#CBCS COURSES

[tearwolfe]

he's kind of like a mop

[measureformeasure]

if theyre going to make broadcastign services play 35% canadian music they could at least pick good music. and not justin bieber, etc. joke cancelled i went to look up no hurry by terra lightfoot another reflektor-esque single and this was the top comment

[canadachronicles]

Oh, I'm already looking forward to this!!!

[muirneach]

have the option to basically write about whatever da hell i want for modern indigenous life class… tempted to write about indigenous hockey. however. i am currently shoehorning louis riel into my hockey paper du jour so i dont know if i need to do two papers at the same time about the same topic

[fiapple]

BREAKING: Canada's Parlimentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rob Oliphant, Considering Quitting Over UNRWA Defunding

Further Reading:

Key Liberal MP rips his government's policy on Gaza war in private call with constituent

"As parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Rob Oliphant has the job of explaining and defending Canada's foreign policy in Parliament.

But in his conversation with the constituent, recorded on Feb. 1 without the MP's knowledge, Oliphant was clearly less than keen to defend the government.

Instead, he opened up about his reaction to the genocide allegation brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague and Canada's decision to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the main UN agency providing aid to Palestinian refugees.

"My heart falls down in my body. My heart hurts, because the only way to get that aid there is UNRWA.

- Liberal MP Rob Oliphant

He also revealed that he's considered quitting his job as Joly's parliamentary secretary."

Government 'Bungled' UNRWA funding issue, Oliphant says

[macadam]

If you are in Canada and the eye on Palestine instagram page won't load, I have found it loads fine on desktop.

Their backup page has been officially blocked due to the Online News Act in Canada, and I imagine the main page's inability to load is a shadowban situation of the same thing. The Online News Act has a clause which restricts the sharing of news articles and links in Canada. There are many dangers of this act, which rely on the moderation of social media platforms which get to chose what media accounts to flag and what media accounts they ignore. It is more important than ever to put effort into finding sources and reading what you can. Bookmark things, download articles as a PDF, screen cap and screen record important videos and offload them into a google drive if you don't have the space. Collect your resources. Accounts are getting blocked slowly and what's available to see today might not be available tomorrow.

And as always, a reminder that Canada is not this naturally good or moral nation absolved of its issues just because we're "not as bad as the states". It is incredibly important to write to your reps, attend marches, and talk within your community. You'd be surprised the stuff that get's passed here.

So I haven’t talked about this on main before, but the situation in South Gaza has gotten so horrifying that I’m p much throwing caution to the wind to desperately plead for eyes on this. I’m raising awareness about stories from activists in Gaza right now, including one of our own.

My lovely, wonderful friend Swin (aka tumblr user @combaticon) was deployed as a volunteer medic to a Gaza hospital on the 9th.

When the bloodshed started, she heard they needed extra hands in Gaza, she spoke Arabic and had the training, and she went.

I’ve been in contact with her throughout. She’s so incredibly brave it takes my breath away. My heart bleeds for these children she’s taking care of and how resilient they are is… astonishing.

Swin and these poor people have been under siege for so long, and they’re in desperate need of critical supplies. They have to filter water through their clothes, and it’s getting dangerously cold. Foods finally been getting through, but there’s not enough blankets and jackets to go around and there’s no fuel for the generators.

Their comrades in the West Bank have been completely pushed out by settler thugs. It’s incredibly unsafe to even be doing humanitarian work for Palestinians. Remember this the next time a Zionist tells you they’re doing this to ‘feel safe’. The IOF is arming lynch mobs.

On a personal note, this has been the most gut-wrenching week of my life. Every day when I wake up without a text from her I feel so much fear. I fight back the grief but I don’t know how to help or what to do. It’s terrifying.

Swin has asked for nothing, absolutely nothing other than something it can show the people around it to make them feel like they’re not going to be abandoned. To make sure they’re not forgotten in some pit praying Rafah opens before Israel decides to slaughter them all.

Today was a bad day. She’s alive but beyond worrying about her privacy now; she’s asked me to share this and to beg that we not lose steam and forget about them. Please share this, and please keep being fucking annoying and loud and digging your heels in with fury because we cannot let these people die silently.

[Times of Gaza] [QUD network] [Eye on Palestine]

[toiletpotato]

Check out this production of The Mountaintop by Katori Hall and then read the script!

The script link (the second one) also includes some very helpful guides to the show!

[successkaptanganj]

ADCA Diploma Course

After ADCA Course you can get 10 types of jobs currently.

There are following

1. Computer Operator

2. Data Entry Operator

3. Office Assistance

4. Office Executive

5. Help Desk

6. Graphic Designing

7. Accountant

8.HTML Coder

9. Junior Assistant

10. Office Admin

[lostinhistory]

A woman who says she was repeatedly denied adequate emergency care last spring is blasting the Newfoundland and Labrador health-care system, saying she's been left psychologically scarred after being told several times that her gangrenous appendix was simply anxiety or constipation. Joy Spence, 21, said she visited emergency departments at two hospitals in St. John's over the course of nearly two weeks this May. What began as weakness and abdominal pain on her right side quickly deteriorated into blacking out from the agony in her torso. But no matter how dire her symptoms got, doctors kept sending her home. "They would just tell me, 'Your bloodwork's normal, there's nothing we can do.' They would send me home, then same thing again," she said. "I would go back again. They would get me to do the bloodwork, say everything's normal." Ultrasound and CT scans apparently turned up nothing, but Spence, in such severe pain, says she had no option but to keep returning to the hospital, where she says she was eventually left screaming in a waiting room, ignored by hospital staff. "If somebody doesn't help me, I'm going to die," she recalls wailing, watching doctors and nurses pass her by. At one point, she was dismissed outright by a walk-in clinic nurse, she adds. "Somebody said to me, 'I don't know what you expect me to do,'" she said. "'You're a healthy 21-year-old young female.'" One night, she says, her boyfriend had to help her into an ambulance. Spence was in so much pain she couldn't stay conscious and stand on her own. "I remember the man in the ambulance telling me … how often he sees other young women going into the hospital and seeing them be misdiagnosed and not taken seriously," she said, speaking through tears. "He said that he would do his best to … get things going for me."

They nearly killed this woman by blowing off her symptoms. Other women have since come forward to say their symptoms were also ignored. One woman died because no one would listen to her. And yet the head of emergency departments insists that there is no sexism in the hospitals.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Ontario identified 78 new measles cases over the course of two weeks, public health officials said Thursday, calling it the largest outbreak the province has seen in almost 30 years. The new cases bring Ontario's total this year to just over 140, far surpassing the 101 total infections recorded in the province between 2013 and 2023. Dr. Sarah Wilson, a public health physician with Public Health Ontario, said the last time there was a sizable outbreak in the province was 2008 when there was a total of 58 cases. "This is the largest measles outbreak that we've experienced in the province of Ontario since measles was eliminated from Canada in 1998," Wilson said.

Continue Reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How to shatter the class solidarity of the ruling class

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me WEDNESDAY (Apr 11) at UCLA, then Chicago (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Audre Lorde counsels us that "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," while MLK said "the law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me." Somewhere between replacing the system and using the system lies a pragmatic – if easily derailed – course.

Lorde is telling us that a rotten system can't be redeemed by using its own chosen reform mechanisms. King's telling us that unless we live, we can't fight – so anything within the system that makes it easier for your comrades to fight on can hasten the end of the system.

Take the problems of journalism. One old model of journalism funding involved wealthy newspaper families profiting handsomely by selling local appliance store owners the right to reach the townspeople who wanted to read sports-scores. These families expressed their patrician love of their town by peeling off some of those profits to pay reporters to sit through municipal council meetings or even travel overseas and get shot at.

In retrospect, this wasn't ever going to be a stable arrangement. It relied on both the inconstant generosity of newspaper barons and the absence of a superior way to show washing-machine ads to people who might want to buy washing machines. Neither of these were good long-term bets. Not only were newspaper barons easily distracted from their sense of patrician duty (especially when their own power was called into question), but there were lots of better ways to connect buyers and sellers lurking in potentia.

All of this was grossly exacerbated by tech monopolies. Tech barons aren't smarter or more evil than newspaper barons, but they have better tools, and so now they take 51 cents out of every ad dollar and 30 cents out of ever subscriber dollar and they refuse to deliver the news to users who explicitly requested it, unless the news company pays them a bribe to "boost" their posts:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

The news is important, and people sign up to make, digest, and discuss the news for many non-economic reasons, which means that the news continues to struggle along, despite all the economic impediments and the vulture capitalists and tech monopolists who fight one another for which one will get to take the biggest bite out of the press. We've got outstanding nonprofit news outlets like Propublica, journalist-owned outlets like 404 Media, and crowdfunded reporters like Molly White (and winner-take-all outlets like the New York Times).

But as Hamilton Nolan points out, "that pot of money…is only large enough to produce a small fraction of the journalism that was being produced in past generations":

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/what-will-replace-advertising-revenue

For Nolan, "public funding of journalism is the only way to fix this…If we accept that journalism is not just a business or a form of entertainment but a public good, then funding it with public money makes perfect sense":

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/public-funding-of-journalism-is-the

Having grown up in Canada – under the CBC – and then lived for a quarter of my life in the UK – under the BBC – I am very enthusiastic about Nolan's solution. There are obvious problems with publicly funded journalism, like the politicization of news coverage:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/24/panel-approving-richard-sharp-as-bbc-chair-included-tory-party-donor

And the transformation of the funding into a cheap political football:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-defund-cbc-change-law-1.6810434

But the worst version of those problems is still better than the best version of the private-equity-funded model of news production.

But Nolan notes the emergence of a new form of hedge fund news, one that is awfully promising, and also terribly fraught: Hunterbrook Media, an investigative news outlet owned by short-sellers who pay journalists to research and publish damning reports on companies they hold a short position on:

https://hntrbrk.com/

For those of you who are blissfully distant from the machinations of the financial markets, "short selling" is a wager that a company's stock price will go down. A gambler who takes a short position on a company's stock can make a lot of money if the company stumbles or fails altogether (but if the company does well, the short can suffer literally unlimited losses).

Shorts have historically paid analysts to dig into companies and uncover the sins hidden on their balance-sheets, but as Matt Levine points out, journalists work for a fraction of the price of analysts and are at least as good at uncovering dirt as MBAs are:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-02/a-hedge-fund-that-s-also-a-newspaper

What's more, shorts who discover dirt on a company still need to convince journalists to publicize their findings and trigger the sell-off that makes their short position pay off. Shorts who own a muckraking journalistic operation can skip this step: they are the journalists.

There's a way in which this is sheer genius. Well-funded shorts who don't care about the news per se can still be motivated into funding freely available, high-quality investigative journalism about corporate malfeasance (notoriously, one of the least attractive forms of journalism for advertisers). They can pay journalists top dollar – even bid against each other for the most talented journalists – and supply them with all the tools they need to ply their trade. A short won't ever try the kind of bullshit the owners of Vice pulled, paying themselves millions while their journalists lose access to Lexisnexis or the PACER database:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/24/anti-posse/#when-you-absolutely-positively-dont-give-a-solitary-single-fuck

The shorts whose journalists are best equipped stand to make the most money. What's not to like?

Well, the issue here is whether the ruling class's sense of solidarity is stronger than its greed. The wealthy have historically oscillated between real solidarity (think of the ultrawealthy lobbying to support bipartisan votes for tax cuts and bailouts) and "war of all against all" (as when wealthy colonizers dragged their countries into WWI after the supply of countries to steal ran out).

After all, the reason companies engage in the scams that shorts reveal is that they are profitable. "Behind every great fortune is a great crime," and that's just great. You don't win the game when you get into heaven, you win it when you get into the Forbes Rich List.

Take monopolies: investors like the upside of backing an upstart company that gobbles up some staid industry's margins – Amazon vs publishing, say, or Uber vs taxis. But while there's a lot of upside in that move, there's also a lot of risk: most companies that set out to "disrupt" an industry sink, taking their investors' capital down with them.

Contrast that with monopolies: backing a company that merges with its rivals and buys every small company that might someday grow large is a sure thing. Shriven of "wasteful competition," a company can lower quality, raise prices, capture its regulators, screw its workers and suppliers and laugh all the way to Davos. A big enough company can ignore the complaints of those workers, customers and regulators. They're not just too big to fail. They're not just too big to jail. They're too big to care:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

Would-be monopolists are stuck in a high-stakes Prisoner's Dilemma. If they cooperate, they can screw over everyone else and get unimaginably rich. But if one party defects, they can raid the monopolist's margins, short its stock, and snitch to its regulators.

It's true that there's a clear incentive for hedge-fund managers to fund investigative journalism into other hedge-fund managers' portfolio companies. But it would be even more profitable for both of those hedgies to join forces and collude to screw the rest of us over. So long as they mistrust each other, we might see some benefit from that adversarial relationship. But the point of the 0.1% is that there aren't very many of them. The Aspen Institute can rent a hall that will hold an appreciable fraction of that crowd. They buy their private jets and bespoke suits and powdered rhino horn from the same exclusive sellers. Their kids go to the same elite schools. They know each other, and they have every opportunity to get drunk together at a charity ball or a society wedding and cook up a plan to join forces.

This is the problem at the core of "mechanism design" grounded in "rational self-interest." If you try to create a system where people do the right thing because they're selfish assholes, you normalize being a selfish asshole. Eventually, the selfish assholes form a cozy little League of Selfish Assholes and turn on the rest of us.

Appeals to morality don't work on unethical people, but appeals to immorality crowds out ethics. Take the ancient split between "free software" (software that is designed to maximize the freedom of the people who use it) and "open source software" (identical to free software, but promoted as a better way to make robust code through transparency and peer review).

Over the years, open source – an appeal to your own selfish need for better code – triumphed over free software, and its appeal to the ethics of a world of "software freedom." But it turns out that while the difference between "open" and "free" was once mere semantics, it's fully possible to decouple the two. Today, we have lots of "open source": you can see the code that Google, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook uses, and even contribute your labor to it for free. But you can't actually decide how the software you write works, because it all takes a loop through Google, Microsoft, Apple or Facebook's servers, and only those trillion-dollar tech monopolists have the software freedom to determine how those servers work:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/04/which-side-are-you-on/#tivoization-and-beyond

That's ruling class solidarity. The Big Tech firms have hidden a myriad of sins beneath their bafflegab and balance-sheets. These (as yet) undiscovered scams constitute a "bezzle," which JK Galbraith defined as "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it."

The purpose of Hunterbrook is to discover and destroy bezzles, hastening the moment of realization that the wealth we all feel in a world of seemingly orderly technology is really an illusion. Hunterbrook certainly has its pick of bezzles to choose from, because we are living in a Golden Age of the Bezzle.

Which is why I titled my new novel The Bezzle. It's a tale of high-tech finance scams, starring my two-fisted forensic accountant Marty Hench, and in this volume, Hench is called upon to unwind a predatory prison-tech scam that victimizes the most vulnerable people in America – our army of prisoners – and their families:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

The scheme I fictionalize in The Bezzle is very real. Prison-tech monopolists like Securus and Viapath bribe prison officials to abolish calls, in-person visits, mail and parcels, then they supply prisoners with "free" tablets where they pay hugely inflated rates to receive mail, speak to their families, and access ebooks, distance education and other electronic media:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/02/captive-customers/#guillotine-watch

But a group of activists have cornered these high-tech predators, run them to ground and driven them to the brink of extinction, and they've done it using "the master's tools" – with appeals to regulators and the finance sector itself.

Writing for The Appeal, Dana Floberg and Morgan Duckett describe the campaign they waged with Worth Rises to bankrupt the prison-tech sector:

https://theappeal.org/securus-bankruptcy-prison-telecom-industry/

Here's the headline figure: Securus is $1.8 billion in debt, and it has eight months to find a financier or it will go bust. What's more, all the creditors it might reasonably approach have rejected its overtures, and its bonds have been downrated to junk status. It's a dead duck.

Even better is how this happened. Securus's debt problems started with its acquisition, a leveraged buyout by Platinum Equity, who borrowed heavily against the firm and then looted it with bogus "management fees" that meant that the debt continued to grow, despite Securus's $700m in annual revenue from America's prisoners. Platinum was just the last in a long line of PE companies that loaded up Securus with debt and merged it with its competitors, who were also mortgaged to make profits for other private equity funds.

For years, Securus and Platinum were able to service their debt and roll it over when it came due. But after Worth Rises got NYC to pass a law making jail calls free, creditors started to back away from Securus. It's one thing for Securus to charge $18 for a local call from a prison when it's splitting the money with the city jail system. But when that $18 needs to be paid by the city, they're going to demand much lower prices. To make things worse for Securus, prison reformers got similar laws passed in San Francisco and in Connecticut.

Securus tried to outrun its problems by gobbling up one of its major rivals, Icsolutions, but Worth Rises and its coalition convinced regulators at the FCC to block the merger. Securus abandoned the deal:

https://worthrises.org/blogpost/securusmerger

Then, Worth Rises targeted Platinum Equity, going after the pension funds and other investors whose capital Platinum used to keep Securus going. The massive negative press campaign led to eight-figure disinvestments:

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-05/la-fi-tom-gores-securus-prison-phone-mass-incarceration

Now, Securus's debt became "distressed," trading at $0.47 on the dollar. A brief, covid-fueled reprieve gave Securus a temporary lifeline, as prisoners' families were barred from in-person visits and had to pay Securus's rates to talk to their incarcerated loved ones. But after lockdown, Securus's troubles picked up right where they left off.

They targeted Platinum's founder, Tom Gores, who papered over his bloody fortune by styling himself as a philanthropist and sports-team owner. After a campaign by Worth Rises and Color of Change, Gores was kicked off the Los Angeles County Museum of Art board. When Gores tried to flip Securus to a SPAC – the same scam Trump pulled with Truth Social – the negative publicity about Securus's unsound morals and financials killed the deal:

https://twitter.com/WorthRises/status/1578034977828384769

Meanwhile, more states and cities are making prisoners' communications free, further worsening Securus's finances:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/14/minnesota-nice/#shitty-technology-adoption-curve

Congress passed the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, giving the FCC the power to regulate the price of federal prisoners' communications. Securus's debt prices tumbled further:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1541

Securus's debts were coming due: it owes $1.3b in 2024, and hundreds of millions more in 2025. Platinum has promised a $400m cash infusion, but that didn't sway S&P Global, a bond-rating agency that re-rated Securus's bonds as "CCC" (compare with "AAA"). Moody's concurred. Now, Securus is stuck selling junk-bonds:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1541

The company's creditors have given Securus an eight-month runway to find a new lender before they force it into bankruptcy. The company's debt is trading at $0.08 on the dollar.

Securus's major competitor is Viapath (prison tech is a duopoly). Viapath is also debt-burdened and desperate, thanks to a parallel campaign by Worth Rises, and has tried all of Securus's tricks, and failed:

https://pestakeholder.org/news/american-securities-fails-to-sell-prison-telecom-company-viapath/

Viapath's debts are due next year, and if Securus tanks, no one in their right mind will give Viapath a dime. They're the walking dead.

Worth Rise's brilliant guerrilla warfare against prison-tech and its private equity backers are a master class in using the master's tools to dismantle the master's house. The finance sector isn't a friend of justice or working people, but sometimes it can be used tactically against financialization itself. To paraphrase MLK, "finance can't make a corporation love you, but it can stop a corporation from destroying you."

Yes, the ruling class finds solidarity at the most unexpected moments, and yes, it's easy for appeals to greed to institutionalize greediness. But whether it's funding unbezzling journalism through short selling, or freeing prisons by brandishing their cooked balance-sheets in the faces of bond-rating agencies, there's a lot of good we can do on the way to dismantling the system.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/08/money-talks/#bullshit-walks

Image: KMJ (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boerse_01_KMJ.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[caffichai]

Food Bank Fundraiser

Hi everyone!

First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone who's been leaving such nice tags/comments on stuff I've posted! It's been really encouraging (o^▽^o)

Anyway, I think we all know it's very dark days on the economic front for many of us. So as such, I'd like to help raise some funds for Food Banks Canada! In exchange for you making a donation to the food bank, I will draw a character suggestion!

I know this is not really the sort of thing I normally do or post here but... many folks are struggling to put food on the table right now, and the food bank is a source of support for many and provides an absolute necessity. I've seen many people struggling in my own city, and food security has become an even bigger issue than it already was in the last couple of years with the food bank struggling to keep up with demand. Of course, food security is an issue across the whole country that's putting a huge strain on food banks, with nearly 5% of the entire population making use of food banks monthly, and 23% of the population reporting food insecurity (CBC, 2024; Global News, 2024). Unsurprisingly, those who are already most disadvantaged suffer the effects of food scarcity even more (Statistics Canada, 2023). To make matters more desperate, Canada's food bank system is on the brink of collapse (CTV News, 2024).

I know this isn't going to something big enough to change the world or anything, but being able to make even a small impact for individual people is important too!

✨Incentives✨

Of course, I'm sure people aren't just in it for a reward, but rewards make things all the sweeter, right?

For those who want to contribute, I'll take a character suggestion and add it to a poll (depending on the number of contributors, it may be split up into multiple polls), and then I'll draw as many as I can from top to bottom ranking! If you contribute, please send me a DM with your donation receipt and your character idea! They won't necessarily all be drawn in the same style, and they'll be done according to how much time I've got. (I know that commissions are probably the biggest incentive, but realistically, I struggle to get them done quickly and they're probably not that affordable to everyone)

If you prefer SFW or NSFW, you can let me know (But NSFW will be posted to Cohost). If you make a bigger contribution, I'll reach out to you and ask if you wanna see more specifics/details in your piece. How's that for sweetening the pie? :3

For those who can't make a donation (which is completely understandable), simply spreading the post is also helpful, and I appreciate that greatly as well!

Don't forget that giving a donation allows you to get a tax break based on the amount donated as well!

Alternatives?

If you'd rather donate to your own local food bank, that's great too! You can DM me and send me a pic of your receipt and I'll still add your suggestion to the poll.

If you REALLY want a commission, you can also DM me and I'll do my best to fulfil it! I won't be taking commissions for this till/if there's at least a couple of items on the poll though. The proceeds will go to my own local food bank. The commission will be done later though, and may take some time to fulfil. I take payment only after starting.

When do we start??

I guess once there's a good number of poll options? I have no idea how long that will be, but rest assured I'll keep you updated!

Where do we contribute?

You can make your donation to Food Banks Canada! They really need it!

Alternatively, you can make a donation to your local food bank or equivalent charity.

Other Questions?

Feel free to send me a message or an ask! I'll get back to you ASAP. If I need to include more details or clarify something, let me know! It's my first time doing this!

TL;DR

I want to help raise money for food banks! Anyone who contributes to Food Banks Canada (or donates to their own local food bank or equivalent charity) can DM me with their receipt and give a character to add to the poll. Poll characters will be drawn in order of their ranking, as many as I can manage, over as long a period of time as I can manage!

No pressure to donate of course, I just figured this would be a fun way of raising a bit of money to help out, and allow us to donate more than what I personally can

Current Contributor Count: 13

Suggested Characters:

Imagine your beloved, obscure or popular character here on this poll list! Oooooooh, how lucrative :3

Total funds raised:

780.36$!!!

[mindblowingscience]

James Smith woke up from a colonoscopy to be told devastating news. At 59, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Doctors found a mass so large it completely blocked their view of the rest of his colon. Smith said he was shocked. "It was hard, it was a hard diagnosis," he said. "It was hard to believe it was actually happening." Smith underwent surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy. When his doctors suggested he join a study to examine regular exercise and its possible role in preventing cancer recurrence, he said yes. He was concerned — through the course of his treatment he had lost about 26 kilograms, as well as muscle mass. But he joined, anyway.

Continue Reading.

[eviemonroeer]

The Monroe Effect: Chapter 1

Set during Season 5, Episode 1 of ER. Spoilers if you haven't seen the show.

Warnings: language, mentions of medical procedures/testing and patient miscarriage (canonical to the show)

WC: 1.8 k.

ER story belongs to original creators, just adding on my own original charter.

Taglist: @pleasecallmeunhinged, @rainmg, and @arigoldsblog

Main Story: prev | next

Snapshots: prev | next

The ER was busy this morning, a full board and a big group in chairs keeping all of us on the move. I had already seen eight patients this morning, but now that a couple of them had been discharged, I started working on the restocks Carol asked me to do when I got here at 7 AM. I meant to do it then, but of course, duty called. 

“Oh, here we go.” I turned from my scrub pile, greeted by Mark and a blonde woman I didn’t recognize. “Lucy, meet Genevieve Monroe, RN. Gen this is Lucy Knight, third year.” 

“Nice to meet you.” I said with a smile and put another pair of scrubs on the shelf. 

“Gen is your go to if you need any kind of supply. She knows where everything is.” 

“That is unless someone moves something they’re not supposed too.” 

“She’s also great with kids.” 

“Oh, come on now Dr. Greene. You’re going to give me a big head.” I shook my head and continued my work as the two walked away. I finished in the scrub room and went back out in the hall. I checked on a couple patients, got some meds for Maggie, and was about to check in with Mark, when Carter grabbed me. 

“Mind helping me in Exam 4? Got a patient with hematuria.”

 “Sounds exhilarating.” I said and took the chart from him. “Have you met the new med students yet? I heard there is a guy, but I haven’t seen him. I did meet Lucy though. She seems sweet.” 

“Yeah, a regular old sundae.”

 “Damn, what’s got your boxers in a twist?” 

 “Your sweet med student. And she’s joining us.” 

 “Oh, is Carter’s time as an RA making him grumpy?” I teased. 

 “Yeah, keep teasing me.” Carter huffed. "See what happens."

“You’re Genevieve, right?” I turned and Lucy had caught up with us. I could tell she was trying really hard to please, a fidgety aura coming from her. 

“Just Gen or Evie. Either works.”

 “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

“Ms. Knight, why don’t you just observe.” Carter instructed as we reached the exam room. “I’ll run point with the patient.”

 “Can do.” 

Carter nodded, before opening the door. “Hello Mr. Zwicki. My name is Dr. Carter. This is Nurse Monroe and Med Student Lucy Knight. Do you mind if she observes?” 

“Not at all.” The man said. 

Since Mr. Zwicki was already in a gown, Carter began his routine exam and history before getting to the actual problem. “And when did you first notice blood in your urine, Mr. Zwicki?” He asked while checking his heart and lung sounds. 

“Just a couple days ago. Listen this couldn’t be related to exhaustion, could it? I’ve been finishing up this renovation on a two-story in Oak Park.”

“Working long hours?” 

“Needed to bring it in before the penalty.” 

“I don’t think that’s it.” Lucy jumped in as Carter started checking the patient’s eyes. “Any fever?” 

“No.”

“Back pain?” 

“Well, just the usual from work.” 

Carter looked down at Lucy before stepping in front of her to continue. I swear I saw a murderous look in his eyes. “How about weight loss?” He asked turning back on the doctor charm.  

“Um, I always drop a little at the end of a job. You know? You skip a meal here and there. Is it gonna be much longer?” 

“I’m gonna order some tests. We’ll know more then. Evie?” I stepped forward after trying to stay out of the line of fire. “Let’s get a CBC, coag panel, UA, and CHEM 7.” 

“You got it.” 

“Peed in this cup for you.” Mr. Zwicki said, hanging me the specimen jar. 

“Thank you.” Carter said. “We’ll be back in a bit.” 

I placed the specimen jar on the tray and proceeded to take Mr. Zwicki’s blood for the testing. I got everything together, ordered, and sent to the lab. A little while later the results came in and I gave them to Lucy, telling her to find Carter and fill him in. I checked on a couple other patients before heading to the lounge for a quick snack. 

While I was sitting there, Carter came into the room and started going through his locker. He seemed a little agitated.  “Everything okay?” I asked hesitantly. “Need a snack?” 

“I’m fine.” He said, clipped. 

“Carter......” I raised an eyebrow to him and held out a cracker. He rolled his eyes before grabbing it from me and taking a bite. I smirked, knowing the man to well. “Lucy still making you mad? You know you need to be nicer to the new kids.” 

“I am nice. And I’m not mad. Just a little agitated.”

“Cause she’s smart and wants to learn? Reminds me of someone else I know.” Carter rolled his eyes and stole another cracker before sitting down. As he finished, I noticed some stuck in his beard. “Hold still.” I said and leaned forward, getting the crumbs off. 

“Thanks.” 

“You know, I’m really digging the beard, Carter.” 

“Really?” He hummed, stealing my coffee mug. 

“It’s a nice look. Rugged. Kind of sexy.” 

That he did not expect. He choked before lowering the mug. I kept myself neutral, trying desperately not to laugh or stare at him like I had been since he got to work. It was the God’s honest truth. Ever since growing his depression beard after Anna left, he’d only gotten hotter. 

Carter’s eyes darkened and he sat up, coming closer to me. “Evie, I don’t th—” 

“Hey Carter.” 

He closed his eyes and turned to the door. “Yes Jerry?” 

“I’ve got a pregnant woman in exam 2, possible miscarriage. Carol started her but got pulled into a trauma. Do you think you two could you take it?” 

“We’ve got it.” I answered and stood. “Have Lucy meet us.” I cleaned up my mess and washed my hands. Carter did the same, his body getting a little to close as he walked to the sink and his eyes barely leaving me until we were out in the hall. I grabbed the patient's chart from Jerry as we made our way to the room. I could see Lucy already inside. 

“Hi Mrs. Draper, I’m Dr. Carter.” He informed the woman, offering his hand. “I understand you’re about nine weeks pregnant.” I passed him the chart and started my checks. 

“This is my third pregnancy.” 

“Mrs. Draper’s had two previous miscarriages.” I told him, having read it on the chart. I moved to the monitors.

“Mm. I see that you’ve been experiencing some cramping and some bleeding.” 

“Spotting. I had some spotting yesterday.” The woman continued to explain, but it only made her more upset. “And it’s heavier today and I passed some clots. 

I didn’t show it on my face, but my heart broke for her, already knowing the potential outcome. “BP’s 110 over 75, pulse is 100.” 

“And how many pads have you used?” 

“Um, one yesterday and four today.” She said as Carter checked her belly. 

“Any fever.” 

“No.” 

“Any burning with urination?” 

“No.” 

“Okay.” Carter put on his stethoscope. “Let’s get a CBC, type and RH. Dip a urine and check an ICON.” 

“Are there any family members we can call for you?” I asked. 

“I’ve already talk to my husband.” 

“Okay, we’re gonna do a few tests. Then I’m going to come back and do a pelvic exam. Then we’ll know better where we stand, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

“We’ll be right back.” I told her, writing down Carter’s orders on the chart as we walked from the room. 

“Tell me when the ICON’s back.” 

“Will do.”

I finished my charting and then went to prepare the tray for the pelvic. I drew blood and had her give me a urine sample to perform the ICON test. I let Carter know once the results were back, which didn’t look good, sadly. While he got the instruments ready, I went and grabbed some more sterile cloth, catching Lucy in the hallway to tell her he was ready. She followed me back to the exam room and we got started once I moved a privacy screen in front of the door.

“We’re going to take a look inside with this speculum.” He began telling Mrs. Draper as I handed him the instrument. “I need you to relax.” He began the exam and almost immediately I saw him quickly shake his head. “There’s tissue at the Os.” He softly said. “Ring forceps.” I handed them to him. Once he had them, I opened a specimen jar and held it up for him. He placed a piece of tissue inside. “Let’s get that to pathology.” I nodded and walked over to the other tray, taking off my gloves so I could write on the side of the cup. 

“I need to check your ovaries now. Is there any pain here?” 

“No.” Mrs. Draper said, shaking her head. 

“How about here?” 

“Uh, no.”

“Okay. No adnexal masses or tenderness. You can put your legs back down, Mrs. Draper.” I moved over to help her as she sat up.

“Mm, what is it? What’s going on?” 

Carter sighed and took off his gloves before looking at her. “I am very sorry, but you have had a miscarriage.

I could see the women’s heartbreak on her face. “You’re sure?” 

“Mm-hmm. The fetus was pushed out of the womb.” I passed her a tissue as she began to cry. “Your bleeding has slowed, but we need to observe you for a little while. I’m gonna come back. And then I’m going to do another pelvic exam.” He stood from the stool and grabbed his coat and stethoscope, putting them back on. “Make sure the bleeding has stopped and that the cervix has closed.” I moved the curtain blocking the door out of his way. “A doctor from OB/GYN is gonna stop by. Miss Knight, would you stay here until they do?” 

“Of course.” Lucy said, her voice small as she to was trying to digest the news. 

“Get some rest Mrs. Draper.” 

I followed Carter out of the room, but stopped at the door, turning back to the devasted woman and Lucy. I watched them talk for a moment before I took the chart and ordered the pathology test.

My heart was sad for her as I checked in on my other patients. I was with her when Carter did the repeat pelvic, and pathology confirmed Carter’s diagnosis.

It was the last case we worked together before the end of my shift, which I was glad about. I didn’t want another moment alone like what happened in the lounge, it kept me to unfocused. And ever more so after I saw my talking to the blonde at Jerry’s “surprise” party. 

Guess the moment was just my imagination. 

How typical.

[lazylattedgleam]

Request:

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

Prelude to a New Tomorrow

(Word count: ~4.2k)

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

“You knew it already, didn’t you?”

(Current: Yes…? No…? Maybe so…?- 002)

(Previous: Mr. Ruby Eyes-001)

(Storymode control buttons)

(003: Sylus Archives(Article: I))

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

The coming days have been…well…weird for you, you still did harbour thoughts of Zayne and MC together, crying often at times, but another new thing had occupied your mind as well…You just couldn’t get the man you saw at the auction, you couldn’t explain how but it definitely had piqued your interest, and you allowed it to infiltrate your mind…it was a pleasant distraction from your constant thoughts about Zayne and MC, after so long…

If only you remembered his name, if only your memory didn’t suck

________________________

…“Oi why’ve you been so distracted these days? Is it about Zayne again?” “Hmm? Oh no no I’m good…” “Well if you say so…but don’t shut me out again k? I missed this…” “Of course, would never make that dumb mistake all over again…” “Well that being said, customer at the Daisies section, is nagging she can’t find a single good one, handle it with me?” “To the rescue lets!”

…“When are you planning on taking your CBC and Haemoglobin tests again?” “I will I will…” “When?? Dude you’ve already neglected your health enough, and who knows how much you’ve bled when you were at your lowest…now that you’ve been doing a bit better…at least I hope…get them, you need to check…plus I know it’s hard but he’s a busy man, he might not be available when your appointment date gets fixed…”, all you could do I nod, “Yeah you’re right…I’ll go…”

________________________

…When you reached back home that day, your mind pondered about what Raya had said earlier, she was right, you have been planning on it for sometime too, but there was always that part that told you to stay away…It is Akso after all, and the last thing you want is seeing, them together, holding hands, talking and chatting, her giggling alongside him, going out to lunch or dinner, maybe even dessert…triggering your past memories… You thought it’d have been a better choice if they had a complete online, no-call appointment process, but they didn’t…you had to talk to Serene for that… ohohoho it was gonna be hella awkward, it’s been five months and neither have you gone there nor talked to any of them. You felt bad, too bad for doing that to Serene…especially Yvonne, you two clicked so well. As you change and freshen up, getting ready to prepare for dinner, you phone beside you, contemplating on whether to dial or not. “It’s for my health! I should just do it…cmon cmon cmon…”, you repeated to yourself…aaaand well good job you finally did. Dialling the number, you put it on speaker, while you made dinner. It wasn’t too late, around 08:45, like you usually return on Tuesdays. Hopefully they pick—

*click*

“Hello this is the reception desk of Akso Hospital, how may we help you?”

“….Yes Ma’am sure, let me check her schedule once…she has appointments all day…so could you come at around say…06:00 to 06:30 p.m.?”

“Okay sure, that works for me. Thank you…Where should I proceed with the payment?”

“….Yes Ma’am sure, let me check her schedule once…she has appointments all day…so could you come at around say…06:00 to 06:30 p.m.?”

“On that day itself. You’ve had your registrations done on your number, so all you need to do is speak to the front desk of the specific department, pay your consultation fees and wait till they call you. Standard procedures.”

“Thank you…” you want to ask but are too nervous…

“You’re welcome, is there anything else we can assist you with?”

“…How have you been?”

“…Alright, same old same old…you? We’ve been missing you, didn’t think you’d totally cut off ties…”

“I’m sorry, it just, you know…”

“Yeah I know…anyways I’d have to cut the call now, but see you on Sunday?”

“Yes yes thank you, on Sunday.”

“Oh dear I’m gonna get a looong lecture from Dr. Stryx…”

________________________

…you eat while your mind goes back to wandering about that man you saw at the auction…what intrigued you the most were his eyes and the power they held in them…his name…you still couldn’t recall… “Something with an S? Yea yes S…but S what?”

________________________

…Sunday evening arrives soon, time feels as if it’s passing by too fast, you dreaded today, neither did you want to go, nor get the check up…you sigh as you enter through the automatic doors of Akso, and inside…it was like any other usual day, patients, doctors and nurses here and there, stretchers, wheelchairs, the familiar smell of antiseptic, you’d grown used to at some point in your life, but now it all felt too foreign. You smile and greet Serene, as she does too, and walk to your designated place. Fingers crossed hoping you don’t run into you-know-who.

…Oof finally you were done with it, she told you to take care of yourself better and take every medicine and supplement on time, giving two new ones to start with and advised you to continue with your old ones as prescribed before. Writing about the tests to be done in your prescription. Now the question remains when should you do them and with whom…Maybe you’ll take the break on the first half on a Saturday and take Raya along…you hate needles…As you walk along the escalators to the ground floor guess who you run into!

Uh oh…

“(Name)…it’s been so long, how are you holding up?”

She really had the audacity to ask you that? After everything? She’s nice and you admire that about her, but often times she’s just too nice, and that annoys the heck out of you. Your eyes meet his for sometime as you soon move your gaze away…oh it was gonna bother you tonight…

You smile politely, “I’ve been alright thank you. If you’ll excuse me I’ll have to leave now—”

“Oh… ok alright….take care…”, as you leave without sparing them a second glance…

________________________

Why did you have to meet them? You were finally making progress little by little, but then this happens…Yes you understand you were at the hospital where he worked…but still why why why—

You thoughts wander haywire, ‘Where were they going, to get coffee? Or maybe early dinner? Maybe to a sweet shop or bakery…he looked so calm, his gaze was so soft with her…never was the same with me…no no no I’ve had enough…I can’t not now, not when I’ve been making gradual progress…should I call Raya, she’s not offf work yet…ugh…’, as you desperately try to shove away any past memories cluttering your mind. You walk ahead and straight, setting your destination to Destiny Cafe, somewhere in the mess in your brain…

You reach the shop, hoping that they won’t be coming here…as you enter, eyes scanning the place, they weren’t there…phew... Your eyes stop their search as they fall upon a similar pair of slanty-sharp red eyes, silvery white short hair, and a tall…too too tall of a figure sitting at the table by the windows, scrolling through his phone, even though his eyes stared down at his phone, you could see the familiar strong presence emanating from within them, that was how powerful their color was. Oh it was him…it was him it was him it was him…

You get the sudden urge and curiosity to walk upto him and talk maybe introduce yourself and a word or two? Why? Again you had no answer for yourself, it was something in those eyes that drew you in…You walk in, because of course you can’t hog the doorway forever, customers enter and exit at all times…walking up to the counter you place an order for your usual Boba-drink and find a place to sit, not at your usual, but just a table behind him so that he couldn’t see you…girl you’re seeming like a creepy stalker stop…Soon you come back with your drink, have it while still contemplating. ‘Should I go or should I not go?’

Finally as I push you with my words, an invisible urge strikes inside of you, making you stand at your seat and walk over to his table…fuck your palms and feet were sweating…

…

…

…

“Umm excuse me, hello…”, his eyes fleet up at you, a color of nonchalance painted all over his face. He doesn’t seem like the type to initiate a conversation, you thought, so you went ahead.

“Hi! Umm I’m so sorry if I just came here out of nowhere, I usually don’t do so promise me, and I’m so so sorry if it’s creepy, I don’t mean any of that. I really just wanted to have a small conversation with you…I umm I don’t think you remember me—well of course you don’t, there were a lot too many people there…anyways what I’m trying to get at is I guess, umm I was at the Banquet Hall of Mr. Jameson’s last to last week, I saw you there…well actually what happened was that me and my friend, we were there for a delivery service, and he told us to enjoy the night…I don’t know why I just told you that…but yes so I uhh, we were about to leave and I didn’t want to leave before I could see the one of the famous things of an Auction event, the bidding so we stayed for sometime…And there was a call, starting price 1 Million and you immediately called 5 Million, that intrigued me really, I was like wow! And then I guess our eyes met for a while, but you don’t remember probably and I really wanted to get a chance to talk to you and now I’m here rambling, I’ve probably made you all uncomfortable, I’m sorry I’m so so sorry…”, dang girl you rambled on, in one flow—almost…

He let’s out a small, husky laugh, as he waves his hand, “Okay first of all breathe…and secondly, I’m flattered to hear that I intrigued you~ To answer to another question, yes I do remember you, you were the girls who got the flower bouquets, I had my eyes around…”

“Please sit, you entered the shop thinking how to approach me and talk to me and came all the way from your table after contemplating so hard upon how to do so, I’m thoroughly impressed.” He smirked slightly, as you sat, feeling embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry if I came out a little too strong, ohhh this is embarrassing…sooo I’m (Name), it’s a pleasure to meet you officially!”, you hold out your hand.

“Skye”, he shook it… ‘that’s it just Skye? But it doesn’t bring out the tone I heard at the auction…could he be lying about his name?’

You see him text on his phone, trying to study his expressions but all you could decipher was that he was texting, you couldn’t understand the emotion beneath…maybe he was good at hiding?

“Continue.”

“Huh?”

“You said you were intrigued, you might have question flooding your mind? Maybe one like if that’s my real name, or what you heard at the auction sounded different yet you can’t recall it…or maybe how to try and read my face as I text.”, he spoke while texting

‘Damn he’s good! Fuck I feel like a fool, uhh can I divert or dodge his accusations somehow? I don’t wanna look like a creep—’

“It’s okay to be curious, you’re not a creep.”

“Are you a mind reader or something Mr. Skye?”

“Who knows.”, as he stood up, before you could even think of anything else to ask him.

“Keep your question bank to yourself for now, and when we meet again pour them out. And try to recall harder, maybe you’ll find your answer…”, he exited through the doors…

________________________

“Woah…”

That night when you returned you paces around your room trying to recall what was that you heard at the auction…finally a pleasant distraction…

“Skylar? No…that’s like a bird’s name…ooo ooo maybe Sans! …nope nope nope…Steven? Not even close… it was like a ‘shhh’ sound…like a ‘shhhh-i…shy…’ shy? Ughhhhhh!”

You take the help of your trusty old friend, ‘the Internet’, typing ‘Rich business man names starting with the word S’…you read out most of them, some do fit, others simply ruin your mood…You search up until, 01:30 in the morning, that was when you started getting sleepy…but you didn’t want to give up just yet…your bed was a mess, food pieces here and there, pages from your notepad lying around, having scribbles on them everywhere, pen thrown across the bed in frustration, when google literally gave you a search list of eligible bachelors in your area who are businessmen…You get up to clean everything up, yawning to yourself…while you mind was still reeling over the names, seeing if their tones hit the right vibe…but none did…You soon closed your laptop, keeping it away in it’s proper place as you get to bed…

…‘Shy…Shy…Shy…shyl…it had an L for sure…shile…no no a Y…shy…’ “Shylock!”, you shout out as Raya looks over at you from the section where the Iris flowers were arranged at display, “Huh?” “Oh nothing just nothing…” “So you randomly yell out Shylock in the middle of the day and claim it’s nothing? You’re lucky it’s our break time, and no customers are here.” “Nothing nothing just something I remembered…” “About the Merchant of Venice?” “No leave it, do your job.”, as she goes back to neatly arranging them, while you go back to pondering while you eat…

“Oh btw! Oi Raya listen.” “Hmm?” “I have my CBC and Haemoglobin tests this Saturday…dude please accompany me…you know how much I fucking hate needles…” “Yeah sure I’ll be free I’ll go…”

That night a flicker of something strikes you while you were eating dinner. “Sylus! Yes! That was it! Sylus something surname, not important but yes! Now the question remains why did he hide his true name…”, you were almost done with dinner as you quickly finish up and in your bedroom you dash off to, opening your laptop to search… ‘Sylus business man’…

As you read the results gaining info about him, well the one publicly available, then there’s also some Govt. sites but you don’t open them… “He’s…one of the most feared and successful mafia leaders of the N109 Zone…head of Onichynus, richy rich rich…what’s that? Probably the name of his organisation…emmm emmm…wow…the Linkon City police are all after him, but nobody knows about his whereabouts…well I do now…makes sense why he has an alias…I’m freaking out too, I might seem calm, but I am…I talked to the guy, what if he’s planning to execute me…cuz I found out his identity…what if he’s watching me now—”, you look around your room…well duh even if he was you wouldn’t see a drone or something thing in plain sight just zooming around… “—what do I do now…do I tell the police? No no no I’ll get taken…should I tell Ray…she’ll freak out, best not to…he did say we’ll meet again, maybe he knows about my location…dammit why did I ever go upto him…!”

________________________

…Saturday arrives. “I think I might’ve gotten a good bone bruise in my right hand…” “I’m sorry…I’ll buy you coffee as compensation…” “That’s a sweet offer but I’ll have to decline, got a call from my mum, have to go now, my nephew’s coming over so gotta take him to the park…” “oh! Well goodbye then…tell them I said hi! Text me when you reach.” “Will do!”, as she walked in the other direction, while you head towards the coffee shop, dreading each step, as you felt a ominous ring to the idea of going there…what if he’s there and he takes you away…well maybe not in broad daylight but still. Suddenly your mind reels off to Zayne, since you’ve always relied on him and his presence whenever you felt uneasy or scared or anxious, it always calmed you down, although now that you think about it, it was all out of compulsion, always has been…So you have two options to yourself, go home and cry about Zayne, orrr go to the coffee shop and meet your probable doom…

“Latter sounds better, at least the chances are highly unlikely…I mean if he’s a mafia leader, he’s probably out to do something there, whatever it maybe…”

So you head in the direction of Destiny Cafe, plus you would like to blame your Destiny for putting you in such a mess…

You were just about to enter as you see a similar figure looming over you, eyes glued to his phone, entering at the same time… ‘Uh oh…this is it…’

You watch him take his seat, where he sat earlier and you quickly avert your gaze, hoping he’d not notice you…and walked over to your usual seat—

“I’m assuming you’ve figured out.”

“…if I say anything will I be hurt?”

“That depends on your next action, which will determine the result whether you will be or won’t. It is as simple as a causal-effect relationship.”

You don’t speak any more, you’re genuinely scared…

“Come on sit, maybe we can have a deal and arrangement to see which path you lead to.”

You go obeying, sitting across him.

“Now—”, his eyes still glued to the phone, “Place your offers and I’ll see what can be done.”

“B-But I don’t have enough money on me now, only a couple hundred bucks and—”

He suddenly breaks out laughing, in that similar deep, husky voice of his…

“That was fun.”, he looks up from his phone. “Look I don’t know how to make you convinced, but I’m not going to hurt you or anything, you’re not on my radar.”

“So you do have targets!”

“Seldom, but yes. Also a bit softer please, you’ll scare the whole cafe like this…or maybe even give them the wrong context.”

“You won’t harm me right…?”

“No.”

“What if I tell the police?”

“I’ll be gone before you ever get the chance.”

“Why do you dress like some sort of frat boy street biker guy aesthetic?”

“Maybe because I do have a bike.”

“Oh…”

“…I need a Boba”

“Yes I’ll get some drinks for us…”

After sometime he brings them to your table, your usual Boba flavour that you get, and an Americano-Large for himself…

“How did you know.”

“I told you I’m keenly observant. I’m not stalking you if that’s what you think.”

…..

…..

“What if you added something in my drink or poisoned them…”

“Well unless I had magical, invisible substances on me, or the barista was my subordinate, I couldn’t have done so…”

“So the barista is your subordinate?!”

He sighed, rubbing his temple, “At this point I’ll just let your imagination run wild…”

……

“I’m not gonna drink it still.”

“Be my guest.”

…..

His earlier tone seemed to be quite believable, but you still had your doubts, he’s a criminal, he can fake emotions and tones like it’s a piece of cake.

“Ok…”

“Look listen, the last day you had ordered and I heard it.”

“You remembered it becauseeee…”

“I knew today would come.”

“Now you’re being all creepy again…”

“Ok ok I sincerely apologise, do ask me whatever you want to ask me.”

…

“What business do you deal in?”

“Woah straight-forward. I’m in a successful fruit selling business, I’m a real good fruit vendor…”

…

…

…

You take a sip of your drink…

“And I’m supposed to believe that? I wouldn’t even have believed that if you told it last time…”

“Well sweetheart, I can’t go on spewing my real profession now can I, you searched it yourself, the police are after me.”

“…Ok”

As you both drink in silence…it was awkward for you, maybe not for him. He takes out his phone and texts. You can’t help but ask.

“…You’re telling your henchman the time and place to take me hostage aren’t you…”

“Very creative…but as a matter of fact, I’m texting my ‘Bestie’—”

Pffft Bestie? That sounded funny in his voice.

“Is that a codeword for—”,

He let’s out a hearty chuckle and sighs…finally showing you the phone and it’s contents as well…it was a chat opened, with many messages, here and there with the username of the other person saved as, “Kitten”, huh weird? It’s funny, also kinda cringe—

“Oh…”

“I’m sorry for suspecting you but I’m still suspecting you.”

“I’m fine with that.”

…So that was how your second meet went, he was a bad guy(?) but at least he had a sense of humour.

“Isn’t it only fair that you tell me your profession too, since I told you mine.”, he spoke as he stood up from his chair, smirking.

“You know mine, you did say it last day, me and my friend came to deliver the bouquets.”

“Mhm so you’re a delivery person?”

“…I don’t want to tell you but then again you already know…I’m a florist, I work at a flower shop at—no not telling you that no no. Besides you lied about your job.”

“Well you know the truth. See you.”, he left

….

It grew amusing and kind of concerning to you? As over the next few weeks, you’ve had both your third and fourth meetings as well.

Your third meeting was uncalled for too, meeting at the same place, ‘Destiny Cafe’, cuz of course, you have such great luck and Destiny. He entered while you were munching onto their star shaped rich buttery cookies, as they would just melt inside your mouth with every bite. It was such a delicate and sweet taste, making you want to gobble down more and more and more.

“Hello.”, he sat down.

Your mouth filled, you quickly, try to chew and gulp, while wiping it with a napkin.

“Easy easy there, no rush. I’m not leaving so soon”

As you finish it up and take a sip of your Boba, “Sorry, excuse me…how did you…you know what doesn’t matter. I’ll be nice to you.”

“What’s with the sudden change in attitude?”, he speaks while keeping that smirk on his face, you swore it never left…

“I just want to be.”

“Good day at work?”

“I gave a little girl a yellow rose and she hugged me.”

“Adorable.”

……

“You’re always texting, is it always your best friend?”

“Mhm.”

You drum against the table a bit, not knowing what else to ask or say…

“The Lavenders were really fresh by the way, thank you.”

“I never gave you—oh! So you were one of the special guests of Mr. Jameson?”, of course he was.

“Is he a part of your organisation?”

He chuckles, “He’s a stand-alone businessman, dealing in Protocores and Aether Cores. Know what they are?”

“Yeah.”

………

…..

.

“…Why did you pick the name Oni-dot dot dot?”

“What?”

“You know why did you pick that specific name for your organisation?”

“I have no answer to that.”

“Ok…

………

………

“How as your day?”

“Alright.”

“Am I bothering?”

“Nope.”

“I wanna show you to the flower shop.”, he looks up from his phone upon hearing that, those red eyes, casting a spell of determination within yourself…

“I’ll be honoured then.”, he said with a smile.

“Maybe on our fourth meet up?”

“Sure.”, you offered him the last two of your cookies.

“Cookies?”

“Why not.”

“Aren’t they so good!”

“Mhm. You have good taste.”

“I’ll have to leave now, get up early tomorrow, we’re having new shipments arrive. When can I meet you again?”

“Thursday.”

“Works for me, I leave early on Thursdays. Soooo here at Destiny Cafe?”

“Here at Destiny Cafe.”

“Bye!”, as you leave.

________________________

Failing to see the soft smile that you had casted upon his lips…now what might that indicate…

You were at work the next day, it was a Wednesday, it’ll be a long day and it’s going to be hectic, with the shipments coming in…yet you felt light, it was a strange sensation but it was definitely welcomed…

“Girlll!” “Yes?” “What are you daydreaming about? The things are here, cmon let’s go look to them.” “Oh yes.”

…“Is there something bothering you?” “Nope.”

________________________

Thursday came around very quickly and heck were you excited! You were really excited, you didn’t register why but you were…but you had to keep your guard up, he’s still a dangerous man (?)…as you walk towards the cafe, it was a pleasant evening…the streets bustling with people. “Hello!”, you greet him as he stood in front of the coffee shop. He looked up from his phone into your eyes, with a sly smile, “Someone’s excited.”

“You bet I am! I don’t know why though…the fact that you could still k*dnap me remains…”

“Mhm.”

“…”

“I won’t.”, he sighs.

“…Are we getting coffee first? Let’s take those biscuits on the go! We can eat while we walk.”

“After you.”

…The both of you walk along the streets of Linkon, which were brilliantly illuminated by the street lights. It was a new moon day, so the moon wasn’t visible in the sky. As you both chew and walk along…

“Sooooooo it’s down Hashcrew Lane, which we e reached as we speak…aaaand taaadaaah! This is where I work, I love this place…”

“Cosy…”

“Yeppp and thanks, although we are planning on renovating the shop.”

“Hmm.”

“…Why do I have a feeling you already knew..”

“The bouquets also came with your shop’s business card.”

“Ahh I should’ve figured it out. That one’s on me…why didn’t you tell me earlier though?”

“I wanted you to trust me…besides you are always too paranoid.”, he says with a slight chuckle, eating the last of the cookies.

You felt a smile creep up to your face as well…

On the way back, he nudges you slightly, “So you finally trust me now, don’t you?”

…….

“Yes? No? …Maybe so?”.

________________________

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

(All credits, TW, Index have been mentioned on the Storymode page.)

[creatingblackcharacters]

hii i've been meaning to submit a character for CBC saturday for the longest time & i finally remembered to!! i hope you like him :-)

this is Alor'ante! he's a Black elf in a high fantasy world and was born with oculocutaneous albinism causing his pale skin, white hair and light red eyes from a significant decrease in melanin. he's a gay transgender man (he/him), 5'8", and the youngest child of a large, loving family including his parents, four sisters and two brothers.

he's a very laid-back, go-with-the-flow kind of guy. he's openminded, polite, and loves to meet new people and learn new things about the world. though, as the youngest child of all his siblings Alor'ante was spoiled to a degree as he grew up- despite his easygoing personality, he can grow irritated if asked to do tedious chores, something he'd much rather hand off to somebody else so he can nap or read a good book instead. those closest to Alor'ante may also discover the well-hidden secret that he's a fiend for gossip, and has a deeply sarcastic sense of humour.

soft-spoken and with an affinity for the natural world, Alor'ante loves animals and nature: he can often be found in idyllic forests strolling through winding paths, or on the beach (under an umbrella and with a generous amount of sun-screen ointment, of course. he's forever ticked-off that his skin can't tan like the rest of his siblings). he takes great pride in his appearance, and spends a lot of time maintaining his hair, his skin, and practicing self-care.

mostly wanted to submit him because i think he deserves some love from people other than myself, but if there are any criticisms of his design that stand out to you i'd gratefully accept them. i love your blog and what you do, and i hope your weekend treats you well!

Oh I love him!!!! I love this design as well; Astarion who?? There's only Alor'ante 😤🤌🏾🔥 thank you for the submission!