#just filed for digital art retirement

[alienpussycat]

Werewolf x vampire girlfriends. Went back to my painting roots for this one, I think I’ll stick to cel shading in the future

Might re-upload If I think the quality looks really bad X

[parksaversnews]

Universal Studios Unveils Potential Name for New Nighttime Spectacular!

Universal Studios has recently filed a trademark application that may have revealed the name for its upcoming nighttime show at Universal Studios Florida. The new filing, titled "CINESATIONAL: A Symphonic Spectacular," hints at an immersive and cinematic experience that promises to dazzle guests with a symphony of sights and sounds. This comes close to the recent teaser announcement made for the upcoming Epic Universe!

The Trademark Filing

On March 20, 2024, Universal City Studios LLC filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the mark "CINESATIONAL: A Symphonic Spectacular." The application covers various goods and services related to entertainment, including: - Entertainment services in the nature of a dramatic television series. - Entertainment services in the nature of an animated television series; providing online non-downloadable video clips and other multimedia digital content containing audio, video, artwork, and text. - Organizing and conducting entertainment events in the nature of cultural and arts events, food festivals, food tastings, food tastings at catering and food truck events, and social entertainment events. - Entertainment services in the nature of conducting exhibitions and conventions concerning television and television shows. - Providing interactive, experiential, and immersive audience participation events and recreational activities for social entertainment purposes, such as drive-in and walk-through interactive special events in the field of motion pictures and television shows. - Restaurant services, including providing pizza, food, and beverages for consumption on or off the premises, as well as take-out and mobile food truck services The broad range of goods and services covered in the trademark application suggests that Universal Studios may be planning a comprehensive and immersive experience that extends beyond just a nighttime show. First released by, "Alicia Stella" on X, the patent also includes a work mark for, "Universal Mega Movie Parade" along with a graphic! https://twitter.com/AliciaStella/status/1772041054750908641?ref_src=twsrctfwtwcamptweetembedtwterm1772041054750908641twgrb5965d5fd0a252cfea862bb7ff63c4aacf4de3cctwcons1_&ref_url=httpswdwnt.com202403new-trademark-application-for-universal-studios-florida-nighttime-show-reveals-possible-name

Dissecting the Name

The name "CINESATIONAL: A Symphonic Spectacular" itself provides some clues about what guests can expect from the new attraction. The term "cinesational" is likely a portmanteau of "cinematic" and "sensational," hinting at a visually stunning and captivating experience inspired by the world of cinema. The phrase "A Symphonic Spectacular" further reinforces the idea of a multisensory experience, with the word "symphonic" suggesting a harmonious blend of various elements, such as music, lights, projections, and special effects. The term "spectacular" implies a grand and awe-inspiring production that promises to leave a lasting impression on viewers.

Potential Features and Experiences

Based on the trademark filing and Universal Studios' history of innovative and immersive attractions, we can speculate on some potential features and experiences that the new nighttime show may offer: Projection Mapping and Water Screens Universal Studios has previously utilized projection mapping and water screens in its nighttime shows, such as the now-retired "Universal Orlando's Cinematic Celebration." The new show may incorporate these technologies on an even grander scale, projecting scenes and characters from popular movies onto the surrounding buildings and water screens in the lagoon area.

Drone Light Shows In recent years, drone light shows have become increasingly popular in theme park entertainment. Universal Studios may leverage this technology to create mesmerizing aerial displays and formations, complementing the projections and other visual elements. Interactive Elements The trademark filing mentions "interactive, experiential, and immersive audience participation events and recreational activities." This could indicate that the new show may incorporate interactive elements, allowing guests to become part of the experience through various means, such as mobile apps, augmented reality, or even physical interactions within designated areas. Culinary Experiences The inclusion of restaurant services and food-related events in the trademark filing suggests that the new nighttime spectacular may extend beyond just a show. Guests may have the opportunity to enjoy themed dining experiences, food festivals, or even mobile food trucks serving up delectable treats inspired by the show's themes or featured movies.

Potential Tie-ins and Collaborations Universal Studios is known for its partnerships with major entertainment companies and franchises, such as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The new nighttime show could potentially feature tie-ins or collaborations with popular movies, TV shows, or other intellectual properties. One possibility is the inclusion of characters, scenes, or music from the DreamWorks Animation universe, as Universal Studios is currently constructing a new DreamWorks-themed land at the park. Guests may witness their favorite DreamWorks characters come to life in a spectacular display of animation and storytelling. Additionally, the show could incorporate elements from Universal's own successful franchises, such as the Jurassic World series, the Fast and Furious movies, or even classic films like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Conclusion: A Cinematic Extravaganza Awaits

While the details of Universal Studios' new nighttime spectacular remain shrouded in mystery, the recently filed trademark application provides tantalizing clues about what guests can expect. With the name "CINESATIONAL: A Symphonic Spectacular," Universal Studios promises an immersive and multisensory experience that celebrates the magic of cinema. From projection mapping and drone light shows to interactive elements and themed dining experiences, the new attraction aims to transport guests into the world of their favorite movies and stories. Whether it's witnessing iconic characters come to life or being swept away by a symphony of sights and sounds, "CINESATIONAL: A Symphonic Spectacular" has the potential to redefine the nighttime entertainment experience at Universal Studios Florida. As the anticipation builds, theme park enthusiasts and movie lovers alike eagerly await the unveiling of this cinematic extravaganza, ready to be dazzled by the spectacle that Universal Studios has in store. Read the full article

[svgoceandesigns1]

Teacher Retirement Class Of 2024 SVG - Countdown In Progress SVG PNG, Cricut File

Teacher Retirement Class Of 2024 SVG, Countdown In Progress SVG PNG EPS DXF PDF, Cricut File, Instant Download File, Cricut File Silhouette Art, Logo Design, Designs For Shirts.Teacher Retirement Class Of 2024 SVG - Countdown In Progress SVG PNG, Cricut File ♥ Welcome to SVG OCEAN DESIGNS Store! ♥ ► PLEASE NOTE: – Since this item is digital, no physical product will be sent to you. – Your files will be ready to download immediately after your purchase. Once payment has been completed, SVG Ocean Designs will send you an email letting you know your File is ready for Download. You may also check your Order/Purchase History on SVG Ocean Designs website and it should be available for download there as well. – Please make sure you have the right software required and knowledge to use this graphic before making your purchase. – Due to monitor differences and your printer settings, the actual colors of your printed product may vary slightly. – Due to the digital nature of this listing, there are “no refunds or exchanges”. – If you have a specific Design you would like made, just message me! I will be more than glad to create a Custom Oder for you. ► YOU RECEIVE: This listing includes a zip file with the following formats: – SVG File (check your software to confirm it is compatible with your machine): Includes wording in both white and black (SVG only). Other files are black wording. – PNG File: PNG High Resolution 300 dpi Clipart (transparent background – resize smaller and slightly larger without loss of quality). – DXF: high resolution, perfect for print and many more. – EPS: high resolution, perfect for print, Design and many more. ► USAGE: – Can be used with Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Cameo, Silhouette Studio, Adobe Illustrator, ...and any other software or machines that work with SVG/PNG files. Please make sure your machiMone and software are compatible before purchasing. – You can edit, resize and change colors in any vector or cutting software like Inkscape, Adobe illustrator, Cricut design space, etc. SVG cut files are perfect for all your DIY projects or handmade business Product. You can use them for T-shirts, scrapbooks, wall vinyls, stickers, invitations cards, web and more!!! Perfect for T-shirts, iron-ons, mugs, printables, card making, scrapbooking, etc. ►TERMS OF USE: – NO refunds on digital products. Please contact me if you experience any problems with the purchase. – Watermark and wood background won’t be shown in the downloaded files. – Please DO NOT resell, distribute, share, copy, or reproduce my designs. – Customer service and satisfaction is our top priority. If you have any questions before placing orders, please contact with us via email "support@svgoceandesigns.com". – New products and latest trends =>> Click Here . Thank you so much for visiting our store! SVG OCEAN DESIGNS Read the full article

[themoneyguru1]

Decoding the Gig Economy's Financial Challenges and Fixes

Venturing into the gig economy offers a tantalizing world of flexibility and independence. But amid the freedom lies a maze of financial challenges. Fear not, for I am here to decode these hurdles and provide you with fixes hotter than your favorite street-side chaat. Let's dive in!

Riding the Gig Wave: The Financial Adventure Begins

With a laptop and an internet connection, anyone can dive headfirst into the gig economy. Whether you're an aspiring writer, a coding ninja, a graphic design maestro, or a culinary artist whipping up fusion delicacies, platforms like Swiggy, Upwork, and UrbanClap have opened up a world of possibilities.

No more nine-to-five shackles, no more battling the traffic – it's work on your own terms. But, hold your horses, or should we say, hold your auto-rickshaws, because the gig economy’s road isn’t always smooth.

Also Read: The Digital Loan Guru’s Guide: Mastering the Art of Safe Borrowing

The Budget Roller Coaster: Feast or Famine

In the world of gigs, predicting your monthly income can feel like forecasting the weather in the monsoon season – highly unpredictable. One month, you might be rolling in the big bucks, feeling like the Maharaja of Moolah; the next month, you could be counting your pennies like a thrifty grandparent. This feast-or-famine income cycle can make budgeting feel like solving a complex math problem after an all-nighter.

Fix It Tip #1: The Grand Emergency Fund

Picture this – you’re sailing smoothly on your gig ship, and suddenly, a storm of unexpected expenses hits you like a gust of wind. What do you do? Panic? No way! This is where the grand emergency fund steps in, your trusty lifeboat. Set aside a portion of your earnings each month into a separate emergency fund. This fund will be your shield in times of financial storms. So, the next time your laptop crashes or your pet goldfish needs emergency medical attention, you won't be caught in the deep sea without a paddle.

Tax Troubles: The Haunting Specter

Ah, taxes – the two constants in life, the other being change. When you're a gigster, sorting out your taxes can feel like solving a cryptic puzzle in a dark room. Income tax, GST, filing returns – it's enough to make your head spin faster than a Bollywood dance move. And let's not even get started on the quarterly advance tax payments that can blindside you like a plot twist in a suspense thriller.

Fix It Tip #2: The Tax Jar Trick

Here's a little secret – open a dedicated savings account fondly named the "Tax Jar." Each time you receive a payment for your gig, toss a small percentage into this jar. When tax season comes knocking, you won't be scrounging for funds like a squirrel looking for its buried acorn. Your Tax Jar will have your back, and you'll waltz through tax season like a confident dancer grooving to your own financial rhythm.

Lonely Retirement Island: No Employer Benefits

Remember those days of salaried jobs when your employer had your back with cushy benefits like health insurance, retirement funds, and bonuses that sparkled like Diwali fireworks? In the gig economy, you’re the master of your ship, which means waving goodbye to those comforting perks. Retirement planning becomes a solitary voyage, and health emergencies can feel scarier than a ghost story around a campfire.

Fix It Tip #3: The Solo 401(k) Adventure

Introducing your new sidekick – the Solo 401(k)! Just because you're your own boss doesn't mean you can't plan for a comfortable retirement. The Solo 401(k) lets you stash away a chunk of your gig earnings for the future while enjoying potential tax benefits. It's like planting a money tree that will shower you with golden leaves in your golden years. So, while you're rocking your gigs today, your future self will be dancing a jig of gratitude.

Also Read: Why Opt for Professional Loans Instead of Regular Personal Loans

Conclusion

In the dynamic gig economy, financial challenges are a reality, but armed with savvy fixes like these, you can conquer them all. So, seize the opportunities, embrace the journey, and gig your way to a brighter and more secure future.

[mmorgiq]

Kanye west graduation zip downlaod

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Truthfully, both artists benefited greatly from the hype around their competition.Ĭurtis was 50’s last platinum album, and much of its success sprung from the hype leading up to its release. There was lots of ink, digital and otherwise, spilled about how Kanye had crushed 50 Cent, but I doubt there’s a mainstream rapper out today who wouldn’t give up a pinkie-toe for almost 700,000 in first week sales. Kanye “won” the competition, with Graduation racking up 957,000 units sold in its first week compared to 50 Cent’s still-impressive 691,000. The lead-up was filled with all of the hype of a congressional race, with photo-ops and bold pronouncements.Īt one point, 50 claimed that he’d retire if Kanye outsold him in the first week, later modifying his statement. The “rivalry” was marketed as a referendum on who would be the face of popular rap music moving forward. Months before, Def Jam Records had decided to move up West’s release date in order to directly “compete” with 50 Cent, then an unstoppable sales juggernaut. The hype leading up to this release date was something that rap music hasn’t seen since. 50 Cent was set to drop Curtis, his fourth effort, and Kanye was preparing to release his third album, Graduation. It was Sunday, September 9th, less than 48 hours before the release date of both artists’ newest albums. West stood on his toes so he could look 50 eye-to-eye. 50 Cent was clad in a jacket and jeans, while Kanye was wearing a tux and sneakers. 50 Cent and stood on stage at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, face-to-face, ice-grilling each other.

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Tracklist Kanye West Graduation Zippyshare Track numberĭon't want to see ads? Subscribe now Kanye West Graduation Zip Download API Calls Kanye West Graduation Zip Album DownloadĬomments are closed.Happy 10th Anniversary to Kanye West’s third studio album Graduation, originally released September 11, 2007. Graduation won three Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album, thereby making West the only artist other than Eminem to win three Best Rap Album Grammys. The album artwork was designed by Takashi Murakami. The title of the album follows the college theme of Kanye West's previous two studio albums, The College Dropout and Late Registration. Graduation is the third studio album by rapper Kanye West, released Septemon Roc-A-Fella Records. Terms of Use Privacy Policy End User AgreementĪ new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. About This Album Songs About This Album Latest albums by Kanye West For years after its release, The College Dropout inspired rappers to delve into the life of the black middle-class.

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Kanye West Graduation Album Download Zip Dopefile Lil Durk Money Bag Uzi Mp3 Download Lil Dicky Professional Rapper Album Zip File Download Kanye West Last Album 2015.Kanye west college dropout zip file Kanye west college dropout zip file Click it and That's it, you're done amigo! Just add link and click submit file button.Īlready an accomplished beat maker for stars like Jay-Z, Kanye laced sped-up chipmunk samples ('Through the Wire' and 'Slow Jamz') with gospel choruses ('Jesus Walks' and 'Never Let Me Down'), while cracking jokes on his brief college career and the dead-end retail blues of 'Spaceship.' With a reedy, wavering tone, he wasn't a great vocalist yet, but his complex persona and brilliant concepts gave a much-needed contrast to mainstream rap's focus with street credibility.

#Kanye west graduation zip downlaod free#

2shared - Online file upload - unlimited free web space. Click on compressed file Kanye West - Graduation 113MB.zip to start downloading. Kanye West - Graduation 113MB.zip download at 2shared. Christian christmas clip art freeloads santa clipart freeload clip art borders freeload clipart gallery free. Kanye west graduation album download zip. All rights reserved.Napster and the Napster logo are registered trademarks of Rhapsody International Inc.įind album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for Graduation - Kanye West on AllMusic - 2007 - Graduation's pre-leak talk wasn't as substantive.

[recentanimenews]

The Manga Review, 6/3/22

Two weeks ago, Seven Seas’ employees formed the United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S). Their goal? To negotiate a standard benefits package that includes health insurance, retirement plans, parental leave, and paid time off. UW7S is also pushing for higher wages and better working conditions; in particular, the union’s mission statement emphasizes the importance of ending “both at-will employment and unnecessary ‘permalancing.'” On May 29th, management declined to voluntarily recognize the new union. In a press release, Seven Seas stated:

We respect the rights of our employees to choose or not choose union representation. While we have been requested by a number of employees to voluntarily recognize the Communications Workers of America as their legal representative—without a National Labor Relations Board conducted election—we have decided to respect the right of all eligible employees to vote on this issue. Since unionization would affect more members of staff than those who have already come forward, an election will ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn about their rights and the details of this process before they cast their vote through a governed process.

We have notified the [National Labor Relations Board] that we are prepared to move forward with an election among an appropriate unit of employees, and we will, of course, abide by the outcome of the election.

The company’s next move was to hire the law firm of Ogletree Deakins, which has represented clients such as Boeing, Duke University, and IKEA in labor disputes. (Adding insult to injury: Ogletree Deakins counts former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio among its clients.) I’m not sure what’s next for UW7S, but as someone who belongs to a union, I fully support all of the staff at Seven Seas in their fight for a better, more secure workplace. For updates, follow UW7S on Twitter.

NEWS

Diamond Comic Distributors just released its Top 400 Graphic Novels list for April 2022. Manga made a strong showing in comic book stores, with three titles–Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Kaiju No. 8–among the month’s best sellers. (For a little perspective, these three books sold between 3,369 and 5,944 copies each.) Scanning the top 100 titles, there were another 37 manga on the list, ranging from the final volume of The Rose of Versailles to the new edition of Apollo’s Song. [ICv2]

J-Novel Club unveiled five new manga licenses at its Anime Boston panel, including Tearmoon Empire and Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! [Anime News Network]

Dark Horse will be publishing the sixth and final installment of Neon Genesis Evangelion-The Shinji Ikari Raising Project Omnibus this December. [AiPT!]

After social media users criticized the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) for inviting artist Pink Cat (Saba Moeel) to appear at this year’s event, TCAF withdrew the invitation. In a statement posted to its website on May 31st, organizers explained that “TCAF initially extended a programming invitation to Moeel on the basis of their daily digital comics work on Instagram, and the personal importance that work had to one of our team members. At the time of this invitation, the organization was unaware of Moeel’s online conduct, plagiarism, or allegations of tracing. We apologize for programming and promoting this artist.” [Toronto Comics Art Festival]

Heidi MacDonald has the full scoop on the TCAF/Pink Cat controversy. [The Beat]

FEATURES, PODCASTS, AND INTERVIEWS

Erica Friedman files a report on this year’s Anime Boston convention, where she was a featured panelist and author. [Okazu]

Deb Aoki explores the secret history of Unico, Osamu Tezuka’s lonely little unicorn. [Mangasplaining]

Elias Rosner previews August’s best new manga, from Rooster Fighter to The Poe Clan. [Multiversity Comics]

BuzzFeed shares a list of 15 LGBTQ+ Comics, Graphic Novels And Manga To Read After Watching Heartstopper. [BuzzFeed]

It’s that time of the month again: Walt Richardson and Emily Meyers do a cover-to-cover roundup of Shonen Jump‘s May issue. [Multiversity Manga Club Podcast]

The Manga Mavericks assemble an all-star team to discuss Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater. [Manga Mavericks]

On the latest installment of Shojo & Tell, Ashley and husband Asher Sofman jump in the WABAC machine to look at one of the weirder shojo titles Tokyopop published: Yuri Narushima’s Planet Ladder. Beware the giant chicken! [Shojo & Tell]

Claire explains why you should be reading Kageki Shojo!! The setting “is fascinating, with copious details about Japanese traditional arts interspersed with contemporary (otaku) cultural references that will delight manga and anime fans,” she notes. The author “gives her story and the girls room to breath and develop at an organic (and thus, often hesitant) pace. There is substance to each of these girls, and I for one am delighted that the series survived the dissolution of its original publisher so that we get to see what happens next. These girls are going places.” [Beneath the Tangles]

REVIEWS

Looking for a good beach read? The staff at Beneath the Tangles just posted brief reviews of the latest releases, from Ghost Reaper Girl to Summertime Rendering.

Also of note: Kate Sánchez declares I Want to Be a Wall “one of the most beautiful takes on a relationship I have ever read,” while Helen recommends Summertime Rendering for manga lovers “who want a read that they can’t put down late into the night.”

The Apothecary Diaries (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)

Asadora!, Vol. 5 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

Ayanashi, Vol. 1 (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)

Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost, Vol. 4 (Onosume, Anime UK News)

Crazy Food Truck, Vol. 1 (Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?)

Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecelia Sylvie, Vol. 1 (The OASG)

Days on Fes, Vol. 5 (Azario Lopez, Noisy Pixel)

Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 10 (Jaime, Yuri Stargirl)

The Elusive Samurai, Vol. 1 (Renee Scott, Good Comics for Kids)

Fire in His Fingertips, Vol. 3 (Demelza, Anime UK News)

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vols. 3-4 (Richard Eisbach, Anime News Network)

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 4 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

A Galaxy Next Door, Vol. 1 (Al, Al’s Manga Blog)

A Galaxy Next Door, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-Chan (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)

I Cannot Reach You, Vol. 4 (Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?)

Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love, Vol. 2 (Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?)

Island in a Puddle, Vol. 1 (Ivanir Ignacchitti, Noisy Pixel)

Kageki Shojo!!, Vols. 3-5 (Caitlin Moore, Anime News Network)

The King’s Beast, Vol. 6 (Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?)

Let’s Go Karaoke! (Sarah, Anime UK News)

The Life-Changing Manga of Cleaning Up (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)

Mizuno and Chayama (Al, Al’s Manga Blog)

New York, New York (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Nighttime for Just Us Two, Vol. 1 (Ivanir Ignacchitti, Noisy Pixel)

Orochi: Perfect Edition (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

Play It Cool, Guys, Vol. 3 (Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?)

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 3 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

ReZERO: The Frozen Bond, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Sakamoto Days, Vol. 1 (Alain, Reverse Thieves)

Stellar Witch LIPS, Vol. 5 (Krystallina, The OASG)

X-Kai (Megan D. The Manga Test Drive)

Yagi the Bookshop Goat, Vol. 1 (Al, Al’s Manga Blog)

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Vol. 2 (Adi Tantimedh, Bleeding Cool)

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Vols. 5-6 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)

By: Katherine Dacey

[technovicinfotech2]

B2B Ecommerce Software Can Bring All Round Improvement to Your Business

Running B2B operations has always been a rather complicated task. In the recent times, the emergence of B2B ecommerce software solutions has led to a number of positive changes in this area. These solutions make it possible for any company to migrate their existing customers to a new, exciting and much better way to do business. You can use the B2B e-commerce software in a number of scenarios. Consider some common scenarios:

These software solutions are just perfect for those organizations which are doing business with those organizations which are located next to them in the sales structure. Consider the case of businesses dealing with retail chains. The B2B e-commerce software would provide your market the ability to deal with you over the Internet. Full service IT consulting company

Another common scenario is where your business is involved in the manufacture or distribution, You make extensive use of sales representatives but their clunky reporting systems is making your sales not take place according to the potential of your organization. In this case, you can make it possible for your sales team to retire their clunk ordering system and make use of this online system. The B2B e-commerce makes mistakes in order placement a thing of past.

Take it like this. Your sales representatives visit a present or prospective client. They can access the B2B store that you have deployed online. From here they would be able to access information about the products in your inventory including their prices and current supply position of the product. It is now possible for them to present accurate, almost live information to the customer. Moreover the customer can also access the store directly and place the order any time of the day, any day of the year. Digital Transformation Consultancy Dubai

This is not where the advantage ends. The B2B e-commerce software makes it possible for the person who has placed an order, be he your own representative or a customer to track his order. They would not have to worry about calling, emailing or shooting faxes to the inventory and sales department. You would be able to introduce significant cost cuts in in the total cost of production. You can forward this to your customers by lowering the prices of you products at the same time get higher revenues.

One more advantage is that B2B e-commerce software package makes the reporting capabilities of your sales department. They can file their status and performance reports and communicate the customer queries to the company very fast. This improves the overall team performance and customer satisfaction. Mobile Application development services UAE

When it comes to doing B2B activities, the sales operations become mission critical. The activities may be scientific or creative like music and arts related things. The B2B ecommerce software solution needs to be selected very carefully.

[justanotherblonde23]

An Unexpected Surprise - A Marcus Moreno Story

Author’s Note: So with some encouraging from my friends, I decided to post my writing! I know that technically we don’t know anything about Marcus Moreno, but that superhero dad has been taking up space in my mind rent free all week. I tagged people that I know wanted to read this and a few that I thought might enjoy it. Please let me know what you think! -Kat 

Content Warnings: smut, oral (female receiving), P in V

Tags: @autumnleaves1991-blog @dindjarindiaries @frannyzooey @zeldasayer @hdlynnslibrary @jollyrancher87 @bisexual-space-slut @woakiees @scribbledghost @softpedropascal @catfishingmorales

Marcus trudged into the house, it was at least 2 in the morning, and he was absolutely exhausted. He was always exhausted these days; his age was catching up to him. He may be a part of the Heroics, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t getting older. He was balancing heroism, kids, a spouse, and trying to give them some semblance of a normal life. He was ready to retire, be involved in every aspect of the kids’ lives, and see his wife in more than just the middle of the night and before leaving for work. He had given enough of his life to the service of the world; now, it was about time to provide all of himself to his family. Missy, his eldest, was already 11 and getting older every single day. Jules, the baby of the family, was about to turn 5, just about to leave the toddler years behind her. He felt as if he had missed so much of their lives; he didn’t want to miss anymore. 

Most of the house lights had been turned off, signaling that most of the inhabitants were fast asleep. He hoped that at least he could get a kiss or two from the woman he loved. Maybe she would still be awake. He made his way up the stairs, checking the kids’ rooms. He planted soft kisses on their foreheads, smiling at their serene expressions. What beautiful little girls he had, he was the luckiest father in the world. 

He frowned, opening the door to the master bedroom; the soft glow of artificial light bathed the room in a yellow haze. There she was, his love, sitting in the middle of the bed, clearly wide awake, wearing her glasses and frowning at the hologram in front of her. Someone was working even later than Marcus himself. He took in her form; she still hadn’t noticed him quite yet. She was wearing a silky nightie that hit her upper thigh and a matching robe loosely tied around her. His cock stirred in his pants. Even as spent as he was from the day, the view in front of him made him want to take her to bed and fuck her senseless. 

“Dr. Moreno, hard at work, I see,” he teased. 

Her eyes shot up, smirking at him. I’m not quite Dr. Moreno yet, Marcus. You’d have to marry me first,” she teased. 

“We had a ceremony-” he started.

“And someone still hasn’t mailed the marriage certificate, even though it’s been two months. All you gotta do is bring it to the post office, baby. I’d do it myself, but somebody insisted that he’d be the one to do it.” 

Marcus groaned, falling onto the bed beside his wife (that’s what she was to him, even if he didn’t mail the marriage certificate yet). He heard some shuffling and a command for her AI system to file the holograms working on for the night. He’d lived with her for four years now, and he still hadn’t gotten used to all her tech. If he was a hero in name, she was the genius behind every piece of technology in his arsenal, as well as all of the other members of the Heroics. Her superpower was her mind, that gorgeous, intricate, genius mind of hers. Her ability to retain information, learn, critically think, and create was almost impossible to fathom truly. At 33, she had twelve doctorates in various fields, including engineering, physics, nanotechnology, and art history. Her thirst for knowledge and eagerness to invent was unparalleled, even among other enhanced individuals. He would never stop singing her praises; she was a wonder. 

“Marcus, baby, do you wanna shower and go to bed? It’s late.” 

He sighed, starting to relax into the feeling of her fingers carding through his hair. “Baby, if you keep that up, I’m gonna fall asleep right here and now. I took a shower at HQ before I left, so I’m good.” He opened his eyes when her fingers stilled, looking up at the beautiful woman with the soft smile leaning over him. 

“Do you think you can stay up for a little bit longer, honey? I have a surprise for you.” 

He sat up, scooting up against the headboard, kicking off his shoes. He felt wide awake now. His wife wasn’t typically one for surprises on any old day. He wracked his mind, trying to make sure that he hadn’t missed her birthday, their dating anniversary, or any other consequential, momentous occasion. 

“I didn’t forget a special day, did I? Fuck, amor. I’m so sorry if I did. I’ve been spread so damn thin since the wedding; I’ve been running around like a madman.” 

She placed a tiny cream-colored box in his hands, his wife sitting right in front of him, eyes sparkling with excitement. “You didn’t miss anything, Marcus, just open the box. You’ll like it, I promise.” 

He nodded, pulling at the perfect bow holding the box closed, carefully opening the lid. For a minute, he just stared at the contents of the box, his eyes wide with shock. Ever so slowly, he picked up a pair of teeny baby booties, placing them in his large palm. He took the second item out, a pregnancy test that digitally read, PREGNANT. His hands began to shake; tears began to overflow, tracking down his cheeks. He looked up, his gaze locked on the woman in front of him. 

“Sweetheart, are we-? Are you-? We’re- we’re having a baby?” he managed to choke out. 

There was one more item in the box, at the bottom, an ultrasound labeled Baby Moreno. He studied the picture intently, his thumb moving over the little blob on the paper. That was his baby, their baby. They were having a baby. 

“Holy shit,” he murmured, “we’re having a baby!”

A giggle made him raise his eyes once again. “That’s what I said, too. I’m about ten weeks along now. You’re going to be a daddy of three, Marcus Moreno.” 

He scooped up everything in his lap, dumping it on the nightstand. He quickly grabbed his wife, flipping her so that she was under him. He covered her face in kisses, whispering how beautiful she was, how she was so loved, so treasured, so cherished. How their baby was made of nothing but love, how they were precious cargo, and how he would protect both of them every single day of his life. He kissed down her jaw, down her neck, eliciting breathy moans from the woman underneath him. His kisses went lower and lower until he reached her belly, pulling her nightie up around her waist so that he could get to her bare stomach. He planted dozens of kisses all over her belly, in awe of the life growing in there. 

“Hey baby, it’s your daddy,” he cooed softly. “Your mommy and I already love you, little one, and you’ll have two big sisters that I just know will love you too. I can’t wait for you to be here, little baby. I promise I’ll be here for you.” 

He looked adoringly at the mother of his youngest child, grinning as if his world had been made complete, and in all honesty, it had been. This baby, this tiny little one growing inside of the woman that he loved most, filled a hole in his heart that he hadn’t even been aware of. 

He bit down on his lower lip, smirking while ever so slowly pulling off her panties. He would lavish the woman he loved with every ounce of devotion, adoration, and love he had to offer. A breathless Oh please, Marcus was all he needed to motivate him to continue. He opened her legs up, giving him access to her slit, wet and wanting. He groaned, the sight making his mouth water. If he had it his way, Marcus could spend hours between her thighs. Two fingers lightly toyed with her slit, moving up and down, collecting her slick. 

“Look at you, baby, so wet for me, and I’ve barely touched you. If this is what pregnancy does to you, amor, I might have to start keeping better work hours so I can spend my time between your thighs.” 

He could see her hips try to follow his fingers, desperate for more than he was giving her. “Marcus, don’t tease, please,” she whined. He chuckled, easily giving in to her pleas. He couldn’t say no to her, not tonight. 

He buried his head between her legs, tongue coming out to lick a broad strip all the way to the top of her slit, his nose nudging her clit. She tasted like heaven, making him moan into her core, sending pleasurable shivers up her spine. He speared his tongue into her, getting as deep as he could, fucking her pussy with his tongue while her fingers tangled themselves in his curls. He kept exploring her folds with his tongue, hitting all the spots he knew would make her see stars. 

He easily pushed in two fingers, causing her to buck her hips up, matching his pace. He focused his tongue on her clit, alternating between drawing lazy circles and sucking her into his mouth. His fingers hit that sweet spot inside her with every thrust, bringing her closer and closer to her release. Before he knew it, she was cumming around his fingers, squeezing him tight and pulling him deeper. His mouth flooded with the taste that was uniquely hers, prompting him to moan. He could feel himself rock hard in his pants, leaking with his arousal. 

He crawled off the bed, swiftly ridding himself of his clothes, placing his glasses safely on the nightstand. He grabbed her glasses as well, placing them next to his own. She had shrugged off her robe and nightie, languidly watching him, her eyes blown wide with desire. 

“Marcus, I need you inside of me,” she begged. His large cock rested heavy against his stomach, tip red and leaking. The thought of him inside of her was almost too much. She needed him, and she needed him right now. 

He settled over her, catching her lips in a deep, earth-shattering kiss. His tongue explored her mouth, letting her taste herself. Marcus was intoxicating, enthralling, and all she wanted was more. Finally, they broke apart, panting slightly. 

“Dr. Moreno, my lovely wife, mother of my child, let me make love to you. Let me show you how happy you make me, sweetheart. I want to make you touch the sky,” he whispered into her ear. 

She beamed at him, cradling his cheek gently. “Yes, baby, I’m all yours.” He leaned back in, catching her into another searing kiss. He worked his length up and down her slit, coating himself in her slick, bumping her clit a few times in the process. At last, he began to leisurely enter her, inch by inch. They both groaned when he bottomed out, fully seated inside of her. 

“Fuck honey, you’re just so tight, so wet, so warm for me,” he whimpered, moving inside her with slow, deep strokes. He wanted to make this last, to draw out her pleasure. With every thrust, he told her how good she felt, how beautiful she looked underneath him, how her pussy was made for him, how perfect she was. He could’ve gone like that for quite some time, slowly bringing her closer and closer to her high. Only her pleas of more, faster, harder made him speed up. 

He grabbed one of her legs, placing it higher on his hip, allowing him to hit deeper inside her. Her hips moved in unison with his own, meeting each thrust into her. He would never get tired of the pretty sounds she made for him when he was fucking her. Those breathy moans she let out, the babbling it all spurred him on. He could tell she was close. She always got so fucking wet and even tighter right before she came. He dropped a hand between them, rubbing hard, tight circles around her clit. Not even a half dozen thrusts later, and she was wailing in ecstasy, clamping down on him like a vice. He wasn’t far behind, spilling himself deep within her, muttering her name over and over like a prayer. 

He rolled off of her, panting, taking a minute to catch his breath as he gazed at her blissed-out form. Hair a mess, chest heaving, lips swollen from his kisses to Marcus, she was stunning. He couldn’t think of a moment when she was more gorgeous than right then and there. He could look at her forever, just like this. 

Eventually, he got up and grabbed a warm cloth, gently cleaning her off. Turning off the light, he climbed back into bed, pulling her body to his, cradling her close. He let his hand wander, rubbing soothing circles over her belly. 

“You’re gonna look so stunning, honey, all round with our baby. I promise I’ll take such good care of you. I’ll do whatever you need.” 

He could feel his wife sigh, completely relaxed in his arms. He held her close, basking in her warmth and the love between them. He let his mind wander, thinking of the future, thinking of this baby. 

“I’m gonna cut back at work, move more into an advisory role in the Heroics. As your pregnancy progresses, I’ll be able to work from home and take a solid chunk of paternity leave when the baby comes. I’ve given enough of myself to the world. It’s time for me to give everything I can to my family, to you, to the girls, to this baby. I’ll go drop off the marriage certificate tomorrow before I go into HQ to talk about restructuring my job. That way, you’ll officially be Dr. Moreno, even though you’ve already been that to me for a long time.” 

She answered him with a happy sigh and kisses to his hand that entwined with hers. “I’d like that, Marcus. It might be selfish, but I want you here, with us. We love you so much; it’s nice when you’re here. It makes our family complete.” 

They spent a few more minutes talking about the future, drifting off into deep, dreamless sleep. The thought of tomorrow was full of bright promises, just waiting to be embraced. 

[elitegymnastics]

Q: What is this?

A: It’s a flyer for a virtual fundraiser on June 4th that Elite Gymnastics is playing. You can access the show at quietyear.com

Q: Hasn’t Elite Gymnastics been inactive for like, ten years?

A: Yes. This is the first Elite Gymnastics performance of any kind since November 30th 2012, at the Horn Gallery at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. 

Q: Why did Elite Gymnastics stop playing shows?

A: Elite Gymnastics started out as me (Jaime) and a bunch of my friends agreeing to help me play my songs live back in 2009. I made a lot of weird demos in GarageBand and my friend Dominique Davis from the band Dearling Physique got tired of watching me sit on them. So, he booked me to play at a show he was curating as part of a small local music and arts festival called Clapperclaw. For several months that’s mainly what EG was. At some point the focus shifted to making recordings rather than playing shows, to participate in the emergent culture of new music distributed via MP3 file-sharing. The lineup winnowed to just me and Josh Clancy, who began creating digital EPs that we posted on this Tumblr page as ZIP files full of MP3s accompanied by a PDF of artwork. This is the incarnation of the group that most people are familiar with.

This was before Patreon existed. If Bandcamp was around, we’d never heard of it. Though MP3 file-sharing culture and file transfer sites like MediaFire and MegaUpload allowed anyone to distribute music freely across the world via the internet, it was still pretty difficult to get people to pay you for it. I think it was for this reason that a lot of internet music back then featured a lot of sampling. A lot of artists’ first forays into the world of DAWs and production took the form of mash-ups, bootleg remixes, and DJ mixes. Artists like Animal Collective, MIA, Kanye West, and Daft Punk for whom sampling was a pillar of their creative process were extremely influential. Elite Gymnastics was no exception - the first song of ours to gain traction online was “Is This On Me?” which made no attempt to hide the fact that it heavily sampled Faye Wong’s “Eyes On Me.” The fact that it was so difficult to make money off MP3s pushed people to make different creative decisions than they would have otherwise. It was sort of a free-for-all.

Eventually, all of this started to change. The major labels started getting a lot more aggressive about trying to destroy MP3 file-sharing culture. Platforms like MegaUpload were raided and taken offline. The replacements that sprung up to replace them were increasingly infested with ads and malware. Corporate platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud adopted Content ID filters to prevent the proliferation of copyrighted music there. Blogs and private torrent trackers being taken down meant thousands of hours of labor were wiped out in an instant. Some of the best archives of the history of recorded music ever created were destroyed without hesitation. Even the most devoted participants lost the will to keep repairing and re-making the stuff that cops and record companies kept obliterating.

Josh and I both dreamed of being able to make a living as musicians. We still do. Back then, we were willing to accept a lot of changes in order to make that possible, which seemed necessary. A lot of the stuff that we were great at just didn’t make any money. Once, we were asked to do a remix of a song called “Sa Sa Samoa” by the band Korallreven. I did the remix by myself, which was normal for us, and Josh was so inspired by it that he spent a week working non-stop to create a video for it. People loved it - the day the video dropped, Pitchfork designated the song as a “Best New Track” and New York Magazine wrote about it in their “Approval Matrix.” The video led to a ton of exposure, but from a financial perspective, it just did not make sense to put that much effort into promoting a remix of someone else’s song. The stuff we were personally excited by just seemed to have less and less to do with what actually makes money.

A lot of internet bands during this era began to palpably shapeshift in an effort to succeed in music as a career. Artists who’d first attracted notice for sample-based bangers they made on a laptop started posing with vintage hardware in their press photos and trading in their laptops for live bands and recording studios. It became harder to distribute DJ mixes or mash-ups that contained copyrighted music in them. Influential bloggers either closed up shop or were absorbed into the traditional music industry in some way. Feeds that once touted bizarre songs by laptop-toting weirdos with no industry connections started to become populated mostly by artists with labels and publicists. The bottom rungs of festival lineups started to consist mostly of new major label signings who have lots of money to spend on stage production but not much in the way of grassroots fan enthusiasm or media buzz. 

Internet music and what people tend to refer to as “indie music” split off into two separate streams. Today, there’s a pretty intense firewall between internet culture and whatever you want to call the culture of vinyl records, mid-sized indie labels with publicists, and positive reviews from the few remaining websites that still pay people to write about music. I call it “publicist indie,” “lifestyle techno,” or “prestige electronica” depending on whether or not the music features guitars and/or vocals. The recent online kerfuffle about NFTs really emphasized this split. The worlds of digital illustration and game development campaigned aggressively against mass adoption of cryptocurrency - if you saw any Medium posts explaining crypto’s environmental issues, chances are they were written by someone from those fields. Every new announcement by an artist that they had minted an NFT was met with a swift and vocal backlash from fans. Though I’ve never really been much of an Aphex Twin fan, it was still pretty startling to look at the replies under his NFT announcement tweet and see hundreds of furious people announcing that he was now dead to them. That’s an artist who has seemed more or less unimpeachable for most of my life up until this point! All of that seemed to change in an instant.

There is a massive disconnect between the insular world of the industry establishment and the cutting edge of online counterculture. We saw this again a couple of weeks ago with the online response to the crisis in Gaza. We saw passionate advocacy for Palestinians from games journalists and developers much more often than we saw it from musicians. This is a very serious problem for music! I do not believe it is possible to please both sides - that is to say, I do not believe it is possible to be part of internet counterculture and the industry establishment simultaneously. The music industry is too conservative, too compromised, too corrupt. If it weren’t for the ocean of valuable copyrights that labels are sitting on, most of them would be bankrupt within a year. If the industry was forced to live or die based on how they handle what’s happening right now in the present, it would most assuredly die. The only people who don’t realize this are those who are being paid to stay ignorant. 

Josh and I did not know this back then. From where we were standing, it looked like internet culture and established media industries were on track to converge. A career in the arts seemed genuinely, tantalizingly possible, right up until the moment that it no longer did. 

In my case, I had really been struggling up until that point. My life had been this ongoing sequence of evictions and hospitalizations, and it seemed to be getting worse, not better. I donated plasma twice a week to pay for groceries and while I was sitting there with a giant needle stuck in my left arm for an hour I would see my picture in The Fader or my songs being recommended by one of the Kings of Leon on Twitter or whatever. Music seemed like the only thing the world thought I was any good at. It felt like my only chance at a peaceful, happy life was somewhere out there in a world I could only perceive through a laptop screen. 

Gender, for me, was a big factor in all of this. The more invested in the craft of songwriting I became, the harder it was to repress or ignore my gender stuff. At that time I’m not sure I even knew what the word “transgender” meant - I just knew that when I showed up at a venue wearing a skirt, no one would talk to me or look me in the eye, and that reading about people like Anohni or Terre Thaemlitz or on the internet made me feel like if I could get out of Minneapolis maybe I could find a place where people would accept me. The internet was like, a pretty toxic place for someone in my position. When I tried to find people to talk to about what I was feeling, nobody tried to tell me to read Judith Butler or ask me what pronouns I preferred. The internet was just like, overrun with predators who just wanted to fetishize me and exploit me. Music seemed like the only way I’d ever have an actual life as myself. I was desperate for that. I was well and truly desperate.

Between all the big changes that were happening to us individually and the music industry moving farther and farther away of the anarchic free-for-all of MP3 file-sharing culture, the strain on us just got to be too much. We stopped trusting each other. We became the unstoppable force and the immovable object, crashing haphazardly against one another’s resolve in a dazzling display of youthful futility. Our partnership ended, and after finishing out the remaining live shows on the calendar by myself, I retired the name “Elite Gymnastics” and started making music on my own under other names. That was that.

Q: Why is Elite Gymnastics coming back now, then?

A: Over the years, Josh and I eventually started talking again. Though there was a lot we did agree on, and potential future projects were discussed, nothing truly felt right. We haven’t been in the same room since Summer 2012, and we’ve both changed a lot since then. We both have other projects and we’ve both developed other ways of working since we stopped working together. It’s a pretty big commitment to put all of that aside in order to join your fortunes together with someone you haven’t seen in a decade.

Recently, Josh decided to leave Elite Gymnastics. His reasons are his own, and I was very surprised by his decision, but after having had time to adjust, I’m really grateful to him. I had kept these songs at a distance for many years, because it seemed foolish to allow myself to get too attached to songs I didn’t feel like I was allowed to think of as mine, if that makes any sense. The songs felt like casualties of a conflict that I had to bury in the ground and try to forget about. Being able to embrace them again felt like re-growing a severed limb or having a loved one come back to life, almost. Feeling like it was safe to love these songs again made me feel whole in a way I didn’t expect to. I became really excited by the prospect of revisiting them, so that’s what I decided to do.

Q: Does this mean you’re going to put RUIN back on Spotify?

A: No. Taking the record off Spotify was the right thing to do. That record was only ever intended to exist during the era of MP3 piracy. I never envisioned a world where the music industry would be so aggressive about policing the way that copyrighted music is allowed to exist online. If we hadn’t opted to take the record down when we did, someone would inevitably have forced us to. If you want to hear those specific recordings again, you’re going to have to do it the way we originally intended: by downloading MP3 files from the internet. Try SoulSeek.

Q: What’s next for Elite Gymnastics, then?

A: Here’s the situation currently. There is no Elite Gymnastics music available to stream or purchase in an official capacity anywhere on the internet. It wouldn’t really be possible for me to put the old stuff on Spotify or Bandcamp now because of all the samples. Like I said before, it was a different time. Those records were created to thrive on a past version of the internet that no longer exists. They weren’t designed to be compatible with the 2021 internet.

Technically, Elite Gymnastics didn’t ever release a debut album. We had EPs, a compilation, and a remix collection. We didn’t make an album, a record that existed as the distillation of all that experimentation that contained all of the songs that fans of the EPs would want to hear, all in one place. It’s like we did Good Fridays but stopped before we made My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

So, I am currently working on the first Elite Gymnastics album. If you were following my stuff as Default Genders, you may have noticed me posting demos on my SoundCloud page from 2015-2018 that were all eventually reworked into the album Main Pop Girl 2019. The album I am making is taking that approach to all the old EG songs, including some unreleased stuff. I’m collaborating with others on some songs and I honestly feel like it has resulted in some of the best and most exciting music I have ever been involved with. It is a drastic reinvention, but iteration and reinvention have always been a big part of what I do. I want to make something that feels like the culmination of everything that came before, and so far, I think I’m succeeding.

Q: When will I be able to hear this new music?

At a virtual fundraiser on June 4th, 2021, where there is a suggested donation of $10. You can access it at quietyear.com

[samatheia229]

PJO Mortal AU (Solangelo-centric)

 The Olympia Family

(AKA the family with so much chaos and drama, they would have made an even more popular reality TV show than Keeping Up with the Kardashians)

Thalia Grace - 24

An ambassador of the Artemis Foundation

Badass

Won't hesitate to throw hands at anyone who messes with her family.

Very protective of her little brother and cousins.

Not afraid to speak her mind and fight for what she thinks is right.

Has a kind of love-hate relationship with her stepmother Hera. While Thalia respects and acknowledges Hera as her stepmother, she is a free spirit, and hates being chained down by the old-fashioned rules Hera imposes.

Briefly dated Luke Castellan for 2 years, but broke up due to reasons. The break up was mutual and Luke still remains as one of Thalia's closest friends.

Deadly with a bow and arrow (she'd be hunting down hunters like they hunt animals for living if it weren't for the fact that murder is unfortunately illegal).

Jason Grace - 19

Sophomore at Uni (double majors in Management and Aerodynamic Engineering)

Flight school graduate

Heir to Jupiter Airlines (given that his father doesn't plan to retire anytime soon, Jason is considering becoming a pilot in the meantime)

Hera's favourite child since he actually follows her rules (He bends them slightly every now and then, but she doesn't need to know that).

Regular at the Manhattan Chess Club

Has an intense rivalry with his older cousin Percy that's been going on for like 10 years now... (his life goal is to beat Percy. They're currently at a stalemate of 3795 wins each.)

Very protective of Nico. He almost had an aneurysm when he heard that grumpy, little stay-away-or-I’ll-death-glare-you Nico had a boyfriend. A boyfriend.

Has a best friend Leo Valdez who is an engineer student with an eccentric personality and is a mischievous menace. His childhood friend, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, is an athlete in javelin-throwing and currently resides in her hometown in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but they still keep in touch. 

Dating Piper McLean, the 19-year-old founder of the Beautifully Imperfect Foundation

Zeus Olympia

CEO of Jupiter Airlines

Drama Queen TM

Favours Thalia more despite Jason being his heir and enables most of her rebellious antics, much to Hera's chagrin.

Can be rather childish and petty ("It's been 43 years, and I've long since given up on expecting him to change," Hades deadpanned.)

As the youngest child of the Olympia family and with his father on Death's doorstep, Zeus was given a lot of free reign, hence his playboy tendencies. He eventually did settle down with Hera Junos, the single daughter of one of the oldest families in Greece. Hera was fond of children but was unable to sire her own due to medical issues, which led to Zeus getting a mistress (with Hera's begrudged consent), Beryl Grace, the daughter of Hera's family chef. Beryl has always had a rather strange personality and an unhealthy obsession with alcohol. A few years after giving birth to Thalia and Jason Grace respectively, her liver gave way and she died before they could find a solution.

Hera Olympia (formerly Junos)

Zeus' wife

The kids call her ‘Aunt Ra’

Jason is her favourite child because he actually listens to her

Coming from both a high-class and old family, Hera was raised to be a perfect lady (a lady should not wear pants or speak out of turn etc. etc.) and has a rather old-fashioned way of thinking, enforcing strict rules in her household.

She still loves Thalia, but because the way Thalia acts goes against everything Hera was taught, her relationship with her stepdaughter is a bit strained. Hera now mostly lets Thalia do her own thing, but every now and then might still be a bit controlling. She's trying, okay?

Bianca di Angelo - 19

Sophomore at Uni (majors in Journalism and English Literature)

Works part-time at the Artemis Foundation

Generally quiet and shy, but has a tendency to fuss over small details.

Very responsible and possibly the only one with a brain cell among the cousins. (Proteus and Triton don’t even live in the same continent half of the time; Kym doesn't give a damn; Thesi is too nice to reprimand them; Ro‘s too busy fawning over her fiancé; Hero is more likely to fan the flames than quell them; Thalia, Jason, Percy and Nico are always either competing against each other or breaking the Internet with their antics again; Hazel is pretty innocent but has a slight vindictive streak so caution must be exercised; and Tyson and Estelle are innocent beans of sunshine that must be protected).

She can be bold when she wants to be, as well as reckless. 

Has her father's habit of gesturing with her hands while talking and when she is on edge.

Ace

Nico di Angelo - 17

High school Senior

Heir to Pluto Corp.

Resident Emo in the family (“I'm not emo!” “Your only-dark-clothing phase says otherwise.” “It's not a phase, Persephone!” “Like father, like son.”)

Stubborn AF

Can't deal with all his overprotective sisters and cousins

Currently pining over William Solace ("Shut up!")

Avid gamer, plays digital games, card games (his childhood and to-this-day favourite is Myth-o-magic, which is one of the reasons he approves of Hazel's boyfriend, Frank) and all games in general (he visits the arcade monthly to make sure he's still 1st place in every game there)

Has a tendency to hold grudges and gestures with his hands while talking or when on edge, a habit he shares with his father and older sister.

Plays the violin (Persephone had introduced him to it, and he'd taken a liking to it)

Hazel Olympia (formerly Levesque) - 14

High school Freshman

Aspiring artist (she’s won thirty different art competitions locally in the span of three years and placed silver last year in the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition under an anonymous name because she wanted to win by her own merit rather than rely on the Olympia name. Hades plans to surprise her by giving her own exhibition hall for her next birthday.)

Regular at the Manhattan Riding Club

Has a bit of a vindictive streak in her that was probably born out of spite due to her upbringing

Exudes a powerful aura of passive aggressiveness, but is also incredibly kind and magnanimous

Has the ability is summon, manipulate and detect precious minerals, as well as the ability to place curses on them. (This knowledge is confidential and hidden from the public)

Loves her family with all her heart, and literally no one is more protective of Nico than she is

She was the first but also last person to know about Nico's boyfriend (First because she goes to the same school and is not dense, thank you very much, but technically last because she was the last person that Nico officially told since Will is terrified of her for some reason, something about her being 'the FINAL BOSS'; this amuses Hazel to no end).

Has a very cute crush on Frank Zhang, a HS Junior who’s an archer and animal lover (it’s mutual, by the way).

Hades Olympia 

CEO of Pluto Corp., one of the largest companies in the mining industry.

#DONE with life and all the people in it, particularly his crazy family

Functions solely on his children, Persephone and caffeine, usually caffeine because the other two are often the cause of his high blood pressure

Broods a lot (”I don’t brood.” “Yes, you do.”)

Deadpan 200% of the time and takes no shit

Loves all his children equally and definitely does not have a favourite (it’s Hazel, in case you’re wondering) 

As the eldest son of the three brothers, Hades was betrothed and wed to his childhood best friend Persephone Terrafield by their fathers in an attempt at a business partnership (Spoiler Alert: It didn’t work out in end). Admittedly, Hades and Persephone did have a small infatuation with each other when they were younger, but it never grew into anything serious, and as they grew older he saw her as more of a sibling than a lover and vice versa. After the inevitable death of his father, Hades and Persephone divorced but literally nothing in their relationship changed since they’d never loved each other romantically in the first place. When Hades decided to court their mutual friend, Italian diplomat Maria di Angelo, Persephone supported both of them wholeheartedly. In the span of the seventeen years they were together, Maria gave Hades two beautiful children, Bianca and Nico. Unfortunately, Maria passed away after being on life support for two years in result of a plane crash when Nico was 6. 

In the two years when Maria was hospitalized, Hades was so desperate to find his beloved a cure that he sought out a witch doctor that was rumoured to be in New Orleans. Marie Levesque, the aforementioned witch, was a greedy, manipulative person with a deluded and unstable mind, who drugged Hades and essentially raped him because she thought his spawn would have the perfect blood for experimenting magic on. She used magic to wipe his memory of the previous night’s events and handed him an ‘antidote’ that was actually just water dyed a milky white. After ten years, Marie finally revealed to Hades a 12-year-old Hazel, who looked miserable, was suffering from malnutrition, wounds, burns etc. and had a supernatural ability which Marie proudly said she had bestowed to her via dark magic. Hades was absolutely mortified, revolted and a bunch of other things. He filed a lawsuit against Marie, charging her for rape, child neglect, child abuse and human experimentation, as well as taking permanent custody over Hazel Levesque (now Hazel Olympia). 

Persephone Terrafield

CEO of jewelry enterprise The Red Pomegranate which was a sub-branch of Pluto Corps. The enterprise has the highest production rate in the US. 

Self-designated matchmaker for Hades (Hades always tells her she should focus on her own love life first, but he’s just an ungrateful brat)

Current life goal is to fulfill Maria di Angelo’s dying wish: help Hades find love again. (Mission status: still at Square 1 because Hades has some trust issues after the Levesque Incident)

The kids all call her ‘Aunt Seph’, but she loves the children as though they were her own

She and Hades often joke that they would totally still be married if they didn’t see each other as siblings and platonic soulmates and she hadn’t had her sexual awakening of being lesbian.

She lives with Hades and the children as she finds it too much of a hassle to move into her own place, not to mention lonely (with the kids at school and doing club activities, someone needs to make sure Hades gets exposure to the sun anyway).

Persephone is the daughter of an unnamed businessman and Demeter Terrafield, an agricultural revolutionist and healthy-cereal-obssessed woman.

Her mother and Hades have this sort of weird rivalry going on whenever Demeter visits; Demeter hates Hades because he hates healthy cereal, and apparently anyone who hates healthy cereal isn’t good enough to be hanging around her daughter, so she always replaces all his coffee with decaf and puts the healthiest cereal she can find on his bedside table every morning; in retaliation, Hades will deliberately eat the most sugary sweets he can find in front of her and locks her out of their personal greenhouse. (The glass walls are made of the strongest glass he could find and the door is locked by multiple manual and digital locks.)

Hestia Olympia

CEO of WarmHearth Interior Design Agency (WHIDA)

Everyone's favourite person, indefinitely

Has the infinite patience of a goddess

Gentle, kind, very wise, gives great advice

The kids call her ‘Aunt Tia’ 

Often fondly exasperated by her younger brothers' antics (because no, just because they’re grown men now does not mean they are going to stop their childhood feuds since despite their protests, they are all petty AF), but once she snaps, they all line up like toy soldiers and behave nicely.

Knits a lot. Most of her carpets, quilts, bags, scarves etc. are handmade.

She looks relatively innocent, but don't be fooled. There's a hidden arsonist in her that is always ready to come out when she's angry.

Hestia has a 'I'm not mad, just extremely disappointed and upset' Mom Look that has sent people bawling their eyes out and begging for her forgiveness with just one glance

She is the oldest of the Olympia siblings, but as a child had a frail and weak body. Kronos wanted to get rid of her since she was 'useless and couldn't be wed off', but Rhea, their mother, begged and pleaded Kronos to let her live. For some unknown reason, Kronos complied.

Her brothers are all very protective of her

YOU DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, MAKE HER ANGRY

[erintoknow]

everything and nothing

Spiraling - A Fallen Hero: Rebirth Fan-fiction

Funding a one-woman revenge mission isn’t cheap. You might work for free but Rosie doesn’t. Or Mortum. Or Marcie. The list goes on. [Feed Me Diamonds]

[Read on AO3]

It was the incident at Joes that gave you the initial idea: you need money to fund your operation. And where is flush with – conveniently untraceable – funds, but Los Diablos’s criminal underground?

Using Jane’s luck to gamble your way through the casino circuit would be suicide. She’d end up in a ditch or worse. But you don’t need to. You’ve got a state-of-the-art power armor suit.

In a way, it’s a return to the old days, to being Sidestep. You could never manage to hold down a job back then, but the guilt over skimming kept you from being able to afford much of anything. So, you know, occasionally when busting a villain’s lair or rounding up drug dealers, maybe some of their funds were… misplaced. It was either that or starve.

Or worse, admit your situation to somebody and ask for help.

But it wasn’t really stealing, was it? The money was probably wrongfully gotten to begin with. And it’s not like the city paid vigilantes.

Whatever. You were stealing the whole time. You can admit it to yourself now. It doesn’t matter who it was from. It was still theft. You’ve always been a liar and a fraud. Those last moments before throwing yourself out a fourth-story window crystalized it for you. People lauding Sidestep as some sort of ‘hero’ when she was barely any better than the people she beat up. She just stuck to the government approved list of acceptable targets.

But if you did it before, you can do it again. You know who the real villains are, and it’s not Larry Ray selling weed at the corner of Market Street.

Once more now, with feeling.

Check the seal on your helmet. The Rat-King curls around you. Paul Howard Koch’s penthouse is in the heart of the city. Technically not inside the bounds of Los Diablos proper itself. More a richie-rich enclave. Great view, above the air pollution, slightly less likely to die in a horrific one-two earthquake/tsunami punch.

To his neighbors on the floors above and below, Mr. Koch is a reclusive retired businessman who made his fortune in the early days of the chaos following the establishment of the Free Economic Zone over southern California. Back when anything really did fly.

And maybe there’s a truth in that.

Or maybe he’s just a self-hyped boost with magnetic powers with the audacity to hide in plain sight who robbed a bunch of banks and also maybe the Rangers HQ one time and okay okay fine, maybe there’s an element of revenge to tonight, so what?

Start with the small ones.

Work your way up.

Getting inside is easy enough. It reminds you of Marconi’s mansion that way. Amazing how much security is just theatre. Wall? Climb over. Guards? Walk between the patrols. CCTV? Oh, what a shame, the woman watching fell asleep at her desk, and oh, the whole system needs to be rebooted now? Technology these days, tsk tsk.

The building doesn’t even have dampeners.

Closing the door to the camera room, you let your hand linger on the doorknob. It takes some finesse to control the Nanovores this tightly but you’re able to collapse the mechanism. They’ll have to break the door down.

You’ve got two targets today. Koch, and his fortune. You know where Koch is. He’s up in his bedroom, half-asleep watching TV. Play the right notes, and he’ll stay that way until you need him.

So, then, where’s the goods?

It’s been, what, a decade since Pennybags was active. Had a big spree robbing banks, culminating in an attack on Rangers HQ. You were – Sidestep was still pretty new to the scene, but even she knew it took some guts to pants the Rangers like that. And then he was never heard from again.

Almost have to admire the restraint of the man. To realize he peaked and it was time to get out. Can’t say it’s an example you intend to follow.

The penthouse is a split-level deal. Whole lot of empty space for a man who lives alone. The second floor and you find his office. Very fancy looking computer. And of course, there’s the password in the middle drawer. Man’s gotten lax. You plug in a USB stick as you log in. Search through the files. Records, transactions. Looks like Mr. Koch has been busy in his ‘retirement.’ Blackmail material? Not the pile of cash you were aiming for but it’s something to start with. Another crack in the city’s shell. Another point of attack.

One file name catches your attention: Regenerator sale? It’s been awhile since you’ve gotten a lead on that name, and here it is. Just waiting for you. Opening the file and it’s a text document. At first glance there doesn’t seem to be much you don’t already know. PharmaCore, shut down by the government, confiscated, then ‘vanished.’ Oh, here’s something new: an actual description of what it does…

Ugh. There’s no time to stand here and parse all this. You copy everything that looks even remotely promising and move on to the rest of the room.

An oddly spaced bookshelf, by the window, draws your attention. Push the texts away and there’s a safe. Have to smile at that. At least it’s not behind a portrait. The metal melts into dust under the Nanovores and you’re free to reach inside. A gun, some rolled up hundred dollar bills and a collection of black unmarked USB looking bits of plastic and silicon.

Jackpot.

DS Chips. Or ‘Dark Script’ if you want to be wordy. Criminal computer scientists are disappointingly lacking in imagination. Physical bills can be traced by serial number, and digital transactions through bank and credit systems. Cryptocurrencies like these DS chips are the current fashion du jour for avoiding surveillance.

The exchanges aren’t cheap, and Hollow Ground keeps a tight grip on Los Diablos’s little corner. But attach a ‘wallet’ to a specific chip and you carry thousands of dollars in a little box of plastic and silicone smaller than your palm.

That’s business sorted then.

Time for the pleasure half.

When you reach the bedroom, you don’t need to kick the door in. The hinges disintegrate into dust and it falls over, all on it’s own. The crash against the floor breaks Koch out of his stupor. With a cry of alarm he scrambles to his feet, tripping on his own night robe.

“Evening, Pennybags.”

“Who the blazes let you in here?” His heart is pounding. Scenarios running through his mind. Scrambling for an answer. Really? You’d have expected someone a little more paranoid.

You fold your hands behind your back. Nod towards the door. “I did.”

He narrows his eyes, not seeing the humor. Oh well, his loss.

You’re on him before he can even finish his thought about using his power on you. Is enough of the suit metal for it to be a problem? You’re not sure and you’d rather not find out. His head cracks against the wall as you shove him up off the ground with an arm against his neck.

You tap your head. “Don’t even think about it.”

He doesn’t stop struggling. Bare feet kicking against your armor. Up close he doesn’t look as old as you pictured. Bald, sure. But… how old is he? Maybe he just has one of those faces. “You’re–” He wheezes, “you’re going to regret this.”

He’s already plotting your death. Cute. Have to laugh. “I’ll add it to the list.”

...now what are you going to do?

Maybe you should have thought of that before barging in here.

You press against his neck a little harder. Not enough to choke him, but to give you some room to think.

“Alright… Here’s what’s going to happen,” You growl, lacing your words with a telepathic push. An urgency to be followed.

It’s not mind control, not technically.

Just a push.

You’re not even going to make him jump out a window.

–––

You don’t need to hear the stomping of boots in the hallway to know your time is almost up. You drop Koch to the floor. “Consider what we’ve talked about tonight.” Walking over to his desk, you rip off a piece of his day planner and turn it over. Write out the list of instructions.

Three simple suggestions. They’re in his own best interest, really.

You return to him, holding the paper out to take. He hesitates so you reach into his mind and give him a push before stepping away. By the time the riot police show up the scrap paper is gone, inside his pocket. You watch the police fill the other end of the room, shields up and guns drawn. The idiots. They’ll kill Koch if they shoot like this.

You don’t see or sense any of the Rangers.

That’s fine with you, if maybe a little strange. The man in charge steps forward, hand on the trigger finger. “Ghost, you’re under arrest. We have you surrounded.” You don’t need to read his mind to know from the look on his face and the way he’s holding his gun that he’s seriously regretting coming in to work tonight. What does the LDPD think they’re doing? They’re no match for you. Sure, you aren’t immune to bullets, but when has that ever stopped you?

You reach out to the captain’s mind and coax him to lower his gun before he sets off the whole room. “Ghost?” You fake a laugh, the distortion hollowing it out, then say innocently, “Don’t know anyone by that name.”

You crouch down, bracing yourself, placing a hand on the floor. You’ll only have a second before the tension of the situation wakes them up again. “More of a Banshee.” There’s a moment where it seems like nothing is going to happen and then the Nanovores eat a hole in the floor directly beneath you, dropping you down. You grunt, letting the armor absorb most of the shock, though the landing still plays hell on your knees. Going to regret that in the morning.

Above you the room erupts in shouts of alarm and someone fires their gun, setting off another gunshot, then another. You grimace in frustration and, telepathically reach back up to give them a metaphorical shake of the shoulders. You can’t have them killing your new informant.

You break into a run, following your thread to the nearest elevator shaft and breaking the door open with a mixture of force and Nanovores. As you make your escape sliding down the elevator cable you can’t help humming a few bars aloud as you try to steady your nerves.

The chittering of the Rat-King creates an accompaniment in the back of your head.

It’s getting scary just how comfortable with this life you’re starting to get.

Hitting the basement level you barely manage to clear the doors when Lady Argent is on you, all knives and quicksilver. Her claws dig into your arm before you’re able to get her to back off with an uppercut to the head. Argent flexes her jaw and gives you a predatory grin. “I had a feeling I’d find you down here Ghost.”

You study her face, waiting for a sign of any sudden movement. Getting out predicted like this is embarrassing but you need to save the over-analysis for when a woman capable of opening you up like a can-opener isn’t staring you down. You’ve got to reassert control of the situation. You make sure to put an edge to your voice, “It’s Banshee now. If you’re going to play lap dog, at least remember to fill in the incident report form correctly this time.”

Her eyes widen and then Argent leans down, her grin deepening into a scowl. “Ugh. I don’t care,” and she moves in.

Can feel your heart in your throat as the two of you exchange blows. When you try to slide past her, Lady Argent is ready for you, raking claws against the side of your armor, trying to find a point of purchase to pry you apart. Grab her wrist and pull her down on top of you. It’s a stupid move, and you pay for it with razor filings running down your sides but because it’s stupid she doesn’t expect it and you’re able to knee her in the gut and kick her away.

You hate fighting Argent in enclosed spaces like this. It’ll be a game of attrition as to whether you can get away before she can land a clean hit. The two of you are back to circling each other when you bump up against a support pillar.

Maybe….? You mentally check your map.

You’ll need to stall Argent. “So, what was your plan, if I went a different route?” As you talk you rest your hand on the concrete pillar beside you, coaxing the Nanovores to get to work. “Not a good look, hiding in a basement.”

Lady Argent narrows her eyes, “The Handyman’s watching the front door.”

“He’s out of the hospital now?” You sigh. “Are you really that eager to put him back in there?”

There’s a shark-toothed grin and the distinct feeling that she’s sizing you up. “You’re awfully concerned for being the bastard that put him there.”

“Healthcare’s not cheap in this city. Should we hold a fundraiser for him?” You give a theatrical flip of your free hand. “Any suggestions?” Too flippant? You’re never really sure how to approach Argent.

There’s always the temptation; in the back of your head. Let her know who you are, what you’ve done. See if she’ll kill you. But you always end up holding back. Why is that? You don’t understand yourself.

“My only ‘suggestion’ is bringing you to justice.” She keeps her focus trained on you, ready for the moment you make a move. Part of you is surprised she’s still letting you talk. Is backup on the way? That’s not Argent’s style.

“That’s a good thought about justice.” You rap your armored fingers against the pillar, testing to see if it’s hollowed out yet. “But who gets to decide what justice is?”

Would Argent feel bad, if she did kill you? Or would it just make things worse for her? How do you atone for something like this? Is revenge justice? Is it really enough to just make someone hurt?

You used to be sure.

“I liked you better when you didn’t talk.”

You tsk. “Oh and now you’re hurting my feelings?” You can’t keep operating like this. Need to compartmentalize better. Remember the goal. Remember revenge. The damage to Argent is done. Don’t fuck this up and make it be in vain.

Argent eyes your hand, still pressed to the pillar, and growls. “What are you up to?”

“Are you talking about, in general or just right now?” You smirk under your helmet. “Care to find out?” You push hard against the concert. The stone breaks like glass and the ceiling sags from the sudden lack of support, tiles crashing down around you. You jump backwards as the ceiling starts to give in.

No time for any last-minute taunts. You book it for the sewer entrance before Argent can realize the whole building isn’t going to collapse.

In the back of your head, she's still there, watching through the dust.

Smile like a shark.

Reminding.

---

“So, this isn’t what I had planned on talking about; but you’ll never guess what happened last night.” Ortega looks at you, leaning in, an edge to her smile. The two of you are meeting for an early lunch before heading up to the Children’s Hospital again.

You’d half a mind to order something alcoholic, but resisted. Instead, you’re watching Ortega over the rim of your milkshake, straw in your mouth. “Mm?”

“You remember Pennybags?”

You drum the side of the glass with your fingers, making a show of thinking back. “The magnetic guy?”

Ortega nods. “Yeah. Big bank robber, stole a bunch of things from the old Rangers HQ too, remember?”

You nod, grimacing. “Yeah, that was a mess.” Of course you remember. One of the few times you had actually seen Julia really upset. The first time actually. Didn’t know what to do, how to handle it. Ortega was always so confident, so in control of herself and the situation all the time. And there she was, tears and snot yelling at cardboard boxes about failing and… you did the only thing you could think of to do.

“Well, did you see the news this morning?” Ortega’s excitement pulls you back to the present. She leans in further over the table.

You sit back, shaking your head. “I was a little busy last night.” You wince, “This morning. I mean. Uh.” Shit shit shit. “Well. Both? Long night. Working.” You shrug, try to keep your face blank.

Ortega tilts her head, side-eyeing you. “Yeah, I still need to ask you about that job of yours.” She waves it off with a hand. “Anyway, Banshee made a mess again. North end of Beverly Hills this time.”

Your eyebrows shoot up. “Was anyone hurt?” You bite your lip, looking away. “Did… um. Did anyone else…?”

You know Banshee didn’t kill anyone last night. But…

Don’t breathe, don’t relax until Ortega shakes her head, “One guy had some minor injuries, but that’s it.”

Oh thank god. “That’s a relief.” You match Ortega’s smile, swipe a fry from the basket in front of her.

“I’m more convinced than ever that Marconi’s murder was something else.”

“That’s…” You look away, watch the window, fingers worrying the fry in your hand. Shit. What do you say to that? Fuck fuck fuck. “If you say so.” You look back at her. Need to push this conversation along before she can think about that response. “So, uh, are you just this excited that no one was hurt or did the Rangers finally bring Banshee in, or – or what?”

“No, they got away. Again.” Ortega gives you a curious look, eyes flickering down to the fry in your hand and then back up to your face. With an air of deliberate purpose, you put the fry in your mouth. She politely doesn’t say anything.

“So then…?”

“You’ll never guess.”

You shrug, steal another fry. “Okay.”

She frowns. “Don’t be a spoilsport.”

You keep your face blank, only raising an eyebrow as you silently eat your ill-gotten prize.

“Fine.” She huffs. “The guy Banshee attacked, the one that had to go to the hospital… It’s Pennybags. Bastard was hiding under our noses the whole time.”

“Money’s a pretty good cover.”

“Believe me, I’m wildly aware.” The tired expression on Ortega’s face is only there for a brief second and then it’s gone. “He practically turned himself in. It was… kind of creepy, actually. Reading the report.”

You swallow, goosebumps on the back of your neck. “Creepy?”

“Like he felt… compelled.” Ortega jabs a fry in your direction. “You’re the expert, what do you think? Can telepathy force a confession like that?”

“Ortega…” You make yourself meet her eyes. “You’re as much of an expert as me, at uh, at this point. M–maybe more.”

“Maybe.” She meets your gaze. “But I want to know what you think.”

Goddamnit, why does she keep doing this?

You focus on the basket of fries instead, it’s safer. “It’s… possible.” You concede. Would it be better to lie? It already feels like you’re lying about so much. It’s better to minimize the amount of bullshit you have to keep track of. “How are you… sure it’s a confession, and not like… uh, a delusion or something? False suggestion?”

“Yeah, that’s fair. That was my first assumption but uh…” She lowers her voice. “We uh, we found some stuff when searching the apartment. The signed Marshall Hood figure Pennybags stole actually…”

“Oh.” You say. You hadn’t expected her to actually talk about this.

“I… don’t really have a lot left of him. I thought I’d lost that one for good.”

“I remember.” You remember seeing the front door of its hinges, running through wrecked room after room, finding an alarmingly sobbing Ortega.

The first time you willingly hugged someone.

“There’s maybe five people who know about that figure, Ari, and two of them are dead now.” Ortega’s voice is quiet, her hand on the table balled into a fist.

“Do…” You fish for an idea, “do you think they’re trying to send you a message?”

Ortega looks you straight in the face, half-eaten hamburger now completely forgotten. You wish she wouldn’t. “A message? For what?”

You look back, willing yourself not to look away, not to look guilty. “I don’t know… I mean, it’s no secret you and Hood were close, is it?”

The look on Ortega’s face only intensifies. “You think maybe it was a threat?”

Your face blanches, and you shake your head. This is not at all going how you thought it would. “I’m not in this game anymore, remember?” You shrug your shoulders theatrically, “for all I know it could be a love letter.” You freeze. Face threatening warmth. Oh god. What the fuck, Ariadne?

The absurdity of the idea gets a laugh out of Ortega and you both relax. “Mierda,” she shakes her head. “That’s a hell of a way to send a letter.”

You steal another fry. She lets you.

[ask-de-writer]

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 4 of 83 : World of Sea

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 4 of 83

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

copyright 2020

written 2007

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users  of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may  reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information  remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in  my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical  compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  PART 1 is here

///////////////////////

“Aye, she’s t’e very ane.  ‘Ow’d ye know ‘er line an’ folk?”

“My mother, Evanstar Morn Dannav, was her mother’s identical twin.  She raised me on stories of their escapades.  Twenty-one Gatherings ago, she married onto the Grandalor.  I am Tanlin’s cousin, though I’ve never met her before.”

While they were talking, the Princamorn rolled off the coral head and settled down into the crystal waters of the lagoon.  She lay on her side about thirty five or forty feet down.

Soon, the divers began to sound and surface, making notes on waterproofed paperfish parchment.  In a few hours they had conducted and documented a survey of the wreck for salvage assessment.

While he waited for the divers to finish their work, Barad retired to his cabin.  Chena, his cabin-girl was seated on his lap, a two-leaved tallow-slate open before her on the chart table.  Her brows were knit as she studied the problem before her.  I wish that I could follow this Arrakan arithomatics the way Barad does.  He makes it seem so easy.  Their crazy writing is easier by far, and it’s a pain. She looked once again at the rows of interrelated figures that Barad was trying to get her to understand.  I wish that he’d get his hand off my breast.  I can’t concentrate!  These Arrakan function things!  I’ll never get them to work!  A knock at the locked door caused Barad to flip her slate shut and toss it to his bed.  He pushed her behind the bed hangings as well.  Sliding open the door, he admitted his Purser, Mister Morgu, who was carrying a set of account books, and Master Selked who was bearing the diver’s still wet reports on the condition of the wreck.

Studying the dripping reports, Master Selked, the Grandalor’s chief boat-wright, famous for the quality of the tools that he made, told Barad, “The Princamorn is not that severely damaged, other than the hull breach.  She can be easily salvaged.  If we are prompt, most of the capital goods in her shops and much of her cargo and stores should be savable as well.  

Mister Morgu, the Grandalor’s Purser rubbed his hands together in glee at the thought.  “We hold the rights to the wreck, Captain.  It is easily worth seventy five thousand Strong Skins.  Even after the costs of salvage, we stand to make better than fifty thousand Skins in profit.”

Barad’s pale blue eyes speared Morgu like harpoons.  He shook his unruly mop of blond hair, now going gray, and said mildly, “I did say that these folk are not to be looted.  We have made easily thrice that amount by trading with them.  We shall indeed assert our claim to the salvageable wreck.  If the Arrakans recognize our claim, we will return the Princamorn to her survivors at the cost of salvage plus a reasonable sum for our lost ship-time.”

“But Sir,” Morgu started to protest, seeing a large amount of money vanishing from his grasp.

Quelling the protest with a raised hand, Barad looked past his blade of a nose and said coolly, “I expect to gain far more than I lose in this deal, Morgu. Fear not.

“Would you be so good as to go and get Captain P’osettin and Purser Rostow and bring them here to discuss the matter of their ship?”

Am I an errand boy? thought Morgu irritatedly as he said, “Yes, Sir. I’ll attend to it at once.”  He slid the cabin door shut behind him and spoke to the ever-present cabin boy waiting in the passageway.  “Benj, go get what’s her name, Poset — something and, Rostu is it?  You know, the Princamorn’s ex-captain and Purser.”

Benj, irritated at Morgu’s deliberate mangling of the names of people that he had met and liked, said, “Captain P’osettin and Purser Rostow; yes, Sir.  I’ll get them,” and ran in the direction of the mess hall, where the survivors were being put up for now. Shortly he returned, leading both Captain and Purser.

Morgu made a show of sliding open the door and escorting them into Brad’s cabin. Captain P’osettin was a tall, rangy woman with black hair, tied back in a complex knot and braid.  Purser Rostow was small man, a little over five feet tall, gray of hair and elderly.  That he had been crying was obvious.

Barad turned to them and gestured them to comfortable chairs.  “Captain P’osettin, Purser Rostow, I regret intruding on your grief.  Losing ship and home must be hard.  I need help.  I know your trade laws well enough but I need information about your salvage laws.”

“Ca’tain Barad,” said P’osettin in a voice roughened by Gatherings of shouting commands, “Rostow ‘as lost more t’an merely ‘ome an’ ship.”

Barad, remembering the death of his own wife, said quietly, “Dragons, please, not Norrin?”

Mutely Rostow nodded. Captain P’osettin, said, “She was foremast lookoot.  Tried t’ warn us o’ t’e ‘ead but we couldnae turn in time.  Went t’ Iren’s ‘alls when t’e mast went down.  ‘er body wa’ nae recovered.”

“My condolences, said Barad sincerely.  This was a feeling that he was all too familiar with.  “Can you help us or do you need more time to yourself?”

Pulling himself together with a deeply drawn breath, Rostow replied, “‘Aving a task t’ do ‘ll ‘elp.  W’at’s yer need?”

Barad turned to Captain P’osettin first.  “Ma’am, I ask your permission to open your ship’s Logs and accounts.”

“As salver, ye need nae permission Ca’tain Barad,” she answered.  “T’ey’re yers t’ do wit’ as ye see fit.  T’e Logs’ll ‘ave t’ be given t’ t’e Arrakan Council for t’e archive,”

“Still, a friend asks,” Barad returned with a serious smile.

That brought a return smile from P’osettin and a ghost of one from Rostow.  “We were fortunate t’ ‘ave ye close, Barad.  Ye saved many o’ m’ crew from Dark Iren’s ‘alls beneat’ t’e sea.

“W’at ye need now’s a survey o’ t’e wreck, wit’ position.  T’at must be filed wit’ t’e nearest Council ship t’ secure yer claim. T’at’ll be t’e Wavenruner.  T’en, an’ only t’en, can work begin.

“M’ crew’ll be Scattered over t’e fleet at t’e next Gat’ering.  Once t’e Princamorn’s afloat an’ independent ye can put a prize crew on ‘er.  She’ll be sold an’ newcrewed at t’e next Gat’ering.”

“Is it legal,” Barad asked with an intense stare, “for me to sell her and recrew her before the next Gathering?  And with that, can I appoint her Captain?”

It was Rostow who answered this one.  “‘T would be legal t’ do all t’at ye say, t’ough ‘t ‘as never been dune before.  T’e Ca’taincy wad be subject t’ Council approval, o’ course.  All Ca’taincies are.

“W’ere wad ye find purchasers or crew on such short notice?  T’e ‘ole project wad cost on t’e close order o’ twenty or t’irty t’ousand Skins.”

Instead of answering directly, Barad leaned back in his chair and looked up at the web-work of beams and stringers fabricated of glued Strong Skin that made up the support of the afterdeck overhead.  He steepled his fingers and said thoughtfully, “Sometimes people do generous things with no thought of return.  Last Fall, we were trading in these waters when we were hit by a Coriolis storm.  Our damaged mainspar was replaced by folk who said it was but the cost of friendship.

“Consider that spar a down payment.  We will do the salvage work in return for a note to cover the cost of salvage and repair.  In addition, we will have two full ownership shares in your ship.”  

It was P’osettin who with tears in her eyes asked, “After t’is disaster ye wad give us bock our ship?  Wye?”

Barad looked at her with a calculating smile, and laid a hand on the Princamorn’s account books.  “I have a confession to make.  I already did look at your books.  They show quality management.  I expect to make a handsome, if slower, profit.”

Both P’osettin and Rostow nodded.  This they could accept.  P’osettin wrung Barad’s hand as they left the cabin and said in a voice thick with emotion as well as accent, “We must bear t’is news t’ t’e rest o’ t’e crew.  T’e Articles ‘ave t’ be observed but i’ t’ey dinnae take yer offer, t’ey’re nae wort’y t’ be sailors on a ship o’ mine.”

After the visitors had gone, Chena emerged from the bed hangings, tallow-slate in one hand and a stylus in the other.  Timidly, she said, “I got the function thing to work, I think.  It must be wrong, though.  The answer that I get is a nearly circular ellipse, with the primary focus stationary, the minor focus going about it in a circle, causing a moving point on the ellipse to describe a cycloidal path.”

Barad cocked an eye at her and smiled sardonically.  “It sounds basically right.  What’s the difficulty?”

Chena quailed, as if in fear of getting hit.  “It’s huge!  Many times larger than Sea itself!  How could something be bigger than the world?”

Barad actually laughed in delight.  He dragged Chena by the arm to the open porthole and pointed out at the sky.  The largest of the three moons was visible about a hand-span above the horizon.  “There is your answer!  You have just computed the orbit of Wohan, for about a Wohan ahead.  You will become a Calculator yet.  Never doubt it.  

“Your indenture will net me thrice the value of even a boat-shop apprentice.  Your own share of that indenture will be over six times what I get.  Look forward to the money and freedom in just a few Gatherings.  You will have a safe start in a new fleet.  If you do not repeat the mistakes that ruined your life in the Naral fleet you will be secure and respected for the rest of your life.”

Chena looked at Barad in fear, I wish that I could believe that.  I’ve heard that your Cabin-girls disappear and are never seen again.  A death sentence to be chosen.  Well, if you’d not taken me, I’d be dead already.  Cast off.  No ship, unless one were to chose me.  I guess that being taken by the Grandalor is better than drowning.

With the help of the survivors, the Grandalor found the Arrakan fleet Council ship, Wavenruner, easily.  It was one of a few ships that were authorized to act for the fleet’s Council until the next Gathering.  They took the report of the sinking, along with the precise location and the salvage survey of the wreck.  They also issued the necessary salvage claims, and bought much of what had been salvaged already.

Less than a Wohan later a somewhat crippled but now functional Princamorn parted company with the Gandalor.  All of her surviving crew went with her, along with Barad’s indentures.  The only exception was the gravely injured Tanlin, who was still in a coma.

Captain Barad, descended a companion-ladder to a corridor that lead to the Purser’s scriptorium.  A half dozen men and women talented with quill and ink were working industriously by the light of large ports and a few candle lanterns in the brightly lit room.   If the fleet Council knew just how talented these folk have been for the last seven Gatherings, the Grandalor would likely have a new Captain and officers, he thought,  gleeful at getting away with yet another shady enterprise.

He examined the neatly bound piles of trade scrip.  Each one bore the name of a different ship, and had the expertly forged signature of that ship’s Purser.  There were several hundred Strong Skins and perhaps four thousand Glue Blocks worth.  His brow wrinkled in angry concentration and he looked at the works in progress.  “Morgu,” he called softly, voice quietly authoritative.

The Purser got down from his own high stool and work table in the corner of the room, where he could oversee all that was being done.  “Yes, Captain?”

“Where is the Longin scrip?  I do not see any, nor any in progress.  Alor’s signature is no harder to forge than any other.”

“True, Sir.  But this is.”  Morgu pointed to a number neatly written in Alor’s precise hand.

“So? Copy it.  What problem does it present?”

Morgu braced himself to tell Captain Barad the bad news.  It was never safe thing to do.  “Sir, each scrip, even the quarter block ones, has a separate number.  This started last Gathering.  Alor keeps a register with all of the numbers.  When a scrip is done being traded about and is presented to the Longin for redemption, it is stricken out in her register, with the redemption date marked, and it is destroyed.

“The practical result is that our Longin scrip will be easily detected — and traced — to us.

“We are suspected of the counterfeits already put out.”

“How can you know that?  The counterfeits have been discussed in the Captain’s Council but nothing has come of it.  I have seen to that,” said Barad, deeply disturbed.

“Sir, a general meeting of the fleet’s Pursers has been called for next Gathering.  I was not invited, and when I tried to get invited, I was bluntly told that I was unwelcome and would be ejected if I came.

“It took a number of discreet inquiries, some of them through agents, to find out the secret.  The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the counterfeit situation and deal with it at the scrip issuing level, as the Captains’ Council seems unable to do anything.

“If I were you, Sir, I would drop the counterfeiting and wait for at least one or two Gatherings before going back to it.”

Captain Barad scowled, I wish that I could use him for Strong Skin bait. If I do, I will never get a reliable answer from anyone.  They will all be afraid to tell me the truth.  Dependable advice is the most valuable thing I can get.  “I hate to let it go, but though profitable, it is a small trade.  I will bow to your expertise and end it, for now,” he said thoughtfully.

“It was a good idea when you brought it to me seven Gatherings ago, when they were about to vote you off the Darok.  Your transfer to the Grandalor saved them the embarrassment of admitting how badly you had hoodwinked them.  It raised you from a well educated deck-hand to Purser and gave me a good income.

“Do you know why I made you Purser?”

“I have been puzzled by that question.”

Barad smiled, “It is simple.  Faced with ruin by the collapse of a small scheme, you thought big enough to forge ahead and come to me with an ambitious proposal.”  He smiled at his pun and waited for an answering one from Morgu before going on.  “Few people will look to attack when they are being struck by a large opponent.  Your ability at forgery has been useful and it will be again someday in some other way.”

Briskly Barad added, “For now, send someone up to my cabin.  There are four books there, on the table.  Your people should make as many copies as they can.  They are the next edition of the Muline’s Moons and Sun Navigational Ephemerides.  I got them while we were rendezvoused with Muline.  My cabin girl will point them out.”

Morgu shuddered slightly at the thought of the Captain’s cabin girl.  I pity her, truly I do.  Having to take care of his cabin, and other needs.  She won’t last long, they never do.  Aloud, he said, “Will you accompany me to my cabin, Captain?  I’ve something I’d like to discuss privately.”

“Of course, Morgu, let’s go.”

The Purser’s cabin was small and completely orderly, like its occupant. There was a small table, a chair, a shelf for books and a shut-bed. A small port-hole, open but equipped with a tightly fitting shutter, let in light.  Morgu opened the folding door of the shut-bed so that he would have a place to sit, and let the Captain have the chair.

After sitting, Captain Barad demanded, “What did you want to discuss, that needs such privacy?”

Morgu steepled his hands and gathered his thoughts.  “I want to ask something that may be personal.  I don’t want to snoop into your affairs, but the answer may assist me in helping you with your goals. The question is about the Longin.  I know how they cheated you when you tried to take over their crabbing waters, but your dislike for that ship goes further back than that.  If I understand the situation better, perhaps I can help you to devise a fitting revenge.”

It was Barad’s turn to gather thoughts.  “Way back, over twenty Gatherings ago, a few Wohans after the fire cough epidemic, old Captain Morthan, took ill and died suddenly, I took the helm of the Grandalor.  There was not time for a popular election from fleet qualified men, by the Articles because a Coriolis storm was nearly on us.  I and a few supporters took the job because someone had to. People took my commands and we got through the storm in good order. After that, they were used to my rule, and my men made it easier and safer to keep on doing so.  Very few had to be logged as lost in the storm.

“I forged documents of election for the Captain’s Council.  I am not as practiced in that art as you, I admit.  Some of the officer’s signatures were questioned by Captain Mord, (a curse on all Halyns!) and I near lost my command and life right there.  It took some fancy footwork to keep what I had bought and it cost several more lives.

“To this day I don’t understand why he opposed me.  I could easily forgive being outmaneuvered, like with the crabbing waters.  That’s a game with a winner and a loser.”  He threw up his hands and went on, “There was no reason in it!  Neither he nor the Longin could profit by it in any way!”

Morgu listened in rapt attention. Several more lives? There’s more to this story than I’m getting.  Aloud he said, “I see.  You only barely beat them then, and the real grievance is that they near wasted all your work for no real end.  That they have managed to come out even or ahead on every try for revenge since only twists the knife.  

“The best that you have done since amount to small nibbles that they barely feel.”  Morgu paused before going on, “You don’t want to hit them like a hungry Strong Skin.  Big as Strong Skins are, the Longin catches those.  You need to strike at them like a big Wing Ray leaping from the deeps onto a small boat!  You must smash something that they can’t replace!”

Captain Barad looked at the savage expression on his Purser’s face fascinated by what he saw, “What do you hold against the Longin? Such anger is well past the loss of a few counterfeit notes.”  He was well aware of the answer but wanted to hear Morgu’s version from his own lips.  Due to the machinations needed to get him to come to the Grandalor, Barad never had this opportunity before.

“There are two things that I hold against that Dragon-haunted ship!” Morgu paused and took a few deep breaths and regained his composure. “The first is not unlike your own.  I was just making a few of the Darok’s own scrip for my own use, and none really hurt by it.  The Darok found out because Captain Mord Halyn brought it to their attention and then the Longin’s crew helped to trap me.  There was nothing in it for them.  They just prated of honesty.

“The other thing was even worse.  I was near ready to marry a fine young lady from the Muline at the time.  Not only did I not get Suze, she married onto the Longin!  Now do you understand why I want to hurt them?”

Sympathetically, Barad laid a hand on Morgu’s shoulder.  She was going to follow him to the Grandalor but I fixed that!  It has paid off better than I could have guessed.  “I see why you hate them so and now you know why I do, too.  What shall we do about it?  How shall we smash them?  Captain Mord and Alor are both too well guarded and too prominent to reach safely.  I had thought of that.”

“Captain, whose name do you hear everywhere that Longin sailors gather?  They talk about the girl Kurin …”

TO BE CONTINUED

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Retirement Class Of 2024 SVG - Countdown In Progress SVG - Funny Retired Teacher SVG PNG, Cricut File

Retirement Class Of 2024 SVG, Countdown In Progress SVG, Funny Retired Teacher SVG PNG EPS DXF PDF, Cricut File, Instant Download File, Cricut File Silhouette Art, Logo Design, Designs For Shirts. ♥ Welcome to SVG OCEAN DESIGNS Store! ♥ ► PLEASE NOTE: – Since this item is digital, no physical product will be sent to you. – Your files will be ready to download immediately after your purchase. Once payment has been completed, SVG Ocean Designs will send you an email letting you know your File is ready for Download. You may also check your Order/Purchase History on SVG Ocean Designs website and it should be available for download there as well. – Please make sure you have the right software required and knowledge to use this graphic before making your purchase. – Due to monitor differences and your printer settings, the actual colors of your printed product may vary slightly. – Due to the digital nature of this listing, there are “no refunds or exchanges”. – If you have a specific Design you would like made, just message me! I will be more than glad to create a Custom Oder for you. ► YOU RECEIVE: This listing includes a zip file with the following formats: – SVG File (check your software to confirm it is compatible with your machine): Includes wording in both white and black (SVG only). Other files are black wording. – PNG File: PNG High Resolution 300 dpi Clipart (transparent background – resize smaller and slightly larger without loss of quality). – DXF: high resolution, perfect for print and many more. – EPS: high resolution, perfect for print, Design and many more. ► USAGE: – Can be used with Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Cameo, Silhouette Studio, Adobe Illustrator, ...and any other software or machines that work with SVG/PNG files. Please make sure your machiMone and software are compatible before purchasing. – You can edit, resize and change colors in any vector or cutting software like Inkscape, Adobe illustrator, Cricut design space, etc. SVG cut files are perfect for all your DIY projects or handmade business Product. You can use them for T-shirts, scrapbooks, wall vinyls, stickers, invitations cards, web and more!!! Perfect for T-shirts, iron-ons, mugs, printables, card making, scrapbooking, etc. ►TERMS OF USE: – NO refunds on digital products. Please contact me if you experience any problems with the purchase. – Watermark and wood background won’t be shown in the downloaded files. – Please DO NOT resell, distribute, share, copy, or reproduce my designs. – Customer service and satisfaction is our top priority. If you have any questions before placing orders, please contact with us via email "support@svgoceandesigns.com". – New products and latest trends =>> Click Here . Thank you so much for visiting our store! SVG OCEAN DESIGNS Read the full article

[sisteradelaide]

So, I originally did this just to post it out on Instagram, but I figured I would post it here, because why not. As some of you know I have a slight addiction to Professional Wrestling. So much so, that one of the very first things I ever made in Photoshop was a fan art piece of the Undertaker. It was the early 2000's and I had just started my love affair with professional wrestling. I made it for my Intro to Digital Art class. I don't remember the grade I got on it or if it got a positive critique, but I do remember he liked it when he signed it. #FTW

This year he's retiring for good, maybe. We'll see. People are posting tributes everywhere, so I decided that as my small tribute to the man that has made me love Professional Wrestling for the last 20 years of my life, I would do one too. I decided to rework the original piece and modernize it a bit. Unfortunately, the original files are long gone, but through the power of modern technology and Google Image Search I have done it, I think.

On the top is the original piece in all its feathery glory. Believe it or not, I did this before photoshop became the reality altering entity that it is today. In fact, I think the version was either 5.5 or 6.0 and it was done on a Macbook that crashed every five or so minutes.

On the bottom is the rework, with zero feathering and better blending techniques.This was fun to do, simply because I don’t do much digital work for myself anymore and if I do, it’s rarely composite stuff like this. It was also fun because Photoshop has some ridiculous new tools that create a world of possibilities. #SkyreplacementFTW

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys my meager tribute for #Undertaker3