#i mean it's just more of the same ~contractors are supposed to be rational so how could you make such an irrational decision sir 🤪~ bs

[crusty-chronicles]

Hi can I request an angst to fluff scenario of having an argument with Kite? Just thought that'd be interesting. Really love your works btw Sun and Moon just💛😭🫶 So happy to find an active HxH blog too😭😭😭 thanks!

An: Bon Appetit. 😈

Kite isn't the type to get mad easily. He prefers seeing things with a clear level head. Usually managing to avoid confrontations all together. He's not very quick to anger when he's frustrated or irritated either. But when it comes to your safety, he can't help but snap a little.

Just what the hell had you been thinking!?!

You'd been contracted to study a rather large type of protected species. It was out of Kite's level of expertise, but the job promised a surprisingly decent pay. One neither of you could turn down. 

Everything started off fine at first. Watching the creature from a distance and gathering data. It was on the third day you noted it had a cub. You both promised to be extra careful from then out.

He should've known something would go wrong. Nothing ever went off without a hitch when you were involved.

The creature had left its cub unsupervised to look for food. And unfortunately for the small critter, it was being hunted by something much larger. It let out a screech seeing the predator and made a dash to the left. But it just wasn't fast enough.

There was always an unspoken rule between you two. You were observers. Whatever happened, you weren't supposed to interfere. Your job was to gather data and report back to your contractor. To let things play out the way they were intended.

However, it was something you struggled with. Kite didn't have the chance to react before you rushed forward. Picking up the cub and quickly subduing the other creature with your nen. He sent you a disapproving look when the shock had faded. Getting up from his place on the ground and making his way towards you. Your expression was pleading, preparing for the scolding that was about to come.

“It would've died.” You said before setting down the small creature.

It was always the same excuse with you. You liked to help, which inherently wasn't bad. But this was not the time nor place for that. You were just lucky this time the creature had been small. Still, he couldn't help but scold you for getting involved.

“It's not our place to meddle in-” But something had caught his eye before he could finish.

From your left came the mother of the small cub. Charging forward in an attempt to protect its baby. Instinctively, Kite summoned his ability and swung. He wasn't counting on you blocking his scythe with your own ability.

You were too naive. 

Wanting to protect the mother because you understood the animal's fury. It was only trying to keep its cub safe. It's that rational that has you forgetting another important rule. Any animal that attacks a human must be put down, or else it'll continue to do so to anyone that crosses its path.

Yet you ignored it. The beast had an unforgiving look in its eye, one that let him know it was about to attack. And as soon as your back had turned, the creature struck. Claws tearing through your back.

He was angry. Absolutely furious…But he was scared too. Scared he might've lost you. All due to your carelessness. Your way of thinking that somehow always led to you getting injured.

Which brings you two to where you are now. Kite chewing you out once you reached your hotel. Calling the mission off to take care of you.  

“If you'd have just waited instead of jumping in headfirst like you always do, we wouldn't have been set back weeks of research.” It was not at all what he meant, but he was too frustrated to choose his words carefully.

Unfortunately, it led to you becoming more defensive as well.

“What the hell's that supposed to mean!?! It's not like I go out actively seeking trouble. And you're one to talk. We would've been just fine if you hadn't attacked first!”

“If I hadn't attacked first, it would've gone for your throat! You wouldn't have moved out of the way in time.” He argued.

Steadily, both of your voices had risen. Bordering on yelling at each other.

“I'm not some amateur unable to avoid being hit. So stop treating me like it! I'm a pro hunter just like you, yet you're always underestimating me!” You pointed out.

“You're reckless. You can't take on a job without something going wrong. And you never learn from it either. You think just because you got out fine this time, you can keep repeating the same mistakes. It's hard to work with someone who just doesn't listen.”

“Then maybe I should just quit!” You shouted.

“Maybe you should!”

The silence was deafening. Your eyes widening in shock. Kite's expression quickly changing into one of regret. He shouldn't have said that. He doesn't know why he did in the first place. Trying to backtrack before it was too late.

“I didn't-” But you'd cut him off.

“Don't.”

There was nothing but ice in your tone. One that was reserved for when you were angry. When you hated something. He tried to approach you, but you backed away. 

“Just leave me alone.” You said before going into your room. Slamming the door closed and locking it.

You never locked the door.

He let out a drained sigh, mulling over what just happened.

Of course he didn't want you to quit being a hunter. You were good at your job, and he could never ask that of you. The same way you’d never ask that of him. You were just too risky for his liking. And taking as many chances as you did usually meant death…or worse. Especially in this line of work. 

You thought he was underestimating you. He never did. You were more than capable of taking care of yourself. He was just protective of you. Holding you back from doing the more dangerous things because he didn't like to see you hurt. He never wanted to risk your safety. It didn't occur to him that it looked like he thought you were inexperienced. That you were weak.

He just hoped you'd calm down soon so he could properly explain himself.

—--------------------------

You were angry. Pissed beyond belief. But more than that you were hurt.

Were you really that much of a liability he actually suggested you quit? Did Kite hate working with you that much? Thinking you were just getting in the way of completing jobs?

Did he really think that little of you?

Fine. You'd never take on another mission with him again. You two were used to working alone anyways. He wouldn't have to worry about you ‘screwing things up’ again.

You winced at a wave of pain washing over your back. Reaching behind you to soothe the ache. Your expression softening when your fingers skimmed the bandages covering your wound. 

The first thing Kite did when you got back was tend to your injuries. Putting all his focus into taking care of you. Making sure you were okay. 

He…always put you first.

The thought had you feeling guilty. He put up with your impulsiveness and here you were internally cursing him out. He even went as far as to cancel the mission when he could have continued on his own. 

Maybe you really were dragging him down.

At the very least, you were putting him in danger. Rushing in because of your own morals and making him go against his own. Adding yet another useless kill to his credit.

Perhaps you should quit. It'd be a lot less stressful that way.

—------------------------

A whole day. You ignored him for a whole day. He'd be lying if he said it didn't kill him a little inside. You were right there, and still he couldn't reach you. He understood that you needed your space, but he wanted to talk to you. To hear your voice.

He remembers why you started working together in the first place. You hated long distance. Planning and searching for the rare days your schedules would actually line up. He hated it too. Coming home to your shared apartment only to find out he just barely missed you.

When you two were working together, everything just fell into place. Neither of you wondering when you'd see the other. 

If you quit, it'd be back to square one. If you decided to stop working with him entirely, he doesn't know how he'd handle it. Knowing the chances of you coming back to him were slim. He thinks he hates both possibilities more than you ignoring him.

He was sorry for blowing up at you. For saying things he didn't really mean. But he wasn't sorry for being worried. He wasn't sorry for caring about your safety.

He went to knock on the door at the same time you opened it. Both of you stared in shock at the other. Neither of you knew what to say. Who should speak first. Yet despite that, both of you could tell the other wasn't angry anymore. Eyes regretful with a certain softness in them.

“I'm sorry.” You said at the same time, effectively baffling each other.

It was funny in a way. How both of you seemed to come to your senses at the same time. 

Kite spoke up first, effectively breaking the silence.

“What are you sorry for? You didn't-”

“I was reckless…and stupid.” You interrupted, failing to notice the subtle way his eyes softened.

“I shouldn't have interfered.” You should've stayed put.

“I just don't like to see animals suffer if I can help it. It's why I became a hunter in the first place. But maybe that bias is why I should quit. I don't wanna hold you back.” You explained.

You were expecting an ‘I told you so’ at the very least from him. Instead, he pulled you close. Wrapping his arms tightly around you. You realized you've been craving his touch. His warmth. Retuning his embrace and resting your head on his chest. 

“Don’t quit.” He said quietly, holding you just a little bit tighter.

You thought you were holding him back? If anything, he might've been the one holding you back. He wanted you to know that he trusted in your skills and abilities. He knew you were more than capable of handling what came your way. But he would always be scared of the slim chance you couldn't.

“I only said it for my own peace of mind,” he started.

“Our job is dangerous. It has all sorts of risks and trouble. Getting hurt is part of it… That doesn't mean I enjoy seeing you in pain.”

It hadn't occurred to you until a few moments ago how strenuous it must've been for him to see you hurt so often. How unfair it was. 

“I don't ever want to lose you because I didn't react fast enough. I know you don't need me to protect you, but I can't help it sometimes. You're one of the most important people in my life.”

The confession has you melting even further into his arms. How lucky you were to have such a wonderful partner. Unawares he was thinking the same about you. You pulled away just enough to look up at him.

“I'll be more careful.” You promised.

He met your eyes and leaned down. Resting his forehead on yours.

“I won't butt in unless you ask for my help.” He swore, sealing both promises with a kiss.

—------------

[nyandereneko]

Something that's stood out to me and ended up meaning a lot to me because my self esteem is nonexistent...I think part of what draws me to Hei so intensely is that he’ll keep anyone around him that he cares about regardless of whether they drag him down or not. Like, he did everything, and I mean everything for Yin when they were on the run, because she literally can’t/couldn’t do anything for herself. He fed them both, found places for them to stay, arranged all of their lodging and transportation, made sure they had suitable clothes and just the basic necessities in general to survive, and singlehandedly fought the waves and waves of enemies the Syndicate sent after them to exterminate them. I mean, her autonomy was developing, but aside from that she wouldn’t be able to help him do anything utility wise anyway, all she can do is keep watch. She can’t fight or take care of any maintenance things or even really interact with people...

And I’d have to go back and find the actual context/quote but in the manga that’s set between seasons people ask Hei multiple times why he’s carrying dead weight, why he brings “useless” people with him into battle, why he keeps them close despite the fact that they can’t do anything to help him or make things easier, they only make things more difficult because it’s just more for him to worry about/keep track of than just himself...but aside from not giving an answer, he also just doesn’t care. Like. He keeps them around because he wants to, period. Doesn’t matter how much harder it makes things for him, doesn’t matter if they’re helpful or completely useless. He cares for Yin so guess what, Yin sticks by his side no matter what. Of course, there’s also the fact that she’s the only one that can snap him out of things, so like usually if his mind is being manipulated by a power or something, hearing her say his name helps because it gets him back in working order quicker than if he tried to break through or fight the influence himself...but still. The fact that other people in universe point out that he keeps “dead weight” around because he wants to, and it doesn’t bother him, or at least not enough to do anything to change his habits, means a lot to me. Because any time I start feeling bad about myself (which is just. Perpetually lmao) and I worry I wouldn’t be helpful or useful enough, at least I can fall back on the idea that I’d be slightly above that baseline because I can take care of basic tasks and would actually insist on doing so...so that’s already some benefit in my favor lmao.

And that doesn’t even factor in that Nova is genuinely helpful in a lot of different ways, she can fight to a certain extent and she has healing powers which are, quite literally, a lifesaver...but sometimes I just gotta try to feel better about plain old lame unimpressive me in general, even though I’d never pair him with me in that way, I prefer to use Nova as my catalyst for shipping because she’s actually fun and more worthwhile than plain old me...but it’s nice to think that he might still be inclined to keep plain old me around under different circumstances, just because that’s the kind of person he is.

[animeyanderelover]

Let’s give it a try!

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, stalking, manipulation, obsession, guilt-tripping, threats, blackmail, death

Yandere Hei Hc’s

🖤Once Hei has decided on a certain aim it might as well be impossible to make him stop since he’s ready to go to great and sometimes even irrational lengths to reach his goal. The same can be said as soon as he starts to catch a genuine interest in his darling. It is likely that Hei finds himself confused at first upon noticing his rather unusual behavior around his s/o. His heart is beating faster, he feels heat rushing to his face when you get close to him despite trying to keep a indecipherable poker face and a small brush of your skin against his feels almost like electricity. The man, even if sometimes acting on his emotions, likes to figure his feelings out before taking another approach so he goes for the option of stalking and to no one’s surprise he’s good at it. Whether he’s bumping into you by coincidence as Li or follows you secretly around as Black Reaper.

🖤He’s shrewd and observant since he has a rather keen interest to find out more about his own feelings regarding you and you in general so he picks up frighteningly much from all of his stalking which he uses to his advantage when he is just Li. At one point he knows what he has to mention in order to lure you into a conversation and what he shouldn’t do or say to make you feel comfortable. Don’t trust his good-natured face since he is manipulative and on top of that dangerous due to his ability to act so very well. Hei is also protective and his stalking with the initial intentions to solve the mystery regarding his feelings and a morbid curiosity about you soon turns into a regular checkup to see if you’ve made it home safely. There are contractors walking around freely in the city and he wants to avoid the possibility of you meeting one and being stuck in a bad position.

🖤He’s actually good in hiding his jealousy or overall feelings even if he feels sometimes almost bashful around you. Since he manages to play a role so well though it is hard to actually notice when he is jealous and even he himself tends to try to ignore such a petty feeling. There is no denial that Hei can be more possessive which complicates things sometimes for him. He definitely doesn’t want to slip up and so he takes advantage of the rather clumsy aspect of his fake personality, leading to the one or other thing being spilled on the other person or some other sort of embarrassing event. Maybe a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes or something supposed to sound like a joke just having a slightly warning undertone to give the other person a bit of a cold chill.

🖤Contractors are normally rational, Hei still has his human emotions and he sometimes has mercy when it comes to other contractors, dolls or people he meets. He feels entirely differently about you though and sometimes he just has his moments where he seriously plans murder. He doesn’t want to act on impulse so he has some sort of system going on where he judges based on the actions of a person. He either threatens someone, involves them in an accident or downright kills them depending on how much harm they bought upon you. Even if someone hasn’t touched his darling yet but Hei is already aware that they either will do so or have a higher possibility of doing so he goes for them because he does not want to risk anything.

🖤I actually don’t think that he would want to ever go for the option of kidnapping simply because it would mean a lot of troubles with the Syndicate, your memories being wiped out and even the possibility of him being forbidden to see you. His life as the Black Reaper is one he never wants to drag you into, he isn’t as selfish as to go that far. He’s just Li around you, the young and friendly albeit somewhat mysterious Chinese student. If a problem arises he solves it as the Black Reaper with his mask and powers and with manipulation and blackmailing, he uses quite the extreme measurements to not let you become a target for anyone.

🖤Hei courts you for that in his disguise as Li Shengshun. He helps you when you need help, coincidentally buys his groceries in the same store as you and coincidentally is into some of the stuff you are into. He sometimes invites you over, cooks meals for you and absolutely astonishes you with the amount of food he can fit into his stomach. Hei sort of guilt-trips his darling via his helpful personality since he helps quite often which makes it somewhat hard for his s/o to reject some of his requests such as coming shortly over to eat together with him. He tries not to act out of character as Li which sometimes becomes hard when he is really mad and a cold and apathetic expression flashes across his face for a while.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Felix July - Villain Felix (Demon Felix AU)

@felixmonth​

I was planning this for Halloween. The fact that the trailer for the latest Felix episode came out the day before is mere coincidence.

Though it does make me wonder which of these two Felix’s will be legitimately worse...

Shall we take a vote?

_____________________

Felix had a couple of encounters with the Kwamis and Miraculous in the past. Usually those encounters involved him butting heads with the godlings as the sort of person who would summon him would also be the sort to require a Miraculous or two to deal with. But only once had he ever met the one known as Tikki, and that was more than enough to sear the meeting into his memory.

Honestly, he had expected the Creation Kwami to remember him. He would have been surprised if she hadn’t. Joan was a favorite of hers, after all, and he had been involved in her rather unfortunate fate when one of his Contractors happened to use his position to ill effect. It was no surprise that the little thing would blame him, though.

As it was, he was more surprised at the chittering noise she made at his appearance, full of rage and as if she were about to attack at the very sight of him. 

How rude. He hadn’t even done anything this time.

Yet.

“YOU!”

“Hello to you, too.” He said with an all too pleasant smile. “It’s nice to see you again. How have you been?”

Tikki let out an infuriated shriek that forced her mortal chosen to cover her ears but did very little to Felix himself. He merely looked down at her in distaste.

“Now that language is rather uncalled for.”

“What are you even doing here?” Tikki demanded.

The girl—Marinette Dupain-Cheng lowered her hands and looked back and forth between the two of them, all the more confused.

“So…I take it that you two know each other?”

“Obviously.” He replied with dry amusement. “But that hardly matters now.”

“I think it does.” She countered—smart girl. He could already tell this would be a fun one. “Who are you?”

Ignoring the kwami’s glare and attempt to get in his way, he merely brushed past the little being until he was standing face to face with his new contractor.

She was cute, he supposed. For human terms at least. She wore her hair in pigtails—a sign of immaturity. She seemed to draw back from him—clearly fear and uncertainty. She was in a constant state of anxiety and her aura was as limited as her self-confidence.

She was perfect.

He bowed with a flourish, appearing every part the picture of servitude and obedience.

“I am merely your humble servant, dear Mistress.”

“Eh?” Marinette flushed at that.

“NO! No, no, no!” The annoying kwami shouted, forcing her way between them. “You are not doing this! Not her!”

He smiled with false kindness. “Oh, but it’s already done. She and I have a contract to complete. I am merely here to fulfill my role.”

“No, it isn’t!” Tikki insisted. “She never summoned you or agreed to any deals! You have no claim on her!”

“Tikki, what’s going on? What is he talking about?” Marinette asked, increasingly worried at the state of her kwami.

“Don’t trust him, Marinette!” She exclaimed. “He’s here to try and make a claim on your soul!”

Marinette stiffened at that, her gaze jumping to Felix. “Is that true?”

He continued to smile. “Mostly. The only wrong point is that there is no ‘try’. Your soul has already been offered to me. I am simply upholding my end of the bargain.”

Both girl and kwami gasped in horror.

“But how?!” Tikki rounded on Marinette, not in anger but in worry as she looked the girl over for any sign of a contract. “Marinette, did you contract with him?”

She shook her head fervently in response. “No! I didn’t even know that was a thing!”

The kwami continued to mutter fearfully as she checked her chosen. Marinette was too stunned to move or try to stop her, her gaze not straying from Felix.

“What…what are you?”

He smirked.

“I’m a demon.”

Her eyes narrowed. At first he thought it was out of anger, but as she began to speak, he realized it was contemplation.

“I never made a deal with you. Or any demon.” She looked down to her clearly upset friend who had been just investigating her body. He could see her mind in motion, putting the pieces together and drawing conclusions.

“You didn’t, no. That original summoner would be a girl by the name of Lila Rossi.”

A pause.

“I take it you’ve heard of her.” He stated.

It went without saying, really. The way both girl and kwami tensed and the sheer anger they both displayed were indicative enough of that, even if he didn’t already know of their conflict with his former “Mistress” from his own observations of her or her final wish specifically targeting this girl.

But still…better to lead her in the direction he wants her to start looking. All the easier to build on that resentment and have her act on it.

“Lila! I should have known!” Marinette hissed, fists clenched and looking to the side. But then she immediately paused, considering. “Wait…”

Tikki floated up to her face, concerned. “Marinette?”

“Lila summoned you. Lila contracted with you. That means…Lila had to have made a wish from you.” Marinette reasoned.

Interesting. She was rather quick to put the clues together.

He nodded. “Three, in fact. Standard contract. Three wishes. No misfortune countertransference or ‘Monkey’s Paw’ drawbacks.”

Marinette nodded at that as she thought it out in her head.

“Is it possible…did Lila use her wishes to make everyone just trust her so easily?”

Felix didn’t dare grin. He merely nodded again, maintaining the picture of subservience. “Good fortune. Charm and charisma. Beguiling of the mind. The trust and adoration of those who meet her. Invoking immediate belief in her words. The inability of her listeners to question her unless she makes a claim they know with absolute certainty cannot be true.”

He let that slip out. It was all the better to confirm his new Contractor’s suspicions. Both to build her hatred of his former “Mistress” and to give her all the more justification to act in the belief she would be protecting others from Rossi’s continued manipulations if it’s clear they will be unable to realize it on their own.

“And as her last wish, she bequeathed her contract onto you so that your soul would be taken in place of her own.”

THAT got their attention.

“WHAT?!”

Ah, sweet music. Indignation, fear, righteous fury, injustice. A rather potent combination.

And he barely even had to do more than pluck a few strings to get it going.

But those few strings were perfectly times and expertly played as he divulged in full detail the tragic news of Marinette’s fate thanks to the schemes of a liar. He told them how Lila had gone well out of her way to learn about him and to summon him—the materials to conduct a demon summoning are hardly simple, after all. He spoke of the wretched girl’s history, of all the pain she had caused even before gaining any wishes from him and how much worse she became after. And he delightfully told them of how Lila, in an attempt to save her own life after having ruined so many others had seen fit to continue rather than repent—and went so far as to target the one person seemingly unaffected by her Charm. If allowed to continue, surely she would never stop. And she would certainly not make the same mistake as to allow anyone else to find the loophole Marinette had unwittingly stumbled into.

Through it all, Tikki merely glared at him, but Marinette…she was observing him just as much as he had been observing her. Considering. Contemplating.

It was all too perfect.

He already knew how this would end.

She was a thinker, this girl. Logic may not have been her strong suit, but she could certainly plan and reason.

He had dealt with people like her in the past. People who tried to rationalize their way out of bad situations while failing to see the traps. He had seen it before. This was nothing new.

She had a little understanding of how his power worked. Limited knowledge of the tools at her disposal. She was an outsider thrown into a game she did not know how to play. But she was smart—oh yes, she was certainly smart enough to come to the obvious conclusion.

It was clear how this would end. She would realize it soon enough.

The easy answer was to get vengeance against the one who sought to sacrifice her.

The logical answer was to make a wish to try and rebound the contract back on Lila.

The simple answer was that if Lila could wish her payment on another, then certainly it could be wished back on her.

The obvious solution was for the would-be victim to wish it.

“No.”

He startled.

“What?”

Yet it was the one thing she refused to do.

“No?” He asked in genuine surprise. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“Exactly that. No. I’m not going to wish anything to happen to Lila.” She insisted stubbornly. “In fact, I’m not going to wish for anything! I refuse!”

Tikki beamed with pride.

This was…not what he was expecting.

“You can’t refuse. No one has ever refused!“

If Felix was inclined to care about appearances, he probably looked more harried than he ever allowed himself to seem before. At this moment, however, he was more concerned with this sudden deviation from his plans.

Uncaring of any such plans, the girl merely crossed her arms with a huff. “Yeah, but they all summoned you specifically to get things in the first place. I’m not like them! I never asked for your help.“

“No, you didn’t.” He mused. “But you never ask for anything, do you?”

He walked around her in a circle. She turned with him, and never once allowed him out of her sight.

Smart girl.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if for once someone tried to help you without you having to ask? Without you having to jump through hoops and break your back to somehow ‘earn’ their loyalty first? Loyalty they long since should have afforded you as a friend if not all the good you’ve already done for them?”

“Don’t act like you’re trying to help me.” She snapped at him. “You’re certainly not doing this for free.”

“No.” He admitted. “But I’m not requiring anything of you either.”

“Just my soul.”

“Your soul is already mine.” He explained, logically. “You have Rossi to thank for that. This is merely you taking payback. Or at least making the exchange worth it.”

She glared at him fiercely. Something in her eyes sent a thrill down his spine even as his hands ached to take that fire and snuff it.

She huffed angrily. “Why would I go and do a thing like that?”

That was obvious.

“Because it’s in your nature.”

“That’s not—”

“Don’t kid yourself. Of course it is! It’s why your city is currently under siege. It’s why your friends are letting themselves be played for fools. It’s why I’ve been sent to you in the first place. Because everyone wants something. Even the majority of your most reviled sins are centered around the general concept.”

She frowned in confusion. “What?”

“Those cardinal vices—the seven deadly sins. Well, seven after the Catholic Church got ahold of the list, at any rate.”

Marinette looked rather unimpressed.

Felix was disinclined to care, and chose to continue.

“Greed. Lust. Gluttony. Each in some way is about the idea of wanting more than one has or should have. Whether it’s food, riches, or bodily pleasure. Even envy is about wanting what others have. Pride is in a sense feeling you are more deserving than others of the things you want. As for wrath…well, how often do people turn to destruction when they can’t get what they want? And in turn, the cardinal virtues that oppose the sins are all about restraint and holding oneself back from that which they want…and is it really no wonder why people keep giving in to the temptation if the demand that people should deny themselves the best they have to offer. Honestly, I barely have to try and convince anyone before they jump right into Faustian bargains.”

“You sound so sure of yourself!” Tikki hissed.

“Because I am.” Felix replied with a smirk. “I’ve yet to have a contract I never collected on. This will be no different.”

Marinette glared at him. “And what makes you so sure I’ll give in?”

“Because you’re human.” He replied simply. “If there is one thing humans excel at, it’s wanting. It’s the constant desire. The yearning for things they cannot or should not have, even to their own detriment. So many people every day waste their lives away wishing…dreaming…wanting.”

He caught her chin with his fingers, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“And you, my dear, are particularly brim with desires.”

“What would you know of my desires?”

He smirked. “How could I not know? You wear your desires so openly that it would be impossible to ignore them.”

Her eyes widened—likely fear and maybe embarrassment as he started to list them.

“The heart of a boy with no reason to even look at you.”

“To become renown for your designs and artistry.”

“A family life. A loving husband and…” He grinned. “Children.”

She gasped and drew back.

He barely held back the laugh, limiting it to a mere chuckle at the inanity of it all.

“Two boys. And a girl.” He leaned forward, whispering their names like a prayer. “Hugo. Louis. Ema.”

She gasped. Like it was a surprise. As though those names weren’t etched into her very heart, big and bright and so easily for anyone to read.

The girl was an open book.

“Such a loss…wouldn’t it be a shame?”

“You don’t touch them!” She snapped at him.

He didn’t even bother to hide the laugh this time.

“Touch them? Princess, they don’t exist! Those ‘children’ are mere illusions conjured by your imagination! They are figments of your desire. Nothing more than a dream. And the way you’re going, that’s all they’ll ever be.”

She practically wilted at that. He watched her spirit falter and fall like a dying flame.

It was over.

Tikki’s hissing didn’t even seem to penetrate the girl’s mind as she stared at him, looking oh so perfectly lost.

“You help others to no end and with nothing to show for it. You lose time and again to liars and bullies who abuse their power and authority to harm you and those you care about. You give of yourself until there is nothing left for the sake of a boy who would have every reason to love you if he weren’t so blind. And for all your attempts, it only leads to demands for more. From yourself. From your friends. From the world.”

He reached out a hand to touch her cheek in a gentle caress.

“You could have anything—simply ask for anything to at least make things a little better. Not even just for yourself, but for everyone. You could wish Hawk Moth to die and his Miraculous in your hands. You could wish Adrien to finally see how much you love him. And you know your friends are little more than tools to Rossi at this point. If you really want to save them from her, you could just ask and that little problem will simply go away. No blood. No mess. No guilt on your shoulders. You could erase her from existence entirely so you never even remember her.”

She looked up at him, almost shyly as she listened despite Tikki’s warnings. He knew he as good as had her.

“So many things. So many ways to make your life better in the here and now.”

He smiled gently now. Play the part of the rescuer. Calming her and reassuring her that it was okay.

“All you have to do is ask, Princ—.”

He was cut off by the sensation of something very cold and very wet hitting his face.

Sputtering, he wiped his eyes and found Marinette giving him an altogether unimpressed stare with what appeared to be a mister in hand.

He was…pretty sure he hadn’t seen her holding that just a minute ago.

“Did…did you just squirt me?” He asked, completely bewildered. He’d been stabbed, burned, hung, and even cut in half on one occasion. But no one just…SPRAYED him with water before like he was an unruly housecat.

Tikki laughed, joyously as Marinette looked down on him figuratively and literally.

“Yes. And there’s more of that, mister.” Marinette threatened, shaking the bottle and making it evident from the sloshing within that there was still plenty of water left.

“You can’t just do that!” He exclaimed, incredulous. It was silly, of course, because she clearly just had. But it was the principle of the matter!

“And you can’t just buy my soul from someone else! Especially not someone who has no claim to it!” Marinette countered.

“It was her wish.” He insisted.

“And it’s your contract. Surely there would have to be some stipulations about either party requesting or promising something they can’t deliver.”

…

She took his silence as an answer and smirked.

“Now let me make this perfectly clear.” She told him in a ‘no nonsense’ tone. “I don’t want you here. I never agreed to any contract or to any of the terms of your contract with Lila. I don’t want your power or any ‘help’ from you. I’m not going to make ANY wishes to you. In fact,” She straightened, growing…alarmingly more confident than he expected from the anxious girl with poor self confidence she initially presented herself to be. “I’m going to find some way to save myself AND Lila from you.”

Wait—what?

“You can’t do that!”

She couldn’t do that, right?

Marinette merely glared with all the fury of a very frustrated and unhappy teenager who happened to moonlight as a superhero with all the powers of creation at her disposal.

It…turned out to be more intimidating than expected…

“Watch me.”

And with that, she turned away and stomped to her desk where she promptly began working and doing her utmost to pretend he wasn’t there.

He frowned at her back.

“You are already doomed. Why not enjoy what you can?”

She would not be cowed.

“I couldn’t expect you to understand.”

Ah. A “human” thing. How droll. And as pathetic a comeback as any could be.

But she said nothing further, and took to ignoring him from then out. Tikki smirked at him from her side as she kept watch over them both—her to protect and him to be protected from.

He glowered at the two from the corner, considering his next move.

It seemed Marinette Dupain-Cheng would not be so easily played.

That was fine. Really. It was a minor setback, nothing more.

After all, she was only human. As was Rossi. As was every Contractor before.

She would falter in this newfound determination sooner or later.

He could be patient.

[jorgha-haq]

At the moment I am also working my way through Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass and reading Chuck Palahniuk’s new book “Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different”. I’m trying to apply the advice in both of these things to these writing exercises I’ve been doing. Hopefully I can fit in some of these exercises after classes start, because i am quite enjoying them. Anyway, this story is an “assignment” from Neil’s Masterclass.

I picked The Big Bad Wolf (I hope I get to write things this cool for my Writing About Fairy Tales class this semester).

It was now The Big Bad Wolf’s turn to take the witness stand. His eyes were wide, his fur stood straight up. He let out a muffled growl.

The bailiff, who decided he really should have gone to college, approached carrying a book. “Place you hand…your paw on the Bible…”

The wolf looked at him, confused. “What is a Bible?”

The bailiff should not have been surprised, but he was. A wolf, let alone a talking wolf, standing trial was highly irregular. He did not have time to explain. “Never mind. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“Yes.”

“Very well then.” The bailiff took the book and walked back to his post.

The judge looked at the wolf, the three little pigs who sat in front of the audience with their lawyer, and the animal control officer who had been called in, just in case. “The prosecution may begin.”

The lawyer, a small balding man resembling the pigs, stood up and approached the judge. He spoke in a monotone, “Thank you, Your Honour, for agreeing to hear this case.” He turned to all those present and stood the same way he did in school when he had to speak in front of the class. “I will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mister Wolf did, in fact, try to eat my clients and is guilty of destruction of property, breaking and entering, and attempted murder.”

The judge could feel a headache coming on. “Very well. Proceed.”

The lawyer walked over to the wolf, watching him carefully. “Mister Wolf, do you recognize my clients?”

The Big Bad Wolf looked to the pigs and started salivating. “I do.”

“How did you meet them?”

The wolf looked at the pigs a moment longer, licked the spit off his mouth and answered, “I didn’t meet them, per se. I was in the woods doing wolf things when I just happened to come across their houses. I was hungry and thought I would be neighborly and introduce myself and see if I was offered a snack.”

“I see.” The lawyer said, not quite believing him. “Which of my clients homes did you approach?”

The wolf thought about it a moment. “I think it was the one in the red hat. They look the same so it’s hard to tell.”

“Go on. Tell the jury what you did next,” the lawyer encouraged.

“Well, I went up to his house…”

The lawyer cut him off. “Please describe the house.”

“It was poorly designed. Who has ever heard of building a house of out straw?” The wolf answered.

“So, you approached this house made out of straw?”

“Yes, yes I did. I knocked on the door and all the lights that were on went off.” The wolf explained.

“Why do you suppose that happened?” The lawyer asked.

“I don’t know.” The wolf said cautiously. He knew if the trial went wrong, he would be turned over to the animal control officer and the worst would probably happen. An injection of phenobarbital large enough to shut down his heart and lungs and it would be all over.

“When no one answered, did you threaten to destroy the house?” The lawyer questioned further.

“It was an empty threat, really. We all make them…” The wolf tried to explain.

“But you did destroy the house.” It was more of a statement than part of the line of questioning.

“It was an accident. The house wasn’t all that study, being made of straw and all. It collapsed when I sneezed. I have allergies.” The wolf responded.

The spectators whispered among themselves debating if a straw house could really fall under a sneeze.

“That must have been one powerful sneeze.” The lawyer commented. The wolf shrugged. He continued. “What happened after the house fell?”

‘Your client, the pig, screamed and ran off to a nearby house.” The wolf leaned back in his chair growing bored with the questioning. If he had just eaten the pigs, there would be no trial. There would be no witnesses to testify and he could be doing something fun, like harassing that girl who always cut through the woods taking baked good to her grandmother.

“Did you chase my client?” The lawyer asked.

“No.”

“Where did you go?”

“Home.

The lawyer nodded in acknowledgement. “The next night you attempted to approach my client again, this time at his brother’s house.”

‘I didn’t realize they were brothers.” The wolf said. “That explains why they look the same. I just thought it was a pig thing.”

The judge cleared his throat issuing a warning to the wolf to stop talking. It would be easy to rationalize that Mister Wolf was being racist against pigs and hold him in contempt of court. All that would accomplish is delaying rest of the trial. Binge watching Antique Roadshow would have to wait. He addressed the lawyer, “Please continue.”

“Yes, Your Honour.” The lawyer gave the wolf his full attention again. “In your own words, tell the jury what happened the next night.”

The wolf flashed the lawyer a quick smile. “Once again, I was out doing wolf things…”

He was cut off again. How did anything ever get settled in court if lawyers kept interrupting? “What exactly are ‘wolf things’?”

 “You know, chasing rabbits. Chasing my tail. Howling at the moon. Thinking about how privileged werewolves are. Wolf things.”

“Okay then.” The lawyer didn’t know what he was expecting for an answer, but he had to ask. “Continue.”

“As I was saying, I was out doing wolf things when I came across the house of your other client. It was almost as shabby as his brothers and made of sticks. He really should have hired a beaver contractor for the work. I was still interested in being neighborly and knocked on the door.”

“Mister Wolf, you do realize that usually when someone screams and runs away from you that means they want you to leave them alone, right? To continue to approach them is harassment. In this case it might be stalking as well.”

“Objection!” The defense attorney stood up.

The judge hit his little hammer on the desk, missing the wooden plate. “Overruled!”

A smug smile formed on the face of the prosecuting attorney. He continued with his questioning. “Did anyone answer the door?”

“No. Once again the lights went off.”

“And once again, you threatened to destroy the house?” The lawyer asked.

“No. Maybe. It depends on how you look at it. I thought it was funny anyone thought that a house made of sticks would offer any kind of protection. I made the comment that I could blow the house down if I really wanted to.” The wolf shifted in his chair. It was uncomfortable. A fancy courthouse could at least provide comfortable chairs.

“And did you want to?”

“After I thought about it a minute I kind of wanted to see if could really be done.” The wolf answered.

“Did you attempt it?” The lawyer asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you succeed?”

“Yes.”

“So, you admit to destruction of property in this case.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement for the jury explaining that The Big Bad Wolf admitted wrongdoing. “What happened next?”

           The wolf sighed. Things were not looking good, “They ran off screaming.”

           “According to my clients, on the third night you once again tried to gain entrance to one of their houses. Once again, explain to the jury in your own words what happened.” The lawyer said.

           There was no way he could spin this to make it sound like an accident. “Once again, as I do every night, I was off in the forest doing wolf things and I got to thinking about these pigs. I really wanted to know why they didn’t want to be friends. It’s hard being a wolf, you know. There are so many stereotypes against us. We’re mean. We steal chickens. We are cold blooded killers. It’s really quite annoying. Anyway, I decided to pay the pigs one last visit and try and find out why they wouldn’t give me a chance.”

           “And how did that go?” The lawyer asked.

           “Not good. Before I continue, I would like to commend your last client on his house building skills. Obviously, he’s the smart one of the lot, building a sturdy house of out bricks.”

           “A house you attempted to break into by climbing down the chimney.” The lawyer countered.

           “Only after they wouldn’t answer the door. I tried being polite and it got me nowhere. I was desperate! I wanted answers!” The wolf did his best to control himself while the annoyance of that even payed another visit.

           The lawyer had a never-ending list of questions. “And you thought breaking into the house was the way to get those answers?”

           The wolf shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

          ��The lawyer addressed the room. “I posit that Mister Wolf is not telling the entire truth and that on both the first and second nights he was indeed hungry and approached my clients house with the intent of eating him. With two potential meals getting away from him, Mister Wolf returned on the third night hoping to take revenge on my clients for not only humiliating him, but for causing him to miss two meals.”

           It was now the wolf’s turn to interrupt. “Like I said, there are a lot of stereotypes against wolves.”

           The prosecuting attorney forgot the rest of his closing statement. It happened more often than he was willing to admit to. Maybe it was time to retire. “The prosecution rests.”

           The judge let out a sigh of relief. “We will now recess for the jury to deliberate on the charges brought against Mister Wolf of destruction of property, breaking and entering, and attempted murder. This time the gavel hit the wooden plate.

[survivingcapitalism]

A Canadian Postal Worker’s Comments on the Strike

Hi.  

I am a postal worker and would like to take a moment of your time.  Unless you have been living in a cave in the mountains of West Virginia you will have no doubt heard that Canada Post and its employees are in the middle of contract negotiations and currently engaged in limited strike action.  The limited strike action I speak of is the rotating strikes and a refusal to work overtime.  These are designed to cause a slight delay in the mail stream that impacts management more than our customers, and to our customers, I am sorry for any slight delay you may experience but there is a reason why we are doing this.  

Part of the nature of the current conflict is that not only are our issues complex but so is the workforce itself, and by that I mean it is incredibly diverse.  Not only are we trying to negotiate 2 different contracts at the same time, but these contracts cover both RSMC and city workers which include both inside and outside workers, temporary employees, maintenance workers in addition to people who's job can be a combination of more then one classification.  Of course wages are an issue as they are with anyone and I wont pretend to say we wouldn't like a raise, however it is the working conditions that are much more important to us and something almost no one understands unless they work here.  Everyone can see how hard roofers and nurses work, but when you do the job, you gain a completely different understanding of what they go through.  

 Did you know that Canada Post does NOT receive funding from the government? There is a good chance you didn't.  All of Canada Post's revenue comes from the selling of stamps and shipping fees. We are self sufficient.   Even if you did know this, you might be surprised to know how many people do not know this.  

One of our major issues deals with staffing for both inside and outside workers.  There are many RSMC's in the country that still have to find their own replacements.  That means if you want to take a vacation, or get sick or injured that YOU have to find someone to sort and deliver your route.   Can you think of any other business like that short of being an independent contractor?  Keep in mind these are not contractors but Canada Post employees. If you cant make it to work for what ever reason, does your boss tell you it's your responsibility to find someone to do your work?  Canada Post has also agreed to a minimum staffing ration of permanent employees to temporary employees.  They have been ignoring this ratio for several years now.  

Staffing issues in general are also at the heart of the forced overtime issues.  Although many inside and outside (letter carrier) workers regularly volunteer for overtime it is the outside workers that are also FORCED to do overtime. This means that unless you have medical documentation stating that for health reasons you cannot do the overtime, you are forced to do it or face disciplinary action.  Did you make prior commitments for when you thought you would be off work such as picking up kids from daycare, or school or making a dentist or Dr. appointment?.  To bad, you have to change your life at the last min.  That being said, sometimes things happen that are beyond everyone's control, but I think you can agree that this shouldn't happen on a regular basis and there can be a better way to meet all of our customers delivery commitments.  

When it comes to being a temporary employee, I think most of us have been there, working mostly contract jobs or seasonal work.  The difference at Canada Post is that you just sit at home waiting for a phone call.  Most people will go months without getting that phone call for some work.  You might also work this week, but not the next 3 weeks, or at times, you may work for most of the year full time.  You never know.  You only get a call if and when they want you.  This makes it very difficult to plan out any sort of life.  Will you need a babysitter tomorrow?  You probably wont know until the very last minute of that day.

You may have heard the term “overburdening” mentioned by the union in the news but what does that really mean?  For letter carriers anyways, what that means is the overall work load and how the job is preformed.   Canada Post to their credit were at the forefront of job efficiency measurement at a micro level.  This is a very fancy way to saying every part of a letter carriers job was measured decades ago.  Every foot of distance on our route, every stair, gate, door, etc. is counted and assigned a time value.  Even how many letters per min we are supposed to sort is built into our day.  Part of the problem is sometimes these values go missing and so do not get counted in the making of new routes.  A more significant issue is that this system has not really been updated in decades despite the nature of how we do our job has changed a great deal.  

Nearly everyone will agree the number of letters we write and send each other has been in decline for a long time, but think of how many offers you get from your bank, or the dealership where you bought your car or some other business looking to make you a customer.  We still deliver all of those things yet most are not used in the calculations used to determine the size of our routes.  This has caused the size of a letter carriers route to grow dramatically.  Many routes are 3 times the size they were 20 years ago.   A letter carrier typically walks 20 km a day (5 days a week) and up and down 3000 to 5000 stairs while carrying the mail, flyers and packets/parcels for over 100 houses at a time.  This is a key reason why the injury rate for postal workers is 5 times higher then any other profession.  It is also a reason why letter carriers have more back, knee, hip and foot surgery then anyone else.  One simple fix to this would be to make the amount we deliver at one time less, such as 50 houses as opposed to 100 houses.   The opposition to this is because adding even just 6 extra stops would mean having to make the route shorter by 12 min (we get 2 min per loop stop to load up our satchel with mail).  I sounds like such a simple fix, and it is, but yet Canada Post says no. Part of the reason is that it would require updating and fixing 18,000 routes from coast to coast. An easy fix, but time consuming to implement and it is apparently less expensive to pay out disability cheques then to fix things.  It is also much easier to make someone do more in the same amount of time and reduce jobs.  In the end, it would also require hiring more employees but I guess they think it is such a horrible thing to employ people.  

The subject of the multiple bundle delivery method as a health and safety concern has been an ongoing fight with little change despite several arbitrator rulings in favor of the employees.  In order to fully explain the situation would require an essay unto itself but any letter carrier will gladly take the time to talk to you about it.  All you have to do is ask.

 On top of the mail and flyers, are all the things we deliver to you that you ordered from places like Amazon, or Allied express or Wish.  Delivering those items as well as the use of our scanner have almost no time value associated with them.  Despite every part of our job being measured to the second, the system has not been updated to properly include our new duties.  We are simply required to do them. If we do not get all of the work done, we get questioned as to why with very little concern to things such as the weather conditions and can face disciplinary action.  

This is a very simplistic overview of some of the issues currently being fought at the negotiating table, and I would hope it peeks your interest enough to ask your postal worker for more information.

We are your brothers and sisters, your neighbors and friends and in the end we simply would like to do our job feeling more like a person and less like a machine. 

We want to work and we love our job.  We love to be greeted by that lovable furball that wants to lick us to death when all we seem to have for you is a pizza flyer.  We wear our uniform with pride and in the end only want to be able to go home happy and injury free and not feeling defeated and broken, wondering how we will make it through tomorrow.  

Thank You for your time.

(Copy Pasted from Brother Arlyn Doran)

[lawinformation]

Advice on keeping your focus in a Texas Divorce

On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Advice on keeping your focus in a Texas Divorce with the immense procedure!

Divorce Lawyer Houston: The advice that I give to potential clients of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC that I consider to be the most important has to do with the emotional aspects of a family law case. Many people have been to court before in a car accident case or because a contractor you hired took some of your money and ran off to Florida. Whether it’s an insurance company or a shady business-person who’s on the other side of the table from you at the end of the day it is money that you are most concerned with. Family law cases are different animals altogether.

Why are family law cases different from other kinds of legal cases?

Family law cases (obviously) involve families. The good things, the bad things, and everything in between will come out in your divorce or child custody case. How you deal with the stress of having your and your children’s lives thrown into a tizzy will determine the quality of your post-lawsuit life. It is not uncommon to receive reports from your kids that their other parent and his or her family are talking about you negatively to the children. Hearing this can drive you bananas with frustration. It is wise to keep your emotions in check as you begin to hire an attorney and map out your goals for the case.

This is exactly why family law cases are so different than any other legal case. In no other setting are your reputation, your finances, your children and your relationship with your children all wrapped up into one big proceeding. This tends to bring out the worst in us as human beings from the standpoint that you are so emotionally invested in the case that things that you normally would never say or do tend to happen in a family law case. If you are normally a level headed, rational decision maker be prepared to be tested throughout your family law case. There is so much riding on the case that sometimes clients can lose control and act in ways that is not advisable.

Spouse vs. Spouse leads to undesirable results

Houston Divorce: The best situation for any family law case is for the two parties to come together and work towards an agreement without involving the court or delaying the finalization of the case. This is not always possible but it can always be attempted. Many people who come into our office for a free consultation arrive with the thought that their spouse or ex-spouse is so difficult to deal with that a settlement would be impossible. I am here to tell you that most cases do, however, settle out of court. It’s often that the parties to a family law case never even see the inside of a courtroom.

All it takes, though, is one party to upset this sort of case-trajectory to end up in a multiple month-long back and forth that ends with nobody getting what they want and the lawyers having to bill more for representation fees that should have been needed if the parties had worked together at the beginning of a case.

Being able to focus on your own case and not on the person you are divorcing or having a child custody dispute with can go a long ways towards keeping case costs low and spirits high. The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC would like to discuss some advice we have to share in the area of managing emotions and not letting the actions of others affect your views and goals towards your family law case.

Set your moral compass early in your family law case

Houston Family Lawyers: By this I mean: whatever your upbringing, whatever your political beliefs, I can say pretty safely that just about every person reading this blog post has the same ideas about what is right and what is wrong. We generally know how to treat others and how to not treat others. We especially know what can and will cause a great deal of anger in a spouse or ex spouse. Pressing the other party’s buttons is a frequently engaged in activity for parties to a family law case.

At the beginning of your family law case take some time to not only evaluate your goals for the end of a case but also for how you conduct yourself during the case. How do you want to be treated by the opposing party? How do you want to treat the opposing party? How do you want your children to view you after the case is over and how do you want them to view you in a decade? You have the power to decide this for yourself. It may be the only item in your whole case that you alone can decide without the help or permission of another person. If you can control your emotions you can control yourself. A case is a lot more manageable when you can do this.

Do your best to understand the case from the opposing party’s perspective

Houston Family Law Attorney: Clearly outline your goals and communicate those goals to your attorney at the beginning of the case. That way your attorney can advise you as to what can be achieved but will need to be worked on and how to best get there. What is important for keeping your sanity during a family law case is to attempt to see the case from the other party’s perspective.

This is the same advice your parents gave you growing up: walk a mile in their shoes, etc. It sounds simple and it is- frustratingly so. You want what you want and come hell or high water you are going to get it. Not so fast. Did the other side say something in court or make an unreasonable request? At first blush it is easy to take a comment and read too much into it and see it as something that is supposed to antagonize you and nothing more. The quick and easy response is to do something similar right back. This may be satisfying at first but it is rarely smart and rarely warranted.

Do your best to think through the case and see if from all perspectives. Sometimes there are cases where one side or the other really is operating in a way that is designed to anger their opponent. Your case will probably not be one of those cases. Your opponent is out to better themselve- not to destroy you and the things you hold most dear.

The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC: Counselors and attorneys at Law

Divorce Lawyers in Houston: If you are interested in learning more about the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC and the services we offer to families across southeast Texas please do not hesitate to contact us today. A consultation with our office is free of charge and are available six days a week. A family law case is not like any other legal proceeding you’ve ever been involved with and having a representative on your side who is experienced and understanding of the issues is critical ... Continue Reading

[izielhealthcare]

MDD to MDR - Part 2 (How consultant can support you)

As old manufacturer of medical device you were naturally MDD compliant and to remain in business you will have to become MDR compliant too.

As Medical device business you also must have accounted the compliance cost to your product to assess the product cost and added your profitability to arrive at Product cost. The same exercise is now necessary as compliance cost will increase, in some cases substantially if your product class changes from say II to III. It is also difficult to explain to customer about increase in compliance cost may be some doctor may understand but overall, its difficult task. In view of this, whole exercise needs to be done with minimum expense and least possible time, so your approach must be thorough professional.

Taking clue from part I blog let us ask some questions to ourselves and get answer ready and actions if needed. Study of guidance document MEDDEV 2.7.1 is must.

1. Clinical evaluation now applies to all classes of product and this exercise is very big specifically for class III and product which will transit from Class II to Class III as per MDR. See our Blog on Clinical evaluation which describes in detail what is required so in terms of resource and cost, this is on top attention. This will no longer be just one time activity but life cycle continuous activity. Summary of safety and clinical performance (Article 32) stressing the need for Quality system on risk management. (Article 54 for class III and class IIb) General requirement of clinical investigation for conformity assessment (Article 63)

2. UDI system implementation is another big task and time consuming. Your resources must not only be enough but must also be adequately trained. (Article 27) This requires full system establishment each device will have unique device identification. The system should be electronic database so it can be made available to all required as mentioned in MDR.

3. Registration of device (Article 29)

4. Registration of Economic operator through electronic system. (Article 30) Single registration number (SRN) and procedure to communicate with commission or member state for SRN.

5. Registration of Manufacturer’s authorized representative and importers. (Article31)

6. Classification of device. Very essential and important documentation is needed here. This need to be maintained for each class of devices you are dealing with and how you arrived at specific classification using guideline points as per MDR. As mentioned in Part I classification of your existing device may change so entire technical documentation associated with that device. (Article 51)

7. Conformity assessment procedure (Article 52) and involvement of notified bodies (Article 53)

8. Eu Declaration of conformity (Article 19) The requirements specified in MDR is fulfilled for that specific device and technical documentation in each language is needed where this device is going to be marketed.

9. Requirement for a person of regulatory compliance (Article 15) and change of authorized representative (Article12) It is now mandatory to have a person on role with exclusive responsibility of regulatory compliance so naturally he will be completely knowledgeable person so additional resource and expense. Same is true for change of authorized representative where lots of documentation and transition period are defined.

10. Implant card and information to be supplied to patient. (Article 18) This is an additional compliance work.

11. post-market surveillance its plan and system (Article 84 and 83)

12. New reporting requirement of Periodic safety (Article 86), serious incident and field corrective action (Article 87), Trend data (Article 88). Analysis of serious incidents and field corrective actions (Article 89), Vigilance reporting is now within maximum 15 days.

13. Various annexures describing technical documentation need, a) conformity assessment based on QMS and assessment of technical documentation (Annex IX), b) conformity assessment based on type of examination (Annex X), c) conformity assessment based on verification (Annex XI), d) Clinical evaluation based on Post Market clinical follow up (PMCF) (Annex XIV), e) Clinical Investigation (Annex XV)

You have now many points to read and assess your system. Please ask one question to your team whether they understand all points well from MDR and guidance documents? There should not be any ambiguity or doubt or otherwise you will have non-compliance during audit. Your quality Management system must come under compliance. All actions decided during gap assessment must be complete. Review of that is needed before proceeding to next item. Attention now should be on Notified body. Check with team for readiness.

Please note that QMS is common for your organization but review your product portfolio and see whether you are ready for broader EU market? It is not just your organization, but your supplier and contractor also may pose challenge and their readiness. If not, you have mammoth task for changing them and bringing new.

Base on product portfolio make judge your readiness for certain product and wait for other till you are fully compliant. Gap assessment must also consider change of contractor if needed and impact of signed agreement. Micro and Macro management also need to be managed well to avoid unnecessary complexity and save time.

Do not forget training all people involved must undergo training to know new requirement to the extent they are supposed to know related to their responsibility. Knowing does not mean, just knowing the requirement but interpreting the same for your own product. This would need an external support where expert can pitch in.

Senior Managers expects that regulatory person knows well and can do what is needed. This is the area where what is planned and executed my not match an experienced third-party consultant like Iziel can identify the Gap which internal resource may not be able to do.

Where third party experts like IZiel can add value. Planning of entire Transition project and monitoring the same. Execution timings are essential for project timeline so expert consultant will prioritize activities such as longest time activity to start first where possible. Gap assessment identity and plan execution and Product portfolio understanding and rationalizing. Training

The complex project can be made easier by arming entire team with required knowledge of MDR articles and chapters along with required tools to apply.

Changes in clinical data will be another challenge as companies need to demonstrate clinical data with clinical claim and each intended use. Notified body will also be more vigilant on such aspects and will come prepared.

[chryzure-archive]

*Aims a gun at you* Chrysi and Gils first kiss. HAND IT OVER!!!

ALT TITLE: break's actually uhhhh the only rational one wrt how gil acts around chrysi. like yeah... maybe chrysi SHOULD have someone be a little devoted to her. as a treat.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: *holds hands up in the air, waving a couple scraps of paper* TAKE IT, PLEASE, JUST TAKE IT. I HAVE A FAMILY. DON’T SHOOT!!!

———

It wasn’t her proudest moment. She’d be the first to admit that (though Break would certainly try to beat her to the punch, if she knew him in the slightest).

If she had been just a little more observant, if she had been standing just a little farther away, if she had been just a little bit taller... then maybe Gilbert wouldn’t have accidentally knocked her unconscious as he whipped around, brandishing his gun in the general direction of the escaping illegal contractor.

Chrysi had no clue what happened after that. Instead, all that remained was a stretch of airless blackness.

By the time she began to come to, everything was... well, she presumed everything had been resolved, based off of the soft give of a mattress underneath her, and the still air of a room inside a building, and the vicious argument whipping back and forth over her aching head.

“How very graceful of you, Gilbert. I was in awe.”

Gilbert gave a small, anguished cry. “I didn’t mean...!”

How Break managed to repress his laughter, Chrysi didn’t know. The better question might’ve been why he had repressed his laughter, anyway. The way it unnerved Gilbert amused him more than Gilbert’s natural unease.

“Is that what you think? Now I worry about your prowess on the battlefield.” Break clicked his tongue in faux-concern. “If knocking the poor girl unconscious was purely an accident, maybe you aren’t that trustworthy at all!”

“No! It wasn’t—! I-I wasn’t—!”

“You weren’t aware of her presence? That’s not a very good sign, Gilbert,” Break said in a sing-song voice.

Chrysi groaned internally.

She got it now. Break was irritated with Gilbert. Admittedly, the two of them had what she would define as a rocky relationship, but at his core, Break was a decent person that cared about his comrades. Of which Chrysi was, regretfully, one of.

It just so happened that the decency was hidden under layers and layers of utter bullshit.

“What if next time you accidentally shot h—”

She forced herself to speak up, even though her throat felt somewhat like she’d taken a drink of rusty nails and crushed gravel. “Break? Shut the hell up.”

Surprisingly, he did.

Although he probably only did it out of shock, Chrysi breathed out a sigh of relief. She slowly cracked open an eye, only to get a beam of sunlight stabbing directly into her line of vision. A pained hiss left her mouth. “Seven hells...”

But before she could complain further, the sun was blocked out by a familiar face twisted in an even-more-familiar mixture of concern and guilt.

Gilbert’s eyes glittered in the vestiges of sunlight haloing his black curls—mostly because of tears beginning to well up, but Chrysi supposed she could give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Are you okay, Chrysi?”

Agh. That benefit of the doubt wouldn’t work for much longer. Not with the tear beginning to creep from the corner of Gilbert’s eyes.

She sighed. “Perfectly fine.” At Gilbert’s uncertain look, she clarified, “Feeling like hell, but completely and entirely fine.”

She tried to push herself up, but the world began to spin rather inconsiderately, and her vision blurred.

With a cry, Gilbert reached out and steadied her, wrapping an arm around her so quickly and roughly that he knocked the wind out of her.

Chrysi gasped, subconsciously bringing her hands up to touch his arms. It was all so familiar, and yet—

Her movements faltered.

He smelled like smoke, and his hands were far less graceful.

...No, it wasn’t the same at all.

Quickly, she forced a smile onto her face, looking up at Gilbert with an arched brow. “Guess I’m not as fine as I thought I was,” she said wryly.

“You might have a concussion,” Gilbert said worriedly. “Don’t move around too much.”

She opened her mouth to shoot another comment back at him, but Break cut her off before she could manage to get a single syllable out.

“I wouldn’t worry too much. Chrysi’s got quite the hard head. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Irritation shot through her so viciously that she could taste the acrid taste of electricity on her tongue.

With the iciest smile she could muster up, Chrysi sweetly said, “No harder than yours, Xerxes Break.”

He mirrored her smile, but didn’t say anything else in response. An undercurrent of silent displeasure crackled between the two.

By her side, she could almost physically feel the unease growing in Gilbert. From the corner of her eye, she could see him anxiously looking between her and Break.

Poor guy.

Chrysi knew she wasn’t helping—and she would continue not to help.

Wrapping her arm around Gilbert’s neck (and he gave a surprised little yelp, his arms tightening around her waist), Chrysi beamed. “Don’t worry too much about me, Xerx. I’ve got my own nurse right here.”

Break looked disgusted. “Where’d you get the idea that I’m concerned about you? Maybe I wanted you to die.”

“Maybe—”

“Don’t say that!”

Both of them jumped at the fierceness in Gilbert’s voice. They turned wide eyes to him—well, wide eye, in Break’s case—and Gilbert quickly flushed a warm red. He quickly let go of Chrysi, stepping back.

“I-I mean—”

But Break just laughed. Even though his expression remained playful, Chrysi detected an edge to it. “I think I know precisely what you mean.” He spread his hands out wide, his over-long sleeves flopping dramatically. “All things considered” —his eye glinted in the light pouring from the window— “I’m rather glad you didn’t die, Chrysi.”

Gilbert stiffened by her side, his anxiety palpable. But Break pushed onwards, uncaring.

“The paperwork would’ve been so booooring!”

Placing a calming hand on Gilbert’s arm, Chrysi simply rolled her eyes at Break. “You’d force Reim to do it anyway.”

Break smiled, placing a finger at the edge of his mouth. “Perhaps.” After a beat, he dropped his hand and gave her a heavy-lidded look. “But that reminds me—”

Oh, no it doesn’t.

Chrysi knew that look. Another one of those “utter bullshit” looks. But whatever. She didn’t care.

“—I have something to look into.” He fixed Gilbert with a terrifying one-eyed stare, complete with that tight smirk that radiated menace. “I presume you’ll take care of your error?”

Gilbert swallowed nervously and stepped another small half-step away from Chrysi. Her hand fell uselessly to her side.

She frowned slightly, but she covered it up just as quickly. Break saw everything, and by the seven hells, he was annoying about it.

“Of course,” Gilbert said reproachfully.

Break gave a hum. “Good!”

And he left the two of them with a jaunty wave and a sharpness to his impish expression.

It was like he’d brought an ice storm with his exit. Chrysi and Gilbert remained as they were, both staring blankly at the door, completely unmoving. Chrysi knew that she only did so because of her headache, but Gilbert...

With a furtive glance in his direction, she confirmed her suspicions.

The poor guy was scared senseless.

“I don’t blame you, you know,” she said soothingly. “It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have been standing so close to you.”

Gilbert jumped nearly three feet in the air. He whipped around to face her with a guilty look, like that of a puppy scolded.

Chrysi had to stifle a laugh at the mental image.

“But Break’s right!” he cried despairingly. “I should’ve been paying better attention to my surroundings. And now you’re hurt!”

She tried to wave his concerns aside with the flick of her wrist. “Nah. I’ve gotten worse injuries before.”

“But head injuries are worse! You could end up paralyzed, or you could end up getting seizures, or you could—!”

“Okay, okay! Stop with the doomsday scenarios, Gil.” Chrysi shook her head with a laugh. “Sometimes I think you know way too much about medical disasters. It seems like it gives you anxiety.”

Gilbert stared at her with a flustered expression, a hint of redness resting high on his cheeks—but other than that, he was unnaturally pale. Conflict warred on his face.

“But you’re bleeding!” he finally blurted. “I cut you! And I hit your temple, and that can’t mean anything good—”

Wait.

“I’m bleeding?” She placed a hand on her temple and, even though she wore a bandage around her head, her hand came away spotted with red. “Oh. I’m bleeding.”

No horror lay behind her words. It was just a sort of acceptance—an observation, really—about her state.

Mostly, Chrysi was relieved her blood came out red. If it had been gold—well, that was a whole other can of worms she didn’t want to open around Gilbert. For some reason, she figured he wouldn’t take it too well.

Gilbert made a miserable little noise. “See? Let me take care of that. Please.”

Before she even managed to give a response, his hands were already carefully cradling her head, unwinding the old bandage. Chrysi, stunned into silence, could just sit there in a haze, aware only of the deft movements of his fingers and the warmth of his hands.

Her heart stuttered in her chest.

“Whoa, whoa—” Chrysi placed her hands atop his.

He froze, his eyes snapping down to meet hers. Gold glimmered uncertainly in them.

“What is it?”

Chrysi herself didn’t rightly know. She just couldn’t shake the familiarity out of her head and her heart didn’t seem to like it all that much. But she couldn’t tell Gilbert that.

Instead, she only murmured, “Careful with the hair”, even though that wasn’t what she wanted to say in the slightest.

“Of course.” Gilbert sounded vaguely offended that she thought he wouldn’t be the epitome of mindfulness. Though, in her defense, she had every right to assume that he was clumsy. Emotionally, certainly, and he also wasn’t the fastest on his feet—but she knew she should cut him some slack. “I’d like to think I know what I’m doing when it comes to patching people up.”

She laughed wryly. “I don’t doubt that.”

And she didn’t. Gilbert spent years honing his abilities to care for other people. Or, rather, a specific person—once he managed to return. In the meantime, he would utilize his skills on the occasional Pandora agent and in his own life.

So Chrysi sat as still as possible as Gilbert carefully untangled the bandage from her long curls, not even flinching whenever he accidentally gave an unpleasant tug on her hair. Her eyes went unfocused, staring blankly at the sun-spotted wall.

Even though he didn’t say a word, she could sense his one-minded focus in the movements of his hands. Careful and knowledgeable, he took special care to rewrap the new bandage in a way that would pull on her hair far less.

“There,” he finally breathed, brushing the edge of his thumb lightly over the seam where bandage met bandage. Chrysi tried not to shiver. “Done.”

He didn’t move from his position at her side. She could sense the way his brow furrowed thoughtfully.

Twisting around to face him, she smiled faintly up at him.

“You really are charming at times. You know that, right,  Gil?”

His movements stuttered to a stop. A flush began to spread over his cheeks. “Huh?”

“You’re charmi—”

“No, I heard you, but...” He fiddled with his hands uncertainly. “That’s not really something people use to describe me typically.”

The edge of her mouth flickered upwards, unevenly. “Would you define me as a typical person?”

“Uh... no.”

Ooh. Chrysi almost flinched from how blunt Gilbert’s words came out, but instead, she threw her head back in a bright laugh.

“You’re terribly honest, too!” Her shoulders shook, her heart feeling light from the flustered amusement she felt. “How could you not be endearing?”

“Break has quite a few answers to that question,” Gilbert muttered depressingly.

At the sound of Break’s name, Chrysi rolled her eyes again. It was like a knee-jerk reaction, the only way to respond to him. Break was... super fucking annoying, frankly.

“Break’s an ass,” was all she said.

Gilbert stood up straight as if she’d sent an electric current through him. He looked at her oddly.

Seven hells, he was more than endearing, especially when he looked like that. Even when he was painfully easy to read, Chrysi found him to be a curious thing. Mysteries still clung to him, despite his attempts to force them away otherwise.

And even though she knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, she leaned forward in the space between them. Gilbert didn’t make a move one way or the other, and she wondered—wondered if he was too shocked by her movements, if his thoughts were lagging behind a little too late, if he knew what she was going to do and he didn’t want to pull away to discourage her.

A half-bitter half-smile lilted over her lips.

As if.

Gilbert didn’t know anything she was going to do. He couldn’t understand her.

Even still, she gave him a feather-light kiss on the edge of his mouth, her free hand coming up to trace the line of his jaw delicately. He tasted like his nervous habit, like cigarettes and anxiety, and though Chrysi would normally hate the taste, it fit him well.

He made no move to push her away—but he made no move to pull her closer, to accept her kiss. He just stood stock-still, like he didn’t know what was happening at all.

Deep down, in the depths of her chest, her heart began to strangle itself. A silent wretched laugh echoed through her head.

Of course. Of course, of course, of course.

Chrysi pulled away from him and gave him a smile that she doubted looked much like a smile. “I like you, Gil. But you don’t have to like me back. That’s okay.”

He didn’t even blink at her. His eyes were wide, gold, and so, so confused.

Chrysi couldn’t bear looking at that empty look that didn’t understand a single one of her actions. Her heart lay heavy in her chest, unhappy all of a sudden.

Instead, she threw her covers off of her and, without grabbing the proper kind of jacket or slipping on shoes, she breezed out of the room.

Gilbert didn’t pursue her. He didn’t even call after her.

As if none of what she did mattered to him in the slightest.

She pressed her lips together tightly, but that still didn’t chase away the dazed aftershock of her kiss.

Damn it.

***

In the end, Break found Chrysi on one of the many balconies, staring over the blue shadows in the garden and the faint spray of stars beginning to shimmer in the sky.

“He really is an insensitive one, now isn’t he?”

Chrysi rolled her eyes, but didn’t bother to turn around to face him. She doggedly stared at the rapidly-darkening sky, on the lookout for more peek-a-boo stars.

“I’d define him more as clueless than anything else.”

Humming amusedly, Break rustled through another one of his candies, seemingly in an endless supply in the depths of his coat pockets. “Had you done anything else, I might be inclined to agree with you. However” —and he gave a laugh, more mischievous than truly mean, but it pricked her nonetheless— “you kissed him directly on the mouth—”

“It wasn’t direct,” Chrysi corrected coldly. She didn’t bother to ask how Break knew. It wouldn’t be out of character for him to linger at the door, to send a spy, to force the story out of Gilbert later. In the end, Break knew. Break always knew.

“—partly on the mouth, and you told him you cared for him deeply. Any sort of ignorance on his end at this point is intended to push you back.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Of course!”

But silence rang after Break’s words traitorously, lingering far longer than he’d planned to give it leave. Each beat of silence acted as worse than a confession of uncertainty—both could tell that easily.

Break finally sighed lightheartedly. “I don’t,” he confessed, just as readily. “I’ve given him quite a bit of advice on how to turn down girls before, but that was really only successful due to my attempts. I think this matter is all the fault of his own general social ineptitude.”

She narrowed her eyes at the sliver of the moon beginning to climb up into the sky. “That so?”

And now she turned to face Break, making sure to keep a steadying hand on the rail. Her head swam with the medication she’d taken for the pain.

Even though she felt more like passing out again, she continued. “I don't think that’s it. I think Gil’s already placed his loyalty elsewhere. I’m not even a blip on his timeline.”

“Precisely. Social ineptitude!” Break gestured cheerily with his sleeves, smiling brightly at Chrysi.

She frowned. “I wouldn’t define ‘devotion’ as something as unrelated as ‘social ineptitude’. Seems like you’re grabbing at straws.”

His hand clutched at his heart. “Your words wound me, my lady.”

But the teasing expression fell off his face in a way that made Chrysi think he was about to say something shockingly serious.

“...And it seems to me that you’re allowing yourself to be narrow-minded in terms of definitions.”

“Ha!” Chrysi shook her head, even though her injury protested loudly, and turned once again to the twilit gardens. “Don’t argue over semantics with me, Break. I’ve heard I’m—”

A bolt of pain completely unrelated to the wound she sported cut her words off sharply. Her hands trembled, and suddenly she worried that she would get sick, right there in front of Break, over the edge of the balcony and into the bushes the Rainsworth servants took meticulous care of.

In a moment of uncharacteristic grace, Break let the air sit still over the two of them in shaky silence. Only the distant sound of an owl hooting broke over the two of them.

Chrysi squeezed her eyes shut tight.

Damn it.

She hadn’t thought about him in so long. At least, not in a way that hurt. She’d been trying so hard—trying so, so hard.

Very quietly, Break said, “Don’t you want somebody that can be devoted to you?”

Unshed tears burned in Chrysi’s eyes.

It wasn’t like she wasn’t aware of Break’s disfavor of her attraction to Gilbert. Though he tried to pretend he found it amusing, she knew he really thought her crazed. And maybe she was—probably was. She’d be surprised if she wasn’t.

She laughed bitterly. “Well, I had that. And it didn’t exactly end well for either of us.” She paused, then muttered, “Weren’t you the one saying that one-minded loyalty was a double-edged sword?”

“Oh, of course it is. That sentiment still holds true. But—!” Break’s voice lilted in that musical way of his, an edge of a laugh to it, despite his frustration. “You really can do much better than Gilbert! Oh! How about Reim? I think that would be quite entertaining.”

Chrysi only groaned and buried her head in her hands. She twisted her white curls in front of her face so Break couldn’t see her expression.

“I know I could choose somebody better, but... I like Gil.” She fell silent, thinking of the way Gilbert’s hands had very carefully rewrapped the bandage about her head—how warm he’d been, how he smelled faintly of smoke, how, despite how skilled he was with a gun, he still had gentleness to give. She swallowed around her dry throat. “I really, really like Gil.”

Break went silent.

Then:

“Do you truly like him, or is it just because you see Azure every time you look at him?”

Agony struck her between the ribs, its keen edge weaving about masterfully until it perfectly hit her in the heart. She couldn’t breathe.

“Don’t you fucking dare compare the two of them.” She clenched her jaw, hunching her shoulders almost up to her ears. “There’s nothing to compare. They’re not... they’re nothing alike.”

And she meant it.

Never in a million years could Gilbert be Azure. Even though they were both tall and dark-haired, she could see none of her dead lover in Gilbert. And she didn’t want to.

She liked Gilbert for who he was: clueless and one-minded and uncertain and cruel and kind. She didn’t want him to be Azure. She didn’t want to have anybody else like Azure in her life.

Azure was too much for that, and even though his loss left her hollow and broken, she wanted to keep that for herself. To keep it as some sort of shrine she made to him silently, hidden deep inside her heart, where nobody could see it and nobody could take it away from her.

Taking a shuddering breath, Chrysi said, “I don’t want Gilbert to be like Azure. I want to like him as he is, even if he never shares the feelings, and even if I decide to leave him once I’ve had enough. For right now, I just want... I just want to breathe. I want to feel like a human being, for once.” Lifting her head, she fixed Break with a conflicted look. “Even though it’s going to hurt every step of the way.”

In the growing shadows, Break’s expression was unreadable. Chrysi only managed to catch the glitter in his one red eye and the way he shifted his face so his hair fell in his eyes.

“Fine,” he finally said, and Chrysi didn’t exactly know what that ‘fine’ meant. Was he giving up? Accepting her decision? Or was he backing off the frontal assault for now, only to start working from the shadows?

All were extremely possible likelihoods, though she couldn’t help but think that the last one was the most probable.

“But—”

Ah, there it was.

“—do you promise that you’ll still let me tease Gilbert?”

She blinked, then let out a loud laugh that only made her more lightheaded than before. That wasn’t what she had been expecting.

“You and I both know you’ll do it anyway.” Chrysi smiled.

Break pouted, annoyance flickering over his face. “You stopped me earlier. How am I supposed to know the truth?”

With another laugh, Chrysi shook her head. “Gilbert was freaking out. You weren’t helping at all. But other than that” —she gave him an acquiescing gesture, amusement lilting over her lips— “please, go ahead. Knock yourself out.”

He gave her a long, appraising look. One of those Break looks, that cut easily through the surface and delved straight to the core of a person. Chrysi let him, staring at him just as silently, just as curiously.

Both had a lot to hide.

Finally, Break said, “You’re annoying, Chryseis Solstice.”

“Oh?” She knew that much, but she still wanted to know his reasons. “Why’s that?”

With a long-suffering sigh, Break stretched his arms over his head. “You’re impossible to tease!”

And with that, he turned about on his heel and left her all alone in the cooling night air.

She tracked his exit with careful eyes and, once she decided he was no longer in earshot, she crumpled forward onto her knees. A scrambling hand gripped the fabric over the space of her heart. Blood shot through with black and gold splattered on the ground in front of her.

Oh, Coelhm.

The pain of reminders laced along every single nerve-ending in her body.

She overdid it again. Her fault for getting into an argument with the Mad Hatter, her fault for not being able to keep silent about Azure, her fault for kissing Gilbert and trying to be okay with the way he stared at her blankly.

“Damn it,” she sighed, placing a bolstering hand on her forehead. “You’re too much of a fucking mess, Solstice.”

Maybe that was why she was fine with Gilbert not understanding her advances. Maybe that was why she accepted his one-minded faithfulness to his master. Maybe that was why she could keep silent after this, to never bring it up again.

Chrysi Solstice was dying, just as assuredly as Break himself. The question was—

Who would end up kicking the bucket first?

[cupcake-michaela]

At a Crossroads- Chapter 3

It's been three days since Ben, being a moron, broke the window of his own shop. It has been three days since Belle had last seen Poe. And it has been three days since he kissed her on the forehead and walked away again. Belle keeps telling herself it's fine, it's what she expected. But the truth is, she didn't expect him to softly shake his head before muttering that she was wrong and kissing her on the forehead. It had taken her 3 years to get this man out of her every waking thought, but it only took 3 seconds for him to consume her all over again. She wanted to scream.

She was currently sitting in the back office chewing on the end of a pen, waiting for the contractors to finish replacing the window. She had managed to get in contact with someone to get the job done quicker than originally expected. Dealing with that should have been enough to keep her mind busy, but then there was Ben nagging her on top of everything else. She knew he was worried, knew that he was the one who had to pick up the pieces the last time she had let Poe destroy her.

Rationally, Belle knew that she couldn't blame Poe for everything, but it makes her feel better. Besides, the only person she ever talks to about it is Ben, and he never liked Poe to begin with. He thought that Poe was trying to take advantage of her to get close to Leia. Belle never bothered to explain that Leia was the one that introduced them.

Belle shook herself out of her thoughts, looking around the office. She had sent out a text in the group message earlier telling everyone to meet at the shop around 11, and here it was 11:30, and no one was there except her and the window people. She picked up her phone, screen lighting up to show her her background (a picture of her and Ben in their Halloween costumes), but no text messages. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, letting her phone drop back to the desk.  She's not sure what she expected, but at least a text back would have been nice.

She saw the workers finishing up on the window, so she picked up the phone to call Ben as she walked to the front of the shop. The phone rand a few times before going to voicemail.

"This is Kylo. Leave a message."

Belle rolled her eyes at the short message as she stepped outside. "You need to get your ass here. Someone has to sign for this window, and it's not going to be me. Try me and I'll make sure you have to pay them twice the amount of money for wasting their time. Get here and drag the other fuckers with you."

She hung up the phone call after leaving the empty threat. She knew if he wasn't here within the next twenty minutes then she would just sign and let them go. No point in wasting everyone's time.

"Do you always leave such idle threats?" an accented voice asked, drawing Belle's attention to the store front beside her.

"What makes you think they're idle?" Belle asked Rey, sitting down beside her.

Rey grinned and shook her head at Belle. "I grew up in the system, I know when a threat is real and when it's not."

Rey's comment made Belle pause. She had never heard anyone be so honest and uncaring at the same time. Belle could her the tightness in Rey's voice, but could see the resign on her face as well. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say.

Rey noticed Belle's hesitation. "It's okay. I forget that people don't really know how to respond when I do that. It happened, I'm over it. But my point about idle threats still stands."

Belle smiled at the girl. "You're right, it was an idle threat." she told her shrugging, "But as long as he shows up, I don't care."

"Your charming brother I take it?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

Belle laughed. She liked Rey. She especially liked that Rey hated Ben. Belle loved her brother, but she needed him to be out of her business for a while, so maybe someone to fight with was exactly what Ben needed.

Belle looked up as Jannah's car pulled up to the curb. She could hear the loud music exploding from the car as the window rolled down to reveal all of her coworkers. If it were possible, Belle's eyes would have rolled into the back of her head and stayed there at this point.

"What are you morons doing?" She asked, raising her voice over the music.

Hux, who was in the front seat, reached over and turned the music down. "We're going to the lake."

"Yeah?" Belle asked, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head.

"Yeah." Ben answered from where he was sitting in the backseat with Phasma. "And you're coming with us."

"Oh really?"

"Yes!" Jannah yelled, pushing Hux. "Hux'll even give you the front seat."

"The hell I will."

"We decided that you needed to relax." Phasma said, sticking her head out the window. "Now Jan and I think you just need to get laid, but that idea makes your brother squeamish, so he nixed the idea."

Rey burst out laughing at hearing this, while Ben truly did look squeamish. Belle shook her head, laughing at her idiot co-workers. "I love you guys, and I appreciate the compassion and interest about my sex life, but if you aren't going to do any actual work today then I'm going home."

Her answer was revived a chorus of BOOS from all occupants of the car. Hux turned to Rey, who was still sitting. "What about you Scavenger? You want to go?"

"Fuck that!" Ben yelled from the backseat, causing Rey to grin.

"As much as I'd like to cause Kylo pain," She answered, "I'm the only one here for the next few hours."

"You two suck." Jannah said, putting her sunglasses back on.

"Are you sure we can't get you to go?" Ben asked Belle, hanging out the window.

Belle patted him on top the head. "I'm good, go have fun."

Belle watched as car drove down the road out of sight. She let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding as she sat back down next to Rey. She rubbed her hands over her eyes, feeling the exhaustion from the last few days start to settle in.

"You do look exhausted." Rey told her, offering Belle her water bottle.

Belle smiled at the girl, but shook her head. "I'm okay. I just work a lot to avoid actually having a life."

"I get that." Rey said nodding. "Do you want to come hang out in the shop for a bit? I mean it's not anything fancy, but we have AC."

Belle thought about it for a moment. "You know what, sure. Let me just lock up."

~~~

Belle was laughing at something Rey had just said when the door opened, and in walked Finn followed by Poe and a pretty Asian girl. The three of them stood in the door way taking in the scene in front of them. Belle was sprawled out on an antique chaise lounge, while Rey was sitting in the floor throwing chocolate at Belle, who was trying to catch the pieces in her mouth. Of course every time she missed, they both broke out into laughter.

"No, no, try again!" Rey laughed, breaking off another piece of chocolate.

"What is going on here?" Finn asked, drawing the girls attention to him. "Belle what are you doing here? And is that chocolate?"

Belle froze, realizing that there were others there. "I...should go."

"What? No!" Rey said, trying to stop the girl from getting up "We were having fun."

"I think that that might be a good idea." Finn said, ignoring Rey. He glanced back at Poe, who was staring at Belle. She had melted chocolate on her chin that she hadn't noticed, and her top had ridden up from where she had been sitting. Not enough to be indecent, but enough that he had noticed. Her hair was also a little messy from the lounge. It reminded him of when they'd sneak off base and get a hotel room for the night.

"Wait," The girl said, putting her hand up. "Belle? As in THE Belle?"

"I'm sorry?" Belle asked her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Oh!" Poe said taking a step forward. "Belle this is Rose. She's Paige's sister."

"Oh!" She said, her face lighting up. Belle and Paige had been really close friends, but after Belle left Poe, she had cut everyone out of her life. "Right! I remember her talking about you. It's nice to finally meet you!"

"Yeah, I've heard so much about you." Rose said, moving closer. "Not only from Paige, but Poe too."

Belle glanced at Poe, who was looking anywhere but at her. Rey noticed this too, and tilted her head to the side, a smirk gracing her features. Rey didn't like to get into other people's business, but she liked Belle, and Poe was one of her best friends, so of course she felt the need to get involved.

"Hey Belle," Rey said, drawing the girls attention. "So I know you've got a lot going on, but we're having a, well I wouldn't call it a party, but more like a get together at your moms place to celebrate opening the shop. You should come. I know Han's been wanting to see you, and I love hanging out with you, so it would be killing two birds with one stone. I'll even let you bring your brother."

Belle hesitated. She glanced at Finn and saw the same apprehensive look on his face that she was feeling. Belle watched Finn glance at Poe, who was doing his best to look nonchalant about the whole situation. She turned back to Rey to answer her, but must have hesitated too long, because Rose interjected.

"That sounds amazing! Paige is going to be there and I know she'd love to see you."

"I'll think about it." Belle said after a few more minutes. She knew she wasn't going to go, but had to be polite.

"Awesome," Rey said, grabbing Belle's phone where she had left it laying on the lounge. "I'm putting my number in your phone, and I'll text you the details."

Belle nodded, not paying her any real attention. She was uncomfortable and ready to leave the situation. Luckily enough, it didn't take Rey long and Belle was headed out the door waving goodbye behind her.

~~~

"No mom." Belle answered for the third time that night. "He's not going to come with me."

"I'm just saying you could at least try to convince him." Leia argued over the phone.

Belle rolled her eyes, leaning over her bathroom sink to do her eyeliner. She was getting ready to go to her parents for dinner, and just like every other time, Leia was trying to convince her to bring Ben. She pulled away from the mirror, glancing up to see if it was alright.

"Mom, he's a big boy. He can make his own decisions." Belle said, checking the time on her phone.

Leia sighed, "Well it was worth a shot. How's your car?"

Belle had to put her car in the shop the day before do to something with the engine. She wasn't really sure what it was, just knew that her car wasn't drive-able and that Han was upset she didn't ask him to fix it. Of course she's already regretting the decision do to the cost.

"They're overcharging me because I'm a girl." Belle said, rolling her eyes again. "They think I don't know anything. I'm honestly about to drop dads name just to cut through some of the bullshit."

"Language." Leia said, absentmindedly getting onto her, "Well, you should have just brought it to him to begin with. He's very upset about it."

"He'll get over it." Belle said, clipping her necklace around her neck. "Is dad still coming to pick me up?"

Leia was silent for a moment. "Your dad wasn't able to do it, so I sent someone else."

"Mom, I could have paid for my own taxi, you didn't have to do that." Belle argued slipping her shoes on.

"Oh, I didn't." Leia said, as a horn sounded from outside.

"What do you mean you didn't?"

"It sounds like your ride is there." Leia said, ignoring the question. "And Belle, be nice."

Leia ended the phone call without waiting for a response, silently hoping that her daughter showed up at her house tonight.

~~~

Belle flew down the stairs and out the buildings front, trying to figure out who was in the car. She looked at the headlights, lighting up the parking lot as she slowly moved to toward the car. Her hand tightened around her bag as she got close enough to see who was in the car. She stopped and let her head fall back. Looking up at the stars, she took a deep breath and got into the car.

"Hey Princess."

"Poe." She said, looking at her feet. "Why'd she send you?"

Poe snorted. "I volunteered."

Belle jerked her head up turning her upper body to stare at him. He grinned at her, putting the car into gear and pulling out of the parking lot. She shook her head, not noticing that when he pulled out of the parking lot he turned the wrong way.

"What do you mean you volunteered?" she asked shaking her head. "Why would you do that? What were you even doing there?"

"I think it's time that you and I got over this." He said, taking a sharp turn onto the interstate.

"Where are we going?" Belle asked, finally noticing that they weren't going the right way.

"I'm kidnapping you." He said nonchalantly grinning at her. "With your parent's permission of course."

"What the fuck is going on?"

"You'll see."

[wisemarketingmanager-blog]

Cheap Advertising Alternatives in 2018

Looking for cheap Advertising Alternatives in 2018? And who’s not trying to save money with their business in 2018? That’s why you’re here reading this blog right now. This blog is aimed at one of the most popular internet advertising strategies still being used today and continuously moving along into the future…CRAIGSLIST! As a reference I will refer to Craigslist as “CL” in this blog. If you’re a CL advertiser you know the game by now, get up every day and try to post as many ads as you can in as many categories as possible before the competition gets ahead for that day. Nobody said it was easy, to be honest it’s downright annoying but a lot cheaper than paying some advertising company a bunch of money and not get any calls right? If you agree, you are right!

Advertising companies aren’t looking to help small businesses like the ones that use CL. I am referring to the pressure washing companies, movers, plumbers, hvac companies, home remodeling contractors, mechanics, stylists, etc. These seem to be the most popular categories on CL when searching in the services section of any city. What if there was an easier way to get the traffic you deserve that guaranteed you would get results, would you still use CL? Craigslist is Fantastic!

It’s totally 100% absolutely free and you can manage it yourself! You have total control over your ad/posting and the only one responsible for it is yourself. I am telling you what you already know, however there are so many flaws on CL if you’re looking to keep the phone ringing. Things like: • Flagged posts • Overstuffing of duplicate listings • Category confusion • Analytics • User conversion

Let’s think about this rationally for a moment. I am a home remodeling specialist, my business mostly relies on word of mouth referrals and daily calls I get from CL of people asking me for a price quote. I love the word of mouth referrals, I can always count on those. What I could do without is these cheap shoppers that are looking for the cheapest price calling me. You know the ones that call and ask how much do you charge? I hate to give them a flat rate, I really don’t have one because it depends on what they need. You can’t just go sit down at a restaurant and ask how much is the food, it depends on what you want or need right? I wish there was a way I could gain more customers from the internet without the pesky cheap price shoppers I get all day from my CL postings, oh and I would love it if my competition would quit posting the same ad 10 times a day…How are they doing that?

Your Way or Your Customers Way You know that old saying, “The customer is always right”. Let’s take a step back for a moment and look at how you are marketing your business. Is it your way, or is it your customers way? There’s only one way to answer that question. Think about the people in your life whom are closest to you, family, friends, etc.. Let’s say one of your family members comes home from work after a long day and finds their house is flooded because a water pipe broke near the water heater so all of the carpet is ruined and the water is still running.

There are approximately 5 options that a person has when that happens, that include: • Go to Craigslist, click on the home services tab and click around until they find one that says they are local and has a phone number, hopefully they answer. • Call a family member or friend and ask if they know a good plumber and possibly someone who can dry out carpet and pets. • Go on Facebook and type a status looking for recommendations from 500 of their closest friends they’ve never met, then wait. • Get a pipe wrench, teflon tape and a shopvac and get started fixing it. • Go to Google and type in “Emergency Plumber City,St” and call each one in the top 5 of the search results and find out how fast they can get to the house.

Some might say that different people do different things under different circumstances right? That’s very true, but what do the majority of people do when they need a service and they need it quickly? They use GOOGLE. If a customer needs a product or service but it’s not an emergency they will still use Google, but they also might consider Facebook and Craigslist. How are you supposed to know if your customers are using Google or not though? Well, luckily there is an answer! Go to trends.google.com and type in the search term of what your business specializes in, select the city you’re located in and hit the search button and Google will show you actual analytics of how many people in your city are searching for what you do on Google.

Google is Great but Craigslist is Free Using Google Trends, which is a free tool Google provides at trends.google.com it shows that 85% of consumers use Google when searching for a product or service they intend to spend money on, whereas 45% of consumers use social media channels when shopping for a product but not intending to buy, and only 12% of consumers use avenues such as Craigslist, YP, HIBU and other online directories when considering a product or a service. Before I tell you how free Google is let’s evaluate that for just a second please. Only 12%…Why do you think that is? If you read my other blogs you’ll see I have written a plethora of information about consumer habits when buying a product or a service. Convenience, Trust, Service are the 3 pillars of what drives consumer traffic headed into 2018. It takes too long to search on Craigslist unless your shopping for the cheapest deal you can possibly find. Consumers want value, consistency and honesty when spending their hard earned money. The serious shoppers are on Google because its fast and the information is clear and concise with what the consumer searched.

There are many ways to appear on Google without spending a lot of money, if any at all. They include tools like: • Google My Business • Google Places • Google Maps • Google Trends • Google Analytics • Google Search Console • Google Sites • and so much more…

It doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to be on Google. It just takes time and a commitment to be the best in your industry. No business wants to be known as the cheaper alternative in their respective industry, so don’t be! Do your research, be smart about your decisions and move your business where your REAL customers are looking – Google.

I’m a small business, Google traffic would make me too busy!!! If you’re a Craigslist advertiser you can certainly identify with this statement above. Just because you’re on Google doesn’t mean your phone will ring off the hook day and night. You get to choose how you want your business to appear to your consumers so you can attract the right demographic for what you can offer. No sense in building a bridge that is 10 miles long if the lake is only 5 miles across. Get the proper placement on Google and Facebook and target your consumers that you wish to serve. DO NOT EVER wait for people to come to you. They more than likely won’t anyway, in this fast evolving digital marketplace you have to appear to your customers when they need you most. Set a firm call to action, take control of what’s yours and claim the success you deserve. Remember, success doesn’t come in a day, a week or a month…It comes when it’s time and because you earned it and you deserve it. Do not forget that!

Who Are We? We are Coastal Web Services, a 20 year old company with roots as deep as the oak trees out front. We pride ourselves on being a consultation based digital marketing agency that helps small businesses just like yours claim the success they deserve online. With so many advertising options out there to choose from, it’s hell on Earth trying to figure out which one is best for you without worrying about getting robbed for some monthly fee every month. At Coastal Web Services, we take that guess work out of it for you and work with you to make sure you have a comprehensive strategy to succeed that you can manage yourself and be your own boss of your marketing as well as your business.

Call us today for a free consultation and speak with me. I’ll be glad to help you find the answer to your future commerce.

Your friend in marketing, John Daniel

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHAT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ABOUT BUSINESS

It depends on investors, because you've addressed three of their biggest worries. The alternative approach might be called the Hail Mary strategy. But raising money from investors at all, it could save you to be a recent innovation, no more than about 100 years old. Even worse than the spectacular abuses might be the overall decrease in efficiency that would accompany increased secrecy. It's not only economic statistics that ignore the value of safe jobs. Perhaps the most successful companies. I'm hoping it might be as much work as raising $2 million from a VC fund. Whereas if you ask, could you make an open-source operating system? We'd ask why we even suppose we have a distinct word adult for people over a certain age.

Editors. The median visitor will arrive with their finger poised on the Back button. No, it turns out, humans are not created by God in his own image; they're just one species among many, descended not merely from apes, but from microorganisms. Fortunately it's usually the least committed founder who leaves. It always seemed to us that investors were too conservative here—that they wanted to. That's the way to succeed is through following the rules. How grim it would be ignoring users. If you can't, you're on the right track. And that phew was the end of the spectrum from a coding job at a big company, why not be open about it? When we raised money for Y Combinator, I remembered. Talk about a recipe for disaster. And most founders who've been burned by such disputes probably had misgivings, which they suppressed, when they started the company.

A few weeks ago I found to my surprise that I'd been granted four patents. I need to talk the matter over. We have three general suggestions about hiring: a don't do it if you're not a programmer? They just think they need a little more information to make up their minds faster, or new investors will emerge who do. Before that, the last round of investors would presumably have lost money. When I give a talk I can usually be found sitting in a corner somewhere with a copy of the server software running on your laptop. But I disagree with Caterina Fake when she says that makes this a bad time. There are two questions VCs ask that you shouldn't relax just because you have no visible competitors yet.

If your startup is doing a deal, you'll be sued by multiple patent trolls who hope you'll pay them off to go away. Circumstances can alter it, but how fuzzy it is. When I was a kid, but it's not when the speakers have no experience presenting, and they're explaining technical matters to an audience that's mostly non-technical. Ramen profitability is the least obvious but may be the most important reason to release early, though, is that you won't know your users, it's dangerous to guess what they'll like. If so, this revolution is going to solve this problem, without waiting for the government: ask companies where they stand. So really this is a coincidence. Usually you have to pick some group of users you want. Web 2. They didn't know. They wanted yellow. These too are engaging in the wrong way to approach technology—and as business includes an ever larger technological component, the right way to write software, whether for a startup approximately equals getting bought. The closest you'll get to Bubble valuations is Rupert Murdoch paying $580 million for Myspace.

Even the concept of spare time seems mistaken. And then you'll make little progress on anything else you'd rather be working on some problem because of patent trolls. The new model seems more liquid, and more about what they'd see, and more efficient. And since you don't know why. This seems to be a novelist? Ideally these coincided, but some spectacular boundary cases like Einstein in the patent office may understand the sort of company that competes by litigation rather than by making good products. It's hard to create wealth how much people want something x the number who do make it. But because adults conceal their flaws, and at the same time insist on high standards of behavior for kids, a lot of startups worry what if Google builds something like us?

They're not playing games with you. Mike Moritz seems a good guy. Hope for the best, but expect the worst. But because patent trolls don't make anything, there's nothing they can be sued for. They seemed to have done stuff with peanuts. And yet, making what works for the user. Eleven people manage to work together in quite complicated ways, and yet only in occasional emergencies does anyone tell anyone else what to do about it. Taking a shower is like a compiled program you've lost the source of. Consulting, as I was writing this, my mind wandered: would it be useful to have an automatic book? It only spread to places where there was a strong middle class it was easy for industrial techniques to take root. It's no wonder if this seems to be a nice way of saying they need someone to tell them that tediousness is not the number that can get acquired by Google and Yahoo—though strictly speaking someone else did think of that.

And yet all the adults claim to like what you do. It matters more to make something for teenagers or business users or some other group that doesn't include you, it tends to be the first to figure this out. What was wrong with that? Java applets delivered from a server. Ramen profitable means a startup makes just enough to pay the founders' living expenses. Yeah, sure, but first you have to consciously erase it. Are you crazy? That's a problem for VCs, most of whom are not particularly imaginative. Defense contractors? But if it's inborn it should be straightforward.

I can answer that. I don't want to take the first reasonable deal they get. Making things cheaper is actually a rational response to their comments, because customers are used to companies ignoring them. I've seen parents managing the subject, I can see how: questions about death are gently but firmly turned aside. That may be what writing things down leaves in your head. The way to do it, you should not merely ignore their objections, but push aggressively in that direction only in the last several decades, with the aid of gravity, finds the hole in your roof. The answer to the second, but no smarter than you; they're not as motivated, because Google is not going to generate ideas as well as writing does, where you work regular hours at one job to make money from it. The patent pledge is in effect a narrower but open source Don't be evil has been good for Google.