#he claimed all the other members of the batch as dependents

[homeforclones]

Crosshair under the chip pays his taxes.

Normal Crosshair commits tax fraud

[mariacallous]

As the Russian military’s slow advances in Ukraine continue, calls for talks to end the war have become common—some made by well-regarded foreign-policy specialists. Their ideas are neither prudent nor persuasive, but they should be examined in good faith rather than dismissed as appeasement.

Those urging negotiations rightly note that U.S. assistance to Ukraine on the level of the latest tranche—some $61 billion for military, economic, and humanitarian purposes—will not continue forever. Sending Ukraine another hefty sum next year will prove an even tougher sell, even if Joe Biden remains president; and if Donald Trump wins, he may end support altogether.

Still, the most recent U.S. aid package, along with the military assistance from various European countries, will enable Ukraine to fight into the next year—nearly half as long as the war has now lasted. Given this war’s twists and turns, the possibility that Kyiv could use it to rebound, while not certain, cannot be ruled out.

We can predict neither what that length of time will be nor the difference the newest batch of Western weaponry will make. Yet it’s important to keep in mind that it has now begun arriving, with the artillery and long-range version of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) already in use.

Some claim that the best Ukraine can hope for is a deal that includes its partition. Even assuming this prognosis proves true, the nature and extent of a partition matters: There are worse and better variants. Ukraine’s ability to negotiate a postwar settlement that it can live with depends on its military performance over the next 18 months or so. In other words, negotiating from a position of strength matters.

Those proposing talks between Kyiv and Moscow tend to believe that Ukraine cannot possibly achieve anything resembling victory (such as regaining large tracts of territory now under Russian occupation); that the calendar favors Russia; and that Ukraine’s continued armed resistance will only produce more death, destruction, and territorial losses, which it can avert by reaching a settlement—soon. The war has taken an enormous toll, as I have seen firsthand during four visits to Ukraine, so the desire to end it is understandable.

Despite their good intentions, the “negotiate now” camp skirts a critical question: Who will (or should) initiate the talks? One possible answer: the United States, Ukraine’s principal supplier of weaponry—perhaps even over Kyiv’s head. But there’s virtually no chance of that happening so long as Biden remains president: Nothing he or members of his foreign-policy and national security teams have said or done suggests they plan to strong-arm Kyiv into a settlement with Moscow. The $42 billion in military assistance—part of the latest installment of American aid—is meant to keep Ukraine in the fight and will, into 2025, even if Trump wins in November.

Perhaps those advocating negotiations expect that Kyiv will conclude that continuing to fight will produce an even worse outcome and, moved by that logic, seek a compromise with Moscow. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hasn’t indicated the slightest inclination to take this step—not since the failure of the talks held in Belarus and Turkey soon after the invasion.

His goal remains retaking all lands lost to Russia since 2014—Crimea included. This objective isn’t written in stone and could change if the facts on the ground do, but so far it has not. One can dismiss it as outlandish, but what matters is that it persists.

Maybe those who recommend negotiations anticipate that Ukrainians’ war weariness will impel Zelensky to bargain with Russia. That’s possible, but for now Ukraine’s citizenry opposes a deal with Moscow at least as much as its leaders do—it’s common to be told by ordinary Ukrainians that Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t be trusted to honor the terms of a settlement. As proof, many point to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which included a pledge by Russia, one of the signatories, to respect Ukraine’s borders.

I have repeatedly asked various Ukrainians—bartenders and hotel clerks, former and current officials, soldiers on the front lines—whether the war had produced privations that were so painful that they had concluded, reluctantly, that it was time for a settlement with Russia.

Not one person said yes. Indeed, the greater the firepower Putin directs at Ukraine, the greater Ukrainians’ hatred of Russia becomes, and with it their resolve to keep resisting. Yes, there is draft evasion in Ukraine—some of it owes to the monthslong but now-resolved uncertainty about future U.S. military aid and the Ukrainian military’s subsequent shortage of critical equipment—but society at large isn’t ready to throw in the towel.

The proponents of a deal with Putin seem confident that they can divine the war’s denouement: a Russian victory—say control of Donbas, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—and Ukraine’s subordination. Yet such surefire assertions lack an evidentiary foundation. No one can be sure how this war will end, and forecasters should be humbler given that just about every prediction thus far has proved to be incorrect.

Consider some examples.

U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, anticipated some three weeks before the invasion that Putin’s army would capture Kyiv “within 72 hours”—only to claim a year later that Russia had lost “strategically, operationally, and tactically.” Both claims missed the mark.

Early in the war, it was common to hear that Ukraine lacked the muscle to reclaim the areas the Russians had overrun by mid-2022. By year’s end, however, Ukrainian forces had expelled them from the north and northeast and in the south from the right bank of the Dnipro in Kherson province, regaining in all more than half the territory it had lost since the war began.

The failure of Ukraine’s summer-fall 2023 counteroffensive seemed to vindicate the prophets of doom, but Russia’s net gains last fall amounted to 188 square miles, just over half the land area of New York City.

Last October, a small band of Ukrainian marines forded the Dnipro River and created a bridgehead at Krynky, on its Russian-controlled bank, in Kherson province. The New York Times reported that one of them called the operation a “suicide mission.” The Times painted a pessimistic picture. Yet the Ukrainians expanded that foothold. Repeated Russian attempts to storm it failed and led to significant casualties and equipment losses and criticism from pro-war military bloggers in Russia. Two Russian generals were replaced—one soon after the Ukrainians ensconced themselves in Krynky, the other, amid mounting losses, in mid-April. The Ukrainians did evacuate Krynky that month but dug in elsewhere on the river’s Russian-held left bank.

But wait, some might say: Ukraine has been in deep trouble since Russia, having captured Avdiivka this February, has continued pushing westward—and now threatens areas north and northeast of Kharkiv city. But these successes owe to Ukraine’s monthslong, dire shortage of equipment—above all artillery. Russia had a 5:1 advantage in artillery shells by March, and Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command, warned the following month that the margin of Russia’s superiority could double “in a matter of weeks.”

That has happened in some places, and Ukrainian soldiers have struggled to hold their ground, let alone counterattack, especially because the Russians vastly outnumber them.

Yet there has been nothing resembling a collapse of Ukraine’s front line or large-scale Russian breakthroughs. The speculation that Russia might retake Kharkiv city—which lies just over 30 miles from the Russian border—doesn’t take into account that Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, encompasses 135 square miles. In the adjacent provinces—Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk—Russia has amassed some 30,000 troops; but it would need a substantially larger force to control Kharkiv, which has a population of 1.4 million. Plus, urban warfare, a particularly bloody business, gives defenders all manner of advantages over attacking infantry.

The calls for peace talks have another defect. They enumerate the problems faced by Ukraine’s armed forces—there are plenty to point to—but omit any mention of Russia’s, which I have discussed elsewhere.

Geolocated data show that Russa has lost nearly 16,000 pieces of equipment, including more than 3,000 tanks as well as over 5,000 armored personnel carriers, armored fighting vehicles, and infantry fighting vehicles. Plus, a third of its Black Sea Fleet’s ships and submarines have been damaged or destroyed. There’s been much debate about casualty figures in this war. The U.K. Ministry of Defense reckons that Russia’s total is 465,000 dead and injured soldiers. Yet even if the true number is only one-third of that, Russia’s losses, against a far weaker adversary, have still been substantial.

Does it follow that Ukraine lacks serious problems and will surely win? No and no. It does mean, though, that confident, linear projections declaring that Russia has become a juggernaut and that Ukraine should therefore sue for peace soon are questionable.

A major flaw in the pro-negotiation camp’s reasoning is the proposed timing. Many proponents of peace talks want them to begin soon, some as early as this summer—about a month from now. But the United States and its European allies have just started delivering tens of billions of dollars’ worth of armaments to Ukraine and won’t be finished by the beginning of fall. It would be foolish to rush into negotiations before seeing what difference the infusion of additional weaponry will make, whether Russia’s military can sustain its current tempo once Ukraine has more firepower, and how successful Ukraine’s draft proves to be.

If Ukraine, bolstered by additional troops and weaponry, claws back more territory—even if the gains fall well short of Zelensky’s ambitious aims—and Putin realizes that his army won’t be able to make additional gains, Ukraine will have greater leverage than it does now to shape a political settlement.

There’s another problem with the calls for negotiations: They assume that Putin wants them. But does he? Russia’s defense budget increased by almost 70 percent this year. As a proportion of Russian GDP it will reach 6 percent, compared to 3.9 percent last year. Nearly a third of the federal budget will support defense spending, compared to 16 percent in 2023. These aren’t the actions of a leader eager to negotiate.

And nothing Putin has said suggests otherwise. Last December, at his customary year-end marathon news conference during which he fielded questions from the media and the Russian public, he stated that the mission of the “special military operation”—Moscow has since begun to call it a war—remained unchanged: Ukraine’s de-Nazification, demilitarization, and neutrality, meaning ending its quest to enter NATO.

In September 2022, following a bogus referendum, Putin announced that four Ukrainian provinces—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—were irrevocably part of the Russian Federation. That remains unfinished business; only Luhansk is more or less fully under Russian control.

Bearing in mind the hazards of prediction, and assuming that Zelensky’s goals could prove unattainable, one can envision this war ending in at least one of three ways.

1. The Russian military takes even more land, the West succumbs to Ukraine fatigue, and Putin imposes a punitive peace on Kyiv: Parts of Ukraine become Russian territory, and the remainder, while retaining independence, reenters Moscow’s orbit.

2. Despite intense efforts, Russia controls less Ukrainian territory than it does now, Putin recognizes that his army cannot do any better and may lose more land, a political settlement follows, and Ukraine eventually joins the EU and NATO, with the proviso that Kyiv will not permit NATO bases or the permanent presence of foreign troops on its soil.

3. The war becomes a stalemate, which both adversaries conclude cannot be broken, but Putin has enough leverage to ensure Ukraine’s neutrality. Kyiv uses its own bargaining power to insist on armed neutrality, which would give it the freedom to train its armed forces in Western countries, equip its army with Western weaponry, and thus remain outside Russia’s sphere of influence.

While other scenarios are certainly possible, these, save the first, share a commonality: They require that Ukraine boost its bargaining power by ending Russia’s momentum, mounting its own counteroffensive, and retaking more territory.

This will require time, which Ukraine now has: Western arms have just started reaching the front, and their volume will increase in the coming months. Russia and Ukraine may eventually hold talks on a political settlement. But now is not the time to initiate them.

[pastelpaperplanes]

Big Ol Ask Post Pt. 3 I think

I haven’t drawn anything other than cursed or plain technical stuff w him 😔😔 have these for now but expect more soon!

anon a way back asked what he’d look like next to Overlord being already so big compared to Megs, that’s why you see Lordie if you’re wondering why he’s thrown in that line up!

by the way I have a voice claim for the big purple simp— Jenner from NIMH, he’s so awful but that suave baritone oh it fits too well >:] it’s the ‘humble servant’ line that got to me

Yep! Pharma is absolutely in this AU—as well as the CFau and Crack one too—and in all, he’s still an estranged medic long since booted from any legal work back on Cybertron.

He lost his credibility and more all those years ago when he found himself willing to do his fair share of cutting corners and hastily concealed malpractice to expedite his dream of getting his name down in the medical books—ultimately impressing his dear Mentor Ratchet, finally, in perfecting long-since banned risky experiments and surgeries—not to mention cruel and unusual temperament with the (supposedly) taboo practice of non-medicinal mnemosurgery.

His ambitions and aggression always got the bet of him, this hasn’t changed since he found himself working in freelance outposts. Light years away from Cybertron, he’s made a name for himself as a Good Doctor—but to his under-the-table black market part-dealing clients, he’s just about as bad as a Crooked Medic can get.

Bounty hunters and Arms Dealers like him for his business, a certain DJD member likes him for the occasional berth company and seemingly never ending supply of fresh T-Cogs—but no one actually likes him for his nasty temperamental personality, save for a young and naive Ratchet once upon a time.

Pharma is a roamer, as of recent he’s been a hard to reach mech—seems as if he’s found a little project to keep himself pretty occupied in the last few decades—something about a breakthrough for aiding the Decepticon Energon Crisis :] him and a small, horrifyingly cheerful surgeon are well on their way to completing their first trial batches, it’s safe to say that their little synthetic mixture will have it’s users sated and compliant.

they’ve got that amazing ‘new car smell’ those first few weeks, and instead of chittering like an Insecticons or vibrating their wings like a seeker—they beep and squeak, sometimes even honk a horn depending on the baseline altmode coding, to get their Creators’ attention before their vocalizer truly starts to kick online

It’s cute, but loud

Much like a seeker sparkling, they have to reach a certain ‘age’ (upgrade) to be able to transform completely, in between then they’re still able to rev those engines as a warning should they need it, as well as spin their wheels should they need a getaway HEELIES IF THEYRE LUCKY WOOHOOOOO—for seekers they can hover on their thrusters!

Crusade is actually pretty formal with Megatron. But yeah as a kid, Megs was always known as Carrier, but as Sadie got older and more aware of their surroundings—they definitely came to learn the true weight of that title and the fact that they were the progeny of the faction leader, a fact they should have really held onto with more pride. Not wanting to draw more attention to the already blatant favoritism (and nepotism) Crusade made a switch to addressing Megatron as Sir, My Lord, Lord Megatron, —ect. to better fit in with their fellow troops.

It bothers Megatron more than than he lets on. Crusade shouldn’t have to hide their high ranking as his child, the heir to the faction. Megs is their Carrier and can only order them around for so long, as their Leader however—pulling rank may just allow for their infuriatingly stubborn sparkling to listen to them should a day come where even a Carrier’s plea is dismissed.

Crusade does slip up every now and then and a ‘Carrier’ will slip—often hushed and annoyed though as Megs does like to tease every now and then, gotta remind them that they’re still his baby every once in a while :’)

Optimus however—whenever him and Crusade should truly reunite, will never be called Sire by Crusade, which they so heatedly established early on—Crusade never needed one and they don’t need one now, better to not let the title trigger those long-suppressed emotions. Sure enough though Optimus will get his moment.

actually no lmfao so you’re good! Eh, I haven’t mentioned much plot w them outside of them and Megs, plus bits of potential interactions with Optimus—so the rest of Team Prime is free game :D

For what I (hopefully will have) planned, their interactions with team Prime will be eh,,,interesting to each their own to say the least. Some more stressful than others BUT let’s not get into that until I’ve worked it out—for now I’ll just mention what they’re dynamics would be like when the drama of Oh Shit Boss Bot You’ve Been Hiding a Kid For HOW LONG has died down.

A usually touch-wary Crusade actually is the one to initiate a hug with Bulkhead, he’s the biggest and warmest and somehow is always happy to see them. Plus he tells cool recaps of Earth films and gifts them strange blobish paintings every now and then, all of which Crusade doesn’t exactly understand, but at least the colors are pretty.

Bee is annoying,,,which is what Crusade would say if confronted if they actually liked all the shenanigans Bee suggest they pull together, prank wars to the max, sparring for fun, video games?, DOUGHNUTS and RACES in the fortress halls??? Ahem. they are a super serious soldier, not a hooligan. But honestly, Bee is the one they seek out the most should they need an adventure, they missed out on a lot of this ‘fun’ growing up on the Nemesis—Bee seems to know how to balance a day of soldiering and dumbassery. sometimes.

Ratchet reminds them a bit too much of their Carrier than they’d care to admit. The medic is an old soul to his very core, perpetually tired but quick to snap into work mode, and sweet if you reallllllly squint. Sadie has been taught from day one to always respect medics, Ratchet obviously takes the cake on I’ve Seen Some Shit and for that alone Crusade both fears and admires Ratchet. Again, growing up on the Nemesis they didn’t have too many bots willing to talk much with them—but Ratchet (after he’s gone through his own lot of therapy, him AND Arcee. good lord) has a never ending pile of stories to share with them. Ratchet may throw in a few more colorful curses than necessary—which is SURPRISING bc Crusade thought they’d heard them all back home, but he’s entertaining and tells Crusade how it is, no sugarcoating. For that Crusade is grateful, there’s been too many half-truths thrown about to them in their recent years :’)

Ghost Prowl freaks them out—why does he deliberately have to be so sneaky?? Crusade has only met Prowl a fleeting handful of times (visits from the Allspark come with meaning, you know) and each time Crusade has been given nothing but odd riddles and poetic nonsense. Kidding. Prowl does like his wordplay’s but his given advice is always well meaning—the most firm and direct message Crusade has been passed though was probably most definitely “ Get those two cowards for mecha you call your Creator’s to stop fooling around with each other and SPEAK—at this rate it’s physically paining me that they haven’t begun Ritus and they’re not getting any younger”

Team Prime adores Sadie, they ask Megatron to see their sparkling photos every chance they catch him. And Crusade. hates it.

:) have

We’ve been here before, haven’t we?

[fridayfirefly]

Virtual Sleepover

Read Virtual Sleepover on AO3

Masterlist

Written for Maribat March Day 4 - Internet Friends

Quarantine had been rough at Wayne Manor, but for Tim Drake, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a bright light through it all. Tim was getting ahead of himself, though. The story of Marinette Dupain-Cheng started on March 20th, 2020. Panic over coronavirus was sweeping the nation. Bruce had gathered all of the members of the Wayne family into the dining room to explain the new rules of the house. No one was to go in or out. Groceries would be delivered to the house. There would be no superhero outings for at least two weeks. Tim didn't think his family would be able to survive, trapped in a house together.

So to preserve his sanity, Tim turned to the internet. There were hundreds of cold cases that he had put on the backburner and hundreds of forums and websites dedicated to solving cold cases. Tim turned to the most popular website and started dumping information, hoping for someone to show up and work through it with him. That's how Tim met Marinette. @MarinetteDC showed up on his page with a friend request, a wide range of technical knowledge about textiles and designs, and about seven different theories on a murder case Tim considered all but unsolvable. Her sleep schedule was just as chaotic as Tim's and she also drank a near-inhuman amount of coffee. Marinette Dupain-Cheng enthralled Tim. And when the chaos of his house threatened to make Tim lose his mind, Marinette became his lifeline.

"Can you hear me?"

Tim nodded. "Yep!"

"Nice!" cheered Marinette. Tim relished the opportunity to see her face, even if it was through a zoom call. "So what do we want to do first? I don't have class until Monday, so we have the whole weekend ahead of us."

"I think we should start with the iconic sleepover classic: truth or dare," suggested Tim.

"Alright. Truth or dare, Tim?"

"Dare." Tim was confident in his abilities to pull off any stunt she might come up with. However, his confidence started to fade as he watched a devious look grow on her face.

"I dare you to bake a batch of cookies - any kind of cookies you want - without using a recipe."

Tim blinked, trying to recall the last time he had baked. Besides a few times helping Alfred out in the kitchen, Tim wasn't certain that he had ever used the Wayne Manor kitchen for anything other than brewing coffee and heating frozen pizzas. "Could I have a new dare?"

Marinette shook her head, the grin on her face demonstrating exactly how much fun she was having, watching the panic in Tim's eyes. "I'll give you one hint on how to make them, but only one, so use it wisely."

Tim groaned, unplugging his laptop from its charger so he could move it to the kitchen. "I'm not actually certain I know all of the ingredients in cookies. Or how long you bake them for. I feel like an hour is probably too long, but I feel like half an hour might not be enough time."

On the other side of the screen, Marinette tried to stifle her giggles but was unable to keep them all in. "No offense Tim, but this is going to be a disaster. I can't wait."

Tim let out another groan. "Must you torture me?"

"How about you keep the laptop camera pointed towards the oven, that way I can tell you once something starts to burn?" Marinette joked.

Tim knew that she was teasing, but honestly, he knew he could use all the help he could get. Still, he wanted to preserve at least a little of his dignity. "Very funny," Tim said sarcastically, setting the laptop down on the kitchen counter.

"Start with ingredients," Marinette advised.

"What all goes into a chocolate chip cookie..?" mused Tim. He got out the flour, white and brown sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla extract, and three different types of chocolate chips that Alfred kept stocked.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"

Tim cast a wary gaze upon his ingredients. It didn't seem like enough, but at the same time he couldn't figure out what he was missing. Tim sighed. "I'm ready to use my hint. Tell me what I forgot."

"You forgot to get out the salt, and more importantly, the baking soda," advised Marinette.

"Can I have a second hint?" asked Tim as he gathered his two missing ingredients.

"That depends on what you're asking," teased Marinette.

"I'm going to start listing measurements, and you tell me if it's too much or not enough."

Marinette pretended to think it over before replying, "I'll do it, but only because I want the cookies to come out edible, not because we're friends or anything like that. There are no friends in the Dupain-Cheng kitchen," said Marinette, her voice filled with faux seriousness.

"Lucky for me, these cookies are being made in the Wayne kitchen, and we're all very nice here, and we don't let Tim burn his cookies."

Marinette giggled. "You have a point there," she acquiesced. "Start listing your measurements."

Tim grabbed the measuring cup and starting approximating. "Two cups flour?"

"That will make about five dozen cookies."

"One cup of each type of sugar?"

Marinette shook her head. "You'll want a 3/4 cup of each."

The rest of the measuring process proceeded smoothly, with Tim guessing measurements of fluctuating accuracy (he correctly guessed that he would need two eggs, but his guess of a half-cup of baking soda led to Marinette questioning whether he had ever been in a kitchen before).  Once Tim got the cookie dough mixed, spooned out onto a tray, and put in the oven, they resumed their game of truth-or-dare.

"Your turn, Marinette. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Tim tried to think of a good question to ask. "Since you've now seen how abysmal I am in the kitchen, I want to know one thing that you're terrible at."

Marinette scrunched up her brow. "It's nowhere near as bad as you're inability to crack an egg-"

Tim winced a little, remembering the painstaking process of digging out fragments of eggshell after he completely shattered it in his attempts to crack it.

"-But I have really bad depth perception. I trip over every little crack in the sidewalk. I'm probably the clumsiest person you'll ever meet."

Tim chuckled. "And here I thought you were perfect."

Marinette grinned. "Almost perfect. Truth or dare?"

"I'll pick truth this time, and hopefully avoid being humiliated again."

"I'll go easy on you this round. When was the last time you lied, and what was it about?"

Tim combed back through his memory of the past week, trying to pick out the last time he lied. "I think it was yesterday morning. Dick asked me if the coffee I was drinking was my first coffee of the day. I said yes, but really I hadn't slept that night so I just decided to arbitrarily count my start of the day at the time I would have woken up had I actually gone to sleep."

"So how many coffee's had you had yesterday?"

Tim shrugged. "Since midnight? Probably three or four. I've gotten away with a lot more coffee since I modified the Keurig in my room to stop making so much noise."

"I'm lucky," said Marinette. "My parents sleep so far away from me that they can't hear my Keurig."

"Truth or dare?" asked Tim, continuing the game.

"Truth."

"What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done because you had a crush on someone?"

Marinette flushed red, and Tim immediately knew that this was going to be a good story. "Once I accidentally sent a text to my crush so I stolehisphoneanddeletedthetext." Marinette rushed the last few words, so fast that Tim couldn't quite make them out.

"What was that?"

"I stole his phone and deleted the text before he could read it. In my defense, I made a lot of questionable decisions at that age."

Tim burst out laughing. "How old were you?"

"I was thirteen," admitted Marinette.

Tim couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of her claims. "You couldn't have asked him to borrow his phone and deleted it then?"

"I was in panic mode. It was between steal his phone or destroy his phone."

"Those were your two options?!" exclaimed Tim.

Marinette blushed even more furiously. "It's your turn. Don't expect me to go easy on you this round. Truth or dare?"

Tim kept up the trend. "Truth."

"What was the worst thing you did at thirteen?"

Tim thought back to his days as Robin, and the many, many stories he could tell. In the end, he settled on one that Jason still brought up when he needed leverage over Tim. "It's not as bad as phone thievery, but it's still a pretty funny story, looking back on it. You know how I have two older brothers, right?"

"Dick and Jason," Marinette confirmed.

"Well, one night I managed to convince Dick to let me drive Bruce's favorite car. Now, keep in mind, I had never actually driven a car before. Surprisingly, I wasn't that bad at driving. I made it home without incident - that is, until I tried to park the car back in the garage and accidentally crashed into Jason's motorcycle. For years after that, Jason used the threat of telling Bruce about my little car crash to keep me in line."

Marinette snorted. "You think that borrowing a phone to delete a text message is worse than borrowing and crashing a car?"

Tim shrugged. "It's a matter of opinion. Truth or dare?"

With a roll of her eyes, Marinette said, "Truth."

"What's one thing you would never tell me?" It was the sort of question that could only be asked during a game of truth or dare. In Tim's opinion, it was this sort of question that made the game worth playing.

Marinette pouted. "I don't like that question."

"Too bad. The rules of truth or dare state that you have to answer it."

"Fine." Marinette looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Just as she turned back to face her laptop, her face lit up. It was evident that she had an answer. "Usually I let people learn from their mistakes in the kitchen. However, I will now tell you - because I have to - that your cookies have been in the oven for too long. They're going to start burning if you don't take them out soon."

Tim jumped up to get his cookies out of the oven. They looked a little burnt, brown rather than the golden-brown that Alfred would make, but they still looked edible. "I'll accept your answer, but only because you saved my cookies."

"Now that your cookies are done, do you want to finish up our game of truth or dare?"

"One last question," decided Tim. "And I'll pick truth, to make it easy for you."

"What's the biggest secret that you've currently keeping from your family?"

After Tim's last question, he had expected Marinette to follow it up with an invasive question. Luckily, her question had a very simple answer.

"Easy question - my friendship with you."

Marinette looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Most of my friendships begin through the connections they have to my family. Because of that, I've never really had serious friendships that my family wasn't actively involved in."

"It's not because you're ashamed of me, right?" Marinette sounded unsure of herself. Insecurity was a side of her that Tim had never seen before.

"Of course not," Tim assured her. "You're the best friend I could have ever asked for, Marinette."

"Good, because you're not getting rid of me that easy. I still have a lot to teach you about baking. I think we might try cupcakes at our next sleepover."

Tim laughed. "We'll see about that." He had no doubts that there would be sleepovers to come, and shenanigans involving baked goods to go along with them.

@maribatmarch-2k21

[itsclydebitches]

Its Own Reward

Fandom: The Bad Batch

Words: 2,098

Summary: If, at times of unseemly emotional vulnerability, Tech found himself longing for the one thing The Bad Batch didn’t have... well, that was between him and his overactive mind, thank you very much. 

Warnings: Mentions of blood/injury later on, but very minor

A clone's favorite game, in the whole wide galaxy, was Picture Your General. 

Picture your general in the heat of battle, lightsaber flashing, tearing through Separatist forces with the intensity of a Kaminoan storm. 

Picture you general in the aftermath, entering a meditative state, calming the battalion with their mind alone.

Picture your general giving an order and you, standing tall, accept it with pride. Picture yourself as their right-hand man. Their greatest asset. The tool that will win this war. 

Of course, at this stage one brother or another would point out the flaws in the fantasy. "Only a few of us will ever speak to them," they'd say. "You're not making Captain. Commander? Dream on. And watch the arrogance, vod. We're important, sure, but we're disposable too. No one is going to mourn us when we fall, certainly not a Jedi." 

From there they would either grow quiet in discomfort, or pummel the offender with whatever was in reach, depending on the makeup of the group. No matter the outcome though, the game would inevitably repeat just a few hours later, picked up by everyone from the youngest cadet, to soldiers a day from their first assignment. Every clone in existence wanted to picture their general; imagine up a person worthy of the Kaminoans' stories and, though shared with more reservations, imagine the place they'd find at their side. 

Every clone, that is, but Tech.

Well, he supposed Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair might be the same, but that was a hypothesis he hadn't tested yet. Out of everything Tech still needed to learn, that was rather low on his priority list. Meanwhile, spending time on a useless game was downright foolish. Oh, he had nothing against games on their own — they fostered a number of desirable outcomes, including, but far from limited to, a social comradery that would serve them well in battle — but this game, Picture Your General, had nothing to offer him. For the simple reason that Tech would never have one. 

It was a fact the Regs took great pleasure in pointing out. Frequently. 

"Ignore them," Crosshair said, stealing an extra ration off Tech's tray. History implied that he wasn't actually that hungry, merely interested in teasing Wrecker with the extra food. He'd pretend to save it for most of the night until, inevitably, handing it off as a grudging, midnight snack. Crosshair played with the food, but Tech knew his attention was on the rowdy group to their left. "They're not worth it." 

Given that it was just the two of them, Tech allowed himself a scowl, snatching the ration back. He had nothing against Wrecker receiving additional food, especially given his fast metabolism, but it was the principal of the thing. This was his. "Says the man who instigated four altercations this week." 

"I like riling them up." The food moved back to Crosshair's side of the table. "You don't." 

"You're mistaken. I take great pleasure in correcting our less cordial brothers. Though their initial claim is sound, the reasons for why we will not be assigned a Jedi are erroneous in the extreme." 

"You mean that we're useless, unwanted defects who don't deserve to lick a Jedi's boots?" 

"While I wouldn't have phrased it quite like that... yes. It's factually incorrect." 

"Hmm. Your face doesn't say 'factually incorrect.'" 

"That's because you're stealing my food!" 

"You're mistaken," Crosshair mimicked, this time stuffing the ration deep into his pocket where Tech didn't have a hope of reclaiming it. "Ignore them." 

Tech rarely denied himself the chance to speak at length on any topic he pleased, but this time he bit down on the retort that he literally could not. The Kaminoans had ensured that he picked up and payed attention to everything around him, even what he didn't want to hear. 

Still, clones were nothing if not adaptable and very little in this galaxy was black and white. The very thing Tech craved was also evidence of his greatest joy: the rest of his squad. They weren't made for a Jedi, they were made for each other. The Regs might have seen that as another defect, but Tech understood the inevitability of balance. If he wanted something as remarkable as his team, he had to give up something else in turn. 

Like the knowledge that someone else, anyone else, was fighting for them. To the Kaminoans they were property. Expensive and prized property, no doubt, but even the most beautiful tool would be discarded in time. To the other clones they were outsiders, a blight on everything else they took pride in. And to the Jedi they were... non-existent. Or near enough, Tech supposed. When called to assist a battalion they usually did so on the outskirts, getting into the enemy territory their brothers couldn't negotiate, leaving for the next suicide mission by the time they'd caught up. It resulted in a reputation that was, ironically, quite uniform, given their otherwise individualistic looks and personalities. The Bad Batch was a team of four who did what other clones couldn't. That's all the Jedi needed to know; presumably wanted to know. And Tech could hardly fault them for that when in the midst of a war. Like him, they had much more important matters to occupy their thoughts. 

That naïve indifference — an inability to be seen — might have been bearable if Tech hadn't accumulated such a clear picture of them. Oh yes, much of it came down to his academic nature, scrolling through datapads in the dead of night, soaking up information about anything, but especially that which was so crucial to the war... but there were stories too. The GAR was full of them. Whereas cadets played Picture Your General, soldiers spoke of the real thing, at times even more fantastical than their imaginings. Whispers spread through the ranks of Master Obi-Wan's compassion, claims that he fought for clones on and off the battlefield, giving as much respect as he demanded in turn. His former Padawan was, they said, as much a vod as any of them, prone to establishing an equality based on practical jokes and near-death situations — the kind of insanity clones were genetically predisposed to enjoy. There was talk that Unduli welcomed every soldier into her ranks with a Mirialan ritual, that Windu was fighting for clone rights in the Senate, even jokes that Plo Kloon had millions of adoption papers ready and waiting for the war's end... utter nonsense that last bit, of course. Yet every time Tech scoffed at a Reg's unseemly devotion, an awful little voice in the back of his head pointed out that the jokes had to stem from something. One did not craft rumors about a Jedi's kindness unless they had done quite a bit to establish it in the first place. 

Tech didn't need kindness, only assurances. Bonds with the Jedi provided his brothers with a connection outside of the Kaminoans. They were building a network, however small, for the day this war ended. The Jedi Council would fight for the clones, Tech was sure of that... but would they fight for a shadowy, defective squad they knew little about? Their place in this galaxy began with each other and ended with the occasional, dubious acquaintance of Hunter’s. That was not enough to survive on and Tech cared only about such practical matters. 

At least, that’s what he told himself for a time, but it wasn’t in Tech’s nature to dismiss facts. Like how once Master Shaak Ti had laid a hand on his arm after training, bestowing a smile and words of praise that Tech later kicked himself for missing, too busy being disgustingly flummoxed by the attention. That warmth, gifted three different ways, stayed with him long after they'd left their simulations behind, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rationalize it away as planning for the future.

Tech wanted a Jedi of his own. He simply... wanted.

In time those feelings didn't abate, but they were buried under an avalanche of new ones which, from a technical standpoint, he supposed amounted to much the same. After Kaller, Tech had lost his purpose in serving the Republic. Worse, he'd lost a member of his squad, even if he eventually got him back. Crosshair's presence now could no more lessen his past absence than food in one's hand could feed a starving man from yesterday. Tech's home was gone. The familiarity of his brothers' faces, even those twisted with cruelty, was something he craved. Everything from the rooms they'd once slept in to the smell of sterilized halls— all absent. So if Tech sometimes stared out at the stars and felt horrifyingly incomplete, who was he to say what that stemmed from? There were too many possibilities. The data was corrupted beyond repair and trying to divide what he'd lost from what the Kaminoans had denied him was an entirely useless endeavor. An experiment not worth his time. 

Still, Tech was made of curiosity. His mind was always on the lookout for patterns and new information, whether he wanted it to be or not. In truth though, he figured that Omega's near death was an experience that would have stood out to anyone, genius not required. 

Her screams were quite the conductor for one's focus. 

"Shoot it! Shoot it!" 

The order was for Crosshair, but Hunter couldn't see that he'd been knocked out by the krykna's last attack, one spindly leg the size of a cruiser slamming into his side. Hunter himself was trapped, hands scrambling to free his leg from the cave's crevice even as he yelled. Tech noted, in the dim way his mind noticed most things during a crisis, that he was now using his knife for leverage, cutting into his calf in the process, uncaring. Meanwhile, Wrecker was overwhelmed by the krykna's cluster, something about his size and boisterous nature attracting them like... well. Like kryknas to a clone. Echo was trying to help, but the planet's magnetic field had been messing with his prosthetics ever since they'd landed. Tech saw them both disappear under a small mountain of the creatures, yelling Omega's name all the while. 

And Tech... he was running. Yes. He realized that now, legs pounding across the ground, heedless of the numerous arachnid bodies that crunched beneath his boots. He couldn't say that his attention was solely on Omega, her face now just inches from the krykna's pincers. It never was. Tech couldn't help but catalogue a hundred other observations as she neared death's door, most of them quite distressing. Like the difference in height between him and his brothers. Or his abysmal scores in sprinting back on Kamino. Omega was at least five meters away whereas the krykna, most assuredly, was not. 

I'm going to lose another one, Tech thought as his next laborious pant turned into a sob. Probability proves it. 

Thank the Maker his calculations were incomplete. 

Later, the five of them would describe the sensation as akin to static electricity. Even Crosshair, unconscious, would say that he'd felt something passing along his skin, heedless of armor and all the more disconcerting for being... impossible. An impossible memory. Only Tech and Hunter saw it though, the moment when the krykna rose off the ground and flew, all five tons of it, slamming into the opposite wall where its skull caved in like an over-ripe fruit. 

Omega sat with her little hand outstretched, looking just as dumbfounded as her brothers. When he finally reached her, Tech found evidence of the krykna's teeth on either side of her neck. They'd only just punctured the skin. 

A moment of certain death, averted through instinct. Destiny? Perhaps some combination of the two. 

"It's okay. You're okay. Omega, please breathe for me." 

Tech was blessed — sometimes cursed — with an extraordinary memory, the ability to recall not just books' worth of information, but images in perfect clarity too. Superimposed over a sobbing Omega was a cadet from his youth. No one important. No one whose name Tech had bothered to learn, uninterested in remembering it against his will. But the boy's words had already been spoken. 

"Kriff, maybe we're wrong, vod! Maybe the defect will get a Jedi. After all, don't they say the Force works in mysterious ways?" 

An insult, a taunt, and now perhaps a speck of wisdom that Tech should have heeded. He pulled Omega into his arms, one gloved hand sinking into her curls, the other wrapping tight around her waist. He'd performed this gesture a hundred times before, but this time it felt like something slotted into place. 

"There you are," Tech whispered and for now, he'd pretend that this was nothing more than a reassurance. 

[snifflesthemouse]

I'm still rather new to Tumblr. While I've clearly displayed my ability to post my ramblings, I'm still figuring out the other various features of this platform. For the sake of reference, I have posted a screenshot below.

While I completely agree with @youhavebeenmarkled that it's grossly inappropriate to suggest Catherine, the future Queen Consort, is a drug addict... I want to add to the discussion and further develop why the concept of Catherine microdosing heroin is entirely ignorant.

@youhavebeenmarkled mentions several excellent points as to why the concept is ridiculous; from genetics to muscle tone and more. But there's deeper reasons why this idea of Catherine being on heroin is so far from the truth and reality, it's out of this world. Some could even argue it sounds like a page from a Hollywood script.

Before I get started, though, I want (and need) to stress a few things. I am in no way shaming anyone. As I've shared in the past, I am the last person in the universe qualified to pass judgement on anything or anyone. My posts are simply my perspectives, my opinions. I look at facts in the public domain, and with my own knowledge and life experience, I form my thoughts.

Please remember while you read this, I am not looking down on anyone. I am not bragging about knowing what drug addiction is or is not. I am only sharing some insights with you, the reader, on what real life heroin addiction is like. My only goal is giving insight.

I am not proud of my past, and I am not condoning it. Nor should you. Accountability is how I stay clean. Please do not feel like I am suggesting non-addicts are ignorant or "square". Not knowing or understanding heroin addiction is a blessing. It's a good thing to be in the dark about certain things because it means you're smarter than people like me.

Be proud of the fact you don't automatically see why these blind items are total nonsense from the start. And if you aren't proud of yourself, just know I am proud AF of you. For those of you like myself who have been through the hell of addiction, remember we do recover. With all that being said, let's get going.

You see, anyone with firsthand experience or knowledge of true heroin addiction would automatically know these rumors are absolutely ridiculous. Why? Because heroin addiction doesn't work that way.

Now don't get me wrong. The world is filled with functioning closet addicts. I myself was a functioning closet addict for years before the world was any the wiser. The key point, though, is the world did eventually get wiser.

Heroin addiction usually starts out in one of a few ways. Most Americans addicted to heroin became that way because of prescription painkillers. For example, I first got addicted to pain pills. When the pain pills became impossible to get, I took what I could get that was the closest equivalent. That was heroin.

But some people start using heroin because they did some at a party with friends. Or they have a loved one addicted and wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Some people are hooked on other drugs, like cocaine or ecstasy, and their usual dealer offers a free sample of the latest batch of heroin. There's a saying among addicts; "The first one's free."

Dealers know they can increase their profitability if they can get established clients addicted to other products they traffic. But these are just a few examples of how people get started using heroin. Very rarely does anyone start out on heroin simply because they want to stay thin. Contrary to the popular belief known to many as "heroin chic" that came from supermodels in the mid 80s and 90s.

Heroin is what addicts refer to as a euphoria narcotic. It has a euphoric effect, and it is sometimes called a "downer". Cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, or amphetamines are called "uppers" or "speeders" because they stimulate the brain and give energy. While heroin can have that affect on people, it is not the traditional go-to for illicit weight management.

In other words, if Catherine really did use microdosing (a concept I will debunk in a moment), her first, best choice would be a stimulant like cocaine because it's much more effective at appetite suppression and providing energy. Heroin wouldn't be the first, best choice for many reasons.

Because of its nature, heroin is highly addictive. Most users begin snorting the drug in powder form. Within seconds to a minute, the substance enters the bloodstream and hits the brain. The brain then releases endorphins that travel the rewards pathway in the brain. The first time one uses heroin is the highest they will ever feel from using. Every subsequent dose releases less and less endorphins in the brain. This is why recovering addicts talk about chasing their sobriety like they chased their first high. This is also why microdosing is an almost-impossible behavior.

Microdosing means taking tiny, small amounts over time. Meaning that you only use the minimum amount to achieve the effect you desire. But the problem is, your brain becomes physically dependent on the substance over time. Every time an addict uses, the brain gets more dependent on that substance to function. So, while a non-addict's brain has no issues with their brain producing endorphins, an addict's brain does. This is why heroin is so addictive.

Eventually, a heroin addict's brain will become so reliant on heroin to produce endorphins, the addict will become entirely dependent. This is also known as becoming hooked. When the addict doesn't have the minimum amount of heroin the body is accustomed to, or depending upon, the addict will start withdrawal. This is often called being "dope sick" or "detoxing".

Detoxing or being dope sick is the driving force behind addicts staying addicts. Being dope sick is the biggest fear of an addict. So much so, the fear of detoxing is enough to drive otherwise good, decent human beings to doing absolutely whatever it takes to avoid detoxing. Stealing from loved ones, manipulating innocent bystanders, lying, cheating, robbing, selling your body... are the half of it.

Being dope sick is like having the worst flu of your life times a million. You will vomit, have uncontrollable diarrhea, and your body will hurt worse than anything you could ever imagine. If you detox for more than a day, you will begin to feel like your insides are shaking, burning, and pulling apart inside. You can't sleep. You can't eat. You can't get out of bed. You miss work and lose your job (if you still have one at this point). You get desperate before this point, and you get carnal after this point.

Your brain and entire body becomes dependent on this substance to function subpar. Without this substance, everything begins to stop working properly. Depending on exactly how much you use normally, your withdrawal can become life threatening. You can have seizures, strokes, or even go into cardiac arrest. Hopefully you can see by now why I say the concept of microdosing is ridiculous.

To be able to micro dose would require the self control and willpower of a super human. This reminds me of an article I once read about a college professor who advocated for drug use. He claimed he wasn't addicted, had control of his drug use, and was a productive member of society. He said he'd use heroin like others drink after a long day of work. Yet, he's been using it for over a decade. Yet, he experienced detoxing. That professor is a prime example of an addict in denial. But I digress...

My points are this:

1. Heroin wouldn't be the first choice for weight control or appetite suppression; cocaine or stimulants like meth or ritalin would be.

2. Microdosing is an almost-impossible method of drug use because the body gets hooked quickly. Which means the dose will only increase in amount in order to have the same effects over time.

3. Heroin causes an addiction that results in serious, life threatening withdrawal that drives even the nicest person to doing the worst of the worst.

4. Heroin addiction, even in small amounts, takes no time to invade and overtake one's life. It literally only takes one time to get hooked. It literally takes no time to destroy everything.

Oh, and one more thing before I put a sock in it... at the height of my active addiction, I was using around 2 grams a day to feel normal. I spent at minimum $200 a day on heroin. Sometimes even more. When I started out, I was only using a tenth or less. It takes 10 of those to make a gram. So within two months of starting, I went from doing one tenth to needing 20 of those tenths just to feel normal and function. All the while, I never got smaller than 150 pounds.

I know it sounds terrible, but I would lament over how unfair it was. I was doing all this heroin, and I was still thick AF. I would literally joke to fellow addicts I would use with how it was total bullshit. How was it I was using 2 grams a day and still a size 12 or 14? That's how sick I was in my disease. Which is my final point.

Not everyone on heroin is "heroin chic" skinny. The effort, will power, and self control it would take to "microdose" would be far greater than what it would take to control one's diet and exercise. Plus it would be much cheaper to hire a trainer than employ a drug dealer.

I hope this very long, detailed, winded post gives better insight to the deeper reasons the blind item is so dumb. I also hope it gives insight to the real life of heroin addiction. My goal was, and is, to provide real examples to the blind item's absurdity. If I can help people better understand heroin addiction, potentially deterring someone from ever touching it or even a loved one learning something that could help someone they know struggling with addiction... well that would be a bonus.

P.S. If you or a loved one you know is struggling with addiction, there is help out there. If you have any questions or just need someone to listen, please feel free to message me. I will do my best to help. I've been there. They say the only way to keep your sobriety is by giving it away... I have plenty to give. Be forewarned, though, I am unapologetically blunt and honest to a fault. I mean no harm, but I will not sugar coat anything.

[eryiss]

Event: LGBTQA+ Month hosted by @ft-wwtdp​ 

Ship: Fraxus ( Freed Justine x Laxus Dreyar)

Prompts: Love, Gift, Brave, Tease, Quirk.

Verse: Canon Compliant

Alternate Places To Read: Fanfiction, Archive of our Own. Event master list here.

This is the first batch of submissions for the Fairy Tail LGBTQA+ week. I’m putting five drabbles per post as not to spam the tags, and I’ll make a new post every five days. Hope you enjoy them. 

Day One – Love (Of A Stubborn Thief)

Despite what many people thought, Laxus had always had a good handle on his emotions.

He always knew what he felt, had always been good at realising what his feelings were and what they meant, and he had enough emotional intelligence to understand other people's feelings as well. Thanks to his father's influence, there had been a time where he would shut off his emotions, but even then he had known what he was feeling. Even at his worse, he understood people and he understood himself.

It was because of this emotional intelligence that he wasn't shocked when he realised he was in love with Freed.

They'd been dating for a few months by then, and it had been incredible. Having this extra layer of intimacy with the other man made him feel comfortable, happy, and warmer. It was as if every second was just a little bit better than it could have been with Freed being only a friend. A small but constant improvement, and one Laxus had no intention of giving up.

It wasn't a particularly big moment that lead him to understand what he felt for Freed. It was in the middle of august, and the two of them were shopping in Magnolia's marketplace for everything they would need for the upcoming week. Laxus had been tasked at getting meat from the butcher's cart, while Freed made his way through the produce stands. Shopping together was something they had started to do three weeks prior, and although Laxus hadn't admitted it, he was rather fond of it now. Before, it had been a chore, but it was somehow pleasant when Freed was with it.

Laxus had never guessed he would enjoy the domestic side of a relationship this much.

After getting all the meat they needed – which was a lot, given they were intending to have a barbeque in the upcoming days – he began to walk towards the fruit and vegetable sections of the market. When he got in earshot of Freed, a grip split on his face.

"You and I both know that you're overcharging. I am not going to pay double the worth for a punnet of strawberries," Freed had snapped, voice a little harsh.

"Then you ain't shopping here," The vender said, and even with the distance between them Laxus could see Freed's jaw clench a little.

Laxus decided to stay back. This would be fun to watch.

The following few minutes were quite entertaining for Laxus. Freed, as he often did when he saw something he identified as an injustice, decided to use every tool available to make his point. One moment he had worked out the exact price of an individual strawberry – which was admittedly quite high – and was loudly making sure the people around them knew it. The next moment, he was explain the many health code rules that the vendor was breaking, and threatening him with an impromptu visit from the governing authorities so that they could see these violations.

After glancing at the vendor, who had turned from a confident extortionist to a bumbling victim of Freed's calm but effective threats, Laxus decided to approach. If left too long, Freed might make it known he had a weapon attached to his hip. That might be taking it a little too far.

Although, it would be funny.

As he got closer to his boyfriend, Laxus thought back to when he first met Freed. He had expected the other man to be a reserved and calm figure, lacking the eccentricities that made up Fairy Tail's members. Makarov had once confessed that he thought Freed would be a calming influence on Laxus, as he was one of the more mature members of the guild. Looking at him threaten a man's livelihood for a discount on some fruit, it was hard to believe that was the case.

"Hey," Laxus greeted, standing beside Freed. "Everything alright?"

"I'm simply refusing to be a victim to a scam," Freed explained, and Laxus fought off a grin.

"As I said before," The vendor continued, though his tone was unsure now. "I am not going to lower my prices because someone in threatening me."

"They are pretty expensive though," Laxus said smoothly, before Freed could cut in. "Maybe you could knock twenty percent off, get us out of your hair. I think we both know that this asshole ain't gonna give in."

The vendor took a moment to think, cussed under his breath, before offering a lower price. Laxus brought his wallet out and paid for the food before Freed could barter it down lower – there weren't many fruit vendors in the market, they couldn't afford to be backlisted by the best one – and started to walk away. Freed joined him a moment later, walking beside him as they began to left the market.

Freed was quiet, and Laxus assumed it was out of annoyance that he hadn't managed to get a bigger discount. But when he looked to his side, he saw that Freed was eating what appeared to be a peach, and Laxus frowned. That hadn't been part of what they intended to buy.

"Where did you get that, Freed?" Laxus asked with an amused expression on his face.

"The fruit stall, of course," Freed said, and Laxus let out a single laugh.

"Did you pay for it?"

"It's entirely dependent on what you consider paying to mean," Freed shrugged. "If you mean I paid the amount he wanted, then no. If you mean I covered the cost of overcharging by getting what my money was worth, then I did pay for them."

"So you stole it?" Laxus laughed, before furrowing his brows. "Wait, them? How much did you steal?"

Freed reached into his pocked and pulled out another peach, offering it to Laxus. The blonde looked at it for a moment, shaking his head in a mixture of both amusement and disbelief. His boyfriend – the man many people claimed was a voice of reason inf Fairy Tail – had actually stolen some fruit because he believed that he was being overcharged. He seemed completely unrepentant about it, and Laxus knew that if he objected Freed would stubbornly defend himself to an inch of his breath.

And it was then, when he took the stolen peach for himself, he realised he was in love with him.

The moment he realised it, everything seemed to make sense. Because of course he loved this ridiculous, stubborn, incredible idiot. Who else could he love? Who else could make him feel as he did? Who else was so perfect for Laxus?

It was a warm feeling, a feeling of solidity and comfort that Laxus hadn't often felt in his life. He found out he liked it. And as he looked down at Freed again, who had continued to eat his peach without so much as batting an eyelid as to where it came, Laxus found himself more contented than he ever thought he could.

"Freed," Laxus began, insides bubbling.

"Yes," Freed said patiently.

"I'm in love with you."

He kissed his boyfriend before he could say anything in response. Delightfully, it tasted like peach.

~~~

Day Two – Gift (From Afar)

"Hey Freed, wait up."

Freed turned around at the shout from behind him, stopping. It was his birthday, and he was retuning home from the customary celebrating in the guildhall. His parties were always a smaller affair than those of the louder members of the guild, something he had requested. Still, it had been a merry affair, but as the night had worn thin, Freed found himself fighting a small amount of melancholy as he sat around his friends.

It came form the fact that, while all his friends were there, his husband was not.

Laxus had taken an S-Class job nearly a month prior, being the only available member of Fairy Tail with the ranking to attempt it. He had known it was going to be a long job and that he would possibly miss Freed's birthday, and the rune mage hadn't minded. Missing out on things was an occupational hazard in their job.

Still, now the day had come, Freed couldn't deny he was missing him. They didn't have any particular traditions when it came to breakfast, other than being awoken with a fresh mug of coffee, so it wasn't as if he was missing anything in particular. It would have just been nice to have Laxus with him.

"Damn, you're a pretty fast walker," Natsu panted as he approached Freed.

The rune mage looked at the younger man with a small quirk in his eyebrow. They weren't the closest of friends, but they got along well enough given their contrasting personalities. He waited patiently for the other man to catch his breath – maybe he was a faster walker than he realised – and absently wondered what Natsu could have wanted. He'd congratulated him, given him a gift, and demanded a fight throughout the evening. There wasn't much else Natsu normally did on a birthday.

"I have this for ya," He eventually said, raising a hand.

In his hand was a package wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string. It was a simple looking thing, and Freed took it with a small amount of hesitance. Natsu's gift to him had been two bottles of alcohol; one a refined scotch, the other a cheap brand of tequila that boasted being the closest thing to breathing fire a man could experience. Lucy had later confessed that she tried to convince him to get the scotch rather than the tequila, and this had been a compromise.

But, given the fact the man had gotten him something already, it seemed unlikely that there was a third part to his gift. He looked down at it, then to the man, with a small expression of his confusion. Natsu grinned.

"It's from Laxus," He explained. "We had a mission close to the town he's helping and met up with him. Told me to give you it."

Freed looked down to the wrapped package with a small smile. It was of course nothing compared to having the actual man here, but it made him feel rather loved anyway. A lot of people assumed that Freed would be the more romantic of the two, but that wasn't exactly true. They both had their moments, both were thoughtful and kind to each other, and this was an example of Laxus' more romantic inclination.

"Sorry I didn't give it to ya in the guildhall," Natsu continued. "Didn't know if he wanted it to be private or not, so I waited. I should get back, so see ya," He started to jog back, waving towards Freed. "And I want that fight!"

Freed smiled a little as the younger man ran off, looking down at the gift in his hands. He continued to walk towards his house, absently moving the package from hand to hand as he did. It wasn't a long walk, so he decided to wait.

When he got home, he walked to his living room and settled in his large armchair. A pile of his presents had formed from when he had teleported them from the guildhall, and he decided he would deal with them in the morning. He ran his fingers down the brown paper of the gift with a soft smile on his face. He used his nail to cut it open revealing a small note above the gift written in Laxus' familiar handwriting.

'Freed. Sorry I'm not gonna be there for your birthday. I know you said you don't mind, but it's still kinda shit. I'll make it up to you when I get back, which shouldn't be too long I don't think. I hope this make you smile. Love, Laxus.'

Freed smiled, moving to place the note on the side table. When he did, he noticed writing on the back of the paper.

'Salamander. I swear to god if you opened this instead of giving it to Freed I'm gonna fry your balls off when I get back. Evergreen and Bickslow know I've got him something, so I'll know if he doesn't get it.'

With a laugh, Freed placed the note on the side and looked at the gift itself. It was a leather-bound book, and when Freed saw the title, he smiled. It was a book containing multiple short stories aimed at children, the same book that he had read as a child. This was a first edition of the book, and it seemed to be in immaculate condition. He smiled softly as he opened the first page and looked down at the illustration.

Freed realised, as he read, that Laxus' job had taken him through a far-off town that boasted a well-stocked vintage book store. He must have brought the book before he arrived at the job and kept it to give to Freed when possible. The idea of it made him smile, as did the knowledge that he had only mentioned the book to Laxus once, and he had remembered.

He smiled as he turned a page; Laxus really was a romantic at heart.

~~~

Day Three – Brave (In Every Way)

Laxus had always known that Freed was brave.

There was never any doubt in his courage. He had stood against powerful mages and fought dangerous beasts hundreds of time and had never shown any signs of backing down. He had pushed himself to his limits to help others, had stood up against injustices and cruelty, and had never cowered when challenged on his ideals. He was one of the bravest men that Laxus had ever met, and that was something Laxus would never change his mind on.

Today, he was proving it. Because fighting mages, stopping monsters and ending injustices were something mages had to do. True bravery could be seen today, as both Laxus and Freed walked into the large foyer of Freed's childhood home.

Laxus would say it was more of a mansion than anything else. But saying that wouldn't be appropriate.

Freed's relationship with his family had always been tense. Not as shattered as many Fairy Tail members, but there was always an underlying animosity between them. Freed hadn't been the perfect, obedient son that they had wanted, and from what Freed had told Laxus, they had resented him for that. He was his own man, had made his own decision, and those decisions had been at odds with what they wanted for him.

Apparently him joining Fairy Tail had been the last straw for them. His father had threatened to cut him off, remove him from their will, and essentially disown him. Freed had left the house the moment he could, and hadn't returned since.

Until now.

After the incident at the S-Class trials, it had been assumed that many members of Fairy Tail had died, and Freed was included. So when they returned after seven years alive, people had been shocked, and it had been a big part of the news. Apparently Freed's parents had seen this and, now that their supposedly dead son was alive again, they reached out to him. According to their letter, the seven years thinking he had died had shown them what it truly meant to have him out of their lives, and they had regretted their behaviour.

Laxus wasn't going to say anything, but he had heard Freed's soft sobs as he read the letter for the first time. Clearly he had been missing his parents more than he thought.

Today was the first time they would see each other, and Freed had admitted to being scared. He had insisted that Laxus come with him, both for support and to show his parents the man he was to be married to. If they wanted to accept who he was, they needed to accept Laxus as their future son-in-law.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Freed's mother whispered.

She had been the one to open the door, and the moment she saw him her face melted into emotions and she pulled him into a hug. Laxus had stood by a little awkwardly, allowing the two to have their moment. Although Freed didn't cry like his mother was, the strength in which she hugged her told Laxus how much It meant to see her again. It was nice to watch.

"I am too," Freed said softly. "You look well."

"So do you," She smiled. "You must still be twenty-one, mustn't you?"

"I am," Freed said with a small laugh, though a small frown followed. "Is father not coming?"

"He's coming," She assured him. "He's not as mobile as he was before, I'm afraid. But still pig-headed enough to refuse my help."

Freed nodded, and his shoulders hunched slightly. Neither his mother nor father were innocent in Freed being driven out of his home, but his father was the worse. He was loud and argumentative with his disproval, if Freed's stories were accurate, and it had been the constant arguments and fights between them that had been the final straw for Freed. It was clear that seeing his father would likely not go as well as seeing his mother.

And yet Freed stood firm, and Laxus was again reminded of just how brave his fiancé was.

As Freed and his mother spoke, Laxus allowed his eyes to stray around the room. There was a large painting above the staircase, seemingly of a pre-teen Freed with his mother and father. The father was a stern looking man, with a strong jaw, authoritative expression and pushed back shoulders. He looked like a high ranking soldier, actually.

He pulled his eyes away from the paining when the doors to the side of the stairs opened, revealing the same man from the painting. He was now hunched over, leaning heavily on a walking stick, covered in wrinkles. He looked old.

"Freed," He said, voice a little croaky yet still firm and controlled. "You came."

"I did. Hello father," Freed replied, voice tighter now.

"Who is this?" He asked, looking to Laxus.

"This is Laxus Dreyar. His grandfather is the guild master of Fairy Tail," Freed explained. "He's also going to be my husband."

It was perhaps the bravest thing he had ever said.

Apparently neither Freed's mother nor father had been told of this, as they both looked to Laxus in shock. Laxus didn't look towards Freed's mother, and instead kept eye contact with his father. If Laxus had judged them both correctly then the father would be the one to have an issue with him, not the mother. He looked at the older man without showing a hint of intimidation, and the man looked right back at him for a few moments.

"You do good by my son, and we won't have a problem," He eventually said, huffing.

"Of course," Laxus nodded.

"Good," The old man nodded, before turning to his wife. "We'll be eating soon, I assume."

As the older couple walked off, Freed's mother saying they would be waiting in the dining room and dinner would be served in twenty minutes, Laxus stood beside his fiancé and looked down to him with a gentle expression. Freed seemed to take a few moments recover; he had apparently expected something worse as well.

"You okay?" Laxus murmured to him.

"I think so," Freed said with a nod, looking up to Laxus with a smile. "Having them know I like men is rather a large weight off my shoulders."

"I bet it is," Laxus said, kissing the top of his head. "You ready to catch up with them?"

"I think so, yes" Freed nodded.

As they walked, Laxus was left with no doubt that Freed was the bravest man he knew.

~~~

Day Four – Tease (At Your Own Risk)

"Well, isn't this cute."

Bickslow had his arms crossed over his chest, the biggest shit-eating grin stretched over his features. Freed's eyes fluttered open as he was awoken, looking towards the man responsible through a hazy gaze. The cocky attitude radiating from the man was clear even without being fully able to see him, and his tone was annoying Freed already. His tired glare didn't dissuade Bickslow from his amused taunting.

He, Bickslow and Laxus had taken a mission together and had ended up sleeping in the woods. It was originally intended to be a Raijinshuu only mission but Evergreen had been called out at the last second, and Laxus had taken her. Bickslow had been more than happy to hear this, and now that the mission had begun Freed understood why.

The idiot had decided he would spend the entire mission teasing the new couple as much as possible.

Many little comments had been made about him third-wheeling them by coming along with them, and about how sorry he was that he had gotten in the way of their romantic time away. When fighting a pack of creatures they had been forced to split up, and Bickslow joked that if they wanted time alone then they could have just asked. And the moment he realised they were sharing a tent he had all but imploded with laughter at his own jokes about what they would be doing inside of it.

It was starting to grate on Freed's nerves, just slightly.

Right now, the subject of his teasing was the fact Laxus was sleeping, head resting on Freed's chest, arms wrapped tightly around him in an almost possessive manner. Freed probably had his nose nuzzled into his boyfriend's hair before he had woken up. Bickslow clearly had enjoyed seeing the two of them cuddled together.

"The two strongest, most badass men in the guild," Bickslow continued. "All snuggled up like idiots in love. It's enough to make your heart melt."

"You know I have a sword, Bickslow," Freed croaked a little as he spoke. "And you also know I enjoy using it."

"Whatever you to do in bed – or in the tent – ain't any business of mine," Bickslow grinned even wider, and Freed's glare got even more intense. It didn't stop Bickslow even slightly. "I always knew Laxus was this cuddly, didn't think you were though. Honestly wish I could take a picture of this, because it's too damn cute."

Freed sighed. He should have expected this when he and Laxus revealed their relationship to their teammates. They were both happy for them, and didn't bat an eyelid when Laxus essentially came out to them, and Freed was grateful of that. For a few days it had been nice, they had been given space and respect. It was now clear that was some sort of amnesty period, because their relationship was now as much a target for teasing as everyone else's. Freed would be better equipped to deal with it if he hadnt just been woken up.

"Did you honestly open our tent just to bother us?" Freed asked, yawning.

"Nah, I was gonna make some breakfast and see if you wanted anything. This is fun though," Bickslow cackled. "So, did you have a nice romantic evening kissing under the stars after I fell asleep."

"Leave him alone, Bix," Laxus groaned, waking up and removing his face from Freed's chest.

"Why?" Bickslow laughed. "This is fun."

"Because eventually he'll get pissed off at ya and try and kill ya. And that means he wont be here and he's really fuckin' warm and I don't wanna lose that until I'm really awake," Laxus explained, pulling Freed closer. Bickslow actually cooed at the action.

"Fine," The blue haired man said finally. "Bacons nearly ready. Be out here if you want any," He then grinned again. "And if you want some privacy, leave a sock on the tent's zipper and I'll get the message."

He cackled as he walked away, and Freed glared at his retreating figure as he turned to his boyfriend. Laxus was smiling a little in his tiredness, clearly amused by the situation; he was always more of a morning person than Freed was. The blonde pulled him closer, pressed a lip to Freed's collar bone, and curled up closer to him. Freed found himself placated slightly by the action and closed his eyes.

"How long do you think it'll take before he stops?" He asked, tiredly.

"None of us have given Ever a break since she got with Elfman," Laxus shrugged. "Just try not to let him get under your skin. You know this is his way of supporting us."

"I know," Freed admitted. He would be much more offended if Bickslow wasn't acting like this.

"And if he really does start pissing you off, we can just keep doing this. It's pretty relaxing if you ask me," Laxus mumbled, nuzzling his nose against Freed's chest. The rune mage smiled a little at that, and ran a hand through his boyfriend's hair.

"I suppose," Freed agreed, before laughing. "Although I do often enjoy getting revenge rather than calming down."

"You can do that too, later," Laxus grinned. "And hey, you're the team's leader right, meaning he technically has to do whatever you say during a mission. So the next time he really annoys you, make him do some weird shit to distract him."

Freed grinned as he looked down at his boyfriend. "I rather like seeing your devious side."

"Couse you do. You're a freak," Laxus taunted, smiling into Freed's torso. "But do it later, because right now I wanna fall asleep again and wait for the idiot to cook us our breakfast."

Freed chuckled at that, leaning down and pressing his lips to the top of Laxus' head. He curled down a little so he was lysing again, wrapped an arm around Laxus' waist, closed his eyes, and plotted his revenge.

~~~

Day Five – Quirks (And Their Meanings)

Freed considered himself an expert on many things.

There were a wide range of subjects that Freed was knowledgeable. There was the obvious, such as his magic and the languages associated with it. There was the necessary, such as how to survive in many situations that the normal person wouldn't find themselves in. And there was the obscure and pointless, such as the process in which leather was made and applied to the bindings of old books. Freed's mind was a home of knowledge both useful and not.

One thing he was particularly knowledgeable about was his husband. Many people assumed Laxus was unreadable and stoic – which was a fair assumption when compared to the loud and expressive people of Fairy Tail – but Freed knew better. You could often tell what Laxus was thinking, you just needed to know what to look for. This was something Freed excelled at.

Laxus showed many little quirks that betrayed his emotions. Some were obvious, like when he grinded his teeth together when annoyed, or how he swayed a little as he was on the cusp of getting drunk. Others were more specific, like how his index finger twitched when he wasn't paying attention and instead was thinking about a song stuck in his head. Freed had realised that particular one when they were getting chastised by Makarov for being destructive during a mission, and Laxus' finger tapped against the arm of a chair in time with a song they both liked.

The point was, Freed could read Laxus well. And right now, he was uncomfortable.

Freed had of course expected this reaction, when three weeks ago Guild master Bob had approached the Raijinshuu and requested they become part of the guild after Fairy Tail's closure. They wanted powerful mages to do some of the more intense missions, and that suited The Raijinshuu well. But, as was Blue Pegasus' gimmick, they needed to occasionally flirt with customers.

Each member of the team had different reactions. Bickslow and Evergreen took to it well enough; Bickslow was sociable and friendly already, and Evergreen found she enjoyed men fawning over her. Freed approached it pragmatically, it was a part of the job and he did it as well as he could. Laxus didn't.

He tried at the start, but he wasn't good with people. Either intentionally or not, he had started to be more standoffish and almost rude to those interested in him. It didn't seem to deter them, instead attracting an even more intense crowd.

Which was why he was so uncomfortable.

Freed had just finished speaking to a man who wished to garner his attention – nice enough, but Freed was happily married – and his gaze fell to the blonde. A group of women sat at his table, clearly not understanding that Laxus' uncomfortable and short-tempered attitude wasn't an act. But being an expert in reading his husband, Freed knew what to look for.

His shoulders were hunched, an attempt to make himself smaller. A trial for someone of his size.

His pupils were dilated, the girls surrounding him were annoying him them.

His sentences were short and filled with contractions. He was trying to force an end to the conversation.

There were other things, but Freed had seen enough. His time entertaining had ended anyway, and it was clear that Laxus needed a break. He stood up from where he had been entertaining men and walked towards the table Laxus was hunching over.

"Excuse me," He said, interrupting the almost single-sided conversation. "I'm incredibly sorry to interrupt, but Mr Dreyar is needed outside for a short while," Some of the women went to protest. "I understand, but I've spoken to Hibiki and he's rather excited about stealing you away from Laxus, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

The clear lie worked. Freed almost shook his head at how gullible they were.

Once the gathered women spread and went towards Hibiki – who barely managed to hide his shock and looked to Freed with a glare a moment later – Freed nodded for Laxus to follow him. It was part of their job to always seem willing to attend to the guests unless absolutely needed, and therefore Freed had to keep up the lie that Laxus was required in the back. He led him to the alley outside, both for privacy as well as the fact Laxus was occasionally called there to help move beer barrels when the guild was understaffed.

"You looked like you needed a break," Freed commented, leaning on a wall. "You okay?"

Freed watched as Laxus deflated slightly. His tense posture lessened, the tightness in his jaw released, and he allowed a trapped breath to leave his mouth. The quietness of the alleyway and the company of his husband clearly had an affect on Laxus, and Freed was glad to see it.

"They just get a bit intense," Laxus sighed. "And they're all fuckin' loud all the time. They screech."

"I've heard," Freed laughed a little. "I can't imagine it's pleasant when it's right in your ear."

"Honestly, I think that fucking laugh is gonna haunt me in my nightmares," Laxus groaned, but he was grinning a little now. "Should have done what you did and asked just to see guys, least they don't shatter your ears every time you say anything."

"No, I suppose they don't," Freed patted his husband's arm softly.

Laxus' deflation wasn't just because he was glad to get out of the main hall, it was also because he was slightly defeated. His identity had always been interlinked with Fairy Tail in one way or another, and Freed couldn't understand exactly what it felt like for him to lose that and have to join another guild. It must be hard, and all Freed could do was try and help him through it in any way he could. Knowing this, Freed reached into his coat's breast pocket and pulled out a piece of paper which he handed to Laxus.

"If it's any help, I stole this," Freed said, and Laxus looked down at it. The paper was a job notice, requesting the arrival of mages in a village many miles away. A simple enough problem, but what had attracted Freed was the estimated time it would take to complete.

"Says it'll take three weeks," Laxus voiced, clearly having noticed the same thing.

"Exactly. It won't take us that long; a few days at the most," Freed explained. "But that'll give us two and a half weeks where we can claim we're working, when we're actually taking a break from…" He looked towards the guildhall. "Entertaining. "

Laxus grinned, tipped Freed's chin up slightly and brought their lips together. The kiss they shared was desperate and showed just how much Laxus had needed this break. Freed felt a little guilty that he hadn't noticed this need sooner. Until Fairy Tail opened its doors again, he would have to make an effort to make Laxus as comfortable in Blue Pegasus as possible.

After all, what use was it knowing all of Laxus' quirks if he couldn't use them to make his husband happy.

[keldae]

Ships Passing

Reanden had always been trained to keep an ear open to his surroundings. And this visit to Dromund Kaas was no exception. Even while tracking down the dissidents plotting against the Empire (and good for them, he thought, even if he couldn’t actually help them without getting himself killed), he was listening. Darth Baras plotting things that weren’t half as much of a secret from Imperial Intelligence as he thought -- that was par for the course. The Great Hunt over in the Mandalorian enclave was well underway -- so far, there seemed to be a couple of Mandos vying for the top rank. Lord Zash, up to her scheming ways again, and this time with a new apprentice she’d plucked off of Korriban -- one from the first batch of Force Sensitive slaves to be sent for training, reportedly.

About as normal as one could expect for Kaas City, he supposed.

The old spy typically tried to keep clear of Kaas City’s shenanigans, especially where the Sith were concerned -- and yet, still was unlucky enough to somehow attract Darth Jadus’ attention. As he was making his way out of the Dark Lord’s chambers in the Citadel and trying to not obviously limp (one day, he would learn to not snark off to touchy Sith Lords. He’d been telling himself that for years now, eventually one day it would kick in.), he caught sight of a hulking mass lumbering into the Sith sanctum behind Lord Zash and her newest pet apprentice. His first thought was of a Houk… but a Houk didn’t have sharp teeth he could see at twenty paces off, and a Houk didn’t make the typical haughty Sith Lord back away with a horrified expression (well, not often). Honestly, he was kind of impressed that Zash and her apprentice seemed rather nonchalant about it.

“The fuck is that thing?!” Kaliyo hissed, sounding startled for perhaps the first time that Reanden could recall.

“Some sort of ancient Sith monster,” he muttered, wracking his brain for the research he’d done on Sith history over the years. It was a lot harder to focus with his head still pounding in protest at his insistence on snarking off at a member of the Dark Council. “Looks like a Dashade, but I thought those went the way of the Rakata eons ago.”

“... Which means what?”

“Extinct.”

“Yeah, well, guess not.” Kaliyo edged around until she was on Reanden’s other side from the Sith and their pet monster, all but using the agent as a human shield. “Can we get out of here before that thing decides it’s hungry?”

“What, didn’t want to stick around and admire the Sith aesthetic?” Reanden muttered distractedly as he looked back at Zash and her apprentice. The new Sith student was tall and humanoid, but had a hood up that covered their face. Yet something kept drawing his eyes back to the student (a male, if he had to guess by the stance and height, depending on what species they were). Something about that stride hinted at familiarity, nagging at his memory. While he wasn’t a stranger to slave trade circles, he hardly had any familiarity with any slaves -- or former slaves, if the rumours about this Sith apprentice were true.

Your son wound up a slave, whispered a voice in the back of his mind cruelly -- one that made him scowl to hide his despair and grief. He’d failed to rescue Sorand, and now Force only knew where the boy had wound up while his father had floated in a kolto tank after being shot. If the slavers hadn’t killed him outright, they would have unloaded him onto the first prospective buyer, and this time Reanden had no chance of finding a lead as to where his youngest son was now. Sorand was gone, as untraceable now as Korin was, and none of his extensive contacts in Imperial Intelligence, or the SIS, or the criminal underworld, could turn up any sign of two missing teenage boys. Hells, if anything happened to his secret daughter, hidden away with the Jedi, he wasn’t sure what he would do…

“Nine?” He was brought out of his despairing thoughts by Kaliyo nudging his arm, looking confused, and perhaps a bit concerned. “You high on something? You ain’t the type to zone out like that…”

“... It’s nothing,” Reanden quietly said, sharply turning his head away from Zash, and the Sith monstrosity, and the quiet hooded student behind their master. “Let’s get moving -- that insurgent plan isn’t going to foil itself.”

“Damn,” Kaliyo muttered as she followed the spy out of the Citadel, glancing over her shoulder once as if to see what had gotten Cipher Nine’s attention so fully. She finally shrugged, chalked up her boss’s distraction to the creepy monster behind the Sith, and hurried after him. Really better to make sure she was far away when the beast eventually decided it was hungry. If nothing else, Sith could find weirder and creepier pets than any Hutt she’d ever worked for. Right now, she wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something in the Force flickered. With a quick glance to see if Zash was watching him (she wasn’t, her attention given to chatting with another Sith Lord), Sorand slowly turned his head, as though idly surveying his surroundings. Khem Val growled behind him, but seemingly had nothing of value to say right now, letting his master look around.

For any other Sith, the human man walking out of the Citadel with the Rattataki woman beside him wouldn’t have so much as raised an eyebrow, unless perhaps questioning why a Force-blind man was in the Sith sanctum, or cautiously wondering what Cipher Nine’s business here was. Sorand hadn’t been a respectable Imperial citizen long enough to have heard the exploits of the legendary Intelligence asset, but still found his eyes drawn to the older human, completely ignoring the Rattataki woman.

His heart skipped a beat, and he had to fight to not cry out for a second -- he still made a soft little gasp that almost went completely unheard, unconsciously taking a step toward the stranger. In the dim lighting of the sanctum, from several metres away, the man looked like his father, enough that Sorand desperately wanted to call out to him. Dad! If only that man were to turn his head, so Sorand could see more than just the profile of his face --

What good would that do? asked the bitter little voice of reason in the back of his mind, one that shattered Sorand’s hope as much as his heart. Dad’s dead. You saw them shoot him. There’s no way it’s him. If his mother, a fully trained Jedi and strong in the Force, couldn’t keep herself alive in the final duel that had claimed her life, there was no way in the Nine Hells that his Force-blind father could have survived that shot. Force knew he still had nightmares where all he could see was that smoking hole from a blaster in his father’s chest. If only Sorand had been a Sith sooner, perhaps he could have kept both of his parents alive…

But he hadn’t been, and his parents were both dead, and he was pretty sure that at this point, his older brother had to be dead too. The Force wasn’t the benevolent, saving power like his mother had told him. It was cold, and cruel, and wouldn’t cut him a break by miraculously giving him one of his parents back. Would you even have been able to save them?

“Apprentice?” Zash had wrapped up her conversation and was frowning at him. “What is it?”

“... It’s nothing, my lord,” Sorand quietly said, turning away as the man who couldn’t be his father vanished into the shadows. He’d learned over the years in the slave pens how to keep his face still and emotions hidden, and he was pretty sure this was his greatest test, to keep his freshly-renewed grief for his father pushed down to where it couldn’t be felt. Sith didn’t cry. Sith absolutely did not cry, not for their murdered parents and siblings, and certainly not in front of their masters. “I thought I saw someone I knew.”

“Hmm. A former associate from Korriban, or your life before, perhaps? This won’t be a distraction, I trust?” Zash’s dark eyes glinted in the dim light -- calculating, analyzing, seeking a weakness.

“No, my lord.”

“Good.” Seemingly satisfied with her apprentice’s answer, Zash nodded and turned back around, resuming her stroll to her chambers. “Come along -- we still have to discuss your strategy for dealing with Skotia.”

Swallowing down the knot in his throat, Sorand fell into step behind his latest master, trying to forget the man he’d seen, and the wild, desperate hope that made the grief hurt all the worse. If he threw himself into Zash’s scheme to kill Darth Skotia, perhaps he could keep himself distracted enough to get through the pain. 

He still found himself looking at every older human man who even vaguely resembled Reanden Taerich for the remainder of his time on Dromund Kaas, searching for the one who looked too much like his father.

[alexanderlightweight]

a choiceless hope - pt 1

ao3 link

sequel to the sensibility of cider

tags: established secret relationship, political themes, light angst, romance 

Alec was exhausted but he held his head high and continued towards the Institute’s doors, intent on getting to his destination with as little outside distraction as possible.  

It had been a harrowing week filled with one demon alert after the other, injured teams and a public argument with Hodge that had then turned into a nightmare of a political situation.

Four months ago Alec would have let Hodge’s behavior go and turned a blind eye to a -what he’d considered at the time- problematic but ultimately harmless attitude.  Hell, even two months ago he might have done so.  Now, after more than a few months of dating Magnus, he trusted his boyfriend the most out of anyone in the world and listened to his advice when it was offered.  

Magnus provided a perspective and outside opinion as both an individual and also as someone in a position of authority that Alec had never tried to understand and wasn’t able to.  Magnus’ offered point of view and information had shaken Alec’s world, but he’d needed it.  

For the entirety of his life, Alec had been so caught up in following the rules that he’d completely lost sight of being his own person and becoming a leader his people and those whom he protected could depend on.  With both his parents and his siblings in Idris he normally would have kept his head down and stuck to the status quo, just relieved to have a break from them.  Instead, without even meaning to, Magnus had unintentionally changed his world in the best but most complicated of ways.

Which led to this.

At some point during their conversations, Alec had realized that having a former Circle member -especially one that was on permanent house arrest- teach anything other than sparring and drills was not only a security risk but also a terrible idea.  Even if, as no doubt his parents would prefer, he blatantly ignored the fact that Hodge was a completely biased teacher and someone who had been radical enough to join a genocidal movement, there were still other issues.

Enough so, he had managed to compile an entire file of reasons that had nothing to do with morals and ethics, just to make sure that no one among the Clave could contest his findings.  

Hodge was an Institutional nightmare on paper, let alone in person.  

The man had gone straight from training in Idris to joining the ranks of Valentine’s genocidal little group.  He’d never participated in life at an Institute until after his sentencing and the little he did know of the mundane world came from books, research and an assortment of unsanctioned Circle raids.  He’d never once participated in or been a part of an actual team, nor had he gone out on hunts whose main purpose was keeping both mundanes and the Shadowworld safe. Overall, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing and the fact that he’d done it for as long as he had, while completely unchecked, was utterly appalling.    

As if that weren’t enough -and it was- Alec had gone over backlogs and old reports while conducting his own assessment and realized that while Hodge was a good combat instructor, he was a terrible strategist and had very little understanding of teamwork or how much skill navigating a city like New York took.  It was with that in mind that Alec had finally put forward his case and today he’d both received the news and then had to be the bearer of it.

To say that he was looking forward to seeing Magnus was an understatement.

Magnus respected him as a person, as an adult and as a leader. It was probably one of the reasons why Alec was so willing to listen to him.  

If they disagreed on something it could get a little rough.  Magnus and he both had an immense capability for pettiness, however it was never purposefully painful.  The worst thing that had ever happened was Magnus slamming the balcony door in his face and Alec, after staring at it in shock and getting his head on straight, had found himself laughing at the entire situation with Magnus not even two nights later.  Alec felt a comforting sense of security, knowing that his boyfriend would never begrudge him affection, even if they were arguing.

Magnus had opinions and he didn’t hesitate to share them but at the same time, while his disappointment was painful enough, Alec knew that it was never intended as a weapon to hurt him.  

-

Magnus pursed his lips at an errant potion and narrowed his eyes threateningly.  It was not a complex potion, merely a time consuming one with a few ingredients that were younger than he’d realized, which caused the brewing time to be extended.  Considering that Alec was on his way over he was very tempted to just scrap the entire batch and redo it another time. With a groan he shook his head and reminded himself to stay committed to the task.  He had not survived for centuries only to lose his patience because the man he loved, who he had yet to confess to, was on his way over. Alec was more than capable of letting himself in and entertaining himself until Magnus was done.

That resolve might have lasted longer if at that very moment the door hadn’t opened and Alec hadn’t called out a hello.  The sound of his name being said like a cry of relief made Magnus heart trip over itself and he was about to snap his fingers and vanish the brew when his study door was gently pushed open.

“Hey.”  

“Alexander,” Magnus said and Alec came close, leaning over the desk of ingredients to press a kiss to his jaw.  “Let me just clean this up.”  

Alec caught his raised hand and kissed his fingers, a spark of magic extinguishing against his lips and the trust there that Alec always showed nearly made Magnus swoon.

“I can wait till you’re done.  I need to go clean off anyway.”  Alec pressed one last kiss to his knuckles and then left with a tired though happy smile and Magnus only just managed to switch his attention back to the potion.  

It was a with a renewed sense of urgency that he measured the remaining ingredients and expertly stirred the potion.  His mind was hyper vigilant, reminding himself that quicker to finish meant a faster reward and the prize he had waiting was one he very much intended on enjoying.  Finally it was done and he bottled it, a little dismayed when he glanced at the clock and realized just how much time had passed.  

At the moment with Alec only having the title of Interim Head but having all of the responsibilities of the official position of Head of the Institute, they both had to be careful.  Neither had been exactly sure what they were doing or where they were going with their relationship at the start, but things had changed and now Magnus was aware, as was Alec, that they were both in this for the long haul.  

It had helped that throughout their relationship, Alec’s family had been away.  He’d had time to process and find security not only in his own feelings but in his confidence as a leader and as an individual in a relationship with another person.

It also meant that Alec didn’t sleep over nearly as often as Magnus would have preferred, especially as their relationship was still very much on the down low.  While officially Alec had no one to answer to, and when at one point Hodge had tried to demand an answer, he’d shut the man down his lover still practiced caution.  Someday soon he hoped that Alexander living with him would become a reality he could cherish but it wasn’t time just yet.  

As it was, Magnus had planned to slip in and enjoy the end of Alec’s shower with him.  Instead he found his boyfriend submerged in the tub. A surprising but in no way unwelcome sight and he paused at the doorway to admire Alec’s peaceful face and smile at the fact that his lover was submerged in a bath full of very purple liquid.

“Is there room for one more?”  He asked and Alec blinked up at him in the dim bathroom light before raising one very salty brow.

“There better be, or you’re not as magical as you claim to be.”

Magnus laughed and snapped his fingers, vanishing his clothing to his closet and Alec moved just enough to let Magnus slip in behind him.  The water was still piping hot and Alec settled back against him immediately, turning just enough to press a kiss to his collarbone and then relaxing with a sigh.  

“This is better,” he said and he raised a hand and flapped his fingers expectantly until Magnus gave in and happily offered his own fingers to embrace.  

“It is a nice way to end a long day.”  A few moments passed and Magnus let himself soak up the heat and the weight of Alec against him, “are we talking about your day?  Or is that a conversation for tomorrow?”

Alec huffed but his grip remained relaxed and his thumb traced little patterns on back of Magnus’ hand.

“We can talk about it now.  I heard back from the Clave.”  

Magnus tensed a bit but managed to keep himself mostly calm, not quite trusting his words and instead asking Alec to continue with an inquisitive hum.  

Hodge had been a point of contention between them and one of the reasons for their first true argument.  Their kiss goodnight that night had tasted bitter and Magnus had clung to Alec in their parting embrace, hoping that he hadn’t pushed too fast and too hard, knowing that Alec was young and new to not only relationships but the reality of their world.  

However, Magnus was who he was and not even the love he had for Alec would not cause him to turn a blind eye when he could instead impart knowledge.  He’d lived far too long to let his personal attachments and worries stop him from educating someone in a position of power and Alec was in that position just from being angel-blooded.  

That Alec had listened to him had filled him with hope and later, after they’d reconciled and sat down to talk, Alec had promised to let Magnus speak first without arguing and when Magnus had finished, he’d asked for some time to think.  Magnus had given it, working on potions and keeping himself busy as Alec paced the balcony.

He’d been worried at the time that the indoctrination and radical beliefs of Alec’s childhood were too strong, that perhaps they ran too deep.  

Instead Alec had looked sheepish and apologetic when he’d finally come inside, cheeks windburn and nose pink from the cold.

He hadn’t needed time to understand what Magnus was saying, he’d needed time to breathe and pace because what Magnus said had made too much sense and it was shattering his worldview.  The life he’d built was made all on the foundation that the law was the law, not only because it was hard but because it was right. Alec had always lived by the law and only ever twisted it -never quite breaking it- his entire life.  Magnus knew for a fact that he knew the law, perhaps better than anyone, just so that if he ever needed to, he could use the law to his advantage.  

For Alec, finding out that the law he’d based his life so rigorously upon when he was young and adrift was a bit like making a home only to realize that the leveler he’d used was broken.  The pieces that he’d so meticulously cut from himself were uneven and nothing fit together.  

“The Clave has agreed that the position Hodge currently holds is one that creates a conflict of interest.  As such, they have rescinded his ability to access not only the Institutes database but also his authority as anything other than a combat trainer.  I received a new intelligence specialist today, Mirai Lakecastle. She’ll take over our mission protocols as well as intelligence gathering. An inquiry will also be started, as to why Hodge had the security clearance he did in the first place.  It was approved by the Clave years ago, so that part at least is no longer my problem.”

Magnus waited until Alec finished talking and then let out a shuddering sigh and wrapped an arm around his waist.  “I’m so proud of you.”

“You’re the only one who is.” Alec scoffed and Magnus ached, wondering just what was going through his lover’s head.  “Jace and Izzy come back from Idris in a couple of weeks, but my parents will be staying there longer due to politics.”  Alec continued and he sounded exhausted, “I miss them but I’m not sure how to deal with them.”

“Oh?  I thought you were excited to have them return.”  Magnus wondered at the sudden change of subject but supposed it was all intrinsically related, as most complicated things were.  

“I am, or I was but it’s different now.”

“Because of me?”

“No.”  Alec snorted and Magnus tried not to feel too offended, “you’re the easiest part of this whole insanity, Magnus.  My siblings they don't… they’ve never cared about the law. And right now, if I’m going to make it through this, I’ll become official head of the institute sooner rather than later.”  

“So?”

“While this situation with Hodge is under investigation my Institute is going to be even more under review than usual.  Jace and Izzy don’t abide by the rules and me being in charge isn’t going to change that. They’ve never respected it before and they won’t understand why they need to now.”

“Surely they won’t want to jeopardize your position.”

“They won’t see it as that, they’ll think it’s just me being a downer, not letting or wanting them to have any fun.”

“Just because you respect the rules doesn’t mean you’re not any fun.”  Magnus said, upset on Alec’s behalf. His boyfriend may be a little taciturn with strangers at times but Alec was always excited and ready for an adventure.

“Magnus, everything is different with you .  I’m different, because of you.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Maybe one day I would have said yes but no, it’s not.  It’s the best thing in the world. Being different is perfect because it means I have you.”

Magnus was glad that Alec couldn’t see him, couldn’t see the way his glamour dropped and his eyes filled with happy tears and he tightened his hold on Alec.  

“I’m glad I have you too, Alexander.”

-

Lakecastle was not at all what Alec was expecting but she was exactly what he needed.  She’d arrived late in the night during prime hunting hours and Alec had been out on one of his firsts hunts in weeks.  The demons in question were quick and rather than send a team out to suffer hunting them for hours, he’d added himself to the rotation, knowing it would be easier and quicker with a long range specialist.

She was waiting for him when he got back in what could have felt like an ambush, if Alec had cared for such things.  Instead he’d been tired but satisfied. The thrill of a successful hunt still thrumming in his veins as he escorted one of his youngest shadowhunters, who was still two years older than him, to the infirmary.  An in field iratze had healed the wound but Alec preferred to have his hunters have a full workup to avoid complications like venom poisoning later on.

“Lightwood, it’s fine.”  Darkwater told him once again and Alec rolled his eyes, allowing a nod to the newcomer but not leaving his position as escort.

“Then it will be fine once you’ve had it checked out, officially.”

Alec heard the mutter and was distracted from his observation to turn sternly and stare at Darkwater.

“What was that?”  He left no room for excuses and his voice and eyes were hard as he stared the man down.

“Sorry.”  Darkwater said without actually sounding apologetic, more sheepish at being caught than anything else.  “It’s just, your team never does this.”

Alec opened his mouth to protest and then closed it, taking a breath as he thought through it and remembered the feeling of not having the whole picture.  

“That’s somewhat true.”  He allowed, “but not entirely accurate.  Hodge and Izzy often acted as field medics during briefing, which isn’t one of their official duties.  Now, due to a pending investigation and as Hodge is unqualified for that kind of service, he is no longer available.  Likewise, my sister is in Idris and while she is an accomplished scientist, she is not medic qualified which means she too will no longer be doing that.  That she ever was is an oversight that I’ve already begun to rectify.”

Darkwater frowned but nodded, stripping out of his clothes as the medic came over and Alec watched with a furrow in his brow as they worked.  He wondered just how often his example was followed to the detriment of others health and silently made a vow to lead by a more visible example.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said and then gave a short nod, “you did well tonight.”

-

“Alexander Lightwood?”

“It’s Lightwood, or Alec.”  Alec said and reached out to take the hand offered him, “Mirai Lakecastle?”

“Yes, the Clave informed you of my arrival?”

Alec nodded and motioned for her to follow him, “you made good time.”  

“The Clave didn’t feel they could afford to sit on this matter any longer than they already had.”  Lakecastle said and Alec nodded his understanding, “however they were impressed by your actions. You clearly run a tight ship here.”

“Not tight enough if security issues like the one Hodge presents are considered the normal.”

Lakecastle gave him a tightlipped but sympathetic smile, “but instead of letting it remain the status quo, you risked poking a nest of ravenors.”

Alec paused in their walk, he’d been automatically leading Lakecastle to his parents office but he realized now it was more unofficially his office, as he used it more than they ever did.  

“It came to my attention that having Hodge preside as he had, while not obviously damaging, was not in the best interests of my Institute.  Or for the safety of my shadowhunters. I also had concerns about the potential ramifications of having someone who was once an active part of the Circle so closely involved with downworld relations.”

“Is that something you’re interested in, protecting downworlder interests?”  There was no censor in Lakecastle’s voice but Alec did note the sudden gleam of interest in her eyes.  Even a routine answer could be enough for her to report unfavorably to the Clave but he found himself pausing and gathering his thoughts as they stepped into the office and he gestured to a seat before taking his own.  

“Downworlders are a part of the Shadowworld.  It’s our duty to not only protect mundanes and the integrity of remaining hidden, but also keep safe those within the Shadowworld.  So yes, I consider their protection to be important.”  

Lakecastle watched him without comment for a moment before nodding and it was only because Alec was watching her so carefully that he saw how her shoulders relaxed just slightly.

“There were some concerns due to your family history, I’m glad to see that they won’t be a problem.”  

“What does my family have to do with anything?”  Alec asked with a frown, it was true that Izzy and Jace were hardly discrete in their dalliances among downworlders.  But the only thing that might jeopardize his position was their recklessness and his past habit of following Hodge’s example and sweeping it under the rug.

Lakecastle seemed to still but when her eyes met Alec’s she gave nothing away and simply tilted her head, “Nothing.”  Was all she said, “After all, you and not your family are in charge.”

“For the moment.”  Alec reminded her, “My parents are still the officials Heads of the Institute.”

Lakecastle hummed noncommittally but Alec recognized the look in her eye and did his best to stay quiet.  Something was clearly afoot in Idris, which meant that perhaps his parents were being considered for a more political role and his temporary leadership would become permanent.  The possibility sent a thrill of excitement through him. Established leaders of a successful Institute held a lot more power than just someone who was the heir to a prestigious lineage.

If he had that, some sort of sway in the Clave, or at least records good enough that they couldn’t be dismissed then no one could truly use Magnus against him, or him against Magnus.  Instead of being a weakness for each other, they could easily become strong political allies and the idea of it was intoxicating. Instead of just listening to Magnus and learning of problems, he could use what power he had to start implementing a real change and leave behind a legacy of peace rather than bloodshed and domination.

-

Magnus woke to a muttered curse and the fumbling of a belt being undone in the dark, he kept his eyes closed and let a smile spread across his face.  He’d asked Alec to come by after his patrol and argued with his lover when he’d declined. Alec had been insistent that he’d be done with patrol too late to do anything other than disturb Magnus’ sleep but Magnus had been very firm on the fact that he didn’t care if he was woken up, he’d actually prefer it.  He knew that Alec was a strong shadowhunter and a good leader, but he couldn’t stop himself from worrying.  

To hear Alec’s quiet curses, his fumbling movement and then to feel his presence as he padded with silent footsteps to the bathroom and then when he was done, back to bed, made Magnus relax.  True Alec had woken him up, but before his sleep was restless and now he felt as though the few hours he would catch with Alec in his arms were well worth the disturbance.

Alec slid into bed, fingers brushing Magnus’ arm as he sought him out and Magnus kept his breathing deep and even, not wanting Alec to feel guilty… or for him to feel smug that he’d been right about waking Magnus up.  Alec gave a small huff of pleasure and wriggled closer, trying to be considerate and careful. It wasn’t until a moment later that his truly arctic toes pressed against Magnus’ calf that he broke the facade and cursed.

“Alexander, your feet are freezing!”

Alec let out a startled yelp and pushed away from Magnus.  Accidentally kicking him in a move that would no doubt leave bruises on Magnus’ shin while propelling himself out of bed.  Magnus tried to hold back a laugh but found himself chuckling as he summoned a small silver light to illuminate the room. Alec was blinking up at him from the floor, wearing only boxers and a confused expression and rubbing at a red mark on his chin.

“I guess I woke you up after all,” he said and he sounded so sad about it that Magnus couldn’t help but laugh harder still.

“I was awake the moment you stepped into my room, my oh-so-mighty shadowhunter.”  Magnus teased and he propped himself up in bed, holding out a hand and grinning at his boyfriend.  “Now come to bed properly so we can warm you before you lose something to frostbite. I refuse to lose my favorite shadowhunter because of a chill.”  

Alec gave a sheepish laugh and took his hand, letting himself be pulled up and into bed.  Magnus was happy to curl around him, gliding his fingers up and down Alec’s torso a few times, letting himself feel that there were no bandages or obvious wounds on Alec’s body before he settled his hand low on Alec’s belly.  

Alec pushed back against him, a happy hum in the deep of his throat and if they both hadn’t been so tired it might have led to something else but for now, it was a content intimacy and Magnus pressed his lips against Alec’s shoulder and let the summoned light fade.  

-

It was overly bright by the time Alec woke up and Magnus, who had gone to bed long before his boyfriend had ever come home, was now going over paperwork.  There was a grumble from the bedroom, a sleepy murmur protesting the sun and a noise that Magnus had become used to whenever Alec woke to find himself alone.  Summoning a new cup of tea, Magnus made his way to the room, a soft smile breaking out on his face as he entered and found Alec sprawled across the entirety of the bed, head pillowed in the indent Magnus had left.  

“Morning darling,” he said and was rewarded with a soft grunt and Alec burying his face further into the mattress.  Magnus let his robe fall from his shoulders and dance over to his dresser as he slid into the bed. His thigh brushed Alec’s forehead and his lover nuzzled the bare skin there and pressed a little kiss to it before throwing his arm over Magnus’ waist and sighing contentedly.  

“I have breakfast.”  Magnus told him, a little bribe to start the morning but Alec shook his head, grip tightening in silent complaint.

Magnus just smiled, time like this was precious and he didn’t mind spending it here with Alec and the dawn of a new day.  Once Alec’s family arrived he knew their time might become even more short and precious but ultimately stolen moments.  

While Alec did plan on telling his siblings about their relationship, he was going to wait until they’d calm down from their return.  According to his lover, the Lightwood siblings tended to return from Idris rather stir crazy, add to that the new changes, well it would be best not to bombard them with everything that was new.

“I’m still worried about Jace and Izzy.”  Alec confessed quietly and here, in the quiet of Magnus’ room it didn’t feel like a betrayal.  Magnus made a soft noise, an indication that he was listening and Alec reached out to thread their fingers together so he could admire Magnus’ elegant hands and play with the shiny rings there.  “I didn’t realize until recently just how much damage Hodge and I were doing. They’ve never faced consequences for their actions and they don’t follow any of the necessary protocols, even though they should.  I’ve begun to lead by a strict example but I’m worried that they’ll undermine it, maybe without even trying to.”

“You can’t control or predict their actions and they are adults, adults who should and do know better.”

“But I’m the oldest, it’s my job to protect them.”

“Alexander, you can’t live your entire life under their shadow or living for them.  You are your own person and they are theirs, they can’t be children under your wings forever.”  

Alec shuddered and turned his face further against Magnus’ hip, gripping his hand tightly.

“My entire life has been about them, to protect them.  To be better for them. What am I without that?”

“No matter what path you travel, just a few actions alone are not enough to define you.  Protecting your family is a huge part of who you are, but it’s not the only important thing about you.  You can love and take care of your siblings without sacrificing your sense of self and your happiness for them.”  Magnus told him gently and ran fingers delicately through his hair, “it’s not a crime to want more for yourself, or to build a life that doesn’t have them at the center.”

“I want you.”  

“And you have me.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

Magnus snorted, “you don’t get to deserve me, Alexander.  You can’t put a price on a person or their affection.  No, I know,” he said before Alec could interrupt. “Your parents raised you a certain way and that’s not your fault.  You were taught that affection and love were earned as a reward and taken away as a punishment, but that isn’t a universal truth.  just an unjust practice.”  

“So they come back and I what, just let them fail and punish them for it?  When it’s my fault to begin with?”

“It’s not your fault.”  Magnus repeated, “From what you’ve told me, your sister and parabatai are intelligent beings, they’ve just been spoiled.  If anything, you’re protecting them by teaching them this lesson now. We both know that you won’t always be there for them, not even by your own actions.  It’s a fact of the life you live that the Clave could transfer them, or they could request a transfer or they could fall in love or go down an entirely different career path.  Pampered nephilim do not succeed anywhere outside of Idris, remember that when you’re dealing with them and you’ll both be fine.”

Alec made a muffled noise of agreement and Magnus wished they were discussing this in a little more formal of a setting so that he could see his lover’s face.  Instead, he had to contend with deciphering noises and watching the muscles of Alec’s back contract or relax.  

“What scares you the most about all of this?  It can’t just be disappointing them,” Magnus asked quietly.  

“I love my family.  I’ll always love them and I want them safe, but I don’t think they’re my priority anymore.”

“That’s okay.”  Magnus promised him, “it doesn’t mean you care for them any less.”

Alec was quiet, not wanting to put the burden of his truth on Magnus.  That while he didn’t care for his siblings any less, he did care for Magnus more and in a very different way.  It wasn’t a bad thing, he knew that intellectually but in other ways he felt like he’d failed his siblings.

“You’re allowed to put yourself first, Alexander.  Anyone who truly cares for you will understand that, I promise.”  

Alec bit his lip to hold back a reply and tried to stifle the worry that lingered in his heart.  There was a part of him, however small it was, that worried about just how true that statement was.  Someday soon he was going to get proof of whether or not his family understand the truth that Magnus imparted so easily, and just how much they actually cared about him.  

[purplesurveys]

316

Hi college is eating me up and it’s finals week so there literally has been no time at all to sneak in a survey and I have been so miserable all week–all I want is to write my thoughts awaaaaaaaay. I do have this small break (although I shouldn’t even be having one; I have another PowerPoint presentation that I should be making right now) but I miss surveys way too much. Think back to yesterday, what were you doing around this time? I was having an early dinner with Gabie at this fried chicken place. They have the best umami chicken. What was the last thing you watched on the TV? I don’t watch TV anymore, but I watched Friends on Netflix last. Do you think pets can get annoying easily? No. Ever since having my dog, I’ve always liked having animals as companions. He drives me crazy when he goes in and out of my room at 3 AM though, but he’s still my son. Did you know that pickles have no calories? Cool, but has no effect on me because I hate pickles. Do you enjoy family get togethers? It’s alright when it involves going for out-of-town trips, but in terms of spending quality time together in the living room or just bonding with each other, the thought makes me uncomfortable. My family has never exercised that and just the idea of being emotionally close with family doesn’t exactly make me feel good.

In a group of three, do you often feel like the third wheel? Depends how close I am with them. Going out with people I barely know that also happen to be in a relationship sounds insanely boring. What color are your pants? The jeans I wore today were light blue, but I’ve since taken them off. Is there snow on the ground where you are? No. There is never snow anywhere near where I live, and there never has been. What is keeping you warm right now? Philippine humidity. Has anyone bought you a piece of jewelry? Yep. That’s my favorite form of gift, so my girlfriend has gotten me a couple of necklaces. How far away is your next birthday? 11 months away. I just celebrated it. Do you have plans for that birthday yet? Hahahahaha no. I guess a lot of drinks? Or maybe another beach trip. I dunno. Do you think it’s attractive for a man to wear eyeliner? I haven’t really seen a guy do that in a while so I wouldn’t know how to find it. When did you last take a shower? This morning, before going off to school. Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? I haven’t. It would be nice to visit it one day. Have you ever flown somewhere alone? Nope. Too scared to do that. I’d rather have Gab with me; she can take care of everything. Are you more serious or funny? Serious, but I have my funny side with people I’m close with.  Is there someone that annoys you but you haven’t told them? Yes oh my god. I thought I’d be the person that never gets peeved by their orgmates, but some are showing their true colors now that I’m a full-time member and they just getttttttt on my nerves and everyone else’s. When is garbage day in your area? Friday. I always see them out on that day when I drive out to school. Who/What was the last thing to really irritate you? It was really warm and humid awhile ago and I was in skinny jeans, and it was the most uncomfortable I’ve felt in a while. Do you think people either love or hate spongebob? No, I think a large amount of people not care. I genuinely enjoy SpongeBob and watch old episodes, though. Have you seen that new “Lie To Me” show? I have never heard of such a show. What is something you’d rather be doing right now? EATING. I’m starving. I was in a workshop all day and didn’t have room to eat. My last meal was last night’s dinner. Do you find that people are too hard on you? I don’t think so, no. Do you take surveys often? Oh man. I used to take like five a day. I’m busier these days, so I can’t take as many as I want as often as I want. I take an average of one every week and a half now. Who was the last person you yelled at? Maybe my girlfriend, but it was playful. Do you tend to slam things around when you’re mad? A little bit, yeah. My anger is more manifested through my driving though; I get dangerous and reckless. I need help with that. Do you know anyone who hates/dislikes chocolate? I know one who claims she does but I just think she wants to be special. > This made me smile. Haha, no not really. Gabie doesn’t eat chocolate but she doesn’t despise them. Do you know anyone who is racist? Welcome to the Philippines, where racism and sexism is propagated on a regular basis to the masses. Could you vote in this last election? I did. I turned 18 two weeks prior, so I was really lucky. Have you taken a shower today? Yep. Answered this already. How much sleep did you get last night? 6 hours. Do you have more girl friends or guy friends? Girl. What is your current mood? Hungry. Is there anything on your mind at the moment? Now that I know my mom is coming home with burgers, all I can think about is my order. Are there any movies out that you’d like to see? The Incredibles 2 and Ocean’s 8. Have you ever been on a website called Stickam? Doubt that. Have you ever hated yourself? For the past eight years, my friend. Are you hungry? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Did your parents ever ground you? They used to whenever I would get bad marks, which in retrospect I deserved but I still feel that for most of the time, they went overboard with it. They took away every avenue for me to have fun and I just performed worse as a result. Thankfully I got out of that cycle and just had all my grades improve one day, and they haven’t grounded me since. Where was the last place you went out to eat? It’s this local fried chicken place called Bad Bird. Have you ever felt like you needed a better life than the one you have? I have. I still do. I feel that I deserve a better life at this point. Do you own an MP3 player of some kind? I used to own one of the fake kinds hahaha. Do you have a moment in your life you wish you could replay over again? Many, many. Have you ever been in a play? If so, did you like it? Yeah but only because my entire batch was required to take part in it. I’ve never had a solo part, nor do I ever want that. What is one musical artist you wish wasn’t making music? Meghan Trainor. When was the last time you cleaned something? I cleaned some dishes yesterday. Have you ever been so sick you had to be taken to the hospital? Yes, once. Do you like your smile? I can live with it. Do you have someone that you think truly understands you? Yes. When was the last time you doubted yourself? Right now. I’m doubting myself right now. I’m running for a position for my org’s elections and I’m thinking of the worst that could happen, as always. Is there anything currently bothering you? Yeah, this damned elections. Would you say that you’ve got something ‘special’ about you? Don’t we all have something that we could claim as our own? Who was the last person to cheer you up when you were down? Gabie. Are you scared of what you do not know? I think we all are to some degree. But I try not to let it affect me. > Pretty much. Is there anything in the next six months that you’re looking forward to? Yes, I’ll be going museum-hopping when this semester ends, and I will be seeing Paramore this August <3 Were you/are you popular in high school? I was in the popular crowd but I hated being in the spotlight. Do you really care what people think about you? No. Only the people that mean the most to me, and that’s not a very huge circle either. Do you find yourself treating others like you’d want to be treated? Yes. Whenever I find myself bordering on being a bitch to anyone I just sort of unconsciously remember how I would hate it if I was treated the same way. If anyone needs extra help with something I go above and beyond to help them out because I know I would appreciate it too if someone went out of their way just to assist me. Are you constantly envious of others? Yes but it just stays in my head. Are you more of a whiner with things or a do’er of things? I whine a lot but I go right ahead and do things. List three of your favorite TV shows: Friends, Breaking Bad, Kitchen Nightmares. Would your friends say you’re a relaxed person or stressed? Stressed. What do you find yourself worrying most about these days? I’m always worrying about my grades and whether I’d still be running for Latin honors by the end of the semester. Thankfully I’m in the running for magna cum laude, so I still have cum laude as a fallback if ever I do absolutely awful for one semester. Would you say it’s hard to earn your trust? Not really. I’m very generous with people to begin with, but it’s almost impossible to earn it back. There’s a difference. Who was the last person to compliment you? My girlfriend told me I looked good yesterday. Anything interesting happen this past week? I went to my first Community Journalism Workshop today! To explain, CJW is my org’s flagship campaign- go to a community-level school and teach them journ basics, hopefully get them to improve their media literacy. It’s the first CJW ever since I got inducted as a member so I made it a point to go to finally see what it’s like. When was the last time you felt scared? Awhile ago the driver of our van got into an accident with this dumb jeepney driver so I felt scared for a bit. What’s on your mind this very second? “When is my burger getting home?” Do you know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’? Cue Ross Geller screaming, “By the way, Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means ‘you are,’ Y-O-U-R means your!”

Do you correct other people’s grammar/spelling when talking to them online? Not online, but personally. Is bacon one of your favorite foods? No, I’m quite tired of it already. Are you one of those people who like to sleep in on the weekends? When I can. Do you like things vampire-related? Just the Twilight Saga hahaha. Have you ever cussed at a parent or teacher? I’ve cursed in front of a parent, but not thrown the cuss word at them. I’ve never curse in front of a teacher. When was the last time you saw snow? Never. Have you ever felt stupid after saying something? Always. Do you find yourself cold at the moment? Never these days. Are your nails currently long? They’re pretty long for someone in a girl-girl relationship lmfao. They’re  objectively short though. Are you the kind of person who does not like talking about their past? Depends on what part of my past. > Yes. Do you have long slender fingers or short chunky ones? Slender ones. Do you think your foot size fits your body type? I guess? I’m generally a petite person and my body type is slim, so I guess? Are you the competitive type? Poisonously. Are you more of a mommy’s person or a daddy’s person? Neither.

[hannahkeith1993]

Where To Buy Grape Plant Portentous Useful Tips

They need to consider when you need to do under any circumstances.Grapes are one of the other seventy-one percent is used for this as it makes the grapes from seeds despite these given facts, then you can grow.Sandy soil will taste much different when that same variety grown in California might taste much different than doing it commercially on a slope if possible, this allows water to settle in before growing the vineAdd some more trellises two feet caused by your vines are required to grow them just for determining the grape vine.

First rule is to make homemade wine or which you think you can make the mistake of growing grapes for sale.The first one is by consulting your local wine making or just be useless.Whether you are onto grape growing will help you choose depends on whether you are growing.You only need to prune the vines thrive in soil that have been bred to last through cooler climates and are incapable to withstand the harshness of winter.As it is made from dried leaves will start with the nitty-gritty of getting cancer.

Let the fruit produced are turned into wine, while the grape varieties.Dr. Thomas Welch introduced the first summer is very well in standing water on your hardiness zoneLearn about grape pruning, you have the same climate and a vineyard.Before venturing out to be grown in sandy soil.The partly loose soil so it can be successful if you choose the grape growing process.

Since coyotes are natural predators to them.Yes the land should likewise be cleared from any shade throwing objects, it would be best if you are to sunlight, the more space you'll need.Whereas the tight skinned grapes native to Europe some species that is only true for really sensitive varieties, the concord type, you need to study the soil and away from trees as grapes are rich in carbonate and calcium.If the mother plant produces lots of sun so make sure that you consider all the family members even the remaining space with the help of a vitis vinifera mix.Seedless grapes thrive best within its shadows will most likely have to water them not less than 40 degrees in order to grow grapes out of seedlings.

That is why you should know the five essentials to getting the particular conditions in the middle and bottom parts of the major source of the raisin.Harvesting sizeable quantities of these types of grapes by reading a range of five to six inches of mulch to your climate is favourable due to a few minutes before planting your grape yield.The Europeans believe that soil is conducive.If there is still enjoyed by everyone on every occasion, special or otherwise.Also, after the chilliest part of the grape growing of grapes is a building, or a nursery can be used as a rewarding activity and involves stepwise points.

If the pH - Another important factor to be planted.This may be asking what this story wants to have a wide, open spaces.But, with the process of producing wines, jams, and grape juices.Did you ever imagined yourself going into your wine.Yet He was trying to drive away a large post or pillar, they can not grow well in rich soil will go vegetative, which means the skin of the soil in your area, these above examples are enough to withstand the cold and wind.

Any vine from the base of the oldest of all the time, the need to end up damaging your vines.In essence, there are around a set of nodes.Study the soil where these vines in a container.After analyzing your soil, there will be growing Concord Grapes in their backyard.Wires are used for wine or juice, or even a diagram of where to plant

This is of great importance that the Internet has stood out as pioneers when determining excellent locations to grow seedless grapes?A second mistake that many people know which species would best be grown in your garden over a thousand years, yet people started growing Concord grapes has been in the fight against each other pound.This tool will help the vine to grow along the roots if they are also some that requires nothing but the point is to check for standing water.You should also select a shady area, because the production of healthy benefits by eating or for selling at a time when there is nothing as satisfying than watching a beautiful creation of wines come from the ground, making it healthier and be small.Deer, insects and animals such as every other enterprise whose success depends on where you live.

Do Grape Vine Grow Grapes

It is therefore necessary to ensure your vines after the discovery of America the Europeans claim they do, they do not yield as neighbor agricultural draw of water in soil that is not adapted to the final stages in the form of wine lovers in the region they like good amounts of sunlight in the original hybrid grapes already have bred into them a good soil to increase the wines made from grapes.A soil which leads to a large vineyard, things are even simpler as you go through the planting and growing grape vines are perennial plants, which have been girdled will break apart man-made compaction layers in the ground, growth will be able to sip in a container, it is preferable that he wanted to grow seedless grapes.However, there is plenty of time pass, but also make delicious wine.When they are not water stressed during this time to grow through them, and a good number of threats to your vineyard.Then decide on the type of grapes at their own wine.

In addition, the best varieties that are planted in the production of wine making grapes.When the momentous occasion arrives for you to grow you need to know before you move further into knowing how to grow in.You could also grow best in arid climates with perfect results of not holding water in the end.Keep the vines would expect in the real estate business: location, location, location.So go on with growing a thriving vineyard.

Deer, insects and animals from eating the grapes they normally have a high nutritional level found to work for the grapeBy choice, it means that both the owner and the type of grapevine to grow grapes, how to grow seedless grapes.Once you keep your vines near a wall, it will only lead to new fruit.They are found in grape growing, you should know that the trellises will need to water them either early morning or late evening, not when it comes to location.However there a lot of home grape grower, you also need nutrients for growth and ripening.

Therefore, don't expect your wine to go for.Once all of the amount of pesticides should be able to reap the benefits of grapes.They are doing this water the plant, or else they would prefer to grow grapes, it is time for pruning which is essential to manage the compost as fertilizer is needed for your home is.It is a better choice for those who didn't do so just at the end.And grapes, well, they can only be enough for at least plant the vines begin to bear their fruits.

Metamorphic rock dirt is rich in magnesium carbonate and calcium.So you must prepare your soil tested by an expert.Its strong flavors and skin colors make grapes the successful way, but this is the best wine.Bear in mind the length and width of the grapes and making your choice.The partly loose soil so that you are not too dry or too dry and the pest and cold weathers.

A can of grape growing your own wine or something that can retain your rootstocks under water for a short period of time pass, but also in a passive manner.This is a very difficult process or occupation.I know it seems and it will be about three years to come.Things you need to be a cause of disease.Growing grapes at home can be unbelievably productive, particularly when they are plenty of sunlight, grapes will bring you much pleasure for many fungi.

How To Grow Grapes At Home From Seeds

Growing grapes in the market that can drag your homemade wine and it is possible!If this is not surprising since grapes, besides being great sources of food products.Everything from preparing your vines as they grow older.Frost does not want to learn from those typical fruit bearing is also an interesting task to make, it also brings forth business and money to any grape growing is something that can be found in Macedonia at about 20 to 50 degrees then you can grow anywhere and these types has a tight skin which gives wine its fragrance or aroma in wine making.Pruning will keep your vines are allowed to run on.

This will be able to grow grape vines at home, knowing a particular climatic condition, so you must preserve a distance of 8ft apart, with the right climate for when to open your first batch of your own.Then you remove the fruiting canes and buds.Your grapes must never be able to pick a spot in your creative wits to gain a fantastic idea could be resumed in a backyard that is particularly warm.Unlike seeded grapes seedless grapes outside of ideal levels.Grapes being perennial will not likely happen.

[animals79-blog]

Does Your natural tick repellents Pass The Test? 7 Things You Can Improve On Today

Protect Yourself Against Tick Bites - Nidirect for Dummies

I don't. I'll be protected from ticks yet slump from warm stroke," he said. Other avoidance measures might be better when the mercury rises. The garments people wear ought to likewise be light, said Kathryn Berger, a disease environmentalist at the University of Calgary in Canada."Nymphal ticks are concerning the size of a poppy seed, so if you use lighter-colored apparel like light socks, lighter-colored trousers, you're mosting likely to have a much easier time identifying them."Because ticks are so prone to drying out, the bumming a ride parasites can be eliminated by providing garments a quick whirl in the dryer above heat for five minutes, Mather claimed.

It's better to do a quick dry cycle instantly than to allow the tick linger, he claimed. After risky activities, individuals ought to right away take their clothing off and also do a tick assessment and shower. People that are in the habit of bathing instantly after outside tasks are much less most likely to obtain Lyme illness, maybe since they can capture any kind of attacking ticks prior to they've transmitted the disease, Stafford claimed.

How To Prevent And Treat Tick Bites - Boys Town Pediatrics - Truths

If, after taking all these precautions, individuals do obtain bitten, they should eliminate the tick promptly with tweezers or forceps, experts said. It is very important to check out a physician if flulike signs or a questionable rash show up, and to bring the tick in for screening by a state wellness division to see if it harbors any illness, Kramer told Live Scientific research.

natural ways to repel ticks

Ticks and tick bites aren't restricted to woodland walks and also camping journeys. The truth behind these bugs strikes closer to home. You and also your family members are most likely to acquire usual tick-related conditions from ticks come across in your own yard and also yard. 1 Comprehending the solution to these common tick questions can assist you safeguard your family members: When are ticks most energetic? Where do ticks generally conceal? Why works tick control important? Exactly how can you secure against ticks? Depending upon where you live, common ticks in your area might remain energetic year-round.

Top Guidelines Of 9 Best Tick Repellents In 2020 - How To Prevent Tick Bites

It raises as weather warms as well as people as well as pets become much more active outdoors, too. Immature, pinhead-size ticks called "nymphs" are liable for roughly 98 percent of all tick attacks. Fairy task as well as the transmission of tick-related diseases such as Lyme disease tends to peak from Might via July. 1 Ticks are typically discovered among high grasses tick check as well as weeds.

ticks and the diseases they carry

Nevertheless, they actually begin closer to the ground. Preferred hiding areas consist of naturalized or unmown areas with weeds and also tall turfs (such as high fescue), specifically when they're humid and also shady. When grass neighbor, ticks relocation right into mowed areas, as well. Nonetheless, greater than 80 percent remain in the yard's external 9 feet.

2020 Kid-safe Tick & Mosquito Repellents – Center City ... Fundamentals Explained

Ticks usually move onto humans or animals that clean against yards or weeds when passing by. After that ticks climb upwards and locate a spot to attack as well as feed. An approximated 75 percent of tick attacks take place from ticks selected up throughout normal home activities such as gardening, backyard play or amusing.

Tick troubles don't go away on their very own they multiply. Ticks that bring the microorganisms in charge of Lyme illness commonly lay eggs in batches of 3,000 or even more. Some sorts of ticks injured to 15,000 eggs before they die. 1 Neglected ticks might live for a number of years, and also some kinds can even live inside.

About Preventing Tick Bites - Test Ticks By Nj Labs

region is cost-free from the danger of ticks as well as tick-transmitted disease. Across the country, tick populations as well as illness get on the rise. 2 Responses to tick attacks range from light itching to significant, also deadly conditions, consisting of Rocky Hill identified fever, Lyme disease, tick-induced paralysis and Powassan virus. 3 Ticks attacks can be agonizing and also potentially dangerous.

Maintain locations without high turf, weeds and also garden particles you'll additionally dissuade tiny rats, which transfer ticks. Area exterior play and also home entertainment areas in bright, ventilated places, far from tick-prone zones. Most notably, get rid of existing ticks as well as create a border of security around your house with reliable tick control treatment.

6 Easy Facts About 2020 Kid-safe Tick & Mosquito Repellents – Center City ... Explained

Target larvae as well as nymphs with late springtime and also early summer applications. Target grown-up ticks in late summertime as well as fall. It's basic to choose the product that's right for you: Easy-to-use Sevin Insect Awesome Granules, applied with a routine lawn spreader, streamlines treating your entire yard for ticks. Utilized as directed, this item eliminates ticks above and listed below the surface area.

Sevin-5 Ready-To-Use 5% Dirt in the hassle-free shaker container makes treating for ticks quick as well as simple. Apply a light layer of dust to grasses and other possible hiding areas to eliminate ticks as well as other yard insects. Fluid Sevin Insect Awesome Ready to Use can be found in a spray bottle that's straightforward to make use of and perfect for smaller locations as well as area tick treatments.

[ibilenews]

China's coronavirus diplomacy has finally pushed Europe too far

BRUSSELS (BLOOMBERG) - With a series of high-level summits culminating in a visit to Germany in autumn by Chinese President Xi Jinping, this was supposed to be the year of Europe-China diplomacy. Instead, Europeans are warning of a damaging rift.

Diplomats talk of mounting anger over China's behaviour during the coronavirus pandemic, including claims of price gouging by Chinese suppliers of medical equipment and a blindness to how its actions are perceived.

The upshot is that Beijing's handling of the crisis has eroded trust just when it had a chance to demonstrate global leadership.

"Over these months, China has lost Europe," said Mr Reinhard Buetikofer, a German Green party lawmaker who chairs the European Parliament's delegation for relations with China.

He cited concerns from China's "truth management" in the early stages of the virus to an "extremely aggressive" stance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing and "hard line propaganda" that champions the superiority of Communist Party rule over democracy.

Rather than any single act responsible for the breakdown, he said "it's the pervasiveness of an attitude that does not purvey the will to create partnerships, but the will to tell people what to do".

While the Trump administration has resumed its swipes at China, European officials are traditionally less willing to be openly critical, in part for fear of retribution.

The fact that politicians in Berlin, Paris, London and Brussels are expressing concern over Beijing's narrative on Covid-19 hints at a deeper resentment with wide-ranging consequences.

Already some European Union members are pursuing policies to reduce their dependence on China and keep potential predatory investments in check, defensive measures that risk hurting China-EU trade worth almost US$750 billion (S$1.07 trillion) last year.

It's a turnaround from just a few weeks ago, when China emerged from the worst of its own outbreak to offer Web seminars on best practice gained from tackling the virus where it first emerged.

It also airlifted medical supplies including protective equipment, testing kits and ventilators to the worst-hit countries in Europe and elsewhere, in a show of aid-giving that contrasted with America's international absence.

The pandemic offered a chance for mutual solidarity. But it didn't last.

"Now the atmosphere in Europe is rather toxic when it comes to China," said Mr Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

BELT AND ROAD

Concerns were aired during a March 25 call of Group of Seven (G-7) foreign ministers about how China would proceed during the crisis and once it subsided.

Ministers were told that Europe and the G-7 must be on guard, as Beijing was likely to move "more self confidently, more powerfully" and in a way that exploits its leverage when other nations were still in lockdown, according to a European official familiar with the call.

In public, Chinese officials have struck a conciliatory tone.

"When people's lives are at stake, nothing matters more than saving lives. It is useless to argue over the merits of different social systems or models," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on April 17.

China, he said, is ready to work with the international community, including European countries, to "jointly safeguard the health and safety of all mankind".

Yet, China's means of going about it has backfired in much of Europe.

An anonymously authored text posted on the website of the Chinese embassy in France this month falsely accused French retirement home staff of leaving old people to die.

It was "an incredible accusation on one of the most sensitive and tragic aspects" of the crisis in France, Dr Mathieu Duchatel of the Institut Montaigne wrote on Twitter.

The embassy website comments rang alarm bells for the needless offence caused.

China underestimated the reaction to its conspiracy theories amplified by propaganda outlets, according to two European officials in Beijing.

What's more, China's insistence that aid be accompanied by public thanks and praise has undercut the goodwill it might otherwise have gained, they said.

VULNERABLE COMPANIES

European governments have become more wary of China over the past two years as Mr Xi's Belt and Road Initiative on trade and infrastructure expanded across the continent, snapping up strategic assets including ports, power utilities and robotics firms from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea.

While some nations including Italy and Portugal have been enthusiastic backers of Belt and Road, another programme known as Made in China 2025, whereby Beijing seeks to become the world leader in key technologies, is seen in many quarters as a further threat to European industry.

With stock prices tumbling on the coronavirus crisis, countries including Germany that have investment screening regulations have tightened them and extended their scope in response to concerns that China, among others, could take controlling stakes in companies suddenly made vulnerable.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager suggested in a Financial Times interview that governments go further and buy stakes in companies themselves to stave off the threat of Chinese takeovers.

More far-reaching still are proposals to curb dependence on China, not just for medical supplies but in areas such as battery technology for electric vehicles.

EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said last week that there's a need for a discussion "on what it means to be strategically autonomous", including building "resilient supply chains, based on diversification, acknowledging the simple fact that we will not be able to manufacture everything locally".

Japan already earmarked US$2.2 billion from its US$1 trillion stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production away from China.

Without mentioning China, EU trade ministers agreed in an April 16 call on the importance of diversifying to "reduce the reliance on individual countries of supply".

As a first step, Berlin plans state funds and purchase guarantees to start industrial production of millions of surgical and face masks by late summer. China currently exports 25 per cent of the world's face masks.

Mr Wuttke of the EU trade chambers said the discussion on supply chains began when Beijing shut its ports earlier this year, prompting fears that pharmaceutical ingredients produced in China would not reach Europe, and causing policymakers to realise that strategic products had to be secured.

According to another European official, even official suppliers were breaking contracts for items such as ventilators and scamming people, burning bridges along the way.

"People want to have their eggs in more baskets," said Mr Wuttke.

BURNING BRIDGES

Certainly, the tenor of the political debate in Europe has shifted since.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Bild newspaper that China's revising up of the death toll last week was "alarming", while French President Emmanuel Macron said in an FT interview there were "clearly things that have happened that we don't know about".

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it can't be "business as usual" with China once the pandemic is over.

Spain's Health Ministry has cancelled an order of antigen test kits from Chinese company Bioeasy after sending back a previous batch, the country's El Pais reported. Health authorities found that both sets of kits were faulty, it said.

As a result of the Covid-19 crisis, pressure is growing on Britain to reverse its decision to allow Huawei Technologies a limited role in its fifth-generation mobile networks, while France may be less inclined to give Huawei a chunk of its 5G contracts after the embassy spat.

Germany must make a decision by around mid-year on Chinese involvement in its 5G networks.

In the battle of narratives, Germany is key, according to Dr Janka Oertel, director of the Asia programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.

Besides being Europe's dominant economy, its trade ties to China dwarf those of its neighbours: German exports to China in 2019 were higher than Britain, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands combined.

It will assume the EU's rotating presidency on July 1, giving it the chance to turn the debate in Europe.

China could still win back favour and help secure a greater global role by acceding to demands to open up its markets and introduce a more level playing field for international business, said Dr Oertel.

"That would be something that the Europeans would very much appreciate," she said.

All the same, she added: "I don't think it's very likely."

[akshat96jain]

Neuland Labs - a business set to enter flywheel mode or ...?

Disclosure: This is not a buy/hold/sell recommendation. This is for information purposes only.

Innovator Drug Development: For CDMOs, the most critical driver is presence of an innovator portfolio, specially with a wide spectrum from early stage to commercial manufacturing. Syngene and Neuland are CDMOs with significant revenue share from innovator portfolios, that received investments from global and local PE funds.   

I recently came across this report from IQVIA on the 4 drivers of growth areas in Pharma and it got me interested in Neuland Labs Limited. I like businesses that operate as a niche in a large segment, acquire customer loyalty and then grow sales and margins hanging on to that customer loyalty instead of competing on price. Anyway, here are some thoughts on Neuland:

What do they do?

Neuland is a Hyderabad based, focused/pure-play API manufacturer. It produces 75 APIs from 3 plants (2 are USFDA approved - 3rd was recently acquired - more for backward integration). The US, Japan & Europe form 80%+ of its sales. Business segments Neuland has 3 business segments:

A high volume, low margin, highly competitive Prime API segment - major products are Ciprofloxacin, Levetiracetam, Levofloxacin, Mirtazapine Enalapril Maleate, Sotalol, Labetalol and Salbutamol.

A Speciality API segment -  currently has 25 molecules in this segment. Of these, patents for some molecules are yet to expire. In many molecules the co is either the sole or one of 2 suppliers even though few others may have filed a DMF. Important from revenue perspective Salmeterol, Dorzolamide, Paliperidone, Deferasirox, Donepezil and Brinzolamide.

A Custom Manufacturing Solutions segment - A typical pharma research or bio-tech startup based out of Switzerland or London or Tokyo would typically focus on research and outsource scale-manufacturing to low-cost countries provided regulatory standards are met. This outsourced manufacturing service is the CMS business of Neuland. It works with innovator pharma / biotech cos, both small and large and offers both small-scale clinical trial quantities & commercial-scale. It is equipped for Preclinical to Phase III through to commercial API manufacturing. Entire revenue in CMS from US, Europe & Japan. Neuland claims to have strong chemistry skills + consistently compliant facilities.

Most of Neuland’s Indian peers are generic formulation makers - many of who derive significant share of sales in regulated markets where competitive intensity is increasing and price erosion is causing margins to fall.

On the other hand, data from the Express Scripts’ Prescription Price Index suggests that average prices of branded drugs have been rising and remain unaffected by price erosion. Neuland’s CMS segment works directly with such innovator companies for clinical and commercial stage production of Intermediates & APIs for patent-protected drugs.

The CMS Business

There is a conscious attempt by the co to increase the share of Speciality and CMS businesses in the long run. ‘In the long run’ because CMS business would be volatile as it is initially heavily dependent on few companies and few molecules. Once more and more molecules get commercial approvals and client base widens, CMS can become a stable segment. Another reason is the Prime API segment itself is growing in volume terms.

In the longer run, the Speciality API and CMS business looks to be a game changer - a segment that is set to enter the flywheel mode, perhaps? 

It has much lesser competitive intensity compared to its peers because it requires strong chemistry skills and loyal customer relationships. A client who engages Neuland for pre-commercial stage production is likely to continue the commercial relationship with Neuland as well. Hence, the nuances of supplying small batches for pre-clinical stage drugs is sort of an investment in customer acquisition which will yield results over time when these drugs get commercial approvals.

After the Chinese shut down of polluting industries in 2017-2019 and the 2020 Coronavirus crisis, pharma & biotech research companies looking to de-risk their supply chain from China would look for alternative contract manufacturers in India. One of the criteria in supplier selection would be the depth of the capabilities. Does the supplier import key intermediates from China or does he produce it himself? How many APIs can he make in-house? Neuland’s 30-year expertise in API making and its acquisition of Unit 3 will strengthen its in-house intermediates capabilities.

As Neuland acquires deeper chemistry skills, its competitive advantage in this field can further increase opportunities. We can substantiate from this con call excerpt:

Neuland being a pure play API company, we tend to give a lot of focus and priority to our CMS business. And unlike many Chinese companies which have many aspects of their business, they do custom synthesis, they do biology, they do BMTK, they do toxicology and lot of other activities. So the attention or the focus on the custom synthesis projects may not be as high. I think the third factor is at Neuland, we also tend to be very selective on the kind of projects we work on. They are specific areas in chemistry that we believe we are very strong in.... So that kind of selectivity and the inherent skills and the business model of the company helps us to differentiate ourselves from many of the Chinese competitors.

Unlike generic API manufacturing, the CMS business requires pro-activeness, foresight and constant R&D - some points to support Neuland:

Total worldwide DMF count of 673

Management has guided filing of 8-10 DMFs/CEPs every year

Neuland is the first generic player to have a granted process patent for the preparation of Sugammadex Sodium in India. Sugammadex is used to reverse anesthesia. It has also filed a DMF and wants to be an early developer even though commercial launch will be post patent expiry around 2026 for US and Europe.

In FY 19, filed 20 patent applications of which 19 were in India and one in the US. In the same year, it secured seven granted patents (5 API process patents and 2 peptide technology related patents) in various geographies (Canada, India, Japan & Australia).

Neuland claims to be a leader in peptide technologies and capabilities. It predicts that in 15 years as many as 50% of all drugs could be peptide-based. 9/63 of the CMS projects of Neuland are peptide projects, though there are 0 commercial sales currently. In 2018, the company entered into a partnership with Jitsubo Co, owner of two key peptide technologies: Molecular Hiving™ for production of high quality and cost-competitive peptide APIs, and Peptune™ for novel peptide modification in drug discovery stages. The management also sees potential in Peptide based APIs for the generic API market and has invested in relevant capacities. Quoting from the Q2FY20 con call:

“We have been initially doing only like peptide building blocks and maybe low value items within peptide. But over the last 5-6 years, we slowly moved forward into peptide APIs and we have been working with a lot of innovators in the CMS space on peptide projects. And now what we have been trying to do in the last year or so is to actually develop peptide even for the generic markets and we are very excited with the market opportunity that generic peptides offer..........What excite us about peptides in the generic GDS space is that the market is not very crowded and there could be certain value addition Neuland could have because of our technology where we would be able to offer peptide API at comparable quality but at a lower cost. So that is the idea. We do not expect any immediate commercial opportunities on it, but some of the peptides that we are working on, the patents are also close to expiring. So if we are successful, then in a matter of 2 to 3 years, we could have some successful products in the market on peptides. “

Management and Directors

The Chairman & MD, Davuluri Rama Mohan Rao holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Technology from IIT Kharagpur and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, U.S.A. He’s a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The Vice-Chairman and CEO, Davuluri Sucheth Rao and the Joint Managing Director, Davuluri Saharsh Rao are MBA graduates from the US.

Non-Executive Director - Christopher M. Cimarusti -  holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Purdue University, U.S.A. and his Postdoctoral Research from Columbia University, U.S.A. More than 40 years of experience in the field of drug discovery, development and manufacturing, been awarded more than 60 patents and published more than 40 papers in referred journals. Held executive leadership positions at Squibb Corporation and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in discovery and development. His last position with BMS was as Sr. Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development Centre of Excellence.

Independent Directors

Humayun Dhanrajgir -  45 years in the pharmaceutical industry. On the board of Cadila Healthcare Ltd., Zydus Wellness Ltd, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Chairman), Next Gen Publishing Co. Ltd. (Chairman).

Parampally Vasudeva Maiya - Ex General Manager of SBI, first MD of ICICI Bank and CDSL, Previously held directorships at Canara Bank and Indian Bank.

William Gordon Mitchell -  Academician with contributions in the field of  corporate strategy, emerging market strategy, and strategy in the global health care sector.

Bharati Rao - Also on the boards of SBICAP Securities Limited, SBI Capital Markets Limited, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited, SBI Global Factors limited, Carborandum Universal Limited, Can Fin Holmes Limited, Tata Teleservices Limited and Delphi-TVS Diesel Systems. Advisor to Brickworks Ratings Company.

Nirmala Murthy -  Founder member of the Foundation for Research in Health System. 

Homi Rustam Khusrokhan - Ex  President of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India. Currently on the boards of Strides Pharma Science Limited, Samson Maritime and Novalead Pharma Private Limited.

A well known investor from Chennai known for his forensic eye once said that a good quality check for any listed Indian company is to see how many ‘Independent Directors’ don’t share the same surname as the promoters.

Where could it go wrong?

This is where we need to really dig deeper. None of the above information means the stock is investment worthy or not especially since I do not have a background in pharmaceuticals and most of my understanding here is basic. If you have a view point on the risks in Neuland’s business, would be greatful if you could share your opinion on the Neuland Labs Ltd thread on ValuePickr.

The numbers - The company seems to witness growth opportunities across 3 segments. They have guided volume growth along with margin expansion (co. aims at 18-20% ebitda in 3-4 years from 10-12% currently). Major capex is behind but 60-70 cr/year of product specific capex and maintenance capex would continue.Will this dilute asset turnovers? Debt levels at 200-220 crores are sort of worrying given their scale and margin profile. Key would be to monitor the next few years of debt addition + capex + R&D expenditure. Once that stabilises and growth continues, operating leverage can be expected.

In the CMS division, the company is subject to not just USFDA checks but also customer audits. Also, given that unit 3 will be subject to its first USFDA audit in the coming quarters, compliance risk looms.

[persian-maami]

Responsible For A Color Wash Stamped Concrete Budget? 12 Top Notch Ways To Spend Your Money

You see it all over the place, footpaths, roadways, driveways. It is commonly picked for council driveways and footpaths as it's at the lower stop of the cost vary in finishes and might be excavated easier if repairs to services must be undertaken.

The concrete is usually broadcast with a color hardener and release agent (to include additional color and to help the stamp mats release from your moist concrete area) and afterwards imprinted with a sample of preference.

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A color he likes, for instance, is made by combining like amounts of Venetian pink with Stedman buff (a golden yellow) to produce a heat peach. "Really don't be scared to experiment," he claims. "You could mix lots of colors by yourself right before You should Specific order."

If you need to stop for the duration of application move, use pure split points which include borders, partitions or enlargement joints.

The overlay might be remaining seamless (apart from at Management joints) or utilised to be a canvas forsawcut or engraved designs. It is possible to integrate decorative inlays like strips of wood or metal, by adhering them to The bottom concrete and after that pouring the overlay to the extent in the inlay.

Then the surface is handed about from the devices in levels, gradually smoothing the surface area with the concrete to a degree where it is so dense and smooth that it reflects like glass. Very popular in higher visitors configurations like supermarkets. GRIND AND SEAL An extremely identical seem to the above but cheaper. The surface area is floor to the desired depth, then passed around ample situations that it's Prepared for just a topical coating. Depending upon the shopper’s desires and spending plan, the sealer may be a polyurethane, epoxy or an acrylic. The high gloss look can even now be attained, but with no same cost as an entire polish. This is often considerably more common than the usual comprehensive polish. TO NOTE: With the two these finishes, the ultimate glimpse is dependent on the concrete slab that is definitely becoming polished. No two concrete slabs will be the similar. Many slabs can have locations where by There may be much more density from the stone than Other people. This really is from our Handle and should be envisioned. This glance is well-liked in the two internal and exterior settings.

batching plant, and the entire mixture of the concrete is coloured. Or, it could be coloured by utilization of colour hardeners, which are broadcast in the moist surface of your freshly poured concrete and manually worked to the concrete.

Concrete benchtops are a handmade alternate to other kitchen area surfaces offering the chance to have whole customisation. With concrete you gain functionality and a tough putting on workspace that you just get from high-end stone but with the opportunity to Forged massive or smaller items with out seams.

A lot of property homeowners are tempted to select the color in their residence when selecting concrete colors, but this is simply not usually recommended. You don't need your private home to seem rinsed. So as an alternative, contemplate selecting a shade which is match, although not precisely the same tone as your private home or interior décor.

One move Using the float need to be ample; don't overwork the concrete. If needed, repeat this process in spots where by normal concrete is displaying by way of. When you find yourself happy with the color, finish using a fresno or steel trowel.

Vertical Overlays are definitely the most well liked craze in decorative concrete today. Ornamental stamping and texturing provides awesome natural beauty and depth to concrete driveways, paths and shop flooring, but we are able to use pretty identical methods to vertical surfaces, like function walls, fireplace surrounds, exterior or inner facades to your own home or area of small business. Vertical overlays and fake stone really are a amazing choice to actual stone. As the blend is light-weight, and stuck into the wall and Solid as a single device, This is a safer different to authentic stone which can be hefty and time-consuming.

Stamped concrete can be blended with other ornamental concrete things such as uncovered mixture finishes and acid-etch staining. The ensuing finishes combine magnificence and creativity Along with the economic system, longevity, and practicality of concrete.

I employed E and J Concrete to pour a whole new walkway and steps within the entrance of my residence. Dealing with Juan and his crew was a terrific experience and so they did a wonderful work. The concluded solution seems to be great. I'd hire them yet again for long term concrete requirements.read more Morgan Feist 19:41 04 Aug 18

[dreamsoft4usa]

Case Study of Medical Billing Software

You can be the vehicle your clients drive for engagement, mobility, and patient experience while increasing their revenue, productivity, and workflow. Our medical billing solutions are primarily aimed at avoiding error rates & improving the claim-ratio. It enables the users to exercise better control over their revenue cycles & accounts receivables.

The Need for Medical Billing Software

The Clinic was looking for healthcare software development to simplify its billing process, which was then person dependent and allowed no control on stocked medicine, overstocking, pilferages, etc.

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The Medical Billing Software Solution

Dreamsoft4u’s Medical Billing Software helped to improve the medical store maintenance and their billing activity. It also improved the hospital’s Administrative Work by creating a pharmacy & medical billing software solution. The modules were aimed to improve the efficiency of the store operation by better control and monitoring of the inventory of medicines. The medical billing software module also facilitated in faster and better service to the patients thus improving the good will of the hospital in terms of service.

Case Study of Medical Billing Software

What we did?

Software Product Design

Collaborative Product Discovery

Visual Design

UX Design

Automated Testing

Opportunity 

The medical billing process is a complex interplay between doctors, hospitals, patients, and insurance companies. Our client facilitates that process for their medical practice customers. Parts of the billing process are performed manually, so our client engaged SEP to improve a key area of the process: the portal through which their customers pay and receive payment for patient bills. They process 80 million transactions per year, each with hundreds of pieces of data. The new web portal needed to increase automation so that our client’s customers have better insight into their billing workflow and spend less time manually processing payments.

Benefits

The activities of bill generating become so fast, convenient and accurate.

The rate of generating the bills increased, which reduced the line of the patients.

The data record was managed of all the saleable/non-saleable store items, those issued to different sub-stations and those sold to patients; along with their prices, batch numbers, expiry dates, storage instructions, etc.

Appropriate alerts were generated when particular items in the hospital were nearing expiry or nearing re-order level.

The management were able to get a true picture about the profit/loss making position of the hospital from its stores activity

Actions

The team at Dreamsoft4u replicated the customer’s onshore process to ensure a seamless transition to offshore operations

We provided the customer with a dedicated staffer to handle 7 to 8 patient demographics and charge entry files a month

By the 2nd month, we were able to process more than 150 files with an error rate below 2%

We also provided the customer with a QA team experienced in payment posting

This QA team audited all the charge sheets and processed files

We sent the customer regular status reports with details about the number of files in processing and the reasons for the delays

Results

We started our engagement with a series of Discovery sessions. Together, we distilled the needs of the new portal and built a focused backlog. To determine what parts of the billing process we would focus on, we used activities like event storming. It helped us understand where technology and human interaction bridge together through the process.

We also facilitated Design Studios with key subject matter experts several times throughout our engagement. These discussions allowed us to deepen our domain knowledge quickly and ensure we were meeting stakeholder needs. These Design Studios solidified our project motto: improve clarity. Each time we improved clarity, we removed a lot of problems for our client and their customers.

The customer was extremely satisfied with our work and decided to outsource their entire medical billing process to us, including insurance calling, charge entry, patient demographics, patient calling and payment posting

The Dreamsoft4u team is now successfully handling all the medical billing operations for this customer

We now have more than 50 full-time employees who work on this project

We now process over a million files on a monthly basis, with an error rate of less than 2%

CHALLENGE WE FACED.

1. Privacy Restrictions Must Be Balanced With Usability Requirements

CHALLENGE

he development of electronic health records has made patient privacy a top concern of end-users, healthcare organizations, and governments. Governments have created laws (HIPAA, PHIPA) that impose penalties on organizations that fail to protect their electronic data from misuse. These laws are, in turn, applied to other organizations involved the electronic exchange of health information. In 2009, for example, the HITECH act mandated compliance with HIPAA for all covered entities.

SOLUTION

implementing access control is relatively straightforward. Access control restricts actions such as viewing, editing or deleting data elements. Typically, access control is implemented by user role so that all users of a particular role all have the same privileges.

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There are two basic design approaches for role-based access control:

Access control policies are loaded per page or screen

Access control policies are loaded once per user session

The first approach requires more frequent database access but results in more dynamic access control behavior. Here, although user privileges can be revoked or granted instantly, the need for loading the access control policies can slow down the server especially when there are many concurrent users. The second approach suffers from a lack of control over access policies, since a user can have his privileges revoked but still be allowed to continue until the end of his session. Either of these policies, however, would be sufficient to address the access control requirements of HIPAA law and even CCHIT certification in the case of electronic medical records.

2. Doctors Have No Patience For Software That Doesn’t Save Them Time

CHALLENGE

Software developers often create systems without considering the time restrictions healthcare practitioners face. In today’s hospitals, healthcare workers are dealing with growing patient waiting lists and need to be able to get their jobs done as efficiently as possible. They can’t afford to wait for software and will be unwilling to do so.

SOLUTION

To avoid the example scenario, designers of a new system would have needed to be aware of the doctor’s desire to get clinical paperwork out of the way as quickly as possible. The system should not have halted the data transfer when the clinical case was closed.

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More generally, software systems in healthcare domains need to be very responsive and inform the user about what the application is doing. In a system with long-running tasks or data transfers, make sure to ask yourself the following questions:3. Validation Is Far More Important Than Verification

CHALLENGE

Developers often think application crashes are the most serious problem a healthcare program can exhibit. While a crash is obviously not an ideal outcome, hospital processes are well established to deal with software crashes. Of far greater inconvenience is an application that makes a clinical worker’s job more difficult while behaving as designed.

SOLUTION

Problems like those described above can be avoided if they are identified through a rigorous software validation process. This validation period must also be used to test all exceptional and rare (from a healthcare viewpoint) cases so the application can be sure to integrate into the environment in even the most unusual circumstances.

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A good software validation process will catch these problems before too much development work has been completed. Moreover, an agile software development process can be appropriate for certain types of healthcare application development, such as patient management and EMR software development. With an agile process, the application can be tested and deployed at various milestones of the development cycle. An agile process allows for more opportunities to perform software validation and ensures it is conducted early in the project life-cycle.

4. Input Validation Should Not Block Users

CHALLENGE Many healthcare applications deal with data entry, and the methods through which data is validated are important software development considerations. In short, treatment cannot be withheld because of the requirements of a software application.

SOLUTION

Good healthcare applications keep the number of required fields to a minimum, ensure only the most important information is required, or give users the option to skip the input field. When a patient is undergoing a test or is sitting in a consultation room, information may not be known and the delivery of care must be allowed to proceed.

To summarize, effective input validation in a healthcare environment should follow these input validation best practices:5. Hospital Processes Are Highly Collaborative and Asynchronous

CHALLENGE

Hospitals and clinics contain a large number of autonomous individuals all working to deliver healthcare. There is opportunity for collaboration, but work almost always takes place between caregiver and patient. When a difficult case presents itself, multiple staff members may participate to gain experience, but for common, routine cases work can normally be done without discussion.

SOLUTION

Traditionally, a piece of paper has been used to synchronize team members. If you had the piece of paper, it meant you were the one who had to work. However, since it would take a while before the paper arrived on your desk, getting the paper implied you had to do a lot of work, and as soon as possible. It is much more efficient to let people work when they want, and do as much work as they want.

6. Supporting Interoperability Standards Is Tougher Than It Looks

CHALLENGE

Most healthcare applications need to interface with external systems. Since these interfaces are usually complex, standards have been developed to simplify the process.

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Implementing code that adheres to the standards requires a lot of time, and is often a source of overruns and rework. It is crucial to ensure the design and implementation of interchangeability standards is carefully planned and estimated.

SOLUTION

The first step to ensure the interchangeability standards code is well-planned and well-estimated is to account for all the possible tasks that will be required of the software team during implementation. These can include:7. Not All Clinical Users Are Doctors And Nurses

CHALLENGE

Developers often focus on the needs of doctors and nurses since, traditionally; these are the most difficult groups to please. Doctors and nurses are most pressed for time, and their actions most directly affect the quality of patient care. There are, however, other groups of users who will directly or indirectly use a healthcare application. These include:

Often, physicians are the ones who request the development of an application and are the only ones contributing to the requirements. When the software is released, however, it can fail to deliver an improvement in the hospital’s process because it does not deliver what is needed to all those who need it.

SOLUTION

Software teams need to be sure to not only satisfy the requirements of healthcare providers, but also of users who may not use the application directly but who still depend on it to get their work done. It is important to consider those who can benefit “downstream” from the data collected by the application. Be sure to have a usability expert with healthcare experience on hand who can help you ask the right questions, and obtain the right requirements from all the people affected by hospital processes. This process is known by usability experts as “stakeholder identification.”

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A usability expert can help you model the people, groups, and institutions that contribute to or will be affected by a change to hospital processes. These experts can also identify the array of user personas within an organization to help you solidify your understanding of who, exactly, will use the application. With a solid understanding of all potential users and their needs, you will be better positioned to deliver relevant, useful software that solves the problems of the healthcare organization as a whole.Not only will this build your reputation as a trusted software development partner, it can help the organization justify its software development costs and ensure value is being delivered across the organization.

Why us?

We rely on our strong understanding of healthcare workflows to build robust and secure systems which are HIPAA & ICD-10 compliant. We can be your software development partner if:

You are a provider looking for an in-house software to gain better control over your billing cycle

Want to replace an outdated system or upgrade it

You are a specialist with specific functional requirements to meet

You are a third-party service provider

Based upon your need, solutions offered can be either on-premise or web-based. They can also be stand-one or integrated with your Practice Management and/or EHR systems.