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#I left the out which of the bats Danny was dating so its open for anyone to use
bluerosefox · 2 years
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Twins AU BUT WITH ANGST!
So I'm writing for the Twins story rn (snails pace of small updates and working on it but it's going) and an idea struck me and I wanna share it and bring it all the DP x DC and Twins AU lovers attention cause were missing out on some PRIME ANGST. (BAD Mom Talia ahead btw, I normally like her in the grey areas but this time, bad mom) (also I LOVE some good Angst.)
So we all know that Talia had Damian cloned right? And later that clone killed Damian. What if, now hear me out, after that (when Damian is brought back to life) what if she tried to use another clone (only not aged up so they’re at Damian age) to coax Damian back into the League and that he can use the clone as a replacement for Danyal (Danny), its her ‘gift’ of trying to give him back his twin.
Can you imagine the feral outrage, insulted anger or heartbreak he'd have over that. He didn’t care much about the first clone cause it had his eyes but this one has Danyal’s blue eyes. Especially if Damian does care for Danny and doesn't want to hide that anymore now that hes not in the League and he can freely talk about his twin without being hushed up (but hasn't been able to due to his own complex emotions over missing his twin). Can you imagine the after emotions after Damian verbally tearing into his mother for such an insult against his twins memory and life and defeating the mindless doll like clone (Taila made it so it'll follow Damian's orders with no fuss should he come back, she ended its life once they left Gotham, another failure it seems) and Bruce asking 'Who is Danyal, Damian?'.
AND THEN CAN YOU IMAGINE THE NUCLEAR MELTDOWN OR RAGE HE'LL HAVE IF HE SEES DANNY. Like Danny is in Gotham for something (class trip? One of his Rouges sneaking to Gotham? A ghost fight taking him there and is sight seeing in his human form now that its over? Sam taking him as her Plus 1 for a social event (Dating? Best friends? Danny being cool with being used as an (entitled, dumb, rich, elite) heir repellent for Sam? [Side note: ALSO DP fans we need to really play with that idea more, Sam comes from money her parents would totally want her with a powerful rich heir, which she would HATE and would totally ask her friends to be her Elitist Heir Repellent] Idk any one is good. Her parents hating that cause they planned to have her 'single' for some of the elite heirs) and Danny gets his face decked hard or his head gets nearly chopped off by a katana.
And when he looks at who did it he's surprised to see someone who looks nearly like him but when green eyes being held back by a few other guys (Dick and Jason)
Does Danny have his memories? Does he remember Damian? Or has he hoped to never see his brother again after all these years? Idk it's open for anyone to pick and choose the plot, I'm just throwing the idea out into the sea and waiting to see if anyone wants to try nibbling at it.
Do they discover the actual truth? Does Damian despise Danny the entire time? Does it go away when the Bats find proof that Danny isn't a clone (online media showing pictures of him growing up in a small town called Amity Park)? Does Damian take note that despite them looking so much alike, Damian is more leaning towards Bruce's body type in the future, while Danny's is leaner/more runnerish (mainly due to their fighting styles/what they fight)? Which is a huge difference from the last clone that was merely a copy paste of Damian but with blue eyes. Idk.
[Small side note: normally in the Twins stories Talia is the one that saves Danny if he dies/sent away, if it's bad mom Talia, who saves him? Maybe have Clockwork save Danny, cause he knows Danny's future is Phantom and later King]
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Black Cat Au part 5
1. The cats usually go out of thier way to avoid Batman. At first they were afraid of him getting thier hands on thier DNA and finding out they weren't fully human, but then they just kept doing it because they knew it bothered him for some reason.
That and he hated seeing the marks and gouges left behind from thier claws after they run up the buildings with them and they didn't want him to lecture them again.
2. The bats need a distraction so Kitty runs over to some street performers/musicians and ask them for thier help. He sings the punk version of Everytime We Touch with a hint of his ghost powers. It works like a charm and a crowd quickly gathers around.
Kitty leaves thousands of dollars worth of jewels in each performers instrument case and walks away casually as thier eyes bug out.
3. In my original imaginings of Black Cat (and how I still view him) Dannys outfit is a copy of Catwomans jumpsuit/ bodysuit with a spare smaller whip wrapped around his waist and acting as a tail, hence the name Black Cat. Alley tried her best but sadly she couldn't get him to wear the open chest version of the bodysuit. (Which i cannot find a reference picture of for the life of me)
"Theres no way I could pull that off."
"Bro, everyone would be able to pull that off" ;)
Cue kitty's red faced sputtering and Catwoman mentioning she wanted grandkittens and Danny firing back with "Deal with the kids you have now!"
In this household we gang up on Black Cat.
4. Robin had just chased a criminal into an abandoned apartment building and took them down. As he was about to finish securing the thug with rope he spotted something glowey and purple out of the corner of his eye. He notified Oracle through the coms and went to investigate only to find a...door? It was completely identical to all the doors around it aside from its color and glowyness. Upon opening it however he came face to face with the Ghost Zone. The bats explored it for a bit before they returned home. The next day the door was normal and no longer lead to a swirly green goo dimension.
5. Danny seemed really worried/distressed when Damian told the purple door story to him at the flower shop and he had a hunch that he knew more than he was saying. But mostly he was feeling protective. What was making his flowerboy so scared and how quickly can he chop it into tiny pieces?
6. Black Cat has a weird reaction to Blood Blossoms and Batman takes note. He discretely starts testing Kitty for other weaknesses to supernatural wards. All others come back negative. Batman eventually chalks it up to an allergy and moves on.
7. Danny eventually tells Damian about Phantom after they land in a time sensitive situation they can't get out of without the use of his powers. He of course swears him to secrecy.
8. Batman accuses Black Cat to be a League assassin sent to infiltrate the batfam and gain thier trust. Kitty was genuinely surprised about assassins being a thing around here. The batfam apologized for Batmans conspiracy theories and Kitty shrugged it off, saying its not the first time he'd been accused of being something he's not and he doubts it'll be the last.
9. If Kitty gets kidnapped after he and Robin start dating he'll start singing the chorus of My Boyfriend's Back to taunt the villian right before Robin appears to beat the stuffing out of them. Bonus if its Skulker and after Kitty reveals Phantom to him, so Damian already knows everything and has tools Kitty made to fight supernatural beings with.
Skulker learns to fear Robin that day.
10. The cats decided they didn't like the pictures on thier wanted posters so they broke into the police commissioners office and personally handed him pictures they took of themselves doing the nya cat pose.
Gordon just puffed on his pipe as the teens jumped out a window to escape, "Kids these days..."
I told myself I wasn't doing more Black Cat stuff but then people made fan art so here I am with more.
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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 years
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Déjà Vu (Or are we losing our minds?) XII -Modern!Shirbert
A/N: I wrote 14 parts of this thing just to write the one AU! that I wanted to make and it didn’t even take the whole chapter why do I hate myself so much -Danny
Words: 1,660
Series’ Masterlist
Previous Chapter // Next Chapter
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Chapter Twelve: I think we've met (But I can't be sure)
Asleep or awake    
I dream of you all the same.
Anne was determined to have a good time, and considering it was a day before Christmas Eve, it wasn't that hard to act excited and giddy.
Diana met her at the bar around 2 pm, neither of them were heavy drinkers, so they would be in for the afternoon of their lives.
"Okay!" Anne tapped the table excitedly. "I saw that insta story you posted yesterday. Rant to me, Diana..."
_____________________
Gilbert roughly closed his laptop and pushed it aside.
Nothing. Roy had no 'Anne' added to his contacts on any social media, no pictures with her either.
Maybe he was going crazy.
Okay, maybe loneliness was perhaps not the best companion, and with the planning for the Orchard's anniversary, it was easy to let stress take over, but at this point, Anne was so real to him he could almost remember her voice, the way her hand felt on his...
Fuck, he really was losing his mind.
Deciding to take a break from life in general, Gilbert laid back on the couch and turned on the tv, he found a shitty horror movie and approved of it almost instantly, nothing like a predictable plot to distract you from the slow decay of your mental health.
_____________________
"...And that's that," Diana retrieved her phone from Anne's hands. "You're with me?"
"Yes! Oh my god," Anne shook her head. "I usually don't speak ill about other girls, but if this asshole tries to get the credit of one of your songs again, I'll have to commit murder."
Diana laughed, she looked down at her phone and scrolled through the posts of her feed. Suddenly she came across a new one and let out a short exclamation.
"Look, Anne!" She showed her the picture. "The Orchard's having a party right after the Holidays!"
"Isn't that place like a family restaurant?"
"Yeah, but it's their anniversary, look," She pushed the phone towards her. "We should go."
"Why? Ruby's the one obsessed with a waiter..."
"Yeah, but we had fun last time we were there," Diana grinned.
Anne tilted her head, trying to remember.
"Well, the first half of the night was fun, yeah..."
"Oh, the second half was even better, and your amnesia's proof of it," Her friend laughed.
"Whatever," Anne snorted.
Diana grabbed her phone once more and quickly accessed the Orchard's profile.
"Honestly, it looks like it's going to be fun, and it's around the same time we have to go back anyway, so maybe the party could lift our spirits? Aww, look! A picture of the owners..."
She gasped so loudly Anne almost jumped out of her chair.
"What? What is it?"
"No way!" Diana smiled. "I can't believe he owns that place!"
"What are you talking about?"
"An old classmate," The girl explained brightly. "You didn't get to meet him because he moved out after his mom died, but he was a nice kid, everyone in our class liked him... I always wondered what had happened to him..."
"He owns the restaurant?" Anne raised a brow. "Nice, is he cute? Maybe if you date him we could get free meals..."
Diana laughed. "He wasn't really my type, but I wouldn't mind it if he asked me out anyway... look..."
The redhead looked down at the picture and something in her chest tightened with weird excitement. She knew that face.
"Di," She said quietly. "What did you say his name was?"
"I didn't tell you," She sipped a bit of her drink before replying. "Gilbert Blythe."
"Funny," Anne frowned. "Are you sure I've never met him?"
Diana snorted. "Well, shouldn't you know that better than me?"
"I feel like I've seen him around..."
"Maybe you saw him the night we went to his diner? He works there, after all..."
"Right," She said without much conviction. "Maybe..."
"Oh, how festive!" Diana nudged her arm, successfully distracting her. "A day before Christmas eve and this place decided it's a great idea to show Zombieland on every tv..."
Anne snorted.
"Nothing says 'Happy Christmas' better than mutilated corpses, Diana."
***
"Text me when you get home!"
"I will..."
"And think about the party, I believe we could have a great time, I bet they would all love to see Gilbert again..."
Anne smiled at her comment, she didn't know this Gilbert guy but Diana seemed to have a soft spot for him, even if she hadn't seen him since she was twelve years old. Maybe he'd be a kindred spirit of sorts.
"I'll think about it. See you!"
_____________________
Gilbert walked out of the building with nothing but a backpack and a rusty hammer. This wasn't the ideal weapon to defend yourself from zombies, but it was all he could find. He could look for better armament later, right now he had to find a safe place where to sleep.
His steps, though muffled by the dust, were pretty much the only sound he could notice, which was a good sign, but also, a bit unnerving.  His shirt was sticking to his lower back thanks to the sweat, he couldn't remember the last time he'd showered, hell, he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten...
Ahead of him, there was a sleeping dog, in his hungry state he considered killing the poor animal and eat him whole, but he thought it to be too desperate, even for someone in his position.
However, Gilbert quickly regretted his decision the second after he'd taken it. At the sound of his footsteps, the dog woke up — or well, more like simply stood up, judging by the state of his bloodshot eyes the man doubted that animal was even capable of sleeping.
The creature growled and his back arched menacingly, Gilbert stumbled back with his grip on the hammer painfully tight. The dog pounced without warning, and he fell on the concrete.
He saw him hovering above his body for a second and the next he was batted out of sight. Blood drops fell across his face and he gawked at the sensation, the woman in front of him lowered the bat and he looked up. He knew who she was even before he'd seen the red flashes around her soft features.
_____________________
Anne's eyes widened as she recognized the man at her feet.
"Gilbert Blythe."
He stared at her in shock, Anne offered her hand and he took it without hesitation, she pulled him upwards and examined his face.
"Gilbert," She repeated. "Why?"
She knew the question made no sense, but it was the only thing she could think of. Why was he here?
"Anne," He breathed, a hand reached out to hold her face and she didn't stop him. "Are you real?"
That question didn't make sense either, but neither did the whole scenario. Where the hell was she and why had she just killed a dog?
Oh god, she'd killed a dog.
Her head turned back to the animal's corpse, and to her horror, although battered and with a twisted neck, the creature was still very much alive and it was crawling towards them, its fangs at full display.
Gilbert looked down as well and his expression darkened.
"You should close your eyes."
Anne obeyed without a second thought. She heard the abrupt sound of bones cracking, and the dog's feral growls until the street was silent again. When she opened her eyes Gilbert was holding a hammer covered in blood, and the dog's face had been left unrecognizable.
_____________________
They stared at each other without knowing what to do, Gilbert looked down at his bloody hands and grimaced.
"Please, don't think I'm some kind of crazy psycho..."
"I was the first to break that dog's neck," She stated. "Why would I think that?"
He laughed shortly. "...You're Anne, aren't you?"
"Yes," She admitted. "With an E. You're Gilbert?"
The man nodded.
"Why is this happening?" He asked. "Why am I dreaming about you?"
"Wasn't this my dream?"  She laughed nervously. "This is so weird, you're acting like a real person."
"I am a real person!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah, but I meant like, you're acting as if you were the real Gilbert," Anne chuckled. "Man, I have such a wild imagination..."
"Anne, this is real," He insisted. "Well, not this zombie stuff, but this... whatever this is. Every night I fall asleep and I dream about you. I thought this was all my problem but if you're aware of it as well..."
"What if this is your head messing with you?" Anne offered. "What if you're dreaming that I'm also having these weird dreams and it's all you? Because maybe I think I'm real, but perhaps that's what you want to hear so you're just making me say things—"
"You overthink a lot, don't you?" He grumbled.
"I'm just saying!" She exclaimed, lightly hitting his head with the bat. "You've said that before... I... I just can't remember when..."
Gilbert tilted his head deep in thought. "You've done that before too... although it wasn't a bat the first time..."
"What was it?"
His jaw clenched, Anne could practically see the gears in his brain working at full speed.
"I got it!" Gilbert said abruptly, eyebrows raising in realization. "It was a—"
_____________________
"...slate."
The young man groaned, lazily stretching over the couch and running a hand over his face to wake up fully.
"What... the fuck..." He mumbled hoarsely, "was that?"
_____________________
Anne bolted upright on her bed, the whole room was still dark and there was a light, cold breeze seeping through her window. She remembered every bit of her dream, and her eyes moved as if reading invisible calculations floating around her.
"It can't be," She whispered, one hand anxiously looking for her phone. "He can't... it was just a dream..."
When she finally found the device her fingers acted on their own, Anne found the diner's page and clicked on the owners' picture, staring at the youngest of the two men.
"Gilbert Blythe," She frowned. "Do I know you?"
Taglist.
@ninizkd @http-itsrebecca @fuckthisshitimoutyall @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @little-boats-on-a-lake @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @skarlygonzalez​
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wiypt-writes · 4 years
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Leave No One Behind
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Ch2- The Red Sea Diving Resort: Part 1 Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​
Episode Summary: Ari and his team arrive at their Resort and begin making plans for the first mission. Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Allusions to death and serious injury.
Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz
Leave No One Behind Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Chapter 1
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 “What the fuck is he wearing Cracker?” Max asked Hannah as he nodded over her shoulder. Frowning, she turned to see Ari had walked in, briefcase in hand, dressed in a dark brown velvet suit and a white and gold striped shirt with a large, open necked collar.
Hannah snorted “He looks like John Travolta.”
“Walking like him too…” Sammy mumbled.
“Night fever, night fever…we know how to do it…” Jake sang softly, and the rest of the group all started to chuckle, hastily turning away as Ari walked towards the table and dropped the briefcase down on it.
Ari greeted Ethan with a nod of his head and looked around the room. His team was already gathered standing around the oval metal table, chatting idly.
Max and Jake were sniggering about something and Ari could clearly see Sammy was trying to keep a straight face, hands in his trousers pockets and looking at his feet while bouncing on them. Did he want to know? Probably not.
And then he noticed Hannah. She was chatting with Rachel who was admiring the brown leather knee high boots she was wearing. Ari heard Rachel comment something about her loving chunky heels as Hannah twisted her left foot so that Rachel could have a better look at the boots.
But Ari wasn’t interested in the boots, well, ok he was, but his gaze then travelled upwards, following her black tights clad legs and thighs, until his eyes mid-thigh met the hem of the skirt of her maroon pleated chord pinafore. Luckily for him, when his eyes continued past up her waist and the long sleeved polka dot blouse she was wearing, and he could take in the delicate features of her face, she was still engaged in some sort of fashion conversation with Rachel.
She was stunning, but what was new there? He had to admit to himself he had felt his chest fill with warmth when he had been running through the fake passports Ethan had given him the previous evening. He had opened hers first, sitting on his bed in the privacy of his hotel room, tumbler of Scotch in hand. His eyes scanning Hannah's passport photo over and over again.  Those big round blue eyes looking directly at him. 
Firefly, he had muttered running his thumb over the photo before gulping his drink.
Thus, Ari knew which would be the one on top at the deck of passports he was now pulling from his briefcase. He was going over the questions he would be asking each one of them in his head when he heard Max asking him something.
“You got chills Ari?”
“What?” Ari frowned, his head turning to Max and in the corner of his eye he noticed that Hannah turned to watch, biting her lip as behind her Sammy laughed and hastily started coughing to cover it up.
“Are they multiplying?” Jake chipped in.
“Are you losing control?” Max continued
“Coz the power, you’re supplying…it’s electrifying!” the two men sang together as Ari looked at the pair of them rolling his eyes, a smirk playing on his face. Behind him Ethan groaned.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…” Ari’s mouth curled into a crooked smile. “I’m Guy Thomas…he wears this shit…its fashion. And besides, Max, you’ve no room to talk!”
Hannah snorted and turned to look at Max, taking his outfit in in more detail. Because they were all in Zurich at the NATCOR HQ under the guise of a simple Mossad business meeting, Ari had instructed the team to come dressed as they felt their Alter Egos would dress for work. Sammy and Jake were both dressed in suits and ties, Max was in a suit with an open collar pinstriped shirt.
“He has a point…” Hannah conceded “You’re like the Kenickie to his Danny…”
“Grease was based in the 50s.” Max narrowed his eyes at her.
“Yeah, which is when that shirt was in fashion.” Jake said, slapping Max on the shoulder. Hannah and Ari snorted before they were cut off by an angry noise from behind them.
“Save the outfit discussions for later.” Ethan snapped “You lot are going to get yourselves killed for fucks sake.”
“Ethan, Ethan…” Ari turned to him, his voice soothing “Just, calm down…we’ve not even started the meeting yet.”
“Exactly, and we’re already behind schedule so if you don’t mind…” He nodded his head in the direction of the table and everyone, suitably chastised, took a seat.
Ethan and Ari ran the group through the plans regarding the next few months and how the deployment was going to work. They were to fly out on the 4th January, from Zurich, where Ari and Rachel would meet with the Sudanese Government and get the paper work and everything signed for the lease on the diving resort. Whilst they were there Max, Hannah, Jake and Sammy were to pair off and head to 2 different places to pick up 2 different cars which would be ready and waiting with supplies from 2 in country contacts. Once the explanations were finished, Ari then picked up the false passports.
“So you’ve all had enough time to read over your covers.” Ari said, flipping through the pile of passports, selecting one “Remember, the point of being undercover is you keep it simple. So you should have memorised the basics, your name, date of birth, parents names, address, hometown that type of thing. Everything else you can make up on the spot but nothing too elaborate. Don’t take it too far from the actual truth because whatever you tell one person you need to remember to tell another.”
He paused and cleared his throat. “Ok, let’s see how you fare under questioning.” he looked at Hannah “Firefly, you first… Name?”
“Rosa-Maria Gomez” Hannah repeated back, without so much as batting an eyelid, her Spanish accent flawless.
“Where are you from?”
“Valencia.”
“What did you do?”
“Bar manager at a local hotel.”
“Which hotel?”
“Sidi Saler”
“How long for?”
“Just over 10 years. Travelled for a year or so after University, settled back home when I was 19. Never looked back.”
There wasn’t so much as a hint of hesitation when she spoke. Ari smiled at her and tossed the fake passport down in front of her. “Good job.”  he said and with a faint smile she reached for the passport.
Next he put Rachel through her paces, picking her up on the slight hesitation she had over her address and then Jake’s mistake over his elementary school name. He then turned to Sammy.
“Sammy…name. Where are you from? “
“I'm Liam Anderson. Australia.” Sammy said, picking up his passport
“First girlfriend.”  
“Mary”
“Tell me about her.” Ari said, stopping at the head of the table.
“Mary Rose. Took my virginity and broke my heart.”
At that, Ari saw Hannah, who was sat at the far end of the table next to Sammy shift slightly. Despite himself he glanced at her and she caught his eye before she looked down at the table. Ari turned back to Sammy who was still speaking.
“We met at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.  I was 19. Later died in a car accident.”
“It's good.  Good work, Sammy.” Ari turned to Max “You're up.”
There was a pause as Max stared straight ahead before he glanced at the passport.
“I still think this is a stupid name for someone from Malta.” Max protested “Why Malta?”
Rachel gave a little chuckle as Ari looked at him, rolling his eyes as his hands fell to his hips.
“Max, when you learn a second language, that's where you can be from. Till then you're from Malta. No one knows what people from Malta speak.”
“What do people speak in Malta?”  Rachel asked.
“Maltese” Hannah supplied and sniggers rang round the table.
“See, no one knows, that's the point.” Ari said with a smile before he looked pointedly at Max “Name”
“Hello, everybody, my name's Irving Wilmington.” Max said in a ridiculously, fake European accent which made everyone start to laugh “And I'm from Malta-“
“You think this is funny?” Ethan’s angry voice cut across the laughter and everyone looked up at the man as he strode around the table. “Just for the record, there's not one person in this group that I would have chosen for this type of mission. You're all too reckless.” Hannah looked at Max who raised his eyebrows as if to say, he has a point…which to be fair, he kinda did.
“I've gone against every instinct I know.” Ethan continued as Ari looked down at the floor “broken every risk management rule I believe in, including sending two women to a Muslim country.” Ethan said, looking directly at Hannah then Rachel “So let's be very clear.  This mission has no backup.  There's no exfil plan for you.  You're going in without guns, or any other weapon.  If this goes wrong, you'll all be hanging from cranes in Khartoum.”
With that Ethan left the room and there was a moment of silence.
“Can’t wait…” Jake said, leaning back in his chair.
*****
Of course, nothing every runs completely smoothly. Jake was stopped by the Sudanese Immigration, simply to be released once he had paid the ‘bribe’ the officials wanted. Ari spotted him joining the others in the queue for cabs as he and Rachel departed in the car to the Tourism Board.
Then, they met with their contact in the Sudanese Government, Colonel Madibbo and embarked on the anticipated haggling over the price. The man looked Ari in the face and told him that the lease was five hundred thousand, to which Ari replied simply that they had agreed Two-Fifty. After a little bit of negotiation, Ari moved up to three-fifty, informing the Colonel it was their best offer, but then loaded told the man that could write it down as two-fifty and then take the rest and do something beneficial for the people of Sudan.
“You may not speak Arabic, Mr. Thomas. But you do speak the local language.” Madibbo laughed, and Ari simply glanced at Rachel before smiling back, fully understanding that the “local language” meant he’d given the man a bung, and that the extra hundred thou was going straight into the  Colonel’s own back pocket.
Bent bastard.
A few hours later everything was sorted, they’d been given everything they needed and Ari and Rachel walked out of the building, climbed in the arranged car and were dropped off on the main high-street where they headed to the inconspicuous Café that had been allocated as a meeting spot. Remaining in character, Ari and Rachel, or Guy and Angela, greeted their team loudly, as if it was the first time they had seen each other for a while, and then they all settled down at a table outside on the packed market square, and Ari briefed them as if he was briefing resort staff. They all listened, picked up on his cues and after a quick coffee each they all stood up to leave.
As they were leaving the Café, Max tossed one of the jeep’s keys at Ari, who caught them with a swift movement of his hand.  Once they reached the spot where the vehicles were parked Ari opened the driver's door to one of them and turned to see his team had stopped and were looking at the trucks as if deciding who was going to ride in each one of the trucks.
"Ride with me?" Max turned to ask Hannah waving the other set of keys in the air.
"Yup. I call shotgun!" she said as a reply as she walked round to open the passenger side door.
"Right, I'll be on the back seat." Jake quipped as she pulled the seat forward and gestured for him to get in the back.
Ari shook his head, hands on his hips, as he looked at Sam and Rachel through his shades before opening the back door of their jeep for Sam to jump in, tossing his backpack on the floor of the car as Rachel went to the side of the passenger seat.
"Guess the three musketeers have decided for all of us." Ari said as he jumped up in the truck, a trace of bitterness in his voice which wasn't undetected by Sammy.
"Oh my. The great Ari Levinson scorned by part of his team." Sam said, amused and Rachel chuckled.
"You're hilarious Sammy." Ari deadpanned as he fixed the rear view mirror for the third time in the last couple of minutes before he set off.
"Maybe you should keep an eye on Jake." he spoke again a minute later, turning to look at Sam as if trying to make sure he understood what he was implying. Sam examined him for a few moments before speaking
"Yeah, maybe. And maybe you should keep an eye on the road and stop looking through the mirror." Sam deadpanned turning his head slowly to the side window.
***** A few hours later, they had a quick pit stop to stretch legs and changed drivers. Ari was keen to make as good time as possible so it was only for a few moments, Max taking a well needed pee at the side of the truck, groaning in relief. Hannah shook her head, before she climbed in the back of the jeep. They set off again, and their gentle chatter struck up once more.
"So..." Jake said, turning to glance over his shoulder at Hannah, one eye sort of remaining on the road. "I've been dying to ask. Your nicknames..." "What about them?" She asked, turning her head to face him from where she had been looking out of the window. "Why does Ari call you Firefly when the rest of the team seems to call you Cracker?"
Max snorted and looked at Hannah who was grinning. "Ok so the cracker thing came from a mission." She said, thinking fondly back "it was the first one we all actually ran together...me, Max, Sammy, Ari...Andy..." she trailed off for a moment before she continued "we were sat round the fire one night and Andy had a pack of those little savoury fish cracker things. We started playing a game as to how many each of us could fit in our mouths. Max insisted he would win...but who in fact did win Maxwell?" "You..." Max sighed "by 2 crackers" "So Andy started calling me crackers which became cracker and it stuck..." she shrugged. "Well, with everyone but Ari that is..." "Yeah, so explain the Firefly thing..." Jake pushed. "The first time I met Ari was when he came over one evening with Sammy. It was just before Sammy moved out." Hannah said "I was 17 and we were sat out in the garden at the back. It wasn't a huge garden, communal like, shared with 3 other houses but I loved it because there was a colony of lightning bugs, or fireflies that frequented it. It was a few months later Sammy was being an ass-hat about something and I flipped out at him and threw a mug at his head. It missed and smashed against the wall but Ari found it hilarious. Told I was just like those little fireflies I admired so much. Such an ordinary, unassuming thing on the outside with a hell of a surprise packed away underneath..." Jake paused and then started laughing "Now that's a back handed compliment if ever I did hear one." Hannah grinned "I know. When I asked him what he meant by ordinary you should have seen his face. He was all flustered and stammering and worried he'd offended me. Lasted all of 2 minutes until I cracked up laughing and told him I understood." "Well, fireflies are pretty awesome..." Jake smiled "A symbol of light in the dark, hope, warmth" "Yup, all things Ari said to me when he was back pedalling over the whole ordinary thing" Hannah smiled with a shrug "either way, it stuck."
My little firefly…
“Tell him what you call Ari.” Max said and Hannah snorted.
“El Lobo hambriento” She replied after a moment’s pause “Or Lobo for short.”
“And that means…” Jake looked at her again for a second.
“Spanish for the hungry wolf…” Hannah said “It came from when he used to eat my Mama out of house and home whenever he came round with Sammy. And over time it got shortened to Lobo…just wolf…”
Jake laughed “Well, he is kinda hairy…but you know, that should be my nickname given that I am actually a Wolf.”
“By name…” Max teased “You look like more of a poodle.”
Hannah laughed and leaned forward, so that her head poked between the front to seats in the car “You can be Loop.” “Loop?” Jake frowned.
“Short for Lupin…Latin for Wolf, or there or thereabouts anyway. Or it could just mean you’re a total fruit loop, take your pick…”
Jake gave a huge guffaw of laughter and looked at her “Does that make you Little Red Riding Hood?”
Hannah snorted as Max shook his head, looking out at the window “That’s the shittest chat up line I’ve ever heard” he spoke, turning back to Jake.
“Can’t blame a man for trying” Jake winked.
After a total of six hours and a couple more stops to stretch and freshen up, if that was even possible in the middle of the desert, they arrived in the resort. But they couldn't properly see it until they got out of the trucks, the windows being partly covered by dust as they had taken shortcuts over sand dunes to save quite a few hours more off the travel time should they have opted to use the main roads. 
When they finally got out of the car they took some clumsy steps on the sand after being into the confined space of car for that many hours. Jake lit a cigarette and as he looked at Ari he couldn't help but make a howling noise to Hannah who started laughing immediately. As if on cue, Max started howling too and the three of them were caught in a fit of hysteric laughter,  Max bending his body for balance and Hannah leaning on Jake's arm.
Ari, Sam and Rachel stood there watching the three of them, dumbfounded. Ari shared a glance with Sam before he shot his sister a look and she pulled herself together still trying holding back laughter. Ari sighed before he took a few more steps towards the main entrance of the resort and the rest of the team followed suit.
They all stopped still, looking at the ram-shackled building in front of them, the words Red Sea Diving Resort were descripted in fading red paint above the large, archway shaped door. Hannah removed her shades, looking at it, and she let out a loud breath from where she stood at the end of the line they seemed to have formed, next to Max.
“It sure doesn't look like the brochure.”  she said, and everyone turned to look at her, Max giving a small huff of laughter. After a second or so, Ari moved to the trucks to retrieve their luggage and the rest of them followed suit before they headed towards the entrance. Ari wrestled with the wooden trellised screen doors before he gave one a harsh push and it fell forward off its hinges, crashing to the floor sending up a cloud of dust and sand. He turned to look at them all, giving a shrug before he headed inside. They all followed and Hannah cast her eyes around as they hit the main room. All the window screens were shut, leaving it quite dark despite the bright late afternoon sunshine outside. Chairs and tables were piled haphazardly around the edges of the main room of the resort, various other pieces of furniture dotted around.
“It needs a little TLC.” Ari said, turning to the team.
“Nice.” Rachel chuckled.  
“Oh, yeah?” Sammy snorted, pushing the shaded lenses on his glasses up as he looked around with a laugh. “What a dump.”
Hannah watched as Jake moved to open one of the sets of doors which led out onto the beach and instantly the place was flooded with light. She glanced at Max who smiled and they followed him out onto the beach.
“This is paradise!” Jake sighed. Max looked at him, incredulously, but Hannah had to admit, outside it was beautiful. A secluded cove of The Red Sea right was in front of them, the sun bouncing off the blue water, waves softly lapping at the shore.
Max pushed his glasses back up his nose and headed away to his right, Hannah following as they walked round the side of the resort and up a small boardwalk which led to a small pier of sorts.
“Well, hello, gorgeous…” she heard Max say. Hannah turned to see him examining a spear gun which was leaned up against the glass windows in front of him. She rolled her eyes.
“Your obsession with sniping weapons is worrying.” she arched an eyebrow.
He turned to face her with a grin before he tucked his shades into his shirt and picked up the fishing spear, holding it like a gun, checking down the sight target. The two of them stepped further round and Hannah frowned as Max stopped under a wooden shelter of sorts and the pair of them spotted the large, silver fish hanging from the structure. It had been beheaded, the head laying on a grill, and Max turned to look at her.
“This fish is fresh.” he frowned.
“Don’t eat it…” Hannah said instantly, teasing him about his obsession with food.
“Don’t eat…it’s fucking raw.” he rolled his eyes at her.
“Never had sushi?” she shot back.
“Don’t care for it much…” he mused before they both exchanged a glance, the seriousness of the fact that the fish, was indeed newly caught sinking in as Max turned to call back to the resort.
“Hey, yo, this fish is fresh!”
Ari who had been walking along the shore, heard Max’s call, along with Rachel’s which informed everyone she had found a newspaper from this week .He stopped and glanced back into the resort before he opened the door into one of the bedroom huts. Taking a glance round he threw open the wooden window screens, turning his face away as the sand and dust from outside blew into his face. It was then a familiar smell hit his nose and he glanced down to his left and saw that there were cigarette butts in an ashtray. One was still smoking slightly.
And then, someone jumped up from behind a pile of furniture in the corner of the room and shot out of the door. Ari turned and sprinted after him, yelling for him to stop and calling to the team. They all joined him, sprinting around the corner where Ari stopped at the sight of a group of what they could only assume were locals.
“Hello.  My name...” Ari began, before he whipped off his sunglasses, figuring they might trust him more if they could see him eye to eye “My name's Guy Thomas.  I'm the new owner of this hotel.”
The locals didn’t speak, and Hannah noticed that the woman at the front, adorned in bright yellow local dress was glancing at Max nervously.
“Max, lower that thing…” she said softly, as he had the spear gun raised.
Ari turned to face him and nodded, gesturing with his hands “Come on.”  
“Sorry.” Max said gently, as he slowly lowered his weapon.
“Abu Hamid.” the man at the front of the group spoke to them.
“Hello.” Ari greeted him kindly.
“What the hell's going on?” Sammy spoke gently through his smile.  
“I think we just met the local staff.” Ari said softly, looking round at everyone.
Part 2
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thomas-reynolds · 3 years
Text
CAUGHT UP // 001
WHO: Griffin x Jamie x Thomas WHERE: The apartment. TW/NOTES: Nsfw. Griff and Tommy-boy come home early from the bar thanks to Griffin’s heavy drinking, and catch Jamie in the act with some dude. Things get heated and not in the fun way, and they end up a little worse for wear.
JAMIE ::
"My place doesn't work." Those four fateful words would normally leave Jamie shrugging and moving on to the next guy. It was a night out, after all, and he didn't have to take home the first hot guy he found. But this one was so hot. Taller than him, but just slightly. Bright blue eyes and a come and get me grin. Maybe it was more the attitude than the looks, and maybe James had downed one too many gold rushes. Maybe it was the fact that it was the beginning of summer, and hot was taking on multiple meanings here. James couldn't put his finger on what the hell it was that made him say these bolds words, but he heard himself saying them all the same. "Let's go back to my place." A husky whisper in the other guy's ear, and the two of them tumbled out of the club and into a cab.
Jamie lost his shirt at the front door, a solid thud echoing through the place as he was backed against it, and then a moan as his hookup- David? Daniel? kissed along his neck, his hands moving lower. "Don't leave a mark." He was already living dangerously. Odds were that Thomas and Griffin wouldn't randomly end up coming back home, but you could never be too careful. Now that he'd gotten that one stipulation out of the way, it was all too easy to let go and focus on the feelings. This would only ever happen once, and since he was already damned anyway, he might as well make the most of it.
More clothes were shed as they made their way to a bedroom. He didn't stop to shut the door, his hands too busy roaming Daryl's body to think of such a mundane detail. He didn't need to prepare himself much before he situated himself on top, sinking down onto the beautiful man's cock and thoroughly enjoying the view. He was close when everything went south. It was nice, having the place to himself, not needing to bother with being quiet. He was breathing hard by this point, choosing expletives that he wouldn't be caught dead saying in church instead of accidentally moaning the wrong name.
GRIFFIN ::
Getting kicked out of a bar was not new for Griffin Rollins, but getting kicked out just after nine o’clock was impressive. Or embarrassing, if he had any shame left, but he didn’t seem to, not with the way Thomas’ lecture was just rolling off his back. He could probably recite the speech back to him at this point - y’know, when he could string a sentence together without slurring. It probably meant something that the barkeep knew to call Thomas - his roommate, yes; his buddy, sure; but decidedly not a loved one, not his significant other - but that was the nice thing about being this hammered: Griffin could blissfully ignore all the flashing neon signs from the universe that he was, in fact, still a fuck-up.
That same universe was spinning by the time the men reached their front door, the dark-haired one making a valiant effort to retrieve his keys only for his hand to be impatiently batted away. As they stepped into their place, Griffin moaned out a curse - or, he thought he did, but it didn’t sound like himself. And it was coming from the wrong direction.
His eyes flashed over to Thomas’ face, trying to decipher what the fuck was going on, and he looked as far from happy as he had when he’d showed up at the bar, but now the daggers weren’t being directing at Griffin. The blonde was looking past him, and it took a carefully-executed turn to discover what he was looking at: a naked hottie riding a cock in Pearson’s bed. Griffin’s liquor-fogged mind took what felt like an eon to realize that was bad, for two reasons. 1) The naked hottie was not Thomas’ sister, and 2) The naked hottie was Pearson.
Griffin’s fingers immediately fisted in the front of Thomas’ shirt, partially in an attempt to keep him exactly where he was, and partially to keep himself upright. “Hey, hey, Tommy, hey -”
THOMAS ::
Getting the call shouldn’t have come as any sort of surprise. After all, Thomas took more phone calls regarding Griffin’s health and well-being than he’s sure Griffin’s own mother ever took. Picked him up from enough bars, enough gutters, even football practice when they were teens and his mom conveniently ‘forgot’ him at the school. Typically, Thomas wore the eternal baby-sitter badge like a medal of honor - used it to badger and annoy Griffin into some semblance of shame when he was even a modicum of sober. Now though, when Thomas himself had been getting his feet wet at the bar, a young brunette with too dark lipstick and overly straightened hair, but big enough breasts to be worth his effort practically hanging off of his arm - now it was annoying.
Even when it was more tolerable, Thomas didn’t let Griffin think otherwise anyway, but still. The point still stands, he thought, staring at the doors of a crusty old bar that screamed ‘burn your clothes when you leave here’ and definitely had enough bikers and hookers outside to make your grandmother faint on impact. Convincing the bouncer to not knock his friend’s head in was simple enough, it was actually the waitress whom Griffin palmed on the way out that seemed to cause the most trouble - and by the time they were on the way back to the apartment, drunken hands pulling at the collar of Thomas’ shirt (and stretching out the goddamned hole), Thomas had almost begun his ranting on auto pilot.
A little, “You’re a real piece of shit, you know that? Like a fucking gutter rat. What the fuck were you drinking anyway? You smell like fucking paint-thinner --” The words died on Thomas’ lips, cheeks, ears and chest heating in a way that would make him worry that he’s finally going six feet under (and maybe he is, if his blood pressure could go any higher), and it reminded him of the time he got incredibly crossfaded at Brittany Deering’s party back in 10th grade and blacked out in her bathtub for a few hours, barely avoiding being puked and pissed on by fellow students in the same position as him. It took him entirely too quickly, Thomas’ body moving on its own accord, Griffin’s hands pawing at him like a cheap stripper, and Pearson’s wide open door looked like a gateway to Heaven, or at the very least a convenience store with the automatic slider-doors jammed.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Thomas’ voice didn’t sound like his own, but he supposed that it was difficult to even hear properly with all of the blood rushing through his ears, “I will kill you.” The thump in his chest had nothing to do with the fact that his best friend was clearly cheating on his sister with some...some fruity weirdo with floppy hair and stupidly blue eyes, but he was bound and determined to ignore that little fact - ignore the voice that said just tell him already and instead, encouraged the one that said, he’s got a nice neck for strangling.
“This is what you do when we’re not here? Fool around with discount Matthew McConaughey?” It definitely wasn’t a snarl, if you asked Thomas, but the clenching fist at his side, the one not hanging onto Griffin’s half-dead body, promised something lethal.
JAMIE ::
“Fuuuuck-“ turned into “Oh, fuck” entirely too quickly for Jamie’s liking. He was off that dick quicker than he’d moved in a long time. Hastily looking over his shoulder and seeing Thomas’ face twisted in rage should have killed his hard on in an instant, but it didn’t. He’d blame that on how hot Damon was and how far along into their hookup they’d been. “Fuck off Thomas, you two were supposed to be out, anyway!” He stepped into his underwear quickly, pulling on a pair of pants hastily as well. “What the fuck?” Danny was dazed, understandably confused that all of the sudden their hookup for two was now a foursome. Then, “Is that your boyfriend?”
“No!” James replied immediately, forcing a look of disgust at the mere thought of it. Or at least, his best attempt. “You need to go.” There was no salvaging this hookup, unfortunately, and he was just glad that he’d managed to make it to his own room so sweatpants were readily available.  Damian had apparently gotten the point and was quickly getting redressed as well. Thomas was still mad, and honestly it was probably best to just let him be mad instead of trying to placate him. Trying that would only make it worse. Nah, he was gonna let the anger run its course and then let it go. But then it hit him, and all the color drained from his face. “You can’t tell her.” The thought of that happening made him want to throw up, and he moved a little closer, eyes wide and a little scared even as he tried to hide it. “It was nothing. Just blowing off some steam, and it doesn’t even count, you wouldn’t have known because you two were supposed to be out!” His gaze turned accusingly to Griffin for a second, and it didn’t take long to piece together what had happened. “And besides, Griffin is drunk, clearly we have bigger problems to worry about.” Yeah, pull focus. Dawson could sneak out while the two of them had a serious talk with Griffin about substance use. Jamie’s gaze flashed to Griffin again. He couldn’t decide which one of them to look at at this point. Griffin was most likely to take his side here, so he probably shouldn’t have just thrown him under the bus.
GRIFFIN :: 
Griffin managed a small, two-finger salute to Jamie’s date as he passed by, clothing in his arms - or maybe it looked like he was putting a gun to his own temple, which also seemed applicable. His eyes followed the stranger’s naked ass until it disappeared into the bathroom, just in time to detect his name tumbling into this shitshow. “‘m always drunk,” he shot back in what he genuinely believed to be a solid defense. “Dsn’t count.”
God, he just wanted to be on a horizontal surface, even if it was Jamie’s bed of iniquity, and he considered making a move toward it until his last brain cell insisted that his deadweight was likely the only thing keeping Thomas anchored in place. If he could just defuse this disaster of a situation, he knew the blonde would get him into his own bed. Or the couch. Or at least onto the kitchen floor with a towel for a blanket.
“Tommy, Tommy, TommyTommyTommy, listen ... listen t’ me ... your sisterdsn’t have a dick!” he offered, finally releasing the other man’s shirt in order to wave his hands in a messy what’re-ya-gonna-do gesture. By his incredibly flawed, alcoholic logic, if Pearson wanted to fuck a dude - and understandably so, dudes being as hot as they were - he couldn’t go to Thomas’ sister. No harm, no ... whatever.
THOMAS ::
Thomas steadily ignored his own feline-reminiscent hiss as Hunky Brewster walk-of-shame’d his way out of their apartment, passing it off as some sort of controlling his temper, or silently letting out a prayer to the God he didn’t believe in but heard enough about from Jamie. The heat turned to ice in the pit of his glorious, god-like abdomen after every single ‘Tommy’ that left his friend’s mouth, “Griff, shut your fucking mouth -- and you,” He practically spit, pulling both himself and Griffin closer to the blonde in the bedroom like a boat and a buoy toward the middle of a storm, “It’s not cheeeeeeating as long as you don’t get caaaaught.” Thomas mocked his friend as the storm seemed to settle inside of his own chest, thunder and lightning begging to be let out through some sort of violence.
“I’m going to kick your ass - and then, I’m going to call my sister, and she’s going to come over here and kick your ass, you stupid, useless moron.” The dark feelings seemed to bubble and burst all in one quick second, and if Thomas could have taken a breath and really looked at the situation for what it was, and the jealousy that seemed to eat at him, the conflict likely could have been avoided. But the thick stench of sweat and alcohol from Griffin, and the same aroma from Jamie’s room seemed to override any sort of consideration that Thomas could have provided. And with that, he dropped Griffin like a sack of fucking potatoes and darted for Jamie’s face, hissing when his hit landed. Thomas was too busy cradling his knuckles to know if he’d even hit his damned target, but the swelling would be worth it if he’d gotten to cause Jamie some sort of agony he’d have to live for the next few days too. Once the blind rage passed and Thomas was left shaking, clutching his wrist like grandmother’s prized fucking pearls, he finally bit words for Griffin instead, “I don’t care that my sister doesn’t have a goddamned dick - she’s - he spouts all of this holier-than-thou bullshit that he doesn’t even follow! He just committed sodomized, pre-marital sex! And he wasn’t even on top!”
The words felt hysterical, and the laughter that left Thomas wasn’t one filled with any sort of joy; it was hollow and empty, or maybe not empty, but only filled with envy and anger. He darted for Jamie again, hissing between his teeth.
JAMIE ::
James wasn’t sure when he realized that there wouldn’t be any coming back from this. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Thomas this pissed, and that was saying something. Hell, in the past, he’d helped talk Thomas down from being this pissed at someone else. Now the fury was totally directed at him, and he fought the instinct to move back as Thomas dragged himself and Griffin closer. He wasn’t a coward. “It’s not cheating if I don’t even know his name!” It was. It absolutely was, but he’d learned from the best how to navigate with a broken moral compass. This was quite literally a situation of how what someone didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. He’d done this for years, from hurried hookups behind the bleachers to an empty dugout, sneaking out at midnight and meeting someone he’d used to go to Sunday school with. It was a sin, sure, but he wasn’t gay. He went to confession after every incidence, and he was forgiven. It was just that simple.
“Don’t,” he warned, his expression going from worried to murderous. “Tell her, Thomas, and I swear to God.” Might as well add taking the Lord’s name in vain. Today couldn’t possibly be any worse. In that moment, the bubble burst. It occurred to him briefly that Thomas could have set Griffin down nicely, but then it was too late as he felt pain exploding across his cheek. Thomas packed a pretty decent punch, even if he didn’t much look like it. For the moment, he resigned himself to it, didn’t hit back even though his fist balled up by his side and he wanted to. He’d stumbled back after the initial punch, but he regained his footing. And then Thomas was talking again, listing off all the big sins, sins that were meant to be kept in private, in the confessional booth, just him and the priest. That alone made him itch with rage, but he held back. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he didn’t really want to hurt Thomas. But then he laughed and it all went to hell. He surged forward at the same time Thomas did, and they collided. “Fuck. You!” He threw the next punch, hoping to land a matching shiner, putting his full force behind it. He didn’t care anymore. “It doesn’t count as pre-marital,” he growled, “if it’s not a possibility to marry.” He still couldn’t make himself use the right pronoun.
GRIFFIN ::
Now, granted, he had been wanting to lie down, but hurtling to the hardwood without any warning hadn’t exactly been ideal. Griffin laid there, still more or less grateful to be off his feet, listening to an argument that probably would have seemed a fuckton more intense if it hadn’t sounded so underwater. He even missed the first punch, arm thrown over his eyes as he willed the room to knock it off with the spinning - but he did here the telltale sound of two bodies colliding, and forced himself up onto his elbows. And then onto his knees. And then onto his feet.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey -“ The man had exactly one word in his vocabulary at the moment, which he repeated as he stumbled over to a mound of limbs made up of his two best friends. He was already pushing it, with the walking, but the attempt to pull one of the guys off the other almost knocked him right back of his feet. He survived, though - until a rogue fist that may or may not have been meant for him caught him right in the gut. He reeled back, taking one, two, three steps towards the door before doubling-over and vomiting in the corner of Jamie’s room.
Well, it had been inevitable. At least now that part of the night was over. “HEY.” There he was. Still just as unsteady on his feet, but with renewed frustration, Griffin threw himself back into the mix.
THOMAS ::
"You probably wish you could! I'm pretty fantastic!" Thomas screamed over the man, attempting to shove Jamie, and petulantly ignoring Griffin until the guy practically took an arrow for him, projectile vomiting in the same space as them. "Nice fucking job - punching the fucking drunk. Want to talk to God about that too? You like things in your ass and you hit your best friend!" 
Griffin managed to get between them and Thomas couldn't help the muttered, "You fucking reek, dude-" that left him, his arm reaching out to swing wildly at Jamie over the other man's shoulder. How ridiculous, they must have looked, three grown men throwing punches and shouting expletives at one another in the middle of the night. If the neighbors banging on the wall were anything to go by, they probably agreed with him. 
"Don't touch me - don't you fucking," Thomas hissed as a spare slap managed to get him right in the nose, rust immediately dripping over the bottom portion of his face, "I'm going to tell her so fucking hard, you son of a bitch," He whined around the hand cupping his nose and mouth, practically shielding himself with Griffin's larger body. "I can't stand you two - I - it smells like shit in here," The babbling continued, even though he really couldn't smell anything with his nose full of blood clots.
JAMIE ::
“I was on top!” Jamie insisted, shoving back at Thomas. He really hadn’t intended to punch Griffin, but he was the one who’d ended up throwing himself in between the two of them. What did he think was going to happen. “I was aiming for you, asshole!” His blood was really boiling right now, and Jesus, how had this night managed to go so horribly wrong? It had started out hot and fun and devolved into, well, whatever this shit show was.
“Oh, come on,” he groaned as he heard Griffin lose his dinner in the corner of his room. Add that to the list of shit that he didn’t want to deal with. He’d be cleaning it up, of course, because Griffin clearly wasn’t in any state to, and he didn’t want his room to smell like puke while he waited for Griffin to sober up and handle it. The one last slap was admittedly satisfying, but he had to calm down. He had bigger problems on his hands. He had to convince Thomas not to tell her.
It occurred to him way too quickly what he had to do, the only way he was going to appeal to Thomas’ sense of reason. “Fine!” He shouted numbly. “Tell her. But who else do you think is going to be with her? We break up, she ends up an old fucking spinster for the rest of her life. Is that what you want for her? Huh?” He gave one more shove to prove his point. “You tell her, and you break her fucking heart. And for what? Because I’m getting a little on the side that she can’t give me? I’m the perfect boyfriend, Thomas. She won’t get better than me, and you know it.”
GRIFFIN ::
Somehow managing to dodge what could have been a really unfortunate elbow, Griffin was perfectly content with standing between his roommates now that things had boiled over and resolved into a simmer; still hot, still able to burn, but not quite as active. The shouting, he was pretty desensitized to. Between the three of them, someone was perpetually shouting at the other two, or two were shouting at each other, or two were shouting at one (he was usually the one, and he was usually inebriated). It was a special occasion when the trio were all shouting, though, which is normally what got the neighbors involved. Griffin reached over to land his fist on the wall three or four times, acknowledging their neighbor’s participation.
His back was turned to Thomas, who, though taller, was probably less of a real physical threat. As a result, he missed the bloody nose, but he did catch sight of Jamie’s split lip and the scarlet mark that was going to bloom into one hell of a bruise. “Better tell ‘er ya got mugged,” he suggested, finally throwing over a glance over his shoulder to survey the damage that was Thomas’ face. “Botha you. Ah, fuck, are you bleedinon my shirt?!”
Griffin was quiet for the rest of Jamie’s tirade, mostly because this was not his fight, but also because he was on both of their sides, so far as thinking the other was a royal fucking asshole. Kate was the closest thing he had to a sister, and he didn’t love the idea of her getting fucked over, but he would have been smart enough to not let an asshole like James anywhere near her to start with. And furthermore, he’d mean what he’d said, inarticulate as it may have been; monogamy was a societal construct, sexuality was a spectrum, and this was probably the best case scenario for both of them, really. Kate got to seriously level up in the boyfriend department, and Jamie got a doting woman on his arm for the sake of appearances.
“I think,” he opined on a big sigh, running a hand through his hair as though he was going to lay down some actual wisdom - but that wasn’t his brand. “I think that we should get nachos.”
THOMAS ::
Clicking his tongue, Thomas swished the copper around in his mouth, glaring daggers at his roommate. He probably looked like he'd been bobbing for apples in fake blood at this point, but it felt oddly satisfying to look a little deranged compared to his normal well-kempt state. "Should I let her be with a cheater and a liar anyway? Yeah, real fucking smart, asshole --" Even with Griffin's knocking effectively breaking the tension, the neighbors yelling back through the wall, there was something still boiling under the surface. 
Something volatile, something that went by the name Jade. 
"You don't need any nachos," He murmured, somewhat numb, yet manic. Auto-pilot had taken over, his palm running over his face, and Thomas wiped the mess on the back of Griffin's shirt. Eyes never leaving Jamie's, Thomas slowly slipped forward face impassive, blank. "One more thing," Oddly calm, Thomas reached out with a gentle, blood-smeared hand and laid the palm of it on Jamie's shoulder. He let the moment settle, let the silence take over for a moment, until it was bordering on confusing, before throwing himself forward and headbutting the man in turn, immediate pain blossoming behind his forehead, and spraying them both with his now-unclotted nose. "Bitch," he snarled under the waterfall of blood, before groaning and taking a hasty step back toward his drunken friend, ready to use him as a shield again if need be.
JAMIE ::
"Why, so you can throw 'em up in a different part of my room?" He usually had the decency to at least make it to a communal space, and yeah, James was still a little pissed that he needed to be taken home at all when the two of them had planned to be out and about for the night. It was a valiant effort, trying to get the two of them back on the same side so they could stop with the arguing, but deep down, Jamie knew this wasn't the kind of fight that Thomas would just get over. He'd fucked up, big time, and now instead of facing the music, he was doubling down. It had all seemed so innocent, harmless even, when it was just him and the flavor of the night. If what's his name that started with a D hadn't been so fucking hot, maybe this whole thing could have been avoided.
He ventured a glance at Thomas, partially hating himself for the fact that he'd messed up such a pretty face, but a small little part of himself was satisfied at the damage done. Served him right. How fucking hard would it have been to just turn around and go somewhere else for ten minutes? By that point, the hookup would have been kicked out, and they could all pretend that it had never happened. Jamie could have been blissfully ignorant, and honestly, that was one of the most underrated states a person could be in.
When Thomas put a hand on his shoulder, he tried to keep his expression neutral. As much as he hated to admit it, that hand on his shoulder had grounded him many times in the past, and its presence was all tied up with feelings of comfort and safety, feelings he definitely wasn't getting just now. Sure as shit, next came the sucker punch in the form of a headbutt, and the "Ow!" was almost equal parts pain and surprise. "Asshole!" he groaned, and he couldn't even get to him without Griff getting involved again. "Griffin, just get out of here. This is between me and him, and some of us can't take a hit." Unfortunately for him, all of the hits were starting to take a toll.
GRIFFIN ::
“Ahhrgh, God damn it,” he growled as he felt Thomas’ hand smear his bodily fluids down his back, rolling his shoulders in discomfort before yanking his shirt off, rolling it into a ball and tossing it out into the hall. At least the blonde’s shirt was just as fucked, he noticed, attention on the slightly taller man as he approached James. Good, fine, Thomas would say his final piece and then everyone could just - “Fuck!”
Before he could fully process the sudden movement and the accompanying spray of gore, Thomas has slipped behind him and he was staring down Jamie, the youngest of their dysfunctional little crew. “C’mon, Jay, jus-go lay down,” he muttered, intending to give a good-natured push to the kid’s chest, but still intoxicated enough to not know his own strength. The adrenaline he didn’t realize had been streaming through his system turned it into a fully aggressive shove, and Griffin felt the muscles in his shoulders tense as some part of him anticipated retaliation. Blue eyes flashed. “Go ta’ bed, Jamie.”
THOMAS ::
"Suck my dick, Pearson--" Dark pupils dilated at the shove, watching with intense interest. It wasn't often that Jamie and Griffin disagreed wholeheartedly, or at the very least enough to get into a physical altercation. Usually it was Thomas gravitating toward the violence, toward harsh words that stung and bit at insecurities - usually he was the flint and steel basking at either of his friends' heels.
Still, it ignited something in him, to see Griffin shove the younger man, even if unintentionally. While they all agreed to disagree at who really was whose best friend, Thomas liked to believe he was just as much of a fire as he was the glue keeping them together. "You shoved him, man," The words were weirdly tense, odd even to himself, in the quiet of the room. "You gonna take that?" Blue eyes flick to Jamie's.
JAMIE ::
For a second, he considered it. He wasn't going to just lay down, but getting himself to a different room, where they kept the cleaning supplies probably, and doing something else was probably the best way to handle this. But then he shoved him, hard, as if to make sure to drive his point home. "Seriously?" he demanded, his own gaze accusing.
"You're seriously gonna take his side? I woulda come to get you too, and then none of this would have happened." He shoved back, not knowing or caring if Thomas was close enough to catch him. "You go to bed. I have someone else's mess to clean up, as usual." The puke in the corner of the room wasn't going anywhere, after all.
GRIFFIN ::
As he stumbled back into Thomas, Griffin’s ego maintained that he never would have budged if he’d been sober. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn’t; really, how often was he truly sober, so there wouldn’t be exactly an opportunity to find out. If he’d been sober, he also probably wouldn’t have lunged for Jamie, taking him out at the waist and forcing him to collapse onto his own mattress. “Said, LAY DOWN,” he repeated, scrambling to straddle the man’s hips, and trying to grab at his wrists. “Enough!”
The word was paired with a death glare to Thomas, who may not have been pinned under him, but only because it was physically impossible for Griffin to sedate both of them at once. “You’re both douchebags!”
“I called you,” he muttered after a moment, still slap-fighting James for submission. “You were busy.” It was completely lost on the brunette, of course, that his current position wasn’t terribly different from the way they’d stumbled upon Jamie a few minutes before.
THOMAS ::
Despite the urge to cover his throbbing nose from any more of the crossfire, Thomas stood back from the other two men, eyes dark and irritable. Thomas was the reliable one - was the man you called when you needed someone to get you out of a mess, or pick you up at the bar on a Friday night at 9pm because you were so drunk you couldn't see straight. He was the ultimate provider, the best friend any guy could ask for. Clearly, Griffin appreciated that more than Jamie.
"Am I interrupting?" He blinked his eyelashes prettily, words mocking as they left his lips. His shirt was the only one left on, and it was...incredibly sticky at that point, if he was being honest. With a grimace, he plucked at the collar, hissing when his hand came away sore. He would be bruised and battered, and rough the following day - no amount of cover-up was going to suffice to hide the giant bowling ball of a bruise on his head, or the massive swelling of his nose. He'd talk like a fucking Lollipop Guild member for a week at this rate.
"I went to pick up this clown while you were out here blowing some guy." Thomas stuck his chin up, defiant despite the angry look sent to him by Griffin, who was oddly being the sensible one (not that Thomas would ever admit that. To anyone. Ever.)
JAMIE ::
James was honestly taken aback by Griffin's sudden lunge in his general direction. He was stupidly effective for being drunk, and Jamie wanted to be mad about it, but he was suddenly distracted by how Griffin was just on top of him like this. He blamed that on the surprise of it all as well. Griffin never would have gotten him into this position if James had seem him coming.
Ignoring the insult, he frowned when Griffin mentioned that he had called him. "Well, what the hell." He could have sworn he would have noticed a phone call from his best friend, but apparently hookup's dick game was too strong. Usually he was much more reliable than this. "Shut the fuck up, Thomas," he said, and the only reason that Griffin was still on top of him was because he didn't want to hurt him on accident. Again.
His face hurt and he wanted to either drink or take some ibuprofen or both and clean up the fucking mess that was still in the corner of his room. "Christ, get off me, Griffin." Why was he the one being restrained instead of Thomas? Thomas started this shit. He gave a considering expression before going for Griffin's ticklish spot instead, hoping the sudden distraction would give him some leeway to get out from under him and back toward his original target who couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his own damn life. "I didn't blow him, I was on fucking top!"
GRIFFIN ::
If he’d been able to read the other man’s thoughts, he probably would have chuckled, the low one that was particularly disarming when it was paired with his trademark sideways smirk. Sure, they’d blame it on the “surprise” and not the decade of running tackle drills before and after school, five days a week. Drunk as he was, muscle memory was a hell of a thing.
That, and puking up a stomach full of bourbon.
“Wash up, look like a fuckin’ horror movie,” Griffin ordered in Thomas’ general direction, not moving a muscle, not just yet. If the two of them were going to lunge at each other again, he could sit right there all night - or at least until the hazy, spinny kind of sleep that went along with being this sloshed came to claim him. “You, jus’ stop talking,” he muttered, quieter considering that James was only so far away from him. “Nobody cares ‘fya sucked a dick, Pearson.”
When he eventually slid from the younger man’s waist, Griffin moaned in relief at the feel of a mattress beneath him, bribing his body to move with the promise that if he stretched out just the slightest bit, he’d finally be able to close his eyes. “Why’s yer bed so nice?”
THOMAS :: 
A flash of something dark flickered over Thomas' face, his struggle with authority desperately trying to rear its head. With a calming breath, he tried to pull that little voice inside of his head that sounded like his dumb, quack sister that reminded him about breathing exercises and adrenaline. After counting to 10, Thomas gingerly pulled his collared shirt over his head, the polo wet with moisture and a stink of dried blood. Scrunching his nose, he dropped the offending garment into Jamie's hamper, on top of clothes probably covered in some dude's jizz. "Looks like you have a roommate tonight," He pointed out helpfully, making his way toward the bathroom.
He was back a quick moment later, having procured the small cleaning caddy from under the bathroom sink, including the hand-held spot cleaner. It was uncanny, how many times they'd had to clean up 90% alcohol-vomit, and Thomas hated that he'd grown so used to it after 15-odd years of knowing these morons. "Take your shoes off, you heathen," Thomas spit at Griffin without much effort behind it, focused instead on cleaning the puddle out of the corner of Jamie's room.
After scrubbing for a few odd minutes, and one glare in Griffin's direction later, Thomas picked himself back up, knees aching with the effort of the movement. He was getting old. He stored the cleaning products back in the cabinet and found himself leaning against the doorframe when he re-entered the room. "What food do you want, Griff?" Thomas asked, placated and quiet after the fall-out of so much drama. Getting his face bashed in was a reset button, apparently. Annoying, but effective. "I'm not dealing with the whininess when you're hung over tomorrow."
JAMIE ::
"He started it," James muttered in response when Griffin told him to stop talking. It was juvenile, but he couldn't help it. This whole thing could have been avoided about six ways to Sunday. If Griffin hadn't gotten drunk, if Thomas hadn't immediately started raging about it, if he hadn't brought someone home in the first place. It was pretty clear that they were all partially to blame for this shit show, but the petty side of him wanted to be the one that ended it.
He still had no idea if Thomas was going to tell Kate, but that seemed like a problem for future Jamie. For now, he just wanted to wallow in his failed hookup. He figured that since he hadn't even gotten the chance to get off from this one, there wasn't really a need to do any sort of confessional. Jamie scoffed at Griffin's next words. God cared if he sucked a dick, which also, he hadn't. "Don't tell anyone." These words were directed at both of them, quiet, yet deeply meaningful. He didn't know what he'd do if people found out. Hell, his two best friends had just found out, and he wasn't exactly sure what to do about it.
Jamie had no idea where Thomas was going when he headed out of his room, and a part of him wondered if he was going to make that phone call. Anxiety prickled all over his body, and he had to remind himself to breathe. A moment before he was going to get up and follow him, Thomas came back with the cleaning supplies. A begrudging "Thanks," rolled off his lips as he sat up in bed to address Thomas' next words. Rolling onto his knees, he took off one shoe and tossed it out into the hallway, landing with a thunk. The other came next, tossed in the same general direction. "PB&J?" he asked Griffin, knowing that it'd be best to go for something easier on the stomach.
GRIFFIN ::
This was how the world worked for Griffin Rollins, the way it had always worked. He did what he wanted to do, it made a fucking mess, he smiled and fumbled his way into some unintentional wit, and it all ended up being taken care of ... usually by one of the two bloodied men who were currently milling around the room, no doubt accomplishing just that. He didn’t open his eyes to check. That was the way he preferred it, really; if he never fully noticed just how much other people did to save his ass time after time, he never fully needed to thank them.
“Nachooooos,” he moaned at the mention of food, knowing full well he’d likely pass out before anything that required delivery would arrive at the apartment. As it was, he was already slipping in and out of consciousness. The bed smelled like sweat and Jamie’s shampoo, the sortakinda expensive stuff he got frustrated at Griffin borrowing when his own had run out. It still came from the drug store, but from the higher shelf; not the 3-in-1 body wash bullshit that Griffin smeared through his own hair.
“Go shower,” he mumbled to both and neither of them.
THOMAS ::
With narrowed eyes, Thomas turned to retreat into the kitchen, slapping together a few hastily made sandwiches (which were still entirely too neat, cut diagonally into two separate pieces) and brought them back to the bedroom, just in time for Griffin to begin bossing him around again. "What, this isn't doing anything for you?" Thomas pointed to the bloody mess on his face, chest, and arms.
Rolling his eyes, Thomas passed Jamie the plate, their hands brushing as he released the paper to him. Always something unbreakable, when Griffin was involved. Thomas would have loved to frequently use real plates and cups, but when a bumbling, drunk idiot was constantly falling around your apartment, it was better to have something that couldn't accidentally kill you. "If anyone needs a shower here, it's you. The landlady lives 5 miles away and I'm sure she can smell you from here."
Despite his deflections, Thomas really did need a shower. His blood had become caked and sticky on his skin, drying into flakes that made him want to scratch at his skin like a mangy dog. "Just...eat." With a tired sigh, Thomas ran a bruised hand through his hair, closing his eyes for just a moment. How did he always end up back here?
:: END ::
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Leave No One Behind Ch2: The Red Sea Diving Resort
Part 1
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Co-Written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​
Episode Summary: Ari and his team arrive at their Resort and begin making plans for the first mission.
Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Allusions to death and serious injury.
Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz
Song for Episode:  Night Fever by the Bee Gees
A/N: This is a long Chapter so we have split it into two Parts. P2 will be up tomorrow. J Again, we’re not historians, nor do we know Sudan in any detail…so if anything in here is factually incorrect, we mean no offence. Take it as slight creative license.
As always we live for re-blogs and comments
Series Master List   //  Main Masterlist 
And that sweet city woman, She moves through the light, Controlling my mind and my soul
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“What the fuck is he wearing Cracker?” Max asked Hannah as he nodded over her shoulder. Frowning, she turned to see Ari had walked in, briefcase in hand, dressed in a dark brown velvet suit and a white and gold striped shirt with a large, open necked collar.
Hannah snorted “He looks like John Travolta.”
“Walking like him too…” Sammy mumbled.
“Night fever, night fever…we know how to do it…” Jake sang softly, and the rest of the group all started to chuckle, hastily turning away as Ari walked towards the table and dropped the briefcase down on it.
Ari greeted Ethan with a nod of his head and looked around the room. His team was already gathered standing around the oval metal table, chatting idly.
Max and Jake were sniggering about something and Ari could clearly see Sammy was trying to keep a straight face, hands in his trousers pockets and looking at his feet while bouncing on them. Did he want to know? Probably not.
And then he noticed Hannah. She was chatting with Rachel who was admiring the brown leather knee high boots she was wearing. Ari heard Rachel comment something about her loving chunky heels as Hannah twisted her left foot so that Rachel could have a better look at the boots.
But Ari wasn’t interested in the boots, well, ok he was, but his gaze then travelled upwards, following her black tights clad legs and thighs, until his eyes mid-thigh met the hem of the skirt of her maroon pleated chord pinafore. Luckily for him, when his eyes continued past up her waist and the long sleeved polka dot blouse she was wearing, and he could take in the delicate features of her face, she was still engaged in some sort of fashion conversation with Rachel.
She was stunning, but what was new there? He had to admit to himself he had felt his chest fill with warmth when he had been running through the fake passports Ethan had given him the previous evening. He had opened hers first, sitting on his bed in the privacy of his hotel room, tumbler of Scotch in hand. His eyes scanning Hannah's passport photo over and over again.  Those big round blue eyes looking directly at him.
Firefly, he had muttered running his thumb over the photo before gulping his drink.
Thus, Ari knew which would be the one on top at the deck of passports he was now pulling from his briefcase. He was going over the questions he would be asking each one of them in his head when he heard Max asking him something.
“You got chills Ari?”
“What?” Ari frowned, his head turning to Max and in the corner of his eye he noticed that Hannah turned to watch, biting her lip as behind her Sammy laughed and hastily started coughing to cover it up.
“Are they multiplying?” Jake chipped in.
“Are you losing control?” Max continued
“Coz the power, you’re supplying…it’s electrifying!” the two men sang together as Ari looked at the pair of them rolling his eyes, a smirk playing on his face. Behind him Ethan groaned.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…” Ari’s mouth curled into a crooked smile. “I’m Guy Thomas…he wears this shit…its fashion. And besides, Max, you’ve no room to talk!”
Hannah snorted and turned to look at Max, taking his outfit in in more detail. Because they were all in Zurich at the NATCOR HQ under the guise of a simple Mossad business meeting, Ari had instructed the team to come dressed as they felt their Alter Egos would dress for work. Sammy and Jake were both dressed in suits and ties, Max was in a suit with an open collar pinstriped shirt.
“He has a point…” Hannah conceded “You’re like the Kenickie to his Danny…”
“Grease was based in the 50s.” Max narrowed his eyes at her.
“Yeah, which is when that shirt was in fashion.” Jake said, slapping Max on the shoulder. Hannah and Ari snorted before they were cut off by an angry noise from behind them.
“Save the outfit discussions for later.” Ethan snapped “You lot are going to get yourselves killed for fucks sake.”
“Ethan, Ethan…” Ari turned to him, his voice soothing “Just, calm down…we’ve not even started the meeting yet.”
“Exactly, and we’re already behind schedule so if you don’t mind…” He nodded his head in the direction of the table and everyone, suitably chastised, took a seat.
Ethan and Ari ran the group through the plans regarding the next few months and how the deployment was going to work. They were to fly out on the 4th January, from Zurich, where Ari and Rachel would meet with the Sudanese Government and get the paper work and everything signed for the lease on the diving resort. Whilst they were there Max, Hannah, Jake and Sammy were to pair off and head to 2 different places to pick up 2 different cars which would be ready and waiting with supplies from 2 in country contacts. Once the explanations were finished, Ari then picked up the false passports.
“So you’ve all had enough time to read over your covers.” Ari said, flipping through the pile of passports, selecting one “Remember, the point of being undercover is you keep it simple. So you should have memorised the basics, your name, date of birth, parents names, address, hometown that type of thing. Everything else you can make up on the spot but nothing too elaborate. Don’t take it too far from the actual truth because whatever you tell one person you need to remember to tell another.”
He paused and cleared his throat. “Ok, let’s see how you fare under questioning.” he looked at Hannah “Firefly, you first… Name?”
“Rosa-Maria Gomez” Hannah repeated back, without so much as batting an eyelid, her Spanish accent flawless.
“Where are you from?”
“Valencia.”
“What did you do?”
“Bar manager at a local hotel.”
“Which hotel?”
“Sidi Saler”
“How long for?”
“Just over 10 years. Travelled for a year or so after University, settled back home when I was 19. Never looked back.”
There wasn’t so much as a hint of hesitation when she spoke. Ari smiled at her and tossed the fake passport down in front of her. “Good job.”  he said and with a faint smile she reached for the passport.
Next he put Rachel through her paces, picking her up on the slight hesitation she had over her address and then Jake’s mistake over his elementary school name. He then turned to Sammy.
“Sammy…name. Where are you from? “
“I'm Liam Anderson. Australia.” Sammy said, picking up his passport
“First girlfriend.”
“Mary”
“Tell me about her.” Ari said, stopping at the head of the table.
“Mary Rose. Took my virginity and broke my heart.”
At that, Ari saw Hannah, who was sat at the far end of the table next to Sammy shift slightly. Despite himself he glanced at her and she caught his eye before she looked down at the table. Ari turned back to Sammy who was still speaking.
“We met at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.  I was 19. Later died in a car accident.”
“It's good.  Good work, Sammy.” Ari turned to Max “You're up.”
There was a pause as Max stared straight ahead before he glanced at the passport.
“I still think this is a stupid name for someone from Malta.” Max protested “Why Malta?”
Rachel gave a little chuckle as Ari looked at him, rolling his eyes as his hands fell to his hips.
“Max, when you learn a second language, that's where you can be from. Till then you're from Malta. No one knows what people from Malta speak.”
“What do people speak in Malta?”  Rachel asked.
“Maltese” Hannah supplied and sniggers rang round the table.
“See, no one knows, that's the point.” Ari said with a smile before he looked pointedly at Max “Name”
“Hello, everybody, my name's Irving Wilmington.” Max said in a ridiculously, fake European accent which made everyone start to laugh “And I'm from Malta-“
“You think this is funny?” Ethan’s angry voice cut across the laughter and everyone looked up at the man as he strode around the table. “Just for the record, there's not one person in this group that I would have chosen for this type of mission. You're all too reckless.” Hannah looked at Max who raised his eyebrows as if to say, he has a point…which to be fair, he kinda did.
“I've gone against every instinct I know.” Ethan continued as Ari looked down at the floor “broken every risk management rule I believe in, including sending two women to a Muslim country.” Ethan said, looking directly at Hannah then Rachel “So let's be very clear.  This mission has no backup.  There's no exfil plan for you.  You're going in without guns, or any other weapon.  If this goes wrong, you'll all be hanging from cranes in Khartoum.”
With that Ethan left the room and there was a moment of silence.
“Can’t wait…” Jake said, leaning back in his chair.
*****
Of course, nothing every runs completely smoothly. Jake was stopped by the Sudanese Immigration, simply to be released once he had paid the ‘bribe’ the officials wanted. Ari spotted him joining the others in the queue for cabs as he and Rachel departed in the car to the Tourism Board.
Then, they met with their contact in the Sudanese Government, Colonel Madibbo and embarked on the anticipated haggling over the price. The man looked Ari in the face and told him that the lease was five hundred thousand, to which Ari replied simply that they had agreed Two-Fifty. After a little bit of negotiation, Ari moved up to three-fifty, informing the Colonel it was their best offer, but then loaded told the man that could write it down as two-fifty and then take the rest and do something beneficial for the people of Sudan.
“You may not speak Arabic, Mr. Thomas. But you do speak the local language.” Madibbo laughed, and Ari simply glanced at Rachel before smiling back, fully understanding that the “local language” meant he’d given the man a bung, and that the extra hundred thou was going straight into the  Colonel’s own back pocket.
Bent bastard.
A few hours later everything was sorted, they’d been given everything they needed and Ari and Rachel walked out of the building, climbed in the arranged car and were dropped off on the main high-street where they headed to the inconspicuous Café that had been allocated as a meeting spot. Remaining in character, Ari and Rachel, or Guy and Angela, greeted their team loudly, as if it was the first time they had seen each other for a while, and then they all settled down at a table outside on the packed market square, and Ari briefed them as if he was briefing resort staff. They all listened, picked up on his cues and after a quick coffee each they all stood up to leave.
As they were leaving the Café, Max tossed one of the jeep’s keys at Ari, who caught them with a swift movement of his hand.  Once they reached the spot where the vehicles were parked Ari opened the driver's door to one of them and turned to see his team had stopped and were looking at the trucks as if deciding who was going to ride in each one of the trucks.
"Ride with me?" Max turned to ask Hannah waving the other set of keys in the air.
"Yup. I call shotgun!" she said as a reply as she walked round to open the passenger side door.
"Right, I'll be on the back seat." Jake quipped as she pulled the seat forward and gestured for him to get in the back.
Ari shook his head, hands on his hips, as he looked at Sam and Rachel through his shades before opening the back door of their jeep for Sam to jump in, tossing his backpack on the floor of the car as Rachel went to the side of the passenger seat.
"Guess the three musketeers have decided for all of us." Ari said as he jumped up in the truck, a trace of bitterness in his voice which wasn't undetected by Sammy.
"Oh my. The great Ari Levinson scorned by part of his team." Sam said, amused and Rachel chuckled.
"You're hilarious Sammy." Ari deadpanned as he fixed the rear view mirror for the third time in the last couple of minutes before he set off.
"Maybe you should keep an eye on Jake." he spoke again a minute later, turning to look at Sam as if trying to make sure he understood what he was implying. Sam examined him for a few moments before speaking
"Yeah, maybe. And maybe you should keep an eye on the road and stop looking through the mirror." Sam deadpanned turning his head slowly to the side window.
***** A few hours later, they had a quick pit stop to stretch legs and changed drivers. Ari was keen to make as good time as possible so it was only for a few moments, Max taking a well needed pee at the side of the truck, groaning in relief. Hannah shook her head, before she climbed in the back of the jeep. They set off again, and their gentle chatter struck up once more.
"So..." Jake said, turning to glance over his shoulder at Hannah, one eye sort of remaining on the road. "I've been dying to ask. Your nicknames..." "What about them?" She asked, turning her head to face him from where she had been looking out of the window. "Why does Ari call you Firefly when the rest of the team seems to call you Cracker?"
Max snorted and looked at Hannah who was grinning. "Ok so the cracker thing came from a mission." She said, thinking fondly back "it was the first one we all actually ran together...me, Max, Sammy, Ari...Andy..." she trailed off for a moment before she continued "we were sat round the fire one night and Andy had a pack of those little savoury fish cracker things. We started playing a game as to how many each of us could fit in our mouths. Max insisted he would win...but who in fact did win Maxwell?" "You..." Max sighed "by 2 crackers" "So Andy started calling me crackers which became cracker and it stuck..." she shrugged. "Well, with everyone but Ari that is..." "Yeah, so explain the Firefly thing..." Jake pushed. "The first time I met Ari was when he came over one evening with Sammy. It was just before Sammy moved out." Hannah said "I was 17 and we were sat out in the garden at the back. It wasn't a huge garden, communal like, shared with 3 other houses but I loved it because there was a colony of lightning bugs, or fireflies that frequented it. It was a few months later Sammy was being an ass-hat about something and I flipped out at him and threw a mug at his head. It missed and smashed against the wall but Ari found it hilarious. Told I was just like those little fireflies I admired so much. Such an ordinary, unassuming thing on the outside with a hell of a surprise packed away underneath..." Jake paused and then started laughing "Now that's a back handed compliment if ever I did hear one." Hannah grinned "I know. When I asked him what he meant by ordinary you should have seen his face. He was all flustered and stammering and worried he'd offended me. Lasted all of 2 minutes until I cracked up laughing and told him I understood." "Well, fireflies are pretty awesome..." Jake smiled "A symbol of light in the dark, hope, warmth" "Yup, all things Ari said to me when he was back pedalling over the whole ordinary thing" Hannah smiled with a shrug "either way, it stuck."
My little firefly…
“Tell him what you call Ari.” Max said and Hannah snorted.
“El Lobo hambriento” She replied after a moment’s pause “Or Lobo for short.”
“And that means…” Jake looked at her again for a second.
“Spanish for the hungry wolf…” Hannah said “It came from when he used to eat my Mama out of house and home whenever he came round with Sammy. And over time it got shortened to Lobo…just wolf…”
Jake laughed “Well, he is kinda hairy…but you know, that should be my nickname given that I am actually a Wolf.”
“By name…” Max teased “You look like more of a poodle.”
Hannah laughed and leaned forward, so that her head poked between the front to seats in the car “You can be Loop.” “Loop?” Jake frowned.
“Short for Lupin…Latin for Wolf, or there or thereabouts anyway. Or it could just mean you’re a total fruit loop, take your pick…”
Jake gave a huge guffaw of laughter and looked at her “Does that make you Little Red Riding Hood?”
Hannah snorted as Max shook his head, looking out at the window “That’s the shittest chat up line I’ve ever heard” he spoke, turning back to Jake.
“Can’t blame a man for trying” Jake winked.
After a total of six hours and a couple more stops to stretch and freshen up, if that was even possible in the middle of the desert, they arrived in the resort. But they couldn't properly see it until they got out of the trucks, the windows being partly covered by dust as they had taken shortcuts over sand dunes to save quite a few hours more off the travel time should they have opted to use the main roads.
When they finally got out of the car they took some clumsy steps on the sand after being into the confined space of car for that many hours. Jake lit a cigarette and as he looked at Ari he couldn't help but make a howling noise to Hannah who started laughing immediately. As if on cue, Max started howling too and the three of them were caught in a fit of hysteric laughter,  Max bending his body for balance and Hannah leaning on Jake's arm.
Ari, Sam and Rachel stood there watching the three of them, dumbfounded. Ari shared a glance with Sam before he shot his sister a look and she pulled herself together still trying holding back laughter. Ari sighed before he took a few more steps towards the main entrance of the resort and the rest of the team followed suit.
They all stopped still, looking at the ram-shackled building in front of them, the words Red Sea Diving Resort were descripted in fading red paint above the large, archway shaped door. Hannah removed her shades, looking at it, and she let out a loud breath from where she stood at the end of the line they seemed to have formed, next to Max.
“It sure doesn't look like the brochure.”  she said, and everyone turned to look at her, Max giving a small huff of laughter. After a second or so, Ari moved to the trucks to retrieve their luggage and the rest of them followed suit before they headed towards the entrance. Ari wrestled with the wooden trellised screen doors before he gave one a harsh push and it fell forward off its hinges, crashing to the floor sending up a cloud of dust and sand. He turned to look at them all, giving a shrug before he headed inside.  They all followed and Hannah cast her eyes around as they hit the main room. All the window screens were shut, leaving it quite dark despite the bright late afternoon sunshine outside. Chairs and tables were piled haphazardly around the edges of the main room of the resort, various other pieces of furniture dotted around.
“It needs a little TLC.” Ari said, turning to the team.
“Nice.” Rachel chuckled.
“Oh, yeah?” Sammy snorted, pushing the shaded lenses on his glasses up as he looked around with a laugh. “What a dump.”
Hannah watched as Jake moved to open one of the sets of doors which led out onto the beach and instantly the place was flooded with light. She glanced at Max who smiled and they followed him out onto the beach.
“This is paradise!” Jake sighed. Max looked at him, incredulously, but Hannah had to admit, outside it was beautiful. A secluded cove of The Red Sea right was in front of them, the sun bouncing off the blue water, waves softly lapping at the shore.
Max pushed his glasses back up his nose and headed away to his right, Hannah following as they walked round the side of the resort and up a small boardwalk which led to a small pier of sorts.
“Well, hello, gorgeous…” she heard Max say. Hannah turned to see him examining a spear gun which was leaned up against the glass windows in front of him. She rolled her eyes.
“Your obsession with sniping weapons is worrying.” she arched an eyebrow.
He turned to face her with a grin before he tucked his shades into his shirt and picked up the fishing spear, holding it like a gun, checking down the sight target. The two of them stepped further round and Hannah frowned as Max stopped under a wooden shelter of sorts and the pair of them spotted the large, silver fish hanging from the structure. It had been beheaded, the head laying on a grill, and Max turned to look at her.
“This fish is fresh.” he frowned.
“Don’t eat it…” Hannah said instantly, teasing him about his obsession with food.
“Don’t eat…it’s fucking raw.” he rolled his eyes at her.
“Never had sushi?” she shot back.
“Don’t care for it much…” he mused before they both exchanged a glance, the seriousness of the fact that the fish, was indeed newly caught sinking in as Max turned to call back to the resort.
“Hey, yo, this fish is fresh!”
Ari who had been walking along the shore, heard Max’s call, along with Rachel’s which informed everyone she had found a newspaper from this week .He stopped and glanced back into the resort before he opened the door into one of the bedroom huts. Taking a glance round he threw open the wooden window screens, turning his face away as the sand and dust from outside blew into his face. It was then a familiar smell hit his nose and he glanced down to his left and saw that there were cigarette butts in an ashtray. One was still smoking slightly.
And then, someone jumped up from behind a pile of furniture in the corner of the room and shot out of the door. Ari turned and sprinted after him, yelling for him to stop and calling to the team. They all joined him, sprinting around the corner where Ari stopped at the sight of a group of what they could only assume were locals.
“Hello.  My name...” Ari began, before he whipped off his sunglasses, figuring they might trust him more if they could see him eye to eye “My name's Guy Thomas.  I'm the new owner of this hotel.”
The locals didn’t speak, and Hannah noticed that the woman at the front, adorned in bright yellow local dress was glancing at Max nervously.
“Max, lower that thing…” she said softly, as he had the spear gun raised.
Ari turned to face him and nodded, gesturing with his hands “Come on.”
“Sorry.” Max said gently, as he slowly lowered his weapon.
“Abu Hamid.” the man at the front of the group spoke to them.
“Hello.” Ari greeted him kindly.
“What the hell's going on?” Sammy spoke gently through his smile.
“I think we just met the local staff.” Ari said softly, looking round at everyone.
Part 2
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Text
Tug of War (Ch 5)
ch 1 - prev
Word Count: 1,574
“Hey Tuck, you busy tomorrow?” Danny asked as the trio walked through the halls after school.
“Um, yea, I’ve got plans,” Tucker replied reluctantly.
His friends both turned to him in surprise. 
“No way, you actually landed a date on Valentine’s Day?” Sam exclaimed incredulously.
Read on AO3 or under the cut
“Wait n—of course I have a date!”
“Who is it?” Danny and Sam simultaneously demanded. 
Tucker began to nervously play with his beret. “Heh heh, um...you don’t know them.” 
Danny seemed to easily accept his response. “Oh, okay then. Have fun Tuck.”
However, Sam was scrutinizing him. He definitely was hiding something. “Tucker, you know you could tell us anything, right?”
“What? Sam, I do!”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m not hiding anything!”
Sam didn’t reply. Instead, her gaze bore right into Tucker. Within a few seconds, his resolve crumbled away.
“Alright, fine! But you guys gotta promise to not tell anyone this, okay?”
Danny raised an eyebrow at Sam. Honestly, he’ll never get how she does it.
Meanwhile Sam smirked. “We promise. What’s going on?”
“Okay, so you know how I’m trying to get into cybersecurity after college?”
His friends nodded, having a slight idea what it was after hearing him talk about it so much.
“Well, I’m working with this group, and...errr...we’re trying to...help? Some companies?”
“What do you mean by help?” Danny questioned.
Sam added on, “And which companies are you ‘helping’?”
“Just, um...companies like Chase and Capital One. We’re just...I guess you could say we’re testing their security?” Tucker hesitantly answered.
“Aren’t those credit card companies?” asked Sam suspiciously.
“That’s so cool man. I don’t get why you had to hide it from us though,” Danny told him right as he opened his locker.
Sam knew there was more to it, but dropped it when all three of them spotted an expensive camera simply hanging by the strap off one of the locker hooks.
“No way, is a Nikon D80?” Tucker exclaimed gleefully before carefully grabbing the camera to admire it.
Meanwhile, Danny was confused. Wes hardly keeps anything in their locker.
“Hold up. Tucker, turn it on,” Sam said.
He eagerly pressed the power button. “Dude, you didn’t have to ask me first.”
Danny pushed aside a nagging feeling when he saw the menu appear on the screen.
“Whoa, there’s over a thousand photos in here!” Tucker blurted out. “And...they’re all of you, Danny.”
Sam scoffed, “This must be what the creep uses to take those pictures he sells.”
As the trio flipped through the undoubtedly high quality pictures, Danny was suddenly struck by a genius idea. His friends grinned mischievously after he shared what he had in mind.
~
Wes was exhausted. The last game of the season was coming up and Ms. Tetslaff was really pushing them to their limits.
He lumbered to his locker, already feeling an ache from the intense practice he just had. Opening his locker, he gasped when he saw his camera hanging in plain sight. Crap!
He quickly retrieved the protective pouch from his backpack and delicately placed the camera inside. How could he be so careless? Practice must be really getting to him. He’s so damn lucky that Fenton didn’t take it.
He’s actually not that lucky at all.
Later that night as he was going to back up his recent pictures, his stomach dropped when he discovered they were all gone. Instead, there was one new video.
Wes hesitantly double-clicked to open the video on his computer.
“Hey everybody! Danny Phantom here,” Danny greeted in the video as he was floating against the backdrop of Casper High’s distinguishable brick wall. Listening real closely, you could hear two other people sniggering in the background. “I’m here to finally come clean about the truth.” 
Wes’ heartbeat picked up. Was he finally going to...?
Danny continued in the video, “If you go to Casper High, I’m sure you all have heard about the rumours. How Danny Fenton is actually me in disguise. That’s...that’s actually not that far from the truth; my true identity is none other than a Casper High student. I’m tired of hiding it. People of Amity Park, I am actually Wes Weston.” The video abruptly cut out.
When Wes’ dad heard a loud crash from his son’s room and came up to check on him, the boy could only growl in response.
~
To say that Wes was pissed the next day was an understatement. It turns out, that video was also posted online. All of his hard work over the years, just gone, right down the toilet. 
People wouldn’t stop interrupting him in the halls, bugging him to turn invisible or shoot an ectoblast. No matter how much he tried to debunk that video, they continued to wholeheartedly believe that he’s Phantom.
In history class, Paulina slapped him for charging her for pictures of “himself”. After that, he honestly didn’t want to find out how much worse Dash’s reaction would be. He should probably ditch class until this whole thing blew over.
As he pried open his locker to get his stuff, he glowered at the sight of Fenton’s first aid kit. Last week, when he showed off the expensive kit as evidence, no one even batted an eye. Are the kids at this school that stupid, that they’d believe a single video of Phantom speaking than years of proof?
He was about to leave until he noticed a pamphlet sticking out of Fenton’s bag. 
Instantly recognizing the logo on it, his frustration melted away and he couldn’t keep himself from chuckling as he flipped through its pages.
As he made his way to exit the school, he spotted Fenton walking by himself in the halls. He smirked to himself. Maybe he’ll be able to rile him up enough this time to expose him and get everyone to forget that video. That’ll be the perfect payback.
“NASA? You want to work for them?”
Danny jolted out of his thoughts at the sound of Wes’ voice. Surprisingly, he didn’t sound mad at all. Regarding him suspiciously, Danny replied, “Um...yeah?”
“Wow. I should’ve pegged you as the type to enjoy fabricating hoaxes for a living. We know you already love doing that in your everyday life.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh Fenton, you know exactly what I’m talking about—NASA, the corporation whose whole aim is generating lies about outer space to deceive the public?”
“Right, I forgot you were a total conspiracy nut. Listen, I don’t have time for this, I—”
“I’m betting you’re more than eager to join in on the next fake moon landing. You’d just love the extra attention, wouldn’t you?”
“We—”
“Even if it’s for your measly human disguise. But why go through all this work when you could just possess the next ‘astronaut’?”
“Dude, that is so wrong!”
“Really? I wouldn’t put it past you.”
A moment of silence passed, while Danny’s defiant look faltered.
“Honestly, screw you Wes,” he muttered before walking off.
Wes could only stare after the now despondent boy, wondering what the heck was wrong with him. It wasn’t like him to just leave, this was supposed to rile him up even more!
Dammit.
~
Weeks later, the buzz around the whole “Wes being Phantom” thing finally died down. Eventually, the inevitable situation came where Phantom and Wes were spotted both being in the same place at the same time. Some people still had their doubts, considering Phantom’s duplication ability was well-known by now. But for the most part, Wes’ life eventually turned back to normal.
He sighed in relief as the buzzer rang, signaling the end of the final game for Casper’s basketball team. The Elmerton Owls beat them brutally with a score of 78-36. Ms. Tetslaff was shaking her head in anguish.
He actually wasn’t bothered at all. After all, it was a losing game from the start. Anderson, the best player of the team, broke his leg last weekend in a skiing accident. Wes was just happy that the embarrassing game was over. 
As he fist bumped his team members after finishing up in the change room, he left for his locker. Since the game occurred after school, the halls were completely empty.
When he turned the corner, what he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.
There, sitting and leaning back beside his locker was none other than Danny Phantom, covered in glowing green ectoplasm and clutching a large gash in his stomach as it threatened to spill more onto the floor.
Wes could only stand there frozen, taking in Danny’s unmoving form as the pool of ectoplasm inched closer to his white sneakers. 
Suddenly, Danny registered that someone was watching him. Sam? Tucker? Didn’t they already head home? He weakly raised his head to see who it was, only to grimace when he recognized the red-haired creep.
“What do you want Wes?” he barely managed to croak out.
Never in Wes’ life had he imagined seeing him in this position. The worse he thought was watching Phantom’s bravado crumble when the world discovered who he truly was. But this...all of it was already gone in this moment. And as the ectoplasm stained his shoes, he began to question himself.
Wes gulped. He didn’t consider himself to be a caring person. But as Danny sat there, bleeding out before him, he couldn’t…
After sending him one last look, Wes opened their locker, grabbed the first aid kit at the bottom, and got to work.
~end~
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papermoonloveslucy · 4 years
Text
THE BANK OUTING BASEBALL GAME
September 16, 1949
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“The Bank Outing Baseball Game” (aka “Baseball”) is episode #54 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on September 16, 1949.
This was the third episode of the second season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 43 new episodes, with the season ending on June 25, 1950.  
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The date this episode first aired, a Gallup Poll listed Bob Hope as America's most popular comedian. Milton Berle finished second while Jack Benny, Red Skelton and Fibber McGee and Molly rounded out the top five. Coincidentally, a few years before this episode aired, Hope had become partial owner of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. 
Synopsis ~ Liz is determined not to be left out of the baseball game at the Annual Bank Outing, so she persuades her neighbor Mr. Wood to teach her how to play the game.
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“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George's boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Coope.  The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.
MAIN CAST
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Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.
Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father's garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.
Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricarodo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, "Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.
Gale Gordon (Rudolph aka Rudy Atterbury) had worked with Lucille Ball on “The Wonder Show” on radio in 1938. One of the front-runners to play Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy,” he eventually played Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana, during two episodes in 1952. After playing a Judge in an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1958, he would re-team with Lucy for all of her subsequent series’: as Theodore J. Mooney in ”The Lucy Show”; as Harrison Otis Carter in “Here’s Lucy”; and as Curtis McGibbon on "Life with Lucy.” Gordon died in 1995 at the age of 89.
Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.
Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.
GUEST CAST
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Hans Conried (Mr. Benjamin Wood) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.
Although his first name is not mentioned here, it will be in future episodes. 
THE EPISODE
ANNOUNCER: “Come with us to the quiet little town of Sheridan Falls and let’s look into the brown house at 321 Bundy Drive where the Coopers live. They’re entertaining George’s boss, Mr. Atterbury, and his wife. And the subject under discussion is the forthcoming annual bank outing.”
The episode opens with Liz and Iris discussing what to wear to the bank outing. George disapproves of Liz’s new play suit. 
LIZ: “George thinks it’s too daring. He says there’s too much play and not enough suit.”
It is typical for George to disapprove of Liz’s revealing wardrobe choices, although the conversation generally revolves around swimwear. Iris wonders if she should wear her new blue slacks.
RUDY: “Why do they call them slacks? I’ve never seen any in them.”
George and Rudolph imitate the girls by feminizing their own wardrobe predicament, another comedic tact the boys have done before. George and Rudolph reveal that they have been named team captains. Iris says she’ll get a bottle of Absorbine Junior. 
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Absorbine Jr. is a fast absorbing, deep penetrating topical pain reliever. It provides relief from sore muscles and cramps as well as athlete’s foot. The Absorbine company was established in 1892 as a lineament for horses. A version for humans (Absorbine Jr.) was introduced in 1903 and is still sold today.
Rudolph and George tell their wives that they won’t be playing at all, because the teams are comprised of husbands and wives, and they have no confidence in them on the baseball diamond. The girls beg to be allowed to play, despite knowing nothing about the game.
RUDOLPH: “Forget it, DiMaggio.”
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Joe DiMaggio (1914-99) was a professional baseball player who played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He was nicknamed “Joltin’ Joe” and “The Yankee Clipper” for his batting skill. The summer of 1949 was when DiMaggio shined the brightest. He batted .381 against the Red Sox that year, with six homers through 13 games.The Yanks would eventually win the World Series in 1949, the first of a record five straight. 
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Joe DiMaggio was mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “Lucy is Enceinte” (ILL S2;E10), Fred gives Lucy a signed baseball for his future ‘godson’. When he asks Lucy to read out the signature, she at first says “Spalding,” the ball’s brand name, but then finds it is signed by Joe DiMaggio. In “Ragtime Band” (ILL S6;E21), Little Ricky asks Fred, “Who’s Joe 'Maggio?”
George rhapsodizes about his college baseball career, telling a story they’ve all heard before.
GEORGE: “There’s a certain group of spectators who will never forget the afternoon of August 25, 1933.” 
This date was actually Lucille Ball’s 22nd birthday. 1933 was Ball’s first year in Hollywood, and the year her first four films were released. 
After George does a dramatic play-by-play of his big college game victory, Liz says:
LIZ: “Thank you, Ted Husing.” 
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Edward ‘Ted’ Husing (1901-62) was among the first to lay the groundwork of sports reporting on television and radio. In 1946, Husing left CBS sports to pursue a career as a disk jockey and was succeeded by Red Barber. “The Ted Husing Bandstand” ran from 1946 to 1954.
The scene ends with the wives begging to play, and the boys uniformly shouting “no”!  That night in bed, Liz wakens in tears about being left out of the baseball game, feeling she is being left out.  
Next day, Liz tells Katie the Maid she’s decided to learn how to play baseball. Iris drops by with books about how to play baseball. Katie reads out the rules. The doorbell rings. It is the Cooper’s neighbor, Mr. Wood (Hans Conried), who is lonesome, despite having eleven children. He volunteers to teach the girls baseball. After all, he saw a World Series game once. He mentions Babe Ruth. 
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George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (1895-1948) was a professional baseball player whose career spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat", he began his career as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame playing with the New York Yankees.  
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Ruth was mentioned on a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show” when Lucy and Viv’s sons join Little League. [Desi Arnaz Jr. played billy Simmons in the show, and Ball posed for this publicity still with her son.] 
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It is here that the episode starts to vaguely resemble “The Golf Game” (ILL S3;E30) in 1954. In it, Lucy and Ethel decide they want to play golf with their husbands, despite the boys saying they known nothing about the game. In fact, they don’t, so they fall for whatever ridiculous rules the boys make-up. Coincidentally, this sport-themed episode was filmed on Hans Conried’s 37th birthday. The Little League-themed “Lucy Show” mentioned above was first aired on Conried’s 45th birthday! 
Using the living room as their baseball diamond and sofa cushions as bases, Mr. Wood attempts to teach the girls the finer points of baseball.  
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In “Lucy and the Winter Sports” (TLS S3;E3) in 1964, Mr. Mooney attempts to teach Mrs. Carmichael how to ski without ever leaving the living room. Needless to say, the results are equally disastrous. 
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This is not the last time Mr. Wood (played by Hans Conried) will teach Liz an outdoor sport in her own living room. In June 1950 Conried returns to the series to play Mr. Wood, who teaches Liz to swim - without ever getting wet! 
Mr. Wood’s frantic lesson turns into a loosely familiar version of the famous “Who’s On First” comedy routine perfected by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. 
LIZ: “Who’s on third?” MR. WOOD: “Abbott and Costello!”
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Although the routine had been around in different forms since vaudeville, Abbott and Costello first put their baseball spin on the routine in 1938. In 1999, Time Magazine named the routine Best Comedy Sketch of the 20th Century.  In 1945, Lucille Ball played herself in their movie Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. 
Mr. Wood gives up on his coaching, but Liz reveals that she’s already signed them up for the game!  
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A bank outing will also be the subject of “Lucy and Clint Walker” (TLS S2;E24) in 1966. Lucy and Clint win the balloon race, but baseball is not on the agenda. The day of the Bank Outing, Liz and Iris are enjoying hot dogs. Iris orders a second hot dog with pickle, mustard, chili sauce, ketchup, lettuce, butter, salt, pepper, and a dash of horseradish!  
RUDY: “Iris, at least give the hot dog a fighting chance.”
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Iris’s voracious appetite is a character trait that was later ascribed to Ethel Mertz. Baseball and hot dogs are classic Americana. The two were combined when Lucy Ricardo pretends to be a hot dog vendor to get a message to Bob Hope at Yankee Stadium in the “I Love Lucy” season six opener.   
George has worn his old college baseball uniform. Mr. Wood is acting as umpire. George’s strategy is to keep Liz on the bench till the team gets in a tight spot. 
RUDY: “Iris is up first. Has anyone seen the old bat? Oh, there it is on the ground.”
Miraculously, Iris hits a ball out of the park!  Shocked, she doesn’t run the bases.
Later, the score is ten to nothing with the Cooper side down but when the score quickly ties and Liz is still on the bench. At batting practice, George accidentally hits himself in the head with a bat!  George passes out and Liz is up at bat!  Liz starts out facing the catcher!  With two strikes, Liz hits the ball! 
Later, George revives and Liz tells him that they won by one run - made by her! Rudy reveals that they won by default when Liz got hit by the ball, forcing the runner at third to walk home and win the game!  
MORE BALL AT BAT!
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In addition to the episodes cited above, Lucille Ball also suited up in 1963′s “Lucy and Viv Play Softball” (TLS S2;E3).  
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Lucy Carmichael’s son got to meet Jimmy Pearsall of the Los Angeles Angels in the very first episode of “The Lucy Show” to take place in California. 
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In real life, Lucille Ball batted for Wildcat on the Broadway Show League in 1961. Julie Andrews of Camelot was catcher, and Joe E. Brown was umpire! 
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The year before this episode of “My Favorite Husband” aired (1948), the great Babe Ruth signed a game-used baseball that was then also signed by Lucille Ball and Rod Carew. 
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Batting practice for Kathleen (Lucille Ball) in The Dark Corner (1946). 
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Putting her Best Foot Forward for a pitch in 1943. 
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Like mother, like daughter! In 2011, the New York Yankees invited Lucie Arnaz to throw out the first pitch to mark Latin Heritage Month.  
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snowe-zolynn-rogers · 5 years
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Okay, let’s get to know Despair, Apathy, Rebel, Insomnia, and Malice now that all of them have been introduced.
Despair Sanders
Real Name: Jean Ezra Sanders
What They Represent: Jealousy, Envy, and Despair
Animal Half: Chameleon.
The Ways This Manifests In Them: His ablity to camouflage himself when hiding, the scales that cover his hands, his cold-bloodedness, and his tail.
Height: He’s the shortest of both the dark sides and the sides collectively at 4′10 (the fully grown ones, of course, Nathanael is actually the shortest side since he’s still a child).
Their Color: His color is orange, though he can make some other colors like pink or yellow. But he does prefer to make his own color.
Hobbies: He loves playing trick on the people of the Imagination, not that he can and/or does anymore. Usually his pranks were coordinated with Skye(Insomnia) and Rey(Rebel), who usually help him with it, and Devin(Apathy), who was their lookout.
Personality Resembles: He used to have a personality similar to the MCU Loki, albeit much calmer and a lot less murderous. Now he is a much meeker more docile version of himself from Malin grooming him to be that way.
Favorite Color: His favorite color is, of course, orange, but he loves both peach and yellowy-orange the most, but he doen’t make them anymore because Malin gets mad at him if he makes colors that mix with other sides’ colors.
About Them: He’s very secretive, he likes to keep things to himself if he can. He does this with all his weaknesses especially, he hates others knowing what to do to bring him down.
Fun Fact About Them: He used to wear a mask before Virgil left, but has since stopped because Malin broke it.
What They Wear: Usual clothes are an orange sweater of some kind, black or grey jeans, and knee length black boots (usually with short heels or wedges because he’s so tiny).
Their Hair:  His hair hangs down in front of his right eye giving him some true emo vibes (it looks like Patton’s hair when it flopped in his face at the end of Moving On Part 2).
Apathy Sanders
Real Name: Devin Ashton Sanders
What They Represent: Depression, Apathy
Animal Half: Rabbit/Bunny.
The Ways This Manifests In Them: Fluffy hair, he’s the quickest runner by far of all the sides, he’s great at hearing things he shouldn’t, and his puffy brown tail.
Height: 5′4
Their Color: Pink, he makes a lot of color once he moves to the light side, but he doesn’t when he’s on the dark side.
Hobbies: Making music, making songs, recording vocals for songs.
Personality Resembles: His personality is a lot like April Ludgate, as he’s closed himself off to expressing his emotions during the last seven years, so as to not allow Malin to manipulate him like he did with Deceit and Despair.
Favorite Color: He likes dusty rose pink the most, but coral pink is a close runner up.
About Them: Dev is very antisocial now, but he used to be slightly more social and less reclusive, back when Virgil and Deceit lived in the dark side.
Fun Fact About Them: He loves old records, he makes almost every song he’s ever come across into a vinyl record and he plays them at night, usually when Malice is asleep, so he can hear his favorite songs without fear of them being broken again.
What They Wear: He used to wear a lot of skirts and cute shirts. But has since stopped once Deceit left and Malin started attempting to groom any other dark side into his new spouse. He now wears black sweatpants and long sleeve sweatshirts or hoodies.
Their Hair: Since his hair is a lot softer than other sides’, his hair is exceptionally fluffy and wild. His hair is usally is simply over his eyes because he can’t control it. Sometimes he pins it up with bobby pins to see.
Insomnia Sanders
Real Name: Skye Isaac Sanders
What They Represent: Courage and Insomnia
Animal Half: Hedgehog.
The Ways This Manifests In Them: Naturally spiky hair, 
Height: 6 foot even, he used to like to using his height to carry around the shorter dark sides and was the designated cabinet helper.
Their Color: Brown, he makes a lot of color since he has the freedom to do so in the Imagination and as its citizen as well as a side.
Hobbies: Metal and woodwork, he makes everything from full blown metal armor or just little wooden dolls he sends to Devin and Rey.
Personality Resembles: Undertaker from Black Butler. He likes doing things his own way, he doesn’t like others telling him what to do. He also very much likes tricks and jokes.
Favorite Color: Dark brown like oak tree bark.
About Them: He has his own quests out in the Imagination, he likes keeping the villagers safe and, in return, they let him live in one of their towns so he doesn’t have to go home.
Fun Fact About Them: He’s an excellent bladesmith and metalworker and he loves doing so. He’s made this job in the town he lives in and the citizens love his metalwork.
What They Wear: Usually, jeans and a tee shirt because he never knows when he’ll start a new project. Sometimes, he’ll put on a graphic tee shirt and an open button up with jeans if he knows he doesn’t have a project for a while.
Their Hair: His hair is pulled back into a bun for convenience of his quests.
Rebel Sanders
Real Name: Rey Dorian Sanders
What They Represent: Rebelliousness, Insecurity (fused side)
Animal Half: Turtle.
The Ways This Manifests In Them: Thick skin (all his tattoos via the tebori method because it was the only way to get through to make them), ability to breathe underwater for kind of long durations of time, he gets a lot more introverted when scared, and his sensitivity to loud noises, vibrations, and sudden bright lights.
Height: 5′6.
Their Color: Green, he loves making anything green, he makes it quite frequently in the form of paint.
Hobbies: He loves making art even though he’s not the Creative side.
Personality Resembles: His personality very much resembles Sam Manson from Danny Phantom.
Favorite Color: Both mint green and deep forest green, he likes to use them both a lot in his art.
About Them: Rey has a lot of trust issues having to live on his own without his room in the Grey Area, so he’s not very friendly unless he knows who you are. But these issues will be solved soon, hopefully.
Fun Fact About Them: He’s secretly married to Insomnia and Apathy. They don’t have much physical contact (with Rey staying in the grey side, Skye in the Imagination, and Devin staying in the dark side house) but they still love each other a lot and text a lot. Their weekly date nights are a videochat.
What They Wear: Ripped black jeans, black platformed boots, and either a green tank top that’s always covered in paint from his latest art excursion or a black and white skull tank top with a black leather jacket over it.
Their Hair: Despair likes to french braid his hair so he usually wears his hair braided from front to back with it in a bun at the back end of his longer hair (he is a weak weak man to big puppy dog eyes, plus it’s the only alone time they get when he visits the dark side when Malin is resting).
Loyalty Sanders
Real Name: Nathanael Damon Sanders
What They Represent: Loyalty, Trust, Faith
Animal Half: Gecko.
The Ways This Manifests In Them: His clinginess, if prompted, he can stick to things with his hands and feet, his tail, and he loves a lot of fruits.
Height: N/A, still a baby.
Their Color: No set color. But he’s the only dark side able to make the color white.
Hobbies: N/A.
Presonality Resembles: N/A.
Favorite Color: He loves the colors yellow, orange, and purple, but he can’t make them. 
About Them: He has a gecko toy that both Deceit and Virgil made together during the week they had him. When Nathanael ‘died’ his gecko toy was left in his crib until Deceit found his room again.
Fun Fact About Them: Nathanael loves being held when he sleeps. If you put him down, he gets fussy. He loves cuddling with his parents.
What They Wear: Various onesies. But his favorite is a white one with purple bats on the body and a yellow snake around the neck.
Their Hair: Fluffy blonde hair that still has yet to darken. Permanant state of bedhead.
Malice Sanders
Real Name: Malin Ian Sanders
What They Represents: Malice, Insanity, and Greed
Animal Half: Rat.
The Ways This Manifests In Them: His ability to hear extremely well, his tail, his beady eyes, and his habit to bite things.
Height: He’s tallest dark side, but not the tallest collective side, at 6′2.
Their Color: He can’t make any color, but his color is grey.
Hobbies: He doesn’t do much, he doesn’t like doing things, he deems it a ‘wife thing’ (which is what he refers to Despair and Deceit as, even though neither identify themselfs as transgender women and both have stated to him that it’s against their preference). 
Personality Resembles: Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones (in the sense of his sadistic nature, his tyrannical views, and his temperment) and Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory (in the sense of selfishness, insensitivity, arrogance, and inflated ego) [OP Note: I don’t watch these two shows, so feel free to scream at me if it’s not accurate]
Favorite Color: He can’t make color so he says he doesn’t have a favorite color, but it’s dark grey (his eye color).
About Them: He doesn’t like breaking schedule unless there’s a special exception (like when he kidnapped Deceit), he’s very particular about his schedule, what he does, what others do, and what happens. And, if something breaks schedule, he gets unhappy and has a fit.
Fun Fact About Them: He’s the darkest side in the sense of morality and doesn’t even regret his own actions to get there.
What They Wear: Usual clothes are a pair of baggy black jeans, a black tee shirt and black steel-toe boots.
Their Hair: His hair is spiked up into a pseudo-mohawk because he claims he’s the punk side (he’s not, that’s Rebel).
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zionchubby14 · 8 years
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Blowing Up
So I am beginning to think my last story is a bust.  I’ll continue to work on it and make it work.  In the meantime, I have a different story for you all.  Its a semi-sequel to The Fudge Room  I wrote a few months ago.  If you haven’t already read that one, you can read it here.  For now, enjoy this latest installment.
**WARNING: contains graphic gender-swapping transformation.**
 Violet had a hard time over the last few years.  Ever since that damn tour.  She was so ashamed being rolled away in front of those people, especially that horrible girl. Never mind that she was blown up like a blueberry, according to that freak.  She was lucky that everything went back to normal...except for her skin being a vibrant blue.
Violet never had more makeup on her face than she did growing up.  And forget dating.  She was so afraid to fool around with any boy, let alone participate in gym class. No amount of makeup could have made her look normal.
Now, living alone away from her mother and awful father, Violet was just trying to keep this a secret from anyone.  Just trying to keep up appearances, she sat in her apartment, eating her take out and watching The Bachelor.
***
After going to bed for the night, Violet laid in her bed, feeling like nothing is going to be normal again.  About to cry herself to sleep for yet another night, she felt the tears stream down her face onto the pillow underneath her.
But something stirred, some noise that made Violet sit up in her bed.  A burglar coming to look at the blue woman, Violet thought. “I’ll show him to break in and see the freak.”
Grabbing a baseball bat that her father had given her for protection, she stormed down the hall to confront the insensitive thief.  Once she reached the main living room, she looked for the thug.
“Where are you?!?” Violet shouted, anger spewing out of her like a volcano erupting onto the land.  “Show yourself!”
“Geez, lady. You don’t have to yell,” a voice cried out, annoyed by the yelling.  “I’m coming out.  Don’t shoot!”
A small little man started coming out from behind the couch.  Hoping to find a tall and strong home invader, she instead saw an orange-skinned, green-haired little man, wearing a brown shirt and white overalls. Getting a better look, she immediately recognized what this man was.
“YOU!!!”
“Ah, you remember me,” the little man said.  “I was hoping you might.”
“What are you doing in my home?  How dare you show your face after all these years!”
“Well, I honestly don’t think that is necessary.  I came to chat with you on behalf of Mr. Wonka.”
“Wonka?  Why on Earth would I ever want to hear from him?”
“Well, apart from litigation that you have against him and the company, which, by the way, you won’t win because of the contract you signed, he wants to bestow you an offer.”
“I don’t want anything from him or from you.”
“Now, come on. I haven’t even said what it was.”
“I don’t care. Please leave before I call the police.”
“Not even if it is a chance to become normal again?”
Violet stared at the little man.  “What did you say?”
“You heard me rightly, Ms. Beaure-“
“Don’t say my last name.  I had it changed.  It’s Smith now.”
“Of course, Ms. Smith.  You see, after your terrible accident at the factory, Wonka felt sorry for what happened. At the time, we had no way to reverse what had happened to you.  But after years of research, we figured out a way, a way to change your skin back to its normal color.”
“How?”
“It is hard for me to explain.  I rather take you back to the factory and show you.”
“No way.  I am not going back to that horrible place.”
“But Ms. Smith, the remedy is back at the factory.”
“No.  Wonka can go fuck himself before I step foot back in the infernal factory.”
“Well, that’s an impossible feat, considering Wonka passed away a couple months ago.”
“He died. But nothing was said in the papers.”
“Well, the new person in charge wanted to keep things quiet, for the benefit of Mr. Wonka and his beloved fans.”
“My condolences.”
“Thank you. But enough chatter.  We must be off.”
“But I told you. I’m not going back there.”
“Then, I am afraid you have given me no choice, Violet.”
The little man reached into his pocket and brought back out in his hand.  Raising it to his face, he blew sharply, releasing a cloud of dust that permeated into the air.  Inhaling the dust, Violet began to feel woozy and fell onto the couch, unconscious to the world around her.
 ***
 When Violet woke up, she was sitting in a room that smelled of sweet fruit and candies. After shaking her head, she tried to raise her hand to check her head, but was bound to the chair which she sat in.
“What the hell?”
“Sorry, Violet,” someone said from somewhere.  “I couldn’t risk you waking up and attacking me.”
“Who’s there?” Violet started to squirm and wiggle out of here confines, but something held her tight.
“I wouldn’t move too much.  This sticky taffy reject has been known to peel off skin.  Had a lot of Oompa Loompas in need of skin grafts after that batch.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Oh, Violet. I don’t wish to hurt you.  Far from it.”
The voice started materialize into a tall man.  Somewhat lanky, the man was wearing a long lab coat with a dark blue sweater underneath.  His dusty blonde hair made Violet gasp in shock.
“Charlie?”
“Good to see you, Violet.”
“I-I-I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain the best I can,” Charlie said, pulling up a chair in front of Violet. “For years after taking over the company, I felt bad for what this place did to you, Augustus, Veruca, and Mike. I had some of my workers keep tabs on each of you, and from what I read, you have had the worst go of things.  So after working on a proper complete meal gum, I had the research team look into a way to reverse the changes.  I think we have come up with a complete cure for you.”
“So wait, you kidnapped me to cure me?”
“I didn’t mean for you to be kidnapped, and that Oompa Loompa has been reprimanded.  I meant to write you, but with pending litigation, I didn’t want your lawyer to see this as a bribe.”
“Charlie, do you really think this could work?  I mean, can you really cure me?”
“I can’t say for sure, but if you are willing to try, I’d be willing to help you out.”
“…Alright. Let’s do this.”
A smile spread across Charlie’s face as he leaned in for a hug.  “Excellent.  I’ll call in the team and we’ll administer the treatment right away.”
Charlie grabbed for a remote in his pocket and pushed a button.  Within seconds, a team of Oompa Loompas in lab coats came in with medical equipment and IV bags.
“Violet, we don’t quite know the full effects of this cure.  We tried it on a few of the Oompa Loompas who were just like you and saw an immediate restoration of skin pigment.  We didn’t see any abnormalities right away, but we can’t be too cautious.  So we’ll be hooking you up to a heart and oxygen monitor, as well as an IV to make sure you are hydrated and give you any medicine right away.”
“Okay.  Will it hurt?”
“As far as we have noticed, there has been no signs of pain.  But again, we can’t take that chance.”
One Oompa Loompa walked up to Charlie and gave him a syringe.
“Violet, once I give you this, I can’t be around to see if it works.  For legal reasons.”
“I understand. Thank you, Charlie.”
With that, Charlie insert the syringe needle in the IV and sent the drug throughout her veins. He gave her a caring smile and left the room with one Oompa Loompa to monitor her condition.
“Can I at least be given a mirror to see any changes?”
“Sorry, Ms. Smith. I am only here to monitor your vitals.”
Violet kept looking around to take her mind off of what may happen.  She noticed a weird sensation building up in her stomach and groin, but brushed it off as she saw a pink spot on her arm.
“Uh, hey…”
“Danny.”
“Danny, is that what I think it is? There, on my arm?”
“Lemme see,” the Oompa Loompa said as he grabbed her left arm.  “Yep, that is normal skin tone.”
“Really?”
“Yep.  Oh, there’s another on your chin.  Looks like it is working.”
“Oh my god!”
A walkie talkie feedback came from the Oompa Loompa’s coat pocket.  Reaching in his pocket, the Oompa Loompa brought out the radio and walked out of earshot.
Violet kept noticing pink spot over her arms and bare legs.  She’s looking normal.  For the first time in a long time, she is feeling happy for looking normal.
“WHAT?!?”
The loud shout broke Violet out of her happiness.
“Ohcrapohcrapohcrap,” the Oompa Loompa kept saying over and over as he rushed over to the heart monitor.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just got off the radio with my research team.  The drug we gave you has some weird side effects we weren’t aware of until now.”
“Like what?”
“Well, apparently, the blue pigment of your skin was acting like an appetite suppressant, blocking any hunger signals to your brain.  Once the blue skin goes away, our other test subjects experienced ravenous hunger.”
“What?”
As soon as she said that, Violet’s stomach growled loudly and she started to feel very ill.
“Oh, my god. I need something to eat.”
“Like what? We’re a chocolate factory.  All we have is candy.”
“Did you throw away the failed gum that turned me blue?”
“Yes, because we changed the formula to wear it really works.”
“I don’t care what you have, just feed me some food now!”
The Oompa Loompa ran out of the room in a hurry.  As he left, Violet kept feeling more and more hungry, as well as a weird feeling in her groin.  She began thrashing in her chair until it toppled over onto the floor.  She looked down at her skin and saw more pink skin than blue.  Tears started forming her eyes as she laid on the cold floor.
The door busted open to have a team of Oompa Loompas wheeling in carts of different chocolate and fudge.
“Violet, are you okay?”
“Danny?” Violet said in a lower octave.  What the Hell was up with her voice?  It didn’t matter.  All she could think about was food.
“Violet, don’t move.  We’re removing your restraints right now.”
With several spritz of what appeared to be water, the taffy that was holding her down soon melted away.  As soon as she was free, Violet dived into the first cart of food, loudly cramming all the sweet treats into her mouth.  The team of Oompa Loompas ran out, seeing the need for more food right away.
 Hours past and Violet had finished the multiple carts of candy.  Her stomach severely bloated by the massive binge session that transpired.  Violet sat against the wall, rubbing her distended belly.
Danny walked up to the very full woman with a TV in tow.  Reaching down to check her vitals, he looked into her eyes.
“Violet? Don’t talk right now.  If you can hear me, just nod your head.”
Violet, in a state of euphoric fullness, felt her whole body change from what it once was. Her face felt puffy, with her cheeks bulging out slightly and the weight of her chins surrounding her neck.  Her breasts had grown to accommodate her new weight.  The stomach and ass had widened and plumped considerably.
But what felt weird was her groin.  Something felt different, like something was there that wasn’t there before.  But before she could check to see what it was, Danny caught her attention.
“Violet, I have a message from Charlie, who heard of what has transpired.  Watch the screen.”
Danny pressed the button on the TV and the image of Charlie appeared before them.
“Violet, I hope you are doing alright.  I heard about what happened.  I’m afraid we caught the side effects too late to prevent this from happening.  You’ll be happy to know that this is something we will rectify right away.
“However, there is one more side effect we didn’t mention, because of your ravenous hunger.  Apparently, in our other test subjects, apart from the hunger, we noticed that they had changed…sex.  Since all Oompa Loompas are male, they turned to female.  When we heard the results, I immediately had Danny administer a reversal of the drug right away…or I would have if it wasn’t for the lawsuit.
“Yes, Violet.  I turned you into a man, a fat man at that.  You see, you would’ve damaged Wonka’s name and reputation as a great chocolatier with your lawsuit.  You were always an impulsive brat, never caring about anyone but yourself.  You just had to have that one piece of gum. He warned you and you did it anyway.
“Honestly, I could have left you as a blue freak in the world and buried you in court fees and taken you to the bank.  But when my team found this solution, I came up with this plan.  You’ll never go back home ever again.
“Oh, and I guess I should give you a new name, since you’re no longer Violet.  I always liked Vince.  Vince Beauregarde.  At least your father will now have the son he always wanted.
“Good bye, Vince.  Enjoy your stay at my factory.”
 Vince didn’t hear anything from the recorded message.  After discovering his dick for the first time, he started jerking it off, rubbing his fattened form and demanding more food to be brought in.  All the while, another team of Oompa Loompas brought in some more treats for their new resident.
 ***
 Charlie sat in his office, looking out at the world outside the factory.  Business was booming and there was more and more people loving his new creations, as well as the ones Wonka created.
With a smile on his face, he turned around and opened a manila file folder on his desk. Inside was several photos of four people and a complete report of each one.
With the smile still on his face, he reached for the intercom button on his desk.
“Hank, come in here.”
Within seconds, a muscly, yet plump Oompa Loompa came into the room.  “Yeah, boss?”
“I think it’s time for a visit to Guest Number 3.  You sure she’s in London?”
“Yep. London, England.  Took over her father’s nut factory.”
“Splendid. Have Justin bring her in.”
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thisisheavynews · 5 years
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Is Rock Music Dead? Not If You’re Really Listening
Is rock music lifeless? Every 12 months, it appears, the mainstream music media sounds the dying knell for rock. “Rock Is Dead. Thank God” scream the headlines. “Rock’n’Roll Is Dead. No, Really This Time” say those that cry wolf. And 12 months after 12 months, the identical examples are held as much as assist these claims, with none conclusion ever being drawn to the purpose in query.
First the basic artists might be mentioned. They’re not getting any youthful, however despite the fact that they’re nonetheless massive attracts on the field workplace, they clearly received’t be round eternally. Then the dialog will flip to extra present rock acts who can simply draw a crowd. And but, although the younger hopefuls could also be able to filling arenas on their very own – be they Queens Of The Stone Age, Black Stone Cherry or Twenty One Pilots – it’s left undecided as to whether or not they have what it takes to achieve the lofty heights of Festival Headliner.
What the “experts” say
Sometimes pundits will become involved. Industry “experts” will add their ideas and opinions on whether or not rock music is lifeless in an try so as to add some weight to the dialogue. Then the musicians wade in, explaining how rock bands are regurgitating the identical previous clichéd riffs and drained concepts, typically in an try to advertise their very own clichéd riffs and drained concepts; in any case, aren’t they the very individuals able to vary the ship’s course and steer away from the oncoming iceberg?
But then, in 2017, music modified. A research carried out by Nielsen within the US concluded that hip-hop and R&B overtook rock because the most-consumed style for the primary time ever. Taking into consideration album gross sales, downloads and audio/video streams, solely two non-hip-hop or R&B artists featured in the whole Top 10 (Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift), whereas these genres have additionally been cited as an element within the rise of on-demand streaming companies within the US.
Far from self-destructing, Metallica had been the best-performing rock band of 2017. Photo: Herring & Herring
The report additionally discovered that Metallica had been 2017’s best-performing rock artists, off the again of their 2016 launch of Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, and a slew of revamped, repackaged and expanded reissues, together with the thrash classics Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets; a re-selling of their again catalogue to capitalise on their longevity, maybe. For it’s, after all, in album gross sales that rock actually reigns.
Michael Jackson nonetheless holds the highest spot for the most important promoting non-compilation album of all time in Thriller, with round 66 million claimed in gross sales. However, different albums which have exceeded gross sales of 40 million embody Eagles with Their Greatest Hits (1971-75) and Hotel California, AC/DC’s Back In Black, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell, and Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, with Whitney Houston and the Bee Gees as the one different artists to have an album whose gross sales have exceeded 40 million.
Dig somewhat deeper
But, each a kind of rock-specific albums was launched within the 70s, which has given them greater than 40 years to rack up the numbers. And with document gross sales in free fall, and chart numbers bolstered by streaming knowledge and radio airplay, issues begin to look bleak for rock music. Dig somewhat deeper, nevertheless, and there are rumblings coming from the underground that counsel the previous canine’s coronary heart continues to be beating robust.
Take Imagine Dragons. In August 2018 the Las Vegas-based quartet turned the primary band in chart historical past to occupy the highest 4 spots on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart. And that was no mere flash within the pan. Their most up-to-date single, ‘Natural’, entered the chart at No.four, behind its previous three singles – ‘Thunder’, ‘Whatever It Takes’ and ‘Believer’, all from the band’s newest album, Evolve – every having spent 22, 17 and 29 weeks at No.1, respectively.
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Theirs has been a slow-burning path to success. Formed when frontman Dan Reynolds met drummer Andrew Tolman whereas attending Utah’s Brigham Young University in 2008, the pair attached with guitarist Wayne Sermon and bassist Ben McKee and launched a trio of EPs from 2009 earlier than the massive time beckoned in 2011. But it wasn’t till 2014 that the electro-rockers actually got here to prominence, once they received the Grammy for Best Rock efficiency after breakthrough hit, ‘Radioactive’, spent an enormous 18 months hovering across the Billboard Hot 100.
Now with three albums to their credit score, Imagine Dragons sit someplace between rock, electro-pop and R&B. Some may argue whether or not their typically poppy sound is a worthy successor to rock’s greatest legends. But then rock all the time had one foot on the planet of synthesisers and an urge to discover a extra radio-friendly sound, very like Bon Jovi, who frequently troubled the highest finish of the singles charts within the mid-to-late 80s, and U2, who had been by no means afraid of experimenting with extra synth-centric pop sounds. It’s a path that might even be traced again to The Beatles, whose influences knew no bounds as their profession took them from the Merseybeat rock of ‘Love Me Do’ by means of to the oddball ‘I Am The Walrus’ and the hard-hitting ‘Back In The USSR.’
Whether you need to name Imagine Dragons’ hybrid sound rock or not, it’s nonetheless taken them to arenas all around the world. And regardless of the detachment followers can really feel with bands in massive venues, their music continues to be able to connecting with the listener on a private stage. It’s maybe that stage of relatability that can make the Nevada rockers a long-term prospect. After all, it’s certainly the sluggish burners who final the longest.
Shakedown particular
For one thing with a bit extra grit, Tyler Bryant &And The Shakedown recall to mind a interval within the early to mid-00s, when garage-rockers the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club had been deemed to be rock’s nice saviours. Bringing a swagger evocative of their adoptive dwelling of Nashville, Tennessee, Bryant and his gang actually have a pedigree, in addition to a profession trajectory, that means they’ve endurance.
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Bryant knew he was destined for rock greatness when he picked up the guitar aged six, studying his chops from mentor and seasoned blues veteran Roosevelt Twitty. An early bloomer, the younger Bryant’s expertise was noticed by guitar legend Eric Clapton, who, in 2007, invited the 15-year-old to play his Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago.
The Shakedown was shaped when, at 17, Bryant relocated from his native Honey Grove, Texas, to Nashville. Within every week the singer/guitarist met drummer Caleb Crosby and, hitting it off, shaped the idea of their present band. After assembly guitarist Graham Whitford – son of Aerosmith guitarist Brad – they satisfied him to relocate from his native Boston, earlier than Noah Denney joined their ranks on bass.
With their heady mixture of Southern, blues and roots rock, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown are constructing their fanbase the quaint manner: by means of relentless touring. Since their reside debut supporting REO Speedwagon in Amarillio, the band are scarcely off the highway, and have shared phases with the likes of AC/DC, Aerosmith, BB King, Jeff Beck and ZZ Top, in addition to choose dates on Guns N’ Roses’ Not In This Lifetime… tour. This is a band who’re aligning themselves with laborious rock greatness and have the chops to journey together with them.
But whereas bands comparable to Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown match a specific mould, different teams are an entire anomaly; one such band is Broken Witt Rebels. A cursory take heed to their self-titled debut album conjures up vivid pictures of southern-states landscapes, whereas opening observe ‘Loose Change’ could be the proper soundtrack for a dive bar in Nashville. ‘Shake Me Down’, in the meantime, has a delicate Southern groove that certainly might solely be a product of getting grown up within the likes of Georgia or Mississippi.
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Indeed, the lyrics solely serve to bolster this picture. Take ‘Snake Eyes’ for example: “Here in the south/Where the river runs dry/I’m gonna hang from the noose, baby/If you tell me no lie”. There’s an unwritten rule of geography that dictates there’s no different place these blues rockers might be from, proper? So it’d shock individuals to study that frontman Danny Core is a painter and decorator from Birmingham, England.
Formed in 2013, Broken Witt Rebels seek advice from themselves as a band of brothers. In truth, Core and bassist Luke Davis have been pals since earlier than main faculty and shaped the band whereas working collectively as decorators. But extra than simply the Southern rock’n’roll vibe, guitarist James Tranter introduced in blues and laborious rock influences, in addition to a robust mainstream sensibility by means of his love of Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Oasis – the very artists who impressed him to take a first-class honours diploma finding out music at college.
But there’s extra depth to those Midland rockers than mere sounds. They have a soulful vibe, too, and that’s a top quality that may’t be replicated by mere copycats. Soul can’t be realized from a sheet of music, it’s one thing that comes from inside. And one other factor that comes from inside is that this band’s dogged dedication to hit the massive time, a lot in order that they’ve give up their day jobs to hit the highway – the one place they’re assured to get their identify and music heard.
But simply how good are they? If the band are to be believed, they’re unbelievable. Yet it’s a declare they make and not using a trace of ego or vanity. It’s the assertion of a band who know they’re onto one thing good and who’ve the bravado to again it up by placing within the work and proving it with countless touring… Well, that’s once they’re not satisfying their insatiable want to make music; they’ve wrapped up recording on album quantity two lower than a 12 months after the discharge of their debut. There could also be an enormous disconnect between their lads-on-tour look and the music they play, however that may solely imply it comes from that place music is meant to come back from: the center. And with a industrial sensibility that calls to thoughts Kings Of Leon, who would guess in opposition to an identical success?
Born to do it
If industrial sensibility is a measure of greatness, there are some who’ve a aptitude for songwriting that appears to come back naturally. One such particular person is Nashville-born Jaren Johnston, who, when he’s not penning hit singles for the likes of nation superstars Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Jake Owen, fronts The Cadillac Three. Being the son of a musician – Jerry Ray Johnston, drummer of 80s nation group Bandana – you may say he was born to do it.
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Johnston’s personal profession began within the band American Bang. Signed to Warners, the group had average success with two studio albums and a single, ‘Wild And Young’, that went so far as bothering the charts. When the band went their separate methods, Johnston bought collectively together with his high-school pals and fellow American Bang members Kelby Ray and Neil Mason to type what would change into The Cadillac Three. And with two high-profile songwriters of their ranks – Mason’s credit embody tracks for Jake Owen, Kelly Clarkson and Rascal Flatts – the music began to move.
For The Cadillac Three, nation and Southern rock match collectively like a foot in a cowboy boot. The result’s as potent because the whiskey-on-the-porch vibes that permeate by means of their songs’ storytelling. There’s not a number of deviation from Southern rock’s holy trinity (that’s whiskey, ladies and being from the South), but it surely’s just like the familiarity of pulling on an previous pair of denims: it’s a mode staple that’s been round for many years and it’s simply so darn comfy.
Like a revamped Lynyrd Skynyrd or Allman Brothers Band for the 21st century, The Cadillac Three assume nothing of taking part in back-to-back gigs whereas criss-crossing the Atlantic. It was in 2015 that they performed a present stateside on the Friday, earlier than jetting off to the UK’s Download Festival for a slot on the Saturday. No sooner had they completed their set, they had been on their manner again to the US for one more pageant on the Sunday.
They’re not reinventing rock’n’roll, but when it isn’t damaged then why attempt to repair it? Kelby Ray claims the honesty of their music is their greatest draw, connecting the band with their followers. They put on their hearts on their sleeves and, in any case, isn’t rock’n’roll imagined to be about having a superb time on a regular basis?
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With their newest album, Legacy, because the title may counsel, they’re approaching their music when it comes to what they’ll go away behind and what they’ll be remembered for. And with two extremely profitable songwriters of their ranks, The Cadillac Three get to cherry-pick the very best of their output. In truth, the title observe was initially earmarked as a pitch to Tim McGraw and Faith Hill or Eric Church, till Mason heard it and urged they work on it as their very own. It simply felt proper. Being able the place The Cadillac Three can seemingly churn out smash hits at will, the sky is definitely the restrict for their very own success.
But the place whiskey goes hand in hand with good-time Southern rock, it may be a demon for a lot of musicians. Rich Moss thought his musical profession was over after the dying of a former bandmate who struggled with an habit to alcohol. But when you’ve been bitten by the rock’n’roll bug it may be a tough feeling to shake. After 4 years away from the scene, Moss shaped Stone Broken in 2013.
Photo: Paul Harries
The first track he wrote together with his new bandmates, guitarist Chris Davis, bassist Kieron Conroy and drummer Robyn Haycock, was referred to as ‘This Life’, and it served because the Midlands band’s MO. “It’s about taking what you’re good at and using it as a vehicle to move forward, because you only have one shot at life,” says Moss. “We all came into this band a lot more mature and with a greater understanding of the industry, and we agreed between us there should be no half-measures.”
Following the discharge of their debut album, All In Time, rock radio stations had been falling over themselves to playlist Stone Broke’s anthemic laborious rock with its massive riffs and even larger choruses. And whereas The Cadillac Three battle to get any radio play, it appears Stone Broken have hit on a sound that was primed for it. It’s the trail that Def Leppard trod within the 80s with Pyromania and Hysteria. And now right here, 35-odd years later, is one other British laborious rock band unashamed to flirt with industrial attraction.
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Stone Broken’s second album, Ain’t Always Easy, is jammed stuffed with pile-driving riffs and large choruses. It’s a band that sounds assured in who they’re and what they need to obtain: they’re aiming for arenas, identical to the bands who encourage them comparable to Black Stone Cherry and Alter Bridge. And songs the likes of ‘Worth Fighting For’, ‘Let Me See It All’ and ‘I Believe’ might nearly be calls to motion, reminding the band themselves what they’re right here for and the place they’re headed subsequent. They have already got tunes and riffs large enough to fill arenas, which is half the battle.
Aiming for legendary standing
Where some bands align themselves with up to date artists to set their markers, others are purely aiming for legendary standing. If Greta Van Fleet have but to search out their manner onto the mainstream’s radar, judging by the waves they’re presently making it received’t be lengthy earlier than everybody’s speaking about them.
Formed by three brothers, twins Josh and Jake Kiszka, on vocals and guitar, respectively, and bassist Sam Kiszka in 2012, they had been joined by drummer and lifelong buddy Danny Wagner the next 12 months. Though an early observe by the Michigan laborious rockers was used on a neighborhood Chevy industrial, the actual buzz didn’t begin till 2017. The first ripples had been created when the observe ‘Highway Tune’ was used within the US model of the TV comedy-drama sequence Shameless, in January 2016. Momentum gathered a 12 months later when the observe was launched on iTunes and Apple Music named Greta Van Fleet artist of the week. That’s when the floodgates opened. By the tip of the 12 months they had been profitable awards and opened a present for legendary rocker Bob Seger. And that’s to not point out the debut tour that utterly bought out in 5 minutes.
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So let’s get the plain out of the best way: vocalist Josh does sound uncannily like Robert Plant, to the purpose the Led Zeppelin singer has acknowledged the similarities himself. But many have tried to emulate the legendary frontman up to now and simply as many have failed. For Josh, nevertheless, it’s extra that it simply occurs to be the sound his lungs push out at any time when he opens his mouth to sing. And whereas the younger quartet received’t deny a keenness of the British rockers, they’re at pains to make it recognized that their influences attain far past only one band.
Having been raised on a gradual weight-reduction plan of vinyl, it’s unsurprising that Greta Van Fleet’s sound takes in lots of artists from the 60s and 70s, and that these artists are nearly completely rock and blues acts. And but, although their principal inspirations embody the likes of The Who, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Janis Joplin, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters, they by no means got down to change into a rock’n’roll band. Playing from the center somewhat than their minds, rock’n’roll is the product of the pure chemistry between the 4 musicians.
Though Greta Van Fleet are but to launch their debut album (up to now they’ve solely launched the double-EP, From The Fires), they’re nonetheless setting a excessive commonplace for themselves. Certain bands are famend for releasing indelible first albums, with Greta Van Fleet naming these artists as Van Halen, The Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin. It’s a feat the younger band need to comply with, and are itching to launch a debut album that nobody goes to neglect in a rush.
With little in the best way of fanfare, this little band from the small city of Frankenmuth, Michigan are presently making a giant noise in rock circles. Greta Van Fleet made their UK reside debut on the Black Heart in Camden – a tiny pub tucked away in a again alley – in September 2017. And but, with no fuss or bluster, and greater than a month previous to the discharge of their debut album, Anthem Of The Peaceful Army, the younger rockers have already bought out two nights on the Kentish Town Forum in November 2019. A 3rd night time was added,  with a slew of different UK dates not far behind.
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Perhaps probably the most spectacular factor about Greta Van Fleet, nevertheless, is that they’re aged simply 19 (Sam and Danny) and 22 (the twins) years previous. Not that age is a handicap, but it surely implies that, with a number of rising nonetheless to do, it’s unimaginable to foretell the place they could find yourself given the advantage of time and expertise. Could they really be the saviours of rock that the media, and, certainly, pageant promotors, are so determined to search out? Come what might, if historical past is any indication, there might be much more than the Black Heart’s capability of 100 claiming to have seen Greta Van Fleet’s first ever UK present.
Is rock music lifeless?… Pay consideration!
With album gross sales seeing a gradual decline in recent times, it could stand that Michael Jackson won’t ever lose the accolade of biggest-selling album of all time. And hip-hop and R&B can have their day within the solar in terms of streaming and radio airplay, for it’s within the reside enviornment that rock music nonetheless reigns supreme. In 2017, Guns N’ Roses earned nearly half a billion dollars for his or her Not In This Lifetime… tour. That’s the fourth-highest grossing tour of all time behind different rock giants Coldplay, The Rolling Stones and U2.
At the tip of all of it, rock is music’s best survivor and has weathered the storm of adjusting tendencies for round seven a long time. Legends weren’t born in a single day and, as laborious as it’s to imagine now, there was a world earlier than the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath, et al. They had been all unknown bands to begin with, and it’s solely by means of time – and their timelessness – that they’ve earned such enduring attraction. Rock music lives on regardless of cultural tendencies, which is precisely what all the above bands exist to insurgent in opposition to. Will any of them be headlining festivals in 2028? If solely we had a time machine to search out out.
Follow the Rock Icons playlist for the basic songs that impressed the brand new breed of rock heroes.
from Heavy News https://thisisheavynews.com/is-rock-music-dead-not-if-youre-really-listening/
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toomanysinks · 5 years
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Dissecting what Lyft’s IPO means for Uber and the future of mobility
Extra Crunch offers members the opportunity to tune into conference calls led and moderated by the TechCrunch writers you read every day. This week, TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec and Kate Clark led a deep-dive discussion into Lyft’s IPO and the outlook for the business going forward.
After skyrocketing nearly 10% on its first day hitting the public markets, Lyft stock has faded back down towards its IPO price as some investors grow more concerned over the company’s path to profitability (or lack thereof) and the long-term fundamentals of the business. But Lyft’s public listing is bigger than just the latest in increasingly common unicorn IPOs. As the first public “transportation-as-a-service” company, Lyft offers the first inside glimpse into the business model and its economics, and its development may ultimately act as the canary in the coal mine for the future of transportation.
“Lyft, hasn’t just survived, they’ve grown. 18.6 million people took at least one ride in the last quarter of 2018. That’s up from 16.6 million in late-2016. That illustrates the growth that the company has had. They’ve also said that they have 39% share of the ride-sharing market in the US. That’s up from 22% in 2016.
To me, the big question is let’s say they had Uber’s share, which is 66%, would they be able to make a profit? Is that the determination? And I’m not convinced that it is, which is why all these other aspects of the transportation-as-a-service business model [micromobility, AVs, etc.] are going to be really important.”
Image via Getty Images / Mario Tama
Kirsten and Kate dive deeper into what the market response to Lyft means for Uber and the timeline for its impending IPO. The two also elaborate on their skepticism of ride-hailing economics and debate which innovative transportation model will ultimately drive the path to profitability for Lyft, Uber and others.
For access to the full transcription and the call audio, and for the opportunity to participate in future conference calls, become a member of Extra Crunch. Learn more and try it for free. 
Danny Crichton: Good afternoon and good morning everyone this is Danny Crichton, executive editor of Extra Crunch. Thanks so much for joining us today with TechCrunch reporters Kate and Kirsten.
I’ll start with a quick introduction for our two writers today. We have Kate Clark, our venture capital reporter. Kate has been with us for a while now covering everything in the startup and venture world. She’s also one of the hosts of TechCrunch’s podcast Equity and also writes our Startups Weekly newsletter.
Our other writer today is Kirsten, our intrepid automotive writer covering all things Elon Musk, Tesla, and everything else in the autonomous vehicle space. Kirsten has also been with us for quite some time and also writes a newsletter that she just introduced in the last couple of weeks, around transportation. So with that, I’m going to hand off the conversation to the two of them now.
Kirsten Korosec: Thanks so much Danny. This is Kirsten Korosec here. The newsletter is in a bit of a soft launch but it is being published Fridays and we hope to have an email subscription coming sometime in the future, so just keep an eye out for that.
I should also mention I too have a podcast centered around autonomous vehicles and future transportation called The Autonocast that comes out weekly. Thanks so much for joining the call and just a reminder, we want participation. So at about the halfway point, we’ll turn and open up the line and answer questions. Let’s get started.
Before we dig into all the hot takes out there, I think it’s worth providing a primer of sorts — a general timeline of events. We all probably know Lyft of course and most of us think of 2012 as the launch date when it came to San Francisco, but really Lyft was build out of the service of Zimride. Which is the ride-sharing company that John Zimmer and Logan Green founded in 2007.
A lot of attention has been placed on Lyft in 2018 with what happened in the past year, in the run-up to the IPO. But I think it is worth noting the intense activity and growth that happened between 2014 and 2016. These are critically important years for Lyft, just a frenzy of activity in a period where the company gained ground, investors, and partners.
To showcase the amount of activity that was happening; Lyft had two separate funding rounds, one for $530 million another for $150 million, just two months apart in 2015. You might also recall in early-2016 its partnership with GM and the automakers’ $500 million dollar investment as part of the Series F $1 billion dollar fundraising effort.
That was really interesting because GM’s president at the time Dan Ammann took a seat on the board, which he has since vacated. As Lyft and GM started realizing that they were competitors. Now, Dan is the CEO of GM Cruise which is the self-driving unit of GM.
2017 and 2018 were also big years, as Lyft launched their first international market in Toronto. They made big moves on the autonomous vehicle front, which we’ll talk about today, and in micromobility. Their scooter business launched in Denver in 2018. They bought Motivate, which is the oldest and largest electric bike share company in North America. Then, we finally get to the end of 2018, and this is when Lyft confidentially files a statement with the FDC and we’re off with the races to the IPO.
The last two months or three months is when Lyft unveiled its prospectus, met with investors, priced its IPO and made its public debut. So Kate what are the nuts and bolts of the IPO and what’s happening right now?
Kate Clark: Hi everybody this is Kate. So I’m just going to mention really quickly the timeline these last couple of months in the run-up to Lyft’s highly historical IPO. So going back to December, that’s when Lyft initially filed confidentially to go public. We later find out that they are going public on the NASDAQ when they eventually unveiled their S1 in early March.
This is after Lyft had raised $5 billion in debt and equity funding at a $15 billion dollar valuation, so there are a lot of people paying attention to what was the first ever rideshare IPO. So then in early-March, we’re able to get a closer look at Lyft’s S1, which tells us that the company has $911 million in losses in 2018 and revenues of $2.2 billion. So after calculating and pulling together some data, a lot of people were quick to find out that that means Lyft has some of the largest losses ever for any IPO. But also has some of the largest revenues ever for any pre-IPO company, just following Google and Facebook in that category.
So this is a really interesting IPO for a lot of people given these sky-high losses but also these huge, huge revenues. The next we see Lyft price their IPO between $62 and $68 dollars a share. Some people were quick to say that that was maybe a little underpriced, given that this was a highly anticipated IPO with a ton of demand. So on the second day of Lyft’s roadshow, the process, they say that their IPO is oversubscribed. So demand is apparently huge, their oversubscribed, so they decide we’re going to increase the price of our shares.
Image via GettyImages / maybefalse
So Lyft then says they gonna charge a max of $72 per share and then on the day of their IPO they charge $72 per share, the next day opening at $87 per share. So we see a huge IPO pop that I don’t think was particularly surprising given that they already spoke of this demand, and we had already known that there was a lot of demand on Wall Street. Not just for Lyft but just for unicorn IPO’s of this stature, given that there are so few of these. So Lyft began trading hitting $87 per share though, if you’ve been following the news that’s not were Lyft is today.
Kirsten: Yeah so I was just about to ask — Kate give me the latest numbers, you know a lot of focus is on that opening day but things haven’t exactly sustained. So what’s happened in the past few days?
Kate: Yeah it’s really tough to manage expectations after an IPO. I mean, I think there has been a lot of criticism towards Lyft now and I think it’s trading below its initial share price. So as I mentioned Lyft opened at $87 per share, it priced at $72, but almost immediately they began trading below that $72 price per share. So they closed Tuesday trading at $68.96 per share. Still boasting a market cap larger than $19 billion. So they’re still significantly valued at more than they were as a private company at $15 billion but it doesn’t look good to be trading below a price per share so quickly.
However, it actually did hit its IPO price for just a minute today, so maybe let’s give it a few more hours and see where it closes. It’s possible that it will sort of jump towards that $72, but it’s still trading quite significantly below that $87.
Kirsten: With IPOs like this, and especially such a high profile one, there’s going to be a ton of attention on share price and on volatility. And so I’m wondering, in your view, what did this first week, or first few days of volatility say to you? What does it say about Lyft’s future and, well certainly, its present?
Kate: Yeah. I mean, it’s hard to say. I think a lot of people were questioning if Wall Street was going to be interested in a company like Lyft that’s extremely unprofitable at this time and has years left before it will reach profitability, if indeed it ever reaches profitability.
So at this point you got to wonder, do some of these investors that did buy Lyft right off the bat, were they really long on Lyft? Because it does look like a lot of those investors have already sold their stock and perhaps weren’t as invested in Lyft’s long-term profitability plan, which involves a lot of very iffy things, like the future of autonomous vehicles, which we’ll talk about later in this call. And there’s a lot of uncertainty there.
But with that said, it’s not uncommon for a stock to experience volatility right off the bat, and you can’t assume the future of that stock price just because of some early volatility.
And we gathered some examples of IPOs where there was some early volatility that did not determine the long term future. So Carvana, for example, which is an online used car dealer in the automotive space, and it did experience volatility at first, with the stock sliding in the first few months but ultimately trended upward.
Kate: So Carvana opened at $13.50 a share, falling below its IPO price, so it didn’t even have the IPO pop. And then in 2018, it hit an all-time high of $65 per share. Today, it’s trading around $58 per share, so that’s ultimately a positive story to be told there.
And then another example on the other side of things is Snap, which actually took four months to dip beneath its 2017 IPO price, and we all know Snap has definitely not been a success story and it’s trading well below its offer price. But then finally, Facebook, for example, dropped below its IPO price on its second day of trading and then actually had a rough first year on the stock market before the stock ultimately took off and became a very obvious success.
Kirsten: So, Kate, I’m wondering why you think that there was that initial run up on that first day. Was it excitement? Was there something material that was pushing the price up? What was the cause?
Kate: I think there was a lot of excitement and demand around this IPO because it was very much one-of-a-kind, and there were a lot of investors that it seemed were really long on the possibility of Lyft becoming this hugely profitable company. And I think a lot of that was because in the S1, although you did see these really, really big losses — quite major, just ridiculously huge losses — you did see that they were shrinking over time and that there was definitely a path in which Lyft could take where it would reach profitability, say, in the next five years.
And I think Wall Street was really paying attention to that, and they were not paying attention to some of the other metrics. Now, they’ve taken off their rose-colored glasses and they’re looking at Lyft as a public company, and it’s just a little bit different now that it’s actually completed its debut.
Kirsten: Well, so, I mean, I like to view IPOs often times, and especially in Lyft’s case, as a measure of an investors’ faith in the company’s growth prospects, because this is a company that while it does have quite a bit of revenue, it has significant losses and it’s really planning not just for the present day but for the future. It’s been called a disruptive business for a reason, and it is certainly very forward-looking. So I’m wondering if you think it was a good strategy for Lyft. They wanted to open it up to “the everyman” when they actually went to market. They did a different approach, and do you think this might have had an effect? I mean, it’s very on-brand for them to do this, but I’m wondering if you thought that means that some of the investors aren’t as disciplined.
Kate: Do you mean with the fact they were providing bonuses to their employees and drivers to actually participate in the IPO as well?
Kirsten: Absolutely. That’s actually a really good point that maybe you can elaborate on. Lyft did a little bit of a more open approach for its IPO. Typically IPOs can be closed off to only large, institutional investors. So did this set them up perhaps to have more volatility?
Kate: Yeah, Lyft provided some of their drivers up to, I think, $10,000 to, in theory, actually buy stock in the IPO. Do I think that had a high impact? I don’t know. I think there’s not enough comparison, not enough data to really make a decision or to make a hot take on whether that really was part of the volatility. I think just given the uncertain nature of Lyft’s future and their big losses, I think their volatility was pretty inevitable, and I think people paying attention to this are probably not particularly surprised by how the stock has fared in these first couple days.
And I do want to add there’s this six-month lock-up period for the venture capital funds that own Lyft and as well as their employees, so I think we’re not sure what’s going to happen when that lock-up period ends and those holders can just sell their stock right then or how that will impact the stock price, as well.
Image via TechCrunch/MRD
Kirsten: So something to keep an eye on. It reminds me a lot of a company I write a lot about, which is Tesla, and I’ve been covering them for years. And it’s one of the most volatile stocks, and their investors, they certainly have large, institutional investors, but the number of fanboys that they have with smaller investors, either prop up the share price sometimes or add to that volatility, and I’m kind of really curious to see if that happens with Lyft. If you go to a shareholder meeting at Tesla, for example, it’s filled with people who are passionate about the brand and its CEO, Elon Musk.
And Lyft and possibly Uber, if they end up finally going through with their IPO, you can see that potentially happening because people feel very strongly about the brand and also the service it provides. So I’m curious to see how this all sort of shakes out. And I tend to take the view that I invest personally in mutual funds and things like that. I don’t invest in any of these companies, but the long, patient view tends to be the better one, and trying to catch a falling knife, as investors have told me, is never really a good idea.
So I’m curious to see if investors sort of grow up and learn with Lyft, if they’ll become disciplined and just sort of wait it out and see them play out the growth prospects for the company in the long term. So, we’ve been talking about Lyft and I can’t not talk about Uber as a result. I’m wondering what you think this might mean for Uber. The big story initially was let’s beat Uber to IPO and I’m wondering what this means then. Is this indicative of what Uber is going to experience?
Kate: I think that question is really at the top of everyone’s mind right now, including my own. I will say that I still do think it was highly beneficial for Lyft to get out first. Because imagine if and when Uber does too experience volatility, which it probably will, if it were to have gone first, I think that would have frightened Lyft a lot more than Lyft’s volatility may or may not be frightening Uber. So, with that said, I think I’m of two minds right now with my thoughts on how this impacts Uber’s IPO. I think that if Lyft stock continues to be volatile and perhaps even falls lower than it already has. I do think that there is a chance Uber may ultimately decide to push its IPO back.
I think that for a few reasons, namely being that Uber is not in a huge rush to go public. They do have the ability to wait. They have filed to go public. So it’s likely to happen quite soon, but it may not happen in April as they are reportedly planning to do.
On the other hand, Lyft went public at like a $24 or $25 billion dollar market cap. Whereas Uber is going to debut at maybe a $120 billion dollar initial market cap. So these IPOs, although they are both ride hail IPOs and they are very similar companies in a lot of ways, they’re also very different and Uber is operating on an entirely different scale though it still is unprofitable. And has some of the same issues that, investors are probably noting about Lyft.
I think it’s either going to be that it’s maybe that they do decide to push it back or maybe that Uber is like, well we’re five times larger, six times larger. We have much larger statistics to show to investors. There’s just a chance it could go either way. I wish I had a better, more concrete answer, but I just don’t think we know yet.
Kirsten: Well I’m okay with not taking hot takes just a few days into this IPO. I think this is a good time to open it up to questions. While we wait for a question, I will do one quick follow up with you Kate. What do you think this means for Uber? Will it delay its IPO?
Kate: Right now, no, I don’t think they’re going to. But it’s like I said, it’s tough to say given that it’s only been a few days of Lyfts IPO. But no, I think you’ve got to imagine that they are ready to discuss the possibilities of Lyfts IPO and already planned ahead if there was volatility. They maybe already assumed that would happen, given that that’s not uncommon. So right now I’m going to say no, I don’t think they’re going to delay, but it’s certainly still a possibility.
Kirsten: Okay, great. I think another really interesting piece for Uber was their acquisition of Careem. This is a deal that was made right before their IPO, so it was shifting attention away from Lyft, just for a moment.
Why did Uber do this? Is this not a signal that they’re delaying their IPO? Is this just prepping for it? What are you hearing on it? I’m wondering if this might have just been a strategy to show the world investors, specifically potential shareholders, what the road ahead is going to look like. Or is it some other reason — Is it to justify their really big losses?
Image via Careem / Facebook
Kate: I think it’s the latter two things you said.  Just to give some background Uber is paying about $3.1 billion to acquire Careem, which is a Middle Eastern ride-hailing company. So basically just the Uber of the Middle East. Uber does have a history of acquiring, smaller competitors like this in different markets where it’s not active, just as a way for Uber to quickly grow essentially.
So I do think it’s a big deal to make just before going public. So I guess we don’t know if they necessarily will go public in April, but I think it was a move to present to public market investors as a prep for an IPO, to show “we just acquired this company, here’s more evidence of future growth”. Like you mentioned, it’s definitely a justification of those huge losses that we know Uber has.
Kirsten: Thanks for that. Questions?
Caller Question: Hi there, so when we talk about looking ahead and moving towards profitability — what role, if any, do you think the acquisition of a scooter or other mobility companies will have for companies like Lyft and Uber?
Kirsten: That’s a great question. I think it’s going to be a huge piece of both of their businesses. A lot of people describe this as the first ride-hailing IPO. We need to stop calling this a ride-hailing company. These are transportation-as-a-service companies and they’re making money. But generating revenue as opposed to making profit is a totally different thing. When you start talking about ridesharing, it’s a tough business. With those it’s an asset-light business, right? They don’t own the cars and then they technically don’t employ these drivers.
But at the same time, as of 2016 only something like 1% of people in the US were using rideshare. So you see this opportunity, but they’re not pushing forward. There is a ton of car ownership still that’s happening. Yes, sharing has absolutely increased, but 17 million new cars were sold in the US last year. So scooters, bike share and other businesses are going to be key to their paths to profitability because ride-sharing alone is just difficult to make a profit. It’s not difficult to generate revenue. It’s difficult to make a profit on.
And I’m wondering, talking about that road to profitability, I do think it’s worth noting how much they have grown. Lyft, hasn’t just survived, they’ve grown. 18.6 million people took at least one ride in the last quarter of 2018. That’s up from 16.6 million in late 2016, that illustrates the growth that the company has had.
They’ve also said that they have 39% share of the ride-sharing market in the US. That’s up from 22% in 2016. To me, the big question is let’s say they had Uber’s share, which is 66%, would they be able to make a profit? Is that the determination? And I’m not convinced that it is, which is why all these other aspects of the transportation-as-a-service business model are going to be really important.
Kate: I think what you pointed out is important, about Lyft and Uber both becoming transportation businesses, not ride-hailing companies and I think their long-term visions involve scooters, bikes, autonomous vehicles, all sorts of different models of transportation beyond just car sharing.
Kirsten: I hate to be wishy-washy here and say, I don’t know, but I do really think that it’s going to come down to a variety of items all coming together. It’s just not going to be enough for Lyft to scale up its ride-hailing business. And I should point out that Uber should be treated in some ways the same way, but there are some distinct differences. But it’s important for us to think of Lyft as a transportation-as-a-service business. I mean they say in their prospectus that transportation is a massive market opportunity. The hard part of course is turning that into a profit. There might be opportunity there.
So there’s this asset-light business that they have right now, which is the ride-hailing, but then they are making acquisitions in the micromobility space and that is going to become more capital intensive. And that’s going to force them to change their business. And then there’s the autonomous vehicle piece. And then finally, I actually think that one of the pieces of their S1 that has really not received much attention at all is what they’re pursuing in terms of public transportation. And they have said that they, and Uber, intend on being a piece of the public transit ecosystem.
Now that doesn’t mean that they’re going to necessarily be operating buses, but there are people that I’ve talked to in the industry who actually feel like, in Uber’s case, they want to control every mode of transportation. For Lyft, I see them seeing more of the opportunity financially with the data piece and becoming more of a platform and becoming that one-stop shop where you use an app to figure out if you want to use the scooter or a bike, or ride-hailing or buy that ticket for the L in Chicago or the Bart System.
So I really think that the public transit piece often gets ignored and cities are having so much more control now and weighing in. We see this in New York City with congestion pricing. It’s going to force Lyft and Uber to take advantage of these opportunities and use their platform in a way that perhaps accelerates faster than they had intended.
Kate: I’m very interested in the public transportation element, but I’m also very skeptical of the scooters and bikes in the future for Lyft, I think, given the unit economics, I certainly wouldn’t rely on them to be Lyft’s path to profitability. I think autonomous vehicles are a much more interesting path towards profitability. So a lot of companies, Uber, Lyft, Waymo and more are focusing on autonomous vehicles and their development, whether that be with hardware or software. How does Lyft’s strategy with autonomous vehicles differentiate from some of their competitors or does it does differentiate?
Kirsten: It does differentiate, and the funny thing is, is that so you don’t see micromobility necessarily as the oath to profitability and are interested in AVs and I write about AVs, but I see that AVs as a harder path to profitability in a way because of the nuts and bolts that it takes to develop them.
So just to weigh in really quickly on the micromobility piece and then I’ll move on to AVs; To show the opportunity but also the volatility in a real-world example for micromobility, I was in Austin for South by Southwest, I think you were there too, and you probably saw scooters everywhere, right? 18 months ago there were no scooters or bike share in the city. Then bike share came first.
Image via Flickr / Austin Transportation / http://bit.ly/2FNUs6w
And I was talking to that mayor of Austin and one of the folks from Spin, which is a Ford owned business, and they told me something that was really remarkable that I hadn’t thought about, which was that scooters were disrupting the bike share business. So bikes share came in and then scooters came in and all of a sudden they’re pulling bikes off the streets because no one was using them or were not using them at the same level as scooters.
Lyft is going to go through these same exact growing pains and people are figuring out what works. And as you mentioned, the unit economics are an issue, the wear and tear on the scooters alone is driving up costs and driving down revenues certainly, but pretty much making it very difficult to make a profit on it.
But that’s a near term business, right? So it’s at least generating revenue right now. On the other hand, you have this other piece, which is the AV piece. Lyft is doing some really interesting things on the AV piece — they kind of have a two-prong approach.
So they basically created a ton of partnerships to use their platform. So this started a couple of years ago and companies like Aptiv, drive.ai, even Waymo and nuTtonomy, which Aptiv just recently bought about a year ago and GM, and Lyft basically allows developers to use their platform and connect to their autonomous vehicle and offer these rides.
And the best example of this, if you’ve been to CES or if you have been to Las Vegas I should say more specifically, is this partnership that Lyft has with Aptiv — and Aptiv as a tier one supplier, they used to be called Delphi, they spun out, they bought nuTonomy, and they’re Aptiv now. And this is taking Aptiv automated BMW, which are on the Lyft network. If you hail a ride, you might be asked if you want a self-driving car, or “are you okay with a self-driving car?” And they have a safety driver, no humans have been pulled away from it yet. But they provided about 35,000 rides since I want to say January 2018.
Then they’re also doing Level 5, a dedicated self-driving vehicle division that launched in 2017. And here they’re basically creating an open self-driving system or open SDS. On top of that, they have partnered with Magna, an auto parts producer, to develop these self-driving systems that can be manufactured at scale.
And so you just see a rush of partnerships and sort of dual approaches and all of that costs a lot of money. And I can’t emphasize the amount of money that it costs or will cost to develop these systems and deploy them commercially. And I hear from other companies figures like $5 billion to get self-driving vehicles. So developing the full stack, doing fleet management, maintenance, all of that — that’s a lot of money. And, I’m not sure where Lyft, will get that capital, will they get it from the open market or will they have to go and ask for more capital.
Kate: So when do you think then that Lyft will be able to commercialize autonomous vehicles?
Kirsten: The timeline? So depending on who you talk to, you can hear from any of these developers between five years and 30 years. I think it’s important to talk about language and how we talk about autonomous vehicles. So to be clear, there is currently not a single commercial autonomous vehicle deployment where a human being or safety driver has been pulled away from the wheel. It just doesn’t exist.
There are plenty of pilots and Waymo is probably considered the leader in that list, though it is a bit of a confusing one for me because they have so many partnerships and they’ve become competitors to some of those partnerships. The analogy I use is “Survivor,” the reality show. Everyone wants to make these alliances so they don’t get voted off the island.
And now we’re at that point where autonomous vehicle development has entered what we call the trough of disillusionment, which is heads down, “let’s get away from the hype, let’s do the hard work.” And I think we’re going to see a lot of those partnerships and headwinds really come up in the next year, 18 months. So to put a target date on Lyft, it’s really going to depend on which one of those partnerships really play out and are real. I think the one with Aptiv seems the most real to me based on what I know the company is doing and I can see them doing a lot more pilots in the next 18 months.
Does that mean commercial deployment without a human safety driver behind the wheel? I’m not sure I can see a lot more these pilots with a human safety driver expanding beyond Las Vegas. I see pilots happening absolutely in the next year to 18 months. The issue is going to be when is that human safety driver going to be pulled out and with which partner.
Kate: So should we open it up to questions again?
Caller Question: Hi, I was just wondering how we should think about the regulatory risks that might exist as these companies expand to new cities, new markets, or even the public transport use case you mentioned. Thanks.
Kirsten: The regulatory piece is an interesting one. Let’s talk about ride-hailing first. We’ve already seen the regulatory environment, in cities, push back against companies like Uber and Lyft. I think the congestion pricing model that just launched in New York City is going to be one to watch and could be something that will put pressure on, on businesses like Lyft.
Kate: I agree and just to speak, quickly on the scooters; I think the narrative around scooters has been pretty dominated by how cities have forced them out or cities push these strict regulatory barriers on them. And I think that’s still playing out very much. There are even some scooter providers that have had to pull out of cities that they worked very hard to get into in the first place. So I think that has slowed down some of the growth there. And given that Lyft has micromobility as such a key part of their road to profitability, I think that’s partially why I am a little bit skeptical of how that’s gonna play out.
Kirsten: One thing we’ve found, and something to consider for Uber as well, in the future, if any of these AV developers end up, filing for IPOs on their own — there’s been chit chat about Waymo someday doing that or GM cruise someday— the implications for all of these companies and their relationship with cities should not be ignored or undervalued.
And I think you see a bit of that playing out with the present day track we have, which is the ride-hailing scooters and bike share cities and transit agencies or the DOT of different counties finding that they are in a more powerful position than they’ve ever been before. And they are exerting that power.
And so you will see instances like Los Angeles where they have put forth a mandatory data sharing component if you want to operate in their city. This raises some privacy concerns by the way, but it also adds another cost to a company or certainly forces them to look at their business a little bit differently.
Then you start talking about AVs and where are they will operate, how they will operate, where are they will park, what type of vehicle will be allowed in the urban center. In places like Europe, there are strict emissions rules, so that’s going to go to an AV or hybrid profile. And it’s important to think about what that regulatory framework might be and acknowledge the fact that it’s really a mishmash.
There are voluntary guidelines on the federal level right now, but there were no mandates. And so it’s really left up to the cities, counties and states to decide how an AV might be deployed. It’s going to mean probably more lobbyists in DC working with federal folks to ensure that their business doesn’t get hamstrung as a result as well as more of a presence in those cities and states and counties.
But Kate, I’m wondering what is your view from a startup perspective? Do you think of Lyft as a startup anymore are they acting like a startup or are they acting like a company that could handle all of these different complicated, various challenges? I mean, we’ve got pricing pressure, regulatory pressure or you’ve got AV development, opportunities with scooters and all this other stuff. So are they acting like a company that is able to handle this?
Image via Getty Images / Jeff Swensen
Kate: That’s an interesting question. I mean, they’re definitely not a startup anymore by, by anybody’s definition. You maybe could have still used that word, if they were still private, but even then, I know many people would yell at you for using that term for a company worth $15 billion. But now it’s a public company. It’s not a startup. I don’t think they’re acting like a startup, no. I think that they are mature in the way that they’re handling all of these different, so-called paths to profitability.
But we need to wait and see. Let’s see how this year goes, let’s see how they handle all the criticism that they’re going to undoubtedly take from Wall Street or from everyone who’s either interested in buying or just taking a seat and watching how the stock favors and then we’ll know what kind of lessons they took from all those years as a private company. Then we can decide if their behavior is really that of a mature public company.
Kirsten: I do want to make one point that I think is an interesting one on Lyft’s strategy versus Uber is in terms of AVs. Let’s all put a big asterisk that says no, AVs are still a ways out. It is important to note the Lyft and Uber’s strategies for AVs are wildly different and Uber does not take this dual approach. Uber is throwing a ton of capital towards developing their own, self-driving stack and also they’ve done, some acquisitions as well.
They’ve also had quite a bit of trouble. Last year Uber had the first self-driving vehicle fatality that happened in Tempe, Arizona, which looked like it was going to derail their self-driving unit, but it did not. They’re back, testing in a very limited way, but Lyft’s is all about what they call the democratization of autonomous vehicles.
And we can look at that as marketing speech, but I do think that it’s important to look at those words because it shows what their business model is. Their business model is partnerships, alliances, opening up the platform and casting the widest net possible. What I’m very interested to find out is which approach will end up being the winner. It’s going to be a very long game. It’s not going to be anything that’s going to be determined in the next year. I think what Lyft’s proven is that when they look like they’re down and out, they come back.
We’ll see what the better approach is. Do you do everything in-house and launch your own robo-taxi service? Or take capital partners on or do the Lyft approach, with multiple partners? Are partnerships actually too complicated? As someone who covers the startup world, do you have a thought on which one might work or not?
Kate: I have no idea which will work better and I’m sort of excited to see where this all goes, especially as Uber and Lyft are now going to be public.
That’s a good spot to end the call on.
Kirsten: Thanks so much for joining. Thanks again for being Extra Crunch subscribers, we really appreciate it. Bye everyone.
source https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/06/dissecting-lyfts-ipo-uber-scooters-autonomous-vehicles-and-the-future-of-mobility/
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Dissecting what Lyft’s IPO means for Uber and the future of mobility
Extra Crunch offers members the opportunity to tune into conference calls led and moderated by the TechCrunch writers you read every day. This week, TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec and Kate Clark led a deep-dive discussion into Lyft’s IPO and the outlook for the business going forward.
After skyrocketing nearly 10% on its first day hitting the public markets, Lyft stock has faded back down towards its IPO price as some investors grow more concerned over the company’s path to profitability (or lack thereof) and the long-term fundamentals of the business. But Lyft’s public listing is bigger than just the latest in increasingly common unicorn IPOs. As the first public “transportation-as-a-service” company, Lyft offers the first inside glimpse into the business model and its economics, and its development may ultimately act as the canary in the coal mine for the future of transportation.
“Lyft, hasn’t just survived, they’ve grown. 18.6 million people took at least one ride in the last quarter of 2018. That’s up from 16.6 million in late-2016. That illustrates the growth that the company has had. They’ve also said that they have 39% share of the ride-sharing market in the US. That’s up from 22% in 2016.
To me, the big question is let’s say they had Uber’s share, which is 66%, would they be able to make a profit? Is that the determination? And I’m not convinced that it is, which is why all these other aspects of the transportation-as-a-service business model [micromobility, AVs, etc.] are going to be really important.”
Image via Getty Images / Mario Tama
Kirsten and Kate dive deeper into what the market response to Lyft means for Uber and the timeline for its impending IPO. The two also elaborate on their skepticism of ride-hailing economics and debate which innovative transportation model will ultimately drive the path to profitability for Lyft, Uber and others.
For access to the full transcription and the call audio, and for the opportunity to participate in future conference calls, become a member of Extra Crunch. Learn more and try it for free. 
Danny Crichton: Good afternoon and good morning everyone this is Danny Crichton, executive editor of Extra Crunch. Thanks so much for joining us today with TechCrunch reporters Kate and Kirsten.
I’ll start with a quick introduction for our two writers today. We have Kate Clark, our venture capital reporter. Kate has been with us for a while now covering everything in the startup and venture world. She’s also one of the hosts of TechCrunch’s podcast Equity and also writes our Startups Weekly newsletter.
Our other writer today is Kirsten, our intrepid automotive writer covering all things Elon Musk, Tesla, and everything else in the autonomous vehicle space. Kirsten has also been with us for quite some time and also writes a newsletter that she just introduced in the last couple of weeks, around transportation. So with that, I’m going to hand off the conversation to the two of them now.
Kirsten Korosec: Thanks so much Danny. This is Kirsten Korosec here. The newsletter is in a bit of a soft launch but it is being published Fridays and we hope to have an email subscription coming sometime in the future, so just keep an eye out for that.
I should also mention I too have a podcast centered around autonomous vehicles and future transportation called The Autonocast that comes out weekly. Thanks so much for joining the call and just a reminder, we want participation. So at about the halfway point, we’ll turn and open up the line and answer questions. Let’s get started.
Before we dig into all the hot takes out there, I think it’s worth providing a primer of sorts — a general timeline of events. We all probably know Lyft of course and most of us think of 2012 as the launch date when it came to San Francisco, but really Lyft was build out of the service of Zimride. Which is the ride-sharing company that John Zimmer and Logan Green founded in 2007.
A lot of attention has been placed on Lyft in 2018 with what happened in the past year, in the run-up to the IPO. But I think it is worth noting the intense activity and growth that happened between 2014 and 2016. These are critically important years for Lyft, just a frenzy of activity in a period where the company gained ground, investors, and partners.
To showcase the amount of activity that was happening; Lyft had two separate funding rounds, one for $530 million another for $150 million, just two months apart in 2015. You might also recall in early-2016 its partnership with GM and the automakers’ $500 million dollar investment as part of the Series F $1 billion dollar fundraising effort.
That was really interesting because GM’s president at the time Dan Ammann took a seat on the board, which he has since vacated. As Lyft and GM started realizing that they were competitors. Now, Dan is the CEO of GM Cruise which is the self-driving unit of GM.
2017 and 2018 were also big years, as Lyft launched their first international market in Toronto. They made big moves on the autonomous vehicle front, which we’ll talk about today, and in micromobility. Their scooter business launched in Denver in 2018. They bought Motivate, which is the oldest and largest electric bike share company in North America. Then, we finally get to the end of 2018, and this is when Lyft confidentially files a statement with the FDC and we’re off with the races to the IPO.
The last two months or three months is when Lyft unveiled its prospectus, met with investors, priced its IPO and made its public debut. So Kate what are the nuts and bolts of the IPO and what’s happening right now?
Kate Clark: Hi everybody this is Kate. So I’m just going to mention really quickly the timeline these last couple of months in the run-up to Lyft’s highly historical IPO. So going back to December, that’s when Lyft initially filed confidentially to go public. We later find out that they are going public on the NASDAQ when they eventually unveiled their S1 in early March.
This is after Lyft had raised $5 billion in debt and equity funding at a $15 billion dollar valuation, so there are a lot of people paying attention to what was the first ever rideshare IPO. So then in early-March, we’re able to get a closer look at Lyft’s S1, which tells us that the company has $911 million in losses in 2018 and revenues of $2.2 billion. So after calculating and pulling together some data, a lot of people were quick to find out that that means Lyft has some of the largest losses ever for any IPO. But also has some of the largest revenues ever for any pre-IPO company, just following Google and Facebook in that category.
So this is a really interesting IPO for a lot of people given these sky-high losses but also these huge, huge revenues. The next we see Lyft price their IPO between $62 and $68 dollars a share. Some people were quick to say that that was maybe a little underpriced, given that this was a highly anticipated IPO with a ton of demand. So on the second day of Lyft’s roadshow, the process, they say that their IPO is oversubscribed. So demand is apparently huge, their oversubscribed, so they decide we’re going to increase the price of our shares.
Image via GettyImages / maybefalse
So Lyft then says they gonna charge a max of $72 per share and then on the day of their IPO they charge $72 per share, the next day opening at $87 per share. So we see a huge IPO pop that I don’t think was particularly surprising given that they already spoke of this demand, and we had already known that there was a lot of demand on Wall Street. Not just for Lyft but just for unicorn IPO’s of this stature, given that there are so few of these. So Lyft began trading hitting $87 per share though, if you’ve been following the news that’s not were Lyft is today.
Kirsten: Yeah so I was just about to ask — Kate give me the latest numbers, you know a lot of focus is on that opening day but things haven’t exactly sustained. So what’s happened in the past few days?
Kate: Yeah it’s really tough to manage expectations after an IPO. I mean, I think there has been a lot of criticism towards Lyft now and I think it’s trading below its initial share price. So as I mentioned Lyft opened at $87 per share, it priced at $72, but almost immediately they began trading below that $72 price per share. So they closed Tuesday trading at $68.96 per share. Still boasting a market cap larger than $19 billion. So they’re still significantly valued at more than they were as a private company at $15 billion but it doesn’t look good to be trading below a price per share so quickly.
However, it actually did hit its IPO price for just a minute today, so maybe let’s give it a few more hours and see where it closes. It’s possible that it will sort of jump towards that $72, but it’s still trading quite significantly below that $87.
Kirsten: With IPOs like this, and especially such a high profile one, there’s going to be a ton of attention on share price and on volatility. And so I’m wondering, in your view, what did this first week, or first few days of volatility say to you? What does it say about Lyft’s future and, well certainly, its present?
Kate: Yeah. I mean, it’s hard to say. I think a lot of people were questioning if Wall Street was going to be interested in a company like Lyft that’s extremely unprofitable at this time and has years left before it will reach profitability, if indeed it ever reaches profitability.
So at this point you got to wonder, do some of these investors that did buy Lyft right off the bat, were they really long on Lyft? Because it does look like a lot of those investors have already sold their stock and perhaps weren’t as invested in Lyft’s long-term profitability plan, which involves a lot of very iffy things, like the future of autonomous vehicles, which we’ll talk about later in this call. And there’s a lot of uncertainty there.
But with that said, it’s not uncommon for a stock to experience volatility right off the bat, and you can’t assume the future of that stock price just because of some early volatility.
And we gathered some examples of IPOs where there was some early volatility that did not determine the long term future. So Carvana, for example, which is an online used car dealer in the automotive space, and it did experience volatility at first, with the stock sliding in the first few months but ultimately trended upward.
Kate: So Carvana opened at $13.50 a share, falling below its IPO price, so it didn’t even have the IPO pop. And then in 2018, it hit an all-time high of $65 per share. Today, it’s trading around $58 per share, so that’s ultimately a positive story to be told there.
And then another example on the other side of things is Snap, which actually took four months to dip beneath its 2017 IPO price, and we all know Snap has definitely not been a success story and it’s trading well below its offer price. But then finally, Facebook, for example, dropped below its IPO price on its second day of trading and then actually had a rough first year on the stock market before the stock ultimately took off and became a very obvious success.
Kirsten: So, Kate, I’m wondering why you think that there was that initial run up on that first day. Was it excitement? Was there something material that was pushing the price up? What was the cause?
Kate: I think there was a lot of excitement and demand around this IPO because it was very much one-of-a-kind, and there were a lot of investors that it seemed were really long on the possibility of Lyft becoming this hugely profitable company. And I think a lot of that was because in the S1, although you did see these really, really big losses — quite major, just ridiculously huge losses — you did see that they were shrinking over time and that there was definitely a path in which Lyft could take where it would reach profitability, say, in the next five years.
And I think Wall Street was really paying attention to that, and they were not paying attention to some of the other metrics. Now, they’ve taken off their rose-colored glasses and they’re looking at Lyft as a public company, and it’s just a little bit different now that it’s actually completed its debut.
Kirsten: Well, so, I mean, I like to view IPOs often times, and especially in Lyft’s case, as a measure of an investors’ faith in the company’s growth prospects, because this is a company that while it does have quite a bit of revenue, it has significant losses and it’s really planning not just for the present day but for the future. It’s been called a disruptive business for a reason, and it is certainly very forward-looking. So I’m wondering if you think it was a good strategy for Lyft. They wanted to open it up to “the everyman” when they actually went to market. They did a different approach, and do you think this might have had an effect? I mean, it’s very on-brand for them to do this, but I’m wondering if you thought that means that some of the investors aren’t as disciplined.
Kate: Do you mean with the fact they were providing bonuses to their employees and drivers to actually participate in the IPO as well?
Kirsten: Absolutely. That’s actually a really good point that maybe you can elaborate on. Lyft did a little bit of a more open approach for its IPO. Typically IPOs can be closed off to only large, institutional investors. So did this set them up perhaps to have more volatility?
Kate: Yeah, Lyft provided some of their drivers up to, I think, $10,000 to, in theory, actually buy stock in the IPO. Do I think that had a high impact? I don’t know. I think there’s not enough comparison, not enough data to really make a decision or to make a hot take on whether that really was part of the volatility. I think just given the uncertain nature of Lyft’s future and their big losses, I think their volatility was pretty inevitable, and I think people paying attention to this are probably not particularly surprised by how the stock has fared in these first couple days.
And I do want to add there’s this six-month lock-up period for the venture capital funds that own Lyft and as well as their employees, so I think we’re not sure what’s going to happen when that lock-up period ends and those holders can just sell their stock right then or how that will impact the stock price, as well.
Image via TechCrunch/MRD
Kirsten: So something to keep an eye on. It reminds me a lot of a company I write a lot about, which is Tesla, and I’ve been covering them for years. And it’s one of the most volatile stocks, and their investors, they certainly have large, institutional investors, but the number of fanboys that they have with smaller investors, either prop up the share price sometimes or add to that volatility, and I’m kind of really curious to see if that happens with Lyft. If you go to a shareholder meeting at Tesla, for example, it’s filled with people who are passionate about the brand and its CEO, Elon Musk.
And Lyft and possibly Uber, if they end up finally going through with their IPO, you can see that potentially happening because people feel very strongly about the brand and also the service it provides. So I’m curious to see how this all sort of shakes out. And I tend to take the view that I invest personally in mutual funds and things like that. I don’t invest in any of these companies, but the long, patient view tends to be the better one, and trying to catch a falling knife, as investors have told me, is never really a good idea.
So I’m curious to see if investors sort of grow up and learn with Lyft, if they’ll become disciplined and just sort of wait it out and see them play out the growth prospects for the company in the long term. So, we’ve been talking about Lyft and I can’t not talk about Uber as a result. I’m wondering what you think this might mean for Uber. The big story initially was let’s beat Uber to IPO and I’m wondering what this means then. Is this indicative of what Uber is going to experience?
Kate: I think that question is really at the top of everyone’s mind right now, including my own. I will say that I still do think it was highly beneficial for Lyft to get out first. Because imagine if and when Uber does too experience volatility, which it probably will, if it were to have gone first, I think that would have frightened Lyft a lot more than Lyft’s volatility may or may not be frightening Uber. So, with that said, I think I’m of two minds right now with my thoughts on how this impacts Uber’s IPO. I think that if Lyft stock continues to be volatile and perhaps even falls lower than it already has. I do think that there is a chance Uber may ultimately decide to push its IPO back.
I think that for a few reasons, namely being that Uber is not in a huge rush to go public. They do have the ability to wait. They have filed to go public. So it’s likely to happen quite soon, but it may not happen in April as they are reportedly planning to do.
On the other hand, Lyft went public at like a $24 or $25 billion dollar market cap. Whereas Uber is going to debut at maybe a $120 billion dollar initial market cap. So these IPOs, although they are both ride hail IPOs and they are very similar companies in a lot of ways, they’re also very different and Uber is operating on an entirely different scale though it still is unprofitable. And has some of the same issues that, investors are probably noting about Lyft.
I think it’s either going to be that it’s maybe that they do decide to push it back or maybe that Uber is like, well we’re five times larger, six times larger. We have much larger statistics to show to investors. There’s just a chance it could go either way. I wish I had a better, more concrete answer, but I just don’t think we know yet.
Kirsten: Well I’m okay with not taking hot takes just a few days into this IPO. I think this is a good time to open it up to questions. While we wait for a question, I will do one quick follow up with you Kate. What do you think this means for Uber? Will it delay its IPO?
Kate: Right now, no, I don’t think they’re going to. But it’s like I said, it’s tough to say given that it’s only been a few days of Lyfts IPO. But no, I think you’ve got to imagine that they are ready to discuss the possibilities of Lyfts IPO and already planned ahead if there was volatility. They maybe already assumed that would happen, given that that’s not uncommon. So right now I’m going to say no, I don’t think they’re going to delay, but it’s certainly still a possibility.
Kirsten: Okay, great. I think another really interesting piece for Uber was their acquisition of Careem. This is a deal that was made right before their IPO, so it was shifting attention away from Lyft, just for a moment.
Why did Uber do this? Is this not a signal that they’re delaying their IPO? Is this just prepping for it? What are you hearing on it? I’m wondering if this might have just been a strategy to show the world investors, specifically potential shareholders, what the road ahead is going to look like. Or is it some other reason — Is it to justify their really big losses?
Image via Careem / Facebook
Kate: I think it’s the latter two things you said.  Just to give some background Uber is paying about $3.1 billion to acquire Careem, which is a Middle Eastern ride-hailing company. So basically just the Uber of the Middle East. Uber does have a history of acquiring, smaller competitors like this in different markets where it’s not active, just as a way for Uber to quickly grow essentially.
So I do think it’s a big deal to make just before going public. So I guess we don’t know if they necessarily will go public in April, but I think it was a move to present to public market investors as a prep for an IPO, to show “we just acquired this company, here’s more evidence of future growth”. Like you mentioned, it’s definitely a justification of those huge losses that we know Uber has.
Kirsten: Thanks for that. Questions?
Caller Question: Hi there, so when we talk about looking ahead and moving towards profitability — what role, if any, do you think the acquisition of a scooter or other mobility companies will have for companies like Lyft and Uber?
Kirsten: That’s a great question. I think it’s going to be a huge piece of both of their businesses. A lot of people describe this as the first ride-hailing IPO. We need to stop calling this a ride-hailing company. These are transportation-as-a-service companies and they’re making money. But generating revenue as opposed to making profit is a totally different thing. When you start talking about ridesharing, it’s a tough business. With those it’s an asset-light business, right? They don’t own the cars and then they technically don’t employ these drivers.
But at the same time, as of 2016 only something like 1% of people in the US were using rideshare. So you see this opportunity, but they’re not pushing forward. There is a ton of car ownership still that’s happening. Yes, sharing has absolutely increased, but 17 million new cars were sold in the US last year. So scooters, bike share and other businesses are going to be key to their paths to profitability because ride-sharing alone is just difficult to make a profit. It’s not difficult to generate revenue. It’s difficult to make a profit on.
And I’m wondering, talking about that road to profitability, I do think it’s worth noting how much they have grown. Lyft, hasn’t just survived, they’ve grown. 18.6 million people took at least one ride in the last quarter of 2018. That’s up from 16.6 million in late 2016, that illustrates the growth that the company has had.
They’ve also said that they have 39% share of the ride-sharing market in the US. That’s up from 22% in 2016. To me, the big question is let’s say they had Uber’s share, which is 66%, would they be able to make a profit? Is that the determination? And I’m not convinced that it is, which is why all these other aspects of the transportation-as-a-service business model are going to be really important.
Kate: I think what you pointed out is important, about Lyft and Uber both becoming transportation businesses, not ride-hailing companies and I think their long-term visions involve scooters, bikes, autonomous vehicles, all sorts of different models of transportation beyond just car sharing.
Kirsten: I hate to be wishy-washy here and say, I don’t know, but I do really think that it’s going to come down to a variety of items all coming together. It’s just not going to be enough for Lyft to scale up its ride-hailing business. And I should point out that Uber should be treated in some ways the same way, but there are some distinct differences. But it’s important for us to think of Lyft as a transportation-as-a-service business. I mean they say in their prospectus that transportation is a massive market opportunity. The hard part of course is turning that into a profit. There might be opportunity there.
So there’s this asset-light business that they have right now, which is the ride-hailing, but then they are making acquisitions in the micromobility space and that is going to become more capital intensive. And that’s going to force them to change their business. And then there’s the autonomous vehicle piece. And then finally, I actually think that one of the pieces of their S1 that has really not received much attention at all is what they’re pursuing in terms of public transportation. And they have said that they, and Uber, intend on being a piece of the public transit ecosystem.
Now that doesn’t mean that they’re going to necessarily be operating buses, but there are people that I’ve talked to in the industry who actually feel like, in Uber’s case, they want to control every mode of transportation. For Lyft, I see them seeing more of the opportunity financially with the data piece and becoming more of a platform and becoming that one-stop shop where you use an app to figure out if you want to use the scooter or a bike, or ride-hailing or buy that ticket for the L in Chicago or the Bart System.
So I really think that the public transit piece often gets ignored and cities are having so much more control now and weighing in. We see this in New York City with congestion pricing. It’s going to force Lyft and Uber to take advantage of these opportunities and use their platform in a way that perhaps accelerates faster than they had intended.
Kate: I’m very interested in the public transportation element, but I’m also very skeptical of the scooters and bikes in the future for Lyft, I think, given the unit economics, I certainly wouldn’t rely on them to be Lyft’s path to profitability. I think autonomous vehicles are a much more interesting path towards profitability. So a lot of companies, Uber, Lyft, Waymo and more are focusing on autonomous vehicles and their development, whether that be with hardware or software. How does Lyft’s strategy with autonomous vehicles differentiate from some of their competitors or does it does differentiate?
Kirsten: It does differentiate, and the funny thing is, is that so you don’t see micromobility necessarily as the oath to profitability and are interested in AVs and I write about AVs, but I see that AVs as a harder path to profitability in a way because of the nuts and bolts that it takes to develop them.
So just to weigh in really quickly on the micromobility piece and then I’ll move on to AVs; To show the opportunity but also the volatility in a real-world example for micromobility, I was in Austin for South by Southwest, I think you were there too, and you probably saw scooters everywhere, right? 18 months ago there were no scooters or bike share in the city. Then bike share came first.
Image via Flickr / Austin Transportation / https://www.flickr.com/photos/austinmobility/41536051644/in/album-72157669223418248/
And I was talking to that mayor of Austin and one of the folks from Spin, which is a Ford owned business, and they told me something that was really remarkable that I hadn’t thought about, which was that scooters were disrupting the bike share business. So bikes share came in and then scooters came in and all of a sudden they’re pulling bikes off the streets because no one was using them or were not using them at the same level as scooters.
Lyft is going to go through these same exact growing pains and people are figuring out what works. And as you mentioned, the unit economics are an issue, the wear and tear on the scooters alone is driving up costs and driving down revenues certainly, but pretty much making it very difficult to make a profit on it.
But that’s a near term business, right? So it’s at least generating revenue right now. On the other hand, you have this other piece, which is the AV piece. Lyft is doing some really interesting things on the AV piece — they kind of have a two-prong approach.
So they basically created a ton of partnerships to use their platform. So this started a couple of years ago and companies like Aptiv, drive.ai, even Waymo and nuTtonomy, which Aptiv just recently bought about a year ago and GM, and Lyft basically allows developers to use their platform and connect to their autonomous vehicle and offer these rides.
And the best example of this, if you’ve been to CES or if you have been to Las Vegas I should say more specifically, is this partnership that Lyft has with Aptiv — and Aptiv as a tier one supplier, they used to be called Delphi, they spun out, they bought nuTonomy, and they’re Aptiv now. And this is taking Aptiv automated BMW, which are on the Lyft network. If you hail a ride, you might be asked if you want a self-driving car, or “are you okay with a self-driving car?” And they have a safety driver, no humans have been pulled away from it yet. But they provided about 35,000 rides since I want to say January 2018.
Then they’re also doing Level 5, a dedicated self-driving vehicle division that launched in 2017. And here they’re basically creating an open self-driving system or open SDS. On top of that, they have partnered with Magna, an auto parts producer, to develop these self-driving systems that can be manufactured at scale.
And so you just see a rush of partnerships and sort of dual approaches and all of that costs a lot of money. And I can’t emphasize the amount of money that it costs or will cost to develop these systems and deploy them commercially. And I hear from other companies figures like $5 billion to get self-driving vehicles. So developing the full stack, doing fleet management, maintenance, all of that — that’s a lot of money. And, I’m not sure where Lyft, will get that capital, will they get it from the open market or will they have to go and ask for more capital.
Kate: So when do you think then that Lyft will be able to commercialize autonomous vehicles?
Kirsten: The timeline? So depending on who you talk to, you can hear from any of these developers between five years and 30 years. I think it’s important to talk about language and how we talk about autonomous vehicles. So to be clear, there is currently not a single commercial autonomous vehicle deployment where a human being or safety driver has been pulled away from the wheel. It just doesn’t exist.
There are plenty of pilots and Waymo is probably considered the leader in that list, though it is a bit of a confusing one for me because they have so many partnerships and they’ve become competitors to some of those partnerships. The analogy I use is “Survivor,” the reality show. Everyone wants to make these alliances so they don’t get voted off the island.
And now we’re at that point where autonomous vehicle development has entered what we call the trough of disillusionment, which is heads down, “let’s get away from the hype, let’s do the hard work.” And I think we’re going to see a lot of those partnerships and headwinds really come up in the next year, 18 months. So to put a target date on Lyft, it’s really going to depend on which one of those partnerships really play out and are real. I think the one with Aptiv seems the most real to me based on what I know the company is doing and I can see them doing a lot more pilots in the next 18 months.
Does that mean commercial deployment without a human safety driver behind the wheel? I’m not sure I can see a lot more these pilots with a human safety driver expanding beyond Las Vegas. I see pilots happening absolutely in the next year to 18 months. The issue is going to be when is that human safety driver going to be pulled out and with which partner.
Kate: So should we open it up to questions again?
Caller Question: Hi, I was just wondering how we should think about the regulatory risks that might exist as these companies expand to new cities, new markets, or even the public transport use case you mentioned. Thanks.
Kirsten: The regulatory piece is an interesting one. Let’s talk about ride-hailing first. We’ve already seen the regulatory environment, in cities, push back against companies like Uber and Lyft. I think the congestion pricing model that just launched in New York City is going to be one to watch and could be something that will put pressure on, on businesses like Lyft.
Kate: I agree and just to speak, quickly on the scooters; I think the narrative around scooters has been pretty dominated by how cities have forced them out or cities push these strict regulatory barriers on them. And I think that’s still playing out very much. There are even some scooter providers that have had to pull out of cities that they worked very hard to get into in the first place. So I think that has slowed down some of the growth there. And given that Lyft has micromobility as such a key part of their road to profitability, I think that’s partially why I am a little bit skeptical of how that’s gonna play out.
Kirsten: One thing we’ve found, and something to consider for Uber as well, in the future, if any of these AV developers end up, filing for IPOs on their own — there’s been chit chat about Waymo someday doing that or GM cruise someday— the implications for all of these companies and their relationship with cities should not be ignored or undervalued.
And I think you see a bit of that playing out with the present day track we have, which is the ride-hailing scooters and bike share cities and transit agencies or the DOT of different counties finding that they are in a more powerful position than they’ve ever been before. And they are exerting that power.
And so you will see instances like Los Angeles where they have put forth a mandatory data sharing component if you want to operate in their city. This raises some privacy concerns by the way, but it also adds another cost to a company or certainly forces them to look at their business a little bit differently.
Then you start talking about AVs and where are they will operate, how they will operate, where are they will park, what type of vehicle will be allowed in the urban center. In places like Europe, there are strict emissions rules, so that’s going to go to an AV or hybrid profile. And it’s important to think about what that regulatory framework might be and acknowledge the fact that it’s really a mishmash.
There are voluntary guidelines on the federal level right now, but there were no mandates. And so it’s really left up to the cities, counties and states to decide how an AV might be deployed. It’s going to mean probably more lobbyists in DC working with federal folks to ensure that their business doesn’t get hamstrung as a result as well as more of a presence in those cities and states and counties.
But Kate, I’m wondering what is your view from a startup perspective? Do you think of Lyft as a startup anymore are they acting like a startup or are they acting like a company that could handle all of these different complicated, various challenges? I mean, we’ve got pricing pressure, regulatory pressure or you’ve got AV development, opportunities with scooters and all this other stuff. So are they acting like a company that is able to handle this?
Image via Getty Images / Jeff Swensen
Kate: That’s an interesting question. I mean, they’re definitely not a startup anymore by, by anybody’s definition. You maybe could have still used that word, if they were still private, but even then, I know many people would yell at you for using that term for a company worth $15 billion. But now it’s a public company. It’s not a startup. I don’t think they’re acting like a startup, no. I think that they are mature in the way that they’re handling all of these different, so-called paths to profitability.
But we need to wait and see. Let’s see how this year goes, let’s see how they handle all the criticism that they’re going to undoubtedly take from Wall Street or from everyone who’s either interested in buying or just taking a seat and watching how the stock favors and then we’ll know what kind of lessons they took from all those years as a private company. Then we can decide if their behavior is really that of a mature public company.
Kirsten: I do want to make one point that I think is an interesting one on Lyft’s strategy versus Uber is in terms of AVs. Let’s all put a big asterisk that says no, AVs are still a ways out. It is important to note the Lyft and Uber’s strategies for AVs are wildly different and Uber does not take this dual approach. Uber is throwing a ton of capital towards developing their own, self-driving stack and also they’ve done, some acquisitions as well.
They’ve also had quite a bit of trouble. Last year Uber had the first self-driving vehicle fatality that happened in Tempe, Arizona, which looked like it was going to derail their self-driving unit, but it did not. They’re back, testing in a very limited way, but Lyft’s is all about what they call the democratization of autonomous vehicles.
And we can look at that as marketing speech, but I do think that it’s important to look at those words because it shows what their business model is. Their business model is partnerships, alliances, opening up the platform and casting the widest net possible. What I’m very interested to find out is which approach will end up being the winner. It’s going to be a very long game. It’s not going to be anything that’s going to be determined in the next year. I think what Lyft’s proven is that when they look like they’re down and out, they come back.
We’ll see what the better approach is. Do you do everything in-house and launch your own robo-taxi service? Or take capital partners on or do the Lyft approach, with multiple partners? Are partnerships actually too complicated? As someone who covers the startup world, do you have a thought on which one might work or not?
Kate: I have no idea which will work better and I’m sort of excited to see where this all goes, especially as Uber and Lyft are now going to be public.
That’s a good spot to end the call on.
Kirsten: Thanks so much for joining. Thanks again for being Extra Crunch subscribers, we really appreciate it. Bye everyone.
Via Arman Tabatabai https://techcrunch.com
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themusicenthusiast · 7 years
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Album Review: ‘Asking Alexandria’ by Asking Alexandria
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More than just a band, Asking Alexandria has been a perpetually evolving collective, something that has arguably made them one of the biggest powerhouse acts of the modern music era. Few bands can say they’ve embraced change as strongly as they have, the members of Asking Alexandria keeping everything fluid as they matured and progressed, expanding upon their core sound with each album they released. And in the process, they asserted more dominance and became a more powerful – and chart-topping - figure. Of course, such success usually comes with its fair share of hardships; and everyone, even those just somewhat familiar with the group, know of Danny Worsnop’s departure from and subsequent (and somewhat surprising) reconciliation with Asking Alexandria. As jarring as it was for fans and even the musicians themselves, perhaps that split was the best thing that could have happened to Asking Alexandria. Perhaps those paths needed to diverge for a time in order for Ben Bruce, James Cassells, Cameron Liddell and Sam Bettley and Worsnop to all experience a different journey, one where they could pursue what they needed to in that moment before reconvening with a new-found respect and appreciation for what they had together. Their fifth studio album (released via Sumerian Records) – aptly self-titled – that was released in the final weeks of 2017 would seem to suggest as much. Asking Alexandria’s most encompassing work to date, it covers a staggering amount of ground, at times honoring where they came from, while also capturing its full potential and using it to usher in a bold new era, revitalizing things for years to come.
One of the greatest attributes that some of the songs possess is how introspective they are, something demonstrated right off the bat with the lead song, “Alone in a Room”. It begins Asking Alexandria in such epic fashion; the opening line, “I've been away a little while…” being so much more when taken out of context, such as a slick way for Worsnop to address his absence. That’s just scratching the surface of the full magnitude of “Alone in a Room”, though. The track details a person losing themselves, devising different coping mechanisms as a means to just get by and the dependencies that follow. It’s about confronting those demons along with one’s own faults and shortcomings, doing one of the hardest things possible: having a personal reckoning. “…All I needed was the last thing I wanted: to be alone in a room. Alone in a room,” ends each chorus, the reservations and even fear ever present as Worsnop snarls and sings. A full throttle alt-rock song, it’s a far cry from the bands point of origin, but is no less exhilarating. In its own right it’s even a heavy, aggressive song; Cassells hammering out some robust beats when it moves away from the melodic moments. An incredible introduction to this latest chapter in the saga that is Asking Alexandria, that lead track gets the album off to a sensational start. Initially released as the second single from the record, “Where Did it Go?” stands as one of, if not the strongest offering from this fifth album. A cutting-edge song, it sounds fresh and completely new, further demonstrating the versatility that Bruce, Worsnop, Cassells, Liddell and Bettley are capable of. The ebb and flow of it is brilliant, literally going from one extreme to another as the track utilizes some electronic/programming elements, splicing it with the sheer force that hard rock and metal provide. It’s daring and dangerous; the guitars, bass and drums culminating in a thrash-y sound on the choruses, echoing back to their earlier days. It would be remiss to not mention the singing style as well, Worsnop keeping it quite rhythmic, particularly on the verses. It’s nowhere near being a full-blown rap, though it is akin to that. Offbeat as that may sound on paper for Asking Alexandria, it sounds splendid and just hammers home one of the points that the track makes. Rockstar bravado and swagger seeps forth from the song that is an overview of the bands’ career, calling out the copycats and impersonators that have attempted to follow in their footsteps, Asking Alexandria just reaffirming they’re the same groundbreaking outfit they’ve always been. Two of the most surprising numbers on the album come in quick succession, “Under Denver” again breaking a mold. Somewhat ambient at times, the hopeful song that comes across as being about rebuilding and making a better society almost feels like a lullaby. At least that’s the case on the verses, before it gets kicked into high gear, the track still boasting some explosive moments that give it a serious bite. “Vultures”, however, does not. At least not in the traditional sense. The rare acoustic song from the band who is known for everything but, it stands as a phenomenal and gorgeous number that is, arguably, their most impressive piece of work to date. Some subtle percussion ultimately being worked in to give the song more body, it primarily just relies on the acoustic guitars and is guided by an absolutely breathtaking vocal performance from Worsnop. “Vultures” acts as a vessel for him to demonstrate just what he is capable of in terms of the heights he can push his voice to as well as the overwhelming emotion he can pack into his delivery. That’s the most stunning quality about that number. As it delves into the dark side of the music industry, the forces in charge demanding more and more from the people whose careers they are shaping and how empty that can leave a person, you can tell Worsnop is completely and personally invested in it. Packing every fiber of his being into his performance, he makes it honest and raw, fitting with the depiction of someone who has grown so used to doing what is expected of them that they’ve lost sight of who they are as an individual. Channeling anger, sorrow, despair and frustration, “Vultures” stands a definitive point of Asking Alexandria. Coming straight out of left field is “Eve”. Out of the dozen songs that comprise this latest record it is the one with the most prominent ties to their metalcore days. Worsnop may have moved beyond screaming, though it is nice to hear him venture back to it, the guttural way he bellows out the verses having a venomous touch to it; the instruments creating something that’s wildly chaotic in the best possible way. Even then it zigs and zags, throwing some curveballs at the listener as it evolves into a heavy but melodic number, further showcasing how well-rounded Asking Alexandria is aspiring to be. While continuing to forge new ground, they’re not beyond revisiting where they’ve been, and in instances such as this, by combining the various aspects, it yields something else that is totally new. As Asking Alexandria reaches its conclusion, it comes full circle in the most poetic way possible. In a sense it ends where it began, all alone in a room, though “Room 138” finds Worsnop depicting one of the worst days of his life. Still, in a sense it is about confronting the worst aspects of oneself; a period of substance abuse bringing him to the precipice of death before, fortunately and miraculously, getting a second chance. Musically, it’s done in a fashion similar to that of “Eve”, extreme and pulse pounding at times, it hammers home the emotions being depicted, while the chorus, "So, these are the walls that have to hold this moment. I never expected to be here again..." is catchy as can be. Hard rock tinged with metal influences, it also draws on some mainstream sensibilities in regards to the overall appeal, again resulting in something different, while bringing the record to a dynamic finish. In the end, Asking Alexandria finds Asking Alexandria completely redefining what they are. Really, the enthralling listening experience seems to serve as a reintroduction, because this release does act as a new beginning for the now ten-year old project. Bruce, Bettley, Liddell, Cassells and Worsnop all got the time apart that they needed, and as relatively brief as it may have been it allowed them to all grow exponentially and realize what the best course of action would be when moving forward. In a way it was the same as it had always been for them, though this time the reinvention has been much more dramatic, adding significantly to their wheelhouse. It doesn’t even stop there, though. With these dozen songs Asking Alexandria has created something genre bending and on some levels even groundbreaking. Rock, alternative and hard rock. Metal, metalcore and post-hardcore. It’s all represented in one form or another. Let’s not forget the melodic and even acoustic tendencies, nor the electronic contributions, all of which further flesh out this amazing batch of songs. The fact that so many of those styles often exist within the same song is what makes it so fascinating. In theory, the combinations and transitions between such vast spots on the musical spectrum shouldn’t even work, yet they’ve made it all feel so fluid; the record as a whole having a remarkably cohesive vibe. Brimming with energy and filled with some of the most emotional and passionate songs they’ve written to date, Asking Alexandria is a riveting listen from start to finish. It’s one of those rare records you want to listen to all the way through. And when it’s over, you’ll probably give it another spin… or two. Their most creative and invigorating record to date, Asking Alexandria proves these guys continue to be ahead of the curve, implementing ideas that few would have the guts to. It has led to a new gold standard for the band. That’s how, in due time, this album will come to be viewed; their future as a band seeming brighter now than it has ever been. Purchase Asking Alexandria on: iTunes | Google Play | Amazon MP3 Visit Asking Alexandria’s websites: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Dallas Show Info: Friday, February 16th at Gas Monkey Live in Dallas, Texas. All ages. Doors open at 5:30. Music begins at 6:30. Crown The Empire will open, with Black Veil Brides and Asking Alexandria co-headlining. $32.50+ Current Shows: 2018 February 7--The NorVa--Norfolk, VA 8--Terminal 5--New York, NY 9--Rams Head Live--Baltimore, MD 10-- Electric Factory--Philadelphia, PA 12--Tabernacle--Atlanta, GA 13--Marathon Music Works--Nashville, TN 14--Egyptian Room at Old National Centre--Indianapolis, IN 16--Gas Monkey Live--Dallas, TX 17--House Of Blues--Houston, TX 19--El Rey Theater--Albuquerque, NM 20--The Marquee--Tempe, AZ 22--Knitting Factory Concert House--Boise, ID 23--Roseland Theater--Portland, OR 24--Showbox SoDo--Seattle, WA 25--Vogue Theatre--Vancouver, Canada 27--Knitting Factory Concert House--Spokane, WA March 1--The Warfield Theatre--San Francisco, CA 2--House of Blues--Las Vegas, NV April 28--Welcome To Rockville--Jacksonville, FL May 5--Charlotte Motor Speedway--Concord, NC 12--Northern Invasion--Somerset, WI 18--Mapfre Stadium--Columbus, OH June 1--Rock am Ring--Nürburg, Germany 1--Rock Im Park--Nürnberg, Germany 4--TivoliVredenburg--Utrecht, Netherlands 6--Circolo Magnolia--Milano, Italy 7--Greenfield Festival--Interlaken, Switzerland 8--Donington Park--Derby, United Kingdom 12--Melkweg--Amsterdam, Netherlands 14--Pannonia Fields--Nickelsdorf, Austria 14--With Full Force--Gräfenhainichen, Germany 17--Forum Karlin--Prague, Czech Republic 18--Budapest Park--Budapest, Hungary 19--Event Center--Hohenems, Austria 21--Graspop Metal Meeting--Dessel, Belgium 22--Hellfest--Clisson, France 26--Markthalle--Hamburg (Altstadt), Germany 28--Provinssi Festival--Seinäjoki, Finland 30--Vainstream Rockfest--Münster, Germany
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