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webmdog · 7 years

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Un Ojo Para Una Vida (Part 1)

I’ll post this in parts, but it’s a little story attached to lore from my askblog, @ask-the-iron-queen, more specifically, a bit of backstory on the new character introduced, Lady Melissa Foster.

The characters here are human, unlike how they are pokemon in the blog.

Read on if you’re interested.

I knew from the day we separated that he would come crawling back to me.

What I didn't know was that being of flesh, blood and bone once more would come with an unspoken price.

Shadows of a past that I never knew, a past that wasn't even mine. These heavy shadows being lugged behind me and constantly eating at my very existence - following me around, making me feel anxious and uneasy.

This is especially true given the flesh and bone that make me up now doesn’t even belong to me. Or, it didn’t anyway. I’m still adjusting.

One shadow that I do welcome with open arms, even until this day, is the fateful evening that I was reunited with my beloved. While this was my own shadow of the past, what I feared was a shadow that wasn’t my own. If it wasn’t for the shadow of my flesh, blood and bone, then I wouldn’t have met my love one again. While thankful, this night had somewhat traumatized me for years to come. The velvet puddle under the limp, suited body is engraved into the insides of my eyelids, even now after about 10 years. I can’t help but feel like it was my fault, but I have no recollection of the person that was dead in front of me, even though he recognized me.

It was rather cool that evening and for the first time in years, the Renaissance King Fernando, the first monarch of the Royal Isles, had finally hosted yet another Royal Ball. The timing was a bit weird, because unlike the first time he hosted such an event at Castillo Hayañil, he seemed to randomly call for it in the midst of the infamous Cryptic War. Not that there were any imminent threats at the time since most soldiers were sent overseas to fight battles and the city was generally untouched, but stuff like this Royal Ball were usually held during peacetime, when feelings of anxiety and fear were but a distant memory.

I remember bringing this very point up to Lady Katherine Foxwell, Fernando’s advisor and head of El Departamento de la Guerra (Department of War) for the Royal Isles. She was a generally bubbly personality and as expected, she just smiled and said:

“Why not? Another Royal Ball would help ease the tension a bit for the Royal Islanders! Sure, it would be better to use it as a celebration for the end of the war, but God knows when it’ll end! Might as well have some fun now and get our minds off it.”

Immediately, I knew that Fernando’s decision to host this event in the castle was heavily influenced by Katherine. Most of his decisions were, after all. The man was generally stubborn and strong-willed but when it came to Katherine, he became putty in her hands. It was clear that the pair shared some sort of romantic bond, but none of that was any of my business at all. Either way, a few weeks later the Royal Ball commenced nonetheless. Fernando’s troops, the Soldados Sombras (Shadow Soldiers) were being shipped over to the nations of the Contrasoviet Confederation and Himilaya to fight off Dictatorial Forces under King Thapa and Tsar Danylo, who were in an alliance with Fernando’s nemesis, Tobias Messieri. Some stuck around here in Hayañil to train and to keep guard of the castillo. Thank God for them though, bless their brave souls. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I’d be here writing this following the disaster that occurred during the ball.

Anyway, the Royal Ball, yes. It was a lovely little event. Katherine of course casually invited me weeks in advance and I immediately bought a lovely lavender flamenco dress and did my hair the way those Flamenco girls do. I mean, I surely wasn’t the only one who wore this outfit, but I felt like it would be fitting. The last Royal Ball had a ton of tango pieces performed by the talented Royal Musicians after all, and I’d very much rather do that than waltz.

(More under the cut!)

My date was an older man, roughly in his 40’s I believe. A very notable man too. A college professor by the name of Guillermo Escudero. For a man of his age, he was outstandingly handsome and looked like he was in at least his 30’s, with ginger hair that looked like fire and tranquil blue eyes that seemed to take your breath away. He had a number of freckles right under his eyes, and he almost looked like a kid. But god, he was such a heartthrob. Though maybe that’s just me talking. I met him while working on one of Fernando’s war machines one day, I decided to work outside rather than in the hangar to get some fresh air and he kept saying “Hi” to me and starting chit chat every time he walked back from his daily lectures. He was a history professor or something, he always loved the topic of Piracy’s Golden Age. You know, those stereotypical pirates that say “Arrrrrgh” and “X marks the spot” and shit like that.

He really loved what he did, and I really admired that in a man. The small talk he and I engaged in soon evolved to full-on dating and though we never really did anything physical, we were the best of friends. Hell, this Royal Ball was the first time we’d even touch one another in some way and we were both completely okay with that. But there was something about him that reminded me of Finn, oh my sweet Finn. He was a darling too, but I don’t think there was a way I could see him again after we got separated those many years ago. I guess dating similar-looking guys was a bit of a coping mechanism or something.

The Dance was held in the ballroom of the newly erected Castillo Hayañil, King Fernando’s castle in the center of the city. The chandelier dangling from the stone ceiling glowed dimly, with the faux diamonds that hung from it’s arms and around the light bulbs refracting the faint orange light throughout the ballroom. The polished stone floors were gently draped over by a velvet red carpet with gilded lining and against the walls were marble tables with punch and small refreshments, from empanadas to chicharrones con vinagre. The stone pillars and wooden interior balconies towered above the dancers below at the edges of the room, small candlelit lanterns burning gently on each side, helping the chandelier above bring more light to the show beneath them all. A large wooden door was left ajar at the front of the room - clearly the entrance to the ballroom, and two winding staircases made of polished wood, led up to the top balconies on the front and back of the castle as well as other rooms. On the walls behind the pillars were paintings of all kinds, made by all kinds of uncredited artists, works that I’ve never even seen before placed in golden frames that had leaves carved into them as well as other intricate patterns. Each painting had the Royal Islander Coat of Arms carved into the top of the frame - El Diamante de Casa Boromeo (the Diamond of Casa Borromeo).

Those participating in the Royal Ball were mostly the prominent of Hayañil that were invited by either Katherine or Fernando but others that attended were usual citizens that were able to afford tickets to get in. Not that I minded that, it’s nice to get to mingle with people you’ve never met before and get to know them. One couple I met was particularly interesting. They both moved from the wasteland that was the United States to Hayañil at the start of the war since the husband, Francisco, wanted to serve as part of Fernando’s Soldados Sombras. Francisco was a doctor and his wife, Marie, was a nurse. He was registered to practice here in Hayañil and so was his wife, but the war had given him other things to do. He fought in the bloody “Batalla de Roma” a few years prior while his wife stayed in Hayañil to practice nursing. When he returned he was put on reserve and since then, has been getting to know the capital city and the people that lived in it a little more. Hence, why he and his wife were here. He wanted to get to meet the other professionals of the city, and he was definitely in the right place for that. He claimed that he lived in the city of Rey de Los Islas before it was even called that, but he didn’t really go into detail.

We all came flooding in with big ol’ smiles on our faces when the clocktower outside struck 7pm that night, couples dressed in elaborate dresses of different colors and suits or tuxes of different cuts and styles. The decor of the ballroom was rather simple, with banners of the Royal Isles’ flag pinned to the stone walls of the room between each glimmering candle lantern. But the elaborate chandelier, the paintings on the wall and the sculptures on the tables of food were what garnered the most attention. The musicians were setting up their music stands and tuning their instruments in an area toward the back of the room, right between the two large staircases. They all stood in front of a large glass door that overlooked a small grassy field, the jungle beyond it seen in the distance. Obviously the uncharted area of Hayañil.

After about 15 minutes of preparing the music to be performed for the evening, I saw the castle maid, La Eterna herself, Cecilia Lacroix readying her violin with a grin and a nod toward the Royal Conductor. He nodded back in understanding and curled his fingers on the ivory of his piano to prepare his piece. As soon as the music played, the dancers began to hold each other and start performing all kinds of complicated, circus-worthy twirls and twists while holding one another. This was when Guillermo jokingly knelt on one knee in front of me, kissed the back of my hand and with a smile asked “Puedo tener esta danza?” (May I have this dance?) I quickly fixed my hair and replied with an excited “Sí, mi amor.” before we began to embrace and move along to the music, our movements melodiously coordinating with the violins.

I know this is probably getting rather dull by now, but no worries. I won’t go into detail about how the night went on before shit went down. Besides, it was basically just Guillermo and I getting to know each other and dancing the night away with the others while some were off to the side socializing and munching on goodies and admiring the paintings between the pillars and whatnot. At one point, a very strange song began to play in the midst of people just mingling and talking that caught us all of guard and next thing we know a couple comes down from the upper balcony and starts waltzing in the center of the ballroom like it was nobody’s business. Of course, this couple was Lady Katherine and King Fernando but they were dancing together, for the very first time. It pretty much confirmed the talk of the town that Fernando and Katherine had a thing for one another, but man did they did they turn heads, that night. Katherine had this elaborate silk gown was absolutely dazzling. Very European in style with all kinds of shades of yellow and even some white and red thrown in the mix. It was like she was straight out of a ballroom in Vienna or something. Fernando, on the other hand didn’t even seem to dress formally, only wearing his usual buttoned silk shirt with the battlement-shaped patterns on the cuffs and the bottoms of the shirt with black dress pants and dress shoes, still donning the onyx crown upon his head. It was a cute little waltz, they both looked absolutely adorable! According to Cecilia, the waltz they played was a piece written by Katherine herself, which was surprising given I had no idea that she had musical skills in her. Honestly, I think that was the first time in years I’ve seen Fernando’s face light up like that. Who knew that all it really took was a short little brunette wearing an elaborate, yellow silk gown to make the miserable son of a bitch smile? She was clearly having a ball, and the two seemed to have a lot of chemistry together. Its a shame they never really went anywhere with that relationship.

#literature #fiction #writing #pokemon #pokeask #short story #dystopia #dystopic #demons #royal ball

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hotspreadpage · 7 years

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This Week in Content Marketing: Marketing Associations to Blame Publishers for Allowing Bad Ads

PNR: This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose can be found on both iTunes and Stitcher. If you enjoy our show, we would love it if you would rate it or post a review on iTunes.

In this week’s episode

This week, Robert ponders how we compare ourselves to others. In the news, we talk about a new initiative from three marketing associations that puts the blame for bad online advertising directly on the shoulders of publishers. We also discuss media companies’ rankings for brand loyalty – though these aren’t the media companies you’re looking for. Our rants and raves include Nielsen’s bid at measuring Netflix, and what we can learn from one-hit wonders; then we wrap up with an example of the week on the “Gary Vaynerchuk” of sustainable farming.

Download this week’s PNR: This Old Marketing podcast

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Show details

(00:01): An advertising blast from the past: “Gotta Be Pepsi Now!”

(00:30): Robert muses on this week’s theme: How do you compare?

(05:45): Welcome to Episode 206: Recorded live on October 23, 2017 (Running time: 1:05:58)

(11:38): Content Marketing Master Classes – Our multi-city tour is returning for another round of in-depth content marketing training. Starting on November 6, we’ll be making stops in Boston; New York; Washington, DC; Seattle; San Francisco; Chicago; Atlanta; and Austin, Texas. Robert and I would love to see you there, so register today.

Content love from our sponsor: Ahrefs (12:38)

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool set that has many amazing tools for content marketers who’re looking to grow their traffic from Google. With Ahrefs tools you can easily find out what people are searching for in Google, so you can create content around the most popular search queries. You can also discover content that got the most shares or earned the most backlinks, so you can piggyback from it and get the same results. And finally, you can easily research your competitors and find out which content brings them the most traffic from Google. Here’s an exclusive opportunity for PNR podcast listeners: Any listener who tweets using #ThisOldMarketing between the dates of September 30 through October 28 will be entered into a drawing to win an annual Ahrefs account plus a signed copy of Joe and Robert’s new book, Killing Marketing. One randomly selected participant will be drawn each week; four winners in total.

The quick hits – Notable news and trends

(14:28): Who are 2017’s top brands, ranked by customer loyalty? (Source: Marketing Charts)

(22:32): Publishers may have to “volunteer” in fight against annoying ads. (Source: AdAge)

The deep dive – Industry analysis

(28:14): Ad Age Ad Lib Podcast: Neil Vogel’s adventures as an accidental publisher. (Source: AdAge)

(34:40): Content marketing is dead. Long live marketing. (Source: Forbes)

Content love from our show sponsor: SnapApp (41:39)

Today’s buying committees are diverse; Millennials are already taking their seats among Generation X and Baby Boomers at the buying table, making navigating the already complicated buying environment even harder, thanks to their different preferences. Though this shift might seem minor, it greatly impacts how marketing teams operate, sales teams engage, and how purchase decisions are ultimately made.

SnapApp and Heinz Marketing recently conducted research to answer the question: How do different generations like to buy? Their report, “The Millennials Are Here! How Generational Differences Impact B2B Buying Committees Today” looks at the differences between the rising Millennial buyer, their Generation X and Baby Boomer counterparts, and how B2B marketing and sales strategies can address the gaps between them. Read the report.

Rants and raves

(44:02): Robert’s commentary: Nielsen is poised to start measuring the viewing audience of TV shows on Netflix. According to TechCrunch, the company’s new Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) Content Ratings Service will base its measurements on panel surveys, comparable to how it estimates linear TV ratings. While Robert understands why Nielsen is looking at this audience, he feels they are going about it all wrong.

(48:36): Robert’s rave: Adweek profiles a new Burger King ad about tackling bullying that Robert simply loves. It’s feel-good advertising that handles the discussion of social issues in an elegant and effective way.

(50:50): Joe’s rave: James Altucher‘s podcast is a regular listen for me. The latest episode, featuring singer-songwriter Mike Posner, is a particularly interesting one for a few reasons, including his discussions on updating his older content, and a process he uses, which I would call an influencer marketing strategy.

This Old Marketing example of the week

(56:40): Polyface Farms: A reader recently referred Robert to the story of Joel Salatin, a second-generation farmer in Virginia who grew up watching his parents struggle to maintain their family farm. Though the Salatin Family had already started to explore organic farming and more humane farm animal practices at Polyface Farms, they were finding it even more difficult to turn a profit while using these techniques. However, once Joel took over the business, he committed himself to taking these practices to the next level, while increasing the farm’s profitability at the same time. He started by answering questions and offering advice to his fellow farmers to increase their understanding of the benefits of greener, more sustainable farm operations, and the idea quickly took off. Eventually, he turned his education platform into books, lectures, and other published content works. Years later, Joel Salatin is one of the most famous and successful farmers in the world, with a content portfolio that includes live tour experiences at his farm, as well as recipe of the week competitions, and other user-generated content initiatives. By creating a media brand to drive the success of his sustainable farming business, Joel has built Polyface Farms into a quintessential Content Inc.-style example of This Old Marketing. (Sources: Permaculture; Virginia Tech’s Virginia Cooperative Extension; VCU Office of Sustainability).

Image source

For a full list of PNR archives, go to the main This Old Marketing page. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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