#they’ll exchanging experiment notes and things they’ve been studying

[k423s]

albemona is adorable i don’t have anything to write abt them other than the fact that they’re adorable and they’re stars together and that’s cute.

[obae-me]

Hi, I'm back with another ask (if you're still taking them)! Can I request the demon brothers reacting to an MC who usually shies away from touch, but absolutely melts under headpats? Thank you, I love your works, and I hope you aren't overworking yourself!! 💙

I live for the fluff, and I hope this warms your heart reading as much as I did while writing it! Thank you for your request, stay safe and take care of yourself! 💜

Lucifer

He’s not super touchy himself, so any form of physical affection he shows MC is minimal. A hand on their shoulder, an escorting arm, just simple gentlemanly gestures. When he saw that MC wasn’t quite comfortable with these, going so far as to sometimes move away from his body, he stopped even doing those out of respect for their space. He understood more than most that some people didn’t like being touched.

He wasn’t paying attention when he had first done it, giving MC a pat on the head. He was exhausted, having spent all day in meetings, doing paperwork, and cleaning up the messes of his brothers. He was running low on sleep, patience, and logic. His only main focus was work. MC had offered a helping hand, and he didn’t refuse, in fact he was secretly thankful for assistance. Normally, his pride would force him to carry his own work and burdens on his shoulders, but tonight he would let it slide. They handed him some of his work back, all thoroughly checked and edited by their hands. He took the stack without even looking at them, deeply concentrated in another project.

“Thank you,” he muttered, and raised his free hand to touch the top of their head, tapping them with the softest brush of his fingers. It took a moment for his action to register, and he quickly looked up from his work, opening his mouth to apologize for his folly. Then he saw the expression on their face. For once they weren’t moving away from his hands, but instead even shifting their posture so his fingers were now entangled in their hair. Their cheeks were tinted pink as they blushed, and Lucifer tried to ignore the strange flutter in his chest. He smiled tauntingly, but in a sweet way, happy to see that he had now discovered a way to give them praise. His eyes narrowed in on their complexion as it grew redder the more he moved his hand over their head.

He made a note of this interaction for the future. The next time they were alone and he thanked them, he raised his hand, looking MC with a teasing expression. He watched patiently as they squirmed in place before coming over to him. He made sure they incited the action on their own, placing their head under his touch before he patted their head.

He savors moments like these in private, this interaction a secret and intimate display for just him alone. He adores headpats where he can weave his fingers through their hair, taunting them with merely his fingertips. If he’s feeling extra special, he’ll take his gloves off for it. He’d become secretly addicted to this for sure.

He’ll use this method to reward MC whenever they do something that pleases him. It pays off in dividends. He’ll probably tease them for it later when he discovers they’ve been studying harder and been doing chores without him asking for it.

It fills him with enormous pride that they’ll come to him for this. “Hm, what is it you want? Did you want my touch and praise so badly?”

Mammon

Typically anyone who takes the time out of their day to attempt to touch Mammon is when they’re wanting to beat the Grimm out of him for something he’s done. So, because of this, he’s not super touchy either. It’s not that he doesn’t like touch, he’s just not had too many great experiences. So he can relate to how MC feels.

Surprisingly, it was MC who gave him the headpat first. He’d failed a test, already been through an intense lecture by Lucifer, and now his precious Goldie had been taken away yet again, threatened to be put through a shredder. To cheer himself up, he went to MC’s room. When they let him vent, he couldn’t stop telling them how much of an angel they were. He’d been sitting on MC’s floor, his back leaning against their bed while MC sat on top of their mattress. He was getting real deep with his feelings, saying things MC had never heard him be comfortable enough to talk about.

They wanted to comfort him and to reward him at the same time. Not knowing what to do, MC leaned forward and nervously rubbed the top of his head. “There there.”

At first, all the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, warning signals running through his mind as his nerves went on high alert. But then the soothing circles over his head put him more at ease, MC’s comforting voice lulling his fears away. MC was...was...giving him a...a...He almost found himself slipping to the floor, but then he snapped out of it.

“Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, what’re you doing?” He tore free from them, getting to his feet as he stared down at them. His glasses were slightly crooked and hanging near the end of his nose in his flustered state. “I’m supposed to be the bigger man here, the one supporting you! So…” With a finger, he pushed his glasses up near his face before he hovered a hand above their hair. He took a deep breath, and then gave them a headpat in return, watching their expression and body language go through the same temporary panic as he did.

But then they practically melted in his hands, their eyes shiny with un-spilt tears as their touch starved body received some physical attention. Mammon did his best to prevent his face from getting even hotter than it already was. Who knew he’d love giving them headpats even more than getting one himself?

He’ll dole out headpats to MC left and right now, doesn’t matter when, where, or why, he’s greedy so when he wants to do it there’s no stopping him, but on this particular matter MC doesn’t bother stopping him anyway. He doesn’t ask for something in return for this gesture, for once, but occasionally MC gives him a pat on the head in exchange, watching him stutter as he turns a deep pink.

He loves giving MC headpats where he messes up their hair, ruffling it up and making it wild-looking just so he can do it all over again when they try to fix it.

Levi

You think his brothers are touch starved? He’s probably not had physical contact for decades, but part of that is his fault. He’s always yelling not to be touched, exclaiming loud enough that people in the Celestial Realm could hear, that he needs his personal space. He freaks out if MC accidentally even bumps shoulders with him.

He notices how MC reacts whenever he accidentally touches them, and he takes it very personally. Self doubt and anxiousness take over his mind as he secludes himself in the safe space of his bedroom. With the assistance of the brothers, MC managed to enter his comfort zone, stepping into his room. They started explaining how they were sorry that they were responsible for how he was feeling. They had to bluntly tell him that they don’t like being touched really by anyone, not just him, most things just make them uncomfortable. If there was anyone who knew about it, it was him. They sat down by him, but not too closely, and asked if watching anime with him would make him feel better.

As they’re both watching one of his favorite shows, Levi notices the expression on MC’s face whenever the main protagonist gives one of the love-interests a pat on the head. He’s the demon of envy, he knows longing when he sees it. MC’s eyes were glinting towards the screen. He had to cover part of his face with his arm just simply thinking about doing something like that with MC. It was no surprise that he wanted something like that too. 

“U-um, MC?” Levi’s brain was short-circuiting, and nothing was even happening yet. MC looked at him, their head slightly tilted to the side in curiosity. His heart was already beating out of his chest, they were cute, too cute. “Can I just...try one thing? And! And then if you hate it you can feel free to never talk to me again!” He just needed to know, the temptation of envy at watching a cartoon complete a gesture that he too wanted to make was too great to bear.

“O-okay.”

It took him a full two minutes of squirming in place and blushing to even build up the courage to put his hand in the air. Once he did, he closed his eyes and turned his head away from MC as he placed his palm over their hair. His hand stayed stagnant for a while, just resting atop their head, but then he started moving it, stroking their hair in the same fashion as he’s seen in so many of his shows. Only, he was near tears. Somehow the real thing was so much better.

Once he had finally had enough--he had wanted to keep going but he was worried his poor heart was about to give out--he apologized to MC again for touching them. MC looked down, their face almost just as red as his. When they told him that they didn’t mind and actually-maybe-kinda liked it, his eyes almost sparkled.

He doesn’t do it as often as he’d like, he’s still much too shy and anxious for that. He will manage to do it every so often, waiting until he’s had plenty of time for mental preparation. He waits to strike whenever MC is sad so he can swoop in and be their hero.

He likes the slow simple headpats, moving his hand left and right, feeling the heat inside his chest grow as MC sways their head with his movements.

Satan

Of course he doesn’t prefer being touched, why would he? He gets angry if someone even bothers him when they happen to be in the same room. He needs his space, he needs people to stay away from him, and if he does so happen to want to be touched, he needs it on his own terms. So he actually enjoyed hanging out with MC, because with them feeling the same way as he did, he didn’t have to worry they’d do something reckless like...hugging him or some awful thing.

They were reading together, his favorite activity. There was nothing better than him and his company doing their own thing within a decent distance, and all while being quiet about it. And because MC was being so well-behaved, he permitted them to sit on the same couch as him should they want it. He almost lost his place on the page as he felt their body heat wave off of them as they sat next to him.

However, MC kept moving, shifting to change position every few moments, trying to get into a comfortable reading position, but not finding one. It was driving him a bit crazy, but he understood their struggle. He weighed the pros and cons of what he was about to suggest in his head. He decided that it would mostly be in his favor. 

“Why don’t you lie down and I read to you?” He asked them, placing a bookmark in between the crevice of his book before placing it aside. They blinked at him, embarrassed that they had bothered him so badly. They got up off the couch, ready to lay on the floor. He gingerly grabbed the fabric of their sleeve. “I’m not asking you to get on the floor, I’m not that rude. To my brothers maybe, but not you.” He took the book that they had been reading and brought it to his face, already feeling some involuntary feelings rise to his cheeks. He patted his legs, hoping they would understand his gesture without him having to go through the pain of saying it.

They understood well enough, getting back on the couch and slowly, slowly, settled down with their head in his lap, their face turned away from him. MC was a bit rigid at first, but slowly relaxed as Satan started reading their story from the point they had left off at. He eventually got so enveloped in the words, he had no idea what he had been automatically doing. It took him about a chapter or two before his actions hit him randomly, his mind going blank, leaving himself tongue tied.

He’d been petting MC’s head for a while now, almost completely unaware. He assumed the feeling in his lap reminded him of a cat curled up over his legs, and he just instinctively had been stroking their head. He’d caught himself in the middle of running his fingers all the way from the top of their head, down to the nape of their neck, almost even scratching behind their ears.

“Is...is something wrong? Why...did you stop?” MC wondered, their voice gentle. He cleared his throat, deducing that their tone meant they found nothing wrong with what he had been doing. He resumed his actions, and felt MC happily shudder in his lap.

Later that night, when he was done reading, he found that he had made MC a little too comfortable, and now they were asleep on him. He didn’t dare move and actually ended up staying there all night.

He’ll only give MC headpats in this exact way, with their head over his thighs, stroking their hair like they were a cuddly pet. He’s melting almost as much as they are. To his enjoyment, MC will ask him if they can read with him much more frequently.

Asmo

He love love loves touch! So seeing MC squirm away from all his forms of affection makes him equal parts gloomy and determined. He’s never had anyone shy away from him like that, even his charm ends up rubbing off on his brothers, and they let him give them physical affection every once and awhile. He knows there has to be some form of touch MC can stand, and he’s ready to find it.

He tries hugs, hand-holding, massages, tickling, cuddling, anything he can think of in hopes MC will react positively. Touch his strongest love-language after all, so he’ll be forever downhearted if MC is never comfortable with it. Never comfortable with him...

He was close to figuring it out though, he knew it. His last massaging experiment had his hands around their head and neck, and he felt the muscles in their body unwind just the slightest bit. So, today he had them in his room, sitting on the chair in front of his mirror as he brushed their hair. Like before, they weren’t as tense, and were surprisingly complacent as he dragged his brush through their smooth strands. He was so jovial over this, he was almost humming to himself.

“MC, your hair is almost just as pretty as mine!” He put the brush down for just a second to run his fingers through their locks. MC’s body shuddered, their eyelids fluttering. The heart in his chest pounded in excitement when MC leaned their head towards his hand. He was almost as happy as the time Lucifer let Asmo give him a shoulder massage. “Hmm, what’s this?” He grinned and played with their hair some more, using his hands to pat down and fix any stray strands. MC refused to look at his gaze in the reflection of their mirror, their face adorably red. He just wanted to squeeze them! Asmo pressed his cheek to their head as he continued to pet and comb his fingers throughout MC’s hair.

He pets their head now as frequently as MC will allow. He especially prefers to do it when he notices they’re tense or stressed. Just a few minutes of his magical hands running over their head and all the tension in MC’s body practically melts away.

His special version of headpats come with special scritches. He’ll let his long nails gently scratch at their scalp, causing shudders to run through MC’s spine. Once, MC even moaned softly in comfort as he did this, causing him to almost collapse. Who knew something so chaste and simple could get him so pleased?

Beel

He’s a big lovable teddy bear, and so he loves to give hugs. It’s third on the list of things he loves, family, food (not always in that order), and comforting embraces following right after. The first time he gave MC a hug, they felt frozen, unable to hug him back. They only began to breathe again after he let them go. He respects the fact that they don’t like touch, but it will make him a bit melancholy for a while.

He only figured out MC adored headpats because they practically told him, he ended up being the only one they felt comfortable enough opening up to. Maybe it was because he couldn’t help but sulk for a few days after MC asked not to be touched. They felt a bit guilty for him, after all, he was only trying to show MC wholesome affection.

He had been in the kitchen, getting a large selection of goodies for his midnight snack when the door opened. He almost jumped when MC came into the room, as he went about clutching the food to his chest. He looked over MC before saying anything, their eyes and face a bit puffy from crying. They looked deeply upset.

Beel got so rattled from their expression, he almost dropped his precious food. He hurriedly put it all on a kitchen counter before talking to them. “MC, it’s so late, what’s wrong?” His natural instinct was to hold his arms out, ready to give them a tight embrace, but he bit his lip as he kept his arms lowered. Not knowing how best to comfort them was killing him, leaving the already gaping hole in his stomach feeling even emptier.

“I...I don’t know...I just…” MC placed their hands over their face as they began to cry some more. Beel got closer to them, every inch in his body twitching as all he wanted was to scoop them up.

“Well...what...what can I do to make you feel better? I’ll do anything!”

As they were sniffling, they outstretched one of their arms, waiting for his hand. He let them take it, taking notice of the vast difference between sizes. They felt so small next to him. MC grasped his hand with their own, doing their best to keep from shaking. Beel hadn’t quite been ready for MC to place his hand over their head, holding onto his wrist. He hesitated for a second, starting off very slow. The more he pet them, the more they started to calm down.

This made his heart swell immensely. He was so overjoyed that he was making MC happy, that he got to touch them, that he got a bit carried away as his built up emotions flowed straight to his hands. He moved his hand back and forth a bit aggressively, all purely by accident. He’d had his eyes closed as he couldn’t contain himself, his heart feeling like bursting. He was shaking MC back and forth so violently, they had to grasp onto his clothes from falling over. He quickly stopped, apologizing profusely while MC held tightly onto him as they waited for the room to stop spinning.

He will want to do this all the time, it satiates some sort of hunger in his stomach when he does, and MC doesn’t complain. Just as long as he does it gently. He’ll pet them like a fragile creature, as he closes his eyes and almost glows in happiness when he does. The gesture reminds him a lot of comforting Belphie.

Belphie

Like Satan, Belphie is only somewhat okay with touch if it’s on his terms. He almost always needs to initiate it, or ask for it at the very least. The only exception to the rule is his twin Beel. His brother is always picking him up, hugging him, or letting Belphie sleep on him.

When MC explained that they didn’t like touch, he was okay with it. What, did they think he cared? It’s no big deal, whatever, he’s too tired to worry about it. It does affect him, but he’s not even sure why. Is it because they look so soft to him that he wants to cuddle them like a pillow? Is it because he just wants to feel their sweet warmth? Is it because he wants to spite his brothers by being the only one able to touch them? He’s unsure. The only thing he is sure of is it’s making him a bit restless.

So, to deal with this, he did what came most naturally to him. That being coming into MC’s room unannounced in the dead of night. He’s still not used to normal human manners or behavior, or he doesn’t really care. Possibly both.

He watched MC sleep peacefully in bed, the silver rays of moonlight seeping through their window and landing on their head, reflecting off the color of their hair. He knelt close to the bed, tucking his pillow close to his chest as he watched them sleep for a bit. Then he lazily raised his hand, plopping it over their head. Their body jolted a bit as their eyelids opened.

“B-Belphie?” MC moved a bit, coming out of their tired haze.

“Shh, this is just a dream,” he told them, abusing his powers a bit as he influenced their exhaustion. A sleepy gaze coated their eyes. They ceased moving, nuzzling their head against the pillow as they no longer went to question why he was in their room.

He ran his hand gently over their head, watching color flush their cheeks as they stared at him in their dreamy state. Their lips almost curled into a smile, and Belphie pulled his cow-printed pillow closer to his chest, hoping to muffle the rapid beating of his heart. He pet MC’s head until they fell fast asleep again.

In the morning, MC looks at him in a weird way, more flustered than usual. He’ll tease them about it a bit, questioning their actions and feeling twisted satisfaction when they explained that they simply had experienced a strange dream last night.

He might continue to do this, giving them affection before bed and persuading them it was nothing more than a dream, but eventually he’ll want them to know it was real. He’ll just enjoy this secret interaction a little more before he does tell them, though.

He likes to pet their head in a way that lets their hair look like sleepy bed-hair, he finds it unbelievably adorable. He’ll start from the top of their head and work down towards their cheek, letting MC nuzzle against his palm before they sleep.

[quicksilversquared]

The World’s Most Obvious Trap

As the new Guardian, Marinette wants to get a solid advantage over Hawkmoth, or- even better- defeat him for once and for all. That sounds like a really daunting task, but with a little creativity- and a little magical help from the long-lost Order of the Guardians- it might just be possible.

References S3 finale spoilers

Links in the reblog

Hawkmoth raced along the rooftops, eyes trained on Ladybug as she ran along in the street below. She was dodging between cars, clearly trying to throw him off and lose him, but with no luck on her end. She just wasn't fast or slick enough to give him the slip, which meant that soon enough, she would mess up and he would win. He would get her earrings and the Miracle Box soon enough, and then his akuma would take down the cat and get his ring.

Why Ladybug had made such an amateur mistake as to actually bring out the entire Miracle Box Hawkmoth didn't know- maybe she hadn't decided what other holders she would need to tap yet and panicked enough that she had just grabbed the entire thing- but frankly, he didn't care. All that mattered was him getting his hands on that box.

And then Ladybug tripped.

Hawkmoth could hear the gasps from the few foolish onlookers as she fell face-first on the pavement and the Box- if it could even be called that, it looked more like an egg now, or perhaps an strange attempt at a replica of her yo-yo- slipped out of her arms, first bouncing and then rolling away. Ladybug yelped and tried to scramble to her feet, but Hawkmoth was faster. In a flash, he was down on the street, snatching up the Miracle Box and racing away before Ladybug could come up with the presence of mind to try to stop him with her yo-yo. Back to the rooftops, then leaping over one street, two, three, racing along.

He wasn't going to lose the Box this time. No more handing it out to anyone else, except for Nathalie. That way, no dumb mistakes would be made, and he could make full use of the range of powers that the entire box of Miraculous would give him. He already had plans for several of them, power combinations that Ladybug and Chat Noir wouldn't be able to do anything about.

Second Chance, for one, would mean that their very next fight could very well be their last. Hawkmoth could keep resetting things until they went the way he wanted to. Voyage would let him pop up behind the superheroes without them noticing, too. And the Rabbit would mean that he could help himself in the battles, pulling a future him and Nathalie in to fight alongside their present selves, probably with different Miraculous. As for the others...

Well, Hawkmoth would look at them with Nathalie tonight, and between the two of them, they could come up with the best combinations for them to use. Perhaps they wouldn't get the other two Miraculous today- being too hasty to act could mean losing the Box again, just like they had before- but it wouldn't be long.

Several streets back, Ladybug dusted herself off and rejoined Chat Noir where he had been hidden in an alleyway nearby, ready to step in if Hawkmoth had gone after Ladybug himself. The two of them exchanged a triumphant look and subtle fist bump, trying to hide their smiles.

Hawkmoth thought that he had won this battle, but instead, he had fallen straight into their trap. It wouldn't be the supervillain's victory that would be happening soon, but theirs.

And they couldn't wait.

  It started several weeks after Marinette became Guardian of the Zodiac Box, after she spent an evening brainstorming ways to end the war with the flock of kwamis now under her guard. It was a big task, and a daunting one after only really countering Hawkmoth's attacks for so long, but it was a step that Marinette thought that they had to take.

After all, Hawkmoth had made gains with his thief of Master Fu's tablet (which Marinette had told her mentor to at least password-lock, but of course he hadn't), his fixing of the Peacock Miraculous, and his knowledge of most of their backup team. Meanwhile, the superheroes had lost their mentor and his knowledge beyond what he had passed down to Marinette. She had gotten a copy of the notes from his tablet to study before it was stolen, at least, so they hadn't lost everything, but there had been even more knowledge in Master Fu's head before he had gotten memory-wiped after renouncing his role as Guardian.

(And that whole bit was definitely a concern of hers, but- like a lot of her personal troubles and worries- it would have to wait until an undefined later to be dealt with.)

Their careful balance between superheroes and supervillains had been disrupted, and it was getting more dangerous for them to continue as they were. She and Chat Noir had to make some headway in figuring out who Hawkmoth and Mayura were, so that they could start some of their own offensive strikes before it was too late and so she wouldn't have to be so stressed out about balancing her superhero and civilian lives.

Thus, the kwami war-meeting.

"I would say to add more permanent holders, but you're still testing out new teammates," Ziggy said, sighing. "And it would probably be a good idea to find some people who aren't in your class, since Hawkmoth's going to have a close eye on you guys."

Marinette groaned. She knew that, in the back of her mind, but she had been ignoring it. After all, she had only been kind-of friends with people in other classes in previous years and didn't know them well enough to assign a Miraculous to them, so she had more or less defaulted to giving Miraculous to her friends. "That's a good point. Though!" She perked up as a thought hit her. "If people really switch up their transformation- because I know that the Miraculous can change what people look like- I might still be able to re-use some of our old teammates! Not Chloe, obviously, and they wouldn't be able to keep their Miraculous, just in case," she added. "But they have battle experience, which is helpful."

The kwamis considered that.

"It could work, but maybe give them some time to think of a new look," Wayzz finally told Marinette. "They'll want their hair color and style changed, for sure- and the suits! Those have to be changed up for sure. No two people are the same, and their suits will reflect that. It will have to be quite the conscious decision to change them."

Marinette nodded, writing that down on her to-do list. That made sense. "Okay. I'll try to do that this week- and since Chat Noir knows everyone, he can help, too. I'll just have to make it clear that we're definitely skipping Chloe. There's no point in getting her hopes up again, not when she made such a nuisance of herself last time."

There were noises of agreement at that, and even Pollen nodded her head sadly. She had clearly had hopes for Chloe, but Chloe just wasn't willing to let herself grow and learn at the moment.

"But that's still just a stopgap," Marinette mused, tapping her chin. "We tried following the butterflies back to Hawkmoth last summer, but that was a no-go. It's impractical to try to spot the akumas before they possess people, because it would take forever to even figure out where they were coming from. If we could make some sort of trap, one that we could deploy whenever Hawkmoth comes out, something where we could be sure that we wouldn't just accidentally trap civilians as well- that would be nice, but I don't know how practical that would be to even try."

The kwamis considered that.

"Well, you would definitely want something that relies heavily on magic," Trixx told her, spinning around in thought. "There's probably a spell that could do that somewhere! Not in the grimoire, though. It wouldn't be related enough to the Miraculous for that."

"And spells like that would take an experienced spellcaster," Wayzz chimed in. "I don't know if Master Fu would have been able to pull some of those off. He hadn't gotten to that part of his training when... well, when the temple was destroyed."

Marinette slumped, discouraged. "Well, it doesn't help much if I don't have the spells and wouldn't be able to cast them, either. I wish I had more mentors. I mean, Master Fu was great, but he had only been an apprentice, and now-"

"The temple is back!"

All of them swung around to stare at Kaalki, who was prancing around in clear excitement. After a second, Ziggy gasped and joined her, zipping around in circles. "The temple is back! The temple is back!"

"I- yes?" Marinette managed, blinking at them as two more kwamis joined the excited chant. "But it's in Tibet, and we don't know if the temple being back means that the monks are, too- oh, and if they aren't, that probably means that it would fall on me to make sure that the other Miracle boxes don't get stolen, and oh gosh, it's been weeks, people could have already raided the temple- but I can't leave Paris to go check on it, Hawkmoth could attack again and I can't leave Chat Noir alone, but I can't hope that Hawkmoth won't go over there unannounced- or what if he has Mayura do it? Ugh, this is too much to consider-"

"The old Guardians were brought out of limbo, too!" Pollen chirped loudly, snapping Marinette out of her spiraling. "We've been in contact with the other kwamis, now that they've been restored. We did tell Master Fu, but I guess we forgot to mention it to you."

Marinette settled back on the floor, suddenly boneless with relief and whiplash. "They- they are? Oh, good- but do they know about Hawkmoth? I mean, that footage of the temple was broadcast all over Paris, multiple times- he knows about them, I bet that he's planning on attacking them, too, and if they're not expecting it-"

"They know, and they've protected the temple!" Longg practically shouted, cutting off Marinette's second spiraling panic attack in just as many minutes before it could really get going. He waited for her to stop hyperventilating again, then continued. "They gathered up all of the boxes and scrolls and everything from the temple only hours after coming out of limbo and hid in their emergency cave nearby until they could get wards and traps up to protect themselves. I'm surprised that the news didn't say anything about the temple vanishing again after a couple days, because it's now shielded from the outside world."

"But I still don't see how that helps me," Marinette said, frowning. "They're in Tibet, and it sounds like I wouldn't be able to find them anyway, even if I could leave Paris."

Kaalki gave a delicate cough, and Marinette blinked at her for a moment before groaning. "Right, right, Voyage! But...the temple would still be hidden. And there would be a language barrier, too. I doubt that they would just happen to speak French."

"We could give them a heads-up that you would be coming, and then they can let you in," Sass told her. "And the kwamis could translate. We can make it work, for sure."

Marinette perked up at that, finally letting hope well back up. She wasn't alone anymore, not really. She could get new mentors, ones that were well out of Hawkmoth's range, were more than able to defend themselves, and had more training. She would still miss Master Fu, but she could soften the loss at least. "Oh! Great! But I want to come up with a trap idea before I go there. Maybe it's just a pride thing, but it's going to be my first time meeting them, and I'm a Guardian, too, and, like..." She let out a long breath. "I don't want their first impression of me to be of a blundering hero who doesn't know what she's doing."

"They won't think that, Marinette!" Wayzz assured her quickly. "They understand that the role of Guardian was thrust upon you when you weren't ready, and you were trained by a mentor whose training was less than complete. But if you want to go in with a little more planning in place, that's understandable. We can brainstorm more."

And so they all puzzled. Marinette tapped her pencil against her lips, trying to think of what kind of trap she could use. The kwamis had assured her that whatever kind of trapping spell she could think of, the monks at the temple either had a spell that fit that bill or would be able to develop one. She wanted something that could be portable, because Hawkmoth just turned up wherever the akuma fights were and those could be anywhere in the city. It had to be clever, because anything obvious Hawkmoth would figure out right away-

-or would he?

Marinette frowned at that. Hawkmoth had akumatized the same people over and over, with the same powers instead of adding on. He had missed really obvious openings, and given akumas powers that would destroy or hide the Miraculous instead of trapping them on more than one occasion, and not just when they were all just starting out. He had set-ups that seemed complex and like they should guarantee a win for him, but they fell apart around him. He got cocky and then messed up.

So something a bit on the obvious side could work.

Her fingers tapped at her notepad, trying to think. Best-case scenario, Marinette wanted to get both Hawkmoth and Mayura trapped at the same time, to finish up the fight for good. That meant that her trap would have to have a spell that wouldn't make it obvious that it was a trap- like, Hawkmoth couldn't be visibly contained- and the containment had to be in such a way that Mayura couldn't just let him go. Which meant that if Hawkmoth could be sucked into a sort of limbo, maybe, which suggested that he would have to touch something, maybe.

It hit her like a thunderbolt. What did Hawkmoth want- well, besides their Miraculous? The other Miraculous, which would give him a huge advantage. Obviously she didn't want to endanger any of the other Miraculous at all, so maybe she could make replica Miraculous to use in their place, and possibly a replica Miracle Box, too. If she could get some sort of trapping spell that would activate upon contact with skin, and then some sort of locator spell on the box, all the superheroes would need to do once the supervillains got their hands on it would be to wait for a bit to make sure that the supervillains weren't still roaming free, then stroll on in and collect it. Then, once they had had a bit of a rest, they could free the supervillains to defeat them and collect their Miraculous one at a time, in a time and place of their choosing, with all of the backup heroes they wanted. It was perfect.

Now, all they had to do was figure out how to make it work.

  Chains and cording and beads and clay and resin came together to one faux-Miraculous after another, banged out between akuma attacks and homework. Some pieces Marinette just bought from the store- the Ox's nose ring, the Horse's glasses, the Rooster's ring, and a pocket watch that she could modify into a decent enough replica of the Rabbit- but for most of the pieces, she put the pieces together herself.

Marinette still hadn't decided if she wanted to try to make a faux Miracle Box or if she just wanted to empty the real Miraculous into a temporary container and just use the real thing. If the box had stayed in the same shape as before it might have been straightforward- difficult and fiddly, but straightforward- to make a copy, but with her new box...

Maybe it was kinda cool that it was the same shape as her yo-yo, but it wasn't nearly as convenient.

"I think I should go visit the Guardians now," Marinette said, two weeks after coming up with her plan. "I mean, I'm nearly done with my Miraculous copies, and most of a plan in place. It seems like it's actually enough to show that I've done some of my own work, and I'm not relying entirely on the Order-"

"Which still would have been completely fine and entirely understandable," Tikki reminded her. "Which we did tell you. Are you going this afternoon?"

Marinette nodded. "Yeah. I don't have anything going on, I've told my parents that I'm studying at the library, and Alya is busy with Lila and the other girls. I don't have anything going on- and yes, I'm positive, because I've turned down stuff or canceled it ever since I came up with our plan so that I could get stuff done." She let out a long breath. "I'm ready to meet them. I just- I hope they aren't too strict, and that we can come up with a solution, and- Tikki, is it dumb if I'm worried about them wanting to come in and take over our fight in Paris? Like, it would be a huge weight off of my shoulders, sure, but it's been Chat Noir and I for ages leading the fight and doing it on our own, and for someone else to finish it..."

"I understand," Tikki assured her. "You've been the authority on the akumas since the start. But I don't think you'll have much to worry about! The other Guardians will probably be happy to play support. Just because they're older doesn't mean that they'll automatically assume that they know more about the situation."

"Good." Letting out a long breath, Marinette climbed up to her bed and unlocked the trunk where she was keeping the Miraculous, punching in the code for her inner box, then pulling out the Miracle Box. Three minutes later, Marinette was standing in the middle of her room with the Horse's glasses on, facing a last-minute bout of nerves.

"I have to know where I'm going to use the Horse, though," she fussed, fiddling with the top of her bag. "And I know what the temple looks like, but the wards will keep me out, I thought, and what if an akuma pops up- I mean, I know we just had one this morning, but two in a day isn't unheard of, just uncommon."

"I am also connected to the akuma alert system," Tikki reminded her. "Sure, your phone might be out of range, but I'll know. And Plagg can contact me, too, there's not a range limit on that. As for the temple, well..." She gestured to Kaalki. "She can explain better than I can."

"My last holder used coordinates, because that was a system that he was comfortable with," Kaalki told Marinette. "And sure, it you can picture a location, that's great, too. But for this- I would say just listen to your gut, and you'll end up there."

That sent Marinette into a round of giggles. "I'd rather not end up inside of my gut, thanks. That sounds cramped and probably breaks some rules of, like, time and space."

"Oh, you-" Kaalki swiped at her, clearly not upset at all. "You know what I mean! Just follow your gut feeling, and I'll get you just outside of the temple's wards. Let's go!"

Marinette nodded, letting out a long breath before calling on her dual transformation. Maybe it wasn't necessary- she didn't need to be transformed with Tikki, after all- but it was comforting to have her normal transformation and her yo-yo at her side when she was going into unfamiliar territory.

Besides, maybe the Guardians would be more likely to take her seriously if they saw superheroine Ladybug instead of normal civilian Marinette.

With one last deep breath, she relaxed and called on the feeling inside of her. "Voyage!"

The portal opened, and Ladybug stepped through. Her bedroom vanished, and suddenly she was standing at the edge of a valley bottom, looking out at mountains and a very, very empty field of green grass.

The portal closed.

"Okay, so I'm in Tibet now," Ladybug told the air, releasing the Horse part of her transformation. Kaalki spiraled free. "Uh. I guess I'll just...walk forward?"

"No, just wait!" Kaalki insisted. "Some of their wards aren't the friendliest, so you want to wait for a guide. They'll have a lookout who should see you soon enough. In the meantime- a snack?"

Ladybug nodded, reaching into her yo-yo to pull out the baggie of apple slices that she had stored there. "Of course. Here you go- oh, look, there's someone there!"

The old man who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere smiled, stepping closer and holding out a hand. "Greetings. You must be the newest guardian. Welcome to our temple- please, come in. We have a lot to talk about."

  The monks of the Order were friendly, if a bit formal, Ladybug decided as she talked with several of the eldest members of the temple. Their words were a bit stilted- apparently there was a translation spell in play- but they wanted to help her in any way they could. She had explained her idea for a trap right away, and already they had their best spellcasters on the job, looking through books and scrolls to find something suitable. While they waited, the monks answered some of Marinette's questions, getting a feel for what she had been taught and what Master Fu had not yet had a chance to touch on.

There was a lot that she still had to be taught.

"Not all of it is critical, of course," Master Tenzin told her, smiling. "I think that your plan to trap Hawkmoth will work well, and then you can call on your backups and us as well to defeat him and his assistant at your leisure. But it's good knowledge to have, so that we can build upon it and not lose it in the future, in case it's needed."

"Of course," Ladybug agreed. Everything was really interesting to learn, really, and it was nice to know what was possible so that she would know what was an option for plans in the future. "It will be nice to learn at my own pace, too. With Master Fu, we were rushing because we didn't know how much time we would have, and lessons with him plus my schooling plus akuma attacks and my regular civilian responsibilities..."

The monks around her nodded.

"That is why historically, we took in children and taught them here full-time," Master Sonam commented. "But I can see where that would be unpractical in this day and in your situation."

Ladybug smiled and nodded. She couldn't come here and learn in the same way that Master Fu had, even if she had wanted to. She had her own hopes and dreams beyond the Miraculous, and she wasn't going to give them up just because she had been picked to be Ladybug.

Before any of the other Masters could say anything else, one of the spellcasters stuck her head in, beaming. "We found a spell that's a perfect fit for what Ladybug wanted. It activates upon contact with skin and will suck the trapee into limbo. It's a fairly simple spell to release, and we can control how many people are let out at a time. And it will work with a small object such as the replica Miraculous."

Ladybug grinned, unable to help herself. "Oh, that's fantastic!"

"Will the replicas be ready soon, Amrita?" Master Tenzin inquired. "Or is it a multi-step spell?"

"It will take a couple days to cast the spell," Amrita told them. "There's a potion to soak the pieces in before the spell can be cast. But it will be less than a week, for sure. And we wanted to know, Ladybug- would you like us to create a replica Miracle Box with magic? It will take one more thing off of your plate. All we will need is a drawing. And the fake Miraculous, of course."

Ladybug perked up, flipping open her yo-yo so that she could pull out her baggie of replicas. She had finished the last one right before she came, which meant that everything was ready to go. "That's easy enough. Chat Noir and I found out recently that we can print out photos from our weapons, so if I just hit some buttons..."

The monks watched with interest as Ladybug punched several buttons, swiping to find the picture she had taken of her new Miracle Box. Another couple of buttons, and soon enough the yo-yo was spitting out a small photo, just like a Polaroid.

"Oh, that's different," Amrita commented as soon as Ladybug handed the photo over. "It looks kind of like your yo-yo! The spots aren't in the same places, of course, since there's a different number of them, but I can see the intention behind it."

Ladybug had to laugh at that. "That sounds like a nice way of saying that you don't like the design that much."

"No, it's just- I've gotten used to the Miracle Boxes looking a certain way, that's all." Amrita considered the picture. "We can do that, though. The kwamis will let you know when we've gotten everything ready."

"Thank you."

"On that note, we should probably let you go," Master Tenzin told Ladybug. "I had lost track of the time! We've been talking for quite a while. I can walk you to the edge of our wards."

"Of course." Ladybug sprang to her feet, making sure to do a quick bow to each of the monks and Amrita before following Master Tenzin out of the temple. He moved quickly for an older man, though she wasn't that surprised considering how speedy Master Fu could be when he wanted to.

"I am glad that you were able to come to us today," Master Tenzin told her as they reached the boundary of the wards. "It was great getting to meet you, Ladybug, and to learn more about the situation in Paris. I look forward to seeing you again."

"I- I had one more question before I go," Ladybug said quickly, trying not to sound as hesitant as she felt. It was just- well, maybe it wasn't exactly a pressing issue, but she had to know about the memory thing. "When Master Fu passed the role of Guardian down to me, he lost all of his memories. And I- I was wondering... I mean, I can understand it being for safety, but..."

Master Tenzin smiled, understanding. "Ah, yes. With Ladybug being such a big part of your life for so long and defining who you are, I can understand how the prospect of losing your Miraculous-related memories would be intimidating. But one size does not fit all; not all situations can be solved with the same solution. Likewise, there are many ways that a Guardian can pass on their duties, and most do not include full loss of Miraculous memories."

Ladybug's heart leapt. "There- there are?"

"Correct." He considered her, head tilting slightly to the side. "In this situation, Wang Fu knew your identity, and Chat Noir's, and the identities of a number of temporary superheroes as well. His identity, if the kwamis relayed the information correctly, was compromised. You were facing an active battle situation. If he did not renounce his Guardianship when he had the chance with you, he ran the risk of being taken hostage and being drilled for information. So he did a full wipe- which, I might add, is the type that we first drill into our trainees, because it is the most straightforward. In other situations, Guardians could opt for partial wipes or, if they were not in danger, no information wipes at all. We can cover different options the next time you visit, if you wish."

"That would be great, thank you." Ladybug bowed to him. "That is a load off of my mind. Thank you for taking the time to teach me today."

"It was our pleasure." Master Tenzin smiled at her. "Good day, Ladybug."

With one last bow, Ladybug called Kaalki to her, then summoned Voyage. In a flash, she was back in her bedroom in Paris. She was beaming as she detransformed.

"I take it that things went well?" Tikki asked, smiling. "You look happy."

"It was nice to get my questions answered," Marinette told her, grinning even wider. "It's a load off of my shoulders. And to have that last bit of the puzzle with the spells figured out- that was great, too. I have a whole support network there now."

Tikki spun in a happy circle. "That's great! I could tell that you got comfortable pretty quickly when you were there. I'm happy for you. What's next?"

Marinette considered that. "Well, I need to bring Chat Noir up to date for sure. He needs to know the plan, and that we're going to be ending the fights soon. I'd love to bring him along next time I go to the temple, too. He's my partner, after all."

"I think he'll like that," Tikki assured her. "And two heads are better than one! Maybe you'll have the temple to go to when you need it, but it's always nice to have backup that's close by, too."

  With the full power of the Order of the Guardians behind her and on the case, it was barely a week before Ladybug got the message that her trap-box with all of the cursed Miraculous replicas was ready to go. She and Chat Noir popped over to pick it up and visit the temple (and introduce Chat Noir to all of the monks, because he had been super curious and Ladybug wasn't going to deny her partner the opportunity to learn more) before being pulled away mid-visit by their akuma alerts going off.

It seemed as though they might have an opportunity to set their trap earlier than they had thought.

"Let me stash the box for now," Ladybug said, letting Kaalki free as she dropped the Horse part of her transformation. She smiled at the kwami, then took the glasses off and popped them in her yo-yo for the time being. "We don't know if Hawkmoth will come out or not this fight, so there's no point in carrying it around until we've seen it."

"Yeah, but where?" Chat Noir wanted to know. "It's not like your... yoyo...is..." He trailed off, staring in disbelief as Ladybug tucked the Miracle Box into her much smaller yo-yo. "How?"

"Magic?" Ladybug suggested, snapping her yo-yo shut before dangling it from her fingers, ready to throw. "I don't know. I wanted it to work, so it did."

It didn't take long for them to catch up to the akuma. There was no sentimonster to go along with it this time, which was nice, and it just seemed to be a rather run-of-the-mill akuma. It was strange that they could say that about an akuma that seemed to be directing an army of rubber ducks down the street, but- rather unfortunately- it was pretty similar to something they had seen before.

Of course, Hawkmoth had come out that time, too, so maybe it wasn't a bad thing after all. The sooner they got the faux-Box to him, the sooner they could bring all of this to a close and the sooner they could actually have at least some semblance of a normal life again.

Ten minutes into the fight, there was a shout from a civilian in one of the windows above, and the superheroes glanced up to see Hawkmoth on the rooftops, poorly concealed by a chimney. He sneered at the civilian, who slammed their window shut immediately, and Ladybug and Chat Noir took the opportunity to dash off, "retreating" onto a side street and then continuing their run away from the fight. Both akuma and supervillain let out shouts of frustration, and they ran faster.

They had to make it look convincing that Ladybug could have gone home and gotten the Miracle Box. If they could lose Hawkmoth for a few minutes, then zip back into his field of vision "accidentally", it would look much more convincing.

Hawkmoth might be dumb, but he wasn't so incredibly dumb as to think that it wasn't at least a little suspicious for Ladybug to vanish for only a minute before reappearing with all of the Miraculous under her arm. They couldn't drop the ball and take the easy way out now.

After a couple streets, Ladybug and Chat Noir took to the skies to move faster, then converged as though briefly discussing a plan before separating and dropping into different streets. Ladybug ducked down a manhole, following the sewer system for a short distance. Chat Noir joined her, wrinkling his nose slightly as they worked their way to another street. He would get into position a couple blocks in front of her, and then be on hand in case anything went wrong with their trap.

Her yo-yo beeped to let Ladybug know that Chat Noir was in place and hidden, and she checked her yo-yo to make sure she knew where he was before pulling out the fake Miracle Box and bounding out to the street, using her yo-yo to swing up into the sky a couple times to get Hawkmoth's attention before swinging lower, still fast but not as visible, and then dropping to straight running on the ground.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Hawkmoth landing on the rooftops and starting to give chase. Ladybug sent a "panicked" look over her shoulder, then upped her speed, dodging and weaving among the abandoned cars in the street as though she was trying to confuse him.

She was closing in on Chat Noir's block. It wouldn't be the end of the world if Hawkmoth got the box early, but Ladybug would feel safer if she "fell" where Chat Noir could help if Hawkmoth decided to come after her instead of going for the box. With another glance behind her, Ladybug sped up. She could see Chat Noir's alleyway ahead of her, closer, closer-

Considering how often Marinette tripped over her own two feet, it was no great difficulty to do a convincing flying stumble, her arms flailing and sending the trap-box spinning through the air. Ladybug hit the ground with an oof and laid there for a second before scrambling to her knees, doing her best to look like she was doing her best to get the box again before Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth looked thrilled as he scooped up the box, sending a smirk over his shoulder at Ladybug as he took off. Ladybug made to go after him, but as soon as he was out of sight, she dropped the act and headed for Chat Noir, making sure that they were out of sight of everyone in the street before exchanging a triumphant look and fist bump.

"Hook, line, and sinker," Chat Noir proclaimed, grinning. "Nice planning, my Lady. Now, what would you say to going and defeating that akuma to kill a bit of time?"

"I think that sounds perfect."

  Hawkmoth made sure to lose Ladybug on his way back to his lair, dashing through back alleys and hiding in several spots. It wasn't until a glimpse at the news told him that both superheroes had returned to the akuma battle that he felt comfortable making the final dash back inside, retreating to his lair and abruptly releasing his transformation. His akuma had been defeated, after all, and there was no point in holding Nooroo in any longer. Besides, it would be better to try out the extra transformations individually, in order to get a better feel for them.

"What to try first," Gabriel mused, tapping his fingers against the box. He pressed each individual spot-section, smirk growing wider as one drawer after another popped out with a Miraculous in it. The number of Miraculous at his fingertips... it was incredible.

There would be no trusting spoiled, irresponsible teenagers with the entire chest of magic jewelry now. Miraculously, the universe had given him a second chance with the Miracle Box, and he wasn't going to waste it again. Gabriel and Nathalie- and perhaps an akumatized minion, and a future Gabriel and Nathalie come back with the Rabbit to help out- would be the only ones using these extra Miraculous this time around.

There was the Fox, the Turtle, the Bee. The Snake, the Dragon, the Horse... Gabriel tapped his lips, trying to pick one. After another long pause, Gabriel reached for the Dragon. That was a nice, strong Miraculous, and the powers presented some interesting possibilities. His fingers closed over the Miraculous, excitement building in his veins-

-and then there was a flash of light, and then nothing at all.

  Nathalie checked the news feed on her tablet as the Gorilla drove her back to the mansion. She had had to take Gabriel's place at the latest Gabriel staff meeting, which had meant that she hadn't been on hand to help with the latest attempt to get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. That was unfortunate but not avoidable, really, and Nathalie could only hope that Gabriel wasn't in too sour of a mood. Still, it wasn't looking promising- from the sounds of it, the akuma battle had been relatively short and Hawkmoth's appearance had been just as brief, with him vanishing almost as soon as he had arrived. That suggested that the superheroes had gotten the drop on him, perhaps, and he had had to retreat to make sure that he wasn't defeated. There wasn't much else that would cause such a short appearance, really-

And then Nathalie spotted a blurred photo of Hawkmoth dashing across the rooftops, a rather familiar-looking box tucked under his arm. The new Miracle Box, unless Nathalie's eyes were deceiving her.

Somehow, Gabriel had gotten his hands on it again. No matter how the rest of the fight went, if he had managed to get more Miraculous, he was bound to be in better spirits than normal. It was surprising that he hadn't texted her yet, perhaps, but it could very well be that he was too excited and focused on trying out all of the new Miraculous to remember to let her know.

Trying not to smile, Nathalie tapped her fingers against her tablet impatiently as the car picked its way through the midday traffic, brainstorming ways that they could incorporate their new powers. It wouldn't take more than a fight or two for them to take the superheroes down now if they played their cards right.

The car pulled through the mansion gates, and Nathalie thanked the Gorilla quickly before sliding out of the car and walking as briskly as she could up to the front doors. Through the doors, across the atrium- Adrien was still out of the house, right? Hopefully she wasn't meant to be checking in on him and forgetting- unlock the office doors before heading inside, re-lock them as soon as they clicked shut. As soon as she was sure that they wouldn't be interrupted, Nathalie strode over to the hidden elevator and punched in the combination for the lair, tapping her foot impatiently as the machinery whirred into motion and brought her down, over, and then up, up, up, slowing down slightly as she approached the lair.

The lair, which was empty.

"Gabriel?" Nathalie called, frowning as she stepped forward. He had left the window open and as Nathalie watched, a couple butterflies escaped. Based on the number that were fluttering around, either Gabriel hadn't harvested more lately or a lot of them had gotten free. "Gabriel, are you here?"

There was no response. Nathalie's frown deepened for a moment as she considered the scene, trying to figure out what might have happened. And then, all at once, it hit her.

Of course Gabriel hadn't been able to wait to try out his new powers, since they hadn't had the chance to do a test run of any of the other Miraculous the last time they had the box. He had probably picked one out and transformed, then gone out for a run or something. Maybe he had grabbed the Horse Miraculous and used it, and so he was somewhere else in the city altogether.

The smart thing to do, of course, would be to wait for Gabriel to return so that he could play the part of lead supervillain, the head of their team, and Nathalie could be the obedient sidekick. But what Gabriel didn't know couldn't hurt him, and Nathalie rather wanted to try out a couple of the Miraculous on her own. The Bee's powers, for instance, looked like they could be promising in the right hands (and the right hands were not those of Miss Bourgeois), and the Fox could be used for distraction, and then there were several Miraculous that they had yet to see in play...

With one more glance around, Nathalie knelt down next to the box. Her fingers tapped the side in thought, and then she reached out for the Bee Miraculous. That would be the best place to start, probably, and then while she was transformed she could try to figure out where Gabriel was. Plan decided, Nathalie grabbed the comb.

She didn't even have a chance to scream before she, too, was gone.

  Ladybug and Chat Noir had recharged and let the Guardians know that the box had been deployed, then retreated to a secluded rooftop to wait for the signal that both supervillains had been trapped. There was no small amount of excitement in the air, giddiness at a successful trap set making both of them a little giggly.

"I didn't think it would happen so soon," Chat Noir said again, leaning back on his hands. "I mean, sure, Hawkmoth has been coming out for fights more and more often, and Mayura too- who knows where she was today- but I thought that we would have to wait a couple days. And I was just kind of like, how am I meant to sleep if we're waiting for that to happen? I would be too wound up to actually fall asleep."

"I'm still not going to be able to sleep," Ladybug admitted, fiddling with the strings of her yo-yo. "Especially if we don't get the signal today. Like, what if one of them gets sucked in, but the other doesn't? If they're in the same room and are actually cautious about it, the second person might decide not to risk touching anything."

"And then we're kind of left in limbo ourselves," Chat Noir finished. He flopped onto his back. "Okay, that's fair. Ugh. Now I'm going to worry about that, too."

"Sorry."

They fell into silence again, eyes occasionally scanning the Paris skyline. They had been told- or, rather, shouted to- that once both supervillains were trapped, twin magic beams of light would be shot into the sky, no matter what barriers stood between the box and the sky above. The spells would use the lingering magic from the Peacock and the Butterfly to identify the two supervillains, so that they could be sure that it was actually Hawkmoth and Mayura who were caught, not just random unlucky civilians. It was a complex, multilayered set of spells, and they were lucky to have people on their side who could manage that.

"What's the first thing that you're going to do once this is over?" Chat Noir asked, his voice quiet and barely carrying over the sound of the normal Paris traffic below. "Do you have plans?"

Ladybug huffed out a laugh. "I've been too busy to come up with plans. But I guess..." She trailed off, thinking. "I want to spend more time with my friends and family. Recently, I've really been holding off on making plans with people because they notice when I have to leave, and it stinks to have to miss things. I want to spend more time on my hobbies, because I don't know when the last time was that I designed anything and that stinks. I know the Guardians want to teach us stuff, too, but I might need a bit of a break before I go jumping into more Miraculous stuff."

"Being a normal teen sounds nice," Chat Noir agreed. "I mean, with my family- I've never exactly had that normal to start with, but more normal than what I have now would be nice-" His voice trailed off with a choke, and then Chat Noir raised a trembling hand, pointing at something behind Ladybug. "Bugaboo, the- the light has gone off. Look."

Ladybug perked up, spinning around. Less than an hour after their akuma battle had ended, they had the supervillains trapped! Her excitement rose-

And then crashed to the ground, shock and horror taking their place as what she was seeing sunk in fully. Twin beams of purple and blue shot into the sky, unmistakably coming from the Agreste mansion.

Apparently their earlier theory about Hawkmoth's identity hadn't been wrong after all, even though she had hoped that they might be, just for Adrien's sake.

(Arresting her crush's father had definitely not been in her plans for the day.)

Ladybug sighed, pushing herself to her feet to join Chat Noir and pulling out her yo-yo to let the monks know that they had already been successful. There was no point in putting off the undeniably unpleasant task of retrieving the trap-box and getting the supervillains out and arrested, no matter how much she wanted to.

For now, she would focus on the positives- Paris, and by extension Adrien, would be far safer with Hawkmoth and Mayura behind bars. Their days would be less interrupted, everyone would be less on edge, and, well, maybe without an overly controlling father overseeing every part of his life, Adrien would be able to do more things that he actually wanted to.

Things would be good. They would all get past this together and come on top, she was sure of it.

[engineeredfiction]

Solace Among the Stars Ch. 2 “Manifest Destiny

Rating: PG-13

What: Crossover fanfiction comprising of themes and elements from: The Expanse, Blade Runner, Prospect(2018)

Characters: All original characters except for Ezra and Murtry. OC are based on actors I like such as Tobias Menzies (Greer) and Adele Haenel (Allard).

Plot: A group of banned Earthers attempt to improve their life beyond their home system, but come up against a powerful enemy.

Mood board is here. You can also check out the ‘sol mood’ tag

And if you would like to listen to music to put you in the mood then check out the playlist. I’ll be adding to it as time goes on.

Special thanks: @tom-riddleston-me and @yourpalmoony for being beta readers! I appreciate the time and effort!

NOTE: The format is a bit off, I will fix that later, I just don’t have the patience now. But if anyone knows how I can preserve formatting from google docs to a tumblr post please let me know!

More Notes: We finally meet Ezra! Well he’s awake and talking in this one.

Chapter 1 ‘The Stranger’

The lift sped up to the ninth level of Arcadia carrying Greer and his mysterious escort. A metallic ding signalled their stop, and the lift doors opened to a sprawling view of two nearby moons through floor-to-ceiling windows. The moon Helada, ammonia ice streaked the blue rock, and in the distance was Bosque, or colloquially known as ‘The Green’, due to its poisonous green atmosphere and lush forests. The gas giant Bakhroma was off in the distance behind the moon.

   “This way,” the escort called motioning for Greer to follow him through the door behind the receptionist’s desk. 

   Greer pulled away from the view and glimpsed at the receptionist. There was an unnatural glow behind the young man’s eyes; he wasn’t human, but a replicant. Replicants always caught Greer off guard due to their ability to blend in with humans. He always thought their short lifespan was a necessary reassurance. 

   The hallway behind the door led to an expansive room with a flurry of activity. Desks were occupied with relaxed chattering people in well-tailored clothing. A young woman paraded around the office floor in a skintight latex unitard with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Greer spotted a bowl of black caviar on her tray. More food and bottles of wine were brought in by caterers.

   “Is there a party?” asked Greer.

   His escort gave him a sideways glance, “A celebration.”

   “Celebrating what?”

   His question was ignored. The escort pressed a bell by a door near the back. After a few seconds the door slid open to reveal Wallis’ secretary.

   “He’s been expecting you,” he cooly stated, “follow me.”

   Greer followed the secretary while the escort disappeared behind him. The office was large, smokey, and dark except for low gold lighting around the perimeter of the room and the light coming from the expansive windows behind his desk. Wallis was surrounded by a few members of Terra Corp’s managing staff, each carrying full-to-the-brim champagne glasses. A freshly-lit cigar dangled from Wallis’ mouth. He immediately turned to his new guest with a wide grin, gave Greer a once-over while he took a drag from his cigar, and strode across the black flooring to greet Greer. 

   “You must be Captain James Greer?” Wallis affirmed with an equally firm handshake. 

   “Yes.”

   “I’m Jaxtom Wallis. COO of Terra Corp.”

   “I know you who are.”

   Wallis took another puff of his cigar with a raised eyebrow and set it down on the desk.

   “Let me introduce you to some of the bigwigs of Terra Corp on this side of the galaxy,” he announced. He slapped a firm hand on Greer’s shoulder and guided him through the introductions, “This is Callista head of sales, Zarina head of engineering and sciences, and Dexton our lawyer, well one of many, and this brilliant man is Xavix. He’s the Director of Colonization for the United World Systems.”

   Pleasantries were exchanged and Wallis’s secretary handed Greer a half full glass of champagne.

   “What do you need to speak to me about?” Greer asked.

   “Straight to business? Take some time to admire my new cassowary! Here let me show you,” Wallis herded Greer with another firm hand on the shoulder. “I just got this beauty a few days ago.”

  The large mechanical bird turned its head towards the pair, two amber glowing eyes stared back at them. The beak opened and a tinny squawk forced its way out. It took a few steps ahead, stretched out the wings, and flapped a few times.

   “Isn’t it stunning?” inquired Wallis.

   “Wonderful,” Greer deadpanned. Greer furrowed his brow at the bird, “What is it again?”

   “A cassowary. The real ones on Earth are aggressive and can kill a person with its claws.”

“It adds comfort to the place.”

   “More of a touch of elegance I think,” Wallis either ignored or missed Greer’s dry sarcasm. “Listen,” he turned Greer back towards the staff and leaned into him, “We had a situation where a Terra Corp employee mistook one of your employees as a raider…pirate…marauder…and fired at them.”

   “She nearly died when the bullet tore her suit and exposed her to vacuum.”

“One I humbly apologise for.”

“And lost a hand.”

“I heard she had a limb regrowth procedure?”

“She did.”

“Well she’s good as new if not better! You see this mishap between her and one of my men has weighed heavily on me. I would like to make it up to you and your crew.” Wallis pushed a button on his desk and the hologram of a four planet system appeared. He continued, “Have you heard of the Basilicus System?”

“In passing.”

“The UWS has been in the Basilicus System for the past seventy years and has just announced that it is ready for colonization. Terra Corp has been given the first permit to begin working the grounds of Basilicus!”

Greer read the eagerly waiting faces of the staff, “And?”

“Terra Corp is a bit under financial strain-”

“I couldn’t tell,” Greer recalled his early sight of the celebration outside. 

Wallis chuckled sheepishly and continued, “we just can’t take a whole fleet out that far without getting a lay of the lands and resource samples and showing those refined resources to our board and investors.”

“How far out?”

Xavix butted in, “Two parsecs from Arcadia. Sixty three years each way if you go there straight from here. Sixty years if you go back through The Ring Network. ”

“A hundred twenty-six years!” Greer choked.

“But we can reduce that to fifty seven years both ways if we give you a new state-of-the-art ship,” Wallis persuaded.

“For a twelve year difference, we are not giving up the Sleipnir.”

Wallis picked up the champagne glass and balanced it between his fingers. He studied Greer’s face for a few seconds. Wallis teased, “There are five million credits on the table for this mission. Five million credits for each crew member. Imagine what you could do with five million credits. You could buy a penthouse on Mars, or Titan, or a house with acres of land on the lush green planets of Andromeda or Rhea with more than enough left over for the end of your days; buy fine things for your wife…or husband! Maybe for your future children? And out of this you get a new space transportation system, which includes the new model of suspended animation pods, Generation Nine nuclear pulse engine, and other luxuries for a long trip…”

Greer swallowed the rest of his champagne, “I need to discuss this with my crew and see what they say.”

“Of course. But we need an answer tomorrow. Time is ticking and we are eager to get this to work for the long term goal of Terra Corp.”

“What’s the long term goal? “Expansion. On Earth 19th century Americans believed in Manifest Destiny. The virtue, mission, and destiny of the United States was to spread its way of life across the country. We aim to do the same for the betterment of our people…of all people. We still have the desire; the need; the want to explore and go further than ever before. And Basilicus has four planets, and their moons, with an abundance of wealth waiting to be plucked from its virgin lands.”

A lump grew in Greer’s throat, “I’ll talk to them.”

“Persuade them.”

Xavix stepped forward, “Do any of them have mining or harvesting experience?”

“No,” Greer responded.

“I can add one of my employees to your crew. I’ll see to it personally you’ll get the best and provide training for you and your crew. Paid by me.”

“And what exactly will we be doing-”

“-I’m afraid I can’t tell you any more until you and your crew agree to the mission.”

The staff appeared to salviate as they silently waited for Greer’s answer, their fingers wrapped tightly around the stem of the champagne glasses. Their breaths trapped in their lungs and lips pursed.

“If the answer is yes,” Wallis asserted,, “bring your crew tomorrow morning.” 

****************************************************

“How long?” Murtry inquired as he crossed his arms. 

“Fifty-seven to sixty-three years. So a total of a hundred fourteen to hundred twenty six Earth years. Plus however long it takes us to get these ‘resources’,” Greer replied.

A collective groan came from the crew.

“We’re already twenty years out from when most of us left Earth,” Keane stated. She jolted out of her chair in the mess room of their ship, Sleipnir, to the cabinet that stored the libations.

“What’s adding a hundred to it?” Allard sighed, “Perhaps they’ve already forgotten about us on Earth and we can go back?”

“Not likely with the UN in charge. They keep permanent records,” Murtry interjected. “I may not be able to go back to Earth, but I don’t plan on being a star sailor for the rest of my life.”

“Born and bred ground pounder?” Greer asked Murtry as he followed Keane to grab glasses and she pulled out the whiskey.

“Exactly! I would like to settle on some bountiful rock, and five million credits will get that for me.”

“Five million credits from a corporation that has built its empire on blood and exploitation? All they ever were fines, freeze orders, and strikes, ” Keane complained. 

“Why not? They’ll be out of twenty million dollars with us on board!” Murtry retorted.

“But what did the UWS find out there that’s worthy of investing twenty million dollars, a pulse engine ship, and then the time it’ll take to get there and back? Must be something highly valuable.”

“And we would have to have one of their employees with us,” Allard added.

“I’m not comfortable with that and I want our own AI installed on the ship. If we’re going,” Keane insisted. 

“I agree, I don’t want one of their employees with us,” Greer moved to the table with three glasses of whiskey for each and sat beside Murtry leaving Keane the only one standing sipping the liquor.

Murtry gulped down the whiskey, “So what we do? Hire a floater? Unsavoury characters.”

“Kettle calling the pot,” Allard hummed.

“It’s pot calling the kettle.”

“Are you sure?”

The three nodded their heads towards Allard.

“It may seem strange to hear this from me, but Terra Corp is a double-edge sword. They’re a necessary evil. I know evil, I’m well acquainted with it. I’m slowly coming around from what I’ve done. And…I…it’s been more than twenty years since I’ve last set foot on Earth. The people I care about are either dead, dying, or don’t want to talk to me anymore. Or a combination of the latter. So why not travel the parsecs to the farthest reaches humans have gone and see worlds that haven’t been seen in person?” Murtry reasoned.

Keane stared at her boots; the soles were worn and on the edge of tearing, the original laces snapped ages ago and replaced with new ones.  

“What do you think?” Greer asked Keane. “Are you in?”

Keane clenched her jaw before looking up at him, “Let me sleep on it.”

“That’s okay. We can finish discussing this over breakfast and a plan on recruiting a fifth.”

Allard finished her whiskey. “You know what they want us to get?”

“Wallis wouldn’t tell me until we accepted the offer.”

“That’s dubious and not surprising,” Keane stated. She looked down at her boots again and thought how nice it would be to have a new pair that weren’t bought with tainted credits.

Trees, dirt, sand, metal, and blood, all at once. The sun was warm and the wind gentle. Keane tried to convinced herself  the desert in the middle of mountains was a dream and not an actual experience.

******************************************************************************

She was up first, waiting by the entrance of the docking arm to their ship. Her arms were wrapped around her trying to stay warm despite having a wool jumper on. Murtry greeted her with a cursory glance.

“I don’t want a ten minute story in a five minute bag. Too early and no coffee for that shit. Are you onboard for this? Honestly,” Murtry yawned and propped himself up on the wall.

She looked down at her worn boots, “It’s money. Which we all need,” 

“Yes.”

She shrugged, “It’ll be exciting to go to a new star system. One of the first to really see these planets and get into their dirt.”

“You should have been a scientist.”

“I was an engineer.”

Murtry lowered his tone, “Soon enough people will accept your kind and you won’t have to hide.”

Keane gave a shy smile, “You mean that?”

“I may have the face of an arsehole, the walk of an arsehole, and sound like an arsehole,” they both chuckled, “but I am sincere in what I’ve said. If it wasn’t for your…modification you would have died on that rock.”

Keane’s breath deepened. “I’m still human,” she smiled and part of her fringe fell over her face.

Without thinking, Murtry gently swept the ginger hairs aside, “Of course.”

The sound of footsteps approached. 

“Waffles! Pancakes! Sausage! Mimosas!” Allard cheered as she made her way through the docking arm. Greer dragged feet behind her, he pulled a polar over his head .

“No alcohol,” yawned Greer as he tried to smooth down his short brown hair.

“How are you so cheerful every morning?” groaned Murtry as he turned away headed for the mess halls.

Allard ran to meet Murtry’s pace, “Because each time I wake up, I’m so happy to be alive. Arrête d’être grincheux!” 

Smörgåsbord dining hall was quiet this early phase, or morning as ground pounders called it. A few tables were occupied but the chatter was low and infrequent. Kitchen workers filled the buffet with an assortment of breakfast foods. Allard swiped her credit card first and dashed to the buffet without waiting for the rest of the crew.

“The coffee smells so delightful!” Murtry moaned out in near ecstasy. 

Keane paced in front of him and smiled in agreement. She eyed the coffee station with hungry eyes and was thinking about a large cup of black coffee, but a patron caught her attention. It was the man who was in the bed beside her hyperbaric chamber. His new arm was completed and he was massaging it softly.

Good for him, she thought. His face wasn’t shaven, clothing showed their age, and dirt clung to his boots. He must be a floater, an unusually attractive floater. She looked behind to get another glance and their eyes met. I’ve seen him somewhere before. Before the incident. Keane snapped her head around and poured her first cup of coffee.

Allard placed her plate down a few tables over from the man by the wall. Her mouth was already full with food when Keane set down a cup of coffee for Allard.

“Je t’adore!” Blow kisses were exchanged.

Food was being shovelled into mouths and condiments were passed around. “I’m in,” Keane traced a flower in the maple syrup on the plate in front of her.

Greer patted her back, “Good, good. I’m glad you decided to stick with us.”

“Someone has to save your asses. Arses.” They shared a laugh. Keane continued in a whisper, “Who knows, maybe Terra Corp will go under by the time we get back?”

“Cheers to that,” Murtry raised his mug, “so, what are we going to do about finding a harvester?”

The man’s ears perked up and looked over at their table, Keane caught his movement in her peripheral. 

“Suppose we’ll go down to the docks and see if there’s any contractors or floaters. Plenty of decent Belters,” Greer thought out loud.

“There’s a job agency here yes?” Allard asked as she leaned back with her cup of coffee.

“Yeah. I suppose that would be the first place. We can’t just get anyone. We need someone trustworthy who’s not going to murder. Someone who can do the job…whatever it is exactly. And…not murder us and or steal from us,” Greer trailed off. 

“You’re really worried about someone murdering us?”, Keane laughed, “I guess we have to vet them first.”

“I can get a background check on someone quickly,” Greer reasoned.

“No, no. I know what you mean. But if we are required to hire this harvester, then at least we go the contractor route. Anyone who won’t sign a contract can’t be trusted.”

“Right,” Murtry agreed, “it’s why we avoid the floaters. Possibly avoid Belters, they-”

“-Why won’t those people do contracts anyways? The floaters I mean,” Keane wondered. 

“I think it has something to do with the legal fees. And maybe principles,” Murtry rolled his eyes.   

“It’s mainly the legal fees,” a voice boomed to the group. In unison the crew turned towards the man who approached them with a stride of confidence that cut the air he moved through. 

“Legal fees shouldn’t scare anyone in need of work.”

“Well some folks are in rough situations that don’t allow them the comfort of throwing credits to lawyers,” the man’s voice was accented with a drawl, “and so they turn to the honour of word and hard work.”

“So we just rely on the word on some floater to uphold their end of the bargain?”

“What’s a contract going to do for you out in The Empty when you’re faced with someone stronger than you?”

Murtry glared at him.

“Clearly you have an interest,” Greer chided, “since you’ve listened to our conversation.”

“My apologies, but I do good sir,” the man claimed. He sat down at the table next to Greer, “I’m Ezra.” He extended his arm towards Greer.

Hesitantly, Greer accepted the handshake, “I’m Greer. These here are Allard, Keane, and Murtry.”

“Surname basis I see.”

“It’s standard. What’s yours?”

“That’s a tale and a half,” Ezra advised as Murtry rolled his eyes, “but I go by my mother’s name Reyes.”

“Ezra Reyes?” questioned Keane.

“It’s a strange combination for sure. My mother and father came from two very different backgrounds, but fell in love regardless.”

“So what can you offer us?” Greer returned to the point of this meeting.

“I am a floater, yes, but I may have the skills you desire for this fifth wheel.” 

Greer looked over Ezra’s shoulders as more people filtered into the dining hall. “How long have you been doing what you’ve been doing? What do you do?”

Ezra took in a breath. “I have been harvesting all over the inhabited systems since I was a spry teenager. Plants, gems, a variety of metals and foul smelling liquids to keep structures like Arcadia spinning and our ships flying. And I am willing to sign a contract.”

“You are?” Murtry blurted.

“I am. I am a man of my word. Now what is that you’ll have me do and where are we going?”

The group collective drew a breath and it was Greer who spoke, “We are going somewhere far to harvest samples of some material.” Greer carefully described.

“Well that is nebulous.”

“It’s for Terra Corp.”

Ezra gave pause upon Terra Corp being mentioned. “I suppose I am sitting in front of some well-accomplished team to have caught the eyes of one of the most powerful companies in the occupied Universe.”

“It’s basically an adventure of a lifetime and good money,” Keane cracked her neck.

“Yeah and far away to the outer edges of the travelled galaxy,” Murtry huffed.

Ezra’s curiosity peaked, “How far is the travel and how much are they offering?” He was met with apprehensive glances, “It’s a large sum of money?”

Greer ran a hand through his hair. “Two parsecs away and payment is in the millions.”

Ezra’s eyes widened, “Oh. I’ll be honest that caught me off guard,” he gave a weary smile, “My math isn’t the greatest, but I do believe that’s over a century of travel is it not?”

Keane finished her coffee, “Correct. A hundred and-”

“-twenty six years,” the crew said in unison. 

“That’s an awfully long time. What do your loved ones say?” Ezra said as he flexed his new right arm and shook it a few times. 

The crew found themselves in another round of meaningful silence which Keane broke, “we don’t have anyone but ourselves. We’re loners, we’re rebels.” She smiled to lighten the mood and Ezra smiled back.

“I like you,” he pointed at her. “I find that hard to believe that not one person in this part of the galaxy wants to be around any of you, except for this curmudgeon,” he nodded towards Murtry. 

“Like I said, we’re rebels.”

“And what are you rebelling against?”

Keane sighed and gathered her thoughts for a second, she looked to her crew but none of them were interested in talking to a stranger about where they were from and why they were out this far from home. “Join us and maybe we’ll tell you.”

Murtry scrunched his eyes closed, Allard nudged Keane with a flirtatious smile, and Greer couldn’t help but grin.

“I have been known to go great lengths for a good story, but I will admit a century of travel is intimidating.”

“You’re willing to spend that century with strangers? You don’t have anyone?”

“No I don’t,” Ezra lied, “I’m a floater. For now.”

Greer looked Ezra over, “We’re meeting with Terra soon. You have more presentable clothing?”

“Why yes I do own interview clothes,” joked Ezra.

Tag list. If you do not want to be on this please message me. I have tagged people who requested it and those who I think may be interested.

@opheliaelysia @a-carnie-and-a-cop @1-800-fandomtrashqueen @tarrevizslas  @dindjarindiaries @pedropascalisadilf @pedropascalito @maiden-of-asgard @rzrcrst @lizanotfromaroundhere @aint-that-a-mcfreakin-bitch @spacegayofficial @opheliaelysia

[jeidafei]

D.Gray-Man Vol.26: Komui’s Lounge (Extended) 3/5

>> Part 1 <<

>> Part 2 <<

Question 13: How is the cover image for the tankobon (comic book) and Jump SQ. RISE (the magazine) decided?

Lavi: The author has full liberty for the comic book’s cover, but in the magazine’s case, the exclusive designer will ask the author to draw it according to their image of the cover.

Allen: You know so much, Lavi. I’d expect no less from the author’s bosom friend!

Lavi: Are you dissing me, Allen-san?

Marie: So the designer is the one who decides the character and their pose?

Lavi: Yep. I heard sometimes they even request color tones as well. Because the cover is the face of the whole magazine, Hoshino’s nervous when drawing the magazine’s covers, unlike the comic book’s.

Link: On a side note, on the cover of this latest Volume 26, General Cross is holding a toothpick in his mouth.

Allen: Do we have to go into such detail?

Link: I thought there might be those who are wondering.

Lavi: That’s because back in Volume 14, she drew General Cross holding a cigarette and got scolded.

Bak: What’s wrong with that? Couldn’t she draw whatever she wants to?

Lavi: Well, after all, this is still a shounen manga 

(T/N: comic written for teenage boys).

Wisely: Grown-up issues, indeed.

Question 14: Link, between English and French tea, which do you prefer?

Link: We’ve received a number of beverage-related questions. For example, How many sugar cubes does the Millennium Earl consume during teatime? and Exactly how delicious is Lenalee Lee’s coffee? As for my preference, I’d probably say English tea. Inspector Lvellie prefers French tea, though, so I’ve had a great deal of that as well. The Earl prefers English, doesn’t he?

Wisely: Correct you are. The Earl has an awfully sweet tooth. He puts in 20 sugar cubes and lots of milk for a cup of tea. He’s such a dear. He’s moping lately after Desires told him to cut back on his sugar intake. What a dear.

Allen: I wonder why he would consider that adorable.

Lavi: There’s more sugar than tea in your tea, too, right Allen?

Allen: SUPER SWEET TEA WITH SALTY THINGS IS A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN!!!

Lavi: Do you really have to yell it?

Link: Make sure you brush your teeth well, Walker. You’re always sleeping right after your meals.

Allen: Roger roger roger.

Link: Only once is enough!

(T/N: In Japan, saying “yes” (hai) more than once is considered rude, as it shows annoyance. I get that a lot from my coworkers.)

Marie: You had tea parties with Lenalee and Miranda sometimes, right Allen?

Bak: WHAT!? Walker! You!

Allen: Eh? Wait! It’s just because they said they’ll give me sweets. There’s no ulterior motive on my part! Besides, it’s more like Link and Lenalee’s tea discussion with me tagging along than a tea party, actually.

Link: What are you talking about? I was the one accompanying you!

Allen: Well, aren’t you the one who did the most talking?

Link: That’s because you were busy eating the whole time, isn’t it? Lenalee Lee seems to make a hobby out of serving the Science Division coffee and tea, so we simply exchanged ideas on tea leaves and brewing. She’s more of an expert than even me on tea, after all.

Marie: Looks like she’s been studying up for the Science guys’ sake. She learned coffee brewing straight from Head Chef Jeryy himself too, and her coffee’s simply awesome.  

Lavi: Plus, you also get to behold that adorable face as she hands you your cup with a smile, and it enhances the experience. Hey, Allen, Lenalee’s been taking really good care of her hands, ya know? Said she wanna serve us tea with beautiful hands. Ah, she really is a lady...

Allen: I’m getting all choked up right now.

Bak: Lenalee-san...you’re wonderful. (in love♡)

Question 15: Does Lavi wash his face with his eyepatch on? Or wash his face in secret?

Allen: He leaves it on.

Lavi: I TAKE IT OFF! OF COURSE I TAKE IT OFF! But yeah, I do wash my face in secret!

Allen: You always leave it on when we use the Order’s communal bath together, don’t you? Why do you have to be so secretive about it? Stop being so stuck-up and let us see it already!

Lavi: Argh! Stop, Allen! Stop yanking! Aaaaaargh! 

Marie: Oi, Allen! Lavi told you to stop, didn’t he?

Link: Walker, stop wasting our precious paper bullying Bookman Jr.

Wisely: There, there. It’s fine, isn’t it? Our readers will get stressed out if we keep it all stiff and heavy. Besides, the boy hasn’t seen Bookman Jr. in ages and he’s just thrilled.

Allen: That’s not it! 

Bak: That aside, why do you need to hide it? Is there some secret behind it?

Lavi: Well, about that...I really can’t say anything.

Question 16: Since when did Supervisor Komui and Head Chef Jeryy become close friends?

Marie: When...? They already seem close by the time Head Chef Jeryy transferred to Headquarters, though. 

Bak: That’s because Komui was the one who recommended Jeryy for the transfer. Jeryy was a cook in the Asian Branch at first, and he went to all sorts of trouble taking care of Komui back when he just joined the Order. Komui was a completely different person back then, you see. He had this slightly dangerous streak about him, so Jeryy probably couldn’t find it in him to just leave him be.

Komui seemed prejudiced against Jeryy for a while there, but then he might’ve lost the battle of wills, and before I knew it, they’ve already become close. After that, when Komui was promoted to Supervisor, Jeryy was the first he called over to Headquarters. It might’ve been to help Lenalee-san who was mentally ill back then, I reckon.

Link: I don’t mind them being close, but calling each other by the likes of “Komie-sweetie” and “Jerry-deary” in the vicinity of Order members is quite out of line in my opinion.

Wisely: That Jeryy-summat lad’s food seems real delicious to me. I’d love to try some.

Allen: Negative. Jeryy-san is mine.

Lavi: He’s not yours...

Question 17: Are Noah Memories comprised of only original memories of the past? Though the Noah Memories are passed on from person to person, can we conclude that the human memories of previous Noah hosts are not passed on to the next Noah host as well? 

Lavi: Now this is an interesting question.

Wisely: Hmmm. Yes, the memories are passed on. When we are awakened as Noah, an enormous amount of memories and data would come rushing into our heads, and among them are also the memories and emotions of those who were previous reincarnations of Noah.

Allen: I had the memories of Suman, who became a Fallen One, flow into my head once. Back then, I felt like I’m going to lose my very self. My head felt like it was breaking apart, and I was really scared. Though you’re all Noah anyway, you guys really are something, living carefree even with memories and feelings of countless other people within you. 

Wisely: We’re not carefree, boy. In the past there were also Noah whose selves were devoured by the memories and were destroyed. In order to keep that from happening, usually most Noah unconsciously suppress those memories. By doing so, we can shut out the memories of the previous incarnations. However, if Noahs are injured by Innocence, they might not be able to suppress it anymore, and those memories would come flooding back. We Noah also have it tough as well. 

Allen: Now that you mention it, the Noah really do seem to become more violent the more we attack them.

Wisely: The profound hatred towards Innocence within the memories is what makes us so. That’s why we’d like you to be gentle with us ♡.

Allen: That tendency to joke about is just what drives me up the wall.

Lavi: Is it true that even among Noahs, the Millennium Earl is the only one who lives for several thousands of years?

Wisely: Correct.

Bak: Do all humans have the possibility of awakening as a Noah?

Wisely: They do.

Marie: And that awakening cannot be prevented?

Wisely: No. Furthermore, once they learn of Noah’s mission, they would accept it with their own free will.

Link: And what is Noah’s mission?

Wisely: Oh dear. That’s a secret~♫

Link: Tch.

Question 18: Looks like Allen’s hobby is saving up money. Was he doing other part-time jobs apart from helping out at the cafeteria as well?

Lavi: Nah, mostly it was just the cafeteria right? ‘Coz you got to sneak some bites.

Allen: It was the best part-time job on earth. At the Order, looks like it’s just the stint at the cafeteria and helping out the Science Division. Actually I’d wanted to earn a bit more, but what with rewriting reports, studying and trainingーeven on holidays I’m still quite busy. 

Link: What’s with that disgruntled look? Fulfilling your duties as an Exorcist is just natural. Besides, you’re being paid to be one anyway, aren’t you? 

Allen: But that’s totally not enough at all!

Wisely: Can’t be helped, with that much debt on your tab.

Bak: Such hardship at such a young age, Walker. Unimaginable to me, though, well-bred as I am.

Allen: If your heart pains for me, then please donate. (whips out donation box).

Marie: “At the Order”, you said. You mean you’ve worked elsewhere before?

Allen: Back when I was still training, I worked with Master as guards for caravans. Functions as battle training, too. It was a rough job, but the pay really was wonderful. To top that, we also got free meals, and debt collectors didn’t pursue us into deserts, too. 

Lavi: You really seem to be able to survive anywhere, huh.

Link: Caravans...? So that’s how you’ve been mingling in and lying low. No wonder we hadn’t been able to track down General Cross.

Question 19: What became of Kanda’s underpants that Lavi hid back in the Weekend Schedule? 

(T/N: From Gray Log. Argh dammit haven’t got round to translating Lavi’s)

Marie: Oi! Lavi! You really are such a pain!

Lavi: Ack! Sorry! But Yu’s always so calm and cool, you see. Makes me wanna see him freaking out for once.

Bak: You must really have balls to try that out.

Link: So uncivilized... (T/N: I feel like I’m quoting Obi-Wan a lot...)

Allen: So? Did Kanda freak out?

Wisely: You seem to be enjoying this, boy.

Lavi: Naaaaah～Actually, he just got dressed like nothing happened then went out to the forest for night practice.

Allen: ーwith NO UNDERPANTS ON!?

Marie: Well, it’s not totally unexpected...or rather...Kanda probably won’t get worked up over such things?

Wisely: I see...It’s the same with Tikky too. Is it just that gorgeous men do not need underpants to be gorgeous men?

Allen: I have completely no idea what you’re talking about here.

Lavi: To top that, looks like Yu just slept in the forest like that with no underpants on, too. It really wasn’t worth the trouble hiding his pants. Ah, bummer.

Marie: It's not just ah bummer, is it!? Give Kanda back his pants!

Lavi: Whaaaaat!? Even if I did return it to him, the way things are Yu wouldn’t remember it anyway. He’d probably just say something like “Huh? What’s this about?” then just stalk off! And I’d be left looking like a dork who bombed a pant-stealing prank! It’s embarrassing!

Marie: You got it backwards. What’s embarrassing here is the fact that you hid someone’s underpants, good grief (weary face).

Allen: Marie, you have to be more seriously angry, otherwise you’ll never get through to Lavi. Gotta look more strict.

Lavi: Youーyou traitor! You were all grins back there when you heard how I hid Yu’s pants, weren’t you, Allen!?

Allen: Was I? Of course not. Unlike you, I’m not a little kid.

Lavi: Ha! You’re one to talk! Whenever you do part-time at the cafeteria, you’re always stealing bites out of Yu’s food before you serve it to him. Think I didn’t know!?

Allen: That’s because Kanda’s always mocking my hospitality skills. Befitting punishment, I say! It’s not like you’re any better, Lavi. I know you’re always stuffing Kanda’s bag full of porn whenever he goes on a mission. And then there’s the time you tampered with Kanda’s toothpasteー

Lavi: You were with me that time, weren’t you!?

Bak: There’s more?

Wisely: A-ho-ho-ho (laughing). Somehow I feel like we can be good friends, boys.

Marie: Would you guys stop it already? Look, I’m grateful that you boys care about Kanda, since you guys are around the same age, but tone down the pranks! He’s still not used to these things. 

Allen, Lavi: Aw, come on~!

Link: We shall not let our precious word count be depleted further by such a nonsensical topic. This conversation ends here!!

>> Part 4 <<

[fmdminjae]

date: august of 2008 location: jinhae-gu, south korea scenario: minjae experiences his first, high school love. word count: 1,531 notes: this mildly discusses issues with sexuality!! so if that triggers you in any way, i advise you don’t read this! & hey PLEASE click here to read it on mobile bc i’m changing minjae’s theme atm and it’s gonna look so bad if you don’t!!

“kang jinwoo.”

“huh?”

“kang jinwoo,” a voice repeats,  interrupting your reading with an extended hand covering the book you’d been so into. looking up, you notice a boy, presumably a student, staring down at you. while you couldn’t be bothered to put on more than a sweater and jeans, this jinwoo...looks different. trendy. sporting a loud jacket, black jeans, and a graphic tee, he’s everything you aren’t - bold. the thought excites you, and yet you remain weary as your hands interlock, greeting each other.

“i’m...minjae,” a younger, naive you croaks, voice coming out much more inwardly than you’d  like. “lee minjae.” it’s like candy to your company, and with a grin he repeats the name as if it were something foreign.

“lee minjae? it’s cute.” cute? guys aren’t cute, you think, but a part of you believes it’s simply your brain forcing you to believe things that aren’t true. because when he says it, you feel like your heart’s been told to beat just a little faster.

“i-thanks.” you’re still not too good with words, all these years later. “have we met before, jinwoo? you look like a high schooler, and i’m sure i would notice you if we were classmates. jinhae-gu’s not too big, anyways.”

your companion grins, shaking his head. “we haven’t, but i saw you earlier today and thought you looked nice. it’s my first day here, i’m from seoul.” even though the city’s only hours away from your own, the thought makes you feel like you’ve met a boy from a different country. he certainly stands out, that’s for sure - that dialect he’d always envied, how he looked like he’d stepped fresh out a tv show, and how he makes your heart flutter.

no, not that. it can’t be.

or...could it?

“i’m not all too smart,” he admits, interrupting all those thoughts cluttered in your head. “so i was wondering...could you help me with some stuff? i’m in my third year of high school, are you too?”

you aren’t, but you do help. your brain’s been a year ahead for your whole life, anyways. with ease, you begin to help the older to understand. just an hour, he says, i’ll get out of your hair soon. but before the two of you notice, the librarian taps your shoulder and reminds you they’ll be closing in ten minutes.

three hours. swept away like three minutes.

and that’s just the first time. after that there’s a second, a third, a fourth. each a little less school-oriented, days of tutoring exchanged for evenings of laughing and crimson cheeks. without much discussion, you’ve moved your meeting spot to his house. perhaps it’s his devilish smile, proposing something more even you can’t pass up. or maybe it’s the gleam in his eyes, proving he’s no bigger threat than a burmese.

those months, spent together with him are the best of your teenage life. under the dim yellow lights of his room, surrounded by posters of bands you wish you were cool enough to know about. there wasn’t a care you possessed, living like that. until the day came, the one you haven’t yet erased from your mind a decade later.

“have you…ever kissed a guy?” he asks, eyes looking not at you but instead fixed upon the wall of the room. you freeze, finally forced to confront the thing that had been haunting you since he showed his face all those months back.

“of course not. why would i?” you ask. while you laugh, it’s out of fear, rather than true amusement. fear that he knows. because when he turns to face you, he’s nothing but doubt, seeing through all your walls you’ve put up. doubt. never has your vulnerability been so frightening.

“i’m serious, minjae, you haven’t...thought about it? ever? wanted to see what it’s like, just once?” it’s like he’s reading right through you, everything you’ve been dying to confess. heart palpitating, sweat forming on your forehead. you find no way to lie your way out of it, especially with the one you’ve been dying to kiss just once staring you down. shrugging, voice as meek as a stage frightened child, you mutter. “maybe.”, then the world explodes.

“then can we?” he asks, awaiting your response. but nothing comes out. faces centimeters apart, each’s eyes trained on the other’s lips. and to think you thought girls made you nervous. this was completely new terrain, and the pure unfamiliarity sent you into a wave of emotions. despite all the confusion, you know, just know that it’s what you want. so, after a probable hour of silence you nod your head in consent.

and that was the day you had your first kiss. who would’ve thought? those immature crushes on your classmates, those girls who’d quietly confessed their feelings for you, none of it had ever amounted to something as big as this. a kiss. something so magical, that had always been the antidote to all problems in the books you surrounded yourself with finally turned into something more. something real. when the two of you pull away, you expect regret. embarrassment. disgust. but they don’t come. the bubbly feeling in your chest doesn’t subside, and you surprise yourself and jinwoo when you lean in once more.

and oddly, it’s….fine, between you two. like nothing’s changed. it’s as if the kiss took away any tension you ever had. neither of you mentions it, or any of the other moments you share, to anyone but yourselves. but no one can deny that you haven’t grown closer. the months leading up to the end of the term are spent side by side in the halls, apart only to go to your respective classes. even when the bell rings and everyone heads home, you two are the last to go. lingering in the streets, hoping for just a few more minutes together. you have dance at 7. he has to be home by 8.  you come up with a compromise, one where he walks you all the way to dance and dashes home to make it in time. you swear it’s the cutest thing ever, watching him wave you goodbye as he jogs in the opposite direction. you pray moments like this last forever.

but they can’t. no matter how naive you are, you know all good things come to an end. the reality of graduation washes over you two, and before you know it he’s packing up for college.

“so this is….really happening? you’re going back to seoul?”

there’s a lingering silence. for once, you hate how quiet it is. because it makes you realize that there’s nothing left to be said, nothing left to be done. his decision is made.

“mm,” he answers shortly, not wanting to linger on the subject. “you’re all that’s here for me, minjae. i wasn’t meant for small towns, they’ve never been my style.”

you want to scream, aren’t i worth staying for? but you don’t. because you refuse to be selfish. if anything, you know what it’s like to be constrained, son to parents who want anything but for you to fulfill your biggest dream - to dance. you don’t want to clip jinwoo’s wings, too. so you nod, smile, and whisper the words you mean but hate to admit. “you should go, then. to seoul, i mean. i want you to be happy.”

so he does.

as soon as he’s out of your grasp, you cling to his social media for any updates, seeing what life’s like now that he’s back in the city. reuniting with friends, trying new things, doing everything you wish you could. instead, you stay behind, studying all night and waiting for the day you’ll feel as free as him. you two call, but as time passes so does the time between you two’s conversations. he’s a young adult, wandering as he pleases around the country. you’re still a student, working hard to stay afloat and graduate. two utterly different paths, not destined to cross again.

so you do what you promise to do, and let him go. soon, you’re off to college too, and you feel even more free than you thought he was. travelling to a new country, studying abroad and having the best time of your life. becoming an idol, something you would’ve never fathomed just a few years before, has become all too real to you now.

you let him go. but you don’t let yourself forget.

even after all this time, when asked about your first crushes and your ideal types his face crosses your mind. you smile, and answer with some celebrity’s name to appease your audience. but you wonder where he is. how he’s doing. if he’s watching you on tv with the same bittersweet feeling you’d once had towards him.  

has he forgotten your name? the days and nights of a better time, hands interlocked and eyes peering at one another? has he erased the feeling of your lips connecting from his mind, or how it made the world feel like it was on fire? you hope he hasn’t.

because you won’t. you never forget your first love.

[beauvoyr]

Lazy People’s Club for the Sleepy and Tired | 1

blooming | the ghost™ Pairings: Noctis/Reader Genre: Friendship/Romance/Friends-to-Lovers Tags: Fluff, Humor, Eventual Romance, Slow Burn, and an inappropriate amount of references to video games and classical music and literature titles Chapter Rating: T  Crossposted on: AO3  Summary: Rules to join the Lazy People’s Club for the Sleepy and Tired: 1) One must love sleep. Sleep is love. Sleep is life. 2) One must be tired. Physically or emotionally, both are acceptable. 3) One must love video games. Halfhearted interest in video games will result in immediate termination of membership.

Fortunately, Noctis falls into all three categories.

THERE’S A ROOM IN THE far northwest wing on the 56th floor, just segmented at the end of a hallway, flanked by two vases of romantic roses. Rumour has it that servants would occasionally glimpse a white entity traversing the corridors. Sometimes they’ll hear the fragile notes of a piano being played, or drawn-out groans of anguish. Classic spooky ghost stuffs, Noctis thinks. Misplaced sounds of footfalls, feet dragging across floor, broken thumps against the wall, followed by a long and shrill silence. There never used to be a royal haunting before this. So why now?

Noctis’ initial experience with the ‘royal haunting’—or so he aptly dubbed it—is a strange sound reverberating down the hallway. So odd is the sound that he stops in his tracks and looks over his shoulders to check if anyone’s around. He sees nothing. The hallway is as chilly and empty as ever, devoid of human presence, as the sun fails to penetrate the clusters of stained glasses dotting the walls. Save for the gloomy setting of the hallway, there isn’t much that catches his eyes. Noctis’ only response to the whole situation is a slight furrowing of his brows, ears intent on picking up the sound again.

Nothing.

The prince checks his fine wristwatch, examining the numbers on the face. It’s only a little past 2:00 p.m., and waaaay too early for ghost to come out and rattle their chains. Not that he believes in any of that hocus-pocus because there are simply no such things as ghosts. Absolutely nothing of the sort. He’s lived here for most of his life, and he supposes he knows better than some smarmy ghost trying to win his attention.

Finding nothing else warranting his concern, Noctis straightens his back and walks away.

“IT’S TRUE, YOUR HIGHNESS.”

In the middle of giving his pancakes a thorough surgery, Noctis looks up from his cream-laden knife. “What is?”

The maid who initially spoke up gives a squeak, hastily covering her face behind her serving tray. “A-About the ghost,” she speaks haltingly, studying his impassive expression with mild concern. “We all heard it… the piano, the footsteps, the thunks and the thuds. We hear creaking doors too but by the time that happens, we’re all too busy running away already,” she admits with a nervous laugh and a smile too wide. “S-So maybe you shouldn’t go there anymore, Your Highness…”

This again? The palace’s rumour mill changes weekly, but lately The Ghost™ has been constantly topping the charts. Not even Noctis’ glorious midterm marks from his university could shove it off from #1, so he had to settle with #2 this week. Spearing a piece of his caramel-swirled pancakes, Noctis takes a moment to savour the taste in between chewing as he mulls over her words.

Ghosts and the Citadel, how funny. But it’ll die down, sooner or later.

Thinking nothing of it, the prince dissects the second layer of his pancakes and gives it a proper burial between his teeth.

EXCEPT, IT DOESN’T DIE DOWN.

It grows with a vengeance like it’s trying to spite Noctis for all it's worth.

Between their little breaks scattered across their arduous training sessions, Gladiolus—or as what Noctis likes to call him, Gladio—wipes his sweat with the hem of his shirt. “You heard about the ghost in the northwest wing yet, Noct?” he begins the conversation, and Noctis is already rolling his eyes at the thought. Gladio doesn’t seem to mind that. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Been hearing so much of this ghost thing until you gotta wonder if it’s real or it’s just,” he shrugs, “bullshit.”

A month and a half has gone by since his first haunting, and The Ghost™ is still a cult favourite among the ranks. Sure, the higher ups haven’t caught wind of it yet, but the manservants and staff members are exchanging fervent whispers in the hallways about The Ghost™ and its daily haunting like it’s the bane of their existence. As much as he’s tried to convince them that there are no ghosts in the palace, and certainly no ghosts inhibit the 56th floor, their retold experiences said otherwise.

“They really need to stop it,” Noctis replies dryly, dropping his training sword on the hardwood floor with a clatter. Gladio mimics his action and they both sit on the floor, drying their sweat. “They’re probably imagining things again.”

“So you think the whole servants imagined this stuff?” Gladio chortles, cocking a brow.

Now that it’s coming from Gladio himself, Noctis feels rather stupid for suggesting something like mass hypnosis. Wholly impossible and entirely unimaginable. Instead, he looks away from his Shield and gets on his feet once more, picking up his practice sword. Gladio doesn’t answer his silence; he only throws his head back and laughs.

SUNSET KISSES THE APEX OF the Citadel, the crystal refracting scarlet shards all across Insomnia. 56th floor. A little past evening, yet all too soon for the blankets of nightfall. A perfect time to go on a little hunting trip by himself. He knows he shouldn’t be here lest he desires to stumble across an apparition of the ghost—but that’s exactly what he’s looking for: Trouble. It doesn’t take him much to ascertain the presence of something else with him, something unseen to his naked eye. Noctis’ sharp hearing picks up lilting soprano down the hallway, a haunting opera accompanied by fragile notes of piano. The rise and fall of the song lures him closer and closer, close enough until he sees the twin roses framing the doorway to a distant room.

He knows this song. Ave Maria. A classic, much like his Lucian lineage. The exact name of the composer escapes his mind like everything else his classical teacher taught him though. Not that it matters when he stands in front of the ornate door, hearing the voice of The Ghost™ and her choice of requiem. How quaint, really, befitting of The Ghost’s™ ancient age.

Placing a hand on the unpolished doorknob, Noctis expects resistance—it happens all the time in ghosts stories where the doors are mysteriously locked and barred from humankind. Instead, he is met with the yielding metal turning under the flick of his wrist, with nary a shriek or a jumpscare waiting for him around the corner. He lets the door fall away, revealing the entirety of the room to him.

What he expects is something out of a grisly horror movie like what Prompto always rented on their movie nights. Bloodied walls, shredded curtains, an acrid scent filling the air and bucketful of maggots wriggling all over the crusted flooring. A corpse or two decorating the corner, posing in that stereotypical murdered way, one with its head facing down, and the other, a hand on its stomach. Maybe an axe murderer will be waiting for him behind the door, ready to tackle him to the wall in an epic fight that he can pass down to his grandchildren as bedtime story.

Maybe not.

Noctis notes the sour disappointment on his tongue when he catches sight of a vast landscape stretched before his eyes, with not a trace of blood or innards—nothing of the sort. Insomnia, a sprawling cityscape of skyscrapers and veiny roads, stained scarlet from sunset. The grandeur of the image is framed by wide glass walls and a chiffon curtain too thin to block out the lights. Here, Ave Maria is heard loud and clear, carried by wall-mounted speakers in each corner of the room—and certainly not from The Ghost’s™ singing.

He doesn’t miss the wall-sized bookcase at the farthest end of the room, stacked with thick tomes and boring books. Most of them looked as though they’ve seen better years, worn down by hand after hand. Mounted on a wall, a television and its tangle of gaming consoles lounge about in a corner, with rows and rows of video game titles arranged underneath it.

The knowledge of this room’s existence makes Noctis lean against the doorway in deep contemplation, a hand on his chin. With the theory of ghosts being dispelled in an anticlimactic manner like this, it’s hard to say if he feels victorious from this sort of outcome. It doesn’t make for a thrilling retelling at all, nothing like the epic tales of King Regis’ adventures passed onto him. As much as he wants to—

“Hey.”

—jump out of his skin, he doesn’t. Almost.

A soft-sounding thing stands in a corner unnoticed to Noctis’ eyes, just slightly visible in the right hand corner, almost mistakable as a pale blob. Holding a white blanket amongst a fort of pillows, he supposes that person—well—Ghost™ is the source of everyone’s nightmare. Though really, this isn’t the exact showdown he’s looking for, with blankets for shields and pillows for swords.

“Hey,” The Ghost™ says again, this time pointing at him. A monotone, devoid of any emotion whatsoever. “Will you please close the door. I want to get some sleep. Come inside if you wanna get some sleep too.”

It certainly isn’t a question. And definitely not an order. But Noctis closes the door behind him all the same, and blinks at The Ghost™.

THE CROWN PRINCE OF INSOMNIA looks baffled. You can’t blame him, really, when he’s obviously smitten by the sight of these goose-feather pillows and cottony goodness. Running your hands over the blanket, you spread it on the floor and smoothened out the crinkles in the corners. For good measure, you trekked over towards an oaken cupboard by the side, withdrawing two more sets of comforters from its depths, ceremoniously dumping the contents all over your wall of pillows.

Carefully fashioning the pillows around your little island of blankets and comforters, you turn to look over your shoulder where you last saw Prince Noctis. True to your memory, he still stands there, silent, dark eyes taking in your hands petting the pillow, the blanket, the comforters—everything. It’s as if he hasn’t seen a pillow fort before, for goodness sake. You quell the urge to explain to him what a pillow fort is, in case his royalty prohibits him from learning such crude arts, and saved it in lieu of patting the place beside you.

“Don’t forget to take your shoes off and come here,” you say, ignoring how his eyes travel from your pillow to your face, and again, ignoring how he’s blinking rapidly like he doesn’t believe this is happening to him. “That is, if you really wanna nap. If you don’t want to, well,” you rub your nape, apologetic, “just lock the door behind you before you leave. I’m too tired to move right now. Please and thank you, Prince.”

With that, you promptly made the blanket your new home, lying on its glorious softness and resting your aching head on the pleasant support. You could practically hear the little cracks from your neck and your spine as you shifted about, trying to burrow your entire body underneath the heaps of comforters in little wriggles. After achieving the perfect position in your little nest of warmth, you closed your eyes, eagerly welcoming sleep’s embrace with arms wide open.

That is, until you hear clip clop clip clop all over the floor, making you stifle the urge to groan. Can’t exactly make faces at the prince unless you want to be tossed out for treason, even if he’s dirtying your floor. With a heavy heart and an even heavier body, you summon the last vestiges of your strength—much like how King Regis summons his grand weapons—and sat up once more. True to your suspicion, Prince Noctis has already made his way to your desk, curious eyes examining your arrangement of desktop computer, books, books, and more books, and a pen or two.

A name. He’s searching for something to identify you. But you know he’ll find none where he’s searching.

“Prince, please don’t walk all over my floors with your shoes,” you mumble, resting your chin on a pillow you hugged. His eyes briefly flit to meet yours as his hands are hard at work, generously sifting about your table’s contents in his search for a name, then he falls away, disinterested. You almost wanted to chastise him—almost—if you aren’t sufficiently drained from energy. “Just… well, close the door behind you after you’re done. I’ll mop the floor tomorrow.”

He doesn’t answer your initial statement. Instead, he asks, “Who are you?”

Must he do this now? Even if he’s the prince and half of the rightful owner of the Citadel—with the other half belonging to King Regis, you aren’t sure if your muscles could support the drooping of your eyelids. It’s getting harder and harder to focus on Prince Noctis by now, on his furrowed brows and his jutting bottom lip, on his ceaseless hands and his casual shirt. The sunset paints his pale skin a watery red, making him look flushed to your eyes. Flushed or badly sunburnt, you couldn’t decide. But the room grows darker and darker with each passing minute of your observation, and sleep is gradually consuming you, starting from your eyeballs.

“I’m—“ you pause to make way for a little yawn, which causes him to regard you with a cross look, one that you return with a shrug. Or at least, a sleepy attempt at a shrug. “I’m tired.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” he quips, closing the last book shut as he puts it away. Leaning against your table, he crosses his arms over his chest and assumes every bit of regality a prince has, in his blood, under his skin, but definitely not on his tongue. “No, I’m serious. Who are you? What’re you doing here?” To his credit, he does look around again, this time in less confusion. “Is this your room?”

This again?

Unable to stifle your second yawn, you rub your watery eyes and lean your cheek against the sagging pillow. “Like I said, I’m tired, and I’m trying to sleep in my room.”

Despite having answered all of his questions, the prince appears inordinately displeased. “Do you know they’re calling you The Ghost around here?”

The Ghost? What an absurd name for one like you. While ghosts are certainly terrifying, spirit-like things manifesting out of unfulfilled vengeance or from having died a horrible, bloody death, you’re rather certain both your skin and flesh are still attached to one another. There are no pressing urges for you to consume brains for breakfast like zombies, nor the overwhelming urge to possess someone through their nightly dreams. How odd indeed.

“No?” you answer, though it sounds as though you returned his question with another question. At his vaguely exasperated expression, what with his brows tight and his lips pursed, you pursue a different approach to the answer. “No, not really. I just don’t care whatever they want to call me. As long as I get some sleep, I don’t really care.”

You half-expected the prince to reprimand you for tacking in ‘sleep’ on every sentence coming out from your mouth. Because, of course, fairytale princes are always haughty and snooty. Always mouthy, always cross. Always disapproving of everything in this world. Yet, Prince Noctis observes you with a startling amount of concern in his eyes—or whatever it is that you’re misinterpreting thanks to your lack of sleep—and scratches his cheek. “You’ve got permission to live here?”

That’s new.

“Temporarily,” you answer, not even bothering to straighten up because you’re pretty sure you’re tipping sideways on your pillows already. Your eyesight blurs with another yawn, and you’re already burying your face into the fluff. “Your father, King Regis, is very kind.” Muffled, but still audible between the high notes of Ave Maria. “I can’t exactly repay his kindness, but at the very least, I can return a fragment of it to his son.”

You’re pretty sure you’ve lost Prince Noctis by now, so you’re not even surprised when he meets your statement with recurring perplex. “What does that mean?”

This is silly. All you want is some sleep—or at least a quick thirty-minute nap before you resume waging a war on those papers. With the prince stumbling across your humble abode and his barrage of interrogation, sleep is naught. All is lost. You’re fighting a losing battle with your eyelids, and you’re only left with yawns to replace words for your ammo.

Your famous last words are but a few.

“You’re welcome to nap here for two hours, if you want.”

Then, your world darkens with the sunset.

mother presses a kiss on your forehead, tucking you into your cot. a silent amulet of protection for you, for all the years to come. father only watches, his eyes heavy, his mouth set in a thin, firm line. in the background, a servant plays the piano, her untrained fingers mangling the melody, unconcerned.

THE METALLIC SOUND OF A spoon clattering against ceramic startles you out of sleep. Heavy, throbbing headache pounds the back of your brain, announcing that it’s still there and it’ll soon riot into migraine if you don’t pop a few pills to take care of it. Pressing a hand to your forehead, you take a moment to let your eyes adjust from darkness to light. Dry throat. Excessively warm skin. The sky is dark and night is cool, but why are you burning up? It must be the work of a fever setting fire somewhere in your body, you think, as you draw yourself up from your cozy pile.

Past your table is a miniature kitchenette, where whitewashed cupboards deck the barren walls. It’s where you keep boxes of cereals and plastic plates, with the occasional ceramic and porcelain strewn in the mix. Milk in a small fridge fitted into a nook, saucepans and ladles lining up the bottom, mugs hanging off the hooks, a stove closest to the cutting board, and a little rug sitting by the sink. You find the prince already making himself at home, pouring a bowlful of cereal and some milk for himself. That explains the first noise.

The second noise comes from your television, where you belatedly realize he’s already set up your gaming console and even had the audacity to steal a few of your pillows to make himself comfortable. Not that you could fault him because one: You did permit him to stay; two: He is the prince after all; and three: Your pillow is a temptation few could resist. Consulting your wristwatch, its fine numbers tells you that it’s a little past 8.30, and the sun’s long gone by now. Your nap went a little too long, you supposed.

Dispossessed, you stretch from your burrow, languidly rising from your makeshift nest. “Good morning, Your Highness.”

Aloof, he barely turns to give you a once-over before returning to his cereal. “It’s night.”

“If I say good night, then it means I’m going back to sleep,” you reply. Though, after much consideration, you tacked on, “Not that anything’s bad with more sleep. Sleep is good for the body.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, you love to sleep,” is all he says, already waving you off. He’s not wrong, but you’d like it more if he’d repeat the sentence with a little more enthusiasm in his flat drawl, just so he’d reflect how much you love and adore sleep. Hands full with a bowl of cereal and a mug of drink, the prince makes his way to the television once again, sitting down cross-legged on the floor to make up for the lack of sofas in your room. The moment he sets aside his meal, he finally turns to you again. This time, his expression is serious.

“Who are you?”

Again?

He is really persistent, you note.

Untangling your limbs from the blanket and comforters, you remove yourself from the seductive temptation of your pillow fort and puttered over to your pantry. Seeing him helping himself to a bite of your cereal seemed unfair—not to mention, your stomach’s growling from the lack of dinner. On your tiptoes, you reach for a bowl from the overhead cupboard and paired it up with a spoon, its handle gleaming silver. Hands busy making a generous dosage of cereals and milk, you answer his question calmly.

“I’m the owner of the cereal you’re eating.”

“That stopped being funny two hours ago,” he points out, now with a frown. “I’m serious. Who are you and what are you doing here? Not many people are allowed to live here, you know. If you’re lying about what you said, the guards are gonna throw you out. Can’t smart-mouth your way out of that one.”

With all the fuss he’s throwing, you somewhat understand where he’s coming from. As much as you’d like to sustain this secrecy, the prince is making a dastardly good point. Even with the King’s blessing, it’s a little hard to stay out of trouble if his son is kicking up a storm over your existence, whether the rest of the Citadel cares or not. He is the son of King Regis, after all, and it’d be wise not to cross the man you’d end up serving—one way or another.

Retracing his footsteps, you plod your way towards the TV and settle down by his side, putting your meal on the floor. Within such close proximity, he doesn’t flinch or even edge away as his knee brushes yours. Stoic, cold, an unmovable presence. Up close and personal like this, the prince is wildly different from what the newspapers printed—dissociated from the silent pictures and brooding images, his pictures now own a voice.

A voice you know you’ll hear from years and years onwards.

His eyes search yours, and you allow him to ravage your thoughts. Not that there’s anything left in there anyway. All that’s left are the bones of a man; a family built on the tragedy of others.

He won’t know.

And he’ll never know your name either.

“I’m from the House of Andronicus,” you say, lowering your eyes. “Please call me The Architect, Your Highness.”

[tbc.]

[ending notes]

a chill fic about a protagonist who wants to sleep and play games all day long. ovo )

Things to note: nameless protagonist ahead / following the JP version of FFXV’s speech pattern since Prompto’s speech pattern in JP is sooo cute / lots of sleeping ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) literally tho / contains an inappropriate amount of references to video games, literary works, mythological references, classical music / ratings are subject to change in the future ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) / plot thickens / will include link and references to music in every chapter ovo;;

Future chapter previews: [2] If you were implying he practices poor hygiene and cultivated mushrooms between his toes, he’d sorely like to prove you wrong by subjecting his feet to your intense scrutiny, but that’s just wrong. And it feels weird too, just showing his toes to some girl he just met yesterday. But then again, you are weird—strange—whatever it is, and almost as obstinate as King Regis. Noctis somehow thinks you’d sooner make inappropriate comments about the shape of his feet and the length of his toes than being disgusted by it.

[3] Blatantly ignoring the fact that he stood there for a good ten minutes, you roll onto your stomach and sit up on your elbows, cradling your phone in your hands. You give the prince a levelheaded stare, one that definitely means business. “ ‘course I have to play King’s Knight. My MP refills at this hour so I’m going to finish it, then I’m gonna head back to sleep.”

[4] Seeing how Noctis is already halfway removing his boots and toeing off his socks like it’s an unspoken agreement between you two, Prompto hastily unlaces his own boots and rolls off his own chocobo-dotted socks. He only utters a silent prayer that you don’t judge him by his socks, or worse, make fun of him for wearing them. They were on sale, damn it.

[5] Ignis sidesteps the strange behemoth-man, already having removed his shoes and socks as per custom before entering your room. In his arms are grocery bags spilling with vegetables, wrapped meat, and other condiments, settling them on your small kitchen counter. “I’ll make something quick for all of us. Would sandwiches be sufficient for tonight?”

[6] You almost rolled your eyes at his command. “Prince, in case you haven’t noticed, the aggro’s already on me. Just that your Ray Jack’s in the way, so it looks like you’re tanking it since you’re absorbing all my hits.” The look on Noctis’ face is best described as the calm before a storm, so you quickly bit your tongue and remedied it with the press of a button. “Right—let me just go and get the wyverns from Prompto while you stay on the boss.”

[7] Is this a newer version of a wet dream? With girls showing up in his bed, holding up a phone to his face? That’s impossible. Noctis is sure his toes are freezing and his fingernails are bluish bordering on purple and this really doesn’t feel like any of those hormonal teenage fantasy phases he outgrew—even if it’s too realistic to begin with.

[8] The lift takes them up to the 56th floor, where the maze-like twists and turns of many similar hallways would’ve complicated someone who doesn’t know what they’re searching for. Yet, Noctis knows. A practiced habit for him, Ignis realises, as he retraces the winding hallways to take him to your room. That much tells him of the prince’s whereabouts if he’s not with any of them.

[nahrosaparks-blog]

Racial Issues and Literature

IMAGINE THIS:

It’s a cool Saturday afternoon, with a light murmur of a breeze, and you and I are out. The sun is round, bright, and the sky is smeared in pure blue and blinding white dots of clouds. There’s the loud buzzing of voices and vehicles that climb and tumble over each other.

You and I, we push open the heavy doors of a bookshop. Grinning, we look around in wonder.

That’s when you spot the YA books and we head over to the back of the store. The books stretch from one side of the room to the other, some covers are streaked with the faces of white protagonist.

Perhaps you noticed the problem or maybe you didn’t.

But I for one defiantly did and I paused.

There’s no person of colour; No one who looks like me on those book covers.

That is the problem.

Stories and literature have been around for millions of years, and are perhaps the oldest form of entertainment and the most powerful tools, along side words, in the world.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, there will always be an interesting, engaging and creative book out there that captures your attention and ignites a deep love for stories.

When we were kids, some of us can recall yearning and begging parents, teachers and relatives for stories; as teenagers we recounted to our fellow peers’ gossip, tram rides, sibling feuds, and funny stories; as adults we find comfort in exchanging stories of our youth for amusement or lessons for the young to heed by.

Stories provide for us an insight into someone’s mind, in a form that deepens our understanding of someone. They offer us perceptions of one’s private life, which we find interesting and reassuring since we all led private lives, and show us more than the naked eye can see.

Literature expose us to our highlighted humanity, which seems almost lost in the misery and injustice of the world, such as emotional connection after hearing stories of struggles refugees go through.

Stories inspire us to learn from mistakes, make amends and strive to do better in our lives. Take for example the inspirational stories of people like Malala Yousafzai, Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela.

Taking all this into account, it’s fair to say that stories and literature often reflect the world we live in. What you see around you is what you see within pages, and that’s what makes them so real and powerful.

They reflect society and stress the mistakes, evil and virtuousness in the world that we often skim over in our daily life until we have the opportunity to analysis them.

However, in literature and stories there are major problems that need to be addressed. The issue I want to address in this entry is: racial issues in literature.

In order for a story to impact you they need to be real. How real are the books that reflect our lives? How real are they when they lack diversity? When they whitewash characters and book covers? How do they reflect our society now?

Note: In today’s world we lack the appreciation of diversity.

There are many problems with race, particular in YA books, apart from the lack of people of colour as protagonists. Books such as Liars by Justine Larbalestier, where the main character, who’s African American, hasn’t been presented the way she’s described in the pages, but rather as white in book covers in order for the book to be more attractive are a major problem. This is whitewash, and it needs to stop. However, Liars was one of the lucky ones; as soon as the book was published it was called out for it’s whitewashing and people, bless their souls, banned together in order for the cover to be changed into a golden-brown girl, rightfully.

Did you know that it’s been scientifically proven that readers often depict a character as being white when the character hasn’t bee racially identified? Yes, sadly this is true. An example of this is when the first Hunger Games movie came out and people were disappointed that one of the characters, Rue, who wasn’t racially identified in the book, was played by a black actor, Amandla Stenberg, who portrayed her excellently might I add.

People were so outraged and disgusted that they took to social media to voice their harsh opinions. Some of them admitted that they thought Rue was white, while others implied that because Rue was black she was less innocent and therefore they felt less empathy for her. OUTRAGEOUS!

Often when characters who are people of colour, specifically black characters, they tend to be minor characters, side kicks, that are depicted as having, or being, the following stereotypes: hilarious (then again that might be their personality), have swag, play basketball, are crack heads, thugs, pregnant, served time in jail, have dropped out of school, are poor or have just been dropped into the story for more diversity.

We’ve come a long way as a society, yet still we have a long way to go. It’s issues like race, discrimination and prejudice, and even sexism and misogyny, that we fail to identify and we must work to prevent them from happening by uniting through the power of story.

In order to prevent these stereotypes and issues we need to aim to expose children, from prep to year twelve, to books that reflect all sorts of cultures and get them to examine and discuss novels. It’s only then that we know this new generation, have the courage and knowledge to love themselves, for they’re differences and appreciate other for theirs, to call out and identify racism and educate others on these issues.

I strongly believe that it is through literature that we can break the mold by challenging racial issues by studying literature and using what I call the three E’s: Exposure. Examination. Experience.

Exposure:

In order to eliminate racism in the world through literature we need to expose children from a young age to diverse books at school as well as at home. It has been scientifically proven that wide readers are better at interpreting people and understanding their history, culture, experiences and that would be a great benefit to not only children, but, everyone.

Introducing children to these diversities creates a deep profound empathy towards people from different backgrounds, units’ children from the very start of their lives and helps them understand racial issues. Empathy towards characters, in their books, who are pinned based on their stereotypes and discrimination increases empathy to those who face issues in the real world. Not only that but children world be inspired to help and protect those who are seen as being different and build a new and glorious world where the word equality matches it’s meaning.

Examination:

The next step after exposure is to examine. We need to discuss with children what is happening in stories in order for them to understand, feel involved and teach them how to challenge them orally. Teachers and parents should all be involved in students and children’s discussions about books and how they address racial issues and not only that, they should be role models to these children. Each and every one of these adults are encouraged to encourage, support and guide their children, or students, every step of the way, because they’ll need just that: guidance and reassurance.

Discussing stories with children helps to educate them on their history in a broad spectrum and teaches them about the consequences of their actions and how they should appreciate the differences in others and themselves. These discussions, especially in classroom, units’ children and gets them involved with other children of different races, teaching them about culture, how the media portrays people and brings other issues into the open.

Experience:

The last step is experience, which is basically allowing children to act on what they’ve learned, just like when we discuss books in a classroom we are asked to prove our understanding in essays, questions or exams. After reading and discussing books and issues, in a comfortable environment, children would become more aware of the world around them and would easily detect any signs of issues.

Experience is the best possible way for children to learn by themselves, for themselves, because actions speak louder than words. It’s important, and I can’t stress how important it is, for people to experience things in order for them to deepen their understanding. This understanding would help identify discrimination, racial issues and other broad issues in the world and give children the chance to voice they’re opinions or educate others on these matters.

Books reflect out lives, and this developing society needs to aim to break all these social and irrelevant rules, barriers and issues that restrict and harm people through literature, which we can all connect and relate to because in our lifetime we will have been exposed to, examined or experienced these issues.

We need to start changing our world by changing our reflections. Our mirrors: books. By doing so we break our society’s corrupt principles and begin to embrace our world social reality.

We need to change the way we approach things and it’s only then that we’ll change our outcomes. So let’s challenge our society by breaking the mold through stories and literature.

I invite you to open your eyes, hearts, books and embrace the world around us for what it really is.

[cameronwjones]

Event Sponsorship: The 2019 Guide

Sometimes event sponsorship can mean the difference between a widely successful event and a gut-wrenching failure. Unfortunately, not every event planner knows how to find and secure these all-important partnerships.

That's why we wrote this guide. Keep reading to learn:

What event sponsorships are and why they're so valuable.

How to find sponsors for your event and pitch them correctly.

What a great event sponsorship package looks like.

How to prove ROI to potential event sponsors.

What Are Event Sponsorships?

Let's start with the basics: what is event sponsorship? An event sponsor is a company that supports an event, usually by providing funds, in exchange for something valuable. Oftentimes this "something valuable" comes in the form of increased brand exposure, access to attendee data, speaking opportunities at the event, or discounted event tickets.

Companies sponsor events in the hope of moving their own organizations forward. If your event presents an opportunity for them to do that, you'll likely be able to secure partners and improve the outlook of your gathering.

It should be noted that not all events will be enticing to potential sponsors. For example, internal events rarely provide enough value to other companies for them to invest in an event sponsorship opportunity.

Why Event Sponsorships Are Valuable

We now know the "what" when it comes to event sponsorship. But what about the "why"? Why should you spend time and resources researching, contacting, and securing event sponsors? Is it really necessary?

The answer to that question depends on your organization and the kind of event you plan on hosting. But in general, yes, securing event sponsors is worth the effort for three main reasons:

1. Budget

Running an event is an expensive endeavor. Oftentimes ticket sales alone won't allow your event to break even — at least not while keeping ticket prices affordable. What's an event planner to do? Secure event sponsorships. In 2017, sponsorship spending, according to Sponsorship.com, exceeded 23 billion dollars in North America alone.

This tactic, when executed properly, will allow your event to be financially viable and keep ticket prices affordable, ensuring more attendees will be able to come.

2. Credibility

Be honest - all things being equal, would you rather attend an event with no sponsors or one that's sponsored by Amazon? Most of us would rather attend the event sponsored by Amazon, even if both events were being put on by the same company, were on the same topic, and had the same speakers. Why? Because Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the world and if they decide to sponsor an event, the general consensus is that they believe in it.

The same thing goes for your events. While partnering with a company like Amazon may be a stretch, securing known and respected brands in your organization's field to sponsor your event will lend it instant credibility and likely increase registration numbers.

3. Other Resources

Lastly, sponsors may be able to provide your event with other resources and perks beyond just money and credibility. For example, perhaps your event partners with a local restaurant. In exchange for promoting their business to all of your attendees, they'll allow you to host the gathering in their event space and will provide catered lunches.

Another perk that sponsoring companies can provide is increased exposure for your event. Let's say a customer of a sponsoring company is browsing the sponsor's social media feeds and sees that they've partnered with you. The customer may decide to attend your event because they trust the sponsoring company.

How to Improve Your Event with Event Sponsorships

It's time to get practical. How do you find potential event sponsors, convince them to partner with you, and create valuable sponsorship packages? That's what we'll cover in this section.

Finding Event Sponsors

Finding event sponsors isn’t as challenging as it seems. To secure event sponsorships, you first have to find the right companies to partner with. We have three tips for you in this regard:

1. Know Your Event

First, you have to know and understand the particulars of your event. What is your overall vision for your gathering and what goals are you hoping to achieve? Also, what sets your event apart from other events on similar topics?

These are the kinds of questions that potential event sponsors will ask you. If you know the answers to them before you start contacting brands about sponsorships, you'll put yourself in a position to not only answer with ease and clarity but also only contact the kinds of companies that align with your event values.

2. Identify the Right Partners

We just touched on it briefly, but knowing which companies would make for excellent event partners is key. Rather than spamming every business you find and presenting them with event sponsorship proposals, we recommend that you first identify the kinds of companies that would be a good fit. Then reach out and interact with only those brands.

This will save you time — contacting organizations that don't align with your event brand, or don't have a history of sponsoring events isn't productive — and increase your success rate.

3. Use Online Resources

Knowing your event particulars and the kind of companies you hope to partner with is great. But you still need to actually go out and find organizations that fit your criteria. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use online resources like SponsorMyEvent, SponsorPitch, and SponsorPark. These tools make it easy to connect with potential event sponsors and even send them an event sponsorship agreement if they seem like a good fit.

Pitching Event Sponsors

Have you created a list of potential event sponsors? Great, now it's time to pitch them. Whether you’re emailing potential event sponsors or calling them on phone doesn’t matter.You still need to follow these three tips if you want to see success:

1. Research Your Target Audience

At this point (hopefully!) you've already done a bit of research on your target audience. You know that the companies on your list align with your event's topic and vision and each has a history of sponsoring events in the past. Now it's time to dig deeper.

Before reaching out to a company, you should attempt to discover:

The key decision maker, their personality type, and their contact information.

The marketing objectives of each company in question.

How sponsoring your event can help them meet their marketing objectives.

Whether or not they have the budget to sponsor your event in the way that you desire.

The more information you have on each individual person you plan to contact, the better.

2. Communicate Value

In the last tip, we mentioned that you should know how sponsoring your event will benefit the company you're contacting. Knowing this will help you communicate value, which you must do to secure partnerships.

No organization will support your event out of the goodness its heart. There needs to be an equal exchange of value and you need to communicate this value in your pitch. To do this, make your pitch about the company you're contacting, not about your event.

Also, convey crucial information like how many attendees you expect to have and their demographics, brands that have sponsored your event in the past, the ROI previous sponsors received, and any other bits of pertinent information.

The kind of details you share will likely vary depending on your industry, how long your event has been running, and the actual person you're contacting. But in general, do your best to communicate value.

3. Include Social Proof

Social proof in the form of testimonials from previous partners can go a long way towards convincing a brand to sponsor your event. Just like we all read product reviews before making online purchases, potential sponsors will want to know if previous partners had a good experience with your brand and found sponsorship to be a worthwhile investment.

If you have the ability, consider going the extra mile and creating full case studies with your top sponsors. That's what TED did. Their case study with long-time event partner, Rolex, is a great example. It has helped the annual conference secure other sponsors by showcasing the positive ROI that Rolex has received from the partnership.

Tips for Better Event Sponsorship Packages

To really kick your event sponsorship efforts into high gear, you need to offer different sponsorship packages. Here are five tips to help you do so more effectively.

1. Include Different Event Sponsorship Levels

When building sponsorship packages for your event, you would be wise to create multiple tiers (at least three) of sponsorship, each equipped with different benefits and sold at varying price points. For instance:

The Bronze Package: $1,000 - Your company logo on all event marketing materials, a guaranteed booth in the event expo center, a sponsorship grab bag.

The Silver Package: $2,500 - Everything in the Bronze Package + a branded breakout room named after your company. (Only 25 available.)

The Gold Package: $5,000 - Everything in the Bronze and Silver Packages + a guaranteed speaking/demonstration opportunity for your company's CEO. (Only 10 available.)

The more money an organization pays, the more benefits it will receive. You can also create different packages for companies as opposed to individuals, give discounts when multiple tickets are purchased at once, and more.

2. Create Unique Opportunities

Source: Vela Agency

There are many different ways to add value to your sponsorship packages. A few standard ones include guaranteeing a speaking slot for the CEO of a sponsoring company, allowing partners to put their company names on breakout rooms, and including a sponsor's logo on the grab bags given to each attendee.

But to really supercharge your packages and entice organizations to spring for more expensive sponsorship options, you need to create unique opportunities. For example, New Relic, a cloud-based software program for analyzing and tracking data, sponsored TechCrunch's Disrupt Conference for several years.

The entire event started with a hackathon. Participants were asked to create a new product in a very short amount of time. During the after party, New Relic was allowed to serve food and drinks. They even got to announce the hackathon winner and gift them a new MacBook Pro, courtesy of TechCrunch.

This unique opportunity allowed New Relic to build deeper relationships with its target audience.

3. Make It Clear

Source: Dreamforce Sponsorship Prospectus

Your event sponsorship packages will only sell if potential sponsors understand exactly what they will receive once they make a purchase. They'll also need to know how to become eligible for each package. Clarity is absolutely your friend here.

Spell out every package benefit, perk, and requirement in crystal clear language. Potential sponsors should never have to guess at what they'll receive in exchange for a portion of their company's budget. This is especially true when selling sponsorships for large sums of money.

Dreamforce by Salesforce is one of the biggest business conferences on the planet. To secure a top-level sponsorship package, companies must pay 1.25 million dollars. That's a lot of money but Dreamforce spells out exactly what an organization will receive in exchange for the funds in their Sponsorship Prospectus.

4. Exclusivity Sells

Want to sell high-end packages like Dreamforce? Make use of exclusivity. On the surface, this may sound counterintuitive. If 10 people want to pay Dreamforce over a million dollars to sponsor the event, why would they only accept 6 of them?

There are a couple of different reasons.

First, it's a simple mathematics equation. There's only so much time in the day and resources on hand. Dreamforce (and other companies that offer high-end sponsorship packages) can only provide adequate value to so many sponsors. If they were to let more companies participate, the value of the package would go down.

Second, exclusivity breeds desire. As humans, we always want what we can't have. And we tend to feel better about ourselves when we have what others want but can't get. Making your top sponsorship packages exclusive will increase the chances of people wanting to buy them.

Another way to use the exclusivity principle is to make certain packages "invite only". Meaning, companies can't apply for the limited slots, they have to be invited to purchase them.

5. Make Your Sponsorship Page Enticing and Vibrant

Source: GopherCon

Finally, to increase the likelihood that companies will want to sponsor your event, we recommend that you make the event sponsor web pages on your event website enticing and vibrant. Sponsors care about how their brand is represented. Use rich media elements to make the page, and how sponsors are represented in it, visually pleasing.

GopherCon does a great job with this. The annual conference for programmers has a dedicated page on its website to showcase its top sponsors. Each partnering company gets a featured logo, a bio section explaining what the company does, and links to its website and social channels.

Knowing that their company will be featured on your event website — especially if your website receives a lot of quality traffic — may be the perk that convinces a brand to partner with you.

Great Event Sponsorship Package Examples

We've given you tips on how to create better event sponsorship packages. Now let's look at a few examples of event sponsor promotion from brands who have taken these tips and used them well. Get ready to be inspired.

1. re:Invent by Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Source: Data Center Knowledge

re:Invent is a massive cloud computing conference put on by Amazon every year in Las Vegas, NV. It features workshops, keynote speakers, and hackathons. As far as sponsorship opportunities, Amazon does a great job of outlining the exact benefits partners will receive for each of their seven packages and highlighting past sponsor success. They make it clear that last year's conference produced an average of 1,800 leads per sponsor.

Amazon also does a fantastic job of promoting unique experiences including access to fun, non-work related activities like the re:Play after party and a pub crawl.

2. GitHub Universe

Source: Knits For Life

GitHub Universe is THE conference to attend if you work in software development. On the event's sponsorship page, GitHub Universe makes it abundantly clear what kind of people attend the San Francisco-based conference. They offer detailed demographics information which includes attendee job types, company types, and location details. This makes it easy for potential sponsors to gauge how successful a partnership might be. They also include multiple testimonials throughout the sponsorship page for this same reason.

3. BlogHer Conferences

Source: HapaMama

BlogHer is a company that promotes women's voices across multiple verticals such as the health, food, and beauty industries. They've been putting on events for years and a lot can be learned from a sponsorship package that they offered to Sara Lee back in 2010.

BlogHer and Sara Lee-owned companies Hillshire Farm and Jimmy Dean partnered together. The food companies were offered an event package that included the largest booth on the expo floor — a whopping 80ft by 20ft space — and featured a kitchen where chefs could prepare food, hold competitions, and meet with food bloggers.

This was highly valuable for the Sara Lee brands as they got to connect with their audience, show them new products, and get valuable feedback. Always consider: what can my event do to offer more valuable packages to potential sponsors?

Proving ROI to Sponsors

We've covered a lot so far in this guide. But there's one topic we still need to discuss: proving ROI to potential sponsors. How can you show them that a partnership with your event will be a worthwhile investment? We have a few ideas:

1. Show Past Event Data

If you've run the same event for multiple years in a row, you should have a swath of data to help entice potential partners with. How many attendees did you receive last year? How many leads did each sponsor get? The answers to these questions will go a long way when attempting to prove ROI.

2. Present Event Attendee Demographics

Much like GitHub Universe does on its event sponsorship page, showcasing attendee demographic information can help prove ROI. If a potential sponsor can see that your event caters to their target audience, they'll be much more willing to invest in one of your sponsorship packages.

3. Display Customer Testimonials

If you have positive testimonials from past event partners, display them on your sponsorship page. This will help alleviate any fears a potential sponsor might have. After all, if other companies sponsored your event in years past and had a great experience, why can't their company do the same?

Key Takeaways: Improve Your Event with Event Sponsorships

There you have it, a complete event sponsorship guide for 2019. We shared a lot of information. Feel free to re-read this guide if you need to. Looking for a quick recap of the most important tips, tricks, and strategies? Here are the key takeaways:

Event sponsorships are valuable because they can make your event financially viable, lend your event credibility, and potentially provide your event with other valuable perks.

To find event sponsors, first know the vision for your event and what benefits you can offer potential partners before sending any of them an event sponsorship letter.

Pitching event sponsors doesn't need to be difficult. Just research each company you plan to contact, communicate the value they'll receive, and include social proof.

Event sponsorship packages are essential. Remember to include different tiers at varying price points so that more companies have a chance to participate. Also, create packages with unique opportunities, make it abundantly clear what each partner will receive, use exclusivity to your advantage, and make your sponsorship page enticing.

Finally, prove event ROI to potential sponsors by showing event data from past events, presenting attendee demographic information, and displaying previous sponsor testimonials.

You now have everything you need to start contacting potential partners and securing sponsorships for your event.

from Cameron Jones Updates https://blog.bizzabo.com/event-sponsorship

[toddrampe-blog1]

Academy Day Trading Futures Trading Courses

Futures TradingSimply like every little thing else in trading, it's a person's duty to guarantee that they fully understand the risks entailed and also act in their very own finest passions. If you take account of the risks, the ability to extremely leverage your trading resources could be a powerful ally. If you have a genuine edge in the marketplace that has actually shown will generate income with time, then having the ability to trade even more contracts than you would usually with the resources you have is a distinct benefit.

Futures Trading Minimum Account Size

It's not simply latency that's an issue though. If your COMPUTER fails you, you need to have a plan for exactly what you'll do. Just what would you do if your web connection goes down in the center of a profession? How will you take care of a power interruption throughout the trading session? After that there's likewise the possibility that your information company has blackouts. For day trading, brokers offer a much reduced intraday margin price. Theoretically a low intraday margin works for a well-capitalized account if you don't wish to leave all your resources resting in your account. In practice numerous traders will use these low margins to trade with a lot less funding compared to is reasonably required. Usually a broker will use you $500 intraday margin as well as I've considereded as low as $400 each agreement for the ES. Among one of the most popular Futures item here at Netpicks is crude oil. Unrefined oil futures, as well as much more specifically, 'light wonderful unrefined oil futures' are traded on the NYMEX Exchange (New York Mercantile exchange). The profession pit opens at 9 am est as well as trades till 2:30 pm, however there is additionally a very active electronic market which trades on globex from 6 pm est, Sunday via Friday. Those that acquire or market commodity futures require to beware. If a firm gets contracts hedging versus rate rises, yet in fact the market rate of the product is considerably lower sometimes of distribution, they could find themselves disastrously non-competitive (for instance see: VeraSun Energy).

Futures Trading

Certain Thing Commodity Trading. The publication that started all of it! Sure Thing Commodity Trading was the initial book ever written on the seasonal tendencies of commodity prices. This publication was a genesis of many advisory solutions and also books revealing seasonal influences. Like so much of Larry Williams' job Sure Thing Commodity Trading was ground breaking and on the reducing edge of its age. All of Larry evaluation as well as charting was established manually, without access to today's computer system devices which we usually take for provided. Extremely, the majority of Larry's forecasts have actually held up of the last 30 years.

Futures Trading Margin Requirements

Get to a brand-new level in your trading. Larry has constantly been an innovator out there, and also when again Larry is remaining successful as well as maintaining with innovation with the launch of his SwingTrading Futures & Commodities through the web. We think the shipment of this futures training course product transcends to what you would experience or else. For 6 months, you can enjoy the online course video clips as frequently as you would like, whenever you such as. You additionally have the capability to download the Academy Day Trading futures course training pdf manual which will certainly be your own to keep as a recommendation handbook in the future. The video clip on-demand format enables you fully comprehend Larry's training course content prior to you satisfy with Larry ... That's right; you still reach go to an online webinar (on the internet conference) with Larry. We limit each webinar to a small group of trainees to ensure that individuals obtain a possibility to ask inquiries they need addressed. There are much more hours of lecture time in this training course than you would obtain in a weekend workshop. Click on this link for more information regarding How to Swing Trade Futures. Why make use of Cannon as your asset broker? For over two decades we've made certain that rate, integrity, and also exceptional service are keystones. Discover just how Cannon Trading will certainly fulfill as well as surpass your expectations in the adhering to locations: Knowledge, Software Choice, Price, Stability, and also Education. The minimum cost change is called a "tick". A tick could be 0.0001, 0.01, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2 or anything else for that issue-- as well as the value it stands for also differs depending upon the item. A tick could be worth $1.25, $6.25, $10, $12.50, EUR10, EUR12.50 and so on

Futures Trading Books

By contrast, in an illiquid as well as superficial market, or in a market where huge quantities of the deliverable property have been purposely withheld from market participants (an unlawful activity called catching the market), the marketplace cleaning price for the futures may still represent the balance in between supply as well as demand however the partnership between this price and also the expected future cost of the property can break down. It's simple to locate horror stories of investors being over-leveraged and also exploding their accounts. It's not uncommon for an investor who has actually taken a Academy Day Trading Review couple of bad trading hits to begin to trade unevenly and double up (or possibly worse) on their losing placements. But even without this extremely genuine aspect of trading, lots of traders just don't recognize exactly what the probabilities of them having a sustained duration of draw down are as well as so they are less likely to completely appreciate the should address just how much capital they should take the chance of over what does it cost? funding they can risk.

Futures Trading Account

You'll need an Introducing Broker (IB) or a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) (and a more clear), in order to trade. A broker is really simply the middleman yet sometimes the services that they provide do justify the a little greater payment rates that they have the tendency to charge. When you setup your account with an IB, you'll additionally have to load out forms for a clearer also. Do your research study to ensure that your broker is offering you wonderful solution, excellent support and most importantly guarantee you discuss your trading compensations. Forwards do not have a standard. They could transact just on the negotiation day. Much more common would certainly be for the events to concur to real up, for instance, every quarter. The reality that forwards are not margined day-to-day means that, due to motions in the cost of the underlying possession, a big differential could develop in between the forward's delivery price and the negotiation price, and nevertheless, a latent gain (loss) could develop.

Futures Trading Strategies Pdf

Futures trading is a booming business. Several companies provide accessibility to exchanges as well as futures items throughout the world. The level of class of the products available is rapidly improving and also the criterion of net connection readily available to a retail consumer far exceeds exactly what it as soon as was. If you're a day trader, futures are a wonderful method to trade and it's a market which is ever-evolving. Customer margin Within the futures market, financial assurances called for of both purchasers as well as sellers of futures agreements and sellers of choices agreements to make certain fulfillment of agreement commitments. Futures Commission Merchants are liable for managing customer margin accounts. Margins are determined on the basis of market threat and agreement value. Referred to as efficiency bond margin.

Futures Trading Brokers

Day investors never ever get associated with the actual distribution though. They'll constantly make certain that before expiration, all the agreements that they've purchased as well as sold for the certain expiration month they've been trading, amount to net zero.

Futures Trading Systems

Nevertheless, futures agreements likewise provide possibilities for conjecture in that a trader who predicts that the rate of a property will certainly relocate a particular instructions could acquire to get or sell it in the future at a price which (if the prediction is correct) will certainly yield a profit. [2]

Futures Trading Jobs

If the margin account goes below a specific worth set by the Exchange, after that a margin call is made and also the account proprietor should replenish the margin account. This process is referred to as marking to market. Therefore on the distribution date, the quantity traded is not the defined cost on the spot but the agreement value (i.e. the original value set, given that any gain or loss has already been previously worked out by noting to market). Upon marketing the strike rate is commonly gotten to and creates great deals of revenue for the "caller." For day trading, brokers offer a much reduced intraday margin price. You likewise have the capacity to download the futures program training pdf guidebook which will certainly be your own to keep as a recommendation handbook in the future. Futures trading is a flourishing company. Customer margin Within the futures sector, monetary assurances required of both purchasers and also vendors of futures contracts and also vendors of alternatives contracts to make certain satisfaction of contract responsibilities. Futures contracts additionally provide chances for speculation in that an investor who anticipates that the cost of a property will removal in a certain instructions could get to acquire or offer it in the future at a price which (if the forecast is right) will produce a revenue.

Todd Rampe's Futures Trading

[ds4design]

How to Negotiate Your Own Licensing Agreement

For the past few months, I've been describing what is needed to license simple ideas for new products. Designers pride themselves on their execution. But the licensing model requires you to be willing to relinquish some control. There are enormous benefits — and self-employment is freeing.

To briefly summarize, if after you've studied a market and done a prior art search; determined your product idea is indeed novel; made a list of potential licensees; filed a provisional patent application; and begun reaching out to said companies over LinkedIn or by calling their corporate office… one day soon, you'll get a response! Which may surprise you.

Know that smaller, more aggressive companies will get back to you quickly. Predictably, large companies move more slowly. They may need to bring a larger group of people together before replying, which could take between five and 10 days. My best experiences have been with midsized companies.

You'll say to yourself, "Shit, this actually works!" Now you're in the game. I try to get my students in the game as quickly as possible so they know this is for real, and I advise you to do the same. Polishing your design may be satisfying, but it won't help you secure a licensing agreement.

Don't overthink it.

The licensing process is actually pretty straightforward. It's always made sense to me on a very practical level in that way. If your marketing materials are good, companies will be able to quickly decide if they want to discuss your idea with you further. Yes or no.

The challenge really lies in finding the right partner — the perfect match for your concept. The closer you get, the sooner you'll hear back.

Remember, companies today are stretched thin as it is. Getting them to do something new is damn near impossible. You need to show them something that is just different enough. Of course, some companies do take chances on products that fall outside their typical purview. But those who do are most often small companies, which by definition have access to fewer resources.

Soon enough, you'll land one. (If not, you may be approaching the wrong companies.) And just like that — the time to dance has begun.

Keep in mind… this is a slow dance. Finalizing a deal will take longer than you expect. No matter. Your attitude is everything. Be explicit, and continue to tell the company that if they're interested, you can get a deal done. Make it very clear that you're happy to be working with them — that you're optimistic, excited, appreciative, and looking toward the future. Setting the right tone is extremely important; I cannot stress this enough. Look at every interaction you have as an opportunity to keep setting the right tone. When things move more slowly than you want, don't let your emotions get the best of you.

You don't want to step on anyone's toes and you don't want to unnecessarily throw up any red flags. Be patient.

Early on, most of your conversations will be through email. That creates a paper trail, which is great. But after a few exchanges, get on the phone. You need more information, and having a phone conversation will provide some in more ways than one. Everything from what is said to how much time on the phone your contact spends with you will shed light on their level of interest. I previously wrote about the value of sending each company on your list a unique link to your video. This allows you to track when and how often they click that link. Have they been watching? If they're playing it cool, but they've watched your video 12 times… draw your own conclusions. The party with the most information usually wins.

After you get some initial interest, continue reaching out to other potential licensees. Don't assume it's a done deal! Deals falls out all the time.

Keep the momentum you've got going. Time is money! Having multiple companies interested in your product is never a problem. (Not because I think you can leverage one against the others, per se. That's unrealistic, although it does happen.) The bigger picture is, continuing to reach out to other potential licensees is a form of protection. If you've filed a provisional patent application, your patent pending status is a ticking 12-month time bomb. So make haste!

Because if you disclose your idea publicly and don't move quickly enough, you may end up having to make an expensive decision when those 12 months are up — meaning file a non-provisional application. Filing a non-provisional patent application on your own, with no interest? That's more risk than I want to take on. I prefer to get my licensees to pay for a patent to be written in my name, of course, and so do other licensing experts like Gene Luoma, best known for inventing the drain-clearing tool Zip-It. "The hardest part is keeping it simple," Luoma likes to say. I agree.

The original prototype of the Zip-It drain clearing tool, invented by Gene Luoma, which has sold over 32 million units.

Look at it like this. The minute a marketing manager (or whoever else it is you reached out to) gets back in touch with you, the negotiation process has begun. 

Expect to receive a response along the following lines. "Thank you for submitting your idea to us. Do you have time for a few questions?"

This is the ideal opportunity to gather as much information as you can about the company. You're both checking each other out! So prepare to ask questions. Is this company the right fit for you?

You'll be asked what you're looking for. My answer: "I am not looking to manufacture; I'm looking to license my product. I'm looking for a royalty on each unit sold."

At that point the first thing out of their mouth will be, "What royalty rate are you looking for?" To which I respond, "If I understood your business a little bit more, I could come up with an appropriate royalty rate that works for both of us." Pulling a number out of thin air without knowing the potential revenue opportunity? That's not smart. At this point, the tables will have turned a bit. Now, they're selling you.

Ask them how many stores they have product in. Some people will readily share this information with you, but it's more likely they'll be vague. That's okay. You can find out more on your own. If they tell you they're in Walmart or Kmart, you can always Google how many retail outlets there are.

Assume each retail store sells one unit a week. (If not… your product is going to be kicked to the curb.) Now apply different royalty rates. How much will you make at a five percent royalty? Seven? Three?

Almost always, they will ask you for an exclusive. When you give someone an exclusive, you lose the ability to sell your technology to anyone else, meaning your royalty stream is finite. If your projected revenue is too low, you should walk away. If you've been granted a patent or have proven sales, you can negotiate a higher royalty rate, like between seven and 10 percent.

To be clear though, royalty rates are less important than how many stores they're in and the minimum guarantees they're willing to commit to. Remember, at this point, you're still dating! You don't want to ask any hard questions, which include minimum guarantees, yet.

Don't be caught off guard when they ask you about your intellectual property fairly quickly as well. If you've filed a provisional patent application, then your answer is easy; tell them your concept is patent-pending. At that point they may want to see your provisional patent application, which is not a problem. But you might want to ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement, given that you'll be sharing confidential information with them. Most likely, they will not sign yours, and will instead offer one of their own. There is nothing wrong with this, but make sure to examine their document very closely. Confidentiality agreements are written so that they protect both parties — what is known as a mutual non-disclosure agreement — or just one. If something doesn't sound right, consult a patent attorney or a licensing attorney. Yes, this will slow down the momentum you've got going. But it also makes you look more professional. To be honest, I've never relied on confidentiality agreements to protect me. But from a public disclosure standpoint, they're absolutely helpful. They can help you extend the length of your provisional patent application, for example. But please note laws regarding non-disclosure agreements differ between states. IPWatchDog.com has some good sample confidentiality agreements. Once you've come to an agreement, send them your provisional patent application and any other information that might help them figure out whether your product is right for them.

Continue following up with your contact.

inventRight coach David Fedewa, who has licensed several of his ideas, puts it like this: "You want to stay on top of their pile — on their radar, in other words." So Fedewa follows up with companies that are interested in his ideas every week and does so alternating between emails and calls. He focuses on how he can be helpful by literally asking questions like: How can I help? Do you need any more information?

"If you keep demanding, 'Do you have a decision? Do you have a decision?' then you're likely to be thought of a pest. But if you offer a helping hand, they're more likely to think of you as a resource. 'Why not work with him?'" Fedewa explained.

If the company isn't getting back to you despite your best efforts, you can always ask them pointblank as a last resort: Are you interested? In my experience, that's usually enough to get people off a rock.

If they are interested, that's when you should ask if you can put together a few terms that you all agree upon before moving forward. Technically, what I'm referring to is a term sheet, but you don't have to call it that.

Next up, I'll tackle what that term sheet should include, as well as negotiation dos, don'ts, and deal-killers.

Congrats - You've got interest!

[attendantdesign-blog]

New Post has been published on Attendantdesign

New Post has been published on http://attendantdesign.com/6-tips-for-preventing-laptop-data-theft/

6 Tips for Preventing Laptop Data Theft

Professionals TIPS factor to stronger passwords, full-disk encryption, and multi-thing authentication as ways to forestall statistics DATA theft in the occasion a laptop is misplaced or stolen.

Every person may have their laptop stolen. It passed off to Hillary Clinton’s marketing campaign remaining fall, while three laptops had been stolen from campaign employees in Philadelphia. If so, the gadgets had been in the end recovered and no records regarded to compromised in what become taken into consideration an ordinary theft.

But laptop thefts can fee cash. An Intel examines from several years in the past located that the average computer theft costs businesses roughly $50,000 – and as much as $1 million in a few instances.

Such thefts can be very adverse. ultimate year, Oregon’s Health Co-op, a nonprofit health insurance corporation, said that a stolen computer compromised the personal information of more than 15,000 modern-day and former members.

Al Sargent, senior director of products at OneLogIn, notes that Kaspersky Lab located that the average worker takes more than 24 hours to file a misplaced or stolen tool. That’s masses of time for criminals to scouse borrow records or get admission to the corporation’s company community.

“Gartner reviews that one computer is stolen each 53 seconds,” Sargent says. “What we endorse is that companies appearance to an unmarried signal-on solution to trade the social agreement. Basically, it is the IT branch telling the users to give you one robust password in change for higher protection.”

Frank Dickson, research director for global safety products at IDC, says SSO with a strong password best is going thus far, however.

“The hassle I’ve with SSO is that it nevertheless is predicated on the password,” Dickson says. “There are different varieties of authentication, inclusive of push notification to a cell cellphone and a YubiKey that organizations can use. SSO needs to be paired with strong authentication to add that extra stage of safety.”

Alex McSporran, director at Control Threat and Global SOS, provides that companies want to spend some time training employees on those problems, especially the ones who tour for business.

“The schooling will equip them with a higher expertise of the character of the Danger, and the measures they are able to take to higher secure their facts,” McSporran says. “While technical defenses stay critical, appropriate training, planning, preparedness, and vigilance can make an actual distinction.”

Right here are a few suggestions compiled from Sargent, Dickson, and McSporran, for lowering computer and computer information thefts:

Installation a single, very robust password. corporations shifting to greater cloud programs remember that it emerges as not possible for users to control a password for every cloud app. Via issuing a single signal on the system with one strong password, they may make life simpler for both the IT group of workers and the rank-and-report customers. it’s a lot harder to interrupt into a nicely-notion out robust password. But SSO nonetheless has its single factor of failure weaknesses, so Experts advise the use of multifactor authentication (see next tip).

Appoint strong authentication. IDC’s Dickson is a stickler for sturdy, multi-issue authentication. He especially likes a push notification that gets authenticated on a cell smartphone. For example, if someone steals an employee’s laptop, additionally they need to have stolen their cell smartphone to get entry to the laptop. Plus, people commonly know when they’ve lost their cellular telephones and don’t wait 24 hours to report a loss, and maximum cell telephones require a fingerprint Identification or password.

Rotate passwords. Teach human beings about the credential supply chain. when credentials are stolen they get bundled with other stolen credentials for sale on the black market. exchange passwords every 30 days. in the event that a laptop is stolen, there is a higher threat that the password that becomes stolen will now not be valid.

Do studies to your travel web page. Earlier than your far-flung employees travel, have them studies the capability threats to your enterprise’s touchy industrial statistics specific to the vicinity they’ll be touring. This will assist them to take effective security measures to assist prevent issues at some point of the trip.

Don’t broadcast your experience. Unless it is your spouse, significantly different, or key human beings at paintings, Don’t market it a commercial enterprise experience. humans are unfastened and smooth on Fb nowadays approximately their travels and it can not usually be an awesome concept.

Suppose in phrases of BYOD. organizations may decide that it just makes the greater experience to get out of the business of handling technology. Many businesses are simply giving human beings an allowance for a laptop and smartphone and making every person liable for the device’s protection. From a safety attitude, this can be frightening, so in case your business enterprise goes this direction, realize what form of encryption the gadgets have. Macs come with FileVault and it’s viable to far off wipe devices via iCloud. For Pcs, ensure they have got full-disk encryption, Professionals say.

Data Safety

Records theft

That is pretty an extensive topic, however, we’ll cowl off the basics, I will split this into two sections as both sections have quite extraordinary methods to save you Data robbery.

Neighborhood Information theft

Nearby Facts theft, i.E. a person logs onto your machine and steals Records at the same time as clearly sitting physically at your device. You probably have a Home windows password in your gadget, but did you already know that locally it’s truly clean to dispose of that password or sidestep it completely? Here are some greater powerful approaches to forestall someone getting get entry to.

1. BIOS password

This is a password that is supplied even before Home windows starts of evolved loading. On laptops specifically, this can be pretty effective at halting a Facts theft strive, on computers, it is less complicated to get round this one. Also if you do away with the difficult power from the system which can nicely deliver the character get right of entry to your Data. Passwords are usually recommended to be cycled each 6 weeks or much less in case a would-be thief reveals out what it is.

2. hard pressure encryption

Maximum modern-day hard drives support difficult pressure encryption, whether you can implement it or no longer relies upon on your BIOS and laptop version. For example, it is uncommon to see difficult force encryption on a patron PC. however, it is even rarer no longer to see it on a commercial enterprise laptop. This is quite an effective device, again a password is provided earlier than the operating device boots, in case you do not know it the difficult pressure is vain.

3. Biometrics

Assume such things as fingerprint readers, facial recognition, and iris recognition. Those have their upsides and drawbacks.

Plus, they’re clean to apply and might make a powerful deterrent.

Plus, if they are commercial enterprise-grade your Facts can be encrypted which is right.

Minus, they typically fall lower back to passwords, so if the thief is aware of your password, they are able to just choose to use that in preference to your features

Minus, if they don’t have password backups then if your biometric changes for any cause, a burn or an accident, you can lose your Information

Minus, if they may be purchased grade, then they merely store your password and use the biometric to go into it into Windows and offers access. No encryption.

4. 2 token authentication

That is now commonplace among corporates and is increasing to be had too small commercial enterprise or ‘prosumer’ users. Essentially, you require two form of authentication earlier than you are allowed access. Biometric + password or password + swipe card and so forth.

This is comfier again and probably overkill for the everyday at home person.

Far-flung Statistics robbery

This is the world of hackers, viruses, and the occasional disgruntled worker. This is one of the Most in all likelihood ways you may have your Facts stolen or wiped. If you have no Safety hardware and software for your network you’ll be leaving your gadget open to the wild. The concept Here is to prevent them stepping into in the first location.

We did a test with a vanilla XP machine without a firewall or net Protection, it lasted around four mins after which wouldn’t start up, a lot so we needed to wipe it and begin once more.

Right here are a few steps you could do to make your on-line revel in more secure.

1. Updates

No software program is ideal and as people figure out loopholes, backdoors, exploits and other methods to hack right into a community so too does the software program seller patch them up. Tuesday is patch day for Windows so on Wednesday you can make sure you have updates to download. if you do no longer update you will be leaving your gadget and your Facts open for the selecting.

2. internet Protection software program

Is not a unfastened antivirus enough? I get asked this all the time. The fact is, it would virtually rely upon a range off of factors however the general answer is no. unfastened antivirus is the basic any enterprise can offer. All of those agencies have paid for plenty fuller services that do a lot greater. normally a free offering will simplest test documents, a paid offering will do such things as;

Heuristic analysis – in which they look for patterns of contamination or signs and symptoms instead of just suit an epidemic to a definition

Email scanning – They will right away see each an Electronic mail with a dodgy attachment or a phishing Email that tries to get your Information

Internet scanning – They may provide you with a warning of any questionable websites which have been linked to fraud or other illegal sports

Firewall – They’ll have a completely featured software program firewall with a purpose to deflect attacks

it’s far very worthwhile upgrading your Safety software program to a full-featured bundle. Go with the brand names, my favorite is Kaspersky internet Security.

3. hardware firewall

Home windows and Safety software will provide a software Firewall, but if your gadget is compromised then that software program firewall will likely be compromised and be configured with the aid of the virus or anything to allow in all the nasties (as in a Trojan assault), consequently an essential detail of a network is the hardware firewall.

The coolest news is When you have a router of any description, this could in all likelihood have a hardware firewall built in. Right here are a few guidelines on Firewalls;

a. Ports – a portlets in a positive form of site visitors through, like mail site visitors or internet site traffic, simplest have the ports your require open and near all of the others. if you forestall the use of a port then close it off.

B. UPNP – Common Plug and Play, this could be turned on by means of default in firewalls and lets in a software for your laptop to say if a port must be open on the hardware firewall. this can be awful if that application is an endemic or Trojan. best have UPNP on if you need it. In a business environment, you likely might not.

C. DMZ – Demilitarized quarter, if you permit something to use this you are Basically giving them an open window to the out of doors global, wherein they are able to send anything out and outside can ship anything in. Use with intense caution.

D. SPI – Stateful Packet Inspection, While considering a firewall, any decent one will have SPI it tests packets for anything anomalous and if excellent at detecting and blocking off attacks.

Relying on the scale of your company you may need to Go together with a dedicated firewall, however, These are usually $1000+ so it could be a large investment for a few.

4. Far-flung get entry to passwords

You need to always defend Remote get admission to passwords. If a worker leaves your office, you must trade all of the passwords she or he had to get entry to straight away or they might reason sizable damage, Information loss/theft.

You must usually make Faraway get admission to passwords difficult, comply with These pointers.

A. Minimum of eight characters

b. At the least 1 uppercase letter

c. At the least 1 number

d. At the least 1 unique man or woman just like the @ or? symbol

e. change These at Maximum each 6 weeks

This makes it numerous orders of significance tougher for someone to ‘crack’ your password, hello123 just doesn’t suffice.