#it did the legwork now we need to take it seriously enough to do something

[fungi-maestro]

fuck it we bingle

this is so true. fuck it we bingle.

#seal.txt #anon #ask #maia arson crimew #i will say that now that we've had our fun. we need to focus on the actually horrifying information revealed by crimew #it did the legwork now we need to take it seriously enough to do something #the united states is on the precipice of disaster that has been a long time coming #current events

[selfawarejester]

It's The Vanilla And Spice That Does You In (Cora Hale x Reader)

Hey, Kit! Thanks for the first request dearest 🥰🥰! (I remembered that you wanted more Derek, so here you go!)

pairing: Cora Hale x Reader

rating: nothing saucy, they just sleep in the same bed.

You and Cora were never the closest people in the pack.

As a human, you gravitated to Stiles and Lydia — even though the strawberry blonde was a banshee, she was still more on your side of the scales than the others’. Scott was someone you’d spent many an evening with, third-and-fourth wheeling to whatever crazy theory Stiles had been plotting up in his room, which eventually led to you being accepted into the nerdtastic duo… and you don’t regret any of it.

Allison was a tad too serious, and you’d only really become friends with her after she broke up with Scott, which yeesh, but she still offered to help you learn how to defend yourself which you appreciated immensely. Similarly, Isaac was a friend, but you weren’t that close.

The Hales were a whole different can of beans. Derek used to be this terrifying entity that made you have a heart attack every interaction you had, but now was just a bitter, deeply flawed man that you used to crush on when you were a kid. Peter was the creepiest of all creepers, and you gave him a wide berth in every way possible.

Cora… well, she was nice enough. It was a distant kind of politeness, the kind that made you think it was just out of routine and not because she actually cared about being nice to you — the same way she opened doors for Lydia, or unscrewed jars for Stiles (though she did make fun of him mercilessly for it), or offered to walk with you and Isaac to Biology.

So, it happens during a pack meeting; or we’ll, right after one. You’re talking about implementing patrols, just to come out ahead of whichever serial killer was coming after all of you next. Stiles and Isaac had ended up arguing, of course — “Maybe this is just you being paranoid, Buzzfeed Unsolved.” “Hey, that is a great show, and it’s not my fault if you wanna be lazy, Lahey!” “Ha, big words from the guy who won’t be doing any legwork!”

And slowly, sides started to form, at which point Derek interceded and suggested that everyone go home for the evening and sleep it off. Stiles, Scott and Lydia took the chance and ditched everyone, eager to get away from the tension and finally introduce the girl to Star Wars.

Allison rolled her eyes, and leaned over to you. “Stiles is gonna regret it when she starts pointing out the scientific inaccuracies.” And you have to laugh, remembering the torturous night that she decimated Total Recall. But what shocked you was the chuckle that came from the other end of the couch, and the quirk of Cora’s lips as she browsed through her phone. You brushed it off, assuming that it was a meme or something.

“So. Do you need a ride home? It’s on my way.” Allison asks, and you refuse, citing that you wanted to help Isaac with biology.

“Oh, why didn’t you ask Lydia-?”

“Nope!” Isaac calls out from the kitchen, puttering in with arms stacked high full of snacks. “She’s mean.”

Allison… has to agree and leaves you to your studying.

Unfortunately, y’all are bad at it.

After a good thirty minutes of rage-quitting, Cora finally gives in with a loud groan that startled both of you. You hadn’t noticed that she was still there.

“Move over, dimwits, I’ll help.”

So, maybe you were ignorant or she was just great at hiding it, but she was great at Biology. Not Lydia level, but she understood the concepts well enough that she was able to tailor the explanation differently for you and Isaac. By the end of it, you were grinning widely, feeling like you actually understood something.

You thank her, saying as much, and there’s this underlying fondness to her smile — a very rare, pretty thing that you found yourself wanting more and more of — and jostles your shoulder with hers. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, what’s going on here??” You all groan in unison, and ignore Peter leaning over the back of the couch to gaze intently on his niece… who’s sidled up to you pretty close. “You know, Ms. L/N, we have strict rules for our little girl.”

“Shut up, Peter.” Cora growls, throwing a venomous glare that you can’t help but try (and fail) to mirror. “Yeah, don’t you have other teenage girls to perv on?” Isaac chimes in, backing you up. Peter holds up his hands in mock surrender, before returning to his usual schmooze of I know better than you.

“All I wanted to do was tell you that the storm is getting really bad.” All of your heads’ snap to the window— god, it was really coming down. You had to walk back in that?? You’d die of hypothermia, if you didn’t slip or get in an accident.

“Sorry, Y/N, my music was turned up too high.” Cora says quietly, right next to your ear. A shiver goes down your spine, and you convince yourself it’s the cold, and shake your head. “Hey, it’s okay. You couldn’t focus, I get it.” And then you turn back, frowning at the lightning that lights up the loft for a moment. “But there’s no way I can go home tonight.”

“You can stay here.” You whip your head to Cora, wide-eyed but genuine behind you. You’re too thrown off-guard by her proposition to notice how quick it came, but Peter and Isaac do, sharing a sly glance before the teenage wolf realizes who he’s doing it with and grimaces, shaking his head. “Yeah, you can bunk with Cora.”

“Oh, I don’t wanna impose… I can sleep in Isaac’s.” You offer. You don’t want to impose, but you recognize the burgeoning bundle of emotion in your chest, and it won’t be helped by sleeping the same room as the gorgeous Hale. Cora shakes her head, pushing herself to her feet. “Won’t work, Isaac’s room is messy as hell-“ “hey!”

Peter slinks forward. “I would offer, but considering my history…” He turns his sharp look onto his niece, who’s scowling at him again.

“It’ll be easier this way. C’mon.”

She holds out a hand, and you take an embarrassingly long moment staring at it, before taking it and letting her haul you up. She urges you up the stairs to her room, shrugging off her jacket and kicking off her shoes with no hesitation, while you’re standing next to the doorway like a statue. She slants an elegant eyebrow, and your heart flutters because oh my god-

“Are you coming?” She asks slowly, before dropping onto the bed. You gape, pulling off your jacket and ditching your boots with no little trepidation. You sit on the bed with shaky moves. “Okay, why are you so anxious? I’m not going to make fun of your movie, I swear.” “W-what?” “The… movie? I asked you in the hall?”

Oh, she had? Okay. Okay, yeah, you could do a movie! You picked something funny, cheesy, a little kitschy — you wouldn’t be offended if she decided to tear it to shreds. But she doesn’t, just sits there and laughs at the jokes, and raises an eyebrow at the bits that don’t land. But she watches it seriously, much seriously than you, and when you bring it up, laughing and drunk off of Sprite, she just levels you with a serious look and says in a voice that sends shivers up your spine again. “It was important to you, why would I make fun of it?”

Now you know which of the Hales is the one with the game. Further proof is how Derek immediately barges in and glares at both of you. “That’s enough.” He bites out. “Sleep.”

You’re glad for the interruption, but Cora mutters something in Spanish under her breath, and you’re almost positive it was a curse.

You clamber down to the floor, pulling the extra pillow with you when Cora grabs your hand. “Whoa, whoa, where are you going?” You blink, and point downwards. “…to sleep?” And she laughs, pulling you back up. “Do you have any idea how much colder the concrete’s gonna get overnight? You’ll freeze. Just sleep here, I don’t mind.”

You should know better, you really should, but she’s so sweet that you relent and slip in beside her.

You usually can't sleep well in other people's homes - it took you months before you could even nap on Stiles' couch - but you don't even remember falling asleep.

All you can recall is the morning sun slipping through the slit in the curtains, falling on the wall opposite you thankfully and causing you to stir.

There's a delicate arm around you, but you know Cora's much stronger than her frame gives away. Her face is buried in your hair, which doesn't seem comfortable, but you can her breathing evenly. She smells great, like vanilla and spice... just as alluring and mysterious as the woman herself. Your cheeks color as she makes a content sound and cuddles into you closer. Her eyelashes are really long, closed and brushing across rosy apples cheeks. She never needed make-up, and it was obvious now, with her freckles in full display, with petal-like full lips that you gravitate towards...

You flinch when the door slams open again, a panting shirtless Derek glaring at you again.

"Rain's gone. Bye."

"Go away, Derek." Cora says, voice much too crisp and clear for someone still sleeping.

"Stop putting the moves on someone three feet from my room, and I will." He hisses, making Cora lift her head and give him an impassive look that sends him stalking off.

"He's got a point, you know." She says, shifting to sit up against the headboard, brushing silky chestnut locks away from her face. "How about breakfast at the little diner down the street?"

You grin as you realize what she's been playing at, very carefully poking at your boundaries and checking out your reaction, since yesterday.

"I'd love that."

#this got way longer than i expected #i hope you like it kit! #cora hale x reader #derek hale #peter hale #isaac lahey #teen wolf #cora hale #stiles stilinski #lydia martin #scott mccall #allison argent #teen wolf fanfiction

[carewyncromwell]

[At long, long last, Carewyn had managed to get the Vault Portrait that Rakepick had said was so important from Peeves. Upon showing it to Rakepick, the professor had taken it with her, saying she needed to examine it, and told Carewyn something else that really gave her pause.

“You’ll need to do everything you can to prepare for dragons.”

Carewyn, understandably taken aback, had pressed Rakepick for more of an explanation, but Rakepick had been the opposite of forthcoming. And it left Carewyn feeling more distrustful of Rakepick than ever.]

I know she knows more about Jacob than she’s saying -- and now it feels like she knows a lot more about this Cursed Vault than she’s saying. 

[The thought chilled Carewyn, making her feel like she was blinking icicles out of her eyelashes back in the Ice Vault.]

Jacob is in the next Vault. That’s what he said, when our minds connected. If Rakepick knows more about the Vault than she’s saying, then she has to know more about Jacob than she’s saying. Jacob’s notebook proved that. There’d be no good reason for her to deny knowing him...

[The memory of Duncan telling her about Jacob frequenting Knockturn Alley and associating with R rippled through Carewyn’s mind again, and she fiercely shoved it away.]

No! No, I refuse to believe that! Rakepick must want the treasure in the Vaults, and she wants us to help her get it, so she can take all the glory. But I don’t care, she can bloody well have it -- all I want is my brother, safe and sound.

[Carewyn didn’t care how mentoring Rakepick sometimes acted, or even that Jacob’s notebook said she’d saved Carewyn’s life once: Rakepick still roped Carewyn, Merula, and Bill into doing all the legwork in dealing with the Vaults for her, and she still never trusted them with her true feelings or thoughts. Carewyn would never pick Rakepick over Jacob -- no matter how much doubt and fear crept at the corners of her mind...

Despite her misgivings about Rakepick, however, Carewyn knew that if Rakepick did know more than she was saying, then dealing with a dragon was even more likely than Rakepick made it sound. So she followed the professor’s advice and arranged a meeting with the biggest dragon expert she knew -- Charlie.

The two talked over the different breeds and important things to watch out for, like the Peruvian Vipertooth’s venomous fangs and the Chinese Fireball’s odd tendency to “team up” with other dragons. It soon became clear, though, that the standard textbook information one could study wouldn’t be enough for the task at hand.]

Charlie: “You could always go talk to Binns -- he knows a lot of history about encounters with dragons. (grins amusedly) Though it might be a challenge to stay awake long enough to get the answers you need...”

“I’ll manage. I’ll have to know as much as I can, if I’m going to face a dragon. I like both my life and my clothes too much to not want to protect them.”

[A voice to Carewyn’s right startled her.]

Voice: “You’re going to fight a dragon, Carewyn?”

[It was Ben.

Carewyn faced him seriously.]

“...I’m preparing to defend myself from one, at least.”

Charlie: “We won’t scare you with the details, Ben. Honestly, we don’t have that many details at all, anyway -- “

[Ben interrupted Charlie very cleanly and levelly, but it startled Carewyn and Charlie nonetheless.]

Charlie: “You’re not? Usually you’re scared of...well, almost everything.”

[Although she agreed with Charlie, Carewyn was a bit more gentle in how she expressed it.]

“And honestly, most people would be scared of a dragon...at least a little bit.”

I probably would be scared of any dragon that wasn’t Esmeralda, at least at first...

Ben: “But I saw how scared everyone was during the recent chaos -- “

[Carewyn felt a pang of guilt remembering the whole mess she’d conjured up for Peeves.]

Ben: “ -- and I realized...I must look like that all the time. It made me want to try to be braver.”

[A proud smile unfurled on Carewyn’s face despite herself.]

“Good for you, Ben! Really, Emily Tyler’s nothing that scary, however nasty she gets -- you just have to stand up to her is all.”

[Ben beamed.]

Ben: “I guess so! I mean, when she ran for the Celestial decorating committee, she was vicious...but she still lost.”

[Charlie smiled slightly too.]

Charlie: “I think it’s great that you want to be braver, Ben.”

[Carewyn’s eyes and smile softened.]

“Me too...I’m really proud of you, Ben.”

[She meant it sincerely. Ben had been the first person Carewyn had really become protective toward, back in first year, and she’d been really happy to see him spreading his wings and gaining more confidence. And truthfully, as she’d said to Tonks when they were all preparing for their OWLs, someone like Ben who feared so much might be the perfect person to know how to overcome it.]

Still, there’s a big difference between not being scared of Emily Tyler and not being scared of a bloody dragon. All Emily can breathe is a lot of hot air.

“...Just remember, there’s nothing wrong with being scared sometimes, either. McGonagall told me that courage isn’t the absence of fear -- it’s doing the right thing even when you’re scared...so it’s okay if it’s hard to be brave, at first.”

[As Ben departed, Charlie’s smile slid off his face, to be replaced with confusion.]

[Carewyn’s eyes narrowed slightly.]

That’s right. After we get to the Vault, and break the curse, and find Jacob...then everything will finally be over. I can stop cursebreaking -- I can stop worrying about R -- and Jacob, Mum, and I can be a family again.

[The thought flooded her heart with warm comfort and relief.]

Then...I can finally live my life for me, only me. I can finally do everything I’ve always wanted, and be myself -- just me.

(OOC: Eugh...if only Ben’s character arc was going to be as easy as Carewyn thinks it will. Hell, if only Carewyn’s own journey was going to be as easy as she thinks it will...!

Also Carewyn-muse, you’re really a wonder -- clever enough to doubt Rakepick to the nth degree, but not clever enough to see that you’re  being a little hypocritical in demonizing her for not trusting her associates with her true thoughts and feelings. Oh, my poor girl...

NEXT UP -- Year 5, Chapter 28: “About Merula!”)

#carewyn cromwell #jacob's sibling #hphm #hogwarts mystery #roleplaying #gameplay #charlie weasley #ben copper #patricia rakepick #jacob cromwell #jacob

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

So I was supposed to be doing secretarial work for my mother tonight. She’s doing degree-level work on mental health and I was scheduled to type up her research on Schizophrenia. But since the college has contacted her to make her aware of an extension, that has been postponed to tomorrow. But what can a working adult forced home do to fill the time void left by that?

Watch season 3 of Ninjago for the first time? Erm, okay.

So the narrative have definitely started to get heavier now. Eh, so far this is probably the weakest season for me to be honest. Like, the story writing is getting there but this season was bland in terms of entertainment. Let me just start.

-So the main ninja are back to being more active as characters now that they’re rushing a storyline, but the writing quality for them is all over the place. Kai suffers the least (that isn’t Zane), although he has the least focus in the season. The technology is a bit shaky considering that he uses the jet (in S1 and S3) and even got control of Samurai X in S2, but out of all the ninja he probably would be the least tech-savvy probably (being raised in a village as a traditional blacksmith) so it’s acceptable. What isn’t acceptable is how he was characterised in Project Arcturus. Seriously, what the fuck happened in that episode? He’s suddenly super obnoxious, ignorant of the mission Pixal is trying to drill the importance of in, and he outright endangers innocent people. And then this characterisation is ignored for the rest of the season. Were the writers asleep for the wheel for it? -Might as well get the elephant in the room out of the way now; The Love Triangle was pretty unbearable. Honestly, the biggest reason is the season seemed to try and use that as a crux for the entertainment side and it just fell flat. Nya generally really suffers as a result of it though because this shit wouldn’t be happening if she didn’t instigate it (yeah Jay blows up over Pixal’s recollection of it, but she wilfully keeps the fire burning by playing them both). One could argue that her youth means that she’s making some really foolish decisions, but it makes her come off as a bit of a bitch to put it frankly. At least she also gets more to do outside of it.  -Cole...I don’t know what to think about him. With the straight-forward love triangle perspective at the time, it would have definitely have been a douche move on his part to move on Nya even if it was instigated by her since it was clear in the second half that he was doing that and Jay and Nya hadn’t split. With the hindsight that he was never interested in her, the question is why he would this at all? Well, the first half of the season that reading is pretty easily justifiable since he seems more oblivious than anything, but it’s much harder after Project Arcturus. The reading I choose to take is that, given the later info that Jay and Cole were supposed to be prior best friends, Cole took it badly when Jay seemed to attack him out of nowhere so was just generally anti-Jay for the first half, then in the gap before the Overlord came alive again Jay didn’t patch it up and Cole found out why Jay attacked, so he decided to spite him even further. Which may be even more douchey. Ack. -Poor Jay. He seems to get a lot of shit this season, but wouldn’t you be confused if your seeming girlfriend suddenly just decided she had feelings for your friend out of the blue? And over a machine? No wonder he lashed out. And the only foreshadowing to any trouble in paradise is when he offers her Kai’s pudding cup and he does it a bit too close to her face, prompting a talk about boundaries. That’s really not enough. And given that Jay gets the most stuff outside of the main plot too (his interest in Borg Industries and the first emphasis on him being into video games, him sticking a middle finger to Child’s Play’s moral by getting into Lloyd’s comic, and even the interest in the bugs on the meteor), his biggest black mark is having to share the flat humour with Cole. -The best bits of humour were mostly the S2 characters cropping up again; while Dareth and Ed and Edna didn’t get much screentime at all, what they did get was great.  -Skales was also still the MVP for what little screentime he had. That said, the kinda retcon to the whole deal with the Serpentine’s past didn’t quite gel for me. -Sensei Garmadon seemed fairly eh at first, mostly espousing lessons. Kicking Pythor’s ass after he took his son really kicked him up a notch. -Speaking of, Pythor’s back...but he wasn’t as good as in S1. He had his moments, but generally playing lackey to the Overlord was a step down.  -I have nothing to say about Wu since he didn’t get to do that much (75% of his time was as a cyborg under the Overlord’s control). I also don’t have much to say about Lloyd "FUCKING STOP IT NOW" Garmadon since he really got no material to work with outside of bonding with his father. But most of that was in the form of lessons anyway, how is that different to what Wu did in S2? -Not any new additions outside of Cyrus Borg and Pixal, but they sure did put in the legwork. Cyrus does a fuckton of heavy lifting with the plot, he’s amusing to have around and he even got a great diet gag in the very last episode. -I actually want to talk about Pixal and Zane together because their story was really the main one. Zane is as sweet as ever, undamaged by whatever character weirdness was going on with the other ninja, and is a joy to follow. The romance between Zane and Pixal I feel was a little rushed, but the story at least tried to give some justification (since Zane is fascinated by the progression of tech and how it differs from himself). Thankfully the rest of the story is solid, and Pixal is a very good new addition (gradually learning to experience outside her programming through Zane and her need to help). For me, their story is able to hold it all together so there was still a good investment there. And I can understand why the Titanium Ninja was so shocking at the time; you expect Lloyd to pull something out as the Golden Ninja, only for Zane to step in and give his own arc some closure with sacrifice.  -I do have one quibble with the ending, but I’m saving that for the next season. You’ll see why.  -The baddies aren’t worth writing about. They’re so uninteresting. And the Overlord here is a real cardboard cutout.  -When I heard about the Digiverse I thought it was going to be this big place we got to see for several episodes, but it’s one room that’s there for one episode? And it’s not even that imaginative? Wow that’s kinda lame. I’m glad Prime Empire is taking full advantage of the concept.  -At least the pacing was fine here and the action was good. But the slow-mo is still annoying. 

Overall, the central idea is done well, but the stuff around it isn’t up to the same standard, which puts a dent in the enjoyment. Combine that with the fact that it just isn’t up to snuff on the more humourous side, and this has become the Ninjago season I enjoy the least so far. On the bright side, Pixal more than justifies why she got the privilege of being brought into Ninjago’s main cast much later.  But this is just the start of Ninjago’s story developments. I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to spiel on about when we get deeper. 

#ninjago #vedj-f talks #vedj-f reviews #NS3 #what extra can I say here #some of these thoughts are bloody tough to articulate #I'm still dreading Tournament of Elements

[spell406]

So, a friend of mine basically forced me to watch at least one episode of Netflix Castlevania.

(Disc - I am new to tumblr and had a little problems with posting this thing correctly. Sorry for spam)

So I watched one. And then another. And another… When I finished it was 3 a.m., my eyes were burned out, my brain fried, and my soul forever forfeited, but whatever, who need it anyway.

I am new to the universe, and I know that I am something like 10 months late to the review party, so instead I decided to just share a bunch of thoughts of mine. [UPDATE – Because I am extremely heavy procrastinator and it took me almost two weeks to write this thing I am already at 50% of SoTN right now I’ve finished SoTN by now]

First of all – Castlevania looks like anime, but shares almost nothing common with it. It was a relief, to be honest, as I was a little afraid of show being just another shounen with specific set of clichés and similarities that might quite not bad (or even enjoyable), but I’ve seen them too many times before – better or worse executed – to watch without a mild nausea another Bleach/Naruto in a darker scenario.

I would never demand a fantasy world to be realistic. Like, who would do, fantasy world is supposed to be… fantasy, right? I am fine with lack of realism but I can’t say the same about lack of common sense, and there is a matter of logic that I personally find quite funny. When you are about to fight in close quarters with someone, with both of you lives on stake you’ll want to use every possible advantage. In general there are two kinds of battle armors – first one is focused on providing maximum protection (like typical medieval plate armor) and second one designed to grant freedom of movement especially critical in usually legwork-heavy duels. And here are our “battle” priests in gowns. Gowns, that manage to provide neither aforementioned advantage and downsides of both. Heh. It just bothers me too much, honestly.

I really love the flow of narration; the way that every character including antagonists has its own set of motives and reasons, even Carmilla has her own background that is convicting to justify her bitchery (Well, she has seen it before, right? And Dracula wasn’t even trying to hide his apathy, so why would she like to watch as dead man wages his hollow war)(Is it only me or Dracula shows typical signs of severe depression? Apathy, lack of strength to take any decision, not taking care of himself, loss of interest – even in his own war – well, to be honest he has a good reason to do so).

Animations. Ah, that one is unquestionably excellent, although you Powerhouse Animation guys could have make use of an additional 4-5 fps – from time to time I had a feeling that there is a cat sitting on my keyboard’s space bar, pausing and starting show over and over - it happened something like two or three times. If it comes to favorite scenes – for me, it would be first meeting and fight between Trevor and Alucard. The dialogue and music is so good at reflecting rising pressure and tension between those two – let put oneself in Trevor’s boots – just day before he was rather concerned about getting some food/drink and move on and now he is standing against something that he now considers to be last boss of his life, or perhaps not, he doesn’t even know how does Dracula looks like and he doesn’t seem to be openly aggressive, or perhaps yes, he is obviously vampire and he seems to doesn’t like Belmont name, on the other hand even lesser vampire might be not so easy foe and he is kinda out of practice, and Sypha doesn’t feel like helping out, at least for now… It is all just perfect, and the sound track alone is stuff of legends. (Season 2 OST on Spotify WHEN??”)

Second best would be first phase of Dracula fight – the way which they are team working fluently to not let eachother get killed pleases my inner maniac in best possible way, although the 1 vs 1 part is kinda downgrade - but still ok.

But there is one thing that really stands out in best possible way from things I’ve seen before and that’s utilization of facial expression and body language. Like seriously, this combined with really outstanding voice acting bring interactions between characters to another damned level. (Unfortunately, national translation and voice acting is so awful that I couldn’t bear myself to finish even first season). There are few thing I consider more important in creating credible character than combining overall expressiveness and voice acting, the ability to tell words without actually using any (Finding Ciri cinematic in Witcher 3 is perhaps best known to me example) - and Castlevania does it just soooo good.

Dracula generals. When they were shown for the first time I was like “oh boy he has summoned generals, (Generals! Master tactician, the artists of war!) the oldest, most cunning and powerful beasts from entire world, now things are going to get rough.” And how did it turned out? I can understand that Dracula tasked his forge masters with overseeing the war (Although his reasoning was kind of ok, good job Dracula for nominating for executives two people, that knew least about proceeding war) Did they were incompetent so much? Then how did they managed to get their titles, if they were just a bunch of endlessly whining mischief-makers? They were supposed to know how war looks like, and how to do one, but instead they did literally nothing for war effort! If you ask me, that is at least one risen eyebrow. Excluding Godbrand, the only member of council that did anything more than grate his teeth in silent anger, killed some civilians and got taken care of quite effortlessly. Also, Godbrand wasn’t made to be the sharpest knife in a closet, but he still was bright enough to ask himself “What will we do when we’ll win a war?” Also, he managed to notice that there were no real plan to follow... That is +1 to you Godbrand, I’ll miss you my vikingy boi. In the end, if they were meant to be just a background, they did get a little too much of screen time, and if they were not, they got faaaaaar from enough of it.

By the way – not sure if it’s only me but I personally think that Trevor might be keenest (or – at least – not dumbest) of protagonist trio. He might lack classic education, but he is careful watcher (he noticed fresh oil in torch and overall state of Alucard’s hideout), he correctly chosen and quite successfully executed strategy at Gresit square (isolate, divide and destroy) and quite steadfastly shrugged  off Alucard bickering (well, most of times). Also, his plan for battle with vampire generals was quite logical – avoid close quarter cause humans are in general more fragile than vampires, and Alucard as frontline. My inner maniac was most pleased.

As I said before, I really enjoy Castlevania’s overall character design but with an exception of bishop of Gresit. There is no reason for his work, I know that he is insane and reasoning usually does not apply to those like him but I feel like there is no reason in villainy (this entire talking about making a God’s own country – well, I don’t buy it), aside of being genuinely baaaaad, which kinda stands out in negative way in comparison to the rest of characters.

To highlight the issue, lets do some roleplaying here:

The night creatures are ravaging the land that you had sworn to protect in unholy war against humanity, killing women, men even your subordinates alike. The citizens are growing restless, and demand taking an action. How do you proceed?

a) Find the last descendant of family known for their prowess in fighting those beasts; but be wary – he doesn’t seem to like you very much after you branded him as heretic, exterminated his entire family and burned down his home (probably with some of aforementioned family still inside it). However, if you nicely ask for help, reverse the curse, apology for making mistake and return the estate it actually might work. (to be honest that could be quite interesting moral choice for Trevor, to help people of Wallachia and let bishop take all glory or decline the bishop proposition and screw people over in the process)

b) You can fight them, you are the Holy Church after all. You have access to unlimited supply of holy water, relics, you have enough money and authority to arm and train people’s militia properly. Your knowledge of those beasts might be as wide as Belmont family, but at least should be sufficient to minimalize the damage. Killing the Dracula, however, might be impossible for you.

c) You spent most of your time on biting, trashing, or looking for anyone to cast entire blame upon; it doesn’t matter who is that poor bastard as long as it is not you. In addition, you…

AAAAARGH I CAN’T CONTAIN MYSELF ANY LONGER! BROTHER, I DON’T FEEL LIKE I AM   WICKED ENOUGH! I REQUIRE TO SEE SOME SUFFERING OF INNOCENT TO FEAST UPON! WHAT DO YOU SAY, BROTHER? I CANT HEAR YOU OVER RAGE BOILING IN MY VEINS! WHAT, SPEAKERS? OF COURSE THEY WILL DO RAAAAAARRGARGAJGIOGJIHKBYIUOL

Oh well.

Well, looks like I am done here. By the way, sorry for my English, I am not a native speaker (If I’ve commited any spectacular crime against vocabulary/grammar let me know on priv).

Now I’m going back to rewatching show and torturing SoTN

No TL:DR, just read it if you want, it is not an entire book, you know.

#castlevania #trevor belmont #sypha belnades #alucard

[were-dragon]

Life’s a Game

Have you ever thought about how it would look if the Overwatch character learned about their lives being nothing more than a video game and their stories nothing more than entertainment? Well, now you have a chance to see my take on it. When the mission goes to hell in a handbasket, Symmetra's impromptu improvement to her teleporter makes their escape somewhat more effective than expected. Now the team needs to get through the fifth anniversary of Overwatch game at Blizzcon and figure out what the hell happened to them in the first place. --- Umm, this grew up to be quite the behemoth. I swore to myself all of these will be only short stories but here we are. Anyway, I had to cut this into two chapters. Chapter one for the day 2 PeapodMcHanzoWeek prompt: AU. And chapter two will be day 3 prompt: Secret Admirer. (So I'll be writing it and posting it tomorrow. Which is today. Oh god I need to go to bed it's like 7 am.)

Rating: T

Word count: 6+ k

Tags: alternative title: from their universe to ours and back again, Getting Together, Feels, Dimension Travel, Crack Treated Seriously, this was supposed to be a fun trip, oh boy was I wrong

Pairings: Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada

AO3: Life’s a Game

“We cannot stay here! Our position is compromised, we are outnumbered, and the possibility of civilian casualties is too high!” Hanzo yelled over the noise of gunfire, as his comm was no longer functioning; the high-grade tech was still susceptible to damage when half a ton of debris falls onto it, who would have thought.

“I have to agree with the archer,” McCree’s voice reached him somewhere from his left. “We just lost our only way in.” The sound of an explosion interrupted him. Hanzo’s ears rang with it and it took everything in him not to cover them. “We also just lost our way out.”

A curse came from somewhere above Hanzo where Genji was covering the remaining high ground.

“All agents, to me!” Symmetra’s voice called out. It would be a risky move under any other circumstances but then again, this whole operation was a risky move. It was supposed to be a stealth mission that would grant their heavy hitters a path into the former Blackwatch now Talon compound. The team composition made them strong assault force but also an easily targeted one. They had no shields to protect them and with only Mercy as their support, everyone had to be careful not to get hurt. In theory, it should have been perfectly possible, especially with McCree on their side, who was closely familiar with the compound as a former Blackwatch agent. From what Hanzo understood, this place was the original Blackwatch headquarters before they were moved to Switzerland. It was also before Genji joined them, as his brother knew of it only in passing, lacking the critical knowledge that made McCree leader of this mission.

“We have incoming, loves, better hurry it up. Whatever it is you have planned.” Tracer blinked past him and in the direction where Symmetra and Mercy were stationed.

“Alright, ya heard her Shimadas, move it,” McCree hollered, two shots from Peacekeeper closely following. “I’ll cover for ya.”

Genji landed behind Hanzo, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Come, brother. You do not wish to anger our commanding officer.” His voice rang with suppressed laughter as if they weren’t retreating from a butchered mission. Hanzo just grunted in lieu of a reply and did as he was told. Three more shots rang as they made their way to where Symmetra was hastily working on something Hanzo could not discern. He did not bother anyway, instead, he put his bow up and covered McCree who appeared in the open just a few seconds later.

Hanzo took down two bold Talon agents who thought to get a drop on McCree from above; arrows piercing their uncovered throats. What foolishly designed armors.

“Thanks, darlin’.” McCree winked at him as he joined them in the cover. The usually vibrant red of his serape was coated in dust, indicating he was way too close for comfort to the building when it collapsed.

Hanzo swept his gaze over him for any sign of injury but it looked like McCree’s devil’s luck was as strong as ever.

“What now?” he asked, unbalanced by the now almost familiar wash of worry for the cowboy.

McCree turned from him to their resident architech. “Ya got something for us, Symmetra?”

It was Mercy who replied, pausing in checking Genji over. “Satya found something she thinks can boost her teleporter to get us far enough.”

“How far?”

“If my calculations are correct,” and they are, went unspoken, “Los Angeles.”

Trace whistled. “That’s quite the distance from here. You sure?”

“I do not know all the properties of this element but its power enhancement is astonishing,” Symmetra said, while her hands never paused in their work. The silence that rang in the wake of her words made her huff in annoyance. “Yes, I am sure.”

“Well, good enough for me. Anytime yer ready, Sym.” She spared a fraction of a second to glare at him for the nickname and he grinned. Hanzo rolled his eyes.

“Do not aggravate our only hope of safe escape, McCree.”

McCree mimed a betrayal at his words, his hand pressing to his chest.

“Words hurt, Shimada.”

Hanzo was not impressed. “Not as much as arrows do.”

“Okay!” Mercy jumped in before the banter could escalate into a full-fledged ribbing battle. “You two were closest to the collapse, let me look at you before she finishes.” But before she could do just that, Symmetra made a satisfied noise and with several fluid gestures and a shimmer of blue light, a teleporter materialized in front of them. The first thing Hanzo noticed was its color. The usual icy blue was gone, replaced by a cold lilac shade that made him turn a questioning gaze to Symmetra.

“The color is of no consequence, it is the same shade of the element. Now hurry, I do not know how long it will hold.”

That did not give much confidence to Hanzo but they were out of time now. Bullets chipped at the rubble they were hiding behind.

“Alright, one after the other, go,” McCree ordered and gestured to Genji and Mercy who were closest to it. The ninja nodded and guided Mercy through before she could protest by appealing to their sensibilities and the lack of proper protocol. Hanzo cringed at the thought of using something they only knew little about but as he had no other solution he kept silent. Symmetra went through just as the first Talon agent appeared from behind the rubble. He fell to an arrow in the neck like his compatriots. The two behind him to McCree’s bullets. They backed towards the teleport. Only they and Tracer were left now.

“Come on, guys,” she prompted and jumped through.

“Go,” Hanzo prompted, looking for the next agent foolish enough to come for them. McCree chuckled.

“After you, darlin’.”

Hanzo scowled, not looking away.

“McCree.”

Something pulled at the back of his kyudo-gi with enough force to make him stumble backward.

“I must insist, archer.” McCree stepped in front of him, covering him and blocking his view. “Get goin’!”

Hanzo growled but arguing with the pig-headed cowboy would be stupid right now and so he did as he was told and stepped through the teleport. A sound of a shot followed him. It did not come from Peacekeeper.

He did not manage to hide his panic fast enough; from the faces that looked at him as he emerged from the teleporter, it was more than clear.

“Brother-” Genji took a step towards him, hand raising but Hanzo turned on his heal to face the device, the purple tinned oval of energy rippling almost imperceptibly. For a length of a single breath there was nothing and then Jesse McCree leaped out of it and straight into Hanzo, making them both stumble. It was Genji who made sure they did not end up on a heap on the ground.

The device closed and Symetra dropped her hand with a satisfied hum.

“All okay?” McCree asked but before anyone could answer, Hanzo pushed him from him with all the anger he managed to build in the last minute and a half. It was an impressive amount if he said so himself.

“That was stupid! Do not repeat that ever again!” He hissed in agitation like the dragons that crawled under his skin.

McCree raised his hands, Peacekeeper still dangling on his finger.

“Calm down there, sweetheart. Nothing bad happened.”

“It could have!”

“Aww, were you worried about lil old me?” The cowboy had the gal to grin at him. Hanzo clenched his fists.

“You are a fool, Jesse McCree.” He hissed instead and turned his back to the cowboy. It did not help, as now he could see Tracer smirking at them, Mercy’s exasperated expression and the curious tilt of his brothers helmeted head. He could feel the warmth crawling up the back of his neck and that aggravated him even more. “Did we arrived where we supposed to?” He asked in an attempt to divert everyone’s attention. Luckily they were professional or kind enough to allow it.

Mercy frowned, tapping at her comm. “I think mine is damaged as well, I get only static and cannot confirm our position.” The remaining agents still with their comms tried as well with similar results. That was annoying.

“Guess, it’s a good old legwork for us.” They all looked at McCree in disbelief. Looking like they were now? They would be a center of attention immediately, he most of all with his bounty. “If this is LA, it’s bound to be written in at least twelve places in this block alone,” he rolled his eyes at them.

They managed to walk exactly two streets before they were recognized.

“Hey, it’s Mercy! Wow!” Someone across the street hollered. “Looking amazing!” A group of what looked like young adults in capes gestured thumbs up before they continued on their way, completely oblivious to the shocked agents they were leaving behind.

“I-” Mercy started and then did not finish, clearly at loss for words.

McCree was first to break the shocked silence. “Well, they ain’t wrong?”

Mercy swatted at him and then quickly jumped to the side when a giant purple cat-person walked past, giving her a finger salute in thanks.

“Umm.” Was all McCree had to say now.

Hanzo looked around and noticed there were many people around them and quite a lot of them walking in the same direction. And some of them seemed to be clad in what could only be described as costumes.

“Genji,” he turned to his brother. “Do you think this could be-”

“A convention.” His brother’s voice sounded several tiers more excited than it should be. But the confirmation was more important right now. They might be in luck.

“Convention?” McCree asked. “Like one of those things Hana gets invitations to?”

“Yeah!” Tracer whooped. “Those are fun I hear.”

“We are on a mission!” Symmetra hissed at her, appalled. To the surprise of everyone except Genji, Hanzo raised his hand to stop her.

“This is good. If I’m not mistaken there could be quite the number of people in costumes of all sorts. We could blend into the crowd more easily.”

A pause. “...you want to go to a convention?” McCree asked, confused plainly written in his face.

Hanzo rolled his eyes, sending a silent prayer to the kami. “No. I wish to use the crown to move easily without rousing suspicion until we find somewhere we could contact Winston.”

“Oh.” Did McCree sound disappointed?

“And you believe that will work? We could be still recognized.”

That was a valid point but Hanzo recalled one particularly awkward moment when Genji burst into his room at Watchpoint to push a tablet into Hanzo’s face while excitedly yelling something about fans.

“I know about at least two instances that someone deemed it wise to dress up as my brother on such conventions, as he so kindly shared with me.” He gave the preening Genji a look and it took everything in him not to roll his eyes again. He would end up with a headache soon if he were to indulge every single time.

“Really? Huh,” McCree hummed, tapping his lower lip with a gloved finger. Hanzo was most certainly not staring.

“What, Jesse? Thinking if someone ever dressed like you?” Traces snickered and McCree tried to make a mocking grimace but failed, his cheeks tinged pink.

“‘S a valid concern. They could be hurt!” He protested but no one really believed it was just that.

Instead, they agreed to give it a try, even bewildered Symmetra and Mercy, simply for the lack of a better plan.

The crowd accepted them easily enough and they traveled naturally in the direction most headed in. It did not take long for a huge convention center to block their view. At the top was a banner with big blocky ‘Blizzcon’ on it. It did not sound familiar to Hanzo and from the lack of excitement neither it did to Genji.

The only problem was when they tried to separate themselves from the crowd but in the end, they managed. Making their way around and to the back of the building. With this many people around there was bound to be something they could use to contact the Watchpoint.

“Well, that went better than exp-”

“Oh, finally!” A loud voice interrupted McCree mid-sentence. It was a short thin woman, with light hair and a dark headset on, scowling fiercely at them.

“What?” Mercy asked, caught off guard by being accosted so suddenly by a stranger.

“You are late! You should have been getting ready for the stage by now. Now, please if you would follow me.” She gestured for them to head inside the center.

“Um, miss, I think there’d been a mistake.”

She glared. “Yes, I can see that. We ordered Widowmaker, not Symmetra; but we are out of time now so please move inside, we can discuss it later.”

With that, she gestured to the security guarding the back entrance. Hanzo was about to protest but McCree hissed “do it” just loud enough for them to hear and despite his trepidation, Hanzo decided to listen. The woman led the way and McCree bent to whisper. “There is no way we could get in otherwise and there is a chance we can get hands on some phone or tablet to contact Winston.”

“They will discover us and then we will get to trouble,” hissed Mercy. “And what was that about Widowmaker. Why did these people expect us in the first place?”

“No idea. But how better figure it out than play along for the time being?”

“This could be a trap.” Genji pointed out but McCree just shrugged.

“Then it’s the weirdest trap I’ve ever seen. They had no idea we would even be here. By all accounts, we were two states over twenty minutes ago. I think they were expecting some of them costumed folks like we met on our way here.”

That… did make some little sense, Hanzo supposed. Still, he did not like it.

They were led down a narrow hallway into what looked like impromptu backstage.

“Okay,” the woman whirled around gesturing at them. “I've let them know about the blunder so they won't be calling you out one by one. Instead, you will go all together and stay at the back of the stage. Just don't get into the way of the presenter, he’s in a bad mood today. The presentation yesterday didn’t go as well as expected and there is pressure from up high. So just stay back, stay in character, occasionally wave or something. I'll tell you more after the screening.”

Her headset flickered and her hand flew up to it.

“Yeah, we good here. Two minutes. Copy. I’ll send them up.”

Hanzo glared and McCree who looked mildly regretful now. But there was little they could do without raising an alarm.

They followed the direction and walked out on the stage, stiff and uncomfortable. Even Tracer looked like she wished to be anywhere but there.

The noise was deafening. He couldn’t quite see over the lights pointed at them but still, he was able to take it the sea of people, yelling and cheering. Flashes of cameras making him scrunch up his nose in displeasure. Hanzo would make McCree pay for this stupid idea. The cowboy next to him stopped and turned to the crowd, hesitating then tipping his hat. Hanzo flinched at the loudness of the response. There were now people screaming McCree’s name with utter abandon. He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to not appear as uncomfortable as he was feeling.

The response, to his shock, was instantaneous. He couldn’t help but gape at his name being screamed now as well. And so were the names of the others.

The utter storm that unleashed when Genji, being the last one appearing, took his place in the lineup was utterly ridiculous. Hanzo could distinctly hear a marriage proposal being yelled from the throng of people. And of course, his brother took to the stage best of them all, shooting the crowd a cheeky salute.

After them, a dark-haired man wearing thick-framed glasses came up, clearly enjoying his welcome much more than they did. Waving and greeting the people with smiles and jokes.

Hanzo did not really listen, scanning instead all the angles where possible attackers could hide. He hoped McCree was right about this not being a trap but he wouldn’t take any chances.

“...your votes, we have prepared Top 5 cinematic trailers for you to enjoy tonight. It is only thanks to you we can now celebrate the five-year anniversary of Overwatch! Truly, our success is your doing, so please enjoy!”

With that, the light cut off and the many screens around the arena lit up with a red number 5 and… an animated movie?

Hanzo was confused. The first image was of a jukebox followed by shots of a dinner. It looked familiar to him and it was the muffled curse from his right that confirmed it.

“What the hell,” McCree breathed as the camera panned from different details of the establishment to details of what could only be McCree himself.

They watched as the man on the screens walked out and confronted who they knew to be the current leader of the Deadlock, Ashe.

“How?” McCree hissed next to him. “How can they know this?”

Hanzo couldn’t help at the over the top western vibe the unbelievable movie was emanating. It made McCree into a caricature of what he was, which was in all honesty also a caricature in many ways. The animation style was not helping. It was somewhat bizarre. But next to him the cowboy was not so amused.

“This actually happened?” Hanzo asked through the corner of his mouth.

McCree growled, the sound drowned by the shootout on the screens. “Yeah. Yeah, it happened.”

Hanzo considered that, watching as McCree disposed of the whole group with what could only be called an excellent shooting. And so he said so. The cowboy huffed, still clearly put out by seeing his life on the screen like this.

“Thanks.” He said finally in a gruff tone Hanzo was unused to.

On the screen, Echo opened her eyes and next to Hanzo Mercy made a chocked up sound.

Then she reached over Hanzo and put a hand on McCree’s arm. “It was you.”

The cowboy huffed again but didn’t dislodge himself.

“‘S not a big deal.”

“Not a big- Jesse!”

Hanzo decided to intervene. “Not here,” he hissed at their resident doctor and she acquiesced after a split second of hesitation pulled back.

They watched the exchange on the screen and McCree riding away on the stolen hoverbike, letting Echo go back to the Overwatch alone. Hanzo was not part of the organization back then but he knew McCree re-joined shortly before Hanzo arrived. It brought quite a lot of questions he knew McCree would hate to be asked to his mind. Quickly the amusement the short movie prompted in him dissipated and guilt seeped in. All of a sudden it felt like a violation. And from McCree’s stiff posture, it was.

A yellowish number four flashed on the screens, followed by a forest scene, with a yellow bird flitting around.

It took him an embarrassingly long to realize he knew this exact bird. Ganymede.

They all watched Bastions awakening with rapture. After the violence of McCree’s past, it felt wondrously peaceful. It was all the more shocking then when Hanzo watched what could only be described as a flashback occur. He could hear his brother's silent curse and Tracer’s gasp at the sudden devastation and fear in the omnics posture as he looked around his destroyed surroundings.

Yet again, the feeling of violation bubbled in Hanzo’s throat.

This should not be happening. No one should know this. And if they did, it should not be entertainment. What was this? Were they forced forward in time? Did the augmented teleporter interact in some way with Tracer’s device? Something like this happened after the fall of the old Overwatch; holovids of the past deeds and life stories were often made and screened on occasion. But these were no holovids.

In fact, since when they started using these thick screens again?

“Never realized how damn important the bird was,” McCree murmured beside him, and Hanzo had to agree. They all accepted and welcomed the strange pair when Torbjorn brought them in. But no one thought much of the bird. Why would they?

A number three flashed, this time in white.

The dread Hanzo felt grew as they went through moments of Winston protecting all agents’ data from a Talon attack and instigating the recall. And then as Widowmaker appeared. To have an insight into Talon’s best sniper felt nearly as wrong as seeing Winston’s childhood memories.

He heard Tracer whimper, a sound he did not believe she could make with her ever-optimistic attitude. He peeked around Mercy and Symmetra to see her clutching at Genji’s arm.

At the screens above them, Tekhartha Mondatta fell and the lights on his forehead went out with a flicker.

“This is fucked up,” McCree growled. Hanzo could feel the tension radiating from the gunslinger.

As the face of Widomaker disappeared in the dark Hanzo did not have to look, he knew Genji was hugging Tracer now, an unintelligible stream of soothing words reminding Hanzo of a static more than a human voice. Someone in the audience cooed.

It took all the restraint he possessed to stay rooted in the spot. McCree next to him sneered, audibly gritting his teeth even over the dying music from the speakers.

Hanzo almost did not look in time to see the last number glow in a mix of electric green and blue. The dread peaking in a crescendo of panic. The lilting music and the art style just solidifying the terror clogging his lungs.

His mind blanked at the voice of his father spreading through the arena.

Genji’s gasp was almost as loud as the screaming whiteness in Hanzo’s head.

Please.

Please, not this. They couldn’t have made entertainment from the worst mistake of his life. That would be too twisted.

Hanzo wasn’t sure from where he gathered the strength to look up. But seeing himself not that much younger than he’s now brought a relief that made his knees buckle.

He watched himself made his way into the courtyard of the Shimada castle, quickly and efficiently disposing of the guards stationed at the gate.

“Clean work,” McCree murmured next to him but Hanzo could not react, instead he listened to his father’s retelling of the family legend. The dragons depicted in the dojo reenacting the story of his life. Their lives.

For only now he saw the silhouette of his brother against the night sky, following him into the castle. How foolish of him, not paying attention. If that had been anyone else, he would be long dead.

As they all focused on the Hanzo in front of the bloodied tapestry, he could feel something moving past his back, smelled a whiff of stale smoke from the brand of cigar McCree preferred, the warmth always radiating from the man; and he knew there was a hand hovering just a few centimeters from his back. He did not know what he would do if McCree finished the gesture.

He could not- With this many people-

The feeling disappeared and McCree next to him sighed. Hanzo let out a silent breath.

Genji on the screen confronted him and Hanzo winced. He did not know who the cyborg was at the time but watching them fight now made his gut twist in revulsion.

He heard Mercy’s exclamation “Mein Gott!” as Genji deflected the dragons and they surrounded Hanzo. He could recall the searing pain as they kept attacking in their disorientation, only their bond to him preventing them from making any permanent or serious harm. But it left him dazed and weak. And so utterly confused.

To watch their conversation now, Hanzo could not remember it going that way. He remembered shock, relief, betrayal, anger. And hope. Something he hadn’t felt for all of the ten years before that.

His own distrustful reaction was making him angry now. To know his brother was alive in front of him yet still to point an arrow at him. But at the time, he had not trusted the hope. An infuriating ruse was more probable.

As the screens darkened the people all around them boomed with cheers, their hollering startling him.

“Alright, alright! This is what you voted for, folks. The top five Overwatch cinematic trailers and I, for one, am not surprised by the number one! Let me hear it, where all the Hanzo mains at???”

A substantial portion of people waved their hands in the air. The man laughed.

“And you all switch to healers when it’s needed, don’t you?” More screams of assent. “I knew that. You guys are no trolls.”

A hand on his shoulder startled Hanzo. Genji was there, visor glowing bright green, the other hand outstretched towards him.

And this time Hanzo did not hesitate to take it, crowds be dammed.

There was more screaming but he could ignore it a bit easier with his brother physically anchoring him in the moment. He let out a long breath.

“This is the worst mission ever.”

Genji chuckled. “Come one now. Worse than the first time you had to take me on a clan negotiation.”

Hanzo winced. He recalled that fiasco. They were still banned from that particular casino.

“Worst. Ever.”

“Alright.” Genji acquiesced. He waved few times to the crowd that was now again focusing on them and the presenter. The others, all still visibly shaken, seemed to come to their senses enough to play the roles - whatever those were supposed to be.

Hanzo did not listen to the man anymore, he had enough. Instead, he leaned over to the others.

“We have to get some device and try to find out what is this place.”

“And contact Winston.” Tracer peeped up.

Hanzo did not share his, admittedly whacky, theory about time travel but doubted there would be any Winston to contact here. But they could try. Maybe they will be lucky. For the first time today.

As they followed the man out of the stage several moments and a lot of waving later, the harried looking woman with a headset was waiting for them.  

“Okay, that went well. Good job, guys. Now, go mingle.”

“I beg your pardon?” McCree asked and she frowned at him.

“Go greet the fans.” Their bank faces must have been too much because she gritted her teeth. “I knew we should have gone with the cosplayers instead of damn actors. Do you at least know your lines?”

“There’s no need to be rude!” Tracer jumped in and the woman gave a satisfied nod.

“Nice, almost like the real Tracer, good. Now, please, spread amongst the fans, take pictures, entertain them. You know, do your job,” she emphasized, then pushed a button on the headset. “Yes, I know! They will be out in a second, we are on schedule, don’t worry.” She looked back to them. “Someone will keep an eye on you in case people start to harass you beyond reason. Other then that, you are on your own for the next two hours. Then meet me back here, for the final ceremony. Now go!”

They took the chance they were given and headed out of the backstage through a small unassuming door that had a ‘staff only’ sign on the outside of it.

“I-” tracer started, then fell silent. Several seconds ticked by before she tried again. “I don’t know what to think about this. It’s so surreal. It’s like we are not real to them.”

Mercy nodded, her brows creased in displeasure. Or distress. Hanzo was not well versed in her facial expressions, not even after two years with the team.

He contemplated sharing his thought on the matter but decided against it. “We should hurry and find a way to try and contact Watchpoint.”

McCree made a sound as if remembering something and then pulled something from his pocket. It looked like a bulky version of a holophone.

“Where did you get that?” Symmetra asked, taking it gingerly into her hand.

McCree shrugged. “Swiped it of the guy with glasses.”

The architech made a scandalized face at that, while Genji snickered patting McCree’s shoulder. “Nice one. Can we get into it?”

“It seems to be secured with a password, give me a few moments.” They all automatically made a wall of bodies around their working teammate. Whatever this was, no one needed to see her work with her hardlight technology.

It took about four minutes before she made a noise of satisfaction and handed it over to Tracer, who automatically put in the correct number for emergencies. They should have no problem getting connected to Athena, who would create a secure connection between them and the Watchpoint.

The look on Tracer’s face did not speak of success, however. She pulled the phone from her ear, making a face at it.

“It says the number doesn’t exist.”

“Can you access the internet from it?”

Tracer tried and nodded.

“Put in Overwatch.”

She gave him a puzzled look. And he gestured impatiently. “Do it, please.”

The please did it. He did not use it often and his teammates learned quickly to not dally if he did.

Several taps later, she gasped. “There’s nothing! Well, not nothing but all it has is some video game. Nothing about the real Overwatch!”

“Kuso!” The curse flew out of his mouth before he could even attempt to stop it. He was right, this wasn’t where they were supposed to be. Also, it ruled out time travel.  

“What do you mean there is nothing? You can’t erase that much information!” Mercy protested.

“It is not erased-” Hanzo began in an audibly defeated tone.

“-it never existed,” finished Symmetra, her eyes sparkling. “We knew. We knew it was not just a theory!”

“What? Wait, what?” McCree flickered between them. “What are you two on about?”

“Parallel realities!” Symmetra said in a voice far too excited for the situation. Then she dug into the compartment in her arm where she kept all her tools and pulled out the vial of purple colored something. Hanzo could not discern if it was liquid or solid.

“This is the sample I found in the briefcase in the rubble while we fought Talon. It made my teleporter several magnitudes more powerful but there was no information about it in the briefcase. I suspect it was being moved to or from the compound. If this indeed is what made us travel between the realities…” She let her voice fade as they all contemplated her words in silent horror.

“Talon has this,” Tracer whispered.

“And probably much more of it.” Symmetra nodded.

Hanzo did not understand the words Mercy said next but he understood the tone.

“We had no idea Talon has such weapon. They could invade other realities. Worlds that have no idea Talon exists.” Genji’s words painted a dark picture. McCree cursed.

“We can’t do nothin’ if we are not back in our own reality.” He paused, probably trying to come to terms with the sentence he had just said. Hanzo sympathized.

The sound of door closing startled them all.

Symmetra hid the vial back in her arm as they started moving towards the main hallway.

“We need to get out of here. Not just this world, this building.”

“You heard her, they will be keeping an eye on us.”

“So?”

“So, I don’t feel like making a scene. We need to get out of here quietly.”

“You have any ideas?” Genji asked him before McCree could say anything else.

“Let us split into pairs, making our way like that will be less conspicuous. We can circle to the exit by pretending to be what they think we are, just greeting the fans.”

“I still can’t believe we aren’t more than characters in a video game here,” Tracer murmured.

Hanzo tried very hard not to dwell on that. If he let himself fall down the rabbit hole he would be too distracted to be useful. They were still on a mission as far as he was concerned.

Alas, his brother seemed to be of a different opinion. He pulled Hanzo back a little, lowering his head towards his ear.

“Anija, are you okay?”

What a loaded question, Hanzo thought but nodded. “I am fine. Are you?”

Genji did not reply immediately and that made Hanzo pause in his step and look up at him. When his brother sighed he stopped completely.

“Genji?”

The cyborg turned to him but he was looking down, somewhere past Hanzo’s waist. “I think I have forgotten our father’s voice.”

Hanzo stared.

“I do remember his words. His actions. But hearing it today, it sounded foreign to me.”

What could he say to that? To himself that seemed unimaginable. The sound of his father’s voice was a near constant in his mind. Disparaging and reprimanding in equal measures.

“Does it bother you?” he asked finally.

“I do not know. I have some memories of the time we were children when he still occasionally acted like a father. But not many. And not as important as… other memories.” This time he did look at Hanzo. “You look a lot like he did.”

Hanzo knew that. Especially now that his undercut grew back in, the gray around his ears even more prominent. His feelings about it were complicated.

“Does it bother you?” he had to ask again. But Genji shook his head with a chuckle.

“You wear it better, aniki. Though I still think you are too young for grays. You are ruining our image.”

That made Hanzo roll his eyes. It was an old and well-rehearsed argument.

“Come on!” McCree called before he could say more. “Move it you two!”

Instead, he patted Genji’s shoulder in a consoling gesture that felt appropriate. His brother was always the tactile one between the two of them and it took a lot from Hanzo to reacquaintance himself with it. But after two years of rebuilding it came to him easier than he would have thought. Still, it wasn't the same as when they were boys and he made his peace with it. Some things cannot be salvaged, no matter how much work one puts towards it.

The others were waiting for them by the map of the complex, people milling around them, chattering excitedly as they headed for their destinations. Some pausing to look at the group, few even pulling out their bulky phones and snapping pictures.

“Okay,” McCree said when they joined them. “We will head for this exit here.” He pointed at the map. “It’s closest to the parking lots and we can disappear there. Symmetra thinks she can reverse whatever she did to her teleporter to get us back but she will need time to do it. So, she and Mercy will take the direct route. The four of us will cover for them, that means attracting attention so they won’t be held up much. You three okay with that?” Genji and Tracer both nodded and Hanzo knew it was what they needed to do. So he acquiesced as well.

“Alright. Genji, you and Tracer will take this route,” he guided his finger on the map alongside their trail near the resting area and food stands, then switched to a different one. “This one’s ours, I think it’s where the trinkets can be bought or something.”

They all agreed and after that, there was no more hesitation. They had a plan now. It was better than what they had fifteen minutes ago.

“Yer pretty quiet,” McCree said as another well-pleased fan hopped off with at least six photos of them with and without her.

“That is unusual?”

McCree laughed. “Maybe not. But this is a different kind of quiet. Something on your mind?”

Hanzo huffed. McCree knew very well there was bound to be a lot on all of their minds. That is what happens when one discovers multidimensional travel is possible.

But he also knew that was not what McCree was asking about.

“There never was an Omnic crisis in this world. There are no Omnics either. Can you imagine that?”

McCree shrugged.

“‘am sure they have their own troubles. No world can be idyllic. Humans are too flawed fer that.”

Hanzo cocked an eyebrow at him. “How cynical of you.” He couldn’t stop the small smirk.

“Nah. Just realistic. And you are deflecting.”

“Maybe,” Hanzo allowed, stopping as a group of youngsters in costumes approached. One of them had a vibrant green hair and orange scarf. Also, a paper katana strapped to his back.

“Brother!” He called, throwing hands in the air in excitement. Hanzo realized he was indeed looking similar to how Genji had looked in their teenage years. The pang of pain was expected but no less sharp for it.

“Genji,” he allowed, playing his role. Behind the young Genji was a girl dressed as Mei and… was that a really thin Reinhardt?

“Oh wow. I’ve never seen cosplay this good!” The Mei gushed. “Or McCree this hot,” she added in a very un-Mei like manner.

McCree just laughed, sparing a wink for her.

“Now ain’t you a sweetheart. Thank ya kindly.”

She blushed. Hanzo couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Do not flatter him. His ego barely fits in here as it is.”

“Ouch! So cruel, archer!” McCree presses a hand to his chest plate. Hanzo was unmoved.

“Aww, you two are too cute together!” The Reinhardt of all people cooed and Hanzo startled.

They were nothing of the sort!

“Right? I keep telling him but he just won’t budge!” McCree exclaimed and Hanzo wished he could punch him.

The trio cooed some more and then asked for pictures. They obliged, Hanzo waiting just long enough for them to be out of earshot before turning to the cowboy.

“That was in no way necessary!”

“Oh come on, Hanzo. You can’t say you didn’t notice.”

Hanzo did notice. He saw the pictures changing hands and heard the exclaims of joy when some people saw them side by side. These three weren’t even the first to imply Hanzo and McCree were in some sort of relationship. But that did not actually mean anything and he did not wish to consider the implications. Not more than he already did, anyway.

“It is different. To them we are just characters.”

McCree’s eyes bore into him. He could feel it as he avoided them, pinning his own gaze at the exit in the distance.

He heard McCree murmur something under his breath but when nothing else came from the cowboy, he relaxed.

By the time they got to the exit, they had been stopped innumerable times for photographs or just to be told their ‘costumes’ are splendid. They had encountered varieties of versions of other Overwatch agents, amongst which were particularly memorable cat Genji, female versions of both of them, pink Reaper that made McCree laugh to the point of tears, and slutty Soldier 76 that made McCree pale in horror and Hanzo consider a blunt force trauma as possibility for memories removal. It took them more than an hour to get through the hall and they were both utterly exhausted by the forced human interaction.

It felt heavenly to finally slip through the door and towards freedom.

The underground parking lot they were supposed to meet in was not far and it took about four minutes of brisk walk to get there. Both Tracer and Genji and Mercy and Symmetra were already there.

Hanzo raised his eyebrows at several items his brother was holding pressed to his chest.

“Really, brother? Souvenirs?”

Genji looked back at him unashamed and unapologetic. “These will all be one of a kind when we get back. And they were gifts!”

Hanzo turned to Tracer, who just shrugged and grinned. Her mood seemed to improve quite a bit; she almost appeared to be in her usual good spirits.

“How’s it lookin’?” McCree asked.

“We are ready. Just waiting for you to get here.”

Hanzo looked at the purple-tinged teleporter in Symmetra’s hands.

“You believe it will work?” he asked seriously, not because he doubted her abilities but because this was all guessing work.

“I reversed it exactly. If our assumptions are correct there is no reason why it shouldn’t work.”

“That means we will end up right at the door of high alert Talon base, though,” McCree pointed out.

“Well,” Tracer said, “At least we will know right away if it worked. And we got out of worse, so don’t you worry too much.”

Hanzo really had no more to add and so he just nodded and Symmetra activated it.

This time, McCree was the first one through, and as always, Hanzo followed the foolish man.

#mchanzo #my fic #peapodmchanzoweek #day 2 #jesse mccree #hanzo shimada #genji shimada #shimada brothers #tracer #mercy #symmetra #au

[whereyoursoulresides]

DiC Dub vs Sub Episode 19/23 - “Molly’s Folly” / “Wish Upon a Shooting Star! Naru’s Pure Love”

Oh boy I’m really enjoying rewatching both sets of episodes again. Honestly at this point I’m doing these almost for archival sake - if I don’t, I fear one day I might forget and there’s just so much of a difference between the two that I feel like I must document it! And now, without further ado:

I mostly do this for KZ so let’s just skip straight to as close to them as we can get. Beryl(s) are mad, perfect.

Both Zoycite/Zoisite show up laughing and giggling. As usual, Zoycite’s malevolence has been amped up a notch, while Zoisite is still very soft-spoken and coy.

I actually really like how poetic Zoisite is in this frame? How lovely <3.

Y’know, while it’s obvious Zoycite is being clearly sarcastic here, because it’s so clear she’s a meanie, Zoisite says this with the same kind of gentle quietness that he uses in the episode with Nephrite’s death. It’s a nice consistent contrast in his character- that his mannerisms are soft and polite and quite unassuming, but then he’ll say such dark things so casually and gracefully. As Yumeni Yumeno says, “beautiful but frightening”.

But cutting ahead to the next bit with Zoy/i:

I’m not going to lie, if there is only one thing I quite like about the Dub, it’s how the voice actors really just embraced their characters and 110% all in. Neflyte and Zoycite especially have a great range in the emotion and relish in their voices (although then it does edge into hammy territory), but unfortunately I can’t express it in the captions accurately. But like, seriously, omg, Zoycite is such a bitch right now! “Oh, just to offer you a bit of good advice.”

Conversely, this scene in the Sub goes down surprisingly quietly. Zoisite speaks pretty much with the same note he used in the episode with the twins, almost conversationally mild in comparison to Zoycite. Also, he does say “My” in English, which I find quite cute. It’s almost like a bored-gossip voice.

!!! What IS HAPPENING? All this sudden reference to their relationship that DiC squished in there! “My good friend” WHAT. 

Again, while Zoycite is basically both heckling and threatening Neflyte, Zoisite is actually just being informative. Like in previous episodes, it’s implied that Zoycite sort of acts like a bit of a teacher’s pet, ready to out Neflyte to Beryl at a moment’s notice. However, the dynamic with Zoisite and Nephrite is slightly different - despite knowing where Nephrite is, Zoisite never outs him, or even threatens to out him explicitly to Beryl, nor does Nephrite even worry that’s a possibility. In fact, Nephrite thinks of a completely different suspicion:

WHOA SO MUCH GOLD in these two panels!!

FIRST - Neflyte, referring to Zoycite quite bitterly as not being a good friend - he seems quite fucking pissed about this reference. And in this episode, it’s the second (out of three) that imply some kind of history between the two of them, that they’ve known each other longer and have had a relationship of sorts before we see them on screen. This, most definitely, is to set up Zoycite as a foil for Neflyte’s redemption...just as the previous episodes have been consistently building. DiC is using these moments to underline the possibility that if Neflyte can be good, then Zoycite must’ve once possibly been good, and turned quite bad. Can’t have all your villains have redeeming qualities, apparently, because kids might not get the message then!

SECOND - WHOA NEPHRITE WHAT’S WITH THE DRIVE-BY?! ALSO, HOW well-known is Kunzite and Zoisite’s relationship that this can just CROP UP SO CASUALLY in conversation?? Or was that meant to be a hit of some sort, like hmph, you’re Kunzite’s lapdog again? OR...does Nephrite know that the real concern isn’t Beryl coming down with his own undoing, that it might be Kunzite orchestrating it? OR OR - weirdly - is Kunzite checking up on him as an echo of how the Shitennou once worked? ‘Cause I mean, not going to lie, Kunzite asking someone to check up on Nephrite to make sure he doesn’t fuck himself up seems like a job he was probably doing back in the Golden Kingdom.

Continuing, the DiC dub is really playing with this suggestion that they once had a friendship that turned sour. Could be DiC’s explaination as to why Neflyte puts up so much with Zoycite, or seems to have more patience with her than Nephrite does with Zoisite. 

Also, GOOD FOR YOU ZOISITE, way to completely keep your composure and totally bypass Nephrite’s zinger! Look at that sweet poker face, I’m so proud!

!!! Once again, DiC really building this idea that Zoycite is pretty much Beryl’s - well, basically what Nephrite had been jabbing at Zoisite. If Zoisite is doing all the legwork for Kunzite and earning Nephrite’s contempt, then Zoycite is definitely doing it (or priding herself upon doing it) for Beryl. An emissary, good grief!

Interestingly, Zoisite again sounds pretty informative. He’s not necessarily threatening to go back to Beryl at all. It’s almost as if he checked into make sure Nephrite was drowning, and then gave him a dignified, quiet way out so he’d possibly make less trouble for Plan KZ if he wasn’t.

Ok, while Zoycite sounds hella pissed, Zoisite sounds genuinely upset. Like he’s utterly flabbergasted that Nephrite would do something like this (why???!), which continues to solidify my theory that Zoisite hadn’t always necessarily intended him total destruction - just enough failure so that he and Kunzite could do their thing. But Nephrite playing the game back and playing it more meanly - whoa, the rules have broken and Zoisite’s mad! He’s like the little brother who poked and bothered and heckled as part the play, except Nephrite punched him back instead.

(So Zoisite actually says “kuyashii”, which can also mean awful, terrible, mortifying, etc. He’s legit shocked and utter galled that Nephrite would stoop this low.)

As for Zoycite - DiC I think was really pushing this idea that she knew she could get away with pushing Neflyte so far, and when he finally pushed back (notice, again, that Neflyte pushing back is still roughly within the rules of fair play in the DiC version, while in the Sub Nephrite basically fucks up his own assignment and decides to take over Zoisite’s), she hates the taste of her own medicine. And she’s going to make him pay for that.

God I’ve always loved this line in the DiC dub. Who was Zoycite before??? What kind of relationship did these two have?? Clearly Neflyte didn’t think she was that terrible to begin with, so what was Nice!(?)Zoycite even like? Were they in the Negaforce military academy together? GUH, so many questions, I wish there were more randon in-universe personal references like this with all the characters, sub or dub!

And look! Nephrite’s not even upset at Zoisite, he’s annoyed with himself that he even wasted his energy getting mad at someone as inconsequential as Zoisite. He completely underestimates Zoisite, and that’s where his whole egotism-is-his-demise comes in. Didn’t Naoko’s notes say that his arrogance would be what would do him in? I think the anime took that very literally. 

Skipping over to the garden scene now:

Again, subtle difference, but Zoycite’s complaints are always explictly about how much she hates Neflyte personally. Zoisite’s just upset - again, ambiguously, it could be about anything. Nephrite himself, Nephrite not playing the game fairly, Nephrite taking his job and putting his life at risk, how the plan has gone awry, some of his anxiety seeping in from the fact that the plan has gone awry, etc. I guess my point is, I’m usually hesitant to characterize Zoisite as explicitly hating Nephrite, because I do genuinely think that’s more of a DiC hangover. 

A little tangent, but I do love how both Malachite and Kunzite have a little chuckle at first before they comfort their significant others. <3.

Y’know, I do wonder with Kunzite’s response if it is actually Zoisite worrying that Nephrite is deviating off their plan, rather than Nephrite personally. “Kunzite-sama, we didn’t think he was going to try to take my job!! What are we going to do!?” “Hush now, yes, it’s a bit of a surprise, but we’ll make it work.” That’s basically the conversation that’s happened twice now.

Again, subtle difference, but in the DiC dub, this whole conversation Malachite has with Zoycite basically shows he comforts her by having total confidence in her. He’s so very clearly on her side and supportive of her 110%. It definitely makes their dynamic much different than that of Kunzite and Zoisite, which we will see in later episodes. Even though Malachite is her mentor (her teacher, explicitly, by his own words), his commitment and love for her (combined with her much more assertive personality) basically evens their power dynamic out. Not quite the case in Kunzite’s and Zoisite’s relationship, though Zoisite definitely isn’t shy about his affections.

Y’know, overall Zoycite is such a harder character than Zoisite is, so I generally find it a bit odd when she does adulate Malachite. Like, she doesn’t need his approval or respect by far, and certainly Malachite doesn’t strike me as needing his ego stroked when he spends most of his screentime advising her. His suggestion also wasn’t particularly eye-opening (I mean, Kunzite’s might if you consider the context that maybe things are going Out of Plan and that worried Zoisite, so having Kunzite reassure him that they can capitalize on any deviances from said plan becomes basically brilliant). So generally I chalk it up to Zoycite just relishing in the confidence that he’s always got her back.

Hm, I’m reading too much into this but I am curious why following Nephrite has now been delegated to a youma (especially when it was implied he ordered Zoisite to personally check up on Nephrite to begin with). I think Kunzite’s readying them for some couple snuggle time.

GoDs I love how this ending implies so much for both the Sub and the Dub. Okay first, Yasha is Zoisite’s youma and basically follows him everywhere?? Even in private moments in the garden?? Again, do he and Kunzite share those youmas? Do they know them so personally that Zoisite is just like “yep you heard the man” and all of his subordinates are aware Kunzite has as much jurisdiction over them as Zoisite does because they’re together? And again Zoisite is so much more softly-spoken than Zoycite, and his youma’s answer reflects that respect.

Whereas in the DiC version, you can tell they’re really squeezing in every moment to make Zoycite as hard to like and power-hungry as possible. “Obey Lord Malachite!” Zoycite’s basically gunning for queenship of her own and is already practicing - and even her youma kind of resents her a little for it!

Anyways that’s my summization of today’s episode. TLDR; Zoycite and Zoisite have very different management styles and work strategies - one hard power, and the other soft. One’s clearly and quite well on her way to becoming a shark in the DK corporate atmosphere, and while the other takes it carefully and precisely and is going to surprise us with just how deadly he can be. We’re not even in Zoy/i’s character arc completely and already we can see the two diverging into two very different stories with very different character growth milestones ahead. More to come soon!

#DiC Dub Analysis #dub vs. sub #DiC dub #character analysis #zoycite #zoisite #kunzite #malachite #kunzoi #90s dub sailor moon #Classic BSSM #headcanons and theories

[iamchikara]

Results for Egg Monsters From Mars under the cut.

Match #1: Singles Contest Blanche Babish vs. The Whisper I don’t have much detail for this, as the source I usually rely on to provide further details forgot the show was on ‘til the second match. Bad lildude! Twitter livetweet crowd says good opener, though, and Blanche tapped out Whisper with the Soda Jerk. I have to wonder what’s up with Whisper lately, it really seems to have all gone downhill for him since Ophidian thrashed him. WINNER: Blanche Babish (1 point) Match #2: Atomicos Contest The Beast Warriors and Crummels/DeFarge vs. The Closers and the Legion of Rot C&D are using hand sanitizer now! For some reason, that just gives me the shivers. Midway through this one, DeFarge went to attack Rick Roland but instead pulled that big wad of cash C&D had been given previously by the Closers out of his pocket before promptly turning on the Beast Warriors. I can’t even be angry about that, more tag feuds (and by association, more tag matches on the shows) are something I wanted after all. So everyone beat up the Beast Warriors after that and we got a No Contest because of it. NO CONTEST Match #3: Singles Contest Mark Angelosetti (2 points) vs. David Starr (DEBUT) The Throwbacks really seem to have become the catch-all opponents for guests lately. That’s not a bad thing by any means. We always seem to get something good out of Dasher and/or Touchdown, and according to what I’ve heard, this was no different as both Touchdown and Starr went all-out against each other. The Twitter livetweet crowd gave it a big thumbs up. However, it was Touchdown that came away with the win and the third point. WINNER: Mark Angelosetti (3 points) INTERMISSION #1 Match #4: Trios Contest The Proteus Wheel w/Professor Nicodemus vs. Lucas Calhoun, Jeremy Leary, and Brett Michael David The Twitter feed for #EMFM went absolutely ape at this point of the show. From what they’ve said, this one was ridiculously wild, with people flying everywhere and Callux stopping a Swanton Bomb by WALKING INTO IT. What. Just what. I’m going to need a gif of that, I’ll put it up everywhere. Anyways, the Proteus Wheel have proved unstoppable at their full strength in the past, and this was no different, as they were able to put away the Clone Coalition convincingly, with BMD taking upwards of a dozen powerbombs in a row which is just nuts. So in Trios they’re strong as heck, but separately they’re beatable. Divide and conquer, Clone boys and anyone who has to come up against them in KoT. Divide and conquer, or else the Wheel’s gonna take it all this year. WINNERS: The Proteus Wheel Match #5: Singles Contest Razerhawk (1 point) vs. Icarus (2 point) New music for Icarus and a loooooooooong entrance. At one point he went over to the concession stand for another bottle of water. There was a “hydrate” chant. Lot of trash talking from Ick, who didn’t seem to be taking a fired up Razer seriously. Razer put his foot on the ropes after a Shiranui to keep from being pinned, so Ick hit a second one before dragging him out to the middle of the ring...and pulling out the lazy cover. Not one to be underestimated, Razer took advantage of Ick’s spot of laziness, turned it into a crucifix pin, and scored one heck of an upset. Post-match, Razer was attacked by an angry Ick, who laid him out. Ick honestly should be more angry at himself for not taking this match seriously! WINNER: Razerhawk (2 points), Icarus is out of the standings Match #6: Atomicos Contest Princess Kimberlee, Los Ice Creams, and Kikutaro vs. Travis Huckabee, Merlok, Hermit Crab, and Cajun Crawdad We had a substitution, as Merlok stepped in for the absent Tony Deppen. Comedy everywhere, announcers cracking up, Twitter livetweeters cracking up. A good time for all involved, by the sounds. Even a Kim/Merlok confrontation in there, I’m sure Oceanea gave her enforcer strict orders there. Kikutaro picked up what might be the second shocking upset of the night, pinning Huckabee after a Shining Wizard. F.I.S.T. 2.0 did not fare well at all today. Post-match, Kim announced her withdrawal from King of Trios, as she will be headed over to Japan to participate in STARDOM’s Five Star Grand Prix tournament, and selected Kikutaro to replace her. As they were leaving, Whisper appeared, stopping LIC from leaving with Kim. I was hoping there’d be something involving Whisper/Kim, that was a big dangling plot point from Season Seventeen that needed to be addressed. Maybe there’ll be a little exposée ala MAM’s diary in the future? WINNERS: Princess Kimberlee, Los Ice Creams, and Kikutaro INTERMISSION #2. Hearing that the newly tried idea of short intermissions wasn’t accepted too well, as it didn’t give people enough time to be able to talk to the wrestlers, among other things. Match #7: MAIN EVENT Grand Championship Defense #13 *sigh* Juan Francisco de Coronado vs. Solo Darling Both the live crowd and the Twitter livestreamers were all over Solo, to the point of dueling chants for her. Not many get that kind of treatment in wrestling as a whole. There was even a dueling chant between most of the live crowd and potentially the only JFDC supporter in the building: “No one likes you!” “Yes I do!” It even switched to “One guy likes you!” at the end, very nice touch. Livetweeters say this was a strong main, with Solo wrestling what some called the match of her life. Lots of legwork from both, and JFDC’s usual shenanigans. Unfortunately, continuing the depressing pattern which has upset quite a lot of people (not just me, check out the disappointed/upset/annoyed/utterly heartbroken reactions in the #EMFM tag on Twitter), JFDC retained, with Solo passing out in the Coronado Clutch after the SharpStinger was reversed. We can only hope Huckabee (fulfilling his destiny of becoming the Grand Champion) or Touchdown (vanquishing a long-time rival) can end this seemingly never-ending reign. It’s been over a year, after all. About time it finally comes to a close. WINNER: *sigh* Juan Francisco de Coronado

#CHIKARA #Egg Monsters From Mars #Results

[bathtubdefenseattorney]

So How Did You Two Meet?

For the Eruri Valentine’s Weekend. By @ladymacbethsspot and I!

Ao3

When they arrived at the sperm bank, Hanji went into the reception area with him to be sure Erwin didn’t chicken out. There was no way, after all this, they would let Erwin off the hook.

 Hanji had done all the legwork--and there was a lot of it. Twenty-five pages of questions. Hanji even had to call Erwin’s mother for some of them. In retrospect, she was a very nice woman. At first it was difficult to get some of the more personal information (family medical history, a photo of Erwin as a child), but once their bet had been explained she was more than willing to oblige.

 It was no surprise that Erwin was nervous, but Hanji’s death-grip on his arm ensured that they marched directly up to the front desk. Up to the serious-looking dark-haired man staring angrily at his computer screen.

 Hanji took charge, reading that man’s name tag. “Levi! This man needs to give you his seed.”

Erwin gasped, the blood draining from his face, and tried to clamp a hand over Hanji’s mouth, only to be expertly batted away. The man turned to face them slowly. He looked at Hanji, shaking his head silently. He looked at Erwin, up, then down, and shook his head again.

 “Do you have an appointment?” Levi drawled, turning back to the computer screen.

 “Yes, for one, Erwin Smith. That’s S-M-I-T-H.”

 “I gathered that, yes.” The man poked at his keyboard, “Ah, okay, here you are. Wait, you said that was S-M-I-T-H, right? No silent Q or anything?” He arched an eyebrow, chuckling to himself. Erwin stared intently at his shoes.  

 “Nope!” Hanji said happily.

 “I’ll get your file. Meet me by the door to your left.” The man stood, disappearing into the office.

 “Hanji,” Erwin said. “Do you have to make this the most mortifying day of my life?”

 “Of course. I won the bet.” Hanji turned to look up at Erwin, smiling widely. “He’s cute, don’t you think?”

 “Now is not the time to think about how cute someone might be.” Erwin dragged a hand over his face.

 “Remember what we’re here for, Erwin.” Hanji jabbed an elbow into Erwin’s ribs, wiggling their eyebrows.

 “Jesus Christ.”

 The door to their left opened. Levi stood, holding a binder. Out from behind the desk, his small stature was much more obvious. The short sleeves of his top reaching almost to the elbows of well-muscled arms. Hanji gave him a quick once-over, jabbing Erwin painfully in the ribs again.

 “Follow me,” Levi said wearily, turning to lead them down the hall.

 Hanji looked over at Erwin, ready to offer words of encouragement. But he looked distracted- his eyes fixed firmly to the perky form of Levi’s ass moving beneath thin fabric. Hanji leaned close to Erwin, whispering loudly, “He’s got a nice butt, huh?”

 “Shut up!” he said, shoving them.

 Levi turned at the commotion, glaring at them both, and continued to walk. He opened a small door and ushered them into a room with three uncomfortable-looking metal chairs, and a small desk, motioning for them to both take a seat as he took his own place behind the desk.

 “Do you have any questions?”

 Hanji inhaled, ready to unleash a torrent of weird questions.

 “No, Hanji,” Erwin added quickly. “I’m okay.”

 Levi looked at them both. He took a deep breath before beginning, rattling off a series of quick instructions. “Okay, well I’ll go over it quickly then. It’s really not hard. Until you make it hard, then it’s easy. You’ll go into another room. Don’t be nervous, you won’t be thrust into anything, it’s very private. There’s a, let’s say, package, of reading material and videos you can choose from. So, just have a ball, or two. Now, when you’re doing this, don’t get too cocky. We’re just looking for a sample at this stage, so pull out your best effort but don’t be a jerk off and leave a big mess.”

 “That’s a lot to take in,” Hanji said.

 “Good one!” Levi answered, tapping a pen on the binder for emphasis.

 “Oh,” Hanji responded, giggling.

 “If you’re ready,” Levi said, “the room is just across from us. That’s where the magic happens.”

 Erwin got up quickly. He stepped into the hall, getting as far as his hand on the doorknob of the room Levi had indicated before he was interrupted.

 “Wait!” Hanji said. “Are you sure they’ll have…” they lowered their voice, “stuff you’ll like in there?”

 “Hanji…” Erwin sighed in exasperation.

 “Because I brought stuff!” They reached into their bag, pulling out dozens of male porn mags.

 Hanji saw Levi’s eyes widen.

 “I wasn’t sure which you liked best so I got an assortment- do you want to start with Oklahomo or Bat Dude and Throbbin?”

 “Oh, God,” Erwin said, reddening. He started opening the door just to get away from them.

 Levi chimed in, “Oh, also, looks like there’s one question that I was meaning to get answered.”

 Erwin closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “What. Is. It?”

 “Circumcised or uncircumcised?” Levi asked, fixing Erwin with a blank stare, pen poised over paper.

 “Circumcised.”

 Levi nodded, but made no move.

 “Are you going to write that down?” Erwin prompted.

 “What are you talking about?”

 Hanji hooted, slapping their bag of porn.

 Erwin shook his head. He was about to turn the doorknob.

 “Oh. One more thing.” Erwin turned to face them both, a pained look on his handsome features. Levi pulled a small plastic jar from his pocket, slamming it on the desk.

 “Alright,” Levi said. “Fill ‘er up!”

 There was a long silence.

 “What, do you need another one?”

 More silence.

 “Bad joke,” he said, not looking the least bit sorry.

 Erwin reached out, snatching the jar up as quickly as he could and hurrying to open the door to the other room. As he stepped in he heard Levi comment to Hanji, “Over under on how long he’s in there?”

 “Ooh,” Hanji said.

 Erwin slammed the door.

 Once Erwin had left, Levi and Hanji sat in silence for a few moments. Levi sat writing something. When Hanji peeked, they saw he was drawing dick after dick. Very detailed renditions.

 “So, uh, you learn a lot about male anatomy in this job, huh?” Hanji asked, attempting to break the awkward silence.

 Levi looked up slowly. “I guess- learned that pee is stored in the balls.” Hanji snorted, covering their mouth.

 “But seriously though,” they continued, scooting their chair over and crowding close to the desk, “I have questions! Where do you keep it all? How do you keep it fresh?”

 Levi blinked, leaning back. “We freeze it.”

 “How do you decide who gets which sperm?”

 “That’s above my pay grade.”

 “How many little swimmers are in those samples?”

 “Well…” Levi paused, leaning forward conspiratorially, “you know there’s actually somewhere between 15 and 200 million sperm per milliliter of semen.” Hanji’s eyebrows shot up.

 “Really?! That many?”

 Levi nodded, a satisfied smirk on his face.

 “How do you put it in the woman?”

 Levi grew serious. “That’s not my area of expertise.”

 “How much sperm do you use on each egg? Is there someone who counts them out? How do you count sperm? Will Erwin’s load make 200 million babies-”

 “Alright, that’s enough,” Levi interrupted, his eye twitching.

 “Aw.” Hanji deflated. They sat for a few moments. Levi shifted in his seat.

 “So, what brings you two here anyway? I usually just see guys come in alone.”

 Hanji looked over. “I won a bet,” they answered with a wide smile.

 Levi whistled. “That’s some bet. What if you’d lost?”

 “No coffee for a month! There was no way I was going to let Erwin win, this was way too important. So anyway...you think Erwin’s hot?”

 “Where did that come from?”

 “That doesn’t answer my question,” they said coolly.

 “Hmm, Blondie?” Levi said. “Yeah, I’d climb that big ass tr--”

 The door to the private room opened. Erwin stepped out, looking noticeably calmer, holding the closed plastic jar.

 “Put it here,” Levi said, pointing to the desk.

 Erwin set it down. There was a long moment where all three of them contemplated it. Finally, Levi stood from behind the desk.

 “Well, I think we’re all finished here. I’ve got everything I need.”

 Erwin held out his hand for Levi to shake. Levi stared at it, unmoving.

 “Oh.”

 Erwin and Hanji started to leave. Before they’d gotten out the door Hanji dashed back up to Levi and whispered in his ear, “That number I wrote on the form is Erwin’s cell. He likes men. He’s single.”

   Levi called the next week. “Is this Erwin Smith? It’s Levi. From the sperm bank? I’m gonna need another sample. Say my place? Friday night?...Sorry. Bad joke.”

 Erwin choked on his coffee. Spluttering for a moment before responding with a raspy, “Excuse me?”

   Sliding into the booth opposite Erwin, Levi picked up the menu.

 “It’s good to see you Levi.” Erwin greeted him.

 “Yeah, you too.” Levi stared at the cocktail list. “Oh, by the way, I got your text. Don’t worry, there was an issue with your paperwork, we ended up destroying the sample.” He looked up, winking at Erwin.

 Erwin breathed a deep sigh of relief.

 “Thank you.”

Ao3

#Eruri #Eruriweekend #Erwin Smith #Levi Ackerman #SnK #ladymacbethsspot #we were cracking up writing this #my writing

[bewarecreepercomics]

Beware the Creeper #2

I’m into this cover. Our hero, front and center, bright against the muted colors of the background. Hostile gazes from all angles any or all of which might belong to the newly introduced Proteus. Heck yeah.

Little bit of a color whoopsie on the boots, but that wasn’t uncommon on older comics. Funnily enough, my copy of the Steve Ditko Creeper Collection doesn’t fix this, though it does fix some other color mistakes.

Our comic opens with a cute bit of meta: credits on the title card. Looks like the station is doing a little report on the Creeper. Jack seems pretty unconcerned by this, considering it could spell the end of yet another career, and his personal freedom.

You just keep living your life carefree and easy there Jack. It’s not going to come back to bite you in thirty seconds, I promise. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

I love the look on his face here. “Do I really sound like that?” Also, he’s doing the hand thing. Take a shot.

Geez dude, I know he was talking shit, but that newscaster does not deserve what is about to happen to him. By the way, all of you are standing way to close to this frankly gigantic grenade. Thing is about as big as a real pineapple.

I goddamn told you so. Also, that newscaster’s body must have been made of steel-he’s dead, sure, bit he’s still intact.

As you can imagine, this is a pretty bad turn for our Jack. Creeper is already wanted by the cops for the crimes of vigilantism, assault, and indecent exposure, now they’re just going to add murder to that rap sheet. And who would believe that this was a frame up? Certainly not Jacks boss, who is even more gung ho to get that guy than usual.

Even though that’s still not a part of his job. I can’t stress this enough.

The story on who the Creeper really is was dead wrong of course. Some simplistic but sensational tale of him being a shill for some illegal gambling mogul named ‘Legs’ Larson. What is it about gangsters being named after body parts?  

It’s the part of the body they like to break most, isn’t it? Just call me ‘Hearts’ Mackenzie then.

Anyway, Jack has to rush off in search of evidence, because he’s somehow completely uninjured from the explosion mere hours ago, and he definitely doesn’t need to sleep or anything, ever. But before he can even make it out of the building, he is faced with yet another bombshell:

Ambushed! Turns out it’s just a publicity stunt though. Vera’s non-feelings for our hero haven’t changed in the least. In revenge for this, Jack locks her in a broom closet and goes on his way.

True Love, everybody!

Once free of the dame, he heads straight to Larson’s place. You know, for the one not named ‘Legs’, Jack sure does a lot of legwork. Larson’s place is a huge mansion, with loads of people coming and going, and a whole group of bodyguards at the gate. How is it that the cops can’t get any evidence to put this guy away? He is not subtle.

I mean, this is all set up right in the freaking living room, has no one thought to sneak up to the window with a camera or something? Jack smoked all the guards by himself, and the cops can’t? No one in this joint is paying attention!

Case in point:

Lol.

Yeah, he just wanders through the whole mansion, wearing the brightest colors on the spectrum and absolutely everybody failed their perception check.

He doesn’t even try to sneak up on Larson, just busts into his office, a-punching away. Then this guy(?) shows up.

I’d like to point out that, up to this point, Larson had said nothing at all that could be counted as a betrayal, or even as a lead-up to a betrayal. This unfinished theater mask just really wanted to shoot somebody.

Proteus is both a really good shot, and a really bad shot. Like, he hit that guy, even though Creeper was standing in front of him, with his back to the gun. But then, he missed Creeper, who was standing in front of that guy, with his back to the gun! 

To be fair though, Creeper flubs as well, allowing Proteus to escape.

Well, Larson initially wasn’t going to betray his boss, but in lieu of recent events: Fuck that guy.

Welp, a man has died. Let’s treat that with the respect that only Silver Age dialogue can give us!

I’m not kidding, this is the very next panel.

Continuing in true Creeper form, he busts out of there and breaks up the party, as conspicuously as possible, causing a panic at the party, and a rush into the streets. In order to blend in, Creeper switches himself back to Jack and leaves...

...Still as conspicuous as possible. Seriously Jack, try harder.

Back at the office, Jack gets some bad news:

Yup, his sweetheart is looking for him. Oh the romance.

Going through that file he was given (instead of, you know, turning it over to the cops, whose job this actually is) Jack finds dirt on most of the rackets in town, and plenty of people to ask about this Proteus fellow. Not bothering to rest again, Creeper scales a building, and gets spotted, because lemon yellow doesn’t blend with concrete, you guys.

But while Creeper is getting the cops called on his barely covered ass yet again, He ambushes a nameless fellow who does his level best not to become a stooly, but ultimately fails under the Creeper’s superior interrogation technique...

GEEZ DUDE, maybe chill with that just a little bit? 

This is like the only person in these comics that the cops actually save, because Creeper tosses him back into the building when they show up, so that he can escape for himself. Which e does by turning back into Jack just before the police spot him, and playing dumb. Again.

Take another shot.

Jack finally gets back to his boss, who is more ornery than ever. Though he is always gung-ho where the Creeper is concerned Bill seems angrily unconcerned with the cliff notes version of the file Jack has left on his desk, and wants to know where the real files are, to avoid a libel case. Falling prey to the arrogance of the braggart, he goes ahead and tells Bill; the files are at his apartment.

It takes him a moment too long to realize that his boss was acting a bit out of sorts, and makes a dash for Bills apartment, where even now, there is a situation.

New boss, same as the old boss, right? Both of them talk to damn much.

Well, Jack may have been slow of thought, but his legs are fast, so he arrives before Bill can shoot Bill.

BILL!BILL!BILL!

Nevermind. Jack get’s his butt kicked. Who’s surprised? But during the fight we find out that Bad Bill has a face like clay; malleable, and difficult to harm. Jack does manage to cause Bad Bill enough trouble to force him to flee, but Jack is unable to follow. He instead stays behind, to free Less Bad Bill, and then goes on his to his own apartment.

While he does not find Bad Bill at his apartment, he does run across Vera, who he wastes no time insulting. But despite earlier reports of her wrath, Vera just brushes him off, citing a meeting with her mother, and carting a golfing bag along with her.

And then Jack goes and makes me very uncomfortable.

You better have a good explanation for this, Jack.

Turns out he does. The man did used to be a reporter after all, and he knows a thing or two about his coworkers. Vera is an orphan, and she doesn’t enjoy any sports. 

Still uncomfortable.

This knocks the wig off Worse Vera, who is actually Bad Bill, who is actually Proteus, if this wasn’t clear yet. Also, that golfing bag is actually a flamethrower, which is a gimmick I absolutely must remember next time I play a tabletop RPG.

Jack dodges the flames, but the entire building itself fails its dexterity check, and goes right up.

Jack decides to go full Creeper to escape from the flames. Because the wool of a voluminous sheepskin rug is naturally fire resistant. And the chase is on!

Which brings us to the obligatory ass shot!

And eventually leads us to that great staple of comic books: The Rooftop Battle! It’s actually a rather fun sequence, with a bit of a tongue in cheek in-joke.

Cute.

But after a pitched Rooftop Battle, Proteus falls through the collapsing building, into the raging inferno below.

He is so dead, you guys. That is a thing that kills people. And even though Proteus was also a thing that killed people, Creeper is surprisingly sympathetic.

Cool story, hey remember that guy he murdered right in front of you? I sure do.

Also? Burning building. Better get off of there. 

Hey, can anybody tell me if this actually works? This firemen’s net thing? You see it in all kinds of older media, but was it actually a thing?

Though his apartment, and the files are now gone, Jacks life hasn’t changed much. His boss still wants the Creeper’s head on a plate, Jack still climbs out windows to escape from Vera, and the bad guy still isn’t as dead as previously assumed.

Dun Dun Dunnnn!

And so our comic ends, with the Creeper having made a grand enemy. This is the beginning of the overarching story of the mini-series continued in Beware the Creeper # 3, coming soon!

#The Creeper #Jack Ryder #beware the creeper

[lionbarrage-a]

itachi

make me write about this au | accepting always 

wow we really just are… diving right in aren’t we??? in all seriousness, thank you chai, for both forcing me to write this headcanon / meta that i’ve been avoiding doing for like a week now and for walking me through itachi’s role in it. this will contain major, MAJOR developments for my au and how it effects shippuden so please read it! 

warning under the cut for mention of death, eye trauma, etc – you know, standard uchiha bullshit :))))))

let me begin with this, as i haven’t yet spoken in detail about it: but a major, major focal point in not letting hatred —- or the curse mark — consume him is letting go of, not what happened to him, but his revenge path. this does not happen over night. 

sasuke has years, years, and years of anger built up inside him, an obsessively one track mind, and a deep ache for power that, if you ask me, started before the massacre. no doubt is the massacre what sets his tunnel vision, but he’s shown to be obsessively training even before that in order to gain approval of his clan ( specifically, fugaku, which, by the way, fuck that guy ) and ‘catch up’ to his prodigy of a brother who is, frankly, out of sasuke’s reach. sasuke, in canon, still doesn’t graduate from the academy until he’s twelve, despite genius like abilities and endless work on his part to reach unattainable status as per what’s possible for himself. 

don’t think for a second he ever forgets about how far behind itachi is from the get go, and his inability to stop comparing himself to his older brother is absolutely what holds him back for so long. my point comes back to that while the catalyst of his tunnel vision - like obsession begins with the massacre, he already was halfway there. it really comes as no surprise to me that he turned out the way he did in canon, but i rest my case on this part. 

in my au, and i’ll give this a proper spiel in another meme ask i need to answer, his path is set by a very small margin, by the doubt that is shown at the valley of the end. he stops fighting, he comes back. he spends the following years regaining trust among the village, with his superiors and peers alike, and manages to rise in the ranks pretty fast as a result of both his abilities and his emotional growth. i can’t stress enough how far he comes, and how much it takes out of him to get to that point. like, it’s the only way this au can work. 

i’ve said it before, but kakashi is a focal point in his emotional progression. in his training with him, they work out a lot of that anger and kakashi shows him sides of himself that he doesn’t really show others, shows them how alike he actually was to sasuke, and shows him that he can overcome it, even if their motives were quite different — it’s the first time someone really tries to reach sasuke deep down, and it works. in conjunction with naruto and all he’s done for him, for the experiences sasuke gains in this two year period, and his own mental legwork, he gets there. 

i should note something, though, and it’s that i don’t think sasuke can not have tunnel vision on a goal — his mindset is a set routine, it’s why he’s so stubborn, in my opinion, and it’s why he’s so (unmovable object).png. you know? so, instead of his tunnel vision focusing on killing itachi, he shifts it to re-establishing the uchiha, the uchiha name, and growing stronger without influence of his brother, on his own terms. i’d say this is firmly set in by the time he’s a chuunin, and it’s why he’s able to prove himself further, in missions, etc, as worthy of being a jounin by the time shippuden starts. 

his biggest emotional trial, or one of them, is when he runs into ‘itachi’ during the gaara rescue arc, in chapter 256, and is told by kakashi to go onward. this leaves the battle virtually unchanged, and right here, kakashi says he would send naruto onward but needs him for backup. sasuke, however, can go forward — he’s both fast enough and also, it’s the right move. a show down with itachi is the last thing he needs, and it takes all his willpower not to crumble two years of progress to go ahead and focus on the mission. he goes ahead. i haven’t worked out the exact details of his role in the rest of the mission yet, but my point is: by this time, he’s able to do something he wasn’t when he was twelve, and that was charge right at itachi, regardless of if he was ready or not. 

god… that’s just all the basics too… okay. saddle up because this is where it gets real ( yeah, i know, “reid we’re on paragraph fucking eight” but we haven’t even started on the truth and itachi, which are two whole sections frankly ) 

so… fated battle between brothers. it’s still going to happen. initially i wanted it not to, but after talking with an itachi about it, ahem, chai, we decided that itachi would absolutely create a situation closer to the end of his life to make sure it still happens —– the exact mission is up in the air until i can talk to a naruto about it, but we were thinking a diversion including him, which would be super believable given the ninetails and all. the platoon that goes out definitely includes kakashi, sakura, sasuke, and whoever else might be available. from the beginning, they know to expect itachi. this is… harrowing, to say the least, especially for sasuke who seems to have settled upon not seeking revenge, but in the event he goes up against itachi, he knows that as a leaf shinobi, it’s his duty to stop him. to save naruto. to protect naruto. to protect konoha. 

when they approach the uchiha hideout, i imagine something much different is anticipated. they’ve probably been led on a fucking wild goose chase. naruto is somewhere different entirely, and like in canon, kisame allows only sasuke to pass. sasuke goes in, like in canon. once he goes in, the game changes for the platoon, and their focus remains on recovering naruto. how exactly all that goes down is dependent on kisame’s role and naruto’s respectively so i won’t talk too much about that quite yet && i have several people i wanna consult on that matter so yeah waiting. shifting back to inside the hideout

we haven’t worked out all of the details, or done a battle breakdown, but at some point we’re planning to collab on a drabble and post that and it’ll walk through the major points. what to know for now is that the dialogue will be much different, and sasuke’s focus is completely on 1) getting information and when that inevitably fails, 2) stopping itachi, by any means necessary. 3) surviving the fight. itachi doesn’t go easy on him, and at some point, it’s not about his motive, his revenge, etc, at all anymore. it’s about getting back to the platoon. it’s about finishing the mission. the too long, didn’t read version is that itachi doesn’t let him not kill him, as he’s dying anyway, and he’ll only have it be by sasuke’s hand. remember – itachi, all along, wanted sasuke to be renowned a hero for killing him, and wanted himself reviled. 

in a real, real fucked up way, he gets that. 

side note: we still havent worked out every detail but i also just noticed itachi gets rid of sasukes curse mark here :)))))))))))))

sasuke passes out at the end of their battle, and itachi does his thing with the fucking goddamn eyes and putting them in sasukes head before keeling over and fucking dying. he wakes up with tobi, as in canon. i can’t say this exchange is much different from canon, aside from sasuke being less reactionary? he’s already feeling really… i don’t know what the word is. killing him is all he wanted, for so fucking long, but there’s nothing satisfying about what he’s done here. he sees it as a means to an end on a fucked up chapter of his life. however, he does still panic at the initial speech by tobi, learning all this shit about a coup, it’d be too much for him – he still passes out, unable to process everything he’s being told. he wakes up again, probably tied up this time, and listens to the rest. 

so, where it gets different is chapter .. 401 / 402. he has his moment of grief before recollecting himself and leaving tobi / ‘madara uchiha’ and, even with all that he’s learned, and in his less than healthy state, he focuses once again on regrouping with the platoon, and ensuring that the original mission has been completed. little does he know, its been about a day, and they surely found itachi’s dead body, but no sign of him. it’s very likely they’re searching the surrounding area for him when he rejoins them, looking… well. calm, but carrying an air about him that is definitely out of character. 

he tells naruto that he’s glad to see him, and there’s a few others he may speak to before they get home, but… he otherwise doesn’t say much. there isn’t much he can say in this state. he doesn’t know what he believes – outside of the fact that if itachi wanted him dead, he would be dead. it’s this thought process that leads him to believe that the coup did in fact form. he has a lot of doubts about the man who introduced himself as madara uchiha, at this point in this au, he is after all a leaf shinobi??? and… i think he would, honestly, privately report ( the only one i can see being present for this is kakashi, if anyone ) what he was told to tsunade herself, who would not be aware of the truth. i read that only danzo, the third, and two others were. what the two of them do with this information is beyond me and i’d hoooonestly need a tsunade to work it out with. he’s probably pretty forward in saying he doesn’t know how much of this intelligence can be trusted, but if nothing else, someone claiming to be madara uchiha is a huge fucking red flag, and regardless of how he feels about the coup / konoha’s dealing with it, his loyalty is already where it is. 

whiiiiiich brings me to that next point… where he is with it. again, he doesn’t know how much he can trust from ‘tobi / madara / obito’, but if anything, i feel like his image of his clan is very twisted and uncertain from that point on. he definitely feels distrust in the elders mentioned for forcing itachi to do what he did, but not the entire village. in the end, he pays a lot of attention to the part of what was said about itachi wanting him to be renowned a hero for coming back to konoha and being able to say he killed a vicious, serial murderer, missing nin. 

so, if it’ll give itachi some peace, he does that. he comes back with his platoon, reports him dead, and what happens, happens. by no means does he consider himself a hero, though, and there’s forever an ache in him that things happened the way they did. however, holding a grudge now would backtrack him too far in his progress, and he’s… brutally aware of his own mindset, his own tendency to tunnel vision. so, once again, he redirects it.

he redirects his will to re-establishing his family name, to bringing peace in whatever way he can, and moving forward. at a later time, probably post - war, his efforts will go towards doing something about that police force. i noticed in the explanation that it was sort of konoha’s way of… making the uchiha think they had some kind of pull in the village but actually keeping an eye on them, and sasuke’s intention would more so be to establish an actual force within the village to protect it’s own. to protect konoha. you know, like itachi tried to. 

as he grows older, sasuke accepts what happened for what it is, and he finds most of his anger and sadness directing to one simple fact: that he and his brother were robbed, by circumstance, of having so many years together that they could have been happy in. 

that’s all i got for now.

#konosight #god chai #( ; * headcanons. ▹ in little ways. ) #( ; * ooc. ▹ answered. ) #at some point i thought i might die in this meta ask #THIS IS LITERALLY LIKE 20 PARAGRAPHS #eye trauma tw #death mention tw

[mittensmorgul]

Mandroids, Meta, and Subtext

Rewatching 2.12 (which is such a good episode on so many levels), and rambling on at @elizabethrobertajones about subtext and how it’s not some Seekrit Layer that isn’t inherently part of the text, and how we all read subtext whether we realize it or not... And somehow these two lines of thought sorta... merged together.

What follows is a loosely-cobbled-together and edited for continuity chunk of our conversation:

I'm thinking about a very old meta about reading the subtext, and how we all literally do it all the time (even in real life). We read between the lines to find meaning in everyday things ALL THE TIME. And how it's just how human brains work and not some obscure science you have to learn. There's this faulty assumption among people who read meta as if it's some obscure and mystical science that the average person doesn't do all that time. We're just like... better at explaining it, because practice.

I think some of the mystery about meta is that some folks don't trust what they believe they're seeing in the subtext, because it's been built up into some sort of secret code buried in the text, but it's just how storytelling works and always has. And meta is just us holding the curtains back and pointing it all out clearly. I wish people didn't think that only certain gifted people can pull back the curtains. We all do it, all the time, whether we realize it or not.

But the subtext isn't some obscure layer of the story that the casual viewer can't see, or that they DON'T see. They just don't spend much time or effort THINKING about it. They subconsciously react to it, allowing it to inform their feelings or reactions to what they're seeing on screen.

Take for example Ronald Resnick, and his Mandroids. He read the surface text aaaall wrong. And yet he was still mostly right, just wrong frame of reference. Just, monsters instead of mandroids, but every other detail... spot on. He was reading the wrong genre, because that was his personal leanings (the alien robot conspiracy stuff vs literal monsters). Wrong genre, Ron... but the rest of the story matches up. And all his problems arise because he started out from the wrong baseline assumption. If he'd gone in LOOKING for monsters instead of robots, he would've been 100% right.

Also, Sam read Ronald all wrong too, thinking he could keep him safe and out of trouble by crushing and utterly dismissing his theories... which only led to Ronald putting himself right in the middle of all the trouble. I love Dean's reactions through this whole episode, like, TOLD YOU SAMMY. All Ronald wanted was for someone to believe him.

That's all it took for Ron to trust Dean, Dean being 100% sincere that he believed him, validation that he'd read the subtext and come to the (mostly) right conclusions. And despite the horror of his whole situation, and finding out about shapeshifters, Ronald can't stop grinning, because DAMMIT HE WAS RIGHT.

I mean, it just depends on the genre, but EVERYBODY knows how to read subtext. It's how we form opinions and interpret clues while reading a murder mystery or watching a cop drama, and why we make guesses about who the culprit might be. 

(sure some people are better at it... some are surprised when the real killer is revealed, while others are genre savvy enough to see through the red herrings)

(or they just put more focused thought into it as the story unfolded)

(and some people LIKE passively watching the story because it makes the surprise twist or the big reveal more satisfying to them if they haven’t already placed mental wagers on whodunit)

(or else someone's inherent bias led them to overlook a character as a potential suspect, or to focus on another character too hard as a suspect)

In order to correctly interpret all that subtext, you need to recognize when shows are going to be like, look at this harmless nerd, in the first 10 minutes, and then spend 20 chasing his shifty looking boss. But all of that comes from reading the subtext, whether the viewer groks that they're doing it or not. We're not doing anything particularly obscure here in writing meta about it all.

We're just trying to be objective, not going in with preconceived notions aside from an understanding of past canon, a good grip on the genre, some insight into the characters (which isn't obscure, again, but it's something WE think about far more than the average casual viewer).

In 2.12, poor Sam was so locked into his expectations, he failed to adapt when the situation changed. He just kept mocking Ronald, while Dean found a way to connect with him.

DEAN: (quietly) Look, I know this isn't going the way we wanted, SAM: (shouting) Understatement! DEAN: But if we invite the cops in right now, Ronald gets arrested, we get arrested, the shifter gets away, probably never find it again, okay? [RONALD is peering out the window, in plain view, and SAM gestures at him in exasperation.] DEAN: Ron! Out of the light! SAM: Seriously?! DEAN: Yeah, Ron's game plan was a bad plan, I mean, it was a bit of a crazy plan, but right now crazy's the only game in town, okay?

And in the middle of all this plot and character drama subtext, here comes poor old Henriksen, who's working from the wrong playbook ENTIRELY (and therefore can't even BEGIN to interpret what's really going on). He thinks he's dealing with a couple of crazed serial killers, because he has zero frame of reference to even think about "mandroids" let alone shapesifters or the supernatural. So he's come to the entirely wrong conclusions about the Winchesters (and even what genre they’re operating within :P).

Even the Winchesters get confused when the shapeshifter "plays dead" and nearly tricks them into killing an innocent woman... their little game of looking back and forth between the two identical bodies on the floor and trying to make sense of what they're seeing, nearly gets Dean killed...

And now a brief interlude for lizbob commentary that’s entirely on point (and personally amusing after discussing all of the above):

elizabethrobertajones I think this episode might be a wee bit meta :D

mittensmorgul EDLUND!!!

(/interlude)

All the while the Winchesters are distracted by this whole other thing going on outside the bank with Victor and the SWAT team, but they power their way through that by (as they often do) blending in with expectations (disguising themselves behind fake badges and bravado. ACTING!)

I don’t think Ben Edlund ever imagined I’d use this episode as a lesson in pointing out the text, the subtext, and why not every reading is equally valid OBJECTIVELY, while at the same time, multiple readings are possible but they are not inherently equivalent.

Victor Henriksen is the “casual viewer” in this metaphor, if that wasn’t clear. He thinks he has the facts, but he’s surprised over and over even when he thinks he’s got the Winchesters pinned down.

Ronald Resnick at least sees more of the big picture, more of the truth of what’s going on. Sure, he’s working from the wrong baseline assumption and has no idea how to implement what he believes he knows correctly. He doesn’t understand that when he discarded Dean’s silver blade down the trash bin that he’d essentially put their only weapon against the monster out of reach. He’d charged in with the mistaken belief that he was the only one who could even SEE there was a problem, let alone have a plan to stop it. All because Sam tried to convince him that his entire theory was wrong.

Sam and Dean understood it was a shapeshifter all along (based on Ronald’s evidence that he’d misinterpreted as mandroids), and in order to keep him safe and out of the way, Sam believed that dismissing Ron’s theories entirely and playing Authority Figure was the best way to go about this, while Dean was rather incredulous about this tactic:

DEAN: Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up. I mean, you tell that poor son of a bitch that-- what did you say, remand the tapes that he copied? Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation? (Laughs) That's messed up. SAM: (sitting down to watch the tape) What are you, pissed at me or something? DEAN: Nah, I just think it's a little creepy how good of a Fed you are. I mean, come on, we could have at least thrown the guy a bone. He did some pretty good legwork here. SAM: Mandroid? DEAN: Except for the Mandroid part. I liked him. He's not that different from you or me. People think we're crazy. SAM: Yeah, except he's not a hunter, Dean. He's just a guy who stumbled onto something real. If he were to go up against this thing he'd get torn apart. Better to stay in the dark, and stay alive.

But of course Ronald wasn’t going to stay in the dark. He’d seen too much, he was personally invested because the “mandroid” had hurt his friend Juan. He couldn’t let it go, and Sam’s dismissal of him-- instead of making him back off like Sam had hoped-- had only served to push him harder to find answers, to prove his theory and vindicate his friend. Sam failed to recognize Ron’s personal investment in all of this, much to Dean’s disbelief... Explaining the context to Ron DID eventually work, and it’s how Dean gained his trust, but it was already too late for Ron. His failure to understand the same signs Sam and Dean saw for what they really were eventually led to his own death. His lack of understanding of how things work (stay away from the windows, keep out of the light, etc.) got him shot by the feds staking out the building from outside.

(have I mentioned just how meta this episode is?)

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean DID understand the situation correctly, and had formulated a workable plan for resolving all of it in their usual idiom, but their earlier missteps with Ronald made those previous plans unworkable. They’re hampered at every turn (Ronald disposes of Dean’s silver knife, then they have to hobble Sam’s ability to help with the hunt by securing him in the vault with all the other people in the bank because Sam was still resisting working with Ronald. Unlike Dean, Sam didn’t want to even take the effort to win Ronald’s trust, didn’t want to adapt their plans to take out the shapeshifter to include Ronald and had dismissed even the possibility of Ron being able to understand the situation if presented with a few small pieces of truth, even when it was clear that they were far beyond the point of keeping Ronald out of it and safe...)

But explaining that one small detail he’d got wrong in his construction of his Mandroid theory would likely have been enough to convince Ronald to stay out of it from the start. Sam and Dean could’ve infiltrated the bank, killed the shifter, and been out without anyone being the wiser or the swat team having been brought in. (But that would’ve been a rather boring episode to watch, even without being able to apply this sort of meta-level thinking to it :P)

Just flat-out putting everything into the surface text and having the characters just say everything that’s otherwise conveyed through the subtext would’ve been the equivalent of that. IT MAKES FOR TERRIBLE AND BORING STORYTELLING. It’s not engaging at all, because there’s zero subtlety to it. So to the argument that if the subtext was really important to the story, why would they “hide” it in the subtext instead of being obvious about it... yeah. It would be boring as hell. The whole story would feel “flat” because it would require absolutely no mental interaction with the text at all, and in good, engaging storytelling, at least SOME active participation is required of the consumer.

This is how I see it, character by character:

Victor: entirely misinterprets the subtext because he thinks he’s in a cop drama when he’s actually in a horror genre show

Ron: reads the subtext, but has the wrong context and therefore isn’t able to come to the correct conclusions or formulate a viable plan

Sam: Knows exactly what the subtext is saying, but fails at reading Ron (as a character) and his motivations correctly, therefore inadvertently setting the entire plot in motion, but his mistaken assumptions about Ron lead to a lot of complications (culminating in Ron’s death by misadventure)

Dean: Gets the subtext entirely, understands that all Ron wanted was to be heard, understood, and validated. Shifting that ONE MISSING PIECE of information into place for the guy could’ve saved a heck of a lot of trauma (and an innocent guy’s life). Because of all the outside situations affecting and changing in real time around him, Dean adapts his plan but he’s still at the mercy of the narrative (the Victor Henriksen level of the story). He can’t just... override the blatant textual stuff. He’s got to work within that framework still, blend in, and sneak out the back door in disguise.

Me: Sits here wondering if this is still too obscure for people to understand.

BONUS MATERIAL:

2.13 is pretty much about the same thing... seeing one thing but expecting something else. It's a ghost, but even the ghost thinks its an angel, and the expectation of the people he "chose" was also ANGEL so that's what they chose to believe. The “angel” was always only just poor old Father Gregory who didn't understand how to move on. And the WISH for it to be a real angel was strong enough that Sam and the other "victims" couldn't (or didn't want to) see the truth. They’d been willing to commit murder in the name of their mistaken assumptions. At least Sam was willing to test Dean's theory, and not just blindly follow what he believed at the time were obvious "signs."

2.14... poor Dean is the one without proper context in this one, and he's like Exposition on How To Read Subtext as the story unfolds. Presented with problem: Sam is missing, then found covered in blood with no memories. Putting the clues together: because Dean is GOOD at reading the clues, and understanding what's "in character" for Sam, and correctly interpreting what's "not in character" as CLUES that help him eventually uncover the truth, instead of dismissing them without any other consideration because they don’t match up with his preexisting understanding.

As I’m editing this mess of metaphors, I’ve got one more to add. Looking at the story is like seeing the picture of the kid on a box of Cracker Jack. Seeing the subtext is like realizing that kid’s holding a box of Cracker Jack and wondering about the picture on THAT box... Even if you don’t realize you’ve noticed that little detail (I mean, it’s right there, and your brain sees it whether or not you choose to look at it more closely to see what it’s showing you), it doesn’t change the fact that the kid on the box is still holding that box with a picture of himself holding a box... You don’t have to acknowledge all of that, but it doesn’t change the fact it’s there, on purpose, and a part of the whole that’s just as valid as the physical box it’s printed on. To me, this post is the equivalent of me cosplaying the Cracker Jack box kid. Just bringing it all out one level further.

The entire key to reading the whole story is printed right there on the box. Sometimes it just requires a bit of turning the box over and thinking about what it’s implying to understand the whole picture.

#spn 2.12 #spn meta meta #spn 2.13 #spn 2.14 #revenge of the subtext #actual quote i just used elsewhere: Damn Ben Edlund #it's spirals all the way down #on the meta level of the individual episode and throughout the entire series as a whole tbh

[ts-hvv4]

EPISODE THIRTEEN: BRO I REALLY AM A VILLAIN - NED

Well, I just voted out Sharifa, someone who had my back until the end (but would have undoubtedly won in a landslide). It sucks and was an incredibly hard thing to do, but I'm not playing for a team, I'm playing for myself. I was going to vote out Jake until a coalition was formed (literally) a minute before Tribal consisting of me, Jake, Sarah, and Malik. Sharifa had an idol and this was probably one of the last real opportunities we had to vote her out. PLUS, I won immunity so I'm feelin pretty good :)

Jake is NOW after all this time deciding to spill info about Kurt and how he’s this guy who is just acting like he’s dumb but he really isn’t and how he’s seen this first hand and yadda yadda. Why are you waiting till THIS round to say this?! This could’ve been said rounds ago? Thanks for the information, definitely gave me something to think about but it’s a bit too little too late for me. I might get kurt next round but for now, I know my plan and I have it set.

In a shocking turn of events, I'm about to betray the last remaining member of my Final 3. It's become apparent today that Malik is unwaveringly loyal to Kurt and Lukas also has a bond with him, so I don't like the odds of me and Sarah making it to the end amidst that. I feel like I'm basically playing for 2 people right now, because I'm personally in a great spot but Sarah's tough to maneuver through these people. I feel like I'm a tugboat pulling a cruise ship through a field of icebergs. It would be easy enough for me to navigate them on my own-- in fact, I would bet $1000 I have a guaranteed spot in the Final 3 on my own-- but I'm pulling this massive target through a sea that was NOT MADE FOR CRUISE SHIPS! I've been the lowkey power player literally throughout this entire game. I've been manipulating people since day 1, to the point where I think I'm the only person who's known every single thing that's happening (aside the Andreas vote I slept through) every single vote. I led a flip to eliminate two kingpins before the merge and have been able to use bigger players as puppets to put me in a great spot. Chris? Matt? Dennis? Nicklas? All objectively horrible moves for other people that I was able to convince them to make to allow me to get further. This vote is between Jake and Kurt, and Sarah and I are the swing votes. All we need is each other, because Sarah gave me her vote steal. And even if the others wise up to what we're doing and flip the vote on her, because I won immunity and have the vote steal, we'll both be safe in the case of a deadlock tie. At this point I think I'm going to vote out Kurt, because he's the link connecting Malik and Lukas and the thought of those 3 rising up against me and Sarah is intimidating. How crazy is it that I can vote out two people who were undyingly loyal to me in a row and still have a great shot at making it to the end? Everyone's been sleeping on me, but this vote is gonna be the alarm.

*a little while later*

Bro I really am a villain and it feels good

*a little after that*

BRUH I JUST GOT KURT TO VOTE MALIK! I ain't even gotta make up a story hahaha

*a round after THAT*

Yo I literally just said "let's just vote Lukas out" right after Lukas joined the call

*Spoiler alert this is just the Ned show for the rest of the season*

I would not be shocked if I go home tonight. Sarah freaking GAVE Jake immunity last night and now wants to play her idol on herself... I feel like Jake could easily flip on us and join Malik and Lukas and there's not much I can do about it if I'm their target. Pray for me

*Really? NOBODY ELSE MADE CONFESSIONALS?*

So here we are. The Final 4. Sarah - my true ride or die. I had to put in freaking LEGWORK to bring her here, and I'm shocked that people didn't realize that we were a duo in Bangladesh and also made the Final 3 together in a side season. As put best by Sid from Ice Age, "They do this every year!" It's gonna be a hard fight if we both make the end, because Sarah's played a much more visible game-- seriously, 2 idols and a vote steal (though I still take credit for her second idol find lol how the heck was that fair) and she's also burned far fewer bridges than I have. My best shot is if she shows up high and starts cussing people out like she normally does. Jake - I was able to use him as a target to flip on my old alliance and then as a pawn to carry me to the end. I just know he's won before and I predict the jury's gonna be pretty bitter and convince themselves that he was some mastermind. That's what Tumblr Survivor players do best: convince themselves that a player who really did nothing was actually in control the entire season so they don't feel like they're bitter jurors. Malik - what a guy. To put it harshly, the goat of the season and someone I think everyone was eyeing to take to the end. I'm just happy I jumped on the opportunity first :) I think the fact that he's been freaking creepy with most of the guys in the cast should be enough to stop him from getting any votes, but I can also see the jury being angry with ME for even bringing him. I played my butt off and I'm pretty sure I'm going to FTC, it's just a matter of beating Jake because I think he'd kill us all in the end. Ultimately I want to win and I truly believe I played the most dominant game this season; I consistently held all the cards and the only time I didn't know what was happening was when Andreas went home because I was asleep in SWEDEN! I knew where every idol and advantage was at all times and pre-and-post-Andreas, I knew where every person's vote was going at every Tribal. I seriously was calling the shots and nobody picked up on it because I convinced them all I was loyal to only them! My concern is that no one will hear me out because they think I was inactive or a follower (seriously, I had 4 exams the first day of the game and then I went to Sweden for 3 days but is it REALLY comforting to believe that an inactive person outplayed y'all?). I'm just hoping I can prove them wrong. Coming into this game with my highest placement in TS being 8th, I felt like I had something to prove, and no matter the outcome, I know I can leave confident that I've shown that I AM a competent player. Every time I win an ORG the VL always seems to be disappointed LOL so hopefully people like me this time

YA BOY JUST WON THE FINAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE!!!! Not only was that the most painful 3 1/2 hours of my life, but after Malik and Sarah dropped, it was freaking up to me to beat Jake, who'd almost definitely win if he made it to the end. It got to the point where we were balancing our books on two fingers for over an hour, when out of the blue, Jake's book dropped. I FREAKING EARNED THIS WIN, DAWG. He still thinks Sarah and I are taking him, but honestly... we'd be stupid to do that. He's slipped his way this far against all odds and honestly, I give him credit for pulling together the Sharifa blindside. That was WICKED. He's an incredible player and I have a ton of respect for him. During pressure cooker, I prayed a LOT and honestly kind of felt like Captain America: "I can do this all day."  

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1ee3c0e35d5b7ff09226c8656c57a203

I just hope people will respect the balls-to-the-wall game I played, because I know I've played a crazy game and I want this win. So bad. 

I have pretty much realized that I will not be winning this season, but it’s fine as long as jake leaves. I figured rounds ago since I wasn’t getting my way, people would think I was just dragged along by people as a non threat but I’m HOPING if Jake does leave I can plead my case over Sarah and hopefully over Ned, who I feel will floor me rn.

[words-writ-in-starlight]

look I am sleepy and tired and I've got some school shit to attend to pre-enrollment tomorrow so HEY MORAN how would you write an AU where Steve Trevor ends up as the Winter Soldier figure. bc we need more of that trope always.

Okay so I’m real into Winter Soldier AUs where their identity is discovered in the WORST AVAILABLE WAY (well, all WS AUs tbh but like come on I like to see people break down), and also this morning @littlestartopaz suggested that the Waynes are basically the Starks but more humanitarian and less weapon designer (also please note that I generally adhere to Unpretty’s Batman personality because I like it).

So basically what I’m saying here is that Bruce, after the League has formed up and suffered a nasty battle that dredged up a lot of people’s old issues, returns to the unsolved case of his parents’ murder and mulls over the information .  He has done this for most of his life when things go awry, not so much because he expects to solve the crime anymore or even because he’s still as emotionally locked in that moment as he once was, but just…it’s his parents and he doesn’t know and if there’s one thing the Batman hates, it’s not knowing.  

This time he has actual people, though, and while Clark mostly goes home to Metropolis and his day job, Diana is formally speaking on leave from her day job and she knows who he is and he lets her stay in his mansion because she really loves his gardens.  (This is what clinches it for Diana–the Batman is a marshmallow under that layer of body armor.)  So she comes across this research and the two of them start poking around and they find a loose end that Bruce hasn’t seen before.  They start pulling on it and at first they think that it goes nowhere, that it dead ends in a conglomerate of the wealthy and ethically deficient that dissolved decades ago and took all their records with it.

Two days later, Dick Grayson (probably around seventeen now) hears a quiet beep when he opens his car door and it’s only the years of practice that let him throw himself back fast enough to escape most of the shrapnel.  Bruce shows up to the hospital where Dick is getting bandaged up (burns to his left forearm and lower leg, two cracked ribs, and a nasty bit of road rash on his right cheek and shoulder) like the wrath of God, and Diana is already on site, sifting through the debris for a clue.  This is a warning, plain and simple, targeting the eldest son–death of the firstborn, Dick says like it’s at all funny, aren’t there supposed to be some other plagues before that?–but a critical mistake has been made.  Bruce Wayne is rich and powerful and people know it, and feel threatened even by ‘eccentric playboy Brucie’ because, well, one time he found out someone was paying off a surveyor to build one of his buildings on a burial site, and he came down like the fist of an angry god.

Batman, defending his partner and adopted son, is going to rip these people to shreds.  

“Huh,” Diana says with interest, tapping her comm so that Bruce can hear her.  She’s picking over what’s left of the bomb itself, armored and disinterested in the police nervously milling about.  “I haven’t seen a weight trigger like this since I was in the trenches.”

The manhunt that gets underway is subtle, at first, Diana and Bruce operating from the shadows or with the mild interest of superheros who happen to be in the area, while Clark calls in a few favors to look into the names that Bruce and Diana were pulling at.  The rest of the League isn’t told, not yet, because Bruce is protective of his identity and even more so of his secrets and he’s still adjusting even just to Diana and Clark.  

Diana does a lot of the legwork.  Clark has a secret identity to keep up and Bruce has an injured kid to duct tape to a bed (the entire Wayne household redefines ‘bad patient’ to levels that frankly amaze Diana even now) so Diana is mostly the one quietly talking to people, pushing for information, searching, seeking, hunting.  

It draws attention to her, because it looks like Bruce took the warning seriously while she did not.

It takes less than a month for someone to be sent to…deal with her.

Diana is just leaving the house of a woman whose dead husband’s brother’s boss might have had something to do with the whole mess–all of her leads have been like this, but Diana doesn’t mind because Bruce should see that people don’t always have darkness in their souls.  She’s willing to work with his kids and Clark on proving the point.  Also, she finds the concept of attacking children as horrific as she did a century ago at Veld, and Hades have mercy on anyone who did, because Diana certainly wouldn’t.  (Dick had protested that he’s almost an adult and besides he’s been fighting crime since he was nine, and Tim sat on him.  Carefully.  With affection.)  So yeah, she’s fine with digging through people who are at two or three removes from the situation on the off chance that they might have information.  Also this particular woman makes lovely home-mixed tea with rosehips and lemon and honey, so there’s also that.

She’s not certain that she’s being followed until she turns into an alley and the figure drifts after her, and…he’s good, she almost missed him.  Diana admits it at once–never underestimate your opponent, Antiope’s voice whispers through the years–and twists on her heel to face him.  She believes he’s male, but he’s masked, hard plastic too pearly to be skin that covers his face from just below his eyes all the way down, hiding mouth and keeping his jaw closed like a muzzle.  His hair was buzzed short at some point, but it’s growing out, as if no one tends to it, and his eyes are as cold and empty as the clear sky at midwinter.

Diana feels a little sick.  She was ready to take him down, hard and fast, but the man following her looks more like a tormented hunting hound than anything else.  Like he’s forgotten what it’s like to be treated as human.

“Why are you following me?” she asks, holding a hand out, palm down, as if gentling a nervous horse.  “Can you tell me who sent you?”

He raises a gun and shoots twice without so much as batting an eye.  Diana barely gets her bracers up in time, and then the alley is a melee battle, gun and blind determination against lasso and lifelong training.

Obviously, Diana wins, and the gun clatters away, followed by not one but three knives and a second small gun.  Her opponent carries more weapons on him than Bruce does, which is no small feat, and finally she tackles him outright, bracing one knee on his left wrist and catching his right in her hand as she uses all her strength to deny his attempts to throw her off, already demanding answers.

“I said,” she snarls, hooking her nails under the mask and ripping it away, “who sent–”  Her words strangle on her tongue as the mask drops from nerveless fingers.  “Oh Hades,” she breathes, and reaches out, hand trembling.  “Steve?”

He takes the moment of weakness to slam his head into her nose, and she rocks back as he rolls away.  She lashes out on instinct with her lasso, catches his ankle and yanks him back down onto the asphalt.

“Steve,” she says again, getting a better look at his face this time.

He bares his teeth at her, as if threatening to tear her throat out if that’s what it takes.  “Who the hell is Steve?”

#wonder woman #wondertrev #batman #steve trevor #diana prince #otp: when there are no wars to fight #yeah something like that #instead of CAWS style where bucky has the chance to get away and process and shake loose a few memories #steve gets taken to wayne manor IMMEDIATELY and it's a mess #also yes steve killed the waynes because i like to suffer #there's way more bruce in this than i expected? #idk turns out i like batman when he's not a grim yogurt man #winter soldier au #i might turn this into a real fic someday if i'm inspired #or just post this much on ao3 with some embellishments #yeah so #that's what i did with the last hour #idk if this is as good as i currently think it is because i'm very tired #ah insomnia good times #skymurdock #asked and answered #moran writes stuff

[xhostcom]

Taking Local Inventory Online: An Interview with Pointy’s Mark Cummins

Let’s go back in time 20 years so I can ask you the question, “How often do you look at a paper map every month?” Unless you were a cartographer or a frequent traveller, chances are good that your answer would be, “Hmm, maybe less than once a month. Maybe once or twice a year.” But in 2019, I’d wager there’s scarcely a day that goes by without you using Google Maps when planning to eat out, find a service provider, or find something fun to do. That web-based map in your hand has become a given. And yet, there’s one thing you’re still not using the Internet for. And it’s something you likely wonder about almost daily. It starts with the question, “I wonder who around here carries X?”

A real-world anecdote

After the tragic fires we’ve had this year in California, I wanted to wet mop all the floors in my house instead of vacuuming them, due to my concerns about particulate pollution in the air. My mother recommended I buy a Swiffer. I needed to know where I could find one locally, but I didn’t turn to the Internet for this, because the Internet doesn’t tell me this. Or at least, it hasn’t done so until now. Few, if any, of the local hardware stores, pharmacies, or big box retailers have reliable, live online inventory. At the same time, calling these places is often a huge hassle because staff isn’t always sure what’s in stock. And so I ended up going to 3 different shops in search of this particular product. It wasn’t a convenient experience, and it was an all-too-common one.

The next big thing in local already exists

My real-world anecdote about a wet mop is exactly why I’m so pleased to be interviewing Mark Cummins, CEO of Pointy. 90% of purchases still take place in physical stores and it’s Mark who has seen this gap in available online knowledge about offline inventory and has now set out to bridge it. I predict that within a few years, you’ll be using the Internet to find local inventory as frequently and easily as you’ve come to use its mapping capabilities. This chat with Mark explains why.

The real-world roots of an existing local need

Miriam: Mark, I understand that you were formerly a Google Search Team member, with a background in machine learning, but that your journey with Pointy began by walking into retail shops and talking face-to-face with owners. What did these owners tell you about their challenges in relation to offline/online inventory? A memorable real-world anecdote would be great here. Mark: I started thinking about this problem because of an experience just like your story about trying to find a Swiffer. I’d recently moved to a new country and I had to buy lots of things to set up a new apartment, so I had that kind of experience all the time. It felt like there was a huge gap there that search engines could help with, but they weren’t. I had been working at Google developing what became Google Lens (Google’s image recognition search feature). It felt strange that Google could do something so advanced, yet couldn’t answer very basic questions about where to buy things locally. So I started thinking about ways to fix that. Initially I would just walk into retailers and talk to them about how they managed their inventory. I was trying to figure out if there was some uniform way to bring the inventory information online. I quickly learned that it was going to be hard. Almost every retailer I spoke to had a different method of tracking it. Some kept records on paper. Some didn’t count their inventory at all. My first idea was a little crazy — I wanted to build a robot for retailers that would drive around the store every night and photograph all the shelves, and use image recognition to figure out the inventory and the prices. I spent some time seriously thinking about that, but then landed on the idea of the Pointy box, which is a much simpler solution. Miriam: Can you briefly describe what a typical Point of Sale system is like for retailers these days, in light of this being technology most retailers already have in place? Mark: Well, I would almost say that there isn’t a typical Point of Sale system. The market is really fragmented, it sometimes feels like no two retailers have the same system. There’s a huge range, from the old-style systems that are essentially a glorified calculator with a cash drawer, up to modern cloud-connected systems like Clover, Square, or Lightspeed. It’s very disruptive for retailers to change their POS system, so older systems tend to stay in use for a long time. The systems also differ by vertical — there are specialized systems for pharmacies, liquor stores, etc. Dealing with all of that variation is what makes it so hard to get uniform local inventory data.

A simple inventory solution is born

Miriam: So, you spoke with retailers, listened to their challenges and saw that they already have Point of Sale systems in place. And Pointy was born! Please, describe exactly what a Pointy device is, how it solves the problems you learned about, and fits right in with existing Point of Sales technology. Mark: Right! It was pretty clear that we needed to find a solution that worked with retailers’ existing systems. So we developed the Pointy box. The Pointy box is a small device that attaches to a retailer’s barcode scanner. Basically it links the barcode scanner to a website we create for the retailer. Whenever the retailer scans a product with their barcode scanner, we recognize the barcode, and list the product on the website. The end result is live website listing everything in the store — here’s an example for Talbot’s Toyland, a toy store in San Mateo. They have over ten thousand products listed on their site, without any manual work. The experience is pretty much seamless — just plug in Pointy, and watch your store website build itself. The Pointy box connects directly via the cell phone network, so there’s really nothing to set up. Just plug it in and it starts working. New products automatically get added to your store page, old products get removed when you no longer sell them, item stock status syncs automatically. We did quite a bit of machine learning to make that all automatic. Once the site is live, we also have some SEO and SEM tools to help retailers drive search traffic for the products they sell. Miriam: My understanding is that the Pointy Team had to do a ton of legwork to put together various product catalogues from which data is pulled each time a product is scanned so that its information can be displayed on the web. I’m not familiar with this concept of product catalogues. What are they, what types of information do they contain, and what did you have to do to pull all of this together? Also, is it true that your team hand-reviews all the product data? Mark: If you’re working in shopping search, then product catalogs are really important. Every mass-market product has a unique barcode number, but unfortunately there’s no master database where you can enter a barcode number and get back the product’s name, image, etc. So basically every retailer has to solve this problem for themselves, laboriously entering the product details into their systems. Pointy helps eliminate that work for retailers. There are some product catalogs you can license, but each one only covers a fraction of products, and errors are common. We built a big data pipeline to pull together all of this product data into a single catalog and clean it up. We automate a lot of the work, but if you want the highest quality then machine learning alone isn’t enough. So every single product we display also gets approved by a human reviewer, to make sure it’s accurate. We’ve processed millions of products like this. The end result for the retailer is that they just plug in a Pointy box, scan a product, and their website starts populating itself, no data entry required. It’s a pretty magical feeling the first time you see it. Especially if you’ve spent countless hours of your life doing it the old way!

Where real-time local inventory appears on the web

Miriam: So, then, the products the retailer scans create the brand’s own inventory catalogue, which appears on their Pointy page. What tips would you offer to business owners to best integrate their Pointy page with their brand website? Linking to it from the main menu of the website? Something else? And do these Pointy pages feature SEO basics? Please describe. Mark: Some retailers use Pointy as their main website. Others have it as an additional profile, in the same way that they might have a Facebook page or a Yelp page. The main thing Pointy brings is the full live inventory of the store, which generally isn’t listed anywhere else. To integrate with their other web presences, most just link across from their main sites or social media profiles. A few also embed Pointy into their sites via an iframe. We work a lot on making these pages as SEO-friendly as possible. The queries we focus on ranking for are things like “product name near me” or “product name, location.” For example, a query like “rubber piggy bank san mateo” currently has the Pointy page for Talbot's Toyland in #1 position. We have an engineering team working on this all the time, and we’ve actually discovered a few interesting things. Miriam: And how does this work when, for example, a product goes out of stock or goes on sale for a different price? Mark: We keep that information updated live. The stock status is updated based on the information from the Pointy box. We also handle price data, though it depends on what features the retailers is using. Some retailers prefer not to display their prices online.

See What's In Store: Google totally sees the opportunity

Miriam: I was fascinated to learn that Pointy is the launch partner for Google’s See What’s In Store feature, and readers can see an example of this with Talbot’s Toyland. Can you explain what’s involved for retailers who want their inventory to appear in the SWIS area of the Google Business Profile (aka “Knowledge Panel”) and why this represents such an important opportunity? Also, does the business have to pay a commission to Google for inclusion/impressions/clicks? Mark: This is a pretty exciting feature. It lets retailers display their full product catalogue and live inventory information in the Business Profile on the Google search page. It’s also visible from Google Maps. I’m guessing Google will probably start to surface the information in more ways over time. It’s completely free for retailers, which is pretty interesting. Google Shopping has always been a paid service, so it’s notable that Google is now offering some organic exposure with this new feature. I think that this is going to become table stakes for retailers in the next year or two, in the same way that having your opening hours online is now. Consumers are simply going to expect the convenience of finding local product information online. I think that’s a good thing, because it will help local businesses win back customers that might otherwise have gone to Amazon. We’ve worked a lot with Google to make the setup experience for local retailers very simple. You just link your Pointy account to Google, and your live inventory appears in the Google Business Profile. Behind the scenes we do a lot of technical work to make that happen (including creating Merchant Center accounts, setting up feeds, etc). But the user experience is just a few clicks. We’ve seen a lot of uptake from Pointy users, it’s been a very popular feature. We have a bit more detail on it here.

What about special retail scenarios?

Miriam: So, basically, Pointy makes getting real-world inventory online for small and independent retailers who just don’t have the time to deal with a complicated e-commerce system. I understand that you have some different approaches to offer larger enterprises, involving their existing IT systems. Can you talk a bit about that, please? Mark: Yes, some larger retailers may be able to send us a direct feed from their inventory systems, rather than installing Pointy boxes at every POS location. We aim to support whatever is easiest for the retailer. We are also directly integrated into modern cloud POS systems like Clover, Square, Lightspeed, Vend, and others. Users of those systems can download a free Pointy app from their system’s app store and integrate with us that way. And for retailers not using those systems, they can use a Pointy box. Miriam: And what about retailers whose products lack labels/barcodes? Let’s say, a farm stand with constantly-changing seasonal produce, or a clothing boutique with hand-knit sweaters? Is there a Pointy solution for them? Mark: Unfortunately we’re not a great fit for those kind of retailers. We designed the experience for retailers who sell barcoded products. Miriam: You’re a former Google staffer, Mark. In local search, Google has become aggressive in taking a cut of an increasing number of local consumer actions and this is particularly hard on small businesses. We’ve got Local Service Ads, paid ads in local packs, booking buttons, etc, all of which struggling independent businesses are having to pay Google for. Right now, these retailers are eager for a competitive edge. How can they differentiate themselves? Please, share tips. Mark: It’s true, lots of channels that used to be purely organic now have a mix of organic and paid. I think ultimately the paid ads still have to be ROI-positive or nobody will use them, but it’s definitely no fun to pay for traffic you used to get for free. On the positive side, there are still plenty of openings to reach customers organically. If small businesses invest in staying ahead of the game, they can do very well. Lots of local product searches essentially have no answer, because most retailers haven’t been able to get their inventory online yet. It’s easy to rank well for a query when you’re the only one with the answer. There’s definitely still an opening there for early adopters.

“Pointing” the way to the future

Miriam: Finally, Pointy has only been available in the US since 2016, and in that short amount of time, you’re already serving 1% of the country’s retailers. Congratulations! What does the near future look like to you for retailers and for Pointy? What do you see as Pointy’s mission? Mark: We want to bring the world’s brick-and-mortar retailers online and give them the tools they need to thrive. More than 90% of retail goes through brick and mortar stores, so there’s no reason they shouldn’t have an amazing technology platform to help them. The fragmentation and difficulty of accessing data has held everyone back, but I think Pointy has a shot at fixing that. Miriam: Thank you, Mark. I believe Pointy has what it takes to be successful, but I’m going to wish you good luck, anyway!

Summing up

In doing this interview, I learned a ton from Mark and I hope you did, too. If a local retailer you market is seeking a competitive advantage in 2019, I’d seriously be considering early adoption of Google’s See What's In Store feature. It’s prime Google Business Profile (formerly Knowledge Panel) real estate, and so long as SWIS is free and Pointy is so affordable, there’s a pretty incredible opportunity to set yourself apart in these early days with a very modest investment. I’m feeling confident about my prediction that we’re on the verge of a new threshold in user behavior, in terms of people using local search to find local inventory. We’ll all have the enjoyment of seeing how this plays out over the next couple of years. And if you heard it first at Moz, that will be extra fun! Xhostcom Lead Generation, Funnels, SEO & Wordpress/eCommerce specialists. Get a kick start with you online career - use our automated done for you funnels system to generate over $1000 Per Day Online! Get FREE TRAINING at Discover Funnels Need hosting for Wordpress or similar? Get it with SSD and SSL for just $1.52 at Fast Web Hosting with NO yearly increases. Do you need a great SEO tool? Check out SEMRush FREE at FREE SEO Tool Also check out Xhostcom.com ‎ for more great offers and news!

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[toothextract]

Taking Local Inventory Online: An Interview with Pointy’s Mark Cummins

Posted by MiriamEllis

Let’s go back in time 20 years so I can ask you the question, “How often do you look at a paper map every month?”

Unless you were a cartographer or a frequent traveler, chances are good that your answer would be, “Hmm, maybe less than once a month. Maybe once or twice a year.”

But in 2019, I’d wager there’s scarcely a day that goes by without you using Google Maps when planning to eat out, find a service provider, or find something fun to do. That web-based map in your hand has become a given.

And yet, there’s one thing you’re still not using the Internet for. And it’s something you likely wonder about almost daily. It starts with the question,

“I wonder who around here carries X?”

A real-world anecdote

After the tragic fires we’ve had this year in California, I wanted to wet mop all the floors in my house instead of vacuuming them, due to my concerns about particulate pollution in the air. My mother recommended I buy a Swiffer. I needed to know where I could find one locally, but I didn’t turn to the Internet for this, because the Internet doesn’t tell me this. Or at least, it hasn’t done so until now. Few, if any, of the local hardware stores, pharmacies, or big box retailers have reliable, live online inventory. At the same time, calling these places is often a huge hassle because staff isn’t always sure what’s in stock.

And so I ended up going to 3 different shops in search of this particular product. It wasn’t a convenient experience, and it was an all-too-common one.

The next big thing in local already exists

My real-world anecdote about a wet mop is exactly why I’m so pleased to be interviewing Mark Cummins, CEO of Pointy. 90% of purchases still take place in physical stores and it’s Mark who has seen this gap in available online knowledge about offline inventory and has now set out to bridge it.

I predict that within a few years, you’ll be using the Internet to find local inventory as frequently and easily as you’ve come to use its mapping capabilities. This chat with Mark explains why.

The real-world roots of an existing local need

Miriam: Mark, I understand that you were formerly a Google Search Team member, with a background in machine learning, but that your journey with Pointy began by walking into retail shops and talking face-to-face with owners. What did these owners tell you about their challenges in relation to offline/online inventory? A memorable real-world anecdote would be great here.

Mark: I started thinking about this problem because of an experience just like your story about trying to find a Swiffer. I’d recently moved to a new country and I had to buy lots of things to set up a new apartment, so I had that kind of experience all the time. It felt like there was a huge gap there that search engines could help with, but they weren’t.

I had been working at Google developing what became Google Lens (Google’s image recognition search feature). It felt strange that Google could do something so advanced, yet couldn’t answer very basic questions about where to buy things locally.

So I started thinking about ways to fix that. Initially I would just walk into retailers and talk to them about how they managed their inventory. I was trying to figure out if there was some uniform way to bring the inventory information online. I quickly learned that it was going to be hard. Almost every retailer I spoke to had a different method of tracking it. Some kept records on paper. Some didn’t count their inventory at all.

My first idea was a little crazy — I wanted to build a robot for retailers that would drive around the store every night and photograph all the shelves, and use image recognition to figure out the inventory and the prices. I spent some time seriously thinking about that, but then landed on the idea of the Pointy box, which is a much simpler solution.

Miriam: Can you briefly describe what a typical Point of Sale system is like for retailers these days, in light of this being technology most retailers already have in place?

Mark: Well, I would almost say that there isn’t a typical Point of Sale system. The market is really fragmented, it sometimes feels like no two retailers have the same system. There’s a huge range, from the old-style systems that are essentially a glorified calculator with a cash drawer, up to modern cloud-connected systems like Clover, Square, or Lightspeed. It’s very disruptive for retailers to change their POS system, so older systems tend to stay in use for a long time. The systems also differ by vertical — there are specialized systems for pharmacies, liquor stores, etc. Dealing with all of that variation is what makes it so hard to get uniform local inventory data.

A simple inventory solution is born

Miriam: So, you spoke with retailers, listened to their challenges and saw that they already have Point of Sale systems in place. And Pointy was born! Please, describe exactly what a Pointy device is, how it solves the problems you learned about, and fits right in with existing Point of Sales technology.

Mark: Right! It was pretty clear that we needed to find a solution that worked with retailers’ existing systems. So we developed the Pointy box. The Pointy box is a small device that attaches to a retailer’s barcode scanner. Basically it links the barcode scanner to a website we create for the retailer. Whenever the retailer scans a product with their barcode scanner, we recognize the barcode, and list the product on the website. The end result is live website listing everything in the store — here’s an example for Talbot’s Toyland, a toy store in San Mateo. They have over ten thousand products listed on their site, without any manual work.

The experience is pretty much seamless — just plug in Pointy, and watch your store website build itself. The Pointy box connects directly via the cell phone network, so there’s really nothing to set up. Just plug it in and it starts working. New products automatically get added to your store page, old products get removed when you no longer sell them, item stock status syncs automatically. We did quite a bit of machine learning to make that all automatic. Once the site is live, we also have some SEO and SEM tools to help retailers drive search traffic for the products they sell.

Miriam: My understanding is that the Pointy Team had to do a ton of legwork to put together various product catalogues from which data is pulled each time a product is scanned so that its information can be displayed on the web. I’m not familiar with this concept of product catalogues. What are they, what types of information do they contain, and what did you have to do to pull all of this together? Also, is it true that your team hand-reviews all the product data?

Mark: If you’re working in shopping search, then product catalogs are really important. Every mass-market product has a unique barcode number, but unfortunately there’s no master database where you can enter a barcode number and get back the product’s name, image, etc. So basically every retailer has to solve this problem for themselves, laboriously entering the product details into their systems. Pointy helps eliminate that work for retailers.

There are some product catalogs you can license, but each one only covers a fraction of products, and errors are common. We built a big data pipeline to pull together all of this product data into a single catalog and clean it up. We automate a lot of the work, but if you want the highest quality then machine learning alone isn’t enough. So every single product we display also gets approved by a human reviewer, to make sure it’s accurate. We’ve processed millions of products like this. The end result for the retailer is that they just plug in a Pointy box, scan a product, and their website starts populating itself, no data entry required. It’s a pretty magical feeling the first time you see it. Especially if you’ve spent countless hours of your life doing it the old way!

Where real-time local inventory appears on the web

Miriam: So, then, the products the retailer scans create the brand’s own inventory catalogue, which appears on their Pointy page. What tips would you offer to business owners to best integrate their Pointy page with their brand website? Linking to it from the main menu of the website? Something else? And do these Pointy pages feature SEO basics? Please describe.

Mark: Some retailers use Pointy as their main website. Others have it as an additional profile, in the same way that they might have a Facebook page or a Yelp page. The main thing Pointy brings is the full live inventory of the store, which generally isn’t listed anywhere else. To integrate with their other web presences, most just link across from their main sites or social media profiles. A few also embed Pointy into their sites via an iframe.

We work a lot on making these pages as SEO-friendly as possible. The queries we focus on ranking for are things like “product name near me” or “product name, location.” For example, a query like “rubber piggy bank san mateo” currently has the Pointy page for Talbot’s Toyland in #1 position. We have an engineering team working on this all the time, and we’ve actually discovered a few interesting things.

Miriam: And how does this work when, for example, a product goes out of stock or goes on sale for a different price?

Mark: We keep that information updated live. The stock status is updated based on the information from the Pointy box. We also handle price data, though it depends on what features the retailers is using. Some retailers prefer not to display their prices online.

See What’s In Store: Google totally sees the opportunity

Miriam: I was fascinated to learn that Pointy is the launch partner for Google’s See What’s In Store feature, and readers can see an example of this with Talbot’s Toyland. Can you explain what’s involved for retailers who want their inventory to appear in the SWIS area of the Google Business Profile (aka “Knowledge Panel”) and why this represents such an important opportunity? Also, does the business have to pay a commission to Google for inclusion/impressions/clicks?

Mark: This is a pretty exciting feature. It lets retailers display their full product catalogue and live inventory information in the Business Profile on the Google search page. It’s also visible from Google Maps. I’m guessing Google will probably start to surface the information in more ways over time.

It’s completely free for retailers, which is pretty interesting. Google Shopping has always been a paid service, so it’s notable that Google is now offering some organic exposure with this new feature.

I think that this is going to become table stakes for retailers in the next year or two, in the same way that having your opening hours online is now. Consumers are simply going to expect the convenience of finding local product information online. I think that’s a good thing, because it will help local businesses win back customers that might otherwise have gone to Amazon.

We’ve worked a lot with Google to make the setup experience for local retailers very simple. You just link your Pointy account to Google, and your live inventory appears in the Google Business Profile. Behind the scenes we do a lot of technical work to make that happen (including creating Merchant Center accounts, setting up feeds, etc). But the user experience is just a few clicks. We’ve seen a lot of uptake from Pointy users, it’s been a very popular feature. We have a bit more detail on it here.

What about special retail scenarios?

Miriam: So, basically, Pointy makes getting real-world inventory online for small and independent retailers who just don’t have the time to deal with a complicated e-commerce system. I understand that you have some different approaches to offer larger enterprises, involving their existing IT systems. Can you talk a bit about that, please?

Mark: Yes, some larger retailers may be able to send us a direct feed from their inventory systems, rather than installing Pointy boxes at every POS location. We aim to support whatever is easiest for the retailer. We are also directly integrated into modern cloud POS systems like Clover, Square, Lightspeed, Vend, and others. Users of those systems can download a free Pointy app from their system’s app store and integrate with us that way. And for retailers not using those systems, they can use a Pointy box.

Miriam: And what about retailers whose products lack labels/barcodes? Let’s say, a farm stand with constantly-changing seasonal produce, or a clothing boutique with hand-knit sweaters? Is there a Pointy solution for them?

Mark: Unfortunately we’re not a great fit for those kind of retailers. We designed the experience for retailers who sell barcoded products.

Miriam: You’re a former Google staffer, Mark. In local search, Google has become aggressive in taking a cut of an increasing number of local consumer actions and this is particularly hard on small businesses. We’ve got Local Service Ads, paid ads in local packs, booking buttons, etc, all of which struggling independent businesses are having to pay Google for. Right now, these retailers are eager for a competitive edge. How can they differentiate themselves? Please, share tips.

Mark: It’s true, lots of channels that used to be purely organic now have a mix of organic and paid. I think ultimately the paid ads still have to be ROI-positive or nobody will use them, but it’s definitely no fun to pay for traffic you used to get for free.

On the positive side, there are still plenty of openings to reach customers organically. If small businesses invest in staying ahead of the game, they can do very well. Lots of local product searches essentially have no answer, because most retailers haven’t been able to get their inventory online yet. It’s easy to rank well for a query when you’re the only one with the answer. There’s definitely still an opening there for early adopters.

“Pointing” the way to the future

Miriam: Finally, Pointy has only been available in the US since 2016, and in that short amount of time, you’re already serving 1% of the country’s retailers. Congratulations! What does the near future look like to you for retailers and for Pointy? What do you see as Pointy’s mission?

Mark: We want to bring the world’s brick-and-mortar retailers online and give them the tools they need to thrive. More than 90% of retail goes through brick and mortar stores, so there’s no reason they shouldn’t have an amazing technology platform to help them. The fragmentation and difficulty of accessing data has held everyone back, but I think Pointy has a shot at fixing that.

Miriam: Thank you, Mark. I believe Pointy has what it takes to be successful, but I’m going to wish you good luck, anyway!

Summing up

In doing this interview, I learned a ton from Mark and I hope you did, too. If a local retailer you market is seeking a competitive advantage in 2019, I’d seriously be considering early adoption of Google’s See What’s In Store feature. It’s prime Google Business Profile (formerly Knowledge Panel) real estate, and so long as SWIS is free and Pointy is so affordable, there’s a pretty incredible opportunity to set yourself apart in these early days with a very modest investment.

I’m feeling confident about my prediction that we’re on the verge of a new threshold in user behavior, in terms of people using local search to find local inventory. We’ll all have the enjoyment of seeing how this plays out over the next couple of years. And if you heard it first at Moz, that will be extra fun!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

from https://dentistry01.wordpress.com/2019/01/07/taking-local-inventory-online-an-interview-with-pointys-mark-cummins/