#staff poll ; ask game replies

[cherrycola27]

Red, White, and Rooster

Series Warnings: Language, alcohol consumption. Frenemies to lovers, relationship of convenience. Political situations. Allegations of affairs, military and political inaccuracies. Eventual smut. 18+ Minors DNI. Banner Credit: @thedroneranger

Series Master List Next Part

...........................................

Prologue: The Great Debate

Anxiety thrums through your body as you fidget with the knot of his tie. The intrusive thoughts are creeping in, but on the outside, you remain cool, calm, and collected.

"Please tell me why I have to wear a purple tie again?" He asks you with a huff.

You roll your eyes as you begin the same speech you have before every other debate. "Democrats wear blue, Republicans red, you're an Independent, so—"

"You wear purple to show that you're the perfect mix of both," He groans as he finishes your sentence.

You look up to him with hard eyes. You don't miss the flash of a genuine smile across his face before some television assistant comes to remind you that you have five minutes until he needs to be in place.

"Alright. This is the last debate before voting begins. By some miracle of God and my amazing campaign managing, you're ahead in the polls. Don't fuck this up for me." You tell him as you smooth out the arms of his suit.

"Don't fuck it up for you? I'm the one who is going to be in the Oval Office dear." He smirks at you.

"And I'm the one who is getting you there, and who is going to your Chief of Staff,— dear. So, like I said, don't fuck this up for me." You smirk back.

One more debate, you thought. You had to get him through one more debate and a few last-minute campaign stops, and then all your hard work would pay off.

If everything went according to plan, Lieutenant Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw would be the 47th president of the United States, and you, Y/N Wiseman, would be the youngest Chief of Staff to ever serve at just twenty-nine years old.

"Roos, Wise-woman, yall about ready?" His running mate, Lieutenant Jake 'Hangman' Seresin called out. "Or are you two still fighting over a tie?"

"We're good, Jake," you reply as you step back to admire your handy work. You've done a good job.

Bradley is in a dark grey suit with a deep plum colored tie. His silver watch is smart, but not flashy. His dark brown shoes offer a nice contrast to the suit without clashing. His sandy brown locks are styled to appear neat but casual. His mustache is trimmed to give him an edge of maturity.

It was something that most men his age didn't need, but being thirty-five and running for president, it was necessary for him. If elected, he would be the youngest to ever serve.

No, not if. When he is elected, he will be the youngest to ever serve.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." You clap your hands. Bradley and Jake follow you out of the room. Bradley is directed to his mark while you and Jake find your seats.

You hear the welcoming music as the moderator steps on stage and beings speaking to the cameras. Applause and cheers cry out as the candidates step up to their podiums.

You take a deep breath. This is it. These next two hours are going to make or break over a years worth of work.

If someone had told you a year ago that the two former Navy pilots turned politicians, you met in a D.C. bar who hired you because of a bet were weeks away from winning the White House because of you, you would have laughed in their face.

But one game of pool, several beers, tears, and sleepless nights later, it was happening. It was so close, you could almost taste it.

.........................

"Oh my God you fucking killed it out there man!" Jake smacks Bradley on the back as soon as the three if you make it back stage from the debate.

Jake was right. Bradley did kill it out there. Your phone is already blowing up with Google Alerts from various media posts declaring him the winner of the debate.

His stances on education, heathcare, immigration, and the military blew his competition out of the water.

Frankly, he didn't have any competition because the other two candidates could only seem to focus on how young he was or his military background. Neither of them spoke much on their policies. Instead, they chose to try and poke at Bradley's past. However, that proved to be fatal for them.

America had rallied around Bradley's tragic childhood of losing his father at two, then being raised by a single mother, who died when he was barely nineteen. Bradley hadn't wanted to play the orphan card, and you really tried not to, but when he was lacking the polls, early in the campaign, you did what you had to do. He was mad at you for weeks but changed his tune when he saw the numbers.

One candidate, Reece Johnson, had tried to frame Bradley and Jake as monsters and killers since they were former military. You quickly rewrote the narrative, painting them as heros who received the medal of honor during their last flight mission. Bradley for risking his life while saving his captain and late father's best friend, and Jake for saving them both.

Every time someone tried to tear them down, you would swoop in and save them. All the while, running a clean campaign for them.

You were broken out of your thoughts by Bradley calling your name.

"Y/N. Hello. Earth to Y/N Wiseman." He waves his hand in front of your face.

"What?" You ask him. "How did I do?" He asks you. You can tell that he values your opinion. No matter how much he gets on your nerves or how much he grumbles. He needs to hear what you have to say.

"You didn't fuck it up for us." You tell him. A smile breaks out across his face. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me Wise-woman." He grins.

"Don't get used to it." You shoot back. "Alright, we need to head back to the hotel. We have an early flight to North Carolina tomorrow, and then a few more stops on the East Coast before we head to the Southwest." You remind him and Jake.

They nod their head and grab their belongings.

"I'm going to head to the parking garage and put my things in the SUV. Chapman, Davis, please make sure Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Seresin make it down safely. Could you also alert Taylor to be waiting for us at the car?" You ask the secret service agents assigned to you three.

"Yes, Ma'am. Would you like an escort?" Davis ask you.

"No, I'll be fine. No one goes after the campaign manager." You joke before waving him off.

......................

You'd just gotten to the parking garage to put your things in when Taylor, your driver, informed you that he'd left his coat upstairs. You assured him you would be fine as he went to retrieve it.

You'd just finished putting your things in the trunk when you heard someone call out your name.

"Y/N!" A voice shouted. You turned around just in time to see a masked person standing a few feet away from you, with the barrel of a gun pointed directly at you.

Your breath caught in your throat. You didn't know what to do. You were frozen.

"Y/N! You bitch! You cost me everything!" They screamed at you. You heard them draw back the hammer of the revolver before they took their aim.

"GUN!" You head someone shout.

It all happened in slow motion. You couldn't fully process what was happening until it was all over.

You heard the deafening bang of a gunshot.

You felt a strong pair of arms wrap around you and pull you into them and down on the ground to safety while two men in black suits charged at the figure.

You watched with blank eyes as they tackled the person to the ground and wrestled the smoking weapon out of their hands.

Your ears were ringing, but you were vaguely aware of someone calling your name.

"Y/N! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Bradley shook you.

Suddenly, you realized he was the one holding you.

"I—I'm alright." You stutter out just as you hear the click of cameras followed blare of police sirens.

"You—you saved me." You stutter, fully trying to process the situation. More cameras clicked as the press was making their way out of the venue and witnessing what happened.

Suddenly, it hit you. You had been shot at. Bradley and broken away from his security to save you. He had ignored protocol to protect you. He'd put his life on the line for you.

By now, the media and police were swarming around the two of you. Snapping picture after picture of the two of you while asking question after question. You knew those photos would be on every major news outlet, and the story of his heroism would go viral within hours.

As he helped you up, two things crossed your mind.

One, you were thankful to be alive.

Two, you'd just won the White House.

Eeeekkkk! Babes! I hope you enjoyed this first part! I'm excited to here your feedback!

Tag List:

@daggerspare-standingby @thedroneranger @shanimallina87

@teacupsandtopgun

@hecate-steps-on-me

@roosterscock

@roosterbruiser

@roosterforme

@seresinsbabe @startrekfangirl2233 @soulmates8 @xoxabs88xox @avengersfan25 @blackwidownat2814 @loveforaugust @mak-32 @cottagecori @amysteryspot @heyimmadisonn @princess76179 @bradshawseresinbabe

@sunlightmurdock

@lt-bradshaw @cassiemitchell @die-cunt @mj-l4 @shipinabluebottle @malindacath @violyn20 @imawkwardlysoc @books-for-summer @blackroseboulevard @recordblues @desert-fern

@luckyladycreator2

@katieshook02

@samhapner6

@sebsxphia

@roosters-girl

@diorrfairy

@je-suis-prest-rachel

@chicomonks

@mizzzpink

@a-linabean

@amklibrary

@emorychase

#cherrycola27 #top gun maverick #top gun #rooster bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster top gun #bradley bradshaw #rooster smut #bradley bradshaw smut #rooster x reader #lt. bradley bradshaw #tgm smut #tgm fic #tgm #tgm fanfiction #top gun rooster #top gun smut #top gun 2 #red white and rooster

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Bookmarks, kinda

There’s a bunch of posts I want to find again on this hellsite, but there’s no real tag to sort them to, and search sucks, so... unsorted pile of things I Really Want To Find Again.

Everything Writing Related

So you write

On editing and proofreading

On dialogue punctuation

Alternatives to said but it’s great

Skyrim Prompt Challenge

Tropical Fantasy Worldbuilding

Questions for Beta Readers

A (whump) prompt list I might wanna do

When to capitalize words

Clearing up Ambiguity

Writing Sessions

Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation

Fic Patch Notes

Basic checklist for your story

Writing cheats

Ten questions to ask a beta reader

Weak words to cut

Writeblr Etiquette

Questions to break the ice

Find words you forgot

Words to kill when editing

Terms every writer should know

About comfort and disabled characters

Dialogue Formatting

Whumpy Favs

Terin’s Phantom Pain [image]

Not sure what to title this

Unbidden, Epilogue 1

Crowbar [gore warning]

Good way to put it

2023 Year of Whump [prompt list]

Not so tough now, asshole? [image]

Pick a hand [gore warning]

Leave your Whumpees ruined

The Librarian :)

Dehydration/Malnourishment/Sleep deprivation

Robin Hood

That one Purity of Sin chapter

It's all right when it's you

Other Stuff

Rainbow Game Consoles

Show me the Girl

Sorting posts chronologically

Staff replied, post is over

Medieval Torture Kid

The Book Wyrm

All About Shadowbans

Just gonna put Maksim here

You’re not in love

Unicorn fantasies

Find two tags

Being a non-american online

Reddit glitch

The Outsider gif set

Tragic greek figures

My Own Posts

Nykim my beloved

Five things I never get tired of writing

Another five things because I was tagged again

Anna’s Writer’s Associations (I’m not crying)

My Whumptober 2022 masterlist

Tumblr Links and You

Writing Wrapped 2022

My Year in Review 2022

The best incorrect quotes (HmW)

Thorns WIP Intro

Glass Shards WIP Intro

Nuisance WIP Intro

Knife: Part 1 and Part 2

HmW vibes

Braille Valentine’s

Stories described in the worst way possible [tag edition]

“Patch Notes” for my stories.

Badly Summarized WIP Poll

Saran’s review of Till Death

Rainbow bookshelf

Time zone woes meme

Posts about my OCs I liked

All my characters’ bios in a few lines

A worse take on character bios

The size of all my chars

10 minute lectures

Character pronouns

Riordan’s AITA post

Taking all OCs grocery shopping

Sorry, Damien

A bunch of my commissions

Photos of all my chars

Ten but...

Archive so I can find stuff again

The old Heal my Wounds release post

My first bad things happen bingo card. Finished.

My second bad things happen bingo card. Aborted.

My old pinned post

My old story list

Empty post because why not lol

#it's time again for me to need a post later #lalala #bookmarks

[sniper-elite-5-cheats-62]

sniper elite 5 cheats 100% working IG0&

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 NumPad2: Invisible. NumPad4: Unlimited Lung Aim Air. NumPad6: No Reload. NumPad8: Easy Teleport to Map Waypoint. Take a look at our cheats, tips, strategy guide to get some help in this World War II game. Sniper Elite 5 is a third-person tactical shooter. Sniper Elite 5 is one of the few series that is old enough to have had cheat codes in its first few games. Cheat codes are not as common or easy to use as they once were, but they haven't completely disappeared. Sniper Elite 5 still gives players the ability to cheat using a Trainer. Download the CheatHappens Trainer. Next, start the game and press F1 on the main menu, and you should hear "Trainer activated. Related: How to unlock all weapons in Sniper Elite 5. Disclaimer : Please do not try to use this on a multiplayer function. It is against the rules and the game will ban you from multiplayer immediately. You should limit the use of cheats to single-player experiences where you cannot affect other players' gameplay. Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting:. Save my nickname and email in this browser for the next time I comment. Screenshot by Pro Game Guides. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get updates on your favorite games! About the Author Aggy loves the video game industry and loves telling stories. Aside from that, he is an Author, Illustrator, and Computer Animator. Aguilar 'Aggy' On: Twitter. Cancel reply Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting: All comments must be on topic and add something of substance to the post No swearing or inappropriate words No asking or begging for anything free Do not attempt to start a poll in the comments Comments in all CAPS will be removed We reserve the right to remove a comment for any reason Do not impersonate a staff member or influencer Comment. Load More.

[motherlode-cheat-sims-4-5a]

motherlode cheat sims 4 mod H0CK&

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Sims 4 money cheats ; kaching: get 1, simoleons ; rosebud: get 1, simoleons (this is more of an easter egg, but it still works) ; motherlode. How to do the motherlode cheat in Sims 4 · Hit the keys Ctrl+Shft+C all at once to open the command panel. · Type testingcheats true into the text. To enter them, you need to hit Ctrl + Shift + C on a Windows PC or Cmd + Shift + C on a Mac. This will open up the cheat console -- type in your. The Sims 4 money cheats · rosebud - receive 1, simoleons · kaching - receive 1, simoleons · motherlode - receive 50, simoleons · Money X -. 9 Using the motherlode cheat is quintessential to The Sims gaming experience, as many fans know. But if you're new to using cheats in The Sims 4 and don't know the cheat, don't worry—it's really easy and simple to learn. Using the motherlode cheat in The Sims 4 is straightforward, especially if you have done other cheats before. Follow these quick steps:. There is nothing inherently wrong with using the motherlode cheat in Sims 4. That's why there is a cheat console—the developers have programmed the cheat to work in-game. The only time it might be considered bad to use the motherlode cheat in The Sims 4 is if you're doing a challenge like Rags to Riches, where it is prohibited. Want to see more awesome tips for playing The Sims 4? Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting:. Save my nickname and email in this browser for the next time I comment. Screenshot by Pro Game Guides. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get updates on your favorite games! About the Author A fusion of my love for video games and my long-standing passion for creative writing makes covering gaming guides and news my favorite thing to do. In my free time, you'll find me writing short stories, reading my favorite books, watching horror movies, or playing video games. I cover all sorts of content here at Pro Game Guides. Right now, Wordle is what I write about most often. My upload rate is pretty high, so check back often for new content. Find Bethany Barber On: Twitter. Write A Comment How to use the motherlode cheat in The Sims 4 Cancel reply Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting: All comments must be on topic and add something of substance to the post No swearing or inappropriate words No asking or begging for anything free Do not attempt to start a poll in the comments Comments in all CAPS will be removed We reserve the right to remove a comment for any reason Do not impersonate a staff member or influencer Comment. Load More.

[dying-light-2-cheats-engix4]

Dying Light 2:Stay Human - FearLess Cheat Engine

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 In it, players take on the role of a new protagonist in a new city. There are many things to do in Dying Light 2, but some players like to add more things with cheats. This may leave some players wondering if there are cheats in Dying Light 2. The answer is technically no. There are no official cheats or console commands. Unfortunately, this means that players will have to look elsewhere for Dying Light 2 cheats. Players can use Trainers if they are set on implementing cheats, but use these at your own risk and beware of viruses and malware these may possess. Trainers can add cheats to a game that doesn't normally have them, but this should be done cautiously. As mentioned above, it is possible to get viruses and malware this way or possibly mess your game up. So you should consider whether you want to risk this very carefully before doing so. That being said, Dying Light 2 offers a lot of content for players to enjoy without using cheats. Exploring The City and battling zombies with parkour-based combat can be quite a thrill. Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting:. Save my nickname and email in this browser for the next time I comment. Screenshot by Pro Game Guides. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get updates on your favorite games! About the Author Justin has been diving into fantasy worlds since he can remember. He is a certified nerd who has a deep love of reading, writing, and eating as much food as humanly possible. You can typically find him taking shelter from the sun playing video games or braving the elements in order to walk his two adorable Australian Shepherds. Find Justin Joy On: Twitter. Write A Comment Are there cheats for Dying Light 2, explained Cancel reply Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting: All comments must be on topic and add something of substance to the post No swearing or inappropriate words No asking or begging for anything free Do not attempt to start a poll in the comments Comments in all CAPS will be removed We reserve the right to remove a comment for any reason Do not impersonate a staff member or influencer Comment. Load More.

[teardown-god-mode-yj]

Teardown Cheats – Ways Unlock Everything – Flicksload

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 The most fun and exciting aspect of Teardown is playing the Sandbox mode, as you can spawn in and do everything you wish. The only problem is that the game does not allow you to play with most items inside the Sandbox mode until you unlock them through the campaign mode. In such a scenario, you can open and use every object in Teardown by pasting a completed game file into your game save file directory. This makes your system believe that you have finished the campaign mode, unlocking every object for a Sandbox mode. Related : How to play custom maps in Teardown. As mentioned above, you will need to paste a completed save file into your file directory. You can obtain a copy of the completed save file from the given URL. After downloading the file, visit the game save file directory. Search for a file name savegame. Launch the game and every item in the game will be available for use in the Sandbox mode. Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting:. Save my nickname and email in this browser for the next time I comment. Image via Tuxedo Labs. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get updates on your favorite games! About the Author Vignesh "Ranyel" Raja started playing video games at the age of 5. Nowadays, he is waiting for the Singularity Phantom skin to arrive in his Valorant store. Find Vignesh Raja On: Twitter. Write A Comment How to unlock everything in Teardown Cancel reply Comments are on moderation and will be approved in a timely manner. Please read the following rules before commenting: All comments must be on topic and add something of substance to the post No swearing or inappropriate words No asking or begging for anything free Do not attempt to start a poll in the comments Comments in all CAPS will be removed We reserve the right to remove a comment for any reason Do not impersonate a staff member or influencer Comment. Load More.

[lilypadedits]

kira for the character ask meme. gay - zora

I'm going into cardiac arrest thank you fkr sending the cc of all time - grim

Sexuality Headcanon: Bisexual but very in the closet.

Gender Headcanon: Cis HOWEVER I love the idea of him being trans and I might start hcing that!

A ship I have with said character: Kiranobu always and forever it brings me so much joy and comfort as everyone knows.

A BROTP I have with said character: Diavolo and Kira, I think the things of them being weirdly friends that I see are incredibly funny.

A NOTP I have with said character: Kiraboss. I really really hate them romantically but again like a weirdly funny friendship is fine but any time I see them romantically or even like Kira/Kosaku it makes me sick.

A random headcanon: His favorite breed of cats are Sphinx cats and he would love to own one!

General Opinion over said character: He's the literal love of my life.

no im doing this too LOL - slasher

Sexuality Headcanon: bi nothing goofy to say hes just bisexual what do you want

Gender Headcanon: sorry i just see him as cis

A ship I have with said character: him and shinobu obviously i love how they are insane together

A BROTP I have with said character: ok i am being serious i once saw a post headcanoning that aya went to highschool with kira, shinobu, and other adults in morioh anyways i think aya and kira could be friends. they would have been but theyre both dead LOL i think aya would find kira in the afterlife but beat his egg ass and then laugh about it or some shit i dont know

A NOTP I have with said character: i dont know gross shit obviously i dont really care besides yknow gross shit!

A random headcanon: ive been sitting here trying to think of a good one but all ive got is that he would never change his ringtones or alarms to something other than the default one. one because he thinks this will make me seem normal (it doesnt) and two i think this freak would actually enjoy android beautiful day symphony he would lose it and think this is beautiful

General Opinion over said character: i think hes neat hes interesting one of my favorite jojo villains just because hes so cool from a psychological standpoint and also hes so funny

#anonymous #zora anon #staff poll ; ask game replies

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Just read your post and agree with everything, esp about bad ship theories. One thing you said, kinda stuck out. The voting argument where Jimin went without JK, so therefore they seem to live in different areas. Then does this mean you think Vmin live in different areas? I mean, if they have been together for years, why would they not be living together? IDK, I just always kinda felt Vmin low key live together this whole time, but now your answer has me doubting that. You don't think Vmin do?

Admin 2: Hello anon,

In my reply I will try to convey to you my personal point of view in regard to Vmin and their relationship and in this case, how I see the question of them of living together.

The fact that four BTS members voted at the polling stations of their district shows that not all of them are registered in Hannam in their shared dorm.

We know, and it is no secret, that Taehyung bought an apartment in autumn 2019 in which, as you can see, he also seems to be registered. We know that Hobi and Jungkook bought their apartments at the end of 2018 in the same building and supposedly even on the same floor. Taehyung has posted photos from what looks like his apartment more than once and it is no secret that he owns and stays in this apartment. During some program on TV, one of his Wooga squad friends talked to Taehyung on FaceTime, who seemed to be at home in his apartment and wondered what he should eat.

Of course, there is more information from illegal sources, but we will not touch any of that.

It is known about Jimin and his living situation that his apartments (building) are under renovation.

Ok that's official facts of things we know. However, we do not know what the actual living situation of the individual members looks like.

Actually, all options are theoretically possible, but based on some logical considerations, some arrangements can be deduced. The fact that Taehyung is not registered in the dorm does not mean that he does not live there, or at least that he does not stay for a long time.

Jimin likely being officially registered as living at the dorm does not deny that he could also spend some time at Taehyung’s apartment. Do you understand what I'm going for? However, I exclude that officially Vmin or any couple could officially be live together. We have heard more than once about the obsessiveness of fans, about the stalking of the saessangs, about them occupying whatever buildings BTS are staying at, about the way they even go after the members families to get their hands on any kind of information’s.

Therefore, the best solution for Vmin is that they have access to Taehyung’s apartment. I think that in the dorm, and anywhere else (except for their bedrooms within the dorm), it would be impossible to lead any kind of relationship in peace.

There are all sorts of people at the dorm, their staff (like their managers) have success to the dorm and could just walk in at any time. The mere fact that Vmin (we assume they are a romantic couple) is in a fragile relationship and therefore any kind of leak, so to speak, would lead to a catastrophe. Antis and alike are just waiting for such "interesting" details from the private lives of the BTS members.

I believe that it is not possible to have any romantic relationship in a classic way within the group, and it is completely impossible for two members suspected of a romance to live together. (The same applies to J/k/ok etc.)

However, I am personally convinced that Vmin spends a lot of time together, even if only because they study together for their now master’s degree. I suspect they stay a lot together because Jimin wears Taehyung's clothes (especially his oversized boots) because even after work he was supposed to go to Tae (or Tae to Jimin) during the Billboard H100 # 1 night. We have screenshots of conversations with fans during games where Tae said he had to stop because Jimin had just made ramen, some other time he’d mentioned he was planning on doing something with Jimin the next day etc. Jimin said during Vlive in April 2020 that him and Tae like to go driving at night and many other things.

"Someday, when these cheers die down, stay hey

Stay with me by my side"

And that is also my opinion: A normal relationship will only be possible for Vmin when they are no longer the most famous musicians in the world living in a very conservative Korea, especially since they (and other members as well) still have to go to their military service in the VERY conservative Korean Army. Actual suspicions of a queer relationship within the group could and likely would only endanger the members during their service, just like I previously mentioned in my reply to an ask about Jin’s reaction to Taehyung’s “Jiminah I like you the most”.

I would also like to add some observations and thoughts to members speaking about their situation in life.

I have a strong impression that it doesn't matter so much to the fans whether Namjoon or Yoongi or even Jin live at the dorm or anywhere else.

What obsessive fans care about is where and with whom the maknaes live.

Therefore, I often get the impression that some dialogues, some scenes in RUN or interviews or other shows are shown in such a way that there is some confusion about who with who and confusion about where the maknaes live and whether they live together or not. I may be delulu, but I often get such an impression, especially when it comes to Jimin, that he deliberately says certain things in a way that can be interpreted in multiples ways, or like they mean something, even though likely it doesn’t mean anything at all.

We know Jimin is very private and doesn’t readily share private information’s, so it just seems like he “feeds” obsessive shippers, of whom I’m sure he’s well aware they are listening and just waiting for it, something that really is empty just so they have something to do, like JK saying he wants to make pizza at the end of some RUN episode to which Jimin asked “at home?” which was asked (or at least translated by weverse/vlive) in such a manner that shippers spent the next two weeks discussing what home he meant and if that means they do live together. Because of that, really, Jungkook can keep his privacy, as can vmin, since shippers will hold on to those empty phrases (fanservice) while the members can do whatever they want away from the cameras. Does that make sense? So, in the end, even if it seems like Jimin shared some insight into their living arrangements, we really still know nothing at all about where the maknaes live and with whom. It’s very smart PR and fits with the media training Idols in general seem to receive.

Edit: I read your comments and I want to clarify what I meant with the above part about Jimin, since I really didn’t mean to shift the blame for bad shipper behavior on him in any kind of way: 

I’m sure we’ve all seen bad shippers make the argument that the members that are part of their ship supposedly purposefully say certain things to send them “secret/hidden messages” or “hints” that “only they will understand” which in turn are meant to prove their ships. That’s what I meant by “seems to “feed””, not that he’s purposefully “lying” in their favor or feeding into their weird fantasies, but rather that the vague things he sometimes says, or his occasionally cheeky/teasing comments made in good fun with the other members, are taken by shippers and interpreted in ways to fit their narratives, even if what Jimin says has nothing to do with ships at all, he’s obviously just joking/teasing, or it’s just a vague “empty”/deflective statement to keep private info private. 

In all those cases the blame is on shippers and their bad behavioral habits of twisting the members words instead of listening properly and realizing that Jimin is joking or that what he said isn’t a hint or anything at all.

After all, Jimin said so much, supposedly, and yet we know nothing, not even about him and Taehyung studying together, which was quite literally never mentioned by them. Not even once in passing.

Of course, everything I've written is just my personal opinion and point of view. I could of course be totally wrong.

From anon: I agree that "Feeding the Schipers" isn't the happiest phrase, but I get what is going on. I think what J/m says and how he says it is like fodder for ships. I don't think he's doing it on purpose, however. Definitely not. J/m has this style of teasing, joking and shippers buying it as "secret confessions or notices" but a cool comment in general.

Admin 1: I’d like to quote myself from my asks post yesterday as reply to this ask, since it fits here as well:

Besides, at the end of the day, their living arrangements are not something we are privy to and that we shouldn’t try to figure out either. The members say they still live at the dorm, and if that’s the version they want us to believe, that’s the one I’ll stick to, unless they tell me otherwise.

#BTS #vmin #Jimin #Taehyung #answered ask

[a-dragons-journal]

Alright, folks, we’re within 50 followers to reach 2k, so here goes.

I’m planning on doing a stream to celebrate 2k followers, y’all get to suggest games for me to play on stream.

This is your chance to do so; when we hit 1980 followers (or 1985, depending how fast that happens), I’ll close suggestions and open a poll for voting that’ll remain open until 2k, at which point I’ll schedule a stream at some point. No, I have no estimate for how long it will take us to get there. (If you’re for some reason considering trying to get me there faster with burner accounts, don’t bother; blank accounts with nothing on them are regarded as bots and get blocked on sight.)

This stream will run for a minimum time (TBD) and then will be “until I’m bored and/or out of energy”, so I’m not sure exactly how long it will last, but probably at least a few hours (depending on what game y’all end up picking; some of them get boring and/or drain my energy faster than others).

Current options (please do not re-suggest these unless you have a more specific idea for one of them) include:

- Golden Treasure: The Great Green: a game about living life as a dragon by an indie studio, made by a dragon. I’ve already finished all four runs, so we won’t be acquiring tarot cards or anything, but I wouldn’t mind playing it again, and I’d probably allow chat to decide which ending we aim for. It’s an excellent game, but I don’t know how good it is to watch on stream.

- The Isle: a popular dinosaur survival game. I play on a realism roleplay server, and I would probably start an apex because they’re solitary, but I would probably allow people to vote on which dinosaur (out of a small selection) I play (ahead of time, because some of them will require me to get an injection, which can take a while depending how busy server staff is). The major downside to this is that the Isle can get kind of boring when you’re playing alone, and it’ll probably be one of the shorter streams because of that.

- Minecraft: y’all know the block game. There’s a few options within this one, including server minigames, survival games, and me just trying to beat the game (I’ve never actually done that, so). (If you want to suggest a specific server/minigame for me to play, you can do that now.)

- Star Wars: The Old Republic: I’m guessing no one will vote for this, but it’s my current hyperfixation, so it’s going on here anyway as an option. On the bright side, you guys would get complete or almost-complete control of the dialogue wheel and choices my new character will make, as well as getting to vote on which storyline we play (including voting for skipping to KOTFE); you get to listen to me yell at NPCs and geek out about my hyperfixation for however long this lasts. This also has the potential to be one of the longest-lasting streams, because I can potentially play SWTOR for a very long time before getting tired of it.

- Portal 1 and/or 2: We will finish at least one of these games; if we start with Portal, we almost definitely will not finish Portal 2 because I’ll run out of energy before we do so, so if y’all want to see Portal 2 all the way through you’ll have to vote for starting with that when the poll opens. They’re just very good games and I like them a lot.

- Spore: An oldie but a goodie. I’ll promise we’ll finish creature stage; beyond that I make no promises because that’s where the game gets boring for me.

Now’s your time to make suggestions in replies/reblogs of this post, or send me asks! Please do not send me suggestions in DMs; I can’t tag DMs like I can posted asks, so your suggestion will be discarded for the sake of my organizational sanity. (Like I said, I have no idea how long it’ll take to get from here to 2k; it could be five days or five months.) Most likely not all suggestions will make it into the final poll; I reserve the right to discard suggestions at my discretion (most likely this’ll happen because I don’t own the game suggested and don’t want to pay for it xD).

Thank y’all for joining me on this adventure!

#2k follower stream #<- someone remind me that's my tag for this #when i inevitably forget

[yusuke-of-valla]

like rats fleeing a sinking ship, pt. 10

Whumptober 2020 Day 15: Into The Unknown

Prompt: Possession

TW: guns, fight scenes, canon typical violence

<- Previous Next ->

AO3

~

Only the tips of some of the tallest buildings are visible from where Kasumi stands on Shido’s ship. Akira had warned her about this, but it’s still off-putting. The rest of Tokyo was still normal in the previous two Palaces she’d seen.

Kasumi doesn’t want to think about what that means about the ruler.

“Are you ready to go?” Akec- er Crow asks, tapping a boot against the deck of the ship.

“Sorry!” Kasumi says.

“We need to give Yoshizawa a codename first though.” Mona points out.

Crow stares at her for a second. “Gymnast?”

“We’re not calling her that.” Skull says. “How about… Red?”

“At least my idea was unique to her. That could just as easily describe Panther.”

“But Panther’s already Panther, so.”

“How about Mist?” Joker suggests. “You know, since it’s Kasumi in English?”

“Isn’t that a little tasteless?” Crow asks.

“It’s better than Gymnast ”

“That’s not-”

“I love it!” Kasumi says. “From now on, I’ll be Mist.”

Crow tilts his head at her for a second, but throws his arms up. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go.”

Joker takes the lead, putting Mist, Crow, and Noir in the front group. Mona and Queen hold back and focus on navigating. 

The Palace is crawling with shadows, and Joker leads them through the halls, until eventually they arrive at a large pair of doors.

“So this is where the Treasure is?” Mist asks.

“Yep, we’ve got three of the five letters of recommendation we need,” Panther says. “We were still going to grab info about the IT company president since he apparently never leaves his room.”

“We can go over the plan once we get to the safe room down the hall.” 

Mist goes ahead a bit and stops at a door. “This one?” she asks.

“Yep.”

Mist pushes the door open.

“Duck!” 

She drops to the ground before the Shadow behind the door can swing at where her head was, and Joker is quick to shoot it.

The guard stumbles backwards, then splits into three shadows.

One that looks like a large white lion breathes fire at her, but Mist manages to cartwheel out of the way, just barely singed. She isn’t so lucky when another shadow, a big snowman king thing swings his staff at her.

“Mist!” 

Queen throws out her hand, and suddenly a golden wall like a vault appears in front of Mist, and though she takes the hit, it doesn’t hurt as much.

“Thanks Queen!” Mist says. She calls Cendrillion to pierce the shadow with  Illusory swords. 

Joker pulls his new gun out, and blasts a ray of ice at the lion-shaped shadow, freezing it solid. In the meantime, Noir and Crow have managed to knock down the other two, and Joker gives the signal to finish them off.

Ths shadows defeated, Mist takes a second to catch her breath. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Joker pants, “there should definitely have been a safe room there, though.”

“There was.” Mona says. “It’s not there anymore.”

“So Shido’s cognition is shifting,” Queen says.

Skull scratches his head. “So what? Like, the cocky bastard feels like he has more control over things, so there aren’t as many places where the cognition is weaker.”

“Something like that.” Crow says.

“Wow. I didn’t think I could hate him more!” Skull sighs. “On the bright side, new gun’s working well!”

Joker grins and reloads the gun Skull had designed for him. Skull had explained earlier that while realistic guns were useful, since the Metaverse was based on cognition, they could probably get away with using guns that wouldn’t work in reality but were accurate replicas of weapons from movies and video games. Joker’s new freeze ray was a replica of a villain’s weapon from the Cake Knight Rises movies.

“Well there have to still be some safe rooms around, right?” Panther asks.

“Sure, they’ll just be fewer and farther between,” Queen explains. “It’s not ideal, but it’s still manageable. We just need to do our best to conserve energy.”

Joker nods. “We’ll switch up our strategy to rotate people out a bit more frequently.”

“Sounds good.” Noir says. “Anyway, I believe the last time we were here, we were going to try the restaurant to see about getting up to the IT president’s room.”

Everyone nods, and they make their way to the restaurant. Mist is impressed with how efficiently Joker leads them around corners, and the way he seems to know where enemies are. There’s a swell of pride in her chest when she sees Joker backflip away from a shadow to get the drop on it. 

They do eventually find a safe room that is still a safe room, and they rest there for a bit before checking the restaurant.

They get the room number from the restaurant, then head to the side deck of the ship.

“Crow, are you alright?” Mist asks at one point when they’re both in the reserve group.

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re just trailing behind the others, I was worried something was wrong.”

Crow shrugs. “I’m just focused on the mission.”

“Sure but even fights, the others compliment each other and stuff but you’re mostly quiet.”

“Why would I? I’m not part of the team, or anything.”

“You’re not?” Mist asks, tilting her head a bit.

“No, I am definitely not.”

“Oh,” Mist says, trying to conceal her smile.

“That makes you happy?”

“No! No, I’m sorry,” Mist says quickly. “I guess it just makes me feel better that I’m not the only outsider on the team.”

“I wouldn't really call you an outsider. They definitely consider you an equal part of their team.”

“But not you?”

“No.”

“Well,” Mist says, “even if they would consider me part of the team, I think I’ll stay back here with you. I don’t want you to be lonely after all.”

“I’m fine.”

“Nope,” Mist says, grinning. “Still going to stick around.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew everything about me,” Crow says in a threatening tone.

Mist hums. “I think I would. I can tell, senpai. You may be a more… intense kind of person than I was expecting, but you care deep down.”

Crow stops for a second, then runs to catch up with Mist. “Anyway, while it’s just the two of us, I meant to ask you something earlier. Why does Joker keep calling you ‘Kasumi’?”

“Senpai! Codenames. ”

“Huh?”

“You’re supposed to use my codename, not my real name,” Mist admonishes.

“But-”

“Hey, hurry up, we’re here!” Skull shouts.

“Sorry,” Mist replies, hopping across balconies to join the others.

“Not a problem,” Joker says. “So this seems like the president’s room, we just have to figure out how to get the letter of recommendation out of him.”

“Ask nicely?” Crow says, holding up his gun pointedly.

Queen shakes her head. “We want to avoid a fight as much as possible, if we can. We still need to get the letter from the Cleaner after all.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a fight, I assure you.”

“How did you get the other letters?” Mist asks.

“Well we basically just asked for most of them. In some cases we had to lie to convince them we deserved it, but yeah.” Skull says.

“So we should just go in and ask?” 

“That might not be a good idea,” Mona says, frowning. “With the way Shido’s cognition has been shifting recently, the shadows might recognize you as the Phantom Thieves right away, even if you changed.”

“Well, I’m not wanted. I could ask,” Mist offers.

“Are you sure?” Panther asks.

“Sure! Don’t worry, I’ve got this!”

Mist climbs into the IT president’s room. “Hello, sir!” she says cheerily.

The president startles backwards. “Huh? Who are you?”

“I’m so sorry, but I’m looking to get a letter of introduction to Mr. Shido,” Mist says, “and I’m just such a big fan of your company and your work, that I had to ask you!”

The president looks skeptical, and Mist continues.

“I know you’re a very private person, but since you’re Mr. Shido’s favorite co-conspirator, I thought I just had to get his letter over anyone else’s!”

“Well, Captain Shido does appreciate my genius,” the president says after a moment.” You know I created the fake Mejed for him and manipulated the results of the Phantom Thieves’ polls? And I erased all this Cognitive Psience research, clean off the net!

“Wow! That’s so astounding!” Mist says. “No wonder Mr. Shido speaks so highly of you! So can I have a letter?”

“Well, you’ve convinced me.” The IT president points to the desk, and one of the women in the room with him grabs a pen and paper off of it. “So tell me, are you a fan of my companies’ products?”

“Yes, sir! Huge fan!”

“Then you’ve got the latest model phone?”

“Uh, well no. I mean, my dad won’t let me get a new one.”

“So you have last year’s?”

“Can you just give me the letter.”

The president rips the letter from the note pad and holds it back. “Show me your phone.”

Reluctantly, Mist pulls out her phone. 

The IT president nearly gags at the sight of it. “That thing is ancient. You’re no fan of my company!”

“Are you serious?” Mist groans. “Uggh, fine.” She lunges forward and grabs the letter out of the IT president’s hands.

“You little- I’ll kill you!” the president roars before he and the women with him transform into shadows.

“You could have just given me the letter!” Mist shouts, dodging his attacks. “Guys, I could use some help!”

The other Phantom Thieves burst into the room. Panther is the first to act, wrapping her whip around one of the shadows beside the IT president and sending a jolt of electricity through it, shocking the shadow. Joker shoots it, causing it to drop to the ground.

The IT president meanwhile is still focused on Mist, who blocks one of his attacks with Cendrillion. Skull takes the opportunity to use the bed as a spring board, jumping on the shadow and slamming his pipe down on its head.

“Gah!” the shadow president cries, but Crow doesn’t give him much time to react, rushing forward and having Loki unleash a brutal barrage of attacks on it.

Noir uses psykokinesis to take down the other shadow, knocking all three of them down. 

At Joker’s cue, the Phantom Thieves attack simultaneously.

The shadows revert to their more humanoid forms.

“Anything you want to tell us?” Mona demands.

“N-no! I don’t know anything about the mental shutdowns, I just or anything, I just extracted, deleted, and encrypted the research! I promise.” 

“So you’re useless to us, then,” Crow says, pointing his gun at the IT president’s head.

“Crow, no!” Mist says, grabbing his arm.

Crow scoffs. “Fine, let’s go.”

Once everyone is back on the balcony, Mist turns to the others. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get the letter.”

“Oh you were fine,” Panther says, patting Mist on the shoulder. “That went about as well as literally every other time we tried to get a letter.”

“But you said to avoid a fight.”

“And you did the best you could!” Queen says. “You were great, believe me.”

Mist feels a weight leave her shoulders. “Thank you! I’m happy to help!”

“Hell yeah! So that’s four letters down, one to go,” Skull says. “We just need to get something from that Cleaner guy next, right?”

“We’ve checked all over the ship though, where could he be?” Mona asks.

“The engine?” Joker suggests.

Panther frowns. “Have we seen an engine, though?”

“Skull noticed smoke before,” Queen points out.

“So let’s find a way into the engine room.”

After a bit of searching, Joker eventually spots a grate with smoke coming out of it. “I think this is our way in,” he says.

They bust the grate open, and crawl through the vents. Sure enough, it empties out into the engine room, and they can see the Cleaner.

“There he is!” Mona whispers.

“Can we do this my way?” Crow asks.

“I don’t know,” Noir says. 

“He’s Yakuza, we’re not going to be able to just ask him nicely,” Crow bites back.

“I think Crow’s right, Noir,” Joker says. “We might just have to fight through this one.”

Crow grins. “Thank you!”

“Hey, you!” Crow calls out as soon as they’re out of the vents.

The Cleaner turns around and groans when he sees them. “What?” 

“We need a letter of introduction to see Shido.”

“Sorry, can’t help you,” he says, shrugging. “I’m fresh out.”

Crow summons Loki. “I wasn’t asking.”

“Crow, look out!” Mona calls, suddenly.

Crow turns around just inside to avoid the bullet that ricochets off the metal walls of the engine room.

“Don’t worry, I can handle these ones,” the cognitive Goro Akechi says, grinning maniacally.

“Sounds great,” the Cleaner replies, walking off.

“Oh no you don’t!” Skull shouts, chasing after him, but Cognitive Akechi snaps his fingers and suddenly a group of Shadows appear in Skull’s path, knocking him back.

“Skull!” Panther shouts, running to his side.

“I’m fine,” Skull mutters as he sits up

“Now, I can finally get rid of you all at once!” Cognitive Akechi says. “Our glorious captain will be so happy.”

“I’m going to enjoy wiping that smug look off of your face,” Crow says. He pulls out his sword and charges towards Cognitive Akechi, but Cognitive Akechi dodges.

A shadow leaps towards Crow, but Mist manages to knock it away with a well-timed strike from Cendrillion. “Careful, Crow!”

Crow grits his teeth. “I’m fine!”

“Skull, Noir, Panther! Handle the small fry,” Joker says. “The rest of us need to focus on the Cognitive Akechi!

Everyone except Crow, who’s mainly focused on attacking his double, gives their affirmations.

Queen summons Anat and boosts everyone’s defense, while Mona attacks Cognitive Akechi aside. Unfortunately, Cognitive Akechi blasts Crow away with an Almighty attack and kicks Mona across the room like he’s a soccer ball.

“Loki!” Crow calls, “Laevateinn!” The Persona appears in a burst of energy and rushes at Cognitive Akechi, causing him to stumble backwards.

Meanwhile, Noir summons Astarte to unload  hail of bullets on the shadows while Panther heals Skull up. Skull’s quick to get back on his feet and has Seiten Taisei sends ripples of electricity through the metal floor to hit all of the shadows.

While Cognitive Akechi is focused on Crow and Loki, Mist catches him off guard with a Kougaon. The bless attack calls him to stumble back, dazed.

“He’s weak to bless!” Queen calls out.

Crow grins. “Perfect.” With a flick of his wrist, Loki disappears and Robin Hood appears in its place. Joker follows his cue and switches to Dominion, and they follow up with two bless attacks of their own.

The cognition drops to one knee, panting. Crow strides over to him, and points a gun at his doppleganger’s head. “Well, this has been fun, but I’ve had enough of you.”

“Oh, I assure you, the fun isn’t over,” Cognitive Akechi says. He snaps his fingers again, and Crow doesn’t have time to attack before another shadow rushes him.

Joker quickly uses his grappling hook to pull the shadow off of Crow, but in that time, another reinforcement has healed Cognitive Akechi up.

Crow summons Robin Hood and cast Kougaon again, but instead of knocking him down, the attack is reflected back in Crow’s direction.

“Shit,”

“I got ya!” Mona says, healing Crow.

Crow looks around and sees the others aren’t fairing much better. The new reinforcements are overwhelming them, to the point that Noir has been knocked out and Queen has to help Panther and Skull fend them off.

“Aw, Akechi, are you worried about your friends?” Cognitive Akechi asks. “Don’t worry, you really should be more worried about yourself.”

Suddenly, a curse attacks rams into Akechi’s side, sending him across the room. When he looks up, he expects to see a shadow, but instead it’s Joker stalking towards him with a blank expression.

“Joker-senpai, what are you doing?” Mist asks.

“He’s been brainwashed,” Mona explains.

“That’s just great .” Crow spits out. Joker charges towards him, knife drawn, but Crow manages to parry with his sword. 

“Mona-senpai, what do we do?” Mist asks.

“We have to find the shadow that’s brainwashing Joker and defeat it.”

“Alright! Hold on Crow, don’t hurt him too much,” Mist shouts as she attacks the shadow Joker had been fighting.

“No guarantees,” Crow mutters under his breath.

Mist and Mona manage to defeat the shadow Joker had been fighting, but it doesn’t help.

“Mona, which one brainwashed him?” Mist asks.

“I don’t know!” Mona says. There are about five shadows left, and they have no way of knowing which one brainwashed Joker.

Crow drops down and sweeps Joker’s legs. While Joker’s down, Crow tries to charge at his cognitive double again.

Unfortunately, he feels something wrap around his leg, and Crow’s legs are pulled out from under him by Joker’s grappling hook. He tries to get up quickly, but just ends up staring down the barrel of Joker’s gun.

“This has been fun, hasn’t it?” Cognitive Akechi says.

“Joker! Don’t do it!” Mist calls, but Joker doesn’t react. She tries to run over to sop him, but one of the other shadows stands in her path.

“Damn it!” Mona says, helping Mist. “Joker, you have to snap out of it!”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Cognitive Akechi says, watching as all the other Thieves are occupied with the shadows. “Now then, I think it’s finally time to take out the trash. Any final words.”

“Fuck you.”

Cognitive Akechi rolls his eyes, and motions for Joker to shoot. 

Joker pulls the trigger, and a bang goes off.

But.

Instead of the feeling of a bullet entering his skull, a shimmering barrier appears in front of Crow that seems to have absorbed the attack. 

Before anyone can really attack, a large chunk of ice flies right past Cognitive Akechi, hitting and freezing another shadow instead.

“Fox, you idiot, you missed! ” Crow shouts as Fox rushes into the engine room.

“I wasn’t aiming for him, Crow,” Fox shouts as he shatters the shadow. Suddenly, Joker clutches his head and stumbles backwards. “And that’s not the polite way to thank someone for saving your life.”

“Fox?” Joker says, still shaking his head. “God, I hate being brainwashed. How’d you get here?”

“I saw you guys were in trouble so we got here as fast as we could!” Joker jumps at the sound of Oracle’s voice. “F- Oracle ! Where’d you come from?”

“We can explain later,” Oracle says, “for now, you might want to get rid of that other shadow that can brainwash people.”

“A-Alright,” Joker says, before summoning Arsene and attacking the shadow Oracle pointed out.

Fox helps Mona and Mist, allowing Mona to revive Noir. Queen hits the two remaining shadows with a massive nuclear attack, destroying them

Meanwhile, Crow goes back to focusing on his double. 

“Noir, while he’s distracted, use psykokinesis on the cognition!” Oracle says as soon as she’s up.

“When did-”

“We’ll explain later!” Oracle snaps, “just do it!” 

Haru does, and the blast causes Cognitive Akechi to stumble backwards, allowing Crow to get a good hit on him.

“He’s switched resistances again!” Oracle says. “Ok, before he gets the chance to call for more reinforcements... uh… new girl! Hit the cognition with another bless attack.”

“Oh, me?” Mist asks. “Ok! Cendrillion!”

“Now we need fire, Panther!” Oracle calls out!

“Hecate!”

“Don’t let up! Hit him Skull!”

“Seiten Taisei!”

With each hit, Cognitive Akechi looks worse and worse for wear. He’s clutching his side and panting.

“He’s on his last legs! We just need to hit him with a curse attack.”

Crow locks eyes with Joker. “Ready?”

Joker smirks. “More than ever.”

“Loki!”

“Arsene!”

“Eigaon,” the shout simultaneously. The two personas work in tandem, unleashing a curse attack that pushes Cognitive Akechi straight into the wall. The cognition tries to get up, but ultimately dissolves.

“Finally.” Crow sighs.

Suddenly, Skull shouts. “What the hell?”

Crow and Joker quickly pull their weapons to deal with the new threat.

“What’s wrong?” Joker asks.

“Oracle’s a ghost!” To prove his point, Skull sticks his hand through Oracle’s head.

“I’m not a ghost. I’m broadcasting into the Metaverse from outside Tokyo,” Oracle says.

“You can do that?” Queen gasps.

“With a lot of help. I met these guys called the shadow operatives, and a couple of them have the same powers as me so we can combine them to increase the range of my scanning.”

“Woah, really?” Panther asks.

“Yeah. Oh also, one of the people helping me is Rise Kujikawa, by the way.”

Panther’s eyes widen. “Ok now you’re messing with me!”

“No she’s legit here! Say hi Rise!”

Futaba’s form flickers and Rise Kujikawa stands in front of them. “Hello!”

“Oh my gosh it’s Risette.” Mist gasps.

“This is the coolest thing to have happened to me, ever.” Skull says. “Can I get an autograph?”

“I can give one to Futaba-chan for you!” Risette says. Then her form shifts again, and Futaba is back.

“Thank you! That’s the reaction I was looking for! Inari wasn’t impressed at all!”

“I told you that I was happy for you.” Fox says, walking towards the others with a slight limp.

“This is the coolest thing ever, I was expecting something a bit more excited!”

“Alright,” Queen says before the bickering can get out of hand. “We need to return to the real world soon, we’re all pretty banged up.”

“We still need to get that last letter of recommendation!” Crow says.

“None of us can handle another fight,” Mona says. “And you were the one that said we probably weren’t going to get a letter from the Cleaner by asking nicely!”

“We don’t have time to waste though!”

“Um if all we need is the Cleaner’s letter,” Fox says, reaching into his pocket. “I’ve got that one.”

The other Thieves stare at him. 

“How?” Joker asks.

Fox and Oracle share a look.

“There’s a lot you need to catch up on,” Oracle says. “Lemme find you guys a safe room nearby, then Fox can tell you the whole story.”

#alto writes #whumptober2020 #which i'm still writing in december because I am very slow and very impulsive #on the run au #persona 5 #p5r spoilers #kinda sorta but not really? like it makes more sense if you've already played the third semester but you know just to be safe #wordcount: 3500-4000 #brainwashing tw #this is me stretching the prompt but my house my rules :p #yes this might be the most self-indulgent chapter I've written so far #no.15

[crystalelemental]

sirbartonslady replied to your post “Someone opened a bunch of polls on the forums, asking about “Best...”

Genealogy is great for the crowd who believes games should be smarter than you and should be ball-crushingly hard. People who think playing on easy so you can enjoy the story is being a pussy and you shouldn't be allowed to play any games at all. That elitist mindset that wants a game that punishes you if you're not Really Good already, rather than teaching you how to get good at it.

For the rest of us, Genealogy and Thracia are far too difficult to enjoy because the games punish you for not Being Godly Good Already

On the one hand, you’re right and should say it.  I feel like there is a lot of the mentality that difficulty is what makes these games good, even if the difficulty is obnoxious and not fun in the slightest.

On the other...okay there’s a lot here so I’ll put the rest under the cut.

My main issue with Genealogy is that it feels really uninspired gameplay wise.  If you look through the maps, every single encounter with enemies is a block of the same exact units with almost all the same exact weapons and stats, just charging at you.  While that’s probably a more accurate representation of war-based formations, it does not a fun gameplay experience make, because it’s just throwing your characters at the blocks of enemies until something breaks.  There’s really not a ton of strategy to the game, I feel, because there’s seldom a time where thinking about placement and weapon triangle and shit matters.  It’s just “Here is our squad of 10-16 cavalry units” followed by the next castle going “Aha, but how will you handle MY squad of 10-16 cavalry units?!” until you clear the 5 hour map.  At a certain point you add in specific skills that are just infuriating to deal with, like god forbid an enemy has Miracle, and the game just becomes annoying more than anything else.

There’s also an issue I’m going to bring up from a video that I kinda liked, at least in terms of what it was expressing.  They talked about Three Houses and the turnwheel system, and how being able to recover from death removes an aspect of strategy between pressing forward when a character dies to avoid losing progress, or resetting and losing your good growths etc, when you can just turn back time a bit.  Genealogy...does the same exact thing.  Having a save every single turn means you’re never in any real danger of failure or losing much if a character dies.  Unfortunately, it does the same thing as Three Houses because of that: we can make encounters super hard because the heavy punishment is pointless.  Jack up the crit and avoid rates, who cares, you’ll just reset the turn anyway if it plays out wrong.  But I hate that aspect, because it’s an absolute disaster of trying to find exactly the right combination of actions to get through something.  It’s tedious puzzle solving with randomized solutions more than a strategic endeavor.

I’d also argue that the huge map sizes are massively to the game’s detriment.  Having routine checkpoints wasn’t just good for breaking up the flow of the game, but to give us story elements between major bouts.  I get that there are some who think there’s too much talking in recent games, but like...compare Genealogy with the GBA era, and I think it becomes clear what I’m talking about.  We barely know a single thing about anyone in Genealogy, compared to how connected we can get with a character like Roy or Eliwood.  Because Roy and Eliwood have constant development between the chapters, while Sigurd and Seliph have far less time interacting with others or the world around them, and most of their screentime is dedicated to worldbuilding and lore.  So yeah, Jugdral seems super developed and interesting conceptually, but you wind up not giving a shit about most characters in it, because no one’s all that interesting.  They’re not given time to be interesting.

Thracia just takes all of that and somehow makes it worse.  While it’s closer to the GBA format of having more interesting enemy placements and map designs, the problem is that it’s just a disaster to experience.  I think it was SpeedyHawk who recently made the statement “Thracia feels like a fan game where they didn’t actually know how to develop it properly so they made things way too ridiculous and difficult.”  And god did that resonate.  Because it does feel like that.  Who the fuck designed half of this shit?  Thank god capture never came back.  Thank god we realized that having one (1) random child in the map being super critical to obtaining a super important item was a stupid idea.  Thank god we never had a recruitment condition anywhere near as stupid as “get all eight of these children to talk to their seemingly random enemy unit without anyone dying or being captured, then let them escape before talking to their boss, who will join you.  Also everyone and everything can be hit with Sleep staves, which are many, and if you don’t have a Restore staff still on hand then you can never, ever recover from that status, so better hope that Leif doesn’t get hit ever.

Like...I do think Genealogy and Thracia have a ton of good qualities.  But gameplay is definitely not one of them.  It’s why I want a remake for both of them so bad.  Being able to play them with improved gameplay that’s not as blindingly obnoxious would be wonderful, and if we can get some more dialogue and interactions with characters that fleshes them out, even better.  I just hope that one character having their translated name changes means the next game is a Genealogy remake, because I am so ready for Brave Seliph and Brave Julia to dominate.

#sirbartonslady

[izzy-b-hands]

Such A Boring Day...(And It’s Mine)

Written for my DL server Bingo Card prompt: Great Depression.

Now, I know it meant the time period, but that wasn’t happening no matter how much I pressed myself to make a fic out of it, and according to Merriam-Webster, depression can mean everything from being depressed mentally; to a reduction in activity such as with economics, physical activity, etc; a tropical depression re: meteorology; and more. 

So I decided to go with the definition of it as a reduction in activity. Particularly, a slow day on tour, a day where everyone is in a rather rough mood because...there’s just nothing to do. They can’t leave yet for the next city, but there isn’t enough time to go do anything in the city they’re already in, and the hotel has gone from ‘ooh fun new place’ to ‘I think this is the most boring hotel in existence.’ And it’s up to the gender neutral reader in this fic, as a member of the road crew, to help keep everyone else happy and entertained, while also trying not to die of boredom themselves. 

My love to all who read/like/reblog!

“You have a cup of tea,” you said gently.

“S’cold,” Roger mumbled. 

“Did you forget about it?” you asked sympathetically. 

“No,” he sighed, sounding utterly despondent. “Just let it sit there, I guess.” 

You frowned, and picked up the cup. “Let’s try that again, hm? Give you a chance to drink it this time.” 

“I could make it myself,” Roger said, but he didn’t move from the bed he was stretched on. 

He was rooming with John, who had found perhaps the best way to beat the boredom of waiting until they could get on the road, and was passed out on the other bed, on his third nap of the day. He’d woken up only for the bathroom and to eat a sandwich you’d brought up for him. 

“Would you like to do that, or shall I continue?” you asked Roger. 

He sighed deeply, and rolled over onto his stomach. 

That was an answer enough for you to finish up the new cup, setting it on the end table near his bed before leaving to check on everyone else. 

Normally, there wasn’t downtime like this, but a combination of venue issues, transportation issues (the van was very dead, and at the local mechanics), and the discovery that someone had written out the wrong time table for the next day meant you had three hours. 

Not enough time to do much exploring of the city, not in the way the lads wanted to, but just a bit too early to get on the road (if you wanted to avoid arriving at the next hotel way ahead of check in time.) 

And it was killing everyone. 

In the next room, Freddie and Brian were sat on one of the beds in their room, frowning over a game of Scrabble. 

Not a single new word had been added to it since you’d checked on them a half hour earlier though. 

“Bad tiles?” you mused. 

Brian shrugged. “No. It isn’t doing the trick. We only pulled it out because we couldn’t think of much else to do.” 

“Could read, maybe?” you suggested, taking a quick peek around the room to ensure they were fully packed up and ready. They were, which meant you couldn’t use that as a suggestion to alleviate their boredom. 

“No,” Freddie sighed, and slumped against the pillows. 

“I made Roger some tea,” you tried again. “I could get you two something, if you’d like anything? Food, drink...” 

They both shook their heads and sighed in unison. 

“Poor things,” you said softly. 

“You aren’t just as bored?” Brian asked.

“Why do you think I’m running around trying to help everyone?” you asked as a reply. “I don’t know what else to do with myself, and I feel...useless. A bunch of energy and nothing to do with it.” 

“All dressed up, and nowhere to go,” Freddie muttered. 

You nodded. “I’ll be back in a bit, I guess, to check on you. If it helps, we’ve got only-” 

You checked your watch. 

“Two hours left!” 

They sighed deeply, in unison, again, and you left them to their unending but unmoving Scrabble. 

In the room next door, most of the road crew had gathered. In part because the other rooms had all been packed up already, so there was little point in laying about in them, but also because they were as bored as the band, and the idea had been that maybe being bored together would be more fun than being bored alone. 

“Look who’s back!” Crystal crowed. “How was that rotation round? Do anything interesting?” 

“Made Roger another cup of tea, John is still sleeping, and Brian and Freddie may be beyond any suggestions I can provide,” you grumbled. “And it only killed off an hour.” 

“What now then?” Crystal asked you. 

“I don’t know,” you replied. “I need to find something for all of us.” 

“You don’t have to,” one of the other techs said. “But it’s kind of you to try.” 

“Someone has to,” you said. “We’re just wasting away in here, and it’s the worst, and I don’t like it.” 

Crystal checked his watch. “Well, your complaining knocked off another two minutes.” 

You laughed and dropped onto the bed near him. “Should I continue, see if I can kill another hour with complaining alone?” 

Before he could reply, in stalked Roger, dragging a half-asleep John with him. “We thought maybe you lot would be doing something exciting.” 

You all looked around the room at each other, all sat on the floor or beds or perched wherever else there was a spot, doing nothing except sitting and talking. 

“Oh well,” Roger mumbled. “We’ll stay anyway.” 

He plopped himself down in your lap, and you watched as John settled onto the floor, impossibly yawning.

“How on earth are you still tired?” you had to ask. “You woke up today only to spend all of it sleeping!” 

John shrugged. “I think I’ve circled back around now. I’ve slept so much today that I made myself tired, so now I actually do need to nap.” 

“Not a bad idea,” Crystal said.

“What, napping?” you giggled. “Just a big pile of us in here, passed out?” 

He nodded. 

“Shall I go get Freddie and Brian to join us?” Roger suggested. 

“You would have to get off of my lap to do that,” you teased. 

“I am quite comfortable,” Roger mused. “Crystal-” 

“I’m going, hush,” Crystal interrupted, dragging himself off of the bed and out into the hall. A few minutes later, he returned with Freddie and Brian in tow. 

“I don’t know that I’ll actually be able to fall asleep,” Brian admitted as he settled onto a spare section of floor. “But I’m willing to try. I can’t take anymore of just...sitting.” 

Freddie nodded as he dropped down near John. “Nothing better to do.” 

There was a bit of a delay as everyone tried to get comfortable, to make room for each other (including Roger, who in all fairness, was owed using you as a mattress, as you had passed out in the van on his shoulder not but a few days prior.) 

---

The knock at the door that woke you was a panicked and loud one. There was no way to shove Roger off of you without waking him, but before you could, Freddie stumbled to his feet and answered it. 

Just as quickly, he slammed it shut and started to shake everyone awake. 

“How late are we?” you asked as he made his way to you. 

He only winced, and gestured for you to hurry. 

Sure enough, outside was the repaired van, that according to the hotel staff, had been waiting for all of you for the last three hours. 

“So,” you sighed after everyone was loaded up and safely sat down as the van took off. “We can take a formal poll now: what’s worse? Bored and waiting, or sleeping and late?” 

There was silence as everyone, a good few still half-asleep, thought. 

John finally emerged with the definitive answer, followed by nods from everyone: “Both.” 

#text post #LeeH writes #queen band fic

[kattaloop]

Lexa IS More Than A Symbol

I came to Tumblr for the Clexa GIFs and stayed for the very occasional long-form contribution. So I don’t know what’s being talked about and how, but a few friends asked me to comment on this. A week ago, @rivertalesien offered a lengthy reply to an anonymous question:

“Why is Lexa the one that people want to fight for but seems to be the only one kept dead? Not that ODAAT and WE had dead lesbians but they were cancelled and fan efforts brought them back like why is Lexa the only one who can't? She has to be more than a symbol though?“

I have my own thoughts on this issue, some of which I can’t publicly elaborate on. Let me just say that you’re right, Lexa absolutely is more than a symbol and should be treated as such. But what did River have to say about it all?

“First of all, the situations with ODAAT and WE are completely different: those involve complex negotiations with advertisers in order to cover the costs and where the show will be hosted. I know it’s fun to believe that fan campaigns had anything to do with it, but it is always, ultimately down to negotiations with advertisers and studios. It makes the producers and all look good to praise their audience for the “hard work” trying to save the series, but they all know better.“

It’s right to say that money is a driving force in any decisions the networks make. But you can’t isolate a show from the broader programing strategy, and, as far as I know, advertising deals are  bundled. As with any business, money isn’t the only deciding factor, either. Power and prestige have important roles in this game of film and television, and personal preference absolutely exists. As for fan campaigns, they add a voice, one that may have, and has, in the past, convinced executives to revisit the  issue in the first place. Would they have done the same thing without that little nudge from viewers? Maybe, but probably not.

“And Lexa is “kept dead” because, and this is only inference, but I think it’s a strong one: Jason Rothenberg lost a huge business/development deal as a result of the Lexa/Clexa fan drama.“

You did your research, I’ll give you that. But I’m unsure how well you understand the reality of this business. Considering that failed pilots are more common than green-lit ones. Considering that any pilot is a collaborative process with too many components in play than for an outsider to pinpoint exactly one reason as to why it failed. Considering that this industry, for all its rigid hierarchy and rules books, can also be one of the most unpredictable - one person leaves and the whole house of cards can crumble. Considering that you refuse to entertain the pros that would accompany Lexa’s return, pros that someone with Jason’s disposition might be equally interested in as in the more petty revenge fantasies.

“Jason Rothenberg spent the days, weeks and months after Lexa’s death cutting himself off from those fans who were hurt by his actions and no doubt working behind the scenes to make sure he didn’t lose his job over his unethical, unprofessional behavior. His supporters in the cast were openly derisive of Clexa fans who spoke out and a tone of trying to ignore or undermine the fan fallout was the given order. Showing real empathy and offering to work with the audience in order to heal the divide might have gone a long way for improving his image and the show’s. Rothenberg decided to hide instead.“

Yes to everything but the last sentence. You’re assuming - sorry, inferring. I happen to know that it was not his decision. Once again, isolating one aspect from its context and environment usually leads to wrong or, at least, incomplete conclusions.

“One very clear consequence of his queerbaiting is that Greg Berlanti, the very successful (and openly gay) producer of many DC shows including Supergirl, stepped out of a development deal for a new series tentatively titled The Searchers. The project was likely mostly Rothenberg’s, but without Berlanti’s backing, it was dropped. Story was that it was too “expensive” to produce, yet Berlanti went on to get a huge deal with the CW, producing Riverdale as well as the upcoming Batwoman. Would Berlanti want to be associated with Rothenberg after the Lexa debacle? Probably not and that’s probably closer to the real reason the deal went south.“

Except the queerbaiting isn’t even fully acknowledged, still. That’s a lot to base on “likely” and "probably.” Berlanti was already getting these deals. He also had his own issues to deal with. If the production was deemed too expensive, it doesn’t mean that there’s a conspiracy beyond the normal industry processes.

“Outside of The 100, he has no produced credits to his name and how he got the job of showrunner when he had no previous experience in any capacity in a writer’s room or on a production staff is certainly baffling. He very quickly proved he didn’t have the professionalism for the job and anyone else would have been dismissed.“

But he wasn’t dismissed, and that should tell you enough to not be baffled by the fact that they hired him, even without knowing the industry from within.

“The 100 went from 16 episodes to 13 because the order for renewal had already been given and the WB/CW put out feelers in the form of polls asking the audience directly: will Lexa’s death affect if you watch the show? Who does that unless they are seeking to reassure the advertisers that Lexa’s death wouldn’t be a big issue for long and spoil their investment?”

In conjunction with a noticeable drop in ratings and other measurable factors, this is probably a reasonable conclusion. They were hoping for a surge and were slammed, instead. There were a lot of whispers, but nothing I’d consider to be confirmed. What does this have to do with why they wouldn’t bring Lexa back? If anything, it suggests they know of her value.

“Fans are capable of all sorts of interpretations of a text (oh boy are we), but one thing that I think is generally considered across the board is that with season 4, the tone toward Lexa was more than a little OTT and a tad spiteful.”

I’m glad you acknowledge that much of this is based on interpretation. In summary, the praise Lexa received in S4 felt unauthentic, the Flame and Lexa were used as an emotional device, and Clarke’s actions were problematic. How’s that any different than post-307, when nobody seemed too bothered about losing their beloved Heda, when the Flame and Lexa were used as an emotional device, and when Clarke had sex as a coping mechanism and even questioned Lexa’s humanity? The latter were all written before the backlash. It mostly speaks to the show’s persistent issues with continuity, character development, and representation.

“This is just my interpretation, but with fans crying out for her return, pleading for a spin-off and so on, and generally being the most out-spoken fandom for LGBTQ rights and better representation in media (and a never-ending drag of Rothenberg’s name), is it likely that a production that never did anything to try and make amends ever going to give in to such pleas?”

As likely as any other production, to be honest. Allow me to go back to your earlier assessment. “They don’t care about fans’ pleas.” Would they bring Lexa back for the fans? Doubtful. “They care about their own benefit.” Would they bring Lexa back if it benefited them? Now we’re talking.

But they can’t just do it any odd way. As you also said previously, they know better. They may ignore us, but they watch us. They would’ve assessed the different scenarios. From a business point of view, they’d want to avoid another backlash. Then you have a diva showrunner to consider, and a guest star who is in work and, hopefully, wouldn’t return for a guest stint if it didn’t benefit her and Lexa. It’s a tricky balance, made even more difficult by a fandom that likes to tear itself apart over conflicting opinions every 3 months or so.

Considering all of those circumstances, I can’t think of a reasonable way to bring Lexa back other than at the very end. Which would benefit the production, but more importantly, a large number of fans, the tiny matter of representation, and ADC - if done right, which I give her enough credit to make sure before agreeing to anything. I’m not saying that it will happen or that it won’t happen. I’m saying that there’s a strong case for it happen, to balance out your rather one-dimensional approach.

“There is a cruelty to this because almost any other kind of story of this kind would involve a moment of catharsis, but that moment is constantly suspended, always dangled, but never in touch.”

Personally, I’d agree with that, but I can also think of writers who’d be into it. We’ve already established that Jason and his immediate team are lacking awareness and empathy. It makes little sense, therefore, to expect them to act differently, especially if they’re leading up to another shock twist. My guess is as good as yours on whether that’s something good or bad.

“They know what fans want and it’s arguable too that Rothenberg has twisted what the fans want for his own benefit: a spin-off of The 100, but one entirely about something decidedly unrelated to Lexa. Showing online fan interest might be one way of telling advertisers: see, there’s a demand for his work.”

No offense, but this makes no sense and it’s probably the most contradicting and subjective thing you’ve said thus far. If they know what fans want, then there’s nothing to twist. It’s actually part of the reason why the Lexa spinoff campaign started while the show’s still on air: to get the word out, to make sure they know exactly what and who we want, and what and who we don’t want. Jason started talking about a spinoff before 307, so there’s literally no ground for this argument, which also has no bearing on the question. So why bring it up?

“Unless advertisers demand it, is it likely that this unprofessional queerbaiting producer would do anything except the most spiteful of nods? That’s all he’s done at this point and the story this season looks more and more like they are going to finally close the book on any Lexa mentions ever again.”

Unless advertisers become involved in the creative process, this argument is also invalid. Thankfully, there are regulations in place to avoid that. And unless you know what motivates a person, you can’t speak to what they will or won’t do. Even if you did, you can’t be certain. Once again, this is a collaborative process even under the worst of circumstances. Things could go either way.

“Fight for Lexa, there is nothing wrong with her being a “symbol” of a fight for better representation.”

It feels wrong when you reduce her to a symbol, when you put her in the past, when you tell others to seek out other representation, when you dismiss her implied humanity. Our emotions in relation to Lexa are real, and that makes her real in all the ways that matter. What happened to “she’s more than just a character?” Well, she’s also more than a movement. Let’s not use their excuses when they kill of one LGBT character and put another on their place against ourselves.

“Keep using her light, but never forget where it really comes from, something Rothenberg will never understand: it comes from you.”

Now see, this is a great statement. I, too, believe that Lexa is a part of us. Her light guided me out of the complete darkness I had lost myself in, and it became part of my own light. I’ve never come across a character like that, or person, for that matter. A sentiment that still reverberates through the fandom and beyond. I believe that her light can help so many more people whom she wasn’t able to reach in the short time she was given. And so, part of my fight for better representation, better storytelling, will always be to let Lexa’s light shine again. She deserves to live. She deserves to have her story told!

#lexa #jason rothenberg #lexaspinoff #lexa spinoff #the 100 #lgbt #representation #unbury your gays

[berniesrevolution]

BUZZFEED NEWS

For 20 minutes on Sunday night, inside the Lied Recreation Athletic Center at Iowa State University, activity comes to a sudden halt. Students on the rock wall glance across the room, suspended in midair. A pickup game stops. And from the lobby, a crowd forms to watch as Bernie Sanders walks past a line of ping-pong tables.

“I used to play ping-pong and basketball,” he says. “I had a life! Now look.”

On Day 3 of a nine-state swing to campaign for Democrats across the country, Sanders is here to play H-O-R-S-E with two local candidates, J.D. Scholten and Deidre DeJear — except tonight the letters are V-O-T-E. Scholten, a former professional baseball player who is running against Rep. Steve King in the state’s 4th District, quickly dispatches with his opponents, but Sanders hangs around the court for a while, putting up shots on the right-side corner. One goes in. Then another. And another. “See,” says DeJear, Iowa’s Democratic candidate for secretary of state, “you just needed to warm up.”

Sanders, with genuine frustration, remarks that he’s not the player he used to be, then heads for the exit. A white Ford Transit van is waiting outside the athletic center to take him to the airport, where he and his staff will fly to Wisconsin — the next stop on a 2018 tour that has already taken him through Indiana, Michigan, South Carolina, and Iowa.

“BERNIE!” a young man calls after him as he leaves. “Are you tired yet?”

The senator shouts back without stopping: “No! I’m just waking up.”

By now, Sanders is used to questions about his age and a new generation of leaders in line to take control of the Democratic Party. (“I’m very blessed with my health,” he tellsPolitico.) But he and his team of advisers view this week’s tour across the country — with the crowds and their response — as proof it’s time to ramp up, not scale down.

His trip to campaign on behalf of Democratic candidates is scheduled much like a presidential campaign swing — with long hours and late nights, big rallies, small meetings with local activists and union workers, unscheduled stops along the way, a team of advance staffers ready to greet him in every state. For the former presidential candidate, who ran against Hillary Clinton until the final primary in June 2016, it’s a show of the kind of nationwide infrastructure and enthusiasm that few other potential Democratic presidential contenders could rival at this early stage of the 2020 race.

At 77, Bernie Sanders might say he’s old, but he will never tell you he’s tired.

On the tour, built to drive Democratic turnout in college towns and liberal pockets of red states like Iowa and Arizona, Sanders is greeted as part celebrity, part familiar face. “You’ve always been there for us,” a laid-off worker tells him at one of his first events in Bloomington, Indiana. “You’re like me. You don’t give a shit what people think about you.”

Earlier in the day, after a rally with Liz Watson, a Democrat running in Indiana’s 9th District, he leads supporters to an early-voting polling place about 15 minutes away. The 0.6-mile walk down East 7th Street, near Indiana University, is instant chaos. A police siren wails. Students sprint over from the rally, cheering and chanting. A walking jazz band appears and follows along. When the senator passes one young woman, she begins to cry. Students dart in and out of the thickening crowd, running up the road to catch up to Sanders, narrowly avoiding parking meters and signposts. When they make it to the Monroe County election office, a line to vote is already forming down the block.

From there, Sanders continues on to two more events in Bloomington before flying to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he speaks to two overflow crowds and a full auditorium. Late that night, he lands in South Carolina. The next morning, when his top adviser, Jeff Weaver, appears on CNN to talk up the tour, the segment ends with a graphic on the screen: Age on inauguration day in 2021, it reads, with photos of Donald Trump (74), Joe Biden (78), and Bernie Sanders (79). “Has his moment passed?” the host asks.

Weaver is ready with his reply. “It’s not age, but it’s vitality. You should talk to your own CNN reporter and other reporters who were trying to keep up with him as he led hundreds of people to the polls...They were all huffing and puffing, and he was doing great.”

On the road, Sanders is obsessive about how many people are following his tour via Facebook and Twitter. Of the staff he’s brought along with him, nearly half are dedicated to video and social media. At every stop, they chase after him with a camera. Everything is filmed and livestreamed and tweeted. As soon as Sanders gets in the van, or on the plane, the first question for his staff is always the same: “So, what are the numbers?”

He doesn’t just want to know that 3,000 people attended his rally in Bloomington. He wants to see how many likes are on the Facebook post about the rally. He wants to know how many people they are reaching — by the hour. He wants to hear which videos are performing well, and about which issues. His aide will usually show him on a laptop, which Sanders reads by holding the machine in the air, screen close to his face. He is very aware that a Social Security event at a public library in Indiana may draw a crowd of 200 people in the room — but that 200,000 people are following along online.

Aides estimate that Sanders is reaching 5 to 6 million people per day on this tour.

For the senator, those numbers are not only a measure of enthusiasm. They are “accomplishments,” he says during an interview between stops in Iowa. “So if you’re gonna ask me about some of my proudest accomplishments in the last two years — we have done three town meetings that I’ve gotten between a million and 2 million viewers. The ability to talk about our issues, directly to people, is extraordinary.”

(Continue Reading)

#politics #the left #bernie sanders #progressive #progressive movement

[cribsheet2]

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Valuable content material ought to all the time be the focus of your marketing. But if you’re aiming for dramatic growth, yoga promoting is a cost-effective possibility. Create a Sponsored Content marketing campaign to meet all of your advertising aims. Founded in 2013, MedTech Momentum is an skilled full-service Medical Marketing Agency headquartered within the greater Orlando, Florida space. Paid app retailer ads put your app proper where a huge audience of potential users may be looking for it — conveniently at the high of search outcomes. Videos can vary from app tutorials to content that helps users get to know your brand — what you stand for and what problems you remedy. Keep the videos concise, no longer than 60 seconds, and ensure the decision to action may be understood with out audio. With about two billion active monthly customers, Facebook offers you potential access to plenty of prospects. Our group puts your key business drivers at the forefront of each project; opening up a brand new world of potentialities and potential on behalf of our client’s. Instagram Reels enable cell users to view partaking content material from their favorite creators and pursuits. With Reels, Instagram customers can record 15 to 60-second video clips with music and share them to their Stories, Explore Feed, and the Reels tab on their profiles. Search Engine Optimization Copywriting Try and use variations on your keyphrases in some headings, too. Don’t repeat keyphrases in headings except it’s absolutely needed. (This doesn’t stop you from needing to repeat the keyphrase in the physique of your content). H tags are HTML codes – you'll find a hyperlink to HTML codes and how to use them at the end of this part. It is likely to take a major amount of time to get to a useful place in search results for these phrases. In some cases, it could take months or even years of concentrated effort to win the battle for extremely aggressive keyphrases. I’ve seen them rank in Google’s top 10 several times, as a outcome of they’re extremely useful. As an web optimization copywriter, storytelling can set you apart, because human beings love good tales. If you probably can weave your model story into your blog publish, article or video, you will attract more attention. Examples of economic key phrases from this record include lose weight gnc product, gnc product to shed weight, herbalife weight lose product, and herbalife product to shed weight. Page links tell Google that you’re related and sociable and that you’ve obtained useful content material that folks can entry elsewhere. This content material could be your individual or it might be from one other creator or site. Keyword analysis is probably considered one of the most essential parts of an search engine optimization strategy. However, researching just the key phrases you want to be discovered for—which are sometimes excessive value, aggressive keywords related to your industry—isn't a solid enough strategy. Nowadays, you want to find and optimize for long-tail keywords, topics, and lower search quantity area of interest key phrases. Webinar Software & Virtual Convention Platform The previous few years have been difficult instances for so much of businesses, however they have also been a time for technological development and growth. Practical ideas from business specialists that can bring your event to the subsequent stage. A stable registration course of is important whether or not your event is straightforward or advanced, free or paid, in particular person or online — you want a reliable device to regi... Attendees are paired off in personal virtual rooms to start a dialog, then are rotated out to ensure they can make as many connections as attainable. Younger audiences spend a lot of time on social channels and love participating in challenges that they'll do or share with their pals. Make positive you may have a transparent donation page to direct people to and set up a devoted hashtag. Marathons and runs are in style fundraising occasions, but gathering large teams of individuals collectively during a pandemic is not permissible. It must also have features that allow the viewers to use different feelings to mimic that of a reside audience to react when the live performance is ongoing. Later you can have breakouts teams the place your team can type a random team of two to four, depending in your size, to hold out some fun activities. It might be about sharing some interesting details about themselves such as what they’ll like to expertise of their lifetime e.g. what their good trip appears like. Team bonding activities ideas embrace virtual video games, jigsaw puzzles, office trivia, karaoke, picture sharing, discussion groups, and so forth. You can start with an icebreaker such because the sharing of old footage that are not connected to work. You can also use the platform to assemble speakers’ bios and profile and review submissions with restricted human involvement. Cvent is a leading conferences, occasions, and hospitality expertise supplier with practically 4,000 employees and more than 200,000 customers worldwide. Cvent’s suite of products automate and simplify the complete event management course of and maximize the impact of in-person, digital, and hybrid events. Hotels and venues use Cvent’s provider and venue options to win extra group and corporate travel business via Cvent’s sourcing platforms. Cvent solutions optimize the whole occasion management value chain and have enabled shoppers around the world to handle tens of millions of conferences and events. For more data, please visit Cvent.com, or join with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. What's Content Marketing? Traditional types of advertising like TV commercials, print advertisements, and Web advertisements interrupt what your viewers is doing (watching a TV show, reading a magazine, browsing the online, and so forth.). And most individuals have discovered to largely ignore this type of promoting. With content advertising, your viewers is already actively seeking information or providers via an online search. Rather than interrupting them, you might be giving them precisely what they want, when they need it. You can also use items of content that you’ve already created to assist nurture these leads. Most small businesses have more than one tool in their digital advertising toolbox. Brand guides and comparisons are other great examples of content material that may help provide more value on your customers. Like HubSpot, they’ve created a ton of nice content material, and lead magnets play a big position in converting that viewers and pushing users additional down their funnels. Digital Marketer is probably one of the largest educators and on-line communities within the digital marketing area. Using memes on a enterprise social profile can showcase yourbrand personality, and increase engagement, attain, and traffic. What's Sem? What Is Ppc? A Whole Guide To Paid Search Promoting The sort of language used in the commercials and the concepts used to promote the product replicate the viewers's style and taste. Also, the adverts on this platform are often in sync with the content material of the video requested, that is another benefit YouTube brings for advertisers. Certain adverts are presented with sure movies for the explanation that content material is related. When it involves brands and companies, Instagram's goal is to assist corporations to succeed in their respective audiences through charming imagery in a rich, visible setting. Moreover, Instagram offers a platform the place consumer and firm can talk publicly and instantly, making itself an ideal platform for companies to connect with their current and potential customers. Websites, blogs, and streaming media are examples of pull digital advertising. In each of these channels, users should navigate to the website to view the content. Most of the time, when a user performs a search on Google, they don’t click previous the primary page of outcomes. They often discover what they’re looking for, which suggests it’s crucial that your business earns a spot on the first web page of search results. Search engine optimization is among the handiest digital advertising initiatives today. Some of the key advantages of mobile advertising are the close proximity of owners’ cell units, as well as the ordinary nature of utilizing cell telephones, smartphones and computer tablets. search engine optimization strategists purpose to boost a site’s authority in the eyes of search engines by creating prime quality content material that makes use of relevant key terms which might be linked to by other websites. Specifically, social media began assembly the characteristics of Web 2.zero websites, providing a rich consumer experience, dynamic content, scalability, openness and collective intelligence. Active social media users could reap the advantages of numerous options that allowed them to ‘like,’ create and publish pictures, and addContent videos and textual content. 10 Advertising Methods To Draw And Retain Prospects Without this information, you can't have the ability to work on your digital marketing technique to draw more shoppers. Social media is a superb device to make use of to inform a story about your business, it’s success and even failures. As you proceed to interact with people on social media, it is possible for you to to realize publicity and also you additionally get to encourage many individuals. Social media can be utilized as a lead technology tool and the advantages of utilizing this software are limitless. Most businesses do not know if social media can play any vital position in their enterprise because they don’t use it. With lots of people online, the probabilities are simply countless. This means that you could easily attain your audience through the use of social media platforms efficiently. Social media advertising is a very important tool that can help you to scale up your small business. It’s the second most-visited web site on the earth and has a world viewer base, with forty two.9% of net users accessing YouTube every month. Instagram enables you to submit photographs and movies, that are discoverable through hashtags. But there are additionally Instagram Stories and Instagram Live, which let you put out photos and videos with a 24-hour lifespan. But also, in distinction to Facebook, almost half of its users are millennials and Gen Z between the ages of 18 and 34.

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You Possibly Can Thank Us Later - Seven Reasons To Stop Thinking About Discord Servers

Be a part of Discord servers by clicking on the plus image within the app or browser. However the free Opera GX browser accommodates most if not the entire options of the standard Opera browser-which, unfortunately, has fallen to close to the bottom of our performance checks. Among the finest options they have is: you may keep a voice channel on and speak to anyone on the crew. Irrespective of which server you be a part of, it is best to learn any channel rules or regulations they may have. Discord-servers.biz The primary time you enter the server you’ll must kind in your name or handle. As soon as you discover the invitation URL, you’ll need to click on on it or, within the case you’ve copied one to your clipboard, you'll be able to paste it into your browser’s deal with bar and be whisked away to the server itself. The first of these is often the strategy you’ll use to begin your romp on Discord. You won’t want to make use of a microphone should you simply plan to listen in though you’re more possible to construct rapport if you’re being heard. If the employees are these harassing you, you’re better off discovering a new server. Plus, it is easier to find your Discord server on the invention web page.

From Georgia to Arizona and Texas to Iowa, Trump's allies are trying to shorten early voting hours, limit Sunday polling -- used disproportionately by Black voters -- and roll again mail-in voting, which made it simpler for more Americans to vote in 2020 in a file in style-vote turnout. Unbiased analysis has lengthy shown that using social media hurts the mental health of customers -- particularly teens -- as a result of it creates the (typically false) impression that everybody else is main more glorious lives. If you happen to discover a link to a Discord server from a discussion board publish, webpage, tweet, or one other social media outlet. First the platform was analyzed using the discursive interface evaluation, after which its social media accounts and web site had been analyzed. As mentioned previously, the only approach to affix a Discord server is to navigate to a selected website address called an invitation URL. Discord was initially created to be used with online gaming so it’s not a shock to seek out that likelihood is you’ve received an invite to a server while playing a video game. Invite users to other servers you've got access to.

They even have the option to ask you instantly. At a minimal, collab time ensures we've got the space to prioritize our undertaking and group, since we produce other obligations exterior of our staff to think about. There are not any multi-channel voice options right now. Each time you hop to a new voice channel, your mic is reconnected for that channel. Every channel is a separate room for members of the server to engage in for either a memefest or trash speak. The bot manages the roles and offers them to these who're lively subscribers to your stream channel. Seasonally themed degree roles to exhibit your exercise and reputation! The nations say the joint present of drive was meant to make sure stability in a risky region. Russia already held joint navy drills Wednesday with forces of ex-Soviet republic Belarus, which also neighbours Ukraine. He arrived on the White House as Putin has assembled 70% of the army personnel and weapons on Ukraine's borders he would need for a full-scale invasion of the country, primarily based on US intelligence estimates -- although nobody seems to know what his true intentions could be. If you’ve used Discord before, you would possibly know that the app already gives voice channels, which sometimes allow everyone in them to speak freely.

Discord is an app like Slack that you should use for textual content and voice chat. You can reply to somebody's message in this and Flock will quote what they stated right beneath your reply, creating a forum-like ambiance. However there’s solely so lengthy that OpenSea, a dominant pressure within the NFT economy, can keep pushing the message that “all DMs are scams” before strain mounts to do something about it. But it’s straightforward to lose observe of these bots amid the assorted third-celebration service integrations, and crucially, there’s no means to change off all of them at once if you’ve been hacked. The best way you set up and use your Discord servers largely relies on what you're utilizing them for. In Discord, you possibly can create or be a part of servers. You can entry Discord just about wherever - computer systems, tablets, smartphones. What platforms and gadgets can I exploit to entry Discord servers? In response to the Verge, it appears that evidently for some purpose Nvidia is still blocking entry to GeForce Now sport streaming on Edge, however to this point that seems to be more of an exception and not a typical occurrence. It’s an ideal different to the extra pricey options when all you really want to do is bounce right into a sport, with voice comms, that your entire crew can use easily.

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