#world soft board league

[dcxdpdabbles]

Phantom's number 1 Fan. Part 2

Tim wakes a few days later, half submerged in liquid and hooked to various machines. He is in a tub shaped like a bed, obviously meant to sleep in. Around him is what he hopes is a hospital room with medical tools scattered about and soft blue paint that turns to the night sky the higher it goes on the wall.

On the ceiling are paintings of various constellations. It's rather beautiful.

Tim also notices he feels no pain. None. Not even the aches of his bones after years of abuse while fighting crime. He thinks that's a bit strange since the last thing he could clearly remember was barely escaping Ra's al Ghul, losing his spleen, and gaining more wounds from angry assassins on his way out.

He had been flying half-blind, blinking in and out of awareness. He thinks at one point, Cassie had attempted to call him, and he may have answered, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what he told her.

He did remember what she said in response. She sounded so desperate as she begged over the S-Batplane speakers. "Please, Tim, you're not well. Let us help you. Just tell me where you are."

Too bad for her, since the S in S-Batplane stand for Secert because Tim had built that one on his own in Secert. There was no way she or any of the hero community could track him in it since they had no idea it existed until Tim had taken it and his supplies on his solo mission to save Bruce.

Tim will admit that he is happy they noticed he went missing- even if it was three months too late. Not that it mattered much. The rest of the Bats wanted nothing to do with him. The world only saw him as a young easy wallet as a shiny new CEO. And his friends were all dead or convinced he was insane by Dick.

Tim didn't have anyone to notice he was gone anymore. But Bruce needed him to push through the ache and get him home.

As the Robin who Bruce trained to put the mission first no matter the cost, the one that came after Jason's death so, Bruce stopped allowing himself to think of Robin as a son and more along the lines of a soldier; he quickly shut down the crying child that wailed for someone to believe him, to support him.

Sometimes it felt like Tim was still waiting by the door of Drake Manor, waiting for someone to come and care for him, to stay for him.

The door to his room opens, snapping Tim back to the present. He automatically stiffens, expecting more of the League of Assassins. He can't remember much, but he guessed he was captured by the fact he was sitting in a green glowing water.

He was not, however, expecting a Yeti to walk in, reading a clipboard.

The Yeti looks up, bearing its teeth at Tim when he notices him awake. It takes a moment to realize the action is supposed to be a smile. "Great One's Honored Guest, I am so glad you have awakened. I am FrostBite, your doctor for the remainder of your recovery."

Okay. Ra's has Yetis at his disposal.

He was the only person that Tim knew as the "Great One." Usually, his most loyal operatives too, which means he was deep within Ra's territory.

FrostBrite pauses for a response, but when Tim remains silent, he holds up his board. "It seems to me that most of your wounds have healed. The only problem is that your spleen could not be salvaged due to the damage."

Tim fights to keep the despair off his face. He figured that was the case, seeing as Ras's had it in a jar, but he had hoped.

"...I understand this may be a difficult adjustment. You will always have to be careful when being ill. Even a simple cold could be disastrous." Frostbite steps close, taping one giant claw on the tub's edge. "The Great One has ordered we keep consistent Ecoplasm Baths at the ready for the remainder of your natural life."

Fuck. The Yeti is saying Ra will never let him leave again. It's a threat disguised as a offer of help.

Tim glares down at his hands. They lay within Lazarus' water, gently healing his small scars. This must be some of the purest Lazarus he's ever seen. It must be Ra's own special blend.

The only reason he is wasting it on Tim is that Ra's wants an heir from him. Or for him to become the Heir. He doesn't know, which makes him feel worse but he does know what lust looks like.

It's one that Ra's has aimed at him for too long.

He may as well get this over with. Learn as much as he can. Plan an escape. The best way to do all that is to simply ask.

"When is the wedding?"

Frostbite freezes. "I beg your pardon? Whos wedding?"

"Th Great One and mine" because the madman would never allow a bastard to inherit his empire.

"You and the Great One....are paramours?" Frostbite sounds awe. Shoot his medic doesn't know anything. The Yeti is likely low ranking.

Tim looks away, and the giant white creature jerks into action. "I apologize for not treating the Great One's beloved properly. I shall have servants bring up a meal while you soak. And the finest robe we have! Sweets and messages....offers of gold?....humans always like gold."

He waits until the Yeti leaves, mumbles of giving him the royal treatment echoing in his wake. Tim sighs, sinking into the water. He knows he is being watched as that's what he would do, so for now he needs to stay put and heal.

He's never going to get Bruce back if he acts too rashly without knowing where he is and what else Ra has under his control. Yetis were no easy feat to beat on his own. He like to avoid....a vampire or something too.

Half an hour later, FrostBite returns with the promised meal and change of clothes. Smaller Yetis help him dress in threads of the finest silks. They feel like heaven on his sensitive skin. Tim feels soft and warm all over, pampered beyond belief.

It's been so long since he just had a moment to rest.

He asks for a walk which he is only permitted after Frostbites clears him. It's while he is wandering that he realizes he is in some winter castle. Everywhere he looks, there is ice, snow, and yetis.

He notices all the guards and makes mental maps of possible weak spots. He wonders why he's not freezing despite only being in a thin silk robe. A form of magic?

A few yetis- servants he can tell by their mannerisms- bow as he wanders about. He can't tell where he is based on the sun or the environment. It's....somehow different.

"That's him?" A young female voice asks. He turns his head slightly to catch the speaker in his provisional vision. It's one of the smaller Yetis....he assumes she's a child? Hard to tell when she still towers over him. "The Great One's future spouse?"

"Yes, I heard King Frostbite, himself, tell the Head Butler"

"He's weak," another Yeti says with disapproval. He sounds male but young as well. Not even a teenager. "He does not even have a core."

"He is a human." A much older voice replies. She sounds like Tim's age based on vocal cords. "Humans are not meant to have cores. Despite this he is a formidable fighter. He has to be to have attracted the Great One's eye."

"Maybe not. I heard humans enjoy being cared for like children. They even call partners things like Mommy and Daddy."

"Why?" The boy Yeti sounds horrified.

"Apparently it's seen as attractive"

"That's disgusting."

Tim turns a corner cutting off the conversation as the Yetis snap to attention. They bow low at the waist as he walks by.

He nods at them, which seems to startle a lot of them. Not that he's surprised. The AL Ghuls likely treated them like decorations and never fully acknowledged them.

Tim barely hears the young boy gasp. "He's beautiful."

"That's likely why the Great One is so bestowed."

Tim sighs walking back to his room with a escape plan half formed.

Elsewhere, the rumor mill in the Ghost Zone is running over time as news of King Phantom's human husband-to-be is spread far and wide. Leaders of the Ghost Zone quickly prepare for a ball that will likely be called to celebrate the union.

They have gifts gathered, each wanting to gain favor with the King. The Far Frozen gets overwhelming requests to visit the future Consort, but seeing as King Phantom had to return to the human world, thus leaving his fiancé in their care, they reject all. They do not want the boy to be overwhelmed or caught unawares if he is not tried in any form of politics.

It would not allow him to become a threat to the King's authority's pawn.

This led to even more rumors starting.

By the time they reached John Constine- the only human who has any form of contact with the Realms- the word is that King Phantom's human was currently carrying their child, wanting to marry before the baby was born, and that he was running from a group of humans known as "The Bats."

He was as beautiful as the King Phantom was powerful- which meant he was utterly breathtaking for a human- and that King Phantom was currently in the human world hunting down those who threaten his family.

Across the dimension plane, Danny is blissfully unaware of the misunderstanding as he is busy filling out college scholarship applications. He has only one more year before he graduates, but he would like to go somewhere away from Amity Park.

The Wayne Scholarship is a long and lengthy process, but it will be worth it. A full ride with board and meals? Yes, the housing will be in Gotham but it's a small price to pay.

He wonders if his number one fan has awakened. Frostbite would have contacted him if his guest had escaped the coma.

Tim Drake had been asleep for nearly a week, only kept healthy due to Danny bathing him in his Protective Core ectoplasm and the Yeti's multi-species medical knowledge. As it were, Tim appeared to only be taking a small nap, none of the adverse effects of long slumber appearing on his thin body, but Danny was getting worried.

At this point, he didn't even care how Tim knew his secret. He just wanted him to be alright.

A flash of green light causes Danny to spring away from his laptop, body falling into a natural fighter's stance only to blink at the giant gift wrap present laying on his bed. Cautiously he inspects the gift finding it from Princess Dora.

"May your love lead the Realms into a wonderous future, and may your union bear many children." He reads the small note she had attracted to her gift "What children?"

Pulling open the gift, he stares at two sets of King robes decorated with rubies shaped into snowflakes. More miniature robes and a few booties surround the pair, obviously meant as a family gift.

Tuck to the side of the box is a long and deadly-looking sword. It's pitch black, with a scull as a handle. Dora had tired a scroll to its blade, where she had written My armies are ready to yield to you. You need only to swing this sword, and they shall come to your aid. The Bats will not harm your treasure.

What in the world?

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #Phantom's number 1 fan #Tim unleased a love story onto the beings of enterity #Danny is super confused #Somewhere John is freaking out about a possible war #Tim does not remember stopping at Danny's

[francesderwent]

my brain is fried i'm so overtired I've cried spontaneously at least once a day for the past three days will you please help a girl out with a soft cozy wholesome movie recc please and thank you

I’m so sorry my dear!! I dug to the depths of a bunch of old tag games and my film tag and this is what I came up with!

when I’m strung out I tend to gravitate to movies that will make me happy-cry so this list will at moments tend in that direction. I tried to sort by what was available to stream now, and the sub-lists are in no particular order

if you have amazon prime (the basic package):

Penelope (2006). highly recommend, a funny little modern fairy tale about a lonely young girl searching for a way to break her curse. this one heals something in my heart

Stardust. also highly recommend! a chaotic fairy tale about true love and what a person would do for it.

Street Gang. the Sesame Street documentary. sometimes people are good and they’re trying to make the world a better place and they’re doing it with their friends.

How To Train Your Dragon. it’s a perfectly executed film and the score and animation is gorgeous. (also available on netflix)

if you have netflix:

Feel the Beat. a dance flick about a seemingly cold-hearted ambitious young woman becoming a dance teacher in her hometown

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. so so so rewatchable.

She’s the Man. the funniest movie on this list and possibly of all time. I have never shown this movie to a person who didn’t end up loving it. it’s Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at boarding school as a soccer movie

if you have tubi?? you might not need a membership I don’t know how tubi works??

The Music Man. some of the best costumes and choreography my favorite age of movie musicals had to offer. a con man comes to a small Iowa town and starts to want to believe in the beautiful lie he’s selling.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. this movie was written by Roald Dahl and it is buck wild. widowed inventor and his two children buy a broken down racing car and?? hijinks and musical numbers ensue

if you have disney plus:

Princess Diaries (1&2). we know them, we love them.

Sky High. if you haven’t seen this, I highly recommend it because it is silly fun but it understands the genre it’s playing with.

Newsies (1992). scrappy newsboys form a union, sing songs, punch each other, ???, profit

Holes. the single best adapted book to film ever? the cast commentary is also hilarious

Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella (1997). absolutely delightful. Whitney Houston as the godmother! Jason Alexander as the butler! Brandy as Cinderella! Bernadette Peters as the stepmother!

if you feel up for a trip to the library, things to look for:

The Hundred Foot Journey. I only saw this one once but it’s about a family who opens up an Indian restaurant across from a Michelin-starred French restaurant and it’s gorgeous

A League of Their Own (1992). sisters! best friends! married women and their disreputable drunk coach friends!

The Secret Garden (1993). highly recommend! this one fixes me down to my bones.

This Beautiful Fantastic. also highly recommend! a woman who’s afraid of the world falls in love with it.

Secondhand Lions. also highly recommend!! a boy gets dropped off with his great-uncles for the summer, hears possibly made-up stories of their wild and adventurous youth

August Rush. a young musical prodigy searches for his parents.

Sense and Sensibility (1995). if you need Austen energy, this is the one.

Cinderella (2015). this movie is so gentle and so lovely.

Little Women (1994). life is gonna be hard and sad but it’s gonna be beautiful and the love will endure!!!

I hope this helps and I hope you feel better! ❤️❤️

#I didn’t put Far From the Madding Crowd on here because it gets a little fraught in the middle there #but the ending is so so so comforting to me #I didn’t put love and monsters or speed on here because they are full of love BUT they are stressful #more so than the stuff here #asks

[watchfuldeer]

tom, far from being a consistent logan mirror, is a culmination of everything logan loathes and deliberately so.

tom is a sensitive ivy league gen x’er constantly on the verge of tears whose only way of playing with the big boys is by clinging to their coat tails. he’s an efficiencies guy - a professional neurotic. he is not a dealmaker in the cut-throat world of business. he can schmooze, but even then not well. if logan had a dying wish, it would have been ‘not tom’.

the contrasts drawn between lukas matsson, logan’s actual chosen successor, and tom make this obvious. despite being only a year apart in age and an inch apart in height, lukas is shot as this imposing, muscled giant at home atop mountains, his bodily integrity and virility never in doubt for a moment. he has blood to spare, whole blocks of it. tom by comparison is frequently physically humiliated, shown as submissive, diminished and soft despite his broadness, and cuckolded. endlessly worried about his own masculinity, tom’s attempts to play the role of powerful (heterosexual) businessman are undercut by how badly he performs it. when his actual personality asserts itself it is as anxious and homoerotic as lukas’ is cocksure (lol) and confidently homosocial.

this anxiety is evident in the finale, when it almost undoes him completely. when logan kicked someone, it was always a test of the love his children, his partners, and his colleagues had for him. it was manipulation, sometimes even subconscious, to specifically encourage dependency. tom on the other hand does not kick just to see if someone comes back. the person we see this with most is of course greg, whom he kicks when the strain of tom performance gets too much and it bursts out of him towards greg in ways he can’t control. it’s not because greg is an easy target, but rather because he cares about greg so much. afterwards, he is capable of apologising and of trying to make genuine amends. logan is not.

tom and greg’s fight in the finale is a distillation of the problems they have post-logan’s death, typified by a fearful tom not recognising that greg is all in with him and lashing out to pre-empt what he sees as the inevitable loss of greg. by america decides, they’re on better terms, which is likely a result of tom and shiv’s huge public breakdown of communication. greg spots his opportunity and does everything possible to reassure tom, up to and including betraying shiv to kendall, that he’s on board with their partnership. yet as soon as tom is put in a position of great stress and paradoxically ego (blesses shiv and lukas - gets offered the top job) on top of a week of insomnia, he returns to his baser instincts. the lie to greg is to try and prevent the one thing that is unlikely to have happened - a betrayal - and it causes greg to betray him unwittingly.

their fight is tom’s unstoppable fury at himself meeting greg’s immoveable stubbornness. the slap heard around the world is greg at last saying you don’t get to treat me like that, because i’ve done everything for you. greg knows he could hurt tom so, so badly and always chooses not to. the sticker meanwhile is both an apology and the admission of love that greg has been searching for all season. it’s ablution, confession and contrition from tom in one, and greg’s response to it is not simple relief or thankfulness. he will always be able to come back, and tom will always have him back.

tom doesn’t treat people like logan treated people, and i would say he is fundamentally incapable of doing so. this is a distinct weakness in the world he’s in, which he’s only been able to navigate with the help and attention of greg. logan barely tolerated tom’s campiness, his mannerisms, and even his affection, and tom is very far from embodying anything that logan did as a man.

#tomgreg #tom wambsgans #greg hirsch #logan roy #succession meta #succession #somehow couldn’t find anywhere to shoehorn in dog motif #but imagine it’s there. it was just a long post already #also i didn’t talk about the differences between logan lukas and tom’s misogyny #but i have thoughts on that too !!! #meta on meta

[little-pup-pip]

Just curious, what requests do you have in your queue/to do currently? If you're ok with saying it that is :]

Oh boy, that's a bigger question than last time someone asked! I have over 200 waiting requests at this point!! Because of that this got very very long, so I put the rest under the cut! Like last time, this is in order of how recently I received the request, and doesn't mean I'm too busy to take new requests!!

Ibara saegusa (enstars)

Monochrome oranges cats and angels

Gloomy bear

Another rockruff (maybe)

Cult of the lamb (specifically the lamb)

Llewellyn Watts (Murdoch Mysteries)

Jake (trailer park warlock)

Cult of the lamb (pet dreaming themed)

Bear therian

Selkie

Ice bear (we bare bears)

Tubbo (maybe)

Snow leopard

Pink

Australian shepherd (pupre)

Cassie (fnaf: ruin)

Draik (neopets)

The rainbow fish

Black kitten + space

Pumpkin head (maybe, needs more research)

Alice in wonderland

Sheep

Someone's OC Avery & siblings

Gothic

Star catcher (MLP)

Masc version of my druid board

Scrooge CG (2009 film)

Beetlejuice

Superstar daycare (fnaf)

1950s + ocean

Pandas + light purple and black

Dandelions

Willy wonka CG (recent movie)

Maki Harukawa (Danganronpa)

Kidcore Halloween + pumpkin puppy Webkinz

Fruit bat

Mermaid

Pastel purple + pandas

Robocar Poli

Brown, lime green and forest green puppy

Weird Barbie CG

Shiny Vaporeon

Where the wild things are

Squid

Dylan (the magic roundabout)

Conner CG (Detroit become human)

Mitsuri kanroji (demon slayer)

Minecraft mooshrooms

Sharks or wolves (haven't decided)

Hot Wheels

Miffy

Fox

Sharks

Zombies

Vincent (dead plate)

Vintage kitty dreaming

Deadpool

Shane CG (stardew valley)

Wolf pup

Celestia and Luna (MLP)

Soft blue and yellow

Pascal (animal crossing)

Pastel blue and pink

Batman CG

Ram

Osamu dazai (bungo stray dogs)

Dylan (the quarry)

Rain/nature + white rabbits

Ox

Penguin + dinosaur

Noah (total drama island)

Vision CG (marvel)

Light blue

Bumble bees + lavender

Yellow + ducks

Bearded vulture

Barn owl

Queen barb (trolls world tour)

Oliver (vocaloid)

Light green light brown and beige

Mind (Chonny Jash/CCCC)

Cinnamoroll + emu otori (project sekai)

Yellow+ chicks and puppy stuffies

Seam CG (deltarune)

Plants vs zombies

Viktor (arcane)

Queen of trash CG (Elmo goes to grouch land)

John Constantine (Justice League Dark)

Aziraphale (good omens)

Scenecore

Musa (winx club)

Leap frog

Hyper feminine puppy

Crow + black cat

Totodile + bodies of water

Bees

Sackboy (Little Big Planet) and or My Melody

Baby crocodile

Animal crossing

Pastel kitten

Doki doki literature club

Keralis (Hermitcraft, maybe)

90s grunge

Tula tones (novi stars)

Eevee + dragons

Kitten + stars

Ratchet (rescue bot academy)

Pastel shark

Mikan Tsumiki (Danganronpa)

Mushrooms

Grey + Ross federman youtooz

Sparkly dragon

Blue and purple + puppies

Ducks + alt/Gothic lean

Cinnamoroll

Shadow (sonic)

Jellyfish

Boyfriend.xml (Friday night funkin')

Puppet (fnaf)

Golden retriever + yellow and blue

Bernese mountain dog

Strawberries

Genshin impact

Len or Miku

Toothless (httyd)

Eddworld

Donnie (rise of the tmnt)

The princess and the grilled cheese sandwich

Pastel goth princess

SpongeBob

Karako Pierot (hiveswap)

Young Michael Afton

Soft fox

Great pyrenees + farm

Ike eveland

Invader Zim + neon green

Julius Caesar (Octavian, night at the museum, waiting until March for this one)

Scorpion

Vampire squid

Golden retriever (again, lol)

Cats + playing outside

Border Collie

Tiger

Argos CG (World of Mr. Plant) 

Pochacco

Mortal Kombat

marble cross fox/forest/fantasy (I'm figuring this one out still)

Puppy + SpongeBob

characters from Project Sekai, Hoshino Ichika, Mochizuki Honami, Akiyama Mizuki and Kusanagi Nene.

Baby vulture

Frog with more fem themes

Rain world/slugcat

Dark academia/cottagecore

Border Collie

Modded smash hit rooms

Crying child (fnaf)

Agent Smith CG (the matrix)

Katamari

Enjolras (les miserable)

Rolfe DeWolfe CG (Rockafire Explosion)

Bugbo

Slime rancher

Puppet (fnaf)

CosMc's

Parado (Kamen Rider)

Tally hall

Gordon (all engines go)

Spinel (Steven universe)

Cater diamond (twisted wonderland)

Rockabilly (probably)

Felix Lee

Jing yuan CG (Hsr)

Charles Xavier CG (X-Men)

Toki wartooth (metalocalypse)

Naoto Shirogane (persona 4)

Kitoto (I don't know what he's from)

17th century dutch

Sirena von boo (monster high)

Jake (miss peregrines home for peculiar children)

Minecraft

Sees behind trees

Allay (Minecraft, I think)

Spinosaurus screenshots or products

Tecchou (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Barbara (genshin impact)

Tasmanian devil

Spamton CG (deltarune)

Spinosaurus

Grunge + lop eared bunnies

Yume-Nikki

Daxter (jak and daxter)

Madness combat for puppies

James Sunderland (silent Hill)

Shirokuma (Danganronpa)

Leo (IDW comic)

#this took a while #a couple hours i think #but i don't mind because it's a fair question! #i also discovered a bunch of non request things that i didn't see!! #for people who sent those I'm sorry! #I'll respond shortly! #anyway no colored text for this because too much text #I'm curious which ones people are most excited about #and if you're wondering why most requests with people say maybe #it's because i need to research the people first #to make sure I'm comfortable with them #and that their face is okay to put on my account #anyway thats all #i hope you like reading anon! #Pip's barks

[outsideratheart]

21 Secret Santa with athenea del Castillo

A/N: Day twenty six of the Christmas advent calendar.

Love is something you always feared. There is saying that stuck with you ‘loving someone is giving them the power to break your heart but trusting them not to’. It is because of this that you were single for so long, you never met the person that showed you this much trust, that was until you met Athena.

You are one of the most well known footballers players in the world so when you left Chelsea, your home club, for Real Madrid the world took notice and it brought a spot light on the Spanish team that they couldn’t fully get used to. It was especially hard on Athenea because she would go from one of spain’s rising stars to Y/N Y/L/N’s girlfriend. You know she was struggling and you begged her to ignore the fans and focus on you but she couldn’t do it.

“I can’t do this Y/N” Athenea stood in her living room, stiff as a board.

There is no need for her to be specific, you know exactly what she is talking about and whilst it breaks your heart to lose her you would rather be hurt then her be unhappy.

“I love you Athenea. More than anyone else in this world but I understand that isn’t enough” You slowly walk towards her all while keeping eye contact. When you are face to face with her you give a soft smile.

“You deserve the world and i’m sorry that I couldn’t give you that. I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you from them” Your voice is quiet.

For the last time, you pull her in your arms and she breaks down. Her tears soak your shirt but you remain strong, getting emotional won’t make you feel better. When Athenea pulls away her eyes are blood shot red. You wipe the tears off her cheeks then place a kiss to her temple.

No more words are spoken as you walk away and you don’t turn back.

You know that a breakup of any kind is hard but a break up 2 weeks before Christmas, well that made it hurt twice as much. You had already bought her present and had plans for the two of you, new year in the Maldives. Athenea would now no nothing about any of them.

The last game of the season came against Chelsea in the champions league at Stamford bridge, your old stomping grounds. The team arrived back in Madrid with only one training session left on the calendar and it also happened to be the the day when Secret Santa would be exchanged.

“Has everyone got their presents?” Ivana says “yeah? Right let’s begin”

The team is scattered around the locker room. Some sat in their lockers, others on the floor and on the physio benches. One player does seem to be missing.

“You can’t start yet. Y/N hasn’t finished her media yet” Athenea stands up gaining the attention of her friends who all give her the same look.

“Media?” Misa asks clearly not knowing what her friend is talking about.

“She wasn’t at training. Did you even notice?” Your ex girlfriend says. Her tone making it obvious that the obliviousness of the goalkeeper has angered her.

The rest of the team share looks, neither of them knowing what to say.

“Athenea” Olga rests her hand of the forwards shoulder “Y/N isn’t doing media. She isn’t even in Madrid”

The young player is confused, that much is obvious.

“Y/N asked if she could stay in London after we played Chelsea and given that she scored twice and assisted Caroline’s goal, coach allowed it”

Athenea couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knows that she has been avoiding you but failing to notice you hadn’t travelled back to Spain with the team, that was something else.

Instead of questioning it further, Athenea sinks into her locker as the presents are handed out.

“What about Y/N’s present?” Sofia asks the group.

“She told me about her plans before we left and I’m her secret Santa so I gave Y/N her present early” Olga hesistantly told the group.

Athenea looks at her friend wondering why she never told her but then again she no longer had a right to know what you did and where you went.

“Would you have cared?” Olga whispers knowing the reaction that her words might get.

“I” Athena could not giver an answer.

The gifts gets handed out and Athenea is last.

“Here” Claudia hands her a present.

“I thought you had Esther for secret Santa. You can’t have two” Misa says earning her a slap around the back of the head. As she rubs her head the goalkeeper realises why Claudia did what she did.

“Oh”

Athenea eyes her gift. It was perfectly wrapped giving her a indication of who it was from but it is when she opens it does she know for sure.

In her hand sits a velvet box and inside is a pendent on a keychain but is wasn’t just any pendant, it was a gold sun. Tucked in the side was a small note.

My sunshine, you showed me brightness on my darkest days. I hope you find someone who shares their light with you.

“She loves you Athenea. I know that things were hard for you but can you honestly say you are happier without her?” Olga asks hoping that Athenea would finally see the error of her ways.

“I think I made a mistake. I need to go” Athena rushes out of the changing rooms.

#christmas ficlet #woso x reader #Athenea Del Castillo x reader #espwnt x reader #Real Madrid femenino x reader

[hedgiwithapen]

Young Justice. “You’re right: I’m a liar. But you can believe me, just this one time.”

Something soft and furry presses against her ankle. Zatanna doesn't look, just steps away from whatever cat or dog has sensed her anxious sorrow. She doesn't particularly want to be comforted right now.  In the aftermath, she always does. Artemis is good about holding her up through her grief. in the days that follow, she wants to be empty, a bit. Focus on her magic, focus on her work. It's just easier that way.

"I know how to stop that old tightwad," a voice says in Zatanna's ear. She jumps.

Teekl purrs, moving from her ankle to Klarion the witchboy's, and anger builds inside her. It's his fault. He killed Kent Nelson. His spell shattered the worlds. He stole her father from her. The League, the Team, they have a thing about killing.

Magic has a thing about threes.

"Give me one good reason not to kill you."

"Well, you can't, so there's that," he says. "But also I can help you with your Nabu problem."

"Right," she spits. "Help. Because you're so benevolent and trustworthy."

"You’re right: I’m a liar." Klarion said with a shrug. "But you can believe me, just this one time.”

"And why's that?"

"Because I'm a being of chaos not evil. I mean, evil most of the time, sure, but that's because it's fun, not because it's what I am."

"Speak plainly, Chaos creep."

"The Bad guys are all board meetings these days.” Klarion says, his eyes suddenly far too big and sad to exist in the real world. “ Literally. It's hell. I don't have anything anyone else would want, so you're my best bet for, you know, shaking things up. Like, all those secrets you heroes have been keeping? Hiding stuff and manipulating each other each until someone does something drastic and like nine layers of lies get unraveled like an onion? That’s gold. Probably the only reason I’m not dead. So maybe, I dunno, I owe you or something. So how’s about it,  I get your dad back from Nabu, without killing him I guessssss--" he peeks at her. Though she's tempted, she nods firmly. " Without killing him, and in return you get the heroes to do something really splashy. Get things going. Street fight? Been a while since there was one of those. Up to you. I'll throw in a bonus if it's against Luthor, that guy really takes the fun out of villainy. Three piece suits when he could have a mech! There's no drama and it is killing me. So, you in?"

Zatanna's spent years wondering what she'd do for her father back for more than an hour once a year. Starting a street fight against the likes of Lex Luthor is a far cry from selling her soul. 

"Tell me how you plan on saving my father. As long as no one dies... I'm in."

#dammit hedgi day 2023 #Young Justice #Zatanna Zatara #Klarion the Witchboy #the writers are cowards about chaos/order being alligned with good/evil and i say fuck that

[clay-cuttlefish]

All of Vic's cartoon appearances.

DC Showcase: Blue Beetle

A 60s-styled short using the Charlton incarnations of Vic and Ted, plus Captain Atom and Nightshade.

I'm on board with Vic being an objectivist for the sake of a janky throwback. There is no Rorschach energy here, this is entirely a parody of Ditko.

The comedy's not super inspired but hey, it's 15 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Look at these losers go.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Mystery in Space!

Vic is so shaped. Just a little guy.

Most of these teasers are meant to show off who the guest hero is and what they do, but not Vic. He's just chilling. Zero explanation of what his deal is other than "guy who is Around."

BatB - The Knights of Tomorrow!

Of all the heroes who have been on BatB, Vic is probably the least qualified to go to Apokolips. Why did he agree to this.

Unsurprisingly he falls in lava. Sad. Well there are other heroes.

BatB - Darkseid Descending!

And then he singlehandedly saves the world from Darkseid while most of the Justice League International blows up. King.

I love BatB's commitment to weird little dudes. It plays fast and loose with characterization (it's a kids show that's mostly about Batman and does it with everyone, I'm not gonna nitpick it) but it's got a lot of interesting randos.

I think this is the only time Jaime and Vic appear together? Actually appear, not just as nonspeaking cameos in a big event.

Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold

I watched this while babysitting and I had a great time. It's a kids movie, but hey, I have Scooby-Doo nostalgia and a soft spot for campy Batman, this does both very well.

Vic shows up, is annoying on purpose, and gets his shit rocked and his identity stolen. Extremely Vic behaviour.

Justice League Unlimited - Fearful Symmetry

I know this is a beloved portrayal. Jeffery Combs' performance is well regarded for a reason. It's the biggest adaptation Vic's ever had. It acknowledges his comic connections to other characters. I get it. I just do not enjoy him as the baseless conspiracy theorist and it drives me up the wall that it's the best he's got.

Like I'm sorry but he would not fucking say any of this. He's annoying and bad at superheroics for many other reasons but he is extremely aware of the real roots of corruption, he's not going to be repeating antisemitic conspiracy shit. Even when he genuinely sucks he sucks in very specific ways.

JLU - Double Date

Points for being partly based on Cry for Blood.

It makes me so sad that I don't like this take on Vic and Helena's relationship. I wish I did.

JLU - Question Authority

I do actually like Vic getting deeply upset by the thought that the bad future is predestined and trying to throw himself under the bus for it. That feels fitting to me even if the details aren't.

There's a version of this story that lives in my brain where Vic is more of his stubborn, no-nuance early reporter self, and he breaks into the secret government facility to try and leak everything to the world only to get his ass kicked instantly by Captain Atom.

JLU - Grudge Match

This is the world's dumbest nitpick but Vic fucks. It's the one part of being in a relationship he doesn't suck at. I have no real problems with this sequence, it's funny and does the conspiracy bit better than his main appearances, but I discovered while rewatching that this is a thing I have opinions about and where else am I going to put these extremely stupid thoughts.

JLU - Destroyer

It's just rude that Vic is in the suitup montage but has his mask on the whole time. Let him transform.

I liked his JLU episodes a hell of a lot less this time through than when I first watched them. It's generally a good show, but knowing that this version of Vic is the most accessible one is incredibly frustrating, and the overall strength means that I'm annoyed about missed potential. BatB was never going to be the serious showcase of his nuance or whatever, but JLU could have been an incredible adaptation, and it just isn't for him. Sorry JLU fans.

#clayposts #clayreads #the question #vic sage

[92-guy]

During noon, a week after the winter holidays began at Hogwarts, a figure was flying towards a cabin, when that shadow landed, he got off his broom-shaped flying machine, which seemed to come from a frozen tree, it had cracks from which a soft blue almost white color came, the name of that wizard was Jack, Jack Frost, with his broom he hit the ground causing the broom to disappear and appear along with the other brooms of his Quiddich team, after Pitch's attack on Hogwarts, Jack decided not to return to school and preferred to go to the major Quiddich leagues, he was the #1 seeker, due to his agility and speed, thanks to being smaller than most of the others. seekers.

When Jack reached the little cabin which looked like it was not far from falling on its own, he tapped on the door with a piece of wood which was his magic wand, and entered, inside the little girl had become almost a little girl. mansion, there was a room which was easily bigger than the cabin outside

“You don't have to cry anymore, Jack Frost is here!"

Jack was greeted by one of his friends Tadashi, who greeted him and welcomed him while he showed him where the others were, Rapunzel and Hiccup were preparing food, while Merida appeared at the door, a girl with curly, reddish hair, she and Jack were part of a promising Quiddich team, while Jack was the seeker, Merida was the one who scored the points and both had an extra game which was to see if Merida was able to reach 100 or 150 points before Jack can get the Snitch.

"Well, look what he decided to show up, to be the fastest seeker you took a long time" Hiccup was Jack's best friend, since he was little he was always the smartest of all and for a time he was known as "The pride of Ravenclaw", he Unlike Jack, he did finish school and graduated to be one of the best magizoologists in the magical world, although he is only 21 years old, he already had his name in one of the books that the students read at Hogwarts, after greeting each other and leaving him behind. he alone with Rapunzel offered to help with the food, but it was already a little late, to cook, but not to prepare the table, so Jack and Tadashi helped Rapunzel to prepare the table.

While Merida was telling Hiccup how her last game was, there was a sound at the door, as if someone had appeared, considering that almost everyone was already here, Rapunzel went to the door thinking it was Flynn, until she saw her other two friends, Anna the new potions master and Elsa the newest aurora, Anna without hesitation went to hug her friend the instant she saw her and went to hug each of her friends to greet them, while Elsa greeted everyone with her hand except for Hiccup, who was her best friend and hugged him.

After the friends sat down and ate, they were talking about everything they had done, everyone was impressed by each of their friends' activities, they left the fireplace lit while they talked and played some magical board game, except for Jack, Elsa , Anna and Merida, They wanted to play a muggle game called "Uno", they found interesting a card game where they didn't end in a spell, after 5 minutes of play and 10 trying to make Merida not kill Jack for making her eat 12 cards, they went back to playing magic games where they could at least vent their anger on the pieces.

Going to dinner, Hiccup and Rapunzel were preparing dinner, while the others just watched them and took notes, they were not good in the kitchen or at least, not like the two of them, at one point Rapunzel separated from the group since there was received a letter from Flynn, while she left the cabin, Jack, Tadashi and Merida followed her, while Hiccup taught Anna to cook, everything was going well until Anna accidentally throws some flour on Hiccup's clothes, which which causes him to take revenge by throwing some flour in Anna's face, now causing the 2 sisters to be in a fight against their best friend, everything was fun until they see their friends seeing Rapunzel worried, they approach to ask If everything is fine and only Flynn's letter is heard yelling at Rapunzel for being in a cabin with Jack and Tadashi when he had forbidden her, Merida was the first to go for her, she was freezing outside the cabin.

They all gathered to hug her friend and make her understand that she was not alone. Afterwards they went to dinner, they were not going to allow their vacation to be interrupted by the jealousy of a boy.

Spending the night, everyone stayed appreciating the fireplace before going to sleep.

"Well, I think we have to go to sleep, tomorrow will be a long day, does anyone like to fish?" Jack asked with a smile on his face.

Suddenly, an extra laugh that was not from any of the friends was heard in the same room, but it came from the fireplace, not from above, nor from the little fire that was left, it came from the ashes, Hiccup raised his hand asking the others to stay behind him and prepared, he approached to look for where the laughter came from, until he saw it, those eyes, that voice, that smile, Pitch had returned and they knew where he was, which worried Hiccup more, he was supposed to Tadashi had said that it was a safe and hidden haven for almost everyone.

-I thought you had enough 4 years ago Pitch-

Said Hiccup to that voice from the fireplace, which answered in an ironic way referring that he was like the phoenix and that he would never leave until Jack left von him, all the others stood up taking out their wands, except for Merida, who didn't have her wand with her, went looking for it.

"You couldn't beat us when we were teenagers, what makes you think you have a chance against us now?" Elsa asked as she approached the fireplace while pointing her wand at him.

-That now I know everything about you- Pitch replied after a smile which was increasing, until Hiccup heard something strange, a powerful but distant sound, until he turned around and saw a flash of purple light heading towards them, Hiccup launched himself to protect Anna and Elsa, who were the closest to him, while Rapunzel from fear could only hide and Jack went towards her to protect her, but Tadashi had been paralyzed, he received the explosion of the spell from the front making that it flew into the dining room, which had been destroyed by the impact.

That was just the first of many more purple flashes that seemed to come from everywhere, now the house was starting to fill with smoke and flames, they couldn't get out, it was too dangerous, so Anna took a Portkey out of her bag and made Jack and Elsa help Rapunzel and Tadashi to leave, meanwhile, Huccup was looking for Merida, he couldn't find her in any room and it seemed that that sorcerer had left, until he saw that he was just looking for him, waiting for the perfect moment to fire his spell towards him while he didn't see him, but was blocked by Merida, now that the two were together they had to leave, Merida was the first to leave and just before Hiccup also left, he looked at his aggressor, and for at least a fraction of a second He could see that it was someone thin, white hair and very agile with black magic, they looked into each other's eyes for less than a second and just before that cabin collapsed on itself, Hiccup had been transported to a dark room.

"Is everyone here?" Hiccup asked waiting for an answer with his wand ready in his left hand to protect himself or attack if necessary.

"We're all here" A voice answered, it was Anna, Hiccup followed the voice until he saw what was in one of Drago's apartments, his former teacher, temporary enemy of Hiccup and member of the order of the dragon, a group designed to end with Pitch in their time as students. Hiccup went looking for his friends and found Rapunzel and Anna trying to help Tadashi with his wounds, they were too deep and they needed time alone with him to work deep.

Elsa went to Hiccup and asked him to accompany her, they separated from the group and went into one of the secret corridors of the apartment, and she cast a spell so that no sound could come out of that hiding place. -Hiccup, this is important, not only did Pitch return, maybe he can manipulate jack again- Elsa said with all concern and anguish.

Hiccup tried to calm her down, the connection between Pitch and Jack had ended when Pitch was destroyed a few years ago, it was impossible for Jack to still have a part of Pitch inside him, what Hiccup said made sense, but it only made Elsa worry more.

-So that means there is a traitor among us-

#rotbtfd #dreamworks #disney #hogwarts au #rotbtd #httyd #frozen2 #rotg #rise of the brave tangled frozen dragon #brave #tangled #hiccup how to train your dragon #elsa frozen #jack frost #rapunzel #merida dunbroch #tadashi hamada

[kaleidoscopeliving]

Exploring Dark Academia: A Beginner’s Guide

“Remember, my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory.” Dracula

Internet aesthetics like Dark Academia have taken online spaces by storm recently. However, unlike other visual subcultures like Cottagecore, Dark Academia has maintained its allure from its inception in 2015.

Today, it is one of the popular design trends in 2023 and is slowly migrating from the internet into the real world of fashion, interiors, and literature.  The Dark Academia aesthetic is characterized by academic visuals like heavy wooden bookcases and writing desks with vintage books and objects.

Other features include gothic and classical architectural elements and a sombre colour palette of browns, reds, blacks, and greys.

Where Does Dark Academia Come From?

Dark Academia is an internet subculture characterized by a fascination with classic literature, art, and academic pursuits. It includes romanticizing past intellectual and artistic aspects with a strong emphasis on architectural aesthetics and fashion.

Dark Academia emerged as a subculture on social media platforms like Tumblr and TikTok in the late 2010s and early 2020s. It showcases an idealized aesthetic centred on fashion associated with Ivy League and Prep school clothes such as plaid skirts, cardigans, dress shirts, tweed, and Oxford shoes.

Other features include moody interior colour schemes, including brown, black, red, dark green, ash grey, and navy blue. Collegiate Gothic architecture is also a common theme in this subculture, with universities like Cambridge and Harvard and cities like Edingburgh featuring on image boards.

Dark Academia has similarities with the Goth subculture, which romanticizes dark themes like death and the supernatural and moody architecture. However, some critics argue that Dark Academia glamorizes unhealthy lifestyle choices like overworking, sleep deprivation, and substance abuse.

The style has a significant following among young people seeking a connection with the academic lifestyle of people before the modern age. They are drawn to the Goth aspects of Dark Academia, like classical mythology and ancient history.

How To Create Dark Academic Interiors

Creating a Dark Academia-inspired interior incorporates classic literature, art, vintage decorative items, and preppy-style clothes that project a moody and intellectual atmosphere.

Here are some tips to help you create a Dark Academia interior.

Choose a Muted Color Palette

The Dark Academia interior uses dark-hued colours like black, navy blue, forest green, burgundy, and grey to create a mysterious yet cosy and intimate atmosphere.

You can combine your colour scheme with natural elements like dried flowers and dark wood furniture, accessories, or finishes to give your space a sense of balance and grounding.

Incorporate Traditional Furniture

Elevate your design with classic furniture like antique bookcases, wingback chairs, and heavy wooden writing desks. The pieces will give your space a traditional feel with a sense of intellectualism and history.

Other items can include antique decor items like globes, old maps, cameras, and typewriters.

Additionally, you may want to incorporate vintage literature, decor, and artwork featuring famous works from the past. A popular styling preference for Dark Academia includes a heavy wooden bookcase filled with poetry, classical literature, and philosophy.

Add Mood Lighting and Textured Fabrics

Dark Academia interiors often feature soft, moody lighting, such as vintage lamps, candle lighting, and dimmer switches, for a mysterious yet cosy and romantic ambience.

On the other hand, fabrics like tweed, velvet, and leather add depth and richness to the space and are typical for this style.

Conclusion

The key to having a Dark Academia-inspired interior is to create a sombre and intellectual atmosphere that incorporates elements of classical literature, art, and intellectualism. By adding these tips to your decor, you can create a cosy and inspiring space.

#design #dark academia #dark aesthetic #goth aesthetic #ivy league

[larsnicklas]

people know refs think differently but that’s the whole problem isn’t it. like i don’t think it changes anything to be like “oh but thats not how refs think” yes and fans sre mad exactly at That. like it becomes a little circular dont you think

i’m not changing anything about it i’m just saying. that’s how how they’re trained through the odp. idk if people know how reffing works but most of the time you work your way up much like a player; like you don’t just apply for a job and then you’re hired. you gotta grind! in the us you have the odp, and it’s meant to help officials reach the highest levels of the sport — like the national. coming up through the odp something you learn to do is manage games; manage the temperature and make sure things don’t get too heated, make sure you don’t give teams an undue advantage, things like that. some officials are better than others at this. and of course the better you are, the less you have to give makeup calls. fans tend to hate them but teams Expect them. they know if they get a soft call they’ll need to play carefully to not give the officials any opportunity to call a penalty on them. it’s just part of game strategy, genuinely, and for better or worse it’s baked into the game through all competitive levels. something else that fans don’t think about is various players’ rapport and reputation with officials. no official will admit to this and the league would never acknowledge this happens but many times a veteran player who’s got the respect of the officials will get more leeway, or they’ll get benefit of the doubt where a guy fresh in the league might not.

things have been inconsistent this year for a lot of things and i think there HAS to be more clarity and clearer rules regarding dangerous players like head contact and boarding and charging, things like that. (earlier this season the league had a spell of games with like… handfuls of bad hits into the boards and all were called differently. they have to figure something out with that.) but with anything that approaches embellishment the embellishing player is never going to get benefit of the doubt and that’s how the league, officials, and players want it. (players hate a dive — when it’s an opposing player, at least — more than anyone lol.) at the end of the day fans complaining about officiating — me included — is part of what makes the world go round but i’m just saying it’s not because the officials are biased towards teams

#it doesn’t matter how mad the fans are game management is always going to be a thing and it’s like……. #there’s bigger battles for me re: officiating than some routine game management #like for instance ALL THE GOALS THE CAPITALS HAVE HAD DISALLOWED #so really it’s just like. choose what you’re gonna be mad at 👍 i’ve chosen mine! #sorry about the Thoughts on Officiating Essay i just suspect i know more refs than the average person so just wanted to give some background #i like. my brain is probably rotted from proximity to the hockey world so. take all my opinions with a grain of salt #meg.askbox

[linneatanner]

Esperanza’s Way Cindy Burkart Maynard #HistoricalFiction #Spain #womansjourney #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @LgmtBird @cathiedunn

FEATURED AUTHOR: CINDY BURKART MAYNARD Please welcome Cindy Burkart Maynard to The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour held between August 14th - 18th, 2023. Cindy Burkart Maynard is the author of the Historical Fiction, Esperanza’s Way (The Seekers Series, Book 2) released by Historium Press on June 30th, 2023 (262 pages). Below are highlights of Esperanza’s Way,  Cindy Burkart Maynard's author bio, and an excerpt from her book. Blog Tour Page:  https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/06/blog-tour-esperanzas-way.html HIGHLIGHTS: ESPERANZA'S WAY Esperanza’s Way (The Seekers Series, Book 2) by Cindy Burkart Maynard Blurb: Motivated by the memory of her mother dying in her arms, Esperanza resolves that she will one day walk the halls of the Scola Medica at Salerno and train to become a healer. Fate brought Amika, a talented herbalist, into her life and helped Esperanza take her first steps toward gaining the knowledge that would fulfill her dream. Unfortunately, a tragic accident forced Esperanza to flee Amika's home. Her journey toward finding the path to success is littered with stumbling blocks, some more difficult to avoid than she expected.  International Buy Link Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon AU • Amazon CA Barnes & Noble • Kobo FINDING THE WAY Finding the Way (The Seekers Series, Book 1) by Cindy Burkart Maynard International Buy Link THE SEEKERS SERIES     AUTHOR BIO: CINDY BURKART MAYNARD Cindy Burkart Maynard is passionate about history, and the natural world, a passion that adds rich detail and context to her historical fiction novels. Her characters come to life on the page as they portray what it was like to live in another time and place. She weaves compelling, dramatic stories based on strong characters facing daunting challenges. She has co-authored two nonfiction works about the Colorado Plateau and the Desert Southwest and contributed articles to Images and Colorado Life Magazines. She has been a Volunteer Naturalist for Boulder County for more than twenty years, and served as a Docent at the Sonora Arizona Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ. Awards: Colorado Authors League Award Winner for Western Literature Women Writing the West Award Finalist WILLA Literary Award finalist for soft cover fiction. Readers’ Favorite Five Star Author Winner of the Marie M. Irvine Award for Literary Excellence Professional Affiliations: Historical Novel Society of North America Lighthouse Writers Women’s Fiction Writers Association Colorado Authors League Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Authors Guild Social Media Links: Website: https://www.cindyburkartmaynard.com/bio Publisher author page: https://www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/cindy-burkart-maynard Twitter: https://twitter.com/lgmtbird Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CindyBurkartMaynardAuthor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmaynardre/ Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cindy-Maynard/author/B07NLKS41B Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14235001.Cindy_Burkart_Maynard EXCERPT #5: ESPERANZA'S WAY   The city of Napoli shimmered in the late season sunshine. The desperate, cloying heat of summer had abated from a full boil to a subtle simmer. Ships and vessels of all sorts crowded the harbor, bobbing on the sun-drenched sea. Hulking cogs, like Ibrahim’s ship, rested their flat bottoms on the harbor’s soft seabed, their square sales furled tightly against their masts. Sweating men groaned under heavy loads as they descended the gangway. The sounds of shouting in many languages were like lyrics of a song in which the creaking boards of ships provided the bass notes, and seagulls shrieking above sang soprano. The triangular sails of dhows hung limp after their voyage from the Red Sea and eastern Arabia to Napoli’s bustling port. . . A hand on Esperanza’s shoulder startled her back into reality. A robust man in a short, royal blue tunic and finely woolen hose loomed over her. Around his neck hung a thick gold chain with gold fleur de lis pendant. The footman’s firm hand gently steered her toward an ornate carriage. This can’t be happening, she thought as it jerked forward, propelled by four strong horses. Curiosity overcame anxiety as they climbed higher up the slopes of Vesuvius, the sleeping volcano. Deep green olive groves gave way to aromatic lemon trees and fields of rye and barley. The peasant cottages, though simple, were not hovels, and many of their occupants paused, leaning on their hoes, to watch them pass by. They looked healthy, with ruddy complexions and leathery skin from laboring under the powerful Neapolitan sun. She did not stop gaping at the scenery until they slowed to a halt at an imposing stone tower that marked the entrance to the small village adjoining the villa. A lone guard swung open a wrought iron gate and Esperanza’s carriage rolled into the village. The carriage jostled its way over the cobblestones, through the village square, and down a narrow street to a stone tower, identical to the one through which they just passed, to the far side of town. As they rumbled along, townspeople called to the driver. “Hey, Paolino! What are you delivering to the Signore today? Is she as beautiful as the last one?” “Ciao, Paolino, your family will expect you at eight bells. Don’t be late like you were the last time.” “Paolino, you devil,” A saucy black-eyed beauty tossed her abundant wavy tresses over her shoulder as she cast him a provocative sidelong glance. “Later, si?” Paolino didn’t respond to any of them, just kept his eyes focused on the tower gate. Once outside the walls of the village Esperanza caught sight of the villa, perched on the volcano’s flanks, a short distance above town on a well-traveled trail. “And this,” he said, gesturing to the elegant edifice, “is where you will live.” Inside, a bustling town square, a church, and a scattering of shops, and residences huddled in the midday sun.   Instagram Handle: @thecoffeepotbookclub   Read the full article

[bfxenon]

Easy to Implement Tactics for Local Link Building — Whiteboard Friday

Google’s local algorithm demands different tactics for link building. And even if you don't need local SEO, local link building strategies can still give you a different perspective and improve your work. In today’s episode, Greg walks you through some of these strategies.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

♪ [music] ♪ Howdy, Moz fans. I'm Greg Gifford, the COO of SearchLab Digital, and I'm back to do another Whiteboard Friday. Today we're talking tactics for local links. Get it, huh? The important thing to remember is that Google's local algorithm is different, so you need to approach local link building differently.

Even if you don't need local SEO, local link-building tactics can still give you a different perspective, and we all know that with a different perspective, you can do better work. Whoa. So the most important thing to understand is that the best links are based on relationships that you have in the real world. They're easier to get and they're more powerful.

The other thing to remember is the easiest way to get local links is to turn the clock back and do the things that businesses used to do to get exposure in the local community that everybody kind of stopped doing once we had the internet. So if you just get involved in the local community, you'll naturally acquire a lot of amazing local links. Remember checklist link building rarely works.

That's not what I wrote, but I wasn't watching. But yeah, checklist link building doesn't really work. You have to be original. You need unique links to win so that you've got links that your competitors don't have. So don't follow a checklist. Think outside the box. Be creative.

So a couple of ideas and tactics that I want to run you through. Sponsorships are great. Now, also I should remind you Google is basically pattern detection. So most importantly, remember that when you look at your link profile, you can't just do one or two things. You have to have a natural mix. But with sponsorships, a lot of people avoid them because they think that you're really buying links because obviously buying links is bad.

But Google is totally okay with you buying a sponsorship that results in a link. So Little League, peewee hockey, peewee football, 5Ks, golf tournaments, these are all great things that a lot of businesses are already doing. So find those easy, cheap, awesome local sponsorship opportunities. Knock those out.

Charities are great too. So you're not sponsoring an event, you're giving money or donating time to a local charity. That's an awesome link opportunity as well. Volunteer opportunities are great as well. You know, you're taking your team down to feed the homeless at the soup kitchen or anything like that, or highway clean-ups. Things like that are awesome local link opportunities. Local meetups are one of my favorite things to do.

So you want to go to a site like meetup.com, and there's a couple of different tactics you can use here. First of all, if you've got some sort of a meeting room or a board room, conference room kind of situation and you're not using it all the time, go on meetup.com, look for local groups that have meetings on a regular basis. Let's say the group has a meeting on the second Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m. but your office is closed at 6:00.

So you could offer them your conference room or your meeting area. They've got free Wi-Fi, they've got an awesome big TV they can connect to and etc., and cool, boom, you get a local link out of it. Now, if you don't have a space that you can offer to those local groups, again get on meetup.com or Facebook groups or whatever and look for local groups that are looking for meeting sponsors. Forty, fifty, sixty bucks a month buys their soft drinks and their snacks, and killer local links come right your way.

Blogs are great too. Find the local bloggers and get them to write about you. Now, obviously, the blog is going to say, "Hey, I was given a free widget to write about Greg's widget company," but who cares? You still get an awesome link from a local blogger, and even if it's something that seems like it may not be related to what you do, it's still okay because that blogger is in the local area.

So even if it's a food blogger or a travel blogger and you give them a free widget to talk about your widget company, doesn't matter. You still get an awesome local link. Local business associations, it's a no-brainer. Better Business Bureau is an amazing one. In fact, Google has just added the Better Business Bureau link into your verification process if you're trying to get reinstated in your Google Business profile.

But that's a whole nother Whiteboard Friday that we'll cover later. But join all of those local business associations. They're a no-brainer. Local business directories, couldn't fit that in there, but local business directories are great as well. Join all of them that you can. Even if it's a little bit of a fee to join that business directory, it's still a really killer list of really relevant local links. Local calendar pages are another thing that a lot of businesses don't really think about.

There are always different websites or organizations in the local area, and a lot of times it's the city government site or local newspaper or TV that has a calendar page of just community events and you can't get on there if you don't have something event worthy. But if you've got a sales event or a barbecue or some sort of a cookout like that, you get a local link back to your site.

You also want to think outside the box. Don't do the same thing that everybody else does. You don't do the same SEO for every client, so you shouldn't do the same link building for every client. So a couple of outside-the-box things. If you work with car dealerships or pediatricians or even personal injury attorneys, child seat installation is a killer tactic.

You can have the staff of that location go to a two-day safety course. You can sign up at cert.safekids.org. I didn't have room to get it all on there. But you sit through the safety class and then you are officially certified to be a place that anyone in the community can come for free to get their child seat installed correctly.

Because guess what, 99% of us are installing our child seats incorrectly. So if there was an accident, our kids would get injured. So this really makes sense if it's something related to kids or if it's something like personal injury or doctors, really killer. If the business owner or leadership of the business is a member of a certain ethnic group, there are ethnic business directories in every city in the country.

So let's say you have an Iranian dry cleaner. I'm pulling that out of the air. There will be a list of Iranian-owned businesses in that area. You can get on that list, and the competitors can't. It's killer. Or if someone is LGBTQIA+, that's a link you can get that again competitors can't get, and there are LGBTQIA+ directories in every city that you can get on.

So go look for those if it's applicable to your business. This last one is a really kind of wacky one that people don't really understand the first time I mention it. This isn't about the clubs and organizations that your business is a member of. You want to talk to the staff at your client's business or at your business if you're in-house, especially leadership of the organization, and find out what they're passionate about.

What do they do in their free time that they really enjoy doing? What are their hobbies? Because if they're a member of a local club or organization, especially if they're so involved in that club or organization that they're on the leadership board of that organization, guess what, it's going to be super easy to get your business linked from that business' website.

This one here, a lot of people are going to laugh at this because it's an old-school technique, but it really works. If you periodically, I'm not saying every week, but periodically you write a local informational blog post of like, "Hey, our staff loves to go out and grab barbecue every Friday and here are the five best barbecue places in Dallas, according to our staff," once you've got that blog post up, you can then do outreach to each of those five locations and say, "Hey, we listed you as one of the five best places in Dallas."

Even if it's not related to the business, this is the kind of stuff that shows up in search results. So you get surfaced and you get eyeballs on your business. So it's great for branding. It's kind of that billboard effect, and it gets killer links. The really awesome part that people don't really think about is most of the time, when you're getting these links, you're dealing with people that aren't that technically savvy.

So yeah, sure, the people that are technically savvy are going to link to that specific local blog post. But the people that aren't, they're going to link to your homepage. So it's really killer. So a cool story because everybody that knows me knows I'm a story guy. Several years ago, I was speaking at a conference in Vegas and a lawyer came up and he said, "Hey, man, I know a lot about SEO and I need your help."

I said, "Okay, let me help you." He said, "I've got three times as many links as this other attorney in town, yet he outranks me on every single query possible." I said, "Okay." The guy again said, "I know SEO, so I should be winning." Well, obviously there's a lot more than just links at play. So what I did, I built a little spreadsheet and I graphed out the link profile of this guy versus his competitor based on Domain Authority.

Stick with me, though. It doesn't matter how many links they had, it's just based on the authority. So we see here the guy in red is the guy that I was talking to. So the guy in red has three times as many links as the guy in blue. So when I graph it out, this one right here is Domain Authority of above 50. This one right here is Domain Authority of 11 to 50, and this one right here is Domain Authority below 10.

You can see 67% of the guy in blue links are above a 50, and 53% or almost 60% of the guy in red who was the guy asking me for help was below 50. I said, "All right, there's a story here. Let's break it down a little bit more." So this is 91 to 100. This is 71 to 90, 51 to 70, 26 to 50, and 0 to 25.

You can see right here that almost a massive section, like 65% of the guy in blue links are above Domain Authority of 7 versus 60% basically of the guy in red that is really low, below a DA of 50. Now, the guy in red wasn't doing local SEO.

Even though the guy in red had three times as many links, they all skewed towards the bottom of the authority range because he was getting really horrible links from like seodirectory.com and linksxyz.com, and stupid things like that that wouldn't matter. The important thing to understand is if the guy in red had been doing local SEO and getting local links, this graph would look the same way because local links skew towards lower authority.

But the guy in red would have been destroying the guy in blue if he'd been getting local links. So that's the way that you need to change your perspective and think about it differently. If you'd like to do something similar yourself, you can do exactly the same thing with my Badass Link Worksheet. You can download it right here at bit.ly/gregs-bad-ass-link-sheet. That is all lowercase when you type it in.

So make sure you do that, or I'm sure they'll drop it down in the blog post or in the comments so that you can click on it there. You can download that sheet. It's an Excel spreadsheet. It does have macros enabled to basically make it easy to clear information out. It's set to work with your Moz link export. You need last month's link export, this month's link export, and your competitor's link export for this month.

You drop those in, automatically it's going to graph out all of this stuff. On another tab, it's going to give you a list of all of the link gap opportunities where your competitors have links and you don't. Then on another tab, it's going to give you a list of all the links that you've lost since the last time you did it. Now, yeah, there's some link tools out there that do it too, but this is a really easy tool.

It's super killer, and I'm sharing it with you guys today for free. Thank you so much for watching my newest episode of Whiteboard Friday.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

[dnaamericaapp]

Edward Gardner, Co-Founder Of Soft Sheen Products And Titan In Business And Philanthropy, Passed Away At 98

Many are mourning the loss of Edward Gardner, a Chicago titan in business and philanthropy.

Gardner, the co-founder of the hair care company Soft Sheen Products Inc., died Monday surrounded by family. He was 98.

Gardiner and his wife, Bettiann, founded Soft Sheen in 1964. The company grew exponentially, and was the latest Black-owned beauty company in the U.S. by the late 1980s.

Gardner was also known for his dedication to the arts. He and his wife spearheaded the development of the New Regal Theater at 1641 E. 79th St. The theater drew acts from Gladys Knight to Tyler Perry in its years of operation.

Gardner also helped create the nonprofit Black On Black Love, which addressed violence.

In addition, Gardner used Soft Sheen's advertising and communication resources – leveraging an effort to raise $300,000 and staff to mount a campaign that registered more than 200,000 voters 40 years ago, a news release noted. That effort led to the election of Mayor Harold Washington as Chicago's first Black mayor.

At the age of 87 in 2012, Gardner organized more than 1,000 demonstrators on a march to protest a lack of Black workers at a South Side construction site.

Gardner was also a co-owner of the Chicago Bulls and a board member at Chicago United and The Chicago Urban League. He was born Feb. 15, 1925, to Frank and Eva Gardner in the West Chesterfield neighborhood.

Gardner graduated from Fenger High School and Chicago Teachers College-now CSU. He was also a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II.

His son Gary remarked,

"He was my father, my hero, my teacher," Gardner's son, Gary, said in a news release. "He taught me how to engage people with humanity and humility."

Gardner's daughter, Terri, added: "My father saw the untapped potential of his community. He believed that with access to opportunity, hard work, a quality education and safe neighborhoods, there is nothing we can't achieve."

A private family service is planned. -(source: cbs news)

DNA America

“It’s what we know, not what you want us to believe.”

#dna #dnaamerica #news #politics

#dna #dnaamerica #news #politics

[creatiview]

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced the schedule of Pakistan Super League (PSL) Season 8, ARY News reported. Lahore Qalandars will have an opportunity make history when they will take on Multan Sultans in the opening match of the HBL Pakistan Super League 8 at the picturesque Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday, 13 February. Lahore Qalandars had defeated defending champions Multan Sultans at the Gaddafi Stadium by 42 runs in 2022, and will now have an additional incentive going into the eighth edition of the tournament, with the chance of becoming the first franchise to win back to back titles. Prior to Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi were in the similar situation when they reached the 2018 final as defending champions but faltered at the last hurdle and lost to Islamabad United, who clinched their second title in three years. Except for Peshawar Zalmi and Multan Sultans, no other side as defending champions have reached the final in the biggest, highly competitive and most grueling league in the cricket playing world. Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi will share between them the 34-match tournament, and the event schedule has been designed in such a way that the four home sides will each play five matches in front of their fans and supporters – one against each side. This means Qalandars will play five matches at the Gaddafi Stadium, while their other five matches will be in Multan (one) and, Karachi and Rawalpindi (two each). Similarly, Sultans’ five away matches will be in Rawalpindi (three) and, Karachi and Lahore (one each); Kings’ away matches will be in Rawalpindi (three) and, one each in Lahore and Multan; and United’s five away matches will be in Karachi (three) and, one each in Lahore and Multan. Quetta Gladiators will play their 10 league matches in Karachi, Rawalpindi (four each), Lahore and Multan (one each), while Peshawar Zalmi’s fixtures will be in Rawalpindi (five), Karachi (three), and one each in Lahore and Multan. The HBL PSL 8 will be held in two legs with Multan Cricket Stadium and National Bank Cricket Arena splitting matches from 13-26 February before the action shifts to the Gaddafi Stadium and Pindi Cricket Stadium where the matches will be played from 26 February to 19 March. This includes the Qualifier, two Eliminators and the final at the home of Pakistan cricket from 15-19 March. The soft launch of the Pakistan Women’s League will also take place during the HBL PSL 8 when three exhibition matches will be played in the lead up to the men’s matches in Rawalpindi on 8, 10 and 11 March. The two women’s sides are expected to comprise leading local and foreign players, details of which will be announced in due course. Chair of PCB Management Committee, Mr Najam Sethi: “I am delighted to formally confirm the schedule of the HBL PSL 8, which will allow the Pakistan Cricket Board and the six franchises to start firming up and finalising their respective event plans and objectives. “The HBL PSL 8 will be a massive event for the PCB, taking place at the four iconic venues with the world’s best T20 cricketers in action. We aim to make the HBL PSL bigger, better and stronger than ever before with the overarching ambition to make it the first-choice event for leading T20 cricketers. “Each of the six sides will enter the HBL PSL 8 with lots at stake. Islamabad United will aim to become the most successful team with three titles, Lahore Qalandars will attempt to become the first side to win back to back titles and the remaining four teams will once again attempt to put a hand on the glittering silverware. This makes up for an exciting, enthralling and entertaining 34-match tournament. “There will be no question on the quality of cricket that will be played in over 34 days of action-packed cricket. I am hoping the HBL PSL will once again live up to its expectations of unearthing and identifying future stars who will not only challenge the established household names in this edition but will go on to represent Pakistan.

“I would like to extend my gratitude to HBL, who have supported this tournament since its inception in 2016 by retaining the title sponsorship rights. I would also like to thank all our other valued commercial partners, broadcasters and franchise owners for their patronage, and hope they will continue to show faith in our pinnacle event and the PCB’s administrative vision, skills and capabilities so that we can collectively work together to enhance the image and profile of Pakistan cricket. “Finally, I would request the passionate Pakistan cricket fans to back the HBL PSL 8 by turning up in big numbers and showing their appreciation and support for not only their favourite teams and players, but towards all other participants. “May the best side lift the most prestigious Trophy of the Pakistan cricket calendar at the home of Pakistan cricket on 19 March!” Meanwhile, on the request of the franchises, the PCB has agreed to increase the number of players per side to 20, allowing each franchise to pick two additional Supplementary players. The Supplementary players will be picked in the Replacement Draft, which will take place on Tuesday, 24 January. Key notes on the HBL PSL 8 schedule: Opening ceremony will be held in Multan on 13 February prior to the tournament opener between 2021 winners Multan Sultans and defending champions Lahore Qalandars; closing ceremony and final on 19 March in Lahore, which will also host play-offs Lahore Qalandars will attempt to become the first side to win back to back titles; Islamabad United will aim to become the most successful side by lifting the trophy thrice Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Multan Sultans and Islamabad United will play five home matches each, one against each side Rawalpindi will stage 11 fixtures, Karachi and Lahore will host nine matches each, Multan will have five home games Rawalpindi will host the only double-header on 7 March when Peshawar Zalmi will play Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United will take on Multan Sultans More than 36 foreign players representing 10 T20I playing countries will be in action in the 34-day, 34-match tournament T20 World Cup winners Adil Rashid and Matthew Wade, along with Wanindu Hasaranga, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jimmy Neesham and Tabraiz Shamsi will make their debuts No.1 ranked Babar Azam will lead 2017 winners Peshawar Zalmi for the first time; Imad Wasim will skipper 2020 winners Karachi Kings; Shadab Khan will captain two-time champions Islamabad United; Shaheen Shah Afridi will captain Lahore Qalandars; Mohammad Rizwan will skipper Multan Sultans and Sarfaraz Ahmed will captain 2019 champions Quetta Gladiators Shoaib Malik will return to Karachi Kings after six years; number-five ranked Rashid Khan will be back for Lahore Qalandars; Alex Hales will represent Islamabad United; Tim David will appear for Multan Sultans; Jason Roy will be in action for Quetta Gladiators; Bhanuka Rajapaksa will feature for Peshawar Zalmi SCHEDULE OF MATCHES (afternoon matches will start at 2pm; evening matches in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi will start at 7pm. Evening matches in Multan will begin at 6pm except for the tournament opener, which will commence at 8pm) 13 Feb – Multan Sultans v Lahore Qalandars, Multan Cricket Stadium 14 Feb – Karachi Kings v Peshawar Zalmi, National Bank Cricket Arena 15 Feb – Multan Sultans v Quetta Gladiators, Multan Cricket Stadium 16 Feb – Karachi Kings v Islamabad United, National Bank Cricket Arena 17 Feb – Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi, Multan Cricket Stadium 18 Feb – Karachi Kings v Quetta Gladiators, National Bank Cricket Arena 19 Feb – Multan Sultans v Islamabad United, Multan Cricket Stadium; Karachi Kings v Lahore Qalandars, National Bank Cricket Arena 20 Feb – Quetta Gladiators v Peshawar Zalmi, National Bank Cricket Arena 21 Feb – Quetta Gladiators v Lahore Qalandars, National Bank Cricket Arena 22 Feb – Multan Sultans v Karachi Kings, Multan Cricket Stadium 23 Feb – Peshawar Zalmi v Islamabad United, National Bank Cricket Arena

24 Feb – Quetta Gladiators v Islamabad United, National Bank Cricket Arena 26 Feb – Karachi Kings v Multan Sultans, National Bank Cricket Arena; Lahore Qalandars v Peshawar Zalmi, Gaddafi Stadium 27 Feb – Lahore Qalandars v Islamabad United, Gaddafi Stadium 1 Mar – Peshawar Zalmi v Karachi Kings, Pindi Cricket Stadium 2 Mar – Lahore Qalandars v Quetta Gladiators, Gaddafi Stadium 3 Mar – Islamabad United v Karachi Kings, Pindi Cricket Stadium 4 Mar – Lahore Qalandars v Multan Sultans, Gaddafi Stadium 5 Mar – Islamabad United v Quetta Gladiators, Pindi Cricket Stadium 6 Mar – Quetta Gladiators v Karachi Kings, Pindi Cricket Stadium 7 Mar – Peshawar Zalmi v Lahore Qalandars, Pindi Cricket Stadium; Islamabad United v Multan Sultans, Pindi Cricket Stadium 8 Mar – Pakistan Women’s League Exhibition Match 1, Pindi Cricket Stadium; Peshawar Zalmi v Quetta Gladiators, Pindi Cricket Stadium 9 Mar – Islamabad United v Lahore Qalandars, Pindi Cricket Stadium 10 Mar – Pakistan Women’s League Exhibition Match 2, Pindi Cricket Stadium; Peshawar Zalmi v Multan Sultans, Pindi Cricket Stadium 11 Mar – Pakistan Women’s League Exhibition Match 3, Pindi Cricket Stadium; Quetta Gladiators v Multan Sultans, Pindi Cricket Stadium 12 Mar – Islamabad United v Peshawar Zalmi, Pindi Cricket Stadium; Lahore Qalandars v Karachi Kings, Gaddafi Stadium 15 Mar – Qualifier (1 v 2), Gaddafi Stadium 16 Mar – Eliminator 1 (3 v 4), Gaddafi Stadium 17 Mar – Eliminator 2 (loser Qualifier v winner Eliminator 1), Gaddafi Stadium 19 Mar – Final, Gaddafi Stadium Squads (foreign player names and their categories in brackets): Islamabad United – Alex Hales (England), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan), Shadab Khan (all Platinum), Asif Ali, Fazal Haq Farooqi (Afghanistan), Wasim Jr (all Diamond), Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali (all Gold), Abrar Ahmed, Colin Munro (New Zealand), Paul Stirling (Ireland), Rumman Raees, Sohaib Maqsood (all Silver), Hassan Nawaz, Zeeshan Zamir (both Emerging). Moeen Ali (England) and Mubasir Khan (Supplementary) Karachi Kings – Haider Ali, Imran Tahir (South Africa), Matthew Wade (Australia) (all Platinum), Imad Wasim, James Fuller (New Zealand), James Vince (both England) (all Diamond), Andrew Tye (Australia), Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik (all Gold), Aamer Yamin, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Akhlaq, Sharjeel Khan, Tayyab Tahir (all Silver), Irfan Khan Niazi, Qasim Akram (both Emerging). Mohammad Umar and Tabraiz Shamsi (South Africa) (Supplementary) Lahore Qalandars – Fakhar Zaman, Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Shaheen Shah Afridi (all Platinum), Dawid Wiese (Namibia), Hussain Talat, Haris Rauf (all Diamond), Abdullah Shafique, Liam Dawson (England), Sikander Raza (Zimbabwe) (all Gold), Ahmad Daniyal, Dilbar Hussain, Harry Brook (England), Kamran Ghulam, Mirza Tahir Baig (all Silver), Shawaiz Irfan, Zaman Khan (both Emerging). Jalat Khan and Jordan Cox (England) (both Supplementary) Multan Sultans – David Miller (South Africa), Josh Little (Ireland), Mohammad Rizwan (all Platinum), Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw (South Africa), Shan Masood (all Diamond), Akeal Hosein (West Indies), Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David (Australia) (all Gold), Anwar Ali, Sameen Gul, Sarwar Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan (both Silver), Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah (both Emerging). Adil Rashid (England) and Arafat Minhas (Supplementary). Peshawar Zalmi –Babar Azam, Rovman Powell (West Indies), Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), (all Platinum), Mujeeb Ur Rehman (Afghanistan), Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Wahab Riaz (all Diamond), Arshad Iqbal, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Haris (all Gold), Aamer Jamal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (England), Saim Ayub, Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir (all Silver), Haseebullah Khan, Sufyan Muqeem (both Emerging). Jimmy Neesham (New Zealand) (Supplementary). Peshawar Zalmi will pick their second Supplementary at the Replacement Draft. Quetta Gladiators – Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka) (all Platinum), Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy (England), Odean Smith (West

Indies) (all Diamond), Ahsan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed (all Gold), Mohammad Zahid, Naveen-ul-Haq (Afghanistan), Umar Akmal, Umaid Asif, Will Smeed (England) (all Silver), Aimal Khan, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai (both Emerging). Martin Guptill (New Zealand) and Omair Bin Yousuf (Supplementary).   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Pakistan Cricket (@therealpcb)

[dailyrugbytoday]

Australia will feature for its 15th Rugby League World Cup final.

New Post has been published on https://thedailyrugby.com/australia-rugby-league-world-cup-final/

The Daily Rugby

https://thedailyrugby.com/australia-rugby-league-world-cup-final/

Australia will feature for its 15th Rugby League World Cup final.

Australia will face either Samoa in the Rugby League World Cup final. The defending champion came from behind to deny New Zealand 16-14 in the first semi-final at Leeds today.

The Kiwis were first on the board with Jahrome Hughes touching down in the 10th minute and Jordan Rapana made sure of the two points conversion.

Five minutes later the Kangaroos hit back through ‘The Fox’, Josh Addor-Carr who sprinted down the sideline, scooping up a kick to score a great try.

An offside penalty against Cameron Munster handed Rapana to slot a penalty goal in the 26th minute and the Kiwis had the lead 8-6.

Australia hit the front 14 minutes later with a Valentine Homes try but the Kiwis answered back through Dylan Brown as they led 14-10 at the break.

A penalty against Brandon Smith for ruck interference in the 53rd minute gave the Kangaroos a tap kick 10 metres out and Cameron Murray powered through some soft defense to grab his fourth try of the tournament.

Watch Super Rugby Pacific 2023 how to watch

[f1]

FP3: Verstappen leads Ferrari duo in final French Grand Prix practice

Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of FP3 in France with a late soft-tyred run, keeping Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc at bay by a comfortable margin. Verstappen held top spot for much of the session thanks to his early medium-tyred benchmark of 1m 32.808s. While the Dutchman emerged a few minutes into FP3, Leclerc and Sainz came out after 15 minutes, Leclerc on hard tyres for eight laps (a Turn 12 spin cutting short his run) while Sainz emerged to lap on softs. Neither could match or eclipse Verstappen until grip and temperatures ramped up at the very end of FP3, when Sainz went top with a time of 1m 32.626s. However, it was then that Verstappen opted to switch from mediums to softs, and returned to the top with a blistering effort of 1m 32.272s. READ MORE: Sainz and Magnussen set to start French Grand Prix from the back of the grid after raft of power unit changes The championship leader relegated Sainz – set to start Sunday's race at the back of the grid due to power unit changes – to second (0.354s away), while Leclerc was 0.637s off in P3 – complaining that his tyres were dropping off after one flying effort. Lewis Hamilton took P4 in FP3, the Mercedes driver-running a different rear wing to his team mate. Soft-tyred runs saw Hamilton finish 0.983s off Verstappen's pace, Sergio Perez a whisker behind in fifth having executed the same medium-soft run plan as the reigning champion in the other Red Bull. 1 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing 1:32.272 2 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari +0.354s 3 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari +0.637s 4 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes +0.983s 5 Sergio Perez PER Red Bull Racing +1.021s George Russell finished sixth, only eight-hundredths behind team mate Hamilton, while Alpine's Fernando Alonso swapped from mediums to softs very late in the session to jump to seventh. Behind Alonso was Williams' Alex Albon, who was eighth in his recently-upgraded Williams – while team mate Nicholas Latifi took P12 in this session as he too enjoyed the new Williams updates. READ MORE: ‘It’s not spectacular’ – Mercedes say they’re ‘further off the pace than we hoped’ after Friday in France Between the Williams was McLaren's Lando Norris in ninth, AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda 10th and Daniel Ricciardo in P11. Pierre Gasly managed 13th in this session for AlphaTauri ahead of the Alfa Romeos, Valtteri Bottas 14th and Zhou Guanyu 15th. 2022 French GP FP3: Leclerc flat spots front left tyre with spin in final practice Kevin Magnussen will start at the back of the grid with Sainz for the Grand Prix having also taken new Ferrari engine components, and he finished 16th for Haas having ended the session with an 11-lap stint on medium tyres. Esteban Ocon was next on the board in P17 for Alpine after a steady couple of stints on mediums and a late run on softs. READ MORE: 5 things we learned from Friday practice at the French Grand Prix Mick Schumacher was 19th, bookended by Aston Martins – Lance Stroll 18th and Sebastian Vettel 20th, with the four-time champion having missed the latter half of FP3 with floor damage. With qualifying to come, Red Bull have shown a turn of pace and perhaps given Ferrari something to worry about in France. Join us at 1600 local time for live coverage. Who's going to score in the 2022 French Grand Prix? Pick your dream team before qualifying and take on the world to win huge prizes with the Official Formula 1 Fantasy game. Sign up, join leagues and manage your squad here. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

#F1 #FP3: Verstappen leads Ferrari duo in final French Grand Prix practice #Formula 1