Jimbo Bell Rock [Cade]

[jimbo brian blishwick vi]

cade owen woodward

A Christmas Eve ball! And hosted by the Windsor family! The invite was quite the surprise in Jimbo’s morning post a few weeks prior, though he supposed something like this was a long time coming. He had known that the family was trying to branch out with their magical roots for a number of years, the children having attended Hogwarts (according to Jameson). But the day had finally arrived, and he had an invite to their Christmas ball! Jimbo typically liked throwing his own bash, but this year he decided to take a break on both Christmas and New Year’s. Let other folks get some recognition for their parties. Plus that meant he could finally attend them for once. He didn’t always have to be the one planning and executing parties. While wedding planning was basically his job, it didn’t meant that he had to do it for every major holiday as well.

To get into the spirit, he had a custom red suede suit tailored just for this occasion. The real kicker was the white top hat he spotted on the way out after picking the suit up, and upon trying it on at home with his brand new suit, he realized he looked like a living, breathing candy cane! What could make the formal wear even better? Committing to the costume fully by turning his wand cane into and actual candy cane. He thought he looked good, and purposely held off showing his daughter what he was going in until just the last second, and then he jettisoned off to the Windsor party much to many comments from passersby on the street.

The actual ball was a lot more gallant that he had assumed it would be, and Jimbo realized immediately that he was going to stick out like a sore thumb amongst his magical brethren. But when didn’t he? Wearing a suit was such a common part of his persona by now that it would almost be strange for him to show up in a tuxedo, looking like every other shmuck here. The doorman had quite the chuckle at his get-up, and that was enough for Jimbo.

The first order of business once he was inside? Getting a nice glass of bubbly champagne. Once that was acquired, he started to wander the floor, hoping to find some familiar faces to chat up. It had been a while since he had seen some of these folks, with the country-wide quarantine earlier in the year, and he felt like it was too long since he had held a meaningful conversation with anyone that wasn’t business related.

[cade owen woodward]

life ain't so bad at all

if you live it off the wall

December 24, 2025
jimbo brian blishwick vi

The Christmas Eve ball hosted by the Windsor’s had finally arrived. Cade knew he was due to make an appearance, and he didn’t mind. These events were always wonderful places to hear some gossip after someone had a few too many glasses of champagne or whiskey, and suddenly their words flowed as easily as the alcohol did. Plus, Cade wasn’t one to avoid social gatherings. It had been brought up when he’d been promoted early the previous year, but he’d never seen it as a negative of the job. He dressed up for the occasion, and he saw that everybody else was as well, though one particular outfit caught his eye. A tall man in a red suit and white top hat, as Cade sipped on the glass of champagne he had been carrying around with him as he made his rounds, he couldn’t see his face quite yet. Upon arriving, he’d greeted some of the other Daily Prophet journalists who had also opted to attend. They were polite as usual, he was their boss, after all, and he went to find some of the more senior members of his staff who were a bit less uptight around him while also avoiding any interns that might have had too much to drink already.

Then he greeted whatever heads of Ministry departments he could spot and managed to walk past casually, their answers were short, and he did note a few attempts to altogether avoid him. Still, since they were stuck in this room together, it was hard to escape. Cade had stopped being offended by such behavior long ago. The last person, any Ministry employee, wanted to talk to was a reporter. Finally, he excused himself from an incredibly dull conversation with an Unspeakable when he finally saw the face of the man in the red suit. Ah, of course. Cade was familiar with the name and the face, though he had only spoken to Blishwick on occasion and hardly at length, but he was a name that was known. To top off the outfit, he was also holding what appeared to be a large candy-cane. Cade approached, his usual friendly grin on his face. ”I see at least one of us is in the Holiday spirit.” Technically, Cade was still making his rounds, but he enjoyed the conversation and was curious if there was a story behind the fashion choices.

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[jimbo brian blishwick vi]

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A few flumes for a few former flames and Jimbo was feeling pretty good. He always felt good, but not this good. Shop was closed up for the holidays anyways, and it wasn’t like he was very useful during this time of year, so drinking a little more than usual wasn’t terrible by any means. He really needed some of those drinks after he was reminded why they were flames. Jimbo didn’t like to speak ill of anyone, but some of them had sputtered out years ago, mostly in personality. This was all before he had met his wife, after all, so comparing then to now wasn’t exactly fair. Besides, he was sure that if he had a bald spot or didn’t have to keep up appearances, he would have let himself go years earlier.

That was neither here nor there though, and he was already moving on to the next group of socialites situated near him. Before he could make it though, a face that he considered familiar stepped in front. “For such a fine event, I felt like I needed to dig out an old favorite from the wardrobe,” Jimbo explained. He held his hand out for a shake, as he greeted the newspaper editor, “Good to see you Cade Woodward. How’s the Prophet been treating you these days? You’re still with them, I take it?” This was actually a perfect opportunity, now that Jimbo had a moment to think about it. He had been planning on getting a full-page ad taken out in the newspaper, come the New Year, and Woodward would be an excellent person to plant the seed with. Jimbo had no idea exactly how much it would cost, but it wasn’t like he was hurting with money as it was. Plus, if it worked like he thought it might, the extra revenue brought in from such an advertisement would more than cover the cost.

cade owen woodward ● 321 ● Not Ready To Die by Avenged Sevenfold

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[cade owen woodward]

life ain't so bad at all

if you live it off the wall

December 24, 2025
jimbo brian blishwick vi

While some may have been intrigued or off-put by a man in such an outfit, Cade had met many different personalities over the years in his career that not much phased him in that way. Everybody had a story, and everybody had their own style of how they lived their lives. This was Jimbo’s. Cade extended his own hand to shake Jimbo’s, despite the eccentricity of he was always professional. ”I am still with the Prophet, Senior Editor now.” Cade explained. His career spanned over a decade now, but he’d risen through the ranks that time. One day he hoped to be the Editor in Chief, but he was patient enough to serve his current role. Besides, in his current role, he had the relevant access to information he needed but not the Chief's workload—it was perfect for his work in Ouroboros.

”How is the matchmaking business these days?” It wasn’t something that Cade himself had ever been interested in. While he had a social life where he could and enjoyed being around people, his work was his one true love. That being said, he wasn’t opposed to dating, but it wasn’t his top priority either. He scanned the room, wondering who else he was still obligated to go greet before mingling with his staff or any other friends he wandered into. So far, he hadn’t seen Beatrice yet, one of his closest friends at the paper. However, despite his personal beliefs that when a large wedding of one of the old magical families or at least the rich ones was on the horizon, it always came across his desk for considering in the paper—front page. While Cade might not have considered it news, depending on what else was in the cycle, he knew the people wanted it there as well.

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“Senior Editor! Well that explains why your name is on a lot of the articles then,” Jimbo exclaimed, though there was hardly the need to in this situation. He had an idea of how newspapers worked, having spent quite a bit of time in the Prophet’s advertising department while trying to get them to make his store spread larger. Technically he didn’t need the business that the paper drove to him, but it certainly helped in terms of looking more legit to those that didn’t completely understand what it was that the Blishwicks did. And then there was Jimmie, always going on and on about articles and writing, and how being a journalist was her one true love in life. While one could absolutely fall in love with their work (himself included), she knew better than to throw those words around because their family business proved that everyone had someone out there for them. It was only a matter of time and logistics until that special someone was found. She probably only said those things to get under his skin, but he knew her too well to let that happen.

Cade’s question about the matchmaking had Jimbo laughing. That did seem to be a popular question, always being brought up in casual conversation. And why wouldn’t it? Jimbo’s success, and his forefathers as well, helped with keeping the place going. “Things always change with new generations, so I do feel like I’m running into a bit of a hurdle with this new group of young adults,” he admitted. When it had been his time to take over, he fully understood what others his age, and immediately younger, were looking for. The current twenty-somethings and younger were tough though. They liked their freedom. And who was he to force them into commitments? His job was to help them when they wanted it – if they wanted it. Part of the dilemma came with not having a successor capable of the same things as he was, similar to how he assisted his father and grandfather before him. The times were changing. “I’ve been trying to build a phone application, have you heard of those? I think it might help with more unofficial things, and hopefully keep the name going around for a little longer.” Because after him, that was it. He was the last matchmaker at Blishwicks. Not that he could blame anyone for that, since all good things did need to come to an end.

cade owen woodward ● 413 ● Special Moment by Post Animal

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[cade owen woodward]

life ain't so bad at all

if you live it off the wall

December 24, 2025
jimbo brian blishwick vi

Cade grinned. He’d only been Senior Editor for almost two years at this point. But he’d worked hard to get there even if his previous position meant his name wasn’t on articles as often as when he’d been a writer. ”It might have something to do with it. Don’t tell the Editor. He tends to get jealous.” Cade joked. Fortunately, that wasn’t actually true, and the paper's day-to-day operations were left to the Senior-level staff. Still, he missed those days of legwork, writing and chasing down leads, and arguing with his editors on certain topics. Then, of course, there was always that battle—reporting the facts or reporting a flashier story and would sell more papers. Cade typically opted for the former, though even his Editor would step in and demand a shift in what he had approved from time to time, much to his dismay.

Then again, Cade couldn’t entirely disagree. Sometimes those sensational and flashy stories helped with the public’s morale. They couldn’t report doom and gloom every day and hope to keep a functioning society. Cade listened as Blishwick explained that there were differences in generations, and that was certainly true. As Cade grew older, he noted the interns coming in and how different they seemed compared to when he was their age. Or maybe he was turning into one of those old men he used to get frustrated with in his youth. ”I have, we’ve had a few articles recently.” There was an article about an app to transfer funds that he had found interesting. Imagine a world where one couldn’t watch galleons exchange hands, and it was all done without peering eyes. It only worried him because it gave the ‘bad guys in the world another wall to hide behind. How did muggles handle such things? ”I think adapting is a fantastic idea, the Editor has talked about the same thing for the paper—though I’m sure the other papers are already headed in that direction as well.” It was true, and something Cade supported.

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There were often times where Jimbo felt like he was almost a permanent fixture amidst the corridors and offices of the Daily Prophet. Wheeling and dealing with the advertising team and trying to persuade them on where his full-page ad needed to be for each edition of the paper (meaning the daily morning and evening editions and the separate weekend ones), was sometimes like trying to explain the Mona Lisa to a monkey. They were great people but also knew that they had to push back against most of his requests, thus dumbing themselves down to try and make him take it easier on them. Jimbo wasn’t stupid. As for this editor that Cade was mentioning, he was fairly sure he knew who that was and he could definitely see it. Journalists were weirdly cutthroat with one another, especially within their own departments. He had seen it manifest in Jimmie from time to time, and it was funny how serious they got about their little stories they were writing. Personally, Jimbo liked reading the opinion pieces and the life advice column. The latter was always horribly incorrect and wrong, but if the readers and writers actually wanted real help, all they had to do was flip the page to see his sparkling, shining smile.

The idea of sticking the paper onto one of the phones was sort of preposterous, now that Jimbo had time to think about it. That defeated the entire purpose of it! A newspaper was a paper full of news. Remove the paper, and while there would still be news, all that was left was sliding your finger along your phone screen to read the supremely formatted stories. Jimbo scoffed at the comment, and shook his head back and forth in disbelief, “Would that even reach your target readership? The Prophet certainly isn’t pulling in Hogwarts students and young adults with its current content, no offense.” Mostly because all the front-page breaking news articles had to do with events where students were concerned: explosions, deaths, disaster – literally everything you could imagine at this point. Why would they want to read about what they had experienced? That would be like him picking up a detailed history of the second wizarding war, which he had the unfortunate business of being right in the middle of. Reliving that all over again certainly wasn’t enticing.

cade owen woodward ● 394 ● Morning Dew by Adrian Von Ziegler

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[cade owen woodward]

life ain't so bad at all

if you live it off the wall

December 24, 2025
jimbo brian blishwick vi

Cade gave a half-smile. It was a question he had gotten from the Editor and others as well. There would always be a doubt for new directions, especially adapting to new technologies that were far more far-reaching than what Owls and magic could even do. Charms were useful but still limiting, and more and more people were acquiring these new devices every day. Cade watched as some of the newer interns scrolled through applications bot magic and muggle, posting ridiculous updates and equally ridiculous status updates. ”The Editor had the same sentiment, but our younger readers still enjoy Quidditch and Lifestyle articles even if they aren’t reading the bigger headlines.” Cade cleared his throat, the progress on this was not going to be stopped if he had a hand in it.

Besides, while the Prophet still had a larger audience than some other publications, Cade knew that Witch Weekly and even the Quibbler might jump on this type of platform. And the last thing he needed was for the Prophet to fall behind and not be the main source of news for the people. There was much going on in the world aside from the latest Café opening and who won the last Quidditch match, and Cade had always felt it a sort of a mission to inform his readers. Blishwick had a more old-school sentiment. ”Now imagine—a Blishwick advertisement on each of these devices?” It was not a promise. If anything, it was dangling a carrot in front of the businessman or at least showing him what was possible. An advertisement on one of those phones would be less of a show than a full page in the paper.

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[jimbo brian blishwick vi]

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Jimbo could see how specific parts of the newspaper would function better on the tiny telephones, though was the younger crowd really the bulk of the Prophet's readers? He doubted that the paper would ever fully go digital, as there were way too many magical folk set in their ways. Now what he wanted to do with a dating app would absolutely be targeted towards the endless younger crowd. He knew that would work because he had done extensive research on the muggle version. It was amazing how much empirical data there was out there, and by using that he had started to figure out a way to make it work alongside his ability. There would absolutely be consulting done with the other Jimbos too, as this would be a step forward for all of them. While everything technically ended with him, an application on the phone could be run by whoever his successor ended up being, since it wouldn't be Jameson.

Despite his reluctance to the idea of having to read the Daily Prophet entirely off of his mobile telephone, Cade had a point about being able to use advertising on it. An advertisement at the end of every article was certainly a promising thought. Jimbo took a long sip of his champagne while he pondered the idea, nodding as he did so. "You know me too well. Apparently there's a way you can link up things on the web sites. Is that how the ad would work?" Some of the terminology was still new to him, but Jimbo was of the opinion that he was doing fairly well so far. It would make his daughter roll her eyes when he purposely misspoke, but what was the point of being a father if he didn't joke around like that? "What would you estimate the time frame to be for the Prophet to start pushing out a web edition?" Jimbo inquired, already knowing that he wanted to be the first to have his advertisements on the platform.

cade owen woodward ● 337 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[cade owen woodward]

life ain't so bad at all

if you live it off the wall

December 24, 2025
jimbo brian blishwick vi

The paradigm shift from parchment to phones was a sharp turn. Cade didn’t consider himself tech-savvy. He could operate the basic functions of his device, such as making calls and answering them. But maybe it was his time at the paper and love of writing where he found putting a quill to the parchment a much better experience than putting letters on a little screen in his hand. There was that personal touch of writing a letter or even a note he would hate to lose. Other people’s reasons were far simpler and response to frustration more than anything. But he’d watched the interns easily pick up the phones and tablets and other things with ease.

But, aside from all that, Cade couldn’t deny the benefits he’d seen. ”That’s what they tell me.” Cade was hardly going to pretend to understand how it all entirely worked. But it got people excited. "Fortunately, we have employees that deal with that specifically. Cade kept an ear open to the buzz of conversation around him, typically because he sometimes would hear his name. But Jimbo’s question was valid and a common question when discussing this subject. ”It’s already in the works. He wanted something publicly available by the beginning of spring next year.” It was a fast-approaching timeline, but it would set them up for the summer when Hogwarts and other schools were not in session. This would help them target the younger crowd who read the Prophet, though not in the same numbers as their parents. Cade was going to add more, but he heard his name being called, but he didn’t see where it was coming from.

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“Excellent! The Prophet is always on top of things. Especially as of late,” Jimbo said excitedly. It hadn’t always been that way, and he remembered the days of his youth where the news wasn’t nearly as fair as it was nowadays. Which, in comparison to some of the muggle papers he’d recently viewed for information and help on technology, was quite the surprise. The Prophet was nice to Jimbo because he pumped a lot of money into the advertising. He knew that. They ‘dealt’ with him because he was essentially a reoccurring sponsor of his. And likewise, their paper churned out business for him. The blind date events he’d put on over the past few years had only grown because of the paper, and he knew that going digital would work similarly. Getting ahead of the game like he was now was really the only way to go. Most likely, if he found the right ears, he could pull one of the newspaper’s developers away to work on his application on the side. The world of magical dating was bound to be better because of Blishwick.

“Sounds like you’re needed,” Jimbo cheerfully pointed out as he followed the editor’s gaze around the room. “I won’t keep you then. Business as usual for both of us now, I bet!” He gave his own quick look at the people that surrounded them, trying to find his next target of conversation. There were quite a few excellent contenders, so it was really up to him on who would occupy his next half an hour or so. “Happy Christmas!” Jimbo gave the editor a raised glass as he turned and headed off into the crowd.

[Jimbo End]

cade owen woodward ● 281 ● Benz by Skott

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