? He really is just gone?”

Kisuke nodded, fanning himself as he watched the red creeping up his boss’s neck.

“What is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?” He was getting into full rant mode. “That kid has been running loose in the building for almost two months now. He’s had access to your labs. To the other agents. And you just let him go.”

Tessai made a small sound of disagreement. “It was his right to leave. He was…”

Kawasaki exploded. “I don’t give a damn what his rights are! You find that bastard and you bring him back. I don’t care if you have to dust off your shibari skills to tie him up and drag his ass back, you get him back!”

Kisuke snapped his fan shut. “I’m not going to just kidnap an innocent off the street on a whim.”

“You will do exactly that if I tell you too, Urahara-san.” The Director’s eyes were dark and angry. “The situation with Okura is your fault, and any of this… all of this… is because you chased him away. He had the potential to be the best agent in the Onmitsukido, and your…”

“Morals? Unwillingness to target civilians? Regard for the law?” Kisuke didn’t even look at him as he spoke, but he could hear the offended intake of breath across the desk. Pfft. Kawasaki’s ego was as sensitive as Taka-chan’s. Two insecure men with more power than sense. It was no wonder they got along so well.

Kawasaki growled under his breath, his anger an almost palpable thing. Kisuke made a production of looking at a dry cuticle.

“Your regard for the law.” The words dragged over broken glass. “What a joke. You know as well as I do that in the end you will do exactly what I tell you, or I will personally give Okura Kagetaka access to you, your research, and your precious little civilian.” He spat the last of the threat out like poison. “I think I could almost convince him to come back to us if I gave him that kind of welcoming present.”

Kisuke shifted in his chair and yawned delicately. “How lovely. It finally becomes clear. It isn’t just me you’re willing to sacrifice to get what you want.”

Tessai stood up. “Director,” his voice was aloe on a burn, soothing and bland, “I quite understand your frustration with having lost contact with Kurosaki. Would it be appropriate for me to assign a team for surveillance of his known locations?”

Kawasaki unclenched his jaw, forcing his eyes away from Kisuke. “Surveillance to start. Once his location is known, I want him brought in.” He bared his teeth in a shark’s smile. “For his own safety of course.”

Tessai bowed briefly to both men. “I will get right on that, then.”

As the big man left, the Director waved a hand for him to close the door behind him, leaving him an arm’s length from Kisuke.

It would be so easy to just break his neck, Kisuke thought. It wasn’t the first time, and Kisuke was certain it wouldn’t be the last. Other things needed his attention first, though.

“You wanted to say something else… Director?” He paused before the title, making his distaste clear. This man didn’t deserve his position, and Kisuke made no attempt to soften the cutting edge of his disapproval.

Yoruichi’s voice hummed in his ear. Only two life-signs in the room, Kisuke. Starting independent recording now.

Good. Now he could get things moving without having to worry about Tessai. No one else would be leverage in this fight.

“I did.” Kawasaki shook another cigarette out of his battered pack, trigger-calloused fingers making quick work of the action. “This thing with Okura has gotten out of hand.”

Kisuke pretended to misunderstand. “I agree. He has never publicly involved himself before, especially with a civilian. Clearly he is deteriorating.”

The Director blew a cloud of blue smoke. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I mean the snake. Involving Mamushi. You are the one who is deteriorating. You crossed a line, Urahara-san.”

Not exactly the tack he was expecting, but it supported his theory that there was a direct line of communication between Kawasaki and Okura. No one in Taka-chan’s circle would have been made privy to what happened. He couldn’t afford for his weakness to become public knowledge. Attacked in the security of his own center of operations? He would never give that information out.

Except to the Director, apparently.

“Hmmm. Pillow talk, Kawasaki-kun?” He gave a prurient little grin and crossed his legs, swinging his sandal again. “You must have hidden talents. I never pegged Taka-chan for sharing his little secrets, even during his afterglow, but then I never expected him to be attracted such an older man, either.”

Kawasaki surged to his feet, his desk squalling in objection as it gouged tracks in the tiled floor. “Shut your fucking mouth and listen for once, Ki-chan.” His face was purple, and he flung the lit cigarette at Kisuke, just missing his open neckline where it would have burned bare skin. “This is your last warning. Stay away from Okura. If you don’t—if I hear one fucking whisper about you following him, interfering with him, delivering a fucking letter to his building—I will make your life short, ugly, and miserable. And, just so we’re on the same page, consider anything that I might be able to do you to be in the cards for your little friend Kurosaki as well.”

He bared his teeth in a rictus of a grin. “Do you understand me, Ki-chan? Think before you open that mouth of yours. This is the only chance you’re going to get.”

Kisuke picked up the cigarette where it had landed in his lap and made a distasteful moue. “You know that this,” he waved the white cylinder, “is going to be the death of you. You should know better at your age. I suppose, though, that they’re right. Old dogs really don’t learn new tricks, and you are definitely,” he reached across to the over-flowing ashtray on the Director’s desk and stubbed the ember out, “an old dog. You’re lucky you’ve lasted in this game as long as you have. Have you considered what you’ll do after the powers-that-be decide that they need to drag the Onmitsukido into the 21st century? If you’re not careful they’ll just take you out behind the building and put you out of your misery.”

Silence stretched between them, the Director’s hands clenching in fury on the desktop. Kisuke made a sympathetic sound.

“Such a shame, too. After all your years of devoted service.” He looked at the older man through the shadow cast by the brim of his hat. “Maybe you could get a job working for Taka-chan. I’m sure he’d be happy to help you, even after you retire from the field. Who needs contacts or leverage, hmm? Loyalty is so much more important.”

Kawasaki scowled and jabbed a ragged-nailed finger in the air. “You know nothing about loyalty, you bastard. I’ve watched you for fifteen years. Always thinking you know best. Disregarding orders. Breaking the chain of command any time it suits you. When the time comes, I’ll be happy to sign the kill order with your name on it. Yours, Kurosaki’s, and your little friend Shihouin. Give me a reason, Ki-chan. One reason. I’ll drop you so fast you won’t know you’re dead until you’re dining in Yomi.”

Kisuke planted both feet squarely on the floor, facing his old mentor. It’s come to this.

“Have you been to the training rooms recently, Director-san?” His voice was light. Harmless. “I hope that you have. Keeping track of your subordinates’ skills is so important in these situations. Knowing exactly what talents to match with what task. Your newest batch of recruits is very different from the class I entered with. Much more independently minded. And, while they all have honed their physical skills, many of them have never even seen combat.”

Kawasaki glared, tired of the dance.

Finally.

Kawasaki leaned forward, a look of almost delight on his face.

“Oh, I know you’ll kill some of them. Maybe all of them. I don’t care. That’s the thing you never understood. I. Don’t. Care. Plus, it has the added bonus that I know killing all those so-called innocents will destroy you. I will send everyone from the senior agents down to the mail boy if I must. You are just one man. You’ll screw up sooner or later, and I will be there to laugh as you bleed out. You with your convenient morals and your ridiculous belief that the Onmi exists for any reason but what I tell it to. I know where all the bodies are buried. No one will touch me. You are out-gunned, out-classed, and out of time, Ki-chan. Today is a new day. Okura-san understands that.”

Kisuke tsked at him, rolling his eyes derisively. Such a drama queen.

“Taka-chan understands better than you do. He understands that he has you in his pocket. He gives you scraps of power and keeps you on a leash. You’re his very own pet Onmi Director. I can’t even imagine the hard-on it gives him when you two get together. Do you always kneel for him, or is that something he reserves for blowjobs?”

Kawasaki’s rage was incandescent. “How dare you speak to me that way? I’ll kill you myself. But first, I’ll have you court-martialed. How’d you like to be convicted of treason, Ki-chan? And Kurosaki, too. You can watch yet another innocent life be destroyed because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut.” He almost smiled, but there were too many teeth. “I’ll ruin you first, and then I’ll have you killed. Then I’ll make your body a present to your protégé so he can take it home and piss on it. I think that will pretty much guarantee my retirement, don’t you? How’s that for a new trick, you little bitch? Hmmm?”

“Not a new trick,” Kisuke answered blandly. “Hell, not even a new family to ruin. You had Kurosaki Masaki killed. Taka-chan told me you approved it personally. Something about her connections to Mamushi’s lieutenant at the time. One of the other convenient casualties of the turf war you two engineered.”

Kawasaki dropped back into his chair and grinned. “Ah, so good of you to remember. Killing her worked even better than we’d hoped. And now, you couldn’t have done me a bigger favor than pulling Kurosaki Ichigo into the frame. What better reason for you to turn on your old yakuza associates than a new young lover whose mother was killed in a turf war? Your friend Shihouin won’t like you going against her dear Uncle Mamushi, so you’ll have to kill her, too. Then, once it’s come out that you, an Onmi-trained assassin, have killed them both, it will start a new turf war, but this time it will be between the Onmi and the yakuza. The gangs will target agents everywhere, and we will be then be able to take them out with impunity. The branches will be decimated in weeks, leaving a very nice power vacuum. Then, the public—scared to death of the yakuza—will be thrilled to accept the assistance of the Okura keiretsu. Such a respectable business, run by a retired civil servant who wants nothing more than to give back to the community that has given him so much. In the end, you will be brought in and that will be the end of Getaboshi. The irony is wonderful, isn’t it? It is practically poetic that your undoing will be the keystone of Okura-san’s success.”

“You can’t just kill me, though,” Kisuke said quietly, and Kawasaki chuckled at how much less confident he sounded.

“Oh, can’t I?” Kawasaki sat back, nicotine-stained fingers steepled. “What if you tried to kill me?” He pulled a drawer open and laid his service pistol on the desk top. “It would be easy. My word against yours.”

Kisuke snorted. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.”

Kawasaki nodded. “True. You are a born killer. Everyone knows that. But that works to my advantage as well.”

The pistol disappeared back into the desk, and Kawasaki leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially.

“You are the greatest killer the Onmitsukido has ever trained.” His voice was oily. “No one will have any trouble believing that you managed to kill the old snake where so many others failed. All I must do is convince them that after a decade of killing you’ve gone over the wall. It wouldn’t be difficult. I have reams of documents proving that you have always had zero respect for the rules, and I have dozens of people willing to testify against you. They will say anything I tell them to say.” He lit another cigarette and dragged the smoke deeply into his lungs with a satisfied sigh. “You’re trapped, Ki-chan. Even a Go master like you won’t be able to find a way out. Now, get out of my office,” the Director ordered, sneer firmly back in place. “I can’t wait until I never have to see your face again.”

Kisuke stood and stared down at the man, his face blank, before turning to leave.

“For once, something we agree on, Director,” he said. He stopped at the door and looked back over his shoulder. “I will be happy to never see your face again.”

His lip pulled up slightly at the corner as he saw the Director’s expression fade to one of doubt. He pulled the door open, and left, the seed of fear well planted behind him.

Yoruichi murmured in his ear. One life sign remains in the room. Heartrate just spiked.

Kisuke smiled.

#Urahara Kisuke #Kurosaki Ichigo #UraIchi #Bleach #Kisuke stirs up trouble #Yoruichi is listening #Tessai's smart and gets out of the way

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sidneycrosbyisawitch · 6 years ago

Text

keep the fire burning.

“why,” mitch asks, as they’re leaving dubas’ office, “would you say that?”

he has a button up hastily thrown on over his t-shirt in an attempt to look more presentable when they got called up. called up because of auston, and he knows his own contrasting grimy t-shirt and two-day stubble didn’t escape their future gm’s notice.

dubas didn’t come right out and say that it was because of auston’s comments, but the message was clear, either way. you went rogue. you need to shut up. dubas isn’t lou; he smiles more, listens more, but his word is still law. he’ll smile and nod and laugh along with you, but at the end of the day, the smile is just his way of making sure his words pack a full punch.

“we’re going off message,” he’d smiled. “we have a big off season coming up. let’s keep that in mind. go on vacation, spend time with your families. we have enough press, keep things tight.”

his lips were upturned, easy and personable. “what do they say in philadelphia? trust the process?” he’d said it with a laugh, and looked right at auston, because both of them know mitch isn’t the problem. “trust the process, guys.”

fuck you, auston thought.

mitch laughed. because he’s charming and easygoing and, yeah, trusting.

auston knows the media is going nuts right now. some beat reporter said babcock “lost” him, people are calling for jake’s head on a platter, and now they’re demanding a place for mitch on the top line next year. “but i’m not making the lineup decisions” is being dissected six ways from sunday.

“i said it,” auston says, shrugs, “because i meant it. we should play together.”

mitch huffs out a frustrated breath, but still can’t help smiling. he hits the button for the ground level.

“don’t.” mitch shakes his head, stares at the elevator floor lights counting its ascent, but there’s no way he doesn’t feel auston’s eyes on him.

there’s only so many times auston can have this conversation. usually they’ve been drinking, and auston can’t hold it back.

(auston pulls mitch close in the booth, arm around his shoulders. “imagine,” auston says, wet lips on the curve of mitch’s ear, “what we could do if we played together.”

mitch grins, bright eyed and toothy. “we’d be fucking awesome.”

“let’s do it.”

mitch laughs like it’s a joke.)

(”you’re going to be Queen,” auston says, as mitch pours him into the hotel bed.

mitch snorts, yanks auston’s shoes off. “you’re going to be hungover,” he sing-songs, sweet and offkey like a tipsy songbird.

“that goal, mitchy. that’s a chel goal.”

just the soft light from the bathroom filters into the room and illuminates mitch’s wicked little grin, tongue poking at the corner of his mouth as he says, “it was so sick.”

auston spreads his arm across the bed. “stay with me.”

mitch fits perfectly, curled against his side, head resting where auston’s K will be.)

“okay,” auston says, for the thousandth time in this situation.

mitch looks at him. “it’s not that i don’t want to play together. it’s just not worth getting called into the fucking principal’s office every time we,” he shakes his head and corrects himself, “every time you feed the rumor mill.”

“okay,” auston says again.

mitch nudges his shoulder against auston’s, his smile soft and private. “we’ll get to play together, just wait.”

the elevator dings, and auston slides his hand to the small of mitch’s back and rubs the dimple there, just briefly. “yeah, mitchy,” he says. “i know.”

“alright, then shut the fuck up and stop getting me in trouble.”

it’s auston’s turn to grin like he’s joking. “no promises.”

when he gets the call that babcock is coming to arizona to meet with him, he’s on the golf course and not even remotely surprised. the leafs are playing damage control on a couple different fronts, and auston’s sure they’ve already told the media the coach is on his way south.

his mom fusses at him to set the table with the nice dishware and auston doesn’t bother fighting back a grin at how familiar it is. he feels like he’s 15 again. except, this time, his world renowned NHL coach is just casually dropping in for dinner to prove a point to the relentless toronto media.

was auston unhappy about how the boston series played out? absolutely. was he pissed off at babcock? yeah, probably. auston would say he was pissed off, maybe more than the other guys. after months of being politely told he wasn’t going to get to play with mitch, getting injured, then getting injured again, and being held off the ice in the playoffs. yeah… he’d been more than a little pissed. at babcock, at management, at himself.

lost might have been a strong word, but it wasn’t very far off.

babcock arrives in a sensible black SVU rental, wearing a hockey canada t-shirt, and shakes auston’s dad’s hand, kisses his mom on the cheek, and thanks her for dinner multiple times.

“if your future King doesn’t respect your coach, he has to go. he has to go,” was a popular talking point on sportsnet, but auston knows the leafs have no plans of replacing babcock anytime soon. but that doesn’t mean there isn’t leverage in having toronto’s media on your side, and auston keeps that in mind when he grabs two beers after dinner and heads out to the patio with babcock.

arizona summer nights are a little cooler and the sky stretches out dark and uninterrupted. the tile is still a little bit warm under auston’s bare feet when he pops both the caps and hands one to babcock.

“thank you mother for me, again, auston. i appreciate the hospitality and the dinner,” babs says, all tight-lipped canadian politeness, and doesn’t say anything about auston being under the legal american drinking age as he takes a sip.

“it’s really no problem, babs. we’re happy to have you.” auston keeps his face impassive and sips his own beer.

babs sits back, rests the bottle on his knee. “hell of a season you had. hell of a season for the whole team, even if it didn’t end how we’d like.”

auston shrugs. “shit happens. we’ll be better next season.”

babs purses his lips and, after a moment, nods. “big changes coming up. big, good changes, and we want you to be a part of that.”

“why?” auston asks, just to hear him say it. just to hear that the leafs expect him to be crowned King.

“you’re a leader on this team,” babs says, instead, and it’s such a bullshit media answer. auston exhales sharply through his nose and looks over the still dark water of the pool and the whir of the filter.

“i know you weren’t happy with how boston went,” babs continues. “none of us were. i made decisions that i thought were right at the time, but there are a lot of ways to play the game.”

mitch played amazing hockey, auston wants to say, and you wouldn’t let me do jackshit. his shoulder still hurts sometimes, but he would have ripped it out of its socket if given the chance if it meant making it to round two.

“i know,” auston says, instead. even and well-trained. “we have a lot of talent in the lineup. we’ll do better next year.”

babs squints at him. he knows media bullshit when he hears it. “what do you want out of next season, auston?”

“to play with mitch,” he answers, automatically.

babcock almost chuckles, tight-lipped. “you’ve made yourself clear on that one.”

“i mean it.” auston sits up straighter, half unconscious of it. “if i’m going to be crowned King, i want to play with mitch. he’s going to be Queen,” he says it with unwavering confidence, “and we should play together.”

babs shakes his head, just a little bit. “may i ask what’s wrong with willy?”

“nothing. he just isn’t going to be my Queen,” auston answers, honestly.

willy’s an amazing teammate and linemate, but he isn’t mitch.

“look.” babcock clasps his hands and rests his elbows on his knees. “you know i’m not in charge of those kinds of decisions.”

“but you have a say.”

“i have a say,” babs concedes. “and i know you’ve been told more than once to stop reading your own press, so i’ll spare you that.”

“appreciate it,” auston forces himself to smile a tight, media smile.

“future King or not, you’re important to the team, and so is mitch. let’s agree to see how everything shakes out at training camp, eh?”

“that’s not an answer.”

“this off-season is a busy one. the line-up is going to change.” babs gestures with his hands. “maybe significantly. and kyle is going to be announced as the new gm soon. maybe with new faces in the front office, we’ll see some movement on what you’re asking for. if you want something, earn it in training camp. right now, all i can tell you is that we’ll see what’s best for the team when we’re back on the ice. can you agree to that?”

this… was never about giving auston what he wanted, he realizes. this was about a soundbite for the media and making it clear who was making the lineup decisions. and what is auston going to say, no? no, i don’t agree to do what’s best for the team? a King’s job is to always make his team better. auston breathes in and out through his nose. rubs his thumb over the condensation on his virtually untouched beer bottle.

all he can think about it mitch at the beginning of the season. he was trying so hard and nothing was working, and when babs announced the rush lines, mitch was on the right with moore and martin. auston felt the shock of it, even if he didn’t show it.

mitch just nodded in confirmation, as though it was normal for him to be on the fourth line.

auston spat on the ice as they broke into their lines just to have something to do with the twisting, itching feeling under his skin.

“let’s go, mouse!” marty called, passing mitch the puck, and mitch laughed. as if it meant nothing, getting demoted.

auston snapped his stick on his next shot and relished the crack of it in his hands.

mitch drew smiley faces on the palms of his gloves, and he went out to the hungry media and told them he wanted to contribute to the team, wherever he plays doesn’t matter. “you just have to build it back and make sure you’re working hard every day,” he said with a smile.

it made auston want to put his fists through something. he pulled on his gear in jerky movements. it felt unfamiliar, the temper simmering within him. he always had more to prove on the ice than anyone else, but it bred a determined, focused kind of anger. nothing like this need to tear things down until they were fair and right.

mitch didn’t belong on the fourth, but he bore it with a bright grin and outworked everyone else on the team. babcock made that lineup decision.

they lost 4-6 to the blues, but mitch got marty a three assist night, and every time the two of them celebrated like it was game winning goal. auston watched from the bench as matt looked at mitch, screaming celebration, as if he was magic, awe in his eyes.

auston couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but it was sometime soon after that game that he started to feel the weight of his inevitable Kingship. it was always something distant. a clinical knowledge of “one day i’ll be King of the toronto maple leafs.” sometime far in the future.

watching mitch fall asleep in willy’s bed after a short post-game night out, mouth open, pillow crease already stark on his cheek, auston wanted the K. maybe not right now, but he was ready for it.

“y’all can sleep there,” willy said, grinning. “i’ll crash with zach.”

“don’t say y’all,” auston said. “you sound like a horror movie hick.”

willy snorts. “y’all can cuddle,” he drawled.

auston flipped him off, and was just liquid enough to say, “i don’t need your permission to cuddle my Queen.”

willy’s mouth popped open in obnoxious delight, eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. “oh ho ho, by all means,” he gestured to the bed, “have at it, King Matthews. don’t actually fuck in my bed, though. that’s,” he crinkles his nose, “going too far.”

auston crawled into the plush duvet, ignoring willy, and curled behind mitch. he felt the rise and fall of mitch’s sharp shoulder blades against his chest and wrapped his arm around mitch’s small but solid waist.

yeah, he wanted to be King.

they woke up cotton-mouthed and gross-feeling, wrapped together, and they went back out there with mitch on the fourth line, again.

auston played with that anger simmering under his skin, ready to burst all season.

it took losing in game seven to the boston fucking bruins.

babcock looks at auston expectantly.

auston media-smiles, vacant and cutting. “absolutely. see you training camp. i’ll look forward to showing you why we’re the best decision.”

babs looks at him for a long moment. the desert night is quiet, and the dim patio lights reflect faintly in the pool surface. inside, auston can see his mom loading the dishwasher.

he nods definitively, as if to say ‘okay, good enough’ and holds out his hand to shake. auston clasps it.

“i look forward to it, too.” he sits back and holds out his beer to clink bottles.

auston paces himself, even though the clawing, furious feeling in his chest urges him to chug it down and immediately follow it with another.

“now,” babs says, “i haven’t heard how breyana’s golf tournament went.”

auston rubs his lips together and nods. this is what Kings do. they do the hard stuff, even when they don’t want to.

after babs leaves, with another handshake and a promise to see him at training camp, auston finds his way to the kitchen.

his mom tsks as he drains another beer in one go.

“empty calories,” she chides.

“it’s the off-season, mom.”

“i’m not saying you shouldn’t drink,” she starts, and stops as auston steps behind her at the sink and rests his forehead on her shoulder. she smells like lavender detergent and homecooking.

she reaches to cup the back of his head. “okay, papi?” she asks, softly.

auston breathes. no, he wants to say, but that’s not quite true.

he’s been burning up all year, and he’s ready to fight.

“i think i’m ready to be King,” he says into her shoulder.

“oh!” she says, bright and surprised.

she turns around suddenly to kiss his forehead, cradling his jaw in her hands. “of course you are! that’s what they all said when you were drafted.” her eyes shine when she looks up at him, mouth quirked in a smile. “i’m proud of you.”

auston ducks his head, helpless to the grin spreading across his face. “they haven’t given it to me yet, but... mitchy should be Queen.”

her face goes soft in a way that makes him look away for a second. it’s too much. “mitch is going to be a great Queen,” she says, gently. “even i can tell.”

“the team doesn’t see it like that.”

her brows furrow immediately in disbelief. “what do you mean? they’ve been talking about mitchell being Queen since you were drafted. they’ve asked me about it!”

auston shakes his head, but there’s a well of bubbling relief escaping from his chest. his mom sees it. maybe there’s a part of you that never grows out of your mom’s approval being the best feeling on the fucking planet. his eyes crinkle as he laughs. the team might as well have been telling him that mitch won’t be Queen all season. hell, for the past two seasons. but they’re wrong.

“the media has, but not the team.”

her eyes widen, then narrow at the distinction. “they’re stupid.”

auston laughs, sudden and loud, and he feels it with his whole body.

“it’s okay,” he says, and he means it this time. “i’m gonna make it happen, anyways.”

she rubs his bicep. “you always do, auston.”

auston knows how to work hard, and all of toronto’s on his side. she’s right. he always makes it happen.

he hops in the shower after helping clean up the kitchen and his second beer. it may be the off season, but his mom’s right. it’s empty calories, and he still has training tomorrow, and auston tries to refrain from downing shots at his parents’ house, just on principle.

not that he needs it, he just has this weird energy floating in his chest. he’s going to be King, and he’s going to get mitchy on his line. he feels like he did going into game six. ready for a fight he knew he was going to win.

“hey, mitchy,” auston says as mitch’s face pops up on his screen as he gets out of the shower, and he feels his face shaping a grin he can’t control. standing under the water helped some of the strange almost-adrenaline, but there’s still something too big in his chest when he looks at mitch on his phone screen.

mitch’s lying on a couch with winston’s head pillowed on his chest. he looks good, the flush of sunburn on his cheekbones from spending the last couple days at his family’s lakehouse. it kind of lights up the blue of his eyes even more. admittedly, it’s not one of his better angles for filming, but he’s smiling, a little bit of sun-tiredness creeping along the edges.

“how’d your date with babs go?” he asks, scratching behind winston’s ear. “you guys kiss and make up?”

“you steal that joke from twitter?” auston asks, propping his phone on his dresser and toweling at his hair. “and why are you up, it’s, what, almost two am there?”

“no, i stole it from naz. and i called for the free nudes, obviously.” his tongue pokes out as he grins.

“nice.” auston pulls on a pair of boxers as mitchy wolf whistles, low and sarcastically, as if they haven’t seen it all a thousand times over in the locker room.

auston snags his phone from its perch and gets into bed, propping his pillows on his headboard so he can sit up and facetime like a normal human, unlike mitchell “up the nose” marner.

“babs was fine. mom made dinner, we talked. everything’s,” he shrugs, “fine.”

mitch’s eyebrows draw together, then he lets out an involuntary “oof” as winston shifts in his sleep.

“you okay there?” auston smirks. “the dog’s bigger than you, he’s going to crush you.”

“shut up, no he’s not.” mitch scratches winston’s head, and auston wants to just… reach out and brush the hair off his forehead. “you wouldn’t crush the person who loves you most in this world, right?”

“why are you up so late?” auston asks, starting to feel his own day catch up with him despite the warmth in his chest.

mitch rubs his eyes and the little swoops of sunburn. “i fell asleep on the couch after jet skiing and now i can’t go back to bed.” he cocks his head and really looks at auston, eyebrows drawing together again. just briefly, it reminds auston of his mom. “the meeting with babs was really fine?”

“yeah. he asked what was wrong with willy and answering that question took pretty much the whole night, so...”

mitch’s ugly laugh bursts out of his chest. he throws his head back to cackle deep in his throat. auston can’t stop smiling. he rubs his thumb under his lip and enjoys mitch losing it for a solid minute.

winston shifts around grumpily, giving the camera an almost baleful look, before huffing and sliding off mitch and out of frame.

mitch wipes at his shining eyes. “that’s too big a question for just one night.”

“i’ll text him the rest of your suggestions tomorrow.” the warmth in auston’s chest is molten and perfect. he slides down the pillows and settles. “otherwise, i just said we’ll be ready for training camp and prove we’re the future. that’s all. no drama.”

mitch rolls on his side, and auston can just picture the way he’s bringing his knees up to his chest until he looks like a little ball. his 16 pendant spills over the collar of his tank top. he smiles, proud. “of course you’re the future, auston. who else would be?”

“we are.”

“we all are.”

“yeah,” auston says, after a moment. mitch’s eyes look so blue. he’s right, even if that’s not what auston means. “we all are.”

“the thing i filmed for youtube came out today,” mitch says, crossing his top arm over his chest like he’s cold.

auston laughs. “your red bull sponsored medieval times adventure?”

mitch cheeses a wide smile and gives him a thumbs up. “it gives you wings and free tickets to jousting.”

“oh my fucking god.” auston feels his laugh all through his chest. “get a blanket, you look cold.”

mitch gropes behind his back for a moment before he reaches the throw blanket folded over the top of the couch, and pulls it over his shoulders. his eyes are starting to droop.

“i’ll watch it and take notes. text babs what’s wrong with you and willy tomorrow.”

mitch laughs into the couch cushions, eyes crinkling and laugh lines deep as he does. “thanks, bro. just what i want.”

when he looks at auston, still smiling, eyes soft and framed by too much sun, auston suddenly wants nothing more than to be in toronto, curled up behind mitch. he loves arizona, but he’d leave it in a heartbeat if meant pressing his nose into the nape of mitch’s neck and smelling his terrible axe shampoo and the remnants of sunscreen and mitch’s mom’s sweet, subtle laundry detergent. pulling him close to sleep like they do in hotel beds when they’ve had too much fun or when one of them doesn’t want to go home for pre-game nap. i wish i was there, auston wants to say.

“go to sleep, mouse,” he says instead, fondness spilling over every word.

“you too, matts.” mitch blows him an exaggerated and sleepy kiss. “good night.”

“night,” auston says, softly, and ends the call.

before he goes to sleep, he pulls up the video with the youtuber kid on his phone. mitch looks great, all speed and power and fun on the ice. mitch has always been auston’s favorite to watch, even back at the beginning two years ago. the shit he does is magic sometimes. but when the kid casually introduces mitch as the future Queen of the toronto maple leafs, mitch bends away, laughing. auston picks up on the barely perceptible shake of his head as he laughs. it’s conditioned at this point, his need to deny that statement.

auston’s going to make sure he never has to do that again.

the first month of the off-season feels like summer vacation from when he was a kid. really that was just a few years ago, but it seems decades removed from now. it’s great seeing his mom and eating good food and catching up on netflix with his sisters.

he calls the new leafs prospects after the draft and trains, but it’s mostly a lot of golfing and going to the pool. the sun and the heat are a nice change from the months spent in perpetually cloudy toronto, and auston feels like he looks a little more alive now that his skin is bronzing over.

his mom purses her lips exaggeratedly every time he comes home from a sitting for his sleeve with his arm wrapped and freshly tattooed.

“you’re so beautiful, i don’t understand why you do this to yourself,” she says.

auston and bre share a grin across the kitchen table, like they do every time auston gets a new tattoo and makes their mom sad.

she tucks her hair behind her ears and holds her hands up as if to stop herself.

“some of them are for you,” auston points out, and taps his collarbone.

her face goes soft. “yes, and they’re beautiful, too.”

bre scoffs. “he’s trying to look like a badass, not beautiful. i mean, he’s failing, but that’s the objective.”

“what, he can’t be badass and beautiful at the same time, breyana?” their mom questions, and auston grins. he’s always known he was her favorite.

freddie calls after worlds, after denmark is eliminated, and it has to fucking smart to have already weathered back to back eliminations while there are still teams playing for the cup.

“want to make the trip to california?” he asks.

auston doesn’t say no to freddie or the beach. “of course, dude,” he confirms. “see you there.”

he packs his bags and takes an overnight flight. when he walks out of the airport, the anaheim sun is morning-bright and he ubers to freddie’s beach house. it’s not huge, but it’s sand dollar white and right on the pacific, so close you can hear the steady conch shell crush of the waves.

freddie comes to the door in swim trunks and bare feet, and his light freckles are already standing out more across the bridge of his nose.

“hey, man,” auston says, clapping freddie’s shoulder as they hug. “i’m sorry, good to see you.”

“it’s just worlds, right?” freddie says, when he pulls back and shows auston to his room. they both know he means the exact opposite. if you’re there at all, you’re there to compete to be the best. especially if your home country is hosting.

“you won’t be there next year,” auston says, dropping his duffel on the floor, because they’re going to make it past the first fucking round next season.

freddie crosses his arms and leans against the door frame, amused smile on his lips.

“i know,” he says, simply, in that steady way of his. “get ready and we’ll go down.” he nods at auston’s freshly finished sleeve. “i’m guessing that needs to stay out of the water.”

“guess i’ll just have to look hot out there,” auston smirks.

freddie raises his eyebrows. “good luck.”

it’s the middle of a weekday, so the beach isn’t crowded when they settle in. one of the things he appreciates most about freddie has always been the way he just doesn’t give a fuck about things that don’t matter. the same serene confidence he exudes in net carries through off the ice. once sydney explained the concept of auras, how people can sense the energy you give off because we’re all connected. they were a couple drinks in and mitch ate it up with wide eyes, while auston and matt laughed it off.

“shhh, don’t listen to them,” she’d drunk loud-whispered in mitch’s ear. “they have ugly auras.”

mitch squinted at them with one eye. “yeah, i see it. fuck ugly auras.”

maybe there’s something to be said about it, after all, auston thinks out of nowhere, sitting on the beach with freddie in comfortable silence, staring into the blue-green rolling waves of the pacific. there’re very few people who give off a better energy than freddie.

auston can’t imagine going back to face this coming season without freddie standing tall behind him. his heart thumps, suddenly realizing being a King means leading a Kingship. it means the team is all yours.

auston stares along the horizon, where the sea disappears into the sky, and breathes.

“i’m going to be King,” auston says into the silence and the gentle crush of waves. a simple truth, released into the universe.

freddie looks at him from behind his sunglasses for a long moment.

“heavy is the head that wears the crown,” he murmurs. auston shrugs. “that’s what they say.”

yeah, he thinks. but i’m ready for it.

it’s not long after auston gets back to arizona after a week in anaheim that he gets the call, phone lighting up with dubas’ name on the golf course. auston answers immediately.

“sorry to interrupt your offseason,” dubas starts, polite canadian smile practically audible. for all the shit auston’s given the front office the last couple months with his unauthorized comments, he really likes dubas. the guys who came up through the marlies have nothing but respect for him, and auston trusts them, even if dubas has been the face of the wagging finger recently.

“no worries,” auston assures him, leaning his clubs against the golf cart and looking over the dips and flats of the unnaturally green course.

“we’ve begun talks with john tavares about signing here in toronto as a free agent,” dubas says.

it’s only auston’s media training that keeps him from blurting out holy shit. everyone expected tavares would sign an extension in long island. he’s King there and… King’s always re-sign. auston would have to google the last time a King willingly left his Kingship. it just never happens.

“he’s expressed an interest in playing with our young core. in fact, it’s one of the biggest factors influencing his decision making process,” dubas continues. “we’d appreciate it if you would reach out to him, let him know what the organization is all about and what you think he can contribute to the team.”

“of course,” auston says, automatically. “i’d be happy to. he’d be a great addition, his play is incredible.”

“awesome, auston,” dubas laughs, the tiniest thread of youthful excitement poking through his professionalism. “his number will be in your texts shortly.”

he gives an auston a brief rundown of the talking points he should hit, and auston hangs up grinning through the shock because holy fucking shit. they might be rolling out him, tavares, and kadri as their top three centers next season and auston has to take a moment to laugh to himself in excited disbelief. fuck getting past the first round, auston can’t wait.

his phone buzzes with a text from mitch and the number from dubas in rapid succession. he opens mitch’s.

fu cking tavares???? it says, followed by a wall of maple leaf emojis.

not a done deal yet, auston texts back, partly as a reminder to himself, but he still can’t help but adding a maple leaf emoji too.

i kno, mitch says. i’m supposed to call him and woo him to our side.

auston grins so hard bre looks at him like he’s grown fangs when she gets back to the cart.

“you good?” she asks, clearly doubtful.

“great,” auston says. because he doesn’t have a way to explain how the toronto maple leafs asking mitch marner to reach out to a possible free agent means fucking everything to him. it means more than getting tavares. if he was on the ice he’d be beating the glass in celebration. mitch is going to be Queen.

me too, auston says. what are u gonna use for ur pitch? u gonna share ur skittles? that’ll get him.

i share skittles with no man. then, idk.. that i’ll s his d? idgaf he’s JOHN FUCKING TAVARES KING OF THE ISLANDERS.

auston barks out a laugh, tilting his face into the sun. mitchy is right… he’s john fucking tavares. it’s not every day you get this kind of chance. mitch follows it up with u should call him first, my 👑.

auston hits the call button automatically.

“hello, auston,” john’s low, toronto-accented voice answers after three rings. “nice to hear from you.”

“happy to talk to you, jt,” auston says, smoothly. “i heard you’re thinking of making the best move of your career and just wanted to help you out any way i can. we’d love to have you in toronto.”

john’s burbling laugh filters over the line. meanwhile, bre flips him off and restarts the cart to head to the next hole without auston. he waves sarcastically back.

“it’s hard not to love toronto when you were born there,” john agrees. “i wouldn’t mind finding out what you love about toronto, though.”

what doesn’t auston love about toronto. he loves its shitty weather and long winters. he loves the sea of leafs blue that cheers them on every night. he loves the challenge of picking his way through conniving media. he loves watching kids light up when they see him and mitch at timmy’s. he loves the city and the pressure to win and feeling at the end of the night when the lights dim and he skates into the middle of the arena because he was the best player on the ice and the crowd roars for him. almost loves it more when it’s one of his friends out there.

“you’ve seen our team, right?” auston asks, and he knows he sounds like a cocky shit, but in that moment he doesn’t rein it in.

“yeah. yeah, i have.”

he sounds like he fucking gets it.

there’s a couple more calls before july 1st hits, and mitch also racks up the minutes talking to tavares. auston feels a little like he might burst when mitch calls him after each conversation to recap.

“he’s going to be a leaf,” mitch declares on facetime, up late again, icing his shoulder because he fell off the dock the wrong way.

“maybe.”

auston grins when mitch’s face scrunches up in annoyance.

“why wouldn’t he? seriously?”

auston shrugs. he more than a little convinced that tavares is going to pull the trigger and go for toronto by the end of the week, in part because mitch’s so confident about it, but. “it’s probably pretty shitty to leave your Kingship behind?”

mitch is quiet for a moment, and he stares off somewhere above the camera. “yeah,” he says, finally. “should we be concerned about that? that he’s the type of person to kill his Kingship?”

auston had thought of that, wondered if in five years he would be able to walk away from toronto. it was impossible to imagine. shit happens, but there could never be enough shit to make him leave toronto. or mitch.

but tavares never had a Queen. maybe that’s the difference. auston has mitch.

“not if it makes us better, right?” auston suggests gently. “not if he’s committed to the team.”

mitch grins, head lolling to the side, exposing the long line of his neck and rolling out the soreness. auston’s eyes trace the line from his jaw to his sharp collarbone. if he was in toronto, he’d trace it with his fingertips. and dig his fingers into the fresh tan on mitch’s shoulders.

“think he still bleeds leafs blue?”

auston shakes his head. “only you love the leafs enough to bleed blue, mitchy.”

lips quirked and eyes intent, mitch smirks kindly. “you’ll get there.”

the news hits like a bomb. a deeply fucking satisfying bomb. the team group chat goes fucking nuts, which is nothing compared to the canadian sports media and twitter. there are people burning jerseys and calling jt a traitor. one person reportedly rips the K off a tavares jersey and throws it onto a pile of flaming garbage. auston doesn’t watch the videos, but the descriptions are insane enough.

plus, he’s too busy popping champagne on facetime with mitch.

“wooooohooooo,” mitch howls, the licks the overflowing champagne from his knuckles. “we got ‘im, boys!”

auston holds his phone with one hand and swigs from the bottle with the other. his family are high-fiving all around him, joining in the celebration.

his dad claps him on the shoulder and shakes him. “nice job, aus.”

“yeah,” mitch chimes in over the iphone speakers. he tips his glass towards the camera, and auston feels the distance between arizona and ontario so acutely. “really nice job.”

“you did just as much as me, and,” auston laughs, “dubas gave him the cash.”

“to kyle dubas!” mitch’s mom calls from the background. “a baby face with enough cash to land tavares!”

mitch laughs like he’s dying.

and that’s when the second bomb lands in the group chat.

looks like mitchy and zachy are moving to an all toronto line! travis posts, along with a link. and the other links start filtering in.

auston lowers his bottle to the coffee table, slowly, like he’s just waking up and walking through water to do it.

“tavares likely to play center with marner, hyman on maple leafs” the link preview shouts. and the article gets worse with every paragraph.

he almost closes out when they quote babcock saying auston was on board with bringing tavares on. not like this. he wanted tavares, but he sat across from babcock on his fucking porch and told him he wanted mitch on his line and was told he had to earn it.

“tavares was the islanders King from 2013-18 but maple leafs general manager kyle dubas said there is no rush to name a King this season,” he reads.

“in my experience with teams, when we've rushed decisions like that, it's turned out poorly for the organization… we want to see how the group works together and we'll see where we're at.” dubas said that, as if it’s up in the air.

he doesn’t register sitting down until he hits the couch.

“auston?” mitch’s voice comes through.

auston switches back to facetime in time to see mitch’s dad hand him his phone. in time to see mitch’s face fall with confusion. he glances up at auston, then back down to read.

tavares’ voice filters in from the sportsnet broadcast in the marner living room.

“i just felt like i had this once in a lifetime opportunity to play with the toronto maple leafs, and i had to take it. i’m grateful to everyone on long island who supported me and my Kingship. it wasn’t an easy decision. it was a very difficult decision, considering my team and everything we’ve been through there.”

“we’ve already talked about how growing up in toronto affected your decision, can you tell us a little more about what is was about the present leafs that made you want to sign?” the anchor asks.

“where the team is positioned, moving forward. it was an opportunity i couldn’t pass up. as a kid, you dream about achieving the ultimate goal with your hometown team, and this team can make it happen. all the young skill in marner, matthews, nylander, and everyone else.” he laughs. “i asked to play with marner, so we’ll see.”

auston stops listening at that point. tavares asked for mitch.

auston asked, too.

mitch hands the phone back to his dad, and his laugh comes out a little strangled. “uh, not really what we were thinking was gonna happen. but that’s okay.”

it’s fine. auston sits up straight and shakes his head at his mom’s worried look. he plasters a smile back on. he digs his fingers into the fabric of his shorts.

this is the same old front office bullshit. don’t give the media a real narrative to work with. keep everything as shrouded as possible.

not all Kings and Queens are lineys. most of them aren’t.

“mitch is amazing,” he remembers telling tavares on the phone, suddenly. “he’s creative, and he’s fast enough to keep up with all that creativity.”

“i’ve seen him score some goals,” tavares had said, his bland voice wry. “maybe i can see some from the other side.”

auston doesn’t blame him for wanting to play with mitch.

“just babs being babs, right?” auston laughs and shakes him head.

mitch’s worrying his lower lip. “maybe i actually let you convince me we were gonna play together this time. i’m kind of disappointed.” his smile is almost apologetic, almost turned down while still passing for a smile. “i shouldn’t be disappointed. john tavares just signed with us.”

auston’s fingers almost slip through the cold condensation on his bottle’s neck. he holds it up to toast. “we’re not disappointed,” he lies smoothly. he clinks the lip against his phone and mitch does the same. “congrats.”

“congrats,” mitch echoes, and they drink.

a King got everything he asked for. and it wasn’t auston.

#hey y'all here i am releasing 7k of unedited exposition for Kings and Queens mitchy/auston i wrote weeks ago into the wild #i'm sorry and thank you to everyone who was waiting for it #it's probably going to be a long while til i get around to writing more so *prayer hands emoji* don't get your hopes up #anyways i fucking love auston matthews and will kill for him if necessary #marnsmatts #kings and queens #long post #snippets

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dannissa13 · 6 years ago

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NaNo, day 28

So as it turns out, I was wrong but that’s not a surprise to anyone at this point. My evaluation is today and I’m a mess, honest to god fucked up mess.

Let me start from the beginning. I really thought that no one will touch me before my lead comes back from vacation, which would have been next week, and I’ll get a metaphoric “get out of jail free” card for now at least and I’ll figure out what to do next later this weekend. I’ll have plenty of time to think things through and will definitely be ready for anything that may come. Boy oh boy was I wrong. First of all - I would’ve procrastinated the actual living shit out of this “getting ready” period and wouldn’t have been ready at all, second - I was fucked the moment I came to work. So as it turns out, my psychic powers are at it again - the previous few days I had this strong and reoccurring feeling that this thing was coming and it would be earlier than expected. Which came fucking true. And even though this clairvoyant premonition came upon me (it was definitely just my logic telling me “bitch get your shit together, the doomsday is coming and you’re not doing shit about it” so yeah, I’m joking about it like it’s some kind of divine revelation) I did nothing about it, just wasting my time and nervously chilling - it’s when you ignore the impending problems instead of solving them and just do nothing while dilly-dallying your time away until that shit from before inevitably catches up to you and it’s suddenly a big surprise when you get a bite in the ass from your responsibilities that you’ve neglected. I’m a pro at this.

So, I wasn’t preparing myself in any way, shape or form for this and I truly wasn’t ready to find a notice email in my inbox about that evaluation that was going to happen today, at the last hour of my work day and everyone’s invited (except that one person who’s out of the country). That was fucked up. They should’ve warned me 24 hours in advance like they are actually obligated but no, it wasn’t even 12 hours of time before my execution. I’ve panicked immediately as I saw the text and I’ve stayed in panic mode for the whole morning.

The thing is, knowing what was about to happen only made it worse. If I had to go to that meeting immediately it would have been so much better and so much worse at the same time but ultimately easier on my nerves. I was so jittery that I honestly had to go to the bathroom and coaxe myself into a state that resembled anything close to being able to function for about fifteen minutes which is both worthy of praise and ludicrous. So, not only I needed to calm myself down, I’ve also had to have some help from the outside so I’ve called my mom who had basically recited back to me all those things I made my mind on about this work situation, reaffirming me and supporting me through a crisis. That helped a little, I’ve stopped catastrophysing for a moment and had some clarity for a brief period of time which I used wisely and frantically texted my best friend all about the situation. She listened and supported me too, which carried me through the threshold of panic back to the realization I’ve had some time ago - the world’s not gonna end if I loose this stupid job, my world is not going to end, I’m not gonna die immediately or anything, I’ll be okay, it’ll be fine. So with that though I’ve decided to do the best thing and started a boring and mind numbing task of comparing different legal requirements in two different documents. That calmed me down real fast, I was so focused on figuring it out that I’ve honestly forgot about the time.

Well, the thing is, I saw and heard the omens of my future firing all day long and became both pissed about the situation and impatient to finally get a clear answer, some resolution to this whole thing. I was pressed for so long I just wanted this to be over no matter the results. So I did my job the best that I could and today was no different. Just before we were supposed to head out to the same meeting room I was interviewed for my job the last time (when I got it, how fitting, it was going to end where it’s started, like a cycle coming to an end and I like those clear endings, when everything comes to the beginning) I have finished my task and sent it to my nine boss, mentally braced myself for the worst and got ready to be fired.

Spoiler alert: I got the job. I’m fully a part of the team now. That was, honest to god, a surprise for me. I didn’t actually believed it for a second when my asshole boss started with “you’ve passed”. I was so ready to just filter everything they were going to say that I was barely able to hear what was actually being said. So, he started with kinda praising me but in a condescending way, which is perfectly reflective of what kind of person he is. Than, a lot was said about my performance and other stuff that was actually legit and real this time around. Like, none of the personal attacks I received the first time around. Mostly because our main creative guy, who’s my mentor here, spent an entire month by my side and saw with his own eyes how I work. It’s hard to bullshit a person who knows what’s up. And I was really trying, so nothing could have been said about this aspect of my performance at this job. And my asshole boss had to be sorta nice to me and talk to me like a person. That was fun. All of them said things to me that hurt, not because those were attacks but because the issues they’ve brought up were true. That’s what made it so hard to swallow, they knew all about my flaws and put them on blast. I’m not a perfect person. That’s shitty but I always thought that was only my problem. Not anymore though, now I have to deal with people who are allowed not to like me and I have to be okay with that. I’m so used to being surrounded by people who love me and support my worldview, my mindset and everything I stand for, that it’s now incredibly difficult to comprehend the mere existence of people with different albeit incorrect and unjust opinions and not only do they exist but that I’ll also gonna be forced to coexist with them and deal with their shit. I know I need to work on myself and I have a lot of issues I need to confront, but knowing is a one thing and hearing it from the people you can’t stand to the point of despising them is the completely other. The fact that I hate these assholes and them being so right about my flaws is a punch to the gut. I was disheveled after the conversation ended even though in my head I made snarky comments about everything that bugged me even a little bit. I put on a hard exterior even though I’m all bark and no bite. That’s pathetic really but I can’t help it.

So my asshole boss had to acknowledge my attention to detail as well as my writing and narrative skills. It was difficult to not comment on the fact that I know I’m good at it because I’ve had to work for it. Of course I would be great at that stuff because not only did I already have a talent for it but I’ve also put an immense amount of time and effort into getting better and growing said talent to be something bigger. Like, dude, I know I’m good, I’m doing it for three years now, tell me something I don’t know. And, sadly he did, they all did, but I’ve already talked about that. Still, being recognized for something you do best felt good. It felt right, it felt like it should’ve happened and when it happened everything fell in the right places. It was correct.

It didn’t feel like a victory though. I felt like I’ve been smeared with shit, like actual fucking disgusting shit, and was left to marinate in it. When the meeting ended I was uplifted and okay, somewhat angry at them, but ultimately holding it together. But on my way home I just bursted into tears and couldn’t stop. I’ve cried on an off again for hours, discreetly, like a wounded animal, hiding from my family members because I didn’t want anyone to see me this way. I like being in control, I like being tough and in charge. On that goddamn meeting I was told that people want vulnerability from me but I cannot give them that. I won’t give them this pleasure of seeing me be weak. I don’t trust people because I have my reasons and I don’t want any of them to get an easy leverage on me by exploiting my low moments so I won’t give them any. I might be better off just gritting my teeth through it than acknowledging that it’s hard and it’s getting to me. I’m surrounded by people who won’t miss a chance to mock me. I can’t just give them this.

I felt really dirt-low and I know why now and I’ll need therapy after all of this to properly process everything that has happened but overall it wasn’t a catastrophe and ultimately I’m fully okay, fine and functioning. It was a tough ride though, not gonna lie, I felt every emotion possible in a span of one day and I was fully exhausted. Ended up crying myself to sleep. What a winner, right?

Understandably I didn’t do much in the writing realm, but can you blame me? See ya later, I guess. I’m out.

#nanowrimo #dannissa writes #life upd #mental health #i write stuff #iwritestuff #textpost #text #text post #writing

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pbacklinks · 3 years ago

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How To Monetize Your Website and Make A Profit from Flipping Domains

New Post has been published on https://pingbacklinks.com/how-to-monetize-your-website-and-make-a-profit-from-flipping-domains/

How To Monetize Your Website and Make A Profit from Flipping Domains

Many people nowadays are making money online by building websites and selling them on platforms like Empire Flippers and Flippa. This article will explain how you can monetize a website in order to gain a steady source of income or even sell that website to make a sizeable profit in a short time.

What does it mean when people talk about monetizing a site?

When bloggers, YouTube content creators or other individuals online speak about monetizing a site, they are referring to ways in which they can use their website to make money. Almost any type of content on the Web can be monetized, if you own it. Some investors also buy domain names and sell them. This process is known as domain flipping and it can be quite profitable.

If you have a blog on WordPress, Blogger, Wix or another popular platform, you can make changes to it that allow you to earn money from every page view. Similarly, if you own a website, you can earn when visitors to that site take specific actions, such as signing up for a course, purchasing a product or requesting information on a free program.

How can you monetize your website for free?

Whether you have a website that’s focused on cars, perfume or raising chickens, you can monetize it today. If you already have traffic coming in to your site, there are several ways to leverage that traffic in order to earn money. Some website owners aim to earn just enough to cover the expenses of domain hosting and content creation but others want to pay their mortgage, fund family vacations and add to their IRA through the work that they do on their website.

It’s entirely possible to earn $1,000 or more from your website each month. Some of the most popular ways of monetizing a site are:

Affiliate marketing

Selling your own products

Teaching a course

Display ads

Direct sponsorship

How To Collect Payments On Your Blog

Monetization options are usually free and most allow you to get paid by the provider of the program, so you don’t have to handle credit cards yourself. For example, if you’re a ClickBank affiliate, your revenue will be transferred to your account from ClickBank. However, if you sell homemade jam on your home cooking website, you’ll need to ensure that your site is set up to facilitate direct payments from your customers.

One of the easiest ways to collect payment for woodcrafts, handmade toys and other items that you might sell, is via Shopify or Woocommerce. You can also use PayPal Checkout to collect payments. Just log in to your PayPal account and under your Dashboard, click Quick Links and then Accept Payments.

Follow the steps and you’ll be able to accept credit cards and other payment options. This can be done with Blogger, TypePad and most other blogging platforms. When you monetize your blog by selling your own physical or digital products, you’ll keep 100% of the profits.

Support Your Cause With Donations

Some bloggers use their blog to raise awareness about a cause that’s important to them and others. For example, their blog may focus on HIV awareness or supporting people who have overcome serious injuries. You can add a Donate Now button to your blog, via PayPal, to complement other monetization strategies that you use to raise funds.

How do beginner bloggers make money?

Most beginner bloggers make money from display ads. For example, they may sign up for a program such as Google AdSense. AdSense creates ad blocks of different sizes. These ad blocks display content that matches the topic of your webpage.

For example, if your website is focused on tango techniques, the ads that are displayed will be related to tango lessons, tango costumes and so on. The correct ads will only be displayed if the keyword density and other relevant factors are correctly addressed

For example, if you’re targeting ads on “tango dance techniques”, your content can’t keep mentioning “fly to Los Angeles”. If the keyword density of the latter keyword is too high, you may see ads for airlines appearing on your tango website.

Bloggers can also sell ad space directly to businesses in their community or seek sponsorship from organizations that are connected to the theme of their blog. For example, if your blog is about a local sports team, a sporting goods retailer nearby may want to purchase ad space on your site.

How To Monetize Website for Beginners – Use Ad Networks

AdSense is a Google product and it’s an ad network that’s available to bloggers who use Google’s Blogger platform. Videographers who post content on YouTube can also monetize their videos by using AdSense.

With AdSense, you can place different types of display ads on your site, such as banner ads. You’re free to experiment with the type of ads that you show on your site and if you find that banners aren’t effective for you, you can adjust the size, color and other aspects of the ads via your dashboard.

Like other ad programs, AdSense is free. You don’t have to pay any monthly fees and your account is credited every time a person views your webpage or clicks on your ad. The payment for page views is minimal but it adds up if you’re getting thousands of views a week. You’ll usually earn more for ad clicks than page views, especially if the ad is in a competitive niche, such as “lawyer in New York” or “mesothelioma lawyer”.

Word Ads is another popular option, that’s offered to bloggers who use the WordPress platform. As with AdSense, it’s ideal for beginners because it’s easy to set up. Like AdSense ads, the type of ads that are displayed depends on the type of content you have on the page. If you want to earn more money as a beginner, ensure that you create content that generates ads in competitive niches.

How To Monetize Website for Beginners – Focus On The Right Keywords

It’s important to build your blog around profitable keywords. Tools are available to help you determine how much is being bid for an ad for a particular keyword. You can use Wordsstream or Keyword Spy to find out how much you could earn if a visitor clicks on an ad for a particular keyword. Ensure that you develop content on your webpage with these keywords in mind.

How do you monetize yourself?

In order to monetize yourself, you’ll need to create a personal brand. For example, consider Rihanna or Kim Kardashian. Whether you choose to like or dislike these women, they’ve both worked hard to create personal brands and leverage those brands to make money.

If you’re a teacher, think of how you can make your brand stand out. You can be known as the Geography teacher who makes other parts of the globe real to people of all ages. You would earn from your brand via speaking engagements that are hosted by tour companies, books that you write on travel or through semars you host which focus on applications of geography.

If you cook very well, you could build your personal brand around food. You may even choose to focus on a particular technique, taking advantage of trends in the market. For example, if you notice that consumers are moving towards healthier food preparation techniques, you could market yourself as the Steaming Chef, Raw Organic Chef or something similar.

You could teach courses on steaming different types of food and earn when peple pay to do those courses. The best thing about course creation is that once you’ve created an online course, you can keep earning by giving viewers the freedom to use the materials, for a fee.

You might also create a library of courses. You could provide access to members who pay a one-time fee upfront or who pay a smaller fee each month. Subscription models bring in a steady stream of income for people in a wide range of sectors but you’ll need to build your personal brand and leverage that.

How can I make my website profitable?

To make your website really profitable, you’ll need to:

Select a profitable niche

Use profitable monetization strategies

Produce quality content that engages your attention

Drive traffic by using SEO, email lists and social media marketing

Use A/B testing to increase conversions

If you’ve built a website but it’s not making a lot of money for you, there are several things that you can adjust to improve your profits. Sometimes new bloggers target a keyword that could pay a lot per click. However, they don’t get any traffic or clicks because the keyword is too competitive.

It’s important to check the level of competition that you have for a keyword before you start building your blog. Good keyword research is essential, whether you plan to sell products or create a membership site.

Sometimes bloggers decide to sign up for an affiliate marketing program. This means that whenever a visitor to their site takes a particular action, such as making a purchase on the partner site, the blogger will get a commission.

Unfortunately, some affiliate programs don’t pay well. You may need to switch to a program with better rewards, to increase your earnings. A lot of Amazon affiliates saw their earnings plummet when Amazon drastically lowered the percentage that they paid as a commission.

Amazon did this overnight. Oftentimes, the best way to secure your site’s revenue is to create and sell your own product. This includes ebooks, online courses and even apps.

Flip A Domain

Domain flipping is one of the easiest ways to make money but you’ll need to have money to invest. When you flip a domain, you’ll purchase a domain name that you think will be in demand. You can sell that name at a higher price and make a profit.

This system works for several reasons. Google’s ranking system considers the keywords that are in the domain name, so for SEO purposes, certain domain names are in high demand. When you aim to flip a domain to make a profit, you’ll identify a good domain name and register it on a site like GoDaddy.

Different sites can’t have the same name, so if a particular name gets a lot of traffic, a lot of people will want it. The competition for that name drives the price up. It’s like buying an empty store in the busiest spot in a city. For example, these combinations are likely to be profitable:

DropshippingGuide com

Freegrocerycoupons.com

Cheapautoparts.com

Investors who buy domain names don’t add content to the site. They just buy the domain name and sell it at a profit. They don’t even need to worry about driving traffic to the name. This is what makes the process so easy.

Several investors look for expired domains. When you flip a domain that’s expired, you can often get a good price for it. You can use sites such as DomainHunter.net and tools like Domain Hunter Gatherer to find expired domains.

Flip A Website

Instead of just buying a domain name, some investors buy an entire website. This is more expensive than purchasing names but you can make a bigger profit. Empire Flippers often has websites for sale. These are in different niches, so you can often find one in an area that matches your expertise, passion or knowledge.

You can purchase a site that you like and even make adjustments that might make it even more profitable. You can sell it back and earn thousands of dollars. You’ll also collect all the revenue that the site generates while you’re waiting for it to be sold.

Of course, you can also sell a website that you’ve built from scratch. If you don’t want to only flip a domain and like the creative process, this will give you big returns. Some people like to build websites but the process of maintaining a website can feel restrictive. In that case, building, monetizing and then selling websites can help you to achieve your financial dreams.

#Make Money With Your Blog #make money Your Blog #Your Blog #Make Money

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clarencenicholsonata · 5 years ago

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Hotel Trends in Marketing You Need To Know

Thanks to budget flights, vacation packages, the growing value of experiences over material things, the spread of Instagram and the rise of Airbnb, travel has become a multi-trillion dollar industry.

But supply has kept up with demand. Between AirBnBs, hostels, hotels, glamping, Couchsurfing and others, marketing is key to differentiating yourself from the competition (which there’s plenty of).

The good news is, technology has given savvy marketers more and better ways to market than ever. Once you’ve mastered the tools for online marketing, take a look at the trends that will separate the leaders in the industry from the rest in the near future.

Voice Search

We’ve moved beyond shouting ‘Hey Siri’ into our phones.

Today, more and more people are using voice search regularly, for increasingly complex questions. Ensuring you’re engineering your information to make it voice search friendly isn’t difficult and it’ll pay dividends as Alexa, Siri and Cortana get more comfortable in more homes.

There are still some things voice search can’t do for hotels. By and large, travelers still rely heavily on screens for comparing prices and viewing potential hotels and reviews. Nonetheless, there is growing interest in using voice search in the process.

According to SocialTables, there’s been a 343% yearly increase in the use of voice search on for hotels on Microsoft Bing just in the UK.

Although this market may still be in the minority, you can be sure you’re in a good place when this becomes a commonplace way to search and do business. One thing you can do now is to start putting the pieces in place to be first in search.

Tips for Voice Search

Voice search optimization is a thing! Think about how people ask questions and use that when constructing your posts. For example, people might ask, “How can I optimize for voice search?” or “What is voice search optimization?” And we’d answer, “Voice search optimization is ensuring your content is tailored to the way people speak and ask questions naturally. There are a number of ways to ensure your content is optimized for voice search, but the most important thing is gearing it to how users naturally speak and ask questions.”

This doesn’t rule out SEO. Not by a long shot. Results will still be ranked by what appears first on Google, which -- although smarter and more selective than before -- still relies on keywords to choose what to push ahead.

The World Hotels Collection recommends working specifically on your FAQ (maybe writing a blog post for each of your most asked questions) )and local listings to improve your chances of being picked up.

Influencer Marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the cruxes of the travel industry. Since the invention of social media, a way of leveraging this has been through influencer marketing.

The Hilton Brand understands the power of influencer marketing, tapping into it for their #SevenUrbanWonders campaign.

Even this major brand understood the power of joining forces with individuals to choose and highlight top destinations across the world (and suggest travelers stay at a Hilton nearby!)

Tips for Influencer Marketing Campaigns

It may be better to work with a micro-influencer than one with a massive following. Smaller numbers sometimes mean higher engagement, and that means a higher ROI for your brand.

Vet your influencers before partnering. Get to know them, review their profile thoroughly -- one scandal can harm your brand.

Partner with influencers who share your target market. Travel influencers are very popular, but you may have a niche: location, budget travel, unique experiences, luxury travel; if you do, it’s best to find someone that intersects with that for maximum efficacy.

Micro-moment marketing

Your target market used to be a buyer persona. They used to be a demographic, have certain interests, be certain ages, behave certain ways that you would appeal to with your messaging and branding.

Not so anymore.

Now, your target market is also whoever is looking for your information, at that moment.

This might sound too easy, or like a catch-all tactic, but micro-moment marketing is a game-changer for the travel industry.

This widely cited infographic from Think With Google identifies four key moments in the traveler’s buyer journey which brands can use in their marketing.

The four key moments are:

“I-want-to-get-away” moments

“Time-to-make-a-plan” moments

“Let’s-book-it” moments

“Can’t-wait-to-explore” moments

As a hotel marketer, your job is to design your digital web presence to deliver what they need at each moment. That means giving them information that’s instantly available and relevant.

Today’s customers are less loyal to brands than they are to getting their needs met.

One example Google used was Red Roof Inn, which managed to take a fraction of the budget of its major competitors and turn ‘let’s book it’ moments into real revenue by understanding their customers.

Red Roof Inns are near to airports and convenient, especially for stranded passengers after flight cancellations. Realizing this, the team began to target ads to customers after canceled or delayed flights.

For frustrated and weary customers who had their mobile phones out, looking for the nearest available hotel that their phones would pick up, Red Roof was first on the list.

vimeo

(Video courtesy of Mobile Marketing Association)

The result was a 60% increase in bookings and a 375% increase in conversions. Rather than working on a persona, they were working on a need.

Eco-friendly

Consumers are more aware of their carbon footprint, and they’re increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the hotels and chains they choose to stay in. Even Vogue magazine admires hotels that are going plastic free.

According to Trivago, the numbers show travelers are more likely to consider the environment when booking a holiday package:

66% of respondents stated they’d “pay more for products and services from companies committed to positive social and environmental impact”.

In 2017, two-thirds of travelers on holiday surveyed said they’d “make lifestyle trade-offs to benefit the environment”).

Travel is now known to be more affordable, but can also be an environmentally unfriendly pastime. Travelers have paid more and more attention to this, and hotels have done well to engage with both the ethical and market imperative for a greener industry.

Practically, that means implementing some new practices: some small examples include offering options to hang up towels instead of replacing them every day, sourcing initiatives to sustainable providers, reducing waste (e.g. switching to plastic-free areas or starting recycling programs).

Tips for Eco-friendly marketing

Make it official! You can get certified by TripAdvisor’s Green Leaders program. Your hotel will get an official stamp on their website, so browsers can easily recognize your status.

Paperless advertising is in. In the digital age, the need for paper is minimal. If you have to print, using recycled paper is now seen as smart, not budget or quirky.

State your commitment to green travel on your website and in your blogs. Be sure travelers who are looking for an eco-friendly stay know they can find one at your hotel.

This may seem simple, but it’s powerful. A picture is worth 1,000 words. If the environment is important to you, highlight your green spaces on your brochures and your site.

Summary

2020 will undoubtedly bring unforeseeable new and exciting changes to the game, but there are some that hoteliers and their marketing teams can look ahead to.

Here are four major hotel trends in marketing to be aware of for 2020.

Voice Search

Influencer Marketing

Micro-moment marketing

Eco-friendly practices

What do you think? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230801 https://ift.tt/2VKG1rF via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230801

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abineinc-blog · 6 years ago

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How to Best Keep Your Personal Information Private When Using Social Media

There are likely millions of people who practice safe, common sense, shrewd personal security: We never use “password” for our password, we only use secure websites for purchases, and we don’t click on strange links. Perhaps we even take advantage of data broker opt-outs and remove personal information from Google. Subsequently, we then log into our social media accounts and purposefully share information we’re incredibly careful about sharing in every other aspect of our lives. As rampant as identity theft, hacking, and online scamming has become, personal information security is more important than ever. And social media platforms are one of the richest sources of information for those hackers, thieves, and scammers. Thankfully, there are steps anyone can take to protect themselves and limit their information exposure. Protect the Gates to Your Social Networks A lot of this is ground that’s been covered fairly thoroughly before, but it bears repeating just to preclude complacency: Be careful with your passwords. Switch your passwords up every few months, don’t use personal information in them, but do include symbols, letters, numbers, and both lower and uppercase letters. Use varying passwords for different social media platforms, and always use passwords for your devices. If someone was able to get access to your smartphone, would they also have access to your social media, email, or bank accounts? This speaks to why strong passwords—not “1234”—are essential for your devices. Additionally, be sure to delete any social media accounts you never use, and be very careful about accessing your social media or anything else with sensitive information on a free, unfamiliar, or possibly unsecure Wi-Fi connection. Hackers will often loiter around free Wi-Fi networks, particularly free popular ones at restaurants and coffee shops. Remove Personal Information and Don’t Overshare Removing social media network-adjacent information can be hugely helpful as well. Hackers use information gathered from several sources to steal an identity. Contracting with an organization that can demonstrate how to remove personal information from Google, or do it themselves, can prove crucial in securing your personal information. Refraining from oversharing on social media platforms is likewise a key piece of a security strategy. Rather than your exact address, just name the city. Consider if you really need to note your full birthday, including year, or if mentioning “late 20s” (or your appropriate age range) is sufficient. You should also avoid listing your phone number and should never share your social security number. Additionally, reconsider the kinds of information that you give away in your social media posts. Information like your general schedule, class schedule, or mentioning your mother’s maiden name. Consider any password reminders you have set up and if the information you’re sharing online would answer those prompts. And remember that this is the internet, which means removing information you share can be quite difficult, so it’s best to use precaution in the first place before anything gets spread far and wide. After all, teachers have been fired for posing with beer or wine in vacation pictures. So consider: Is a post something you’d want your boss to see? How about parents or coworkers? It’s not that you can’t share anything, but keep in mind that even if you delete something, it’s easy for people to take screenshots beforehand. Just consider posts carefully, in addition to your privacy settings. Limit Friends, Limit Social Media Platforms, Limit Info The point of social media platforms is connecting with and, yes, even making friends. However, the latter can be problematic. Think twice about adding anyone as a friend that you only know from the internet, particularly if you’ve only encountered them recently. And if you do add those you don’t know well, consider limiting their access to any of your personal information. In general, keep your privacy settings secure. Even on sites like LinkedIn, where including work and personal information is the point, only include your employment history and other pertinent info that’s truly useful for networking. There’s no reason to post anything that’s not strictly relevant to your career path. And again, if you’re not using a social media account you’ve set up, delete it, don’t let it just sit around for someone else to hack into. These steps will help keep your personal information private. About DeleteMe DeleteMe is an industry leader in ensuring data privacy and online security. From their base in Boston, DeleteMe has built their reputation in part by leveraging the expertise of their team of specialists and have succeeded in providing over 10 million consumer opt-outs. Their team has decades of collective experience in identity theft, privacy, and consumer security. They can aid in removal from Whitepages, other data broker sites, and Google, as well as payment security and other means to protects your personal and financial security. Ensure that your personal information remains yours alone, at Joindeleteme.com Original Source: https://goo.gl/arYXJ2

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basshouse · 6 years ago

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Bring on the FAQs

I know you have questions! Oh, ok, I’ll honor the era of the fact check (be the change you want to see int he world, after all!): I think you have questions and I know I want to use questions as a framework for telling you more about my life. On board?? In case your answer is “no” and you choose not to click “keep reading” below, here’s the obligatory picture right up front:

That’s me in San Jose a couple days ago. Yes, I have a “bum bag” (super apologies to everyone I ever mocked for a fanny pack, a sweatpant, or a mini van, and a reminder to us all that it’s ridiculous to judge people for the things they decide enhance their quality of life...are heavily starched jeans in my future? who can say?). Also, yes I am on the North American continent. Sadly not with enough time or planning to be able to connect with many people, plus it’s a work trip and I’m freezing by balls off. More on that later (the work part, not my balls). Let’s get to the Q&A!

A bit of a heads up: a lot of these are combo questions, I grouped them by flavor to make things more compact... you bunch are good at asking the same question multiple ways.

1. Do you miss home/Seattle/the States? What do you miss the most?

Alright, I’m going to leave out the obvious friends, family and a certain tiny dog, because...duh. Do you really need the validation? You know I miss you. As for P-dog, he was IN A WEDDING. IN A BOWTIE. So suffice it to say that while I still get sad when I get in bed at night and he’s not curling up at my feet, his new family is showing their commitment to him in a whole new and completely adorable way.

I do not actively miss living in Seattle or the States. I haven't been homesick. and to be clear, Seattle is an amazing place and our lives there were full of amazing people and things. It’s just that I am enjoying being somewhere else and doing new things (and many of the old things in a new location). I can love Seattle (and you!) and love somewhere else at the same time, how amazing is that? One good thing about being faced with losing my job and visa was that I had to ask and answer the question of whether it was best to just “go home” -- and it was clear for both me and Jason that we did not want to leave Christchurch yet. No, we did NOT ask the kids this time :-).

I DO miss some things about living in Seattle, and if you know me you won't be surprised to hear they are largely food related...La Palma. Pickles. Gardenburgers. Caesar salads that don’t have a poached egg on top. The ability to fulfill a special order (say, make a Caesar salad without an egg on top). Jale-frickin’-penos! It’s not to say that NZ doesn't have good food; overall the quality of the food is high and it’s nice that all the coffee shops serve real food. Also, you almost never have table service, which threw me off at first, but now I really appreciate being in control of when I order and when I pay my bill. A non-tip economy has its perks for sure, including less math at the dinner table! But there are some foods for each of us that fulfill a craving, are a go-to, and when you can’t get them, even a close approximation or a really good option just won’t do. This problemhas inspired me to learn how to cook new things, at least. Haven’t nailed the gardenburger yet.

Also, I miss yoga. A LOT. Props to Core Power, Shefa, Haute, and Maven for being awesome places to practice a powerful flow in the heat with music. Thanks to all of you who taught me and those that let me teach you. Christchurch has more bars and restaurants and interesting places than we expected, but this style of yoga just isn't there as far as I can tell. So hit me up if you're interested in investing in a probably-not-very-profitable business in NZ once I have a visa that lets me own a business, and you can weigh in on whether “Surfing Donkey Yoga” (Jason’s nomination) is on brand or not. I have an opinion but no harm in workshopping it.

2. Wait, you said in an earlier blog you don't overwork (or sometimes even work at all when you should be)...what do you do/are you going crazy/how do you handle it/are you really you?!?!?

This is an honest question I have gotten in phone conversations, and since I assume you know me and my, um, rather industrious ways, you may have it too. I mean, it’s not a secret that when I lived in Seattle I worked A LOT, and stressed over work A LOT, and talked about work A LOT, and did work-y things outside of work, and worked at home and on the weekends FAR TOO MUCH. And for background: in New Zealand I have had a much better work life balance. And at the end of my time at SLI there were many many hours that I went to work but did not really have work to do. So while I have done what I needed to do, and contributed to the business, and used my skills, working and being at work has NOT defined my life here, even in the slightest, which it did in Seattle. That pains me a little, because I also did lots of of things besides work in Seattle, and I never valued being a person who was stressed about work all the time (at least, I did not value that for other people or in principal, though I did build up some kind of addiction or compulsion based on an anxiety about not working). Can I attribute being ok with more balance to a “less demanding” job? In part that would be fair, but after giving it some thought I also must attribute it to both breaking the chain of bad habits and the general difference in culture, For, as far as I can tell, in New Zealand, it is not common to work outside hours or on vacation; people value value and respect family time; and there's a much more subtle and prevalent difference that's hard to explain about the feeling that everything really is going to be ok if you don't struggle to get it all done in record time -- there’s an undercurrent of pressure that does not exist, at least not for me, and I think it’s a Kiwi thing. An informal poll and some observational data (e.g. one boss told me when I sent an email on a sick day not to do it again, no laptop, employment contract stating a 37 hour work week) backs it up.

So what do I do and am I still me and not going crazy? Well, I’ll tell you and yes and no to those questions. Let’s be clear that I still work 37-40 hours a week which is plenty so don't get too exited, but here’s a wee list of some of the things I’ve been doing with “all this time.” Sadly not enough yoga :-(

I write a blog! You're welcome.

Cook, surf, hike, bike, gym, listen to records...I think you knew that already. Same shit, different continent.

Burlesquercize! Yes, it’s what it sounds like -- a sluttier version of Jazzercise. My friend Tas and I also did a 6 week burlesque course that culminated in an actual performance. On stage. In. Front. Of. Real. People. Body positive, pro-female and anti-agist? You betcha. Terrifying? Kind of. Entertaining? I hope so. And no, we did not take our clothes off (that would have moved the answer to “terrifying?” waaaaay up).

Tennis lessons! Finally fulfilling a desire to learn and play tennis that I have had my entire adult life, I joined an adult beginner group lesson at the tiny Opawa Tennis Club. Really, in American terms, this should be “club” -- because like the lawn bowling club and croquet club near my house, this is the kind of club that where pay $100 bucks to get a key so you have access to equipment and courts when you need them, and there are organized games and lessons a few hours a week. Plus a water fountain. Croquet might be my next project, as I am still as shockingly bad at tennis as I was in junior high when I got moved from the 8th grade beginner team down to the elementary school group at a “real tennis club.” But learning tennis is fun, and I have met some great people, and hey, it’s summer in December so why not?

I grew tomatoes. It didn’t take that much time, so I could still do tennis and burlesque, thank god.

I make pickles like twice a month. In NZ, pickles are almost exclusively sweet gherkins. Most of you are probably like “making pickles is super easy, der.” You're right. I don’t know why I ever paid for them...oh except they were pretty cheap and super convenient to buy pretty much anywhere. It’s remarkable how scarcity, a bit of dill and a head of garlic can drive such commitment to a new activity. Now if I only had a goddamn Gardenburger to eat with my pickle slices!

On a career path note, I became a volunteer city coordinator for Product School meetups and am working to get that off the ground. I am mulling over ideas about generating and delivering content and education in the product management space...there may be a great opportunity to leverage my skill set and breadth of professional experience in NZ and I’m doing some activities that will help me network and consider the possibilities.

I have read more books since we moved than I think I read in the last 10 years. I do miss the New Yorker, I think I could finally be crushing the cover to cover in a week challenge. If you haven't read This is Where I Leave You, you should.

TV: In the interest of transparency...I don't just read and write and exercise, and as much as I’d like to present as that virtuous, I can’t lie to you, even by omission. If you have not seen the Amazon TV show Red Oaks, I highly recommend it. Obviously the tennis montages have a new-found appeal for me, but the rest of it was really good too.

Roadtrips! There’s a lot to do around NZ, even within an hour or two of Christchurch. I’m trying to think of a good way to tell you about the things we have done, there will be more posts to highlight what we’ve done so far.

We hang out with friends, host guests, and sometimes try to make new friends. More on that in other posts as well.

Here’s another thing we did, which was attend an interactive improv-y game show at the Busker Festival...yes, I am realizing as I get ready to hit “publish” that it sorta seems like Jason and I are into a whole new realm of adult entertainment. 😱. We’re really not, not that there's anything wrong with it. I just thought you might appreciate this picture of Jason:

Next up in the blog: more FAQs. Political! Personal! Practical! See you soon.

PS: I don’t just cook with cheese...and these are my tomatoes:

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iamshadow21 · 8 years ago

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Rec Post, July-January

#fan fiction #rec list #leverage #avengers #marvel #captain america

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laurelkrugerr · 5 years ago

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How Zoosk’s Co-Founders, Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr, Are Using Data and AI to Power Online Retail During Unprecedented Times of Uncertainty

Lessons learned from starting a company during the 2008 recession, which eventually sold for over $300 million.

April 9, 2020 7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In this series called Member Showcase, we publish interviews with members of The Oracles. This interview is with Dressbarn co-owners, Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr, who co-founded the online dating company Zoosk during the 2008 recession. It was condensed by The Oracles.

Who are you? Alex Mehr: We met at Sharif University, Iran, before starting our Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. Shayan studied computer science before dropping out to work for Microsoft. I went on to become a NASA aerospace scientist.

We co-founded the online dating company Zoosk during the 2008 economic collapse, running it for 10 years before selling for over $300 million. We now lead Dressbarn with our business partner, Tai Lopez, and invest in or advise other ventures.

What are you more skilled at than most people in the world? Shayan Zadeh: Starting Zoosk during the 2008 economic collapse taught us many lessons for the current COVID-19 crisis. Most people are shell-shocked during a crisis and don’t take action. They “wait and see” to see how things work out.

As internet-first entrepreneurs with 20 years of experience, we utilize data to make quick decisions and optimize businesses. With this mentality, you can quickly spot opportunities, test ideas, experiment and pivot while keeping a lean team. When you fail fast, you learn, grow and improve quickly.

We’re bringing that DNA to retail, where many companies have done business the same way for 30 years, and juggernaut brands often cobble together ecommerce platforms without truly understanding how the internet ecosystem works. The current crisis has taught us that brands need to take ecommerce seriously.

How did your business get started? Alex Mehr: We questioned why many retailers struggle and realized that it’s a structural problem, which the COVID-19 crisis exacerbated. They rent massive stores, but foot traffic has significantly dropped with the rise of online shopping and rent remains unchanged.

When acquiring Dressbarn, we kept what worked (the beloved brand and merchandising) and removed what didn’t (massive stores). We might revisit brick-and-mortar stores as the world moves back to normality, but we currently focus on ecommerce at Dressbarn.com. Three months in, we’ve already got thank-you notes from customers for keeping the “doors” open.

What book changed your mindset or life? Shayan Zadeh: I love biographies about people who accomplished great things. Most recently, “Churchill: Walking with Destiny” by Andrew Roberts was eye-opening, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. It’s interesting how many smart people don’t see reality or choose not to.

Leading up to World War II, many of England’s leaders didn’t think Germany was a problem. Churchill didn’t just listen to the news; he spoke with people on the ground to understand what was unfolding. Then he dared to speak out and act on it. The lesson learned is to be discerning with your information sources as you navigate the challenges ahead.

What was your biggest, most painful failure? Alex Mehr: We started Zoosk as a market research tool. We struggled to gain traction until we stumbled upon the idea of doing online dating differently. So we pivoted, but it wasn’t easy.

We invested time and effort into our dream and sold it to others, including investors and employees. We had to sell them a new compelling dream and take their focus off the red flags, hoping they would continue to believe in us. Maybe you’re in that situation right now: It’s scary to go back on your promise, but if you’re on a path to nowhere, it’s the right thing to do.

Remove your ego, acknowledge your mistakes and identify a solution. Be honest with others and they’ll respond well. Refocus your time, energy and resources into a winning plan.

What’s the biggest common leadership mistake? Shayan Zadeh: Overplanning. As General Colin Powell said, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” Very few people predicted the ramification of COVID-19. It’s easy to get analysis paralysis, especially now. Get out of overthinking, make a move, get feedback and adjust as needed.

For example, many retailers are currently closing down and canceling their purchases from suppliers. We could follow that trend, but instead, we’re taking a different viewpoint: Suppliers have these orders that they don’t know what to do with — how can we turn that into a competitive advantage for our company?

How do you evaluate a good business deal? Alex Mehr: The hallmark of a good deal is potential, a vision of what to do with it, and the unique skills to transform the asset into value. The best deals are undervalued by the seller or other buyers because they don’t see the potential or have the skills to leverage it. If you get an asset for a low cost, the upside potential is significant, while the downside is minimal.

For example, we knew Dressbarn’s potential — the brand was strong, while the digital strategy wasn’t — and we’re uniquely qualified to do something about it.

How do you prevent burnout? Shayan Zadeh: A solid support network is critical, especially now. I lean on my family often, and my wife, Anousheh, is a huge source of positive energy. Carve out time for yourself and your family. You need boundaries in our 24/7 world, where it’s hard to see where work stops and life starts. Several hours a night, I don’t respond to messages unless it’s an emergency.

Working out also helps me clear my mind, recharge and regroup. When this pandemic passes, I recommend a minimum bi-annual 10-day vacation. Traveling, meeting new people and seeing new cultures is energizing; you’ll always return with new ideas.

What are you working on right now? Alex Mehr: Laying the foundation for Dressbarn’s growth, from building the infrastructure and navigating COVID-19 to hiring and establishing the right leadership. Traditionally, retailers rely on intuition to predict trends. We’re focused on coupling that intuition with data and plan to leverage artificial intelligence for predictive modeling that informs quick decision making.

We’re also focused on our team. We have three offices across the country and contractors overseas. Decentralization with virtual working has its challenges, but it’s working and becoming the standard out of necessity due to current events. You can tap into different talent pools and have a continuous business across time zones while maintaining that personal connection.

What do you want to be known for? Shayan Zadeh: When you help the right people grow with your company, you don’t just deliver amazing results; you build friendships for life. I’ve seen this at each of my companies. Give a small group permission to do amazing things fast, and that vote of confidence will grow your company and their careers exponentially.

We have close bonds with high school and college friends because you experience a great deal of growth together in a short period. Early-stage companies are the adult version of that. I love the camaraderie and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. It’s exciting to think that they will take what they learn here and go on to do great things.

Connect with Alex Mehr and Shayan Zadeh on LinkedIn, or visit Dressbarn.com.

The words and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee alone. What worked for them may not work for everyone. Any claims in this article have not been independently verified.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-zoosks-co-founders-shayan-zadeh-and-alex-mehr-are-using-data-and-ai-to-power-online-retail-during-unprecedented-times-of-uncertainty/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-zoosks-co-founders-shayan-zadeh-and.html

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douglassmiith · 5 years ago

Text

How Zoosks Co-Founders Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr Are Using Data and AI to Power Online Retail During Unprecedented Times of Uncertainty

Lessons learned from starting a company during the 2008 recession, which eventually sold for over $300 million.

April 9, 2020 7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Remove your ego, acknowledge your mistakes and identify a solution. Be honest with others and they’ll respond well. Refocus your time, energy and resources into a winning plan.

For example, we knew Dressbarn’s potential — the brand was strong, while the digital strategy wasn’t — and we’re uniquely qualified to do something about it.

Connect with Alex Mehr and Shayan Zadeh on LinkedIn, or visit Dressbarn.com.

The words and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee alone. What worked for them may not work for everyone. Any claims in this article have not been independently verified.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

Via http://www.scpie.org/how-zoosks-co-founders-shayan-zadeh-and-alex-mehr-are-using-data-and-ai-to-power-online-retail-during-unprecedented-times-of-uncertainty/

source https://scpie.weebly.com/blog/how-zoosks-co-founders-shayan-zadeh-and-alex-mehr-are-using-data-and-ai-to-power-online-retail-during-unprecedented-times-of-uncertainty

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