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lunasilvermorny · 3 years

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Maria Black - Harry Potter OC

Introduction:

This is my HP OC that I created a long time ago, when I was around 12-13 y.o. (so, you know... it’s been a while!)

Over the years I’ve developed her story more and more, changed it as I got older and basically kept the headcanon alive for years - but I never wrote about her. Everything I had I kept inside my head, and all the potential stories remained as nothing but a day-dream.

Until today! (or a few days ago, when I came up with the idea.)

It’s time to document this headcanon, even if it’s not going anywhere serious other than some stories and drawings.

I can’t emphasize it enough - I made most of it during the mid/late 2000′s, waaaay before the Cursed Child. So please don’t associate any part of my HC with this terrible excuse of a canon. JKR already proved that her judgement is questionable, so for me the only thing that is canon are the books and my headcanon relates to them and nothing else!

Anyway, let’s dive in!

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Bonus drawing from baby-OP:

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General plot:

Maria is the daughter of the Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange and was born a few months before they were sent to Azkaban. Her aunt Narcissa took her in and she was raised by the Malfoy family.

When she was about 5/6 y.o., she went to Azkaban to see her mother. (in the headcanon, her father died in Azkaban). She got scared by the Dementors and when she tried to find the exit, she came upon Sirius’ cell. This encounter changed her life and made her realize that her family is one of the “bad guys”, and she’s decided to leave the first chance she gets.

The day she left to Hogwarts was the last day she spent with her family.

Since it’s a HP OC-insert kind of headcanon, she befriended Harry, Ron and Hermione and was practically the 4th member of this friend group. So most of the plot of the headcanon correlates with the plots of the books, so I’m going to focus more on the individual parts that doesn’t relate the regular plot.

Before she got to Hogwarts she asked to be referred to as Maria Black and not Maria Lestrange. In the future she’d also legally change her name.

Because she’s decided to never go back to the Malfoys ever again, she was basically homeless for the first two summers away from Hogwarts. She mostly relied on magic (around other wizards, so no one will know she’s a minor using magic) and some friends that let her stay with them every once in a while.

(The is a LOT more, so if you’re interested, keep reading ^^ )

After the 3rd year was over, one of her friends that was an exchange student from Beauxbatons, invited her to spend the summer at his house in France. The reason he wanted her to come over was because his father was a coach for the French junior-league Quidditch team and wanted him to let her into the team, so in the future she’d be able to become a professional player. He knew that she plans on filing for Emancipation of minors, that will strip all the legal rights from her family and free her from them - but for that she needed a sufficient income. Her friend’s father was glad to help and after she showed him her skills, he let her into the team. When she was 15, she got into the professional league. (I based this part of the HC on the fact that Viktor Krum was also a student, when he became a Quidditch star.)

Sirius was the most important figure in her life and became like a father figure to her. Through him, she also felt that Harry and her (although not by blood) were related.

For a long time, the ending of the headcanon was that Maria killed herself after Sirius was murdered, but in recent years I’ve reversed this decision and kept her alive for the duration of the book and beyond that.

During her 6th year, after her mother already escaped Azkaban, she was forced to hide in Hogwarts (she wasn’t allowed to keep her role in the Quidditch team anymore), because Bellatrix made it clear that she’s going to kidnap Maria and force her to join Voldemort’s side.

She was able to avoid this fate only up to the plot of the 7th book, that’s when she was finally captured and held hostage in an attempt to force Harry’s hands and save her. However, before she was kidnapped, Maria asked from the Order and Hermione that if she’s ever to fall captive, to prevent Harry from saving her at all cost, since it’s an obvious trap.

Frustrated by the fact that the trap hasn’t worked combined with Maria’s general resistance, Bellatrix tortured her daughter for the entire duration of her incarceration, mostly by using the Cruciatus curse on her over and over again. At a near-dead state, Bellatrix used the Imperius curse on her to try and make her fight on Voldemort’s side at the Battle of Hogwarts, but Maria was too weak and wasn’t much of use to her in the end.

After the fight, Maria was in a coma for a few months and even after she woke up, she had a very long recovery period. The worst expression of it manifested in her PTSD from the Cruciatus curse that caused her to scream in agony almost every time she went to sleep. At some cases she was in such bad shape that no one was able to wake her up.

After a partial recovery, she returned to her pending career as a Quiddich player.

Her relationship with Fred Weasley:

Maria was fairly popular and had dated a few people (in a non-serious way, due to her age), but her first love was Fred Weasley. They’ve started dating in secret when she was in her 5th year.

During the 6th year, she has prepared him for the possibility of the kidnapping and asked him not to come rescue her if it ever happened.

In the summer after her 6th year, to reassure her that they will both survive the war, Fred gave her a ring and told her that after it’s all over, they’ll get married. (It wasn’t a proposal per se, but an attempt to give her hope when she was sure she’s going to die.)

Maria wasn’t aware that Fred died since she almost met the same fate herself at the Battle of Hogwarts, and found out about it from George after she woke up from the coma.

Her relationship with Neville Longbottom:

At the beginning, no one knew she’s Bellatrix’s daughter. People were suspicious of her during year 3 (after all, she is Maria Black) because they thought she was assisting Sirius (and at some point there were rumors that she was his secret child), but it wasn’t until year 5 that the news about her being Bellatrix’s daughter has spread out by Malfoy.

Maria considered Neville a close friend and was afraid of his reaction once he finds out, but even though he had to get over the initial shock, he told her that he knows that she’s nothing like her mother, that she has proven she’s on their side and that he’s not going to judge her over something that is out of her control.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, during her recovery, she’s met Neville’s parents and also spent time with them while she was admitted. The fact that she was tortured by Bellatrix too was a bonding factor and made her and Neville even closer.

After a few years, Neville and Maria have started dating, but their future together in unknown.

PTSD and irreversible damage:

I mentioned that due to the torture she experienced, Maria suffered from PTSD, caused primarily by the Cruciatus curse. She would have recurrent nightmares that caused her to scream and cry in agony, as her body turned and twitched, as if she was under the curse.

In most cases people were able to wake her up, but in more severe cases, she was able to stay in that state for hours. The worst case was a day and a half without a break. She was taken to the hospital by apparition, but the snap switch in location has severely worsen the situation and she was taken to the ER (or a magical equivalent of an ER), where she was under treatment for days until the outburst finally got under control. She was in a coma for two months after that and had to go through the long recovery once more.

In addition to that, Maria also suffered an irreversible damage in her reproduction system. Bellatrix knew she doesn’t share her purist views, so to make sure she doesn’t “taint” the family legacy with a mixed-blood offspring, she completely destroyed the system, to a point that it was almost impossible to reconstruct, even with magic. Maria went through many treatments, but was eventually considered infertile.

Her relationship with the Weasley family:

Maria was accepted as one of the family back when she was still in Hogwarts.

Even though her relationship with Fred was a secret - Molly, George and Ginny knew about it. After Fred’s death, Molly has told Maria that she still views her as a daughter and said she’s always welcome at their house.

She usually spent the holidays with them and came to visit Molly and Arthur almost every weekend. She usually brought game-tickets to anyone that was interested, especially when she’s started playing for the biggest teams. (Nothing will make me do the proper research of all the Quidditch teams, so let’s just suspend our disbelief just a bit more, because I don’t have a specific name.)

Her relationship with the Malfoy family:

During the year she was Bellatrix’s prisoner, she was held captive at the Malfoys’ mansion. Even though Bellatrix showed nothing but cruelty to her, Narcissa secretly tried to help her, mostly by giving her food during starvation punishments, clean her room and at extreme circumstances - heal her wounds.

Even though she hasn’t set her free, Maria appreciated the fact that Narcissa risked herself by helping her, so after she heard about Lucius’s death, she agreed for a reconciliation.

Although there were some push-backs (especially from Ron), she accepted an invitation for dinner at the Malfoys’ mansion, where she reconnected with both Narcissa and Draco.

After that she came to visit every now and then, although not as frequently as she visited the Weasleys.

Maria and Harry:

As I mentioned before, Maria is basically an OC inserted into the main plot, so she’s best friends with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Harry and Maria always had a sort of sibling connection, that was reinforced by their connection with Sirius. After his death, they referred to each other as the only family they’ve got left. (Even though Maria technically had Tonks, but that’s a story for another time.)

Maria and Ron:

Their friendship was a bit more complicated. Although not romantic in nature, they had a mutual crush on each other at a certain point (but nothing came out of it), and they always had a certain tension afterwards.

They also have very different personalities and got into many conflicts. Ron usually accused Maria of being a fake friend, because she was very friendly in nature and had many friend-groups other than the main three characters. Maria in return accused him of being too judgemental and had a hard time taking him seriously.

However, with all the flaws, they also had many things in common - their love of Quidditch, their disregard to the rules and in general they had a lot of fun hanging out with each other.

Maria and Hermione:

Probably have the rockiest friendship out of the three main characters. They are almost opposites, aside for their academic approach. Maria is more reckless and easy going, and she usually can’t handle Hermione’s stiffness.

Maria was especially sensitive to any criticism of Sirius, and they had many fights over it during their 5th year.

But even though their friendship wasn’t ideal, when it came to real struggles, they were there to support each other, especially emotionally.

Her special connection to Sirius:

Sirius was the catalyst that made her realize that she was born to a dark wizards family. She’s met him only once (before the events of the 3rd book), but it was a strong enough impact that affected her entire world view.

She put Sirius on a high pedestal and saw him as a parental figure. He was the first in the family to openly rebel and she followed his footsteps when she left the Malfoys’ household. This is also the reason why it meant so much to her that she was sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin.

During the 3rd year, everyone suspected that she helped sneak Sirius into the castle and was covering for him, since she refused to accept the accusations against him. She didn’t have any proof that he’s innocent and Sirius never told her that he is, but she was determined that he’s a good guy.

After Sirius escaped, he hasn’t kept in touch with her as much as with Harry, but it didn’t discourage her. She had a feeling that he’s hesitant to accept her because she’s still Bellatrix’s daughter and never resented him for it. However, after his death, Lupin told her that Sirius was very proud of her and had greats hopes for her - he just didn’t know how to show it.

Dobby:

Since she grew up with the Malfoys, she has known Dobby her entire life. They were pretty friendly toward each other, but they were instructed not to talk with each other.

Once, she tried to give Dobby clothes to set him free, but because she wasn’t technically a Malfoy, it didn’t work. After that, Lucius forbid Dobby from ever interacting with her again.

AUs:

Did you really think I don’t have like 200 different AUs for this headcanon? Of course I have! I’ve been building this headcanon since I was a literal child!

My favorite AU is the one where Fred didn’t die in the Battle of Hogwarts, and he and Maria got to be together after all. They usually get married (although there is a variation where she broke up with him instead), and in one AU in particular, healers are able to restore her fertility and they have a child together.

Maybe in the future I will make more posts about these AUs.

HPHM

Since Luna is very close with the Weasleys too, in most AUs Maria gets to meet Luna and the two become friends. Luna is also Maria’s private healer, since Maria gets injured a lot during Quidditch games.

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There is so much more!!

But I will leave something for future posts :)

#my art #drawing #my headcanon #hp headcanon #harry potter #harry potter hc #harry potter oc #oc #original character #hp oc #maria black

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hoodwinkd1 · 3 years

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Your Eyes Whispered Ch 11-13

Ch 8 - 10 here. Ch 14 here.

Chapter 11: morning, her place

Eris jumped out of sleep the next morning, waking suddenly to the pressure of someone attempting to break down his wards. His body tensed immediately, an instinctual growl rising in his throat at the perceived threat. His mind reacted a moment later, recognizing the scent currently trying to break down the front door.

“RHIANNON HARMONY OPEN THE DAMN DOOR.” Interesting. Eris had made it this far without ever asking Rhia for her last name.

He waved a hand, removing the additional wards he had placed on the house last night. Grabbing his tunic from the chair and throwing it over his head, Eris strode downstairs just in time to watch Sofine burst into the front room.

She gave him such a ferocious glare that he froze in place without meaning to. “I suppose you’re the reason Rhia left town mysteriously for two days?”

“I, uh, yes.” Eris really wasn’t used to anyone scolding him. “Rhia helped me out with a...situation at the palace. Coffee?”

He vaguely remembered Rhia owed him a thought from last night. All this relaxation and peace had done some damage on his sharp, cunning mind.

Sofine’s eyes widened momentarily. Whether she was surprised at the gesture or suddenly remembering who she was scolding, her tone calmed considerably. “She keeps the beans above the stove, if you didn’t know.”

Eris nodded, accepting the small olive branch she offered. He lit the front burner with a flick of his pointer finger while filling the kettle under the tap with a flex of his other hand. The movements came quickly, naturally, and some of the tension left his body at the small expulsions of magic.

Quick footsteps skittered to a stop at the bottom of the stairs as the love of his life took in the scene in front of her. Shit. Eris’ thoughts had become pathetic and obsessive without his permission. He would have scowled if the sight of Rhia treading into the kitchen nervously hadn’t been so damn endearing.

“Shit, Sofi, I’m sorry.” Rhia embraced her friend tightly. “I didn’t mean to leave so abruptly; you must have been so worried.”

Sofine laughed softly, kissing the top of her head. “Oh I was very calm. Other than yelling at the High Lord first thing this morning.”

“I’m sure he deserved it,” Rhia hummed. She then made her way towards Eris, who finished steeping the beans at exactly the right second, handing her a steaming cup of coffee as she reached him. “What did you do?”

“Other than drag you into my mess?” Eris inquired, repressing the bolt of guilt that shot through him at the idea of Rhia in danger at the palace. “I placed additional wards up last night.” He looked over her head at Sofine. “I’ll make sure to include you in them next time.”

Rhia raised an eyebrow. “Who gave you permission to place them in the first place?”

Eris noted her light tone and twinkling eyes. “You tried to break into the most heavily guarded building in the Autumn Court yesterday and branded yourself as an enemy to the crown. What if someone tries to arrest you for that again?”

“Rhia,” Sofine gasped. “You tried to break into the palace?” Swiveling her glare to Eris, she demanded: “Why didn’t you let her in?”

At least she was scolding them both now. Eris held his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t know she was there!”

“And I didn’t try to break in, I actually did break in,” Rhia grumbled. “You should really upgrade the security on the eastern external wall.”

Sofine huffed. “Will you both disagree on every little detail? I want the full story.” She sat herself down at the kitchen table, making a big show of getting comfortably situated. “I have time.”

Eris sensed that now would be a lovely time to retreat and leave Rhia to her own devices. “I have to return to the palace and the horrors of bureaucracy.” He leaned forward, giving Rhia half a second to adjust to his closeness, before placing a chaste kiss on her lips. Her mouth upturned into a small smile, one he wished he could spend hours exploring. “I’ll come back when I can, good?”

“Very good,” she replied. “I expect a full report of our Court’s political situation when you return.”

Eris sighed dramatically. “If you insist.” He waved to Sofine. “I hope you won’t be too disappointed in my abilities after hearing the full story.”

“To be determined.” Her face flushed lightly, a female still unused to the High Lord’s presence, but he only felt gratitude at her attempts to treat him as normal as possible.

Eris blinked and appeared in his chambers, taking a minute to change his clothing and wash his face. He uttered some choice words at the pile of paperwork littering his desk, rifling through the to-do lists, save-the-dates, business contracts, and personal correspondences to see if any of it required his immediate attention.

One of his spies, Jyn, had sent him a list of potential candidates to fill the vacant adviser roles that Eris skimmed quickly. He had a half-baked plan forming in his mind to let people vote on the Fae listed on the sheet, maybe even ensuring that each region had specific representation. Gerwin had helped him draft a few new pieces of legislation that Eris would announce during the Autumnal Equinox ball, so one more shouldn’t cause any additional havoc.

“Fuck,” Eris swore again, remembering that his Court’s largest annual celebration was only a fortnight away and he had no idea what the hell was going on with the event.

He already wanted to check on his mother and Liang would know the most about the upcoming celebrations. Two birds, one awkward acknowledgement that they shared a bedroom.

Eris walked down the corridor, stopping to chat with one of the servants to make sure everyone on staff last night had received additional pay for working through an attempted coup. The slender male named Yuri had confirmed that the throne room was completely cleaned of any body parts and that to his knowledge, everyone had gotten the money before heading home.

The Lady of the Autumn Court lived in a different wing of the palace than her husband and sons had, a different wing than where Eris now lived basically alone. As he approached the white double doors, he ignored the urge to open the door automatically and knocked instead.

“Yes?” His mother’s tone was curious and wary, until she laid eyes on him. “Oh, darling! Come in, come in.”

Eris followed her inside, observing how much lighter and joyful she seemed in the glow of day. Her decorations had always used softer colors and more patterns than typical Autumn design; even the gold that adorned the soft blue curtains looked brighter than the gold that detailed his traditional red decor.

“How are you?” he inquired. “Did the healers take a look at you last night?”

She herded him over to the seating area. “Yes, and you have nothing to worry about. I wasn’t harmed by the Night Court.” Eris let out a deep exhale. He hadn’t known how to delicately ask what she’d experienced in captivity, and her warm gaze confirmed that she hadn’t been tortured. “I might not be feared or even respected by the other Courts, but Keir knows exactly who my allies are. And who my family is.”

“If Rhysand hadn’t finally taken care of the trash ruining his terrority, there would have been a list of us ready to kill Keir for him,” Liang grumbled, joining them from the bedroom. “Eris.”

He returned her nod. “Thank you for insisting on the healers.” Eris turned his body to face her more directly. “I actually had a question for you, as well. The Autumnal Ball is supposed to be in two weeks and I--”

“Hadn’t planned anything for it?” Liang teased. “Not to worry. The High Lord typically shows little to no interest in the event planning.” Her words had a bitter edge to them, and Eris knew he wasn’t the High Lord she spoke of. “I can send details to your rooms later today for your approval.”

Eris held his hands up. “I trust your judgement much more than my own. I would be interested in seeing the plans, though, just for my own knowledge.”

“Of course. I’ll at least want your opinion on the guest list, make sure I didn't’ miss anyone important.” Liang sat next to his mother, who raised an eyebrow.

“Is there anyone she wouldn’t have thought to invite, darling?” she asked innocently. “Do you have any new friends we don’t know about?”

Her words made him feel like an adolescent. “You know I don’t have friends. But I might send invitations to the other High Lords; see if they’d like to send a delegation.”

“Just let me or my assistant know if anyone needs to be seated separately to avoid a fight,” Liang offered. “We have over a thousand guests confirmed, so a few more won’t require much adjustment.”

Eris’ eyes bulged out of his head. “A thousand? Where did you find that many fucking people?”

“Language,” his mother admonished. “And we’ve always had a large attendance, though never quite this large.” She grinned at him. “I believe the host might be a bit more popular this year than in previous years.”

He fell into his thoughts as the two females ordered tea and went through some of the other details with him over the next hour. The annual ball was one of the only events that sent out a certain number of tickets to each regional capital, instead of inviting specific Fae individually. During Beron’s reign, only the required attendees who sat in governing roles showed up, but almost all of the optional invitations had been reserved this year with family members, friends, and colleagues. Eris hoped that meant his Court felt more comfortable with him than his father, and not that they all wanted a front-row seat to his inevitable failure or demise.

Liang sent him off with a few blank invitations, spelled to deliver themselves immediately after being addressed. He stopped by his rooms and scrawled out all the High Lords’ names, except for the Night Court’s which he addressed to Carina. She probably wouldn’t throw his letter directly in the fire. He also added a personal note, letting her know that he still owed her a very fancy dress for her help in finding his mother, offering to send his best tailor her measurements if she wanted to call in that deal.

Either through a simple mistake or a stroke of ingenuity, Liang had handed him 7 invitations, leaving Eris an extra blank one. Inspiration hit him like a brick. Rhia.

Would she want to come? See him in his role? Watch the entire fucking island scrutinize him? Normally, Eris would have let his thoughts swirl in a self-deprecating river until he’d talked himself out of the idea. He chose to stop himself this time, however, and practice healthy communication by just asking her.

Would they be able to hide their bond at such a large event? Any daemati would know, if they didn’t maintain their mental shields perfectly the entire time. The thought of hiding his feelings for Rhia, avoiding her gaze and looking at anyone else when perfection was right in front of him, drew a low growl from his lips. For her safety, though, he would do anything. Even if acting like he didn’t care felt so uniquely miserable.

Carina’s response drew him out of his thoughts. Cauldron, he was getting irrationally dismal in his old age. Maybe that was a side effect of patricide.

He snorted internally at the bleak joke.

Of course I’ll be there, idiot. Bryce is coming too. Something about how I never have any regard for my own safety blah blah blah. I’ve attached detailed instructions for your tailor, and I’ll be bringing a backup gown in case it’s not up to my standard. I have a reputation to uphold.

Eris let relief wash over him that he’d have at least one ally present. At the mention of Carina’s mate, he considered asking her for help with the whole mess of emotions that he went through daily. At the very least, she was one of the very few people in Prythian who understood the dangers of power, the sharpness of panic that came with putting loved ones in danger from enemies that normally wouldn’t spare them a second glance.

Hours of meetings and too many decisions stood between Eris and sitting in his favorite chair in a too-small kitchen. He gave himself one minute to hope that the violent chapters of his life had closed permanently, gave himself one minute to dream of what happiness and peace might actually look like, before re-entering his role as High Lord.

Chapter 12: spent their whole lives trying to put it into words

One small TW for abuse (past, nothing graphic). I've put the usually XXX before and after, but as always please let me know if I can make these warnings better and if you want a summary of that section.

“Hold that position. Yes! Exactly like that!” Rhia gasped. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement

Her student’s tiny arms began to tremble slightly at the exertion. Aliar’s face remained focused, however, as he used his leg muscles to push the wave of water higher and higher, until it touched the ceiling.

He dropped it suddenly. “Was that good?”

Rhia grinned. “That was wonderful . Did you see how much higher you raised it using your entire body instead of just your arms?”

He nodded quickly, a slow smile building on his face. Much quieter than the other two students he trained with, Aliar’s smile was equivalent to jumping with joy.

“Go grab some water, then you all can stretch and go home.” Rhia herded the trio of younglings toward the counter dividing the studio and her kitchen, where she always laid out a pitcher and cups. Raquel immediately stole Aliar’s attention, bestowing compliments and advice all in the same breath, at a speed too fast for anyone to follow along. They had a few more weeks before they would master water, all three of them did, but had made good progress nonetheless.

Rhia shuffled past Leyora carefully, from where the female had begun stretching in the most inconvenient spot, towards the dining room table. She eyed the blank parchment sitting there. The memory of the last time she had been waiting for a message from Eris while teaching this same trio hurt to recall, but she shook off any negative thoughts. Today had been good, her sleep undisturbed and her breathing easy.

It’s only been a day, she chided herself mentally. Give him time to respond, you needy wench.

“What is that?” Raquel demanded. Rhia barely stopped herself from jumping at their voice and shoved her hand away from the parchment. “Are you being sneaky with something?”

“What?” Rhia replied. “I’m an adult. I don’t have to sneak anything.”

Leyora raised her eyebrows. “Sounds like something a sneaky person would say.” Alair humphed in agreement.

“You’re all menaces. Raquel, finish your water.” Children could be eerily perceptive when they wanted to, usually when adults didn’t want them to.

As they grabbed their coats and ambled out, weather already turning gloomy before the Solstice, Rhia watched them go with a strange bittersweet feeling. Would she continue teaching if she became Lady--

Shit. That was not a road she had ever gone down and certainly didn’t need to go down. As if she would ever officially court Eris, nonetheless marry him when they hadn’t done anything more than kissing yet. When they still hadn’t talked through their pasts, their hopes, their darknesses.

Still, the thought lingered.

Rhia busied herself with making dinner as the sun set, drawing graceful golden designs on the walls. She sensed Sofine coming up to her door, grabbing two wine glasses as the Fae burst into the room.

“You read my mind,” she purred. Her gaze turned flirtatious as she noticed the wine Rhia had selected. “Feeling fancy tonight, are we? Expecting special guests?”

Rhia clicked her tongue. “You’re special enough for a nice bottle of wine. Sit, sit.”

Telling Sofi the full story, including how the mating bond had shared the agony of Eris’ stab wound, hadn’t been fun. Rhia had let her friend scold her, had let Sofi get out all of the frustration and worry she felt. Of course they both hoped that being Eris’ mate wouldn’t put Rhia in harm again, but the ordeal had created an entirely new set of anxieties.

So tonight, they stuck to pleasant topics. Rhia’s students, Sofine’s attempts to make a new kind of bread (Rhia secretly wondered how one could create a new kind of bread, but didn’t question it). The roasted vegetables turned out perfectly, a lucky feat when one’s best friend could cook better than anyone for miles.

And of course, the parchment glowed at exactly the wrong moment when Rhia had turned her back to bring the dishes to the sink. She heard Sofi’s gasp and whipped her head around, groaning when she saw her reading whatever message Eris had just sent.

“I’m a bit scandalized.” Sofi winked. “Is he always this dirty?”

Rhia gaped. “What the fuck? Give me that!” She moved at the speed of light, snatching the paper.

May I stop by tonight?

“Ugh, you’re such a bitch,” Rhia grumbled.

Sofine shrugged. “You should’ve seen your face. Maybe you wanted it to be a dirty message.”

That was the problem. Rhia would have loved a dirty message. Or she would have run screaming for the hills and never spoken to anyone ever again. It was a toss up.

“Do you mind if he crashes our plans?” she asked, stopping her perilous thoughts once more. Eris had never looked at her that way, at least not that she had noticed.

Sofi waved her glass of wine like a queen would her scepter. “Please. We hang out every other night. The male presence spices up the evening.”

If you don’t mind Sofi and I after two glasses of wine, Rhia wrote back.

Excellent. Shall I bring something from the royal cellar or do you have more than enough alcohol?

Oh definitely bring something. A fruity red, if you really want to win her over.

She couldn’t have counted to thirty in the time it took for Eris to appear in the kitchen.

“How did you possibly grab wine and winnow here that quickly?” Rhia demanded.

Eris shrugged. “I’m incredible like that.”

“Or he was sitting in the wine cellar, waiting to drown his sorrows if you said no,” Sofine piped up. Her cheeks flushed. “Sorry, I’m still not sure if I’m allowed to treat you normally and such.”

“Please,” Eris smiled. “Put me through all the shit you would normally put a male through.” With a mischievous look at Rhia, he added: “And feel free to tell me about those males while you’re at it.”

Rhia snatched the bottle from him. “Absolutely not.” She checked the label. “Cauldron damn me, this is 600 years old! Wait -- Eris, when exactly were you born?”

“I will not be age-shamed after procuring some of the finest wine in Autumn tonight,” he growled. “You know damn well how old I am.”

Sofine sighed. “I hope I’m not that grumpy in four hundred years.” She raised her now-empty glass up to Rhia, who gladly filled it.

---

Eris flicked his wrist and pulled out a glass for himself, then threw his body into the unoccupied chair. He let out a mock sigh at the females’ teasing, hiding his genuine joy at the playful conversation and quick remarks that flew across the room.

XXX

“I’m never throwing myself a birthday party again,” he insisted. “It’s just depressing at this point. I would’ve stopped throwing them years ago, if we hadn’t been...required to.” Eris trailed off. He’d almost shared the darling fact that Beron had forced all of his sons to host birthday galas, as an excuse to demand gifts and promises from various lords and nobility. Beron also loved nothing more than to use the annual occurrence as an excuse to run through the boys’ failures that year. The harsh words stung, but the sharp blows that followed drew a special kind of agony.

XXX

Rhia’s brow furrowed slightly at his sudden change in tone. “I throw too many birthdays for my students anyway.” He appreciated her attempt to lighten the mood, and appreciated the warmth of her hand on his that followed.

“That reminds me.” Eris squeezed her hand quickly, the other darting into his jacket pocket. “I have something for you. Both of you.” Inspiration struck as he handed the ball invitation to Rhia.

Her eyes danced across the sturdy parchment. “The Autumn Solstice Ball? In two weeks?”

Sofine jumped up. “What? Give me that!” She squealed as she read what Rhia had just spoken. “By the Mother, Eris!! Oh, you are such an improvement on anyone Rhia’s brought home.”

“Sofi’s always wanted to attend a ball,” Rhia shared. Eris tried to judge her expression, but he couldn’t figure out what she was thinking.

“And you? Would you be interested in attending?” he probed. “I, I know it might be complicated for you to attend with the whole...situation.” He gestured between the two of them. “We can do this any way you’d like.”

Rhia worked her bottom lip between her teeth. “I want to, I really do.” Eris had to restrain himself from running his thumb over her forehead until the skin relaxed. “I’m worried people will know, but I’m also exhausted already at the thought of hiding it all night, but I know it’d be strange for you to pop up with a mate randomly, and I--”

“I have an idea,” Sofine interrupted. Her eyes narrowed as her brain doubtlessly worked out some scheme that Eris would either detest or fancy. “It would save you both some trouble. You wouldn’t have to hide your feelings, but you wouldn’t have to come up with a backstory about how you met.”

Oh, Eris would definitely love or hate this.

Sofine took a sip of her wine. “Spit it out, you dramatic tart,” Rhia complained after a moment.

“Write your own fairytale.” Sofi let a smirk play on her lips. “Pretend like you’ve never met, as if Rhia and I just received the invitations through some mistake or some administrative process. And then at the ball, poof! The bond.”

Eris let her words run through his mind once, twice. “You think we should act like the bond clicked into place...at the ball?”

Shrugging, she defended her plan. “I can’t say whether or not you both want to bring your relationship into the public domain, but it would be wonderful, wouldn’t it?” Eris would have snorted at the dreamy look in her eyes if he hadn’t gotten the same look whenever he thought about a future with Rhia. “The new High Lord...hosting an extravagant ball...seeing the most beautiful woman grace his presence...falling love with her-”

“Cauldron, Sofi, are you a writer now?” Rhia stopped her friend from writing an entire novel aloud. Her gaze darted to Eris. “It feels a bit over-the-top, though.”

“I hate to even say this, because you know it isn’t a priority for me, but Gerwin would murder me if I didn’t consider how good of a public relations boost this could be.” Eris winced. It felt unbelievably shallow and inconsiderate to worry about his reputation while discussing his most intimate relationship.

Luckily, Rhia waved off his concerns with a hand on his arm. “Well maybe that’s something I care about.” She turned to her friend. “Do you mind giving us a moment?”

“I’ll give you all night,” Sofi smirked. “Take all the time you need to...talk. Bye!”

Her joke left them both groaning. However, Eris did take advantage of Sofi’s absence to pull Rhia away from the table and towards the much comfier couch across the room. She sat facing him, tucking her legs underneath her as she always did.

“Can I?” Eris stretched out his arm. Rhia gave him the softest smile and nodded, pulling herself closer until they were properly cuddled up next to each other.

“We obviously don’t have to this,” Eris began. “There’s ten other ways you could attend, not attend, whatever you want.”

She scrunched up her face. “Don’t ever repeat this, especially not to Sofi, but I’m completely in love with the idea,’ Rhia confessed. “It’s so silly, I know, but it feels nice to create some fake story. We could keep everything else private.”

Eris loved the idea for entirely different reasons, pretty much of all of them that he would get to dance with the most delightful Fae in this world in front of everyone without having to explain himself to anyone. However, he could work with this.

“So then? Should we do this?”

Rhia rolled her eyes. “Why does it feel like I’m signing my life away to some top-secret mission? Yes, let’s do it.”

He stayed over again that night, except this time they stayed awake talking until an obscene hour. Eris fell asleep with images of their future lulling him into peace.

Chapter 13: your eyes whispered (have we met) take 2

Eris threw himself on his bed, letting out a dramatic sigh that no one could hear. It had been a week and a half of pure stress that saw every kind of crisis, from interviewing potential advisers that ended up having criminal backgrounds to finding out the ballroom floor had somehow deteriorated and needed a fix immediately. Now, the day before the Solstice, Eris found himself wishing Auster had succeeded in his coup, if only for the fact that dealing with these logistics seemed a fitting punishment for treason.

His thoughts, as always, drifted to Rhia. They’d only had a couple nights together since, and Eris had to run back to the palace both times after a couple hours. The last interruption came at a particularly inopportune moment, right as he finished telling her the story of his darkest moment.

“Fuck,” Eris swore. Gerwin’s note made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he had to come deal with a fight that broke out between some of his people. “I--”

“Go deal with it,” Rhia commanded, her voice unnaturally calm.

Eris let out a loose breath. He had literally just told her about Mor, about leaving a dying woman alone in the woods rather than offer her any aid because she had dared defy their fathers. “I don’t want to leave like this.”

Rhia hadn’t dropped her gaze at any point during the conversation and held his stare even now. “Are you worried that you’ve upset me beyond reproach? That this conversation is my breaking point?”

“Maybe.” He broke first, using the excuse of throwing on his coat to look away. “It’s what isolated the Autumn and Night Court permanently; why the precious Inner Circle will never tolerate me beyond my usefulness as an ally.”

Rhia snorted. “If we had more time, I’d spend all of it convincing you that this most certainly is not my breaking point. But we don’t.” She moved closer into his personal space. “So go deal with your drama and I’ll prove to you that the bridge between us is unbreakable another time.”

She always complained about his cheesy one-liners, but that sentence had carried him through the entire evening and subsequent morning. It wasn’t until that night, until he lay in his bed alone, that doubt began creeping in.

Eris’s mind raged a violent battle. The logical, rational part of him argued that Rhia had insisted they were fine, insisted she wasn’t upset at him. The dark, twisted part of him sneered at that optimism, insisted that she would never look at him again. Why would she, after hearing about his tragic engagement? After all, Rhia looked up to the Inner Circle as if they were deities, the same people who declared Eris a mortal enemy.

Sleep finally stole him from his painful journey through his memories, but his dreams offered little comfort. They swept him from memories of kisses and laughter to visions of tragedy and heartbreak at terrifying speeds.

---

Rhia finished her cup of tea. Sofi stood in front of her, buzzing with excitement, as they both eyed the sheer bags in front of them.

“I can’t stand it anymore,” Sofi declared, throwing her hands up in an overly dramatic gesture. “I’m opening them.”

She untied the lovely ribbon keeping their gowns wrapped in the protective shields before Rhia could protest. “Oh my goodness, Rhia, look .”

“Treya outdid herself,” Rhia agreed. One of her student’s guardians had offered to make them dresses for the Ball for a heavily discounted price, claiming that she had overstocked on specialty fabrics that weren’t selling.

She ran a hand softly over the gold silk. It felt luxurious, obscenely so, and Rhia found herself questioning if she deserved this. Not just the dress, but the entire situation. After so many years stuck in one place, doing one job, with basically one friend, the thought of changing her life overnight seemed beyond daunting. For Eris, though, she would try to step out of her comfort zone.

If only I could step far enough out of my comfort zone to jump his bones, Rhia thought to herself, half-humorously and half-miserable.

Sofi played with the straps of her sparkling red gown. “Where did you go just now?”

“Just wondering how the hell I got here,” Rhia answered. They played this game whenever either drifted too far into their own heads, a way to mindfully reenter the present. “It’s like a fantasy, isn’t it? Finding true love and prince overnight.”

Her tone must have struck bitter, because Sofi stopped admiring the fabric and looked her dead in the eye. “What are you worried about? That you don’t deserve this?”

“Yes, but it’s not...” Rhia fiddled with her gown once more. “We’ve talked a lot about what our life after tonight will look like, and it’s not like we’re about to get married or anything, but is it strange that I wish we were further along in our relationship? How can we just declare ourselves to the entire damn continent at this point?”

Sofi raised an eyebrow. “I would say this is a completely normal stage to tell your circle of people about a relationship. Eris’ circle just happens to include the general public.” She refilled her own mug, then froze. “When you say further along, you don’t mean sex, do you?”

“And what if I do?” Rhia challenged. Her cheeks flushed a bit. It’s not as if Sofi hadn’t seen her at her worst moments and through every failed relationship since, but this admission felt more embarrassing, for some reason. “I’m about to meet his mother and we’ve barely felt each other up.”

One beat of silence, then:

“I’m sorry,” Sofi cackled. “What is your logic here?” Her laughter grew as Rhia frowned, making her words difficult to decipher. “‘Hey Eris! I know everything’s just peachy emotionally, but I can’t go public with you until we’ve fucked!’ Rhia, you’re smarter than this.”

Rhia was smarter than this. “It sounds worse when you say it like that! I just...I’ve never waited this long before and it feels like I’m failing somehow.”

Sofi stopped giggling. “Hey,” she said softly. “You can’t compare relationships, or males, or even yourself in different situations. You’re happier than I’ve ever seen you, and that’s all that matters.”

“I am,” Rhia agreed. She took a deep breath, letting her thoughts settle. “I am, and you’re right.” Saying it out loud had helped calm the tornado of insecurities, helped her realize the fallacy of her worries. “Honestly, I think it’s a good sign we both overthink every tiny thing. As if we’re both terrified to damage what we have.”

Her friend clicked her tongue. “As long as that overthinking doesn’t create any damages itself.”

---

Eris was definitely overthinking their plan. Rhia had written him a short note about an hour ago, letting him know that her gown was perfect and she couldn’t wait. Somehow, her simple positivity had sent Eris into a swirl of anxiety that led him to interrogate Liang about every last logistical element.

“You’re hovering,” she snapped, as he followed her down the hallway. “Why are you asking me about the greeting line? You’ve done it a hundred times.”

Eris usually found her temper refreshing. Not today, though. “Yes, but we don’t normally greet everyone. How long will I be in line?”

Liang gave him a bemused look. “I don’t know, thirty minutes? How chatty do you plan to be? And it’s only for the appointed representatives from each village, like every single other time.” She turned sharply, narrowly avoiding a group of Fae carrying large trays of food to the main hall.

“Don’t follow me,” she called out, not bothering to turn her head to look back at her High Lord. Eris stopped walking, but still heard her mumble several profanities under her breath.

He ran a hand through his hair. Somehow, he had to conclude official introductions and make it into the main party before Rhia showed up, so their “first-glance” would seem authentic, without offending any local politicians by cutting their discussions short. If dinner began too soon, they’d have to wait for dancing, but would it even make sense to lock eyes after two hours at the Ball?

“Pull yourself together,” he mumbled to himself. Eris hated feeling out of control, but he simply couldn’t force a thousand people to move exactly how he wanted.

The plan stressed him out immensely, yet would provide political protection for their relationship. Technically, the law required Eris to disclose any “personal liaisons” to the palace staff and advisers, for security reasons and to allow advisers to approve any potential marriages. He obviously hadn’t done that under Beron to protect his lovers, and really didn’t want anyone saying a damn thing about his future spouse. Luckily, Prythian held mating bonds in the highest regard, and no one would dare say shit about him and Rhia, especially if the bond seemed to appear at an auspicious time of year.

“Talking to yourself now? I heard that’s a sign of mental exhaustion.” Eris turned to face his brother. “Why aren’t you up in your chambers getting pampered and prepared?” Lucien asked.

“I’m going there now,” Eris grumbled. “I was checking on any last minute issues.”

Lucien placed a hand on his shoulder. “How dedicated. Funny story, though, I had only just stepped into the entrance hall when Mother accosted me and demanded I send you back to your chambers.” He let out a small chuckle. “I believe the words ‘nuisance’ and ‘in the way’ were used.”

“It’s my party. I think I’m allowed to help out-”

“You don’t give a shit about event planning,” Lucien interrupted. “Go do your hair and make yourself pretty for your...special guest.”

Eris started. He hadn’t mentioned anything to his brother about Rhia. “What are you talking about?”

Lucien stepped back and put his hands in his pockets. The prick had spent way too much time in the Night Court. “Only that Carina seemed a little too excited for you. Anyways.”

Eris watched him walk away. Of course she had blabbed to his brother, probably immediately after Eris had confided in her last week. She was dogmatically good at keeping secrets when necessary, but notoriously good at gossiping about personal matters.

Still, he winnowed to his chambers and started a bath. His hair did look a bit a shabby, now that Lucien mentioned it.

----

The trees lining the cobblestone path twinkled with golden light, leading the way to the palace. Rhia and Sofi did their best not to gape at the scenery, at everything from the decorations to the masses of people. While they both had visited cities before Amarantha’s reign, the influx of sounds and sights overwhelmed their small-town sensibilities.

Rhia craned her neck to observe the massive double doors that were flung open to allow entrance. “Do they truly leave the doors open all night? Seems dangerous with all these crowds.”

“The only Fae who might break in has an invitation tonight,” Sofi snorted. She nodded at the thick parchment in Rhia’s hand. “Don’t even think about scaling the west wall.”

“East wall,” Rhia corrected automatically. Her heart had begun to race as they neared the doors, the entrance hall now visible over the other guests’ heads. The guards worked efficiently, splitting the crowd into three lines to check their invitations and scan for weapons.

The duo exchanged no further words until they reached the checkpoint. The guard let them through with no hassle, and Rhia let out a small breath. She didn’t expect to be denied entry or thrown in a prison cell, but her last encounter with palace guards had tainted her memory. Hopefully none of the members on staff tonight had arrested her previously.

“He certainly has taste, you think?” Sofi commented as they swept down the spacious hallway. Rhia nodded, enjoying the bright colors of the Autumn Court represented on ornate curtains, plush carpet, and detailed murals. On another occasion, she might have taken her time to admire the artwork like the other guests, but Rhia dragged Sofi quickly through them, with only one beautiful thing on her mind.

An extremely tall Fae stood at the end of the hall, in front of another set of large doors. Unfortunately, these were closed shut.

Rhia frowned at the sight. “Did we have the time wrong?”

“Oh, they just have to finish up the greeting line.” Rhia and Sofi jumped at the sudden comment. “They should open them shortly.”

Rhia grinned when she recognized the Fae next to her. “Gerwin! What are you doing out here with the rabble?” She placed a hand on Sofi’s wrist. “This is my dearest friend, Sofi. Sofi, this is Eris’ weapon master and all-around savior, Gerwin.”

He bowed slightly. “May I get that glowing compliment in writing? Pleased to meet you.”

Sofi laughed. “Likewise. I always think it’s good to know someone who knows where all the weapons are, in case of emergency.”

“The doors are now open,” droned the lanky Fae. Indeed, they swung open slowly behind him, revealing orchestral music and overlapping conversation. Gerwin shot them a quick wink and entered first, careful to act like a friendly stranger rather than an insider on the biggest secret of the year.

“Are you ready?” Sofi whispered under her breath. She slid her hand into Rhia’s, giving it a quick squeeze. “Last chance to run for the hills.”

Rhia scoffed. “Keep walking.” She forced her breath to come out evenly, slowly, hoping her body wouldn’t betray her by fainting before she even saw him.

The lights seemed even brighter, the music swelling to unprecedented volume, as she took those final steps into the ballroom, her eyes darting across all the irrelevant people and things. She only wanted to look at one person, only wanted to think of one thing tonight.

And then her eyes met his.

---

“Do you think you’ll make a trip to the Southern cities this winter? I spoke with the company maintaining your Milton estate, and it couldn’t be in better condition.” The dark-skinned representative beamed.

Eris attempted to return his enthusiasm. “Possibly. There’s still quite a bit of work to do around here. Thank you for coming.”

“Of course, my Lord. Have a wonderful evening.” As the Fae moved towards the dance floor, Eris dared to look back at the closed doors behind him. The official representatives had been let in forty minutes ago, and finally, he could see the end of the greeting line. If he could get through the next two conversations without screaming in frustration, he’d treat himself to the largest drink he could physically hold. Unless she arrived before he made it to the bar, then he’d settle on treating himself with a dance with the love of his life.

“The doors are now open.” The doormale’s voice sent a shot of adrenaline through Eris’ blood, grabbing his attention from the last group of dignitaries from the Dawn Court. His mother’s smile tightened, but her face remained diplomatic as she took over the greeting from her distracted son.

Eris strode away from the politicians and foreigners, away from his role as High Lord. As he walked, his prior thoughts and insecurities rose like a cloud of poison, choking him with doubt. This was the last time he could dream about what would happen when they saw each other’s faces again, the last time he could wonder if she’d come to brighten up his dull palatial life. The last time he could hate himself for offering her a choice to stand by him publicly, as if that wouldn’t put her in danger of scorn and harm.

Eris could barely breathe as he approached the edge of the dance floor. The string octet transitioned to louder music, meant to pull the crowds to their feet and into the arms of a partner. The first line of general guests darted in, chatting excitedly about the extravagance and the notable Fae already in the room.

He truly did stop breathing the moment he saw the tail of a silk golden gown. His eyes raked up the flowing skirt, small sections twisted into rose-like shapes until they reached the tight bodice. Then, his eyes devoured the low neckline and bare shoulders, stopping to note the one sleeve slipping down a smooth, brown arm, mocking the hand he wished to brush down that same arm.

Finally, after several seconds or an eternity, his eyes locked in on the most beautiful face he would ever see. Eris prayed to the Mother that he wouldn’t slip out of consciousness in that moment, when he looked his unbelievably perfect mate in the eye.

Rhia offered him the smallest smile, her hands rising to sit delicately at her stomach. She took a step towards him and--

Eris held back a snarl when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Gerwin mumbled an apology.

“You were standing so still that even I believe this was the moment the bond clicked in,” the weapons master remarked. “I think about half the room has noticed so far.”

“Good.” Eris turned back towards her, towards the angel he would never deserve. And yet, his doubts had completely vanished in her presence, leaving behind only the desire to hold her immediately. “I want them all to see this.”

With a final grin to his best friend, Eris walked across the floor. Fae jumped out of his way, and the gossip increased by a tenfold at his determined pace.

Sofi stood proudly next to her, failing to hold back her grin. She leaned over to whisper something in Rhia’s ear that Eris barely managed to catch. “I think you’ve caught someone’s attention.”

He was now close enough to inhale her scent. Cauldron, he must look like a besotted fool. Luckily, that was his role to play.

“My Lord.” Sofi bowed. Eris shot her a glance that might have appeared disdained to onlookers. She pursed her lips to hold back laughter.

“Have we met?” Eris asked. His tone came off light, casual, hiding the turmoil of love and desire flooding him. “You are absolutely enchanting.”

Rhia blushed and he almost gave in, almost kissed that blush right off her cheeks. “I haven’t had the honor, my Lord.”

“Eris,” he breathed. “To you, always Eris.”

“Rhiannon,” she countered. “Rhia, if you’d like.”

He held out a hand. “Will you do me the honor?”

She took it, and the warmth of her skin blazed across his body. Eris led them out to the dance floor, which had emptied in his journey across it.

The musicians changed their tune mid-note, slowing the tune down until a sweet, romantic song claimed the room. A few cautious couples stepped out from the edges of the crowd, but most of the room stood completely still and held their breaths, straining to figure out who had stolen their High Lord so abruptly.

Eris pulled Rhia close with one hand on her waist, keeping the touch gentle for her comfort. Their intertwined hands rose as their feet moved.

“Why aren’t they dancing?” she asked nervously.

“Don’t look at them. Look at me,” Eris urged. “It’s an old Court tradition, letting the highest ranking nobles have the first dance. They’ll join soon.”

“Why did you ask me to dance?”

He smiled at the question. She was still playing the game. “You must know that you’re the most flawless person in this room. I was wonderstruck.”

That beautiful blush appeared again. “I’ll guess you didn’t pass any mirrors on the way down here, then. I can’t take my eyes off of you.” The hand on his shoulder flexed as Rhia dared to let one finger brush his neck. He shivered.

“Please tell me you felt it too.” Eris’ instincts kept them from crashing into other dancers, since his eyes couldn’t be bothered to leave her face. “Tell me I’m not alone here.”

Passerbyers heard that one. His words spread across the crowd, the gossip faster than his flames ever could.

“Everything vanished when I saw your face,” Rhia replied. Her tone softened, her head tilted. “Yes, I felt it.” She leaned in, lips brushing his ear. “You’ll never be alone again, my love.” The words were murmured too softly for anyone else, an admission that was for him alone.

Gerwin would never let him forget it if he cried in front of everyone, so Eris swallowed back the rage of emotions in his throat. “Thank the Cauldron. Literally, since you’re my-”

A roar of thunder shattered the room, followed by a flash of darkness right in the center of the floor, several feet from where they stood. Some guests screamed, and the guards surged, but Eris merely sighed and held up a hand.

The night black vanished, leaving behind an unfairly attractive couple. The female waved to the crowd, flipping a lock of her raven hair over her shoulder. Her partner stood impassively next to her, his Illyrian wings marking him as obviously other.

Eris inclined his head. “Thank you for coming, Carina.”

#acotar #sjm #eris #eris vanserra #acosf #autumn court #ballgowns #dancing #all the good stuff

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msaluna · 3 years

Text

The Moon Well

This story is a mini fic of Luna in a Corruption AU, giving hints on how she became corrupted by an event while overseas. All of Luna’s backstory is relatively the same with only this one event causing her sudden shift in corruption. Enjoy. -RayMun

================

The night of her return was not a pleasant one, the woman known by so few in the town as the local witch, and even fewer by actual name passes through the magical portkey door. The one that leads back to a mansion overseas owned by a man she no longer cares for. Her body still humming with magic from the events that only happened the night before.

She closes the door behind her, waving a hand over the door, it vanishes in a shimmer of powerful magic. The house creaks with what could only be heard to Luna as a sound of concern.

"I am okay dear friend," Luna said to what would be emptiness. "But I think we’ve outgrown this town."

Luna places a satchel of books she has been holding onto the table as she goes to prepare for her “Move” to another location. The books weren’t hers to keep but she felt every right to take it. The contents were a mix of rituals, spells, and Fay knowledge along with one black journal. It was written in cursive french, but she didn't have to translate it to know of its contents. Because she saw through the torching visions of the Moon Well what secrets it and its previous owners kept.

Without much preparation time, Luna focused her magic to the condition of the house. Her eyes and body glow in pale gold light, a phantom image of moth wings expand from the woman’s back. The house around her binds and twists, creaking as the Relocation spell takes hold. Markings and symbols write themselves in light along the walls and ceiling of the rooms. And in a matter of minutes, the house once known as Sun & Moons Fortunes is now an empty shell in the small town. Making the new residence to the Witch of Secrets currently unknown.

VVV[Open Read More to see the Journal Entry]VVV

[Research of the Moon Well]

[Owner: Viktor Frollo]

[Contact: XXX-XXXX-XXXX]

[Date: 21/12]

The Moon Well, I have only seen it in tales and vague mentions in old documents but now I have been convinced the place or more accurately this phenomenon truly exists. This year, during my visit to that drabby campus, invited to the Yule ball as per usual, I was expecting it to be the same as last year. Boring. Typical meet and greet while reconnecting and reassuring some of my former contacts that I was being a well-behaved gentleman. Seeing the most mature and basic of magical potential. Such cowards. They do not realize untapped magic is waiting to be discovered if they simply opened their eyes and looked.

But no, they fail to even realize that one of their own students has talents that are far more than just a prodigy witch. This time, even I was allowed the opportunity to peek behind that curtain that hides the secrets of the moon. A student by the name of Luna Eirian allowed me to see past this veil during her performance for the winter moon. It was stunning in more ways than one, truly something to behold. But what was more shocking than the skills she possessed was the display of natural magic being displayed through her voice and music, it was the fact that no one realized what I had at that very moment. She was performing Fay magic! Specifically Moon Fay! At least, this is what I strongly believe just from the scene I experienced this evening.

I can hardly steady my hand as I write my excitement of this discovery. The only thing now is to convince Ms. Eirian to allow me to be her patron or mentor. She will never be able to reach her true potential through the cowardly teachings of that establishment. This will be difficult, as she is already suspicious of me from her reaction to my presence at the Ball. Even when asking her if she would like a patron to fund any projects she wishes to undertake, she politely declined. Sadly, she isn't like any of the women, like the ones who pursue me in the hopes I would give them my time. It would have made this situation easier.

[Date: 22/12]

I have sent a request to Ms. Eirian's counselor to have her study under my watch. Seeing as we are both viewed as porridge witches from the same university, it was fairly easy to convince the council. However, Ms. Eirian herself seems to be a paranoid sort of individual or at least highly instinctual when someone takes interest in her. I did not see any hint of shyness in her demeanor when asked, so her rejection of me doesn't stem from bashfulness. At least she isn't a gullible idiot, that much is a blessing and frankly, I believe it adds to her charm.

[Date: 28/12]

It has been a week since the Yule Ball and I have managed to convince Ms. Eirian to stay at the estate while I help her with a project. A broom. Simple enough, but now that she is here, I can proceed with providing her with information about her talents. And I can finally push her to limits that will break that veil once again, without interference with those cowards at the university. Hopefully, the promise of more knowledge from my collection of books will entice her to stay longer than intended. She seems to be very fond of learning about magic.

[Date: 10/01]

A new discovery, even if she didn't have her Fay heritage, Ms. Eirian has proven to be quite clever and knowledgeable. She has only relied on her Fay powers less than a handful of times while under my watch. It is truly impressive, we would have many quite the collaborative team if she lived on this side of the ocean. Or have come to the university when I was attending. I still intend to study her Fay capabilities, but even I have to admit that her presence here has significantly warmed the chilly atmosphere of this estate.

I need to move the project forward if I am to hope to achieve my goal of studying Luna before I become distracted.

I will be moving the project forward a little faster than usual. Now that she is less suspicious of my movements, I will be able to gather samples to perform further studies.

---

[Date: 16/01]

Today, I took a gamble. I handed Ms. Eirian a book that normal human eyes are not typically allowed to read. It is one of the few Fay-written books I have managed to find without being tarnished or fake. It was worrisome, I had a story prepared to explain why I had the book and why I was handing it to her without explanation. However, a surprising thing happened...she didn't question the book or the contents. She didn't even ask how she could read it. Ms. Eirian...do you trust me this much with your secrets? Or in bittersweet irony, are you truly unaware of why I drew close to you?

The way she smiled at me with excitement about the contents of the book tells me she does not know. And for some reason, at that moment in time, I felt sad. I pitied her more than being pleased with the concept of her unknowingly being part Fay. She truly didn't know how special she was to me. And the idea of knowing a secret she didn't know she had, pained me.

---

[Date: 21/01]

Our relationship has grown closer over these past few weeks. She has opened up quite a bit, and it makes things easier. But there seems to be an issue that I wasn't expecting to have, I purely played with the idea of returning her affection to keep her close but now, I wish to keep her close regardless. However, the issue is that I still would like to pursue knowledge about the Moon Fay while she is still by my side.

In a few days, the super moon will be rising and I need to be prepared.

Forgive me Luna, but maybe you will if my studies help you control this Fay magic inside. Once I see and record my findings, I promise that I will tell you everything. No more secrets between us.

I promise.

---

[Date: 31/01]

I am not sure what happened, all I could say is the display of magic and the veil tearing was unlike anything I have ever seen before. The power of the ritual could be viewed as a success to a typical scholar, I know my past self would have seen it as such but seeing Luna---Apologize for my notes at this moment.

The ritual is supposed to be performed during a normal full moon but my eagerness to see a positive result has led to a miscalculation. The Moon Well does exist and it can be accessed by a half-Fay heritage of moon descent. However, due to the mythical powers of the supermoon, the results have left --the subject-- Luna in an almost comatose state. Possibly overwhelmed with the sudden flow of magic, knowledge, or both that came to her. She was screaming by the end of the ritual and I, admittedly in a panic, tried to cut her ties off to the connection of the well---

*the writing seems to be shaking more and more as the journal goes on*

She was babbling in Fay for hours nearly four hours, I can barely pick out a few words that I know, "too loud" and "stop the voices" were some of the few I could trasl translate as I got her to some care. Her body is strangely chilly to even myself. Body limp but strangely light as a feather now that I recall. Her body glo was glowing softly, still full of magic I presume. Apologies again for any miss-spelling or illegibility, my hands are still shaking from shock. I will be staying by her side for the remainder of the night to make sure that her condition didn't worsen.

*the writing is a little more steady, assuming after a pause to calm themselves*

Luna's condition had improved in the last few hours of the night, maybe due to the peak of the moon finally reaching its end. It is only a hypothesis. Luna is still restless in her sleep though, but the chill has gone away. Thank God. The glowing has also faded somewhat but her hair has clearly changed, adding more blond to her caramel hair. Upon further inspection, the freckles on her body have also burned into her skin, only now do I realize that her markings on her back fit perfectly as the constellations of the night sky.

This experiment should not be replicated without further research and understanding of Fay magic. And also should not be proceeded without less secretive tactics to any 'subject' performing the ritual. I believe, if I wasn't a coward in that very moment, if Luna knew about her heritage before performing the ritual, the results would have been less catastrophic and dangerous to her livelihood. Hopefully, Luna will wake from her sleep soon, so I can apologize to her properly. For now, I will leave this journal here for a time while I rest and wait for her to awake.

Luna. I am so sorry.

---

#Corruption AU #Fanfic #MSA OC #Luna #Viktor #Character Lore #Moon Well

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sparrowwritings · 3 years

Text

Final Fantasy 14 Writing Challenge Day One: Exchange

Masterpost -- Day Two

The day had started out rather well. The usual overcast weather that covered Ishgard had prompted Lara and Roger to suggest a day inside Fortemps manor with warm drinks and stories. While there was plenty that he could have been doing elsewise, the two had coerced Alphinaud into joining them. He’d told himself it would be a brief interlude, but as the clock chimed the passing of morning into the noon he’d found himself enjoying this rare moment of leisure.

He’d finished regaling the other teens with a story about an incident occurring on his and Alisaie’s nameday when Roger had blinked and looked to Lara. “You know I never thought to ask...when is your nameday?”

She’d looked confused and told him. There had then been a stillness as Roger’s already large green eyes widened further.

“That’s my nameday too!” Before Alphinaud could interject that many people shared namedays, Roger further exclaimed, “And it passed just before we met! Why didn’t you tell me??”

“I didn’t even think about it…” Lara’s own dark blue eyes were also round with realization. “The echo shared a lot about us to each other, but it didn’t show everything...” She’d trailed off with an odd expression. Roger mirrored it.

Then, suddenly, the two had left their mugs on the drawing room table and stood. They moved quickly enough that anyone else could have thought that they had rehearsed it.

“I’ve got to go do something.” “I need to take care of something.”

Lara and Roger had said over each other as the two left as if being chased by dragons. Leaving Alphinaud behind and very confused.

Now here he was, braving the cold of Ishgard’s city to find out just what in the world was happening with the Warriors of Light. Someone had to, so it might as well be him.

It didn’t take long for Alphinaud to find someone who would be willing to talk to someone still considered an outsider (not even going into the results of the heretic trial). After all, Lord Haurchefant Greystone was considered something of an outcast himself. “Ah, young Alphinaud! Good to see you!” He called out with far enough enthusiasm to draw the attention of passersby. They turned away just as quickly, which was expected of the folk of the Pillars.

“Good to see you as well, Haurchefant,” Alphinaud gave a nod, though it was still odd to address the commander so informally. The widened smile on the man’s face indicated that he approved.

“Are you also on a quest to find a gift for Roger, or is it something else? Lara seemed in quite a hurry when she spoke with me.”

Well that answered the question that he didn’t even need to ask. “No, I was actually about to question you about where they’d both gone. We had been chatting when something came to mind in both Roger and Lara and they had rushed off. I suppose if Lara was looking for a gift for Roger, then he must be doing the same for her.”

Haurchefant barked a laugh, which drew temporary attention again. “You know, I think you’re right young Alphinaud! Those two do seem to be of one mind more often than not! Almost like twins if I didn’t know any better.”

Ignoring the sudden tightness in his chest, Alphinaud gave another nod. “Indeed. But back to the topic at hand; did you have a suggestion for her?”

“Alas I did not.” The commander sighed and folded his arms. “While I’ve been blessed to have assisted and been assisted by Lara and Roger, I’m afraid I’ve spent far less time with them individually. ‘Tis a shame, for their lives are most fascinating. Just hearing your story of how you came to be on my doorstep is almost nothing compared to the one I participated in. And mine had such complex twists and turns as it stood! Think of what they’ll accomplish next!”

Alphinaud suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

It didn’t take much for the man to sing the praises of the Warriors of Light. While this trait was invaluable for helping himself, Roger, Lara and Tataru to be invited to the Holy See, after a while such enthusiasm was a tad...tedious. Not that either of the Warriors of Light had ever indicated that they felt the same. In fact, they seemed to flourish under the attention of their practically-adopted older brother. Half a wonder that Lara had gone to him first for ideas.

Thankful for all of the lessons in diplomacy that he had been forced to learn, Alphinaud hid his annoyance behind a polite smile. “I’m certain the Warriors of Light will surprise us yet. Although at the moment I was wondering where Lara had gone off to after she spoke with you.”

Remembering himself, Haurchefant cleared his throat. It didn’t do much to hide the embarrassed flush on the elezen’s cheeks. “Right. I suggested she try talking to Tataru. I may also not know much about her, but she seems to be the industrious type. Perhaps try there?”

Industrious was one way of describing the lallafel, but the idea was quite sound. If anyone was around that could feasibly suggest gift ideas, it would be Tataru Taru. Alphinaud nodded and made to leave with the standard farewell when the commander offered, “Are you sure you don’t wish for me to join you?”

“I will be quite well, thank you.” Alphinaud answered quickly as he left.

------

“Sorry, you just missed’m! Both of them!”

“Drat,” Alphinaud said under his breath.

The Forgotten Knight was as busy as the tavern ever was. People were wandering in from the snow flurries that were steadily falling from the grey skies, looking for warm food and company. One could almost forget that Ishgard was cut off from the rest of Eorzea for how crowded the place felt. Thankfully the corner that he and Tataru were chatting in was relatively clear even as people came and went.

“Aw, you don’t have to be so worried about them. You know Lara and Roger can handle themselves!” The lalafell woman patted his hand, her small legs dangling from the elezen-sized stool she’d sat in.

“I’m not worried about them in that sense,” He protested. “Even separate, those two are far more capable than many groups of warriors I’ve encountered.”

Tataru opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it while biting her lip. He didn’t have to guess at what she had decided not to bring up.

“Yes, the Crystal Braves can be included in that. If I hadn’t been so foolish then they couldn’t have been--” A thick slice of bread inserted in his mouth cut off his sentence. Tataru huffed and clapped crumbs off of her hands while he took the piece out and coughed.

“No. We’re not going to do that right now. We’re talking about Roger and Lara, not your guilt. You are worried about your friends so I’m not going to hide what I know. But. You’ve got to stop blaming yourself for something that wasn’t your fault and that you’re not being blamed for.” She levelled a violet glare at him. “So. If you want to know what they’re up to, you’re not going to go on about how you could’ve changed things with the Crystal Braves. Okay?”

Alphinaud was once again feeling left behind and confused, but in a different way than had happened earlier that day. He’d just wanted to know what the Warriors of Light had been doing. When had his own emotions gotten in the way of finding that out? It hadn’t even been at the forefront of his mind, and yet his guilt had been summoned unconsciously. He turned the hard slice of bread over in his hands as he mulled over the offer. After a beat, he sighed. “Very well, I agree.”

As if the sun had come out from the clouds (as rare as such an occurrence was in Ishgard), Tataru beamed and spoke as if she hadn’t just told off the boy. He chewed on the part of the bread that had already been in his mouth while she chattered on. “WELL, first Roger came to me asking if I knew what Lara liked to eat so I asked why and he said he was getting her a late nameday gift so of course I offered to help. I sent him on his way to the markets and talked to a few folk in the tavern about places to find rare herbs, so by the time Lara came in asking for gift ideas for Roger I already knew where to send her so that I could help with the cooking while she was away!” Tataru spread her arms wide, her fingers splaying out and shaking in a theatrical fashion. “So! If you want to find gifts for them, they should be fairly occupied until the end of the day.”

He swallowed the last of the bread before he spoke. “Where is Roger practicing his cooking?” He didn’t need to answer her about potential gift giving, after all.

“Oh he’s in the kitchens here. I have someone making sure he doesn’t burn anything important.”

“I see…” His eyes slid to the door towards the room in question.

The apprehension must have been apparent because Tataru retorted, “He can’t burn anything yet, he’s still got to mix ingredients and such.” She openly rolled her eyes when he looked back at her.

“You make it sound as if he might burn down the whole tavern.”

“He won’t! Probably. Hopefully.” She was suddenly nervous, pulling at the ends of her sleeves. “...I’ll...go see how he’s doing. In the meantime, think about what I said. About all of that.” The lalafell then hopped off the stool and made her way into the back.

Alphinaud let the surrounding conversation wash over him as he thought. After some time, he got up from his seat and made his way out. He’d made a decision and he was going to follow through with it.

-----

“You really didn’t have to find these for me!” Roger exclaimed as he examined the variety of plant life that had been neatly tied together with a red ribbon.

It was just past supper, and the teens plus Haurchefant and Tataru had retired to the drawing room of Fortemps manor. As soon as everyone had sat down, Lara had shoved the green bundle in her best friend’s direction and he’d fumbled but kept his grip on it. Tataru had clapped happily at the sight. Harchefant’s face seemed to be stuck in a proud smile.

Alphinaud was no expert on botany, but he was fairly certain that the shrubs and flowers had been picked more for their looks than their usefulness. Still, Roger looked at them as if they were rare ingredients. Lara relaxed her nervous stance at the sight of his appreciation.

“I know, but I wanted to find something useful and it was the best thing I could think of at the time. Now that I know when your nameday is, I’m going to blow you away with a proper present next year.” She grinned.

Now it was Roger’s turn to fidget in his seat. “W-well. I hope you like this too.” From his pocket came a small paper bag, fastened with a green ribbon. The paper had a flower pattern printed on it. Lara gently took the bag and pulled until the ribbon came undone. In the middle were a handful of cookies. The bottoms were slightly burnt and the size of them were inconsistent. “I-I know you like to cook but I wanted to try to make your something and Tataru suggested honey cookies and it was way harder than I thought so you don’t have to eat them but--” Before the poor boy could nervously ramble on, she had already picked up the top cookie and taken a bite.

The whole room held its breath as Lara closed her eyes and chewed. After what felt like ages, she swallowed and smiled at Roger. “These are pretty good! Between Tataru and I, we’ll make a culinarian out of you yet!”

It took only a moment for the two to fall into fits of giggles, and for the adults in the room to join them. Alphinaud took that distraction to stand and head towards Lara and Roger. When they had recovered a little, he presented them both a small plain blue box. “‘Tis equally late for your actual nameday as what you’ve already exchanged. I’ll do my best to have something better by your next one.”

Wearing similar expressions of confusion, the two opened up the boxes. Inside were identical sketches of Lara and Roger, happily chatting with one another. The quality was such that one could be mistaken in thinking that they were directly copied off of another work, though obviously no paintings had been made of the two. Roger and Lara stared at each other, then to the drawings, then to Alphinaud in a cycle. “It’s rough, but if you wish I can touch it up at a later date. I was hard pressed for time, muchlike you both were and--”

All of a sudden he was sandwiched between Lara and Roger in a warm embrace. Alphinaud could feel his face and pointed ears turning scarlet as the oblivious Warriors of Light started complimenting his work. “I didn’t know you could draw!” “What do you mean that it’s rough, it’s amazing!” “I need to find a place to hang it--oh wait maybe I could get it framed??” “This is the best nameday present ever!” He was too flustered to respond, much less pay attention to who was speaking.

He’d forgotten how physically affectionate Lara and Roger could be. At least this was a more embarrassing than fatal mistake.

Through the press of bodies he spotted a grinning Tataru elbowing a chuckling Haurchefant. Nevermind, he was going to expire right here in front of everyone.

He desperately hoped that Alisaie wouldn’t hear a word about this.

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inmyarmswrappedin · 4 years

Note

Now that Nora's season is coming to end, what are somethings that you want for amira's season

Hi 😁 I bet you thought I’d never reply to this ask! Well, after you sent this in MARCH, I am finally posting an answer.

Btw, I did the same for Nora’s season, and as a note, I’m a white European and an atheist. If any of this is offensive or not my place to say, I preemptively apologize.

1) I would like for Amira's arc not to be about being Muslim. That is, Cris' arc isn't about being bi, it's about learning (and accepting) that she's more than the fun friend. That she has and can offer more to the people in her life. Nora's arc isn't about being a feminist, it's about not being so set in your first impression of someone that you don't notice red flags or don't notice them trying to be better people. Same with Eva and not being defined by her mistakes, or about Viri and her financial situation. And I would like the same for Amira.

2) I think one common denominator of all Sana seasons so far is that they've shown the mains doing something that people assume hijabi can't do when it's more like they're systematically excluded from participating. For Sana, it was basketball. For Imane, it was dancing. For Amira M, it was boxing. I joked on twitter that Amira N's thing should be binging TV shows and eating junk, proving that hijabi are really like anyone else, but on a serious note, I'd like for Amira's thing to be photography (and maybe modeling? since Amira's friend was taking pics of her).

3) A scene where Amira explains how she can be a feminist and a hijabi both, just so we as a society have that scene to point to when the question inevitably comes up again. Seriously, I feel like that's one of the questions I most often see people asking Hajar.

4) I want the association girls to have their own youtube channel. Or at the very least, their own instagram and/or twitter account. I would love for them to post memes punching up about their experiences.

5) I feel like, much like with trans narratives, there's this "acceptable" narrative for hijabi in mainstream society, which is: the character made the decision to cover after coming up with solid reasons to do so. I.e. she made the decision early and can defend it with inarguable rebuttals. It's like women can't be trusted unless they know 150% what they're doing, be it covering, or dating a girl, or going vegan, or any number of things. I really appreciate that Amira started covering just because it felt right, and she's finding meaning in it after the fact. I would like for this to be a thing in her season, that she's still figuring herself out, that she's not already an Islamic scholar.

6) I also think that's what makes her stand apart from the other Sanas. I feel like (maybe with Zoya's exception), none of the other Sanas would entertain a crush on a white guy. They'd have never drunk or flirted (like we know Amira used to do). It's like they're not allowed to fuck up, or can only fuck up in acceptable ways, like engaging in a flirtation with a non Muslim only because they didn't know he wasn't a Muslim, or had booze at home, but it wasn't theirs, etc. I'm hoping that they've made Dani a love interest specifically to explore this idea (and not because they wanted to whitewash a character or give less time to an actor of color).

7) On that note, SKAM Hajar brought up an idea that, because the hijab makes them super visible, hijabi are perceived as ambassadors of Islam, expected to be able to answer any question about Islam, but also that people will judge all Muslims based on whatever mistake they individually make. I would like for a potential bench scene to allow Amira to say that it puts major pressure on her to feel like she can't make any mistake, because every Muslim will be judged based on her making a mistake, having a shitty day, being in a bad mood, not wanting to be Muslim wikipedia that day, etc. That sometimes she just wants to be Amira, not Islam personified.

8) I would like for Dani's character to represent not just white society, but also childhood, the safe choice, the choice her parents would love, and for Sofian's character to represent not just Moroccan culture, but also like... SEXY risk, independence, novelty... Because I feel like when I see Muslim girl/Muslim boy/white guy love triangles in fiction, the Muslim guy is positioned as the boring choice (but still incredibly wrong because he's abusive or maybe even secretly gay and forced to beard by his parents), the safety, the guy you'd bring home to your parents, whereas the white guy represents independence and carving your own path away from your parents.

9) Just once, I would like for a Muslim character to say, "what do you think of Catholic priests abusing kids?" to someone asking them what they think of such-and-such Muslim majority country doing such-and-such to its citizens. Bonus points if it's Sofian's character.

10) I would like for Dilan to get an insta and a storyline. And for that storyline to connect to Amira's.

11) In general, I would prefer that parents be kept to a minimum (not to get rid of them entirely, of course, but to be kept at the level they've been in other Sana seasons). I just have never thought the point of Skam was the parents. And I get why they have a larger presence in a second gen kid, but I, personally, am more interested in what they represent in the main's life, rather than in giving them a lot of face time.

12) And, on that note, if they do with Amira what I've outlined above, I don't think there's a necessity for Amira to have siblings. Particularly if eskam isn't going to continue after this season. I think it'd be far more interesting if Amira's character contained the elements of figuring her identity as a Muslim living in a Western country that Elias, Idriss and Essam had. (And maybe that way Dani is both Yousef and Elias, stealing not just one role for an actor of color, but two! lmao)

13) I really hope that the obligatory evak s4 side plot be kept at a minimum tbh. I'm really not interested in a) Eloy coming back to cause drama, b) Amira's friend causing croana drama because she's Joana ex or whatever, c) a physical fight breaking out because of (perceived) homophobia.

14) I want Amira to tell Cris that amiris es lo más real que hay. 😭 I would love it if, as a parallel to Cris' season, Amira doesn't tell Cris about her interest in Sofian's character at first because she's afraid of her reaction, only for Cris to be supportive of whatever she chooses to do.

15) I would be so fucking happy if eskam adapted the "is your faith stronger than your lust?" scene in this season. I have always wanted to love that scene, because how often do you get a scene where two girls get to talk that long and that much (even in Skam most of the iconic dialogue scenes between just two people aren't between two girls in the squad), but I just haaaated the purpose of the scene in Skam.

16) I would cry buckets if we got a scene like Det Beste fra Islam where Amira and Sofian's character both talk about what Islam means for them. Particularly if Sofian is introduced as not the Perfect Muslim Man, but it turns out he has THOUGHTS about religion.

17) And, finally, I would love for the unquestionable villain of the season to be a white guy. If the villain is going to be a woman, then I would want her to be Cris' mom, not a high school aged character. Not because of white feminism yayyy! but because I think the major issue Sana seasons have run into before is that the showrunners want to touch on white girls being the problem, but they also don't want to villainize white girls. So we have stuff like Sana inviting Sara and Ingrid (of all people!!) to Eid, Imane apologizing to Ingrid (of all people!!), random one clip white women attacking Amira M (and the Kiki/Amira friendship of course), etc. I'd just rather they didn't have girls doing shitty stuff to Amira N, if they're going to go back on it. Which they inevitably would, because eskam's overall message is sisterhood.

Bonus clips

18) I would love it if Skam España was like, "you thought we were dropping storylines left and right? Nope!" and resolved long standing mysteries like who was behind Eva's hate ig, who had the pills, who outed Cris to the school, who's the owner of the keys that were left behind at GSC, and so on. Will die if it turns out to be Ramón!

19) I want Joana to get that job she wanted so bad last season!

20) I would love for Emma to show up and come out as a lesbian, just as a last hurrah lol.

21) I don't feel strongly about which couples should be endgame and not (other than not Dani/Amira hghvvh please), BUT in my most embarrassing fantasies, I want Skam España to hire Alejandro Reina's irl boyfriend to play Lucas' boyfriend for the finale. Not because I can't separate fiction from reality or anything, but because when I thought Lucas would be getting a season, I wanted his boyfriend to be a poc, and I was highkey buttmad that they hired random white bread when they could just as easily have hired a poc.

22) I think it would be really cool if Inés got a clip on her POV, but I don't think we're going to get it. I think all bonus clips will be from the squad's POV, i.e. Eva, Cris, Nora and Viri. Not even Joana.

23) I want a Mallorca special or episode so bad, and I will be so FUCKING ANNOYED if we don't get it. Seriously, I can't imagine the team didn't feel betrayed when they watched Skam for writing purposes, and didn't get their russetide. So they should know how angry we would be if we didn't get even a little bit of Mallorca time.

#ask #skam españa #I am literally unable to be concise it's just not in my blood #long post #comicluke #I used to always say that I wanted them to feature the m-30 mosque in amira's season #and they're doing that!! so yay!

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aaimagine · 4 years

Note

Can I request Naruhoudo's crush using the Susato Drop on him and he's all flustered about it but also his pride hurts a little now?

Hi thank you for this ask, I owe you my life. I'm sorry I went ham on this request in the most intense way possible.

SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FIRST GAME's first three cases.

Naruhodou's mind had been entirely focused on his career as a lawyer since the remaining days on the S.S. Alcair after that... incident. Never in his life did he feel that he took up something more serious than now, as he carried on this will thrusted upon him. Along with the ups and downs that came with being forced into this lifestyle so suddenly, insecurities about how he really feels standing as an attorney have been keeping his mind occupied these cold London nights. Even on his off days, he had been spent an equal amount socializing and studying, though much to Susato's happiness.

Which is why he is so confused. Confused as to why his mind was able to let in yet another thing to plague his thoughts. Not that you were a plague..! No! Nothing close of the sort. In fact, you had been nothing short of a blessing gracing his ever tremulous days in London. It wasn't you that was working him up so much, rather it was the feelings that you had wrought onto his heart.

Though, Naruhodou was getting ahead of himself. He had been here for a few months, but when he met you it had been on one of his early days of arrival. You had been an early face that welcomed him on his journey to this foreign land, and one that would prove to him that London, perhaps, had a few friendly inhabitants. You were a simple flower peddler. That day, the coldness had no mercy for anybody, and even the snot running from people's noses could not escape the near-immediate chill of the air. Many Londoners simply walked past you, having used to seeing independent sellers like you on every corner. Normally you would have piqued the interest of the ever awestruck Susato for London's charms, however there were more imperative circumstances that she was facing: lodgings.

Their earnings were depleting, fast, and they were not having luck on finding a cheap place to stay. London truly hasn't been the kindest to them or their wallets. Naruhodou remembers the situation well. He felt useless as the older person, not being able to provide for his young assistant in their dire need. Even though you, yourself were having no such luck in earning your living that day, you readily made yourself available and willing to help these two strangers find cheap lodgings. As you guided them to the inn in question, he remembers thinking of the many streets and potential buyers you were sacrificing in order to ensure that they had an affordable place to stay that freezing evening.

You were truly an angel sent from above. That was perhaps the moment he fell for you and your kindness. As you left, you gifted both of them with flowers as a welcoming gift to the city. Even he himself felt his tears threaten as Susato bid you farewell.

But, again, that was just a fleeting memory. A small, insignificant fixture that would make no impact on his life. London was huge, and you were just one of the countless faces he would happen upon in this new land... Or so he thought.

You, as the neighboring modest flower shop owner to 221 Baker's street and older sibling figure to Iris meant that you were, in fact, a significant fixture in his new life. When you weren't working or tending your indoor garden (made possible with Holmes' invention no doubt) you were helping Iris with her multitude of hobbies. Your perceptive mind and knowledge of many individuals and differing faces of London due to your job came in handy during his investigations with the group as well.

With all the excitement and sense of duty that he faced the first few months of arrival, there was no need for him to address the fuzzy feelings you gave him every time you smiled in his direction, nor the heat to his face whenever you graced him with your kindness.

But when the caseless months became a fact of life for his offices, he supposed he grew soft. He was always too embarrassed to visit your shop without purpose, so he gladly took advantage of the lack of action in his career to come down on days you worked in house to purchase a little something from you, "To liven up the office". His visits not only had him leaving with an abundance of flowers, but knowledge of a multitude of plants, and even skills to take care of them. His favorite times were the ones where he got to watch you tend to your flowers in the tiny sun room, as the rays of light captured your face.

This however was almost daily as you only street peddled twice a week. Even as his office became an impromptu forest, much to Susato's slight horror, your daily visits also became another highlight of his days. You having dinner at Holmes and Watson's flat seemed to have been a routine occurrence for years.

Once it hit him that the two things he looked forward to the moment he woke up had to do with you, he did not know what to say. He was more taken by you than he thought. Being the avoidant young man he was, he never did anything about his feelings. There was no reason to. He only hoped that his little crush wasn't obvious to his colleagues with his tell-all eyes. And, it's not like he was not content with where your relationship was with each other currently, no! He would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about how you felt about him, though.

---

Managing your own small scale shop was something that was not difficult for you. You woke up early, tended to your plants, dried the unusable flowers that expired, and set up shop. However, today was one of those rare days that things were not going all that well. As your shop was extremely small along with your indoor garden taking up a majority of the space in the small rented building (if it could be called that), it meant your living quarters were even smaller. That also meant that your when a smell omitted from one room, it effected all of them.

And today, was in fact that day. You awoke to a spoiled smell coming from below. Your eyes shot open and anxiety shot through your veins. As you stood up too abruptly and swung your feet to the floor bed, you physically recoiled. It was as if your floor had become ice itself. You were able to ignore that feeling quickly and heading to your indoor garden. Opening the protective screen into the sectioned on area, you were hit by a wave of warmth…Warmth compared to the frigid outer room, that is. In fact, there wasn't even an unusual smell coming from the area that was currently average temperature. You let go of a breath you did not realize you were holding knowing your plants were fine.

Your mind quickly deduced where the smell came from not a second later. Running downstairs, you were sadly correct. Your heating must have stopped working downstairs somehow, as your home is as cold as if you were sleeping directly under the foggy London moon. All the cut flowers you had on display since yesterday had expired due to the drastic change of temperature shocking your poor foliage. You felt miserable. It looked like you were not going to be enjoying a peaceful day today-- or opening up shop for that matter.

Waking up from his peaceful sleep, Naruhodou had walked up to the window in his office as he stretched his body from sleep's grasp. He was surprised to see you out and about so early in the morning, hauling flowers out on your cart. He opened the latch on his window and invited the cold air as he pushed it open.

"(Y/N)!! Good Morning!!" He earnestly called out. He could not help himself to greet you, as you were there in front of him even if you hadn't noticed. It seemed he was going to have a good day today.

Jumping slightly, you looked around before realizing the call came from above. You yelled a morning's greeting back, as Susato joined Naruhodou at the window and shared greetings as well.

"What are you doing out so early? You aren't scheduled for going out to town today, are you?" He yelled as quietly as possible to you, finding it a bit awkward to try to hold a conversation like this, especially so early in the morning.

"I've happened to run into some sort of trouble this morning it seems. I don't think I will be open today at all," You sadly informed them.

"Oh, that is a shame!"

Susato then turned to Naruhodou and glared. Naruhodou couldn't help but wonder why he always seemed to upset girls without even saying anything.

"Naruhodou-sama! I cannot believe you would ask (Y/N)-sama of their problems without even offering your help to them! How do you consider yourself a gentleman?!" Susato could even scold him on an empty stomach before breakfast time, he supposed. It seemed breakfast was out of the question, because Susato had already begun whisking him past the main room with a quick greeting to Iris before going out the front door.

As they both entered into your shop, the odor greeted them before you could. Surprised to see them, you reluctantly but gratefully accepted their offer to help you clean out your shop.

You thought the poor girl was going to cry at the sight of all these flowers getting hauled out with the intention of being incinerated, but it had to be done. Naruhodou had earnestly tried to help you both, but with the gung-ho attitude of Susato combined with your diligence it seemed he was not much of help as he would have liked to have been. He even felt a little jealous. He had planned on seeing you after breakfast if he had realized there was an issue afoot.

As you were making sure everything was here and accounted for before you walked off to the disposal area, you made eye contact with Naruhodou. You began to feel a little guilty as it was obvious how he was feeling with one look. The feeling deepened when you think about how they dropped their initial plans at the start of their day, all for a friend in need. Though not without reason, you did end up ignoring your friend, which was a shame considering you have begun to cherish his visits dearly.

You approached him. "Hello, Mister Naruhodou. How about after me and Susato get the last of the plant taken care of, I treat you both to a late breakfast. And to make it up to you since I won't be working today, we can take a walk to some places in London you haven't been to, if you'd like. I know a lot of beautiful hidden sights!"

He hadn't noticed that he was being so obvious. Did all responsible people like Susato have the ability to read minds?

"TH-THAT… would be wonderful, thank you so much!" Even so, he felt his face let out a smile at your kindness. You were always thinking of others.

"I do have a favor to ask of you though," you sheepishly stated.

"Anything for you!" Good grief, he had not meant to be that enthusiastic. You laughed a bit at his eagerness.

"Could you stay here and keep an eye on my shop? I wish to leave the doors open a bit longer to air out the place, but I'm afraid of someone coming inside."

"That would be fine! Don't worry!"

Oh, it had been fine, of course. However, you really trusted him that much? He was by no means cocky, but the implication you found him dependable stroked his ego, just a bit.

---

As he stood at the front, a bit too proudly, he patiently awaited both of your returns. Bakers Street was quiet, as it's mornings typically went, but he was aware people would be filing in slowly for the other shops littering the path.

He had expected people, though. Beings that walked on two legs. Not small, four legged creatures. Especially not four legged creatures that were bounding towards him at immense speeds. Before he could move to shut the door to your small shop, it was too late. But instead of bounding for the shop as he assumed the dog had bounded for Naruhodou's own head.

He let out a cry, much to his embarrassment, and fought desperately to keep his balance. The dog was clinging onto his face with desperation. It was difficult to see or hear his surroundings. He half wished that his weak disposition would kick in and he would just faint and get to forget this nightmare.

Distracted by these racing thoughts and sensory deprivation, there was no way for him to realize Susato and you approaching, nor your cry of his name. Personally, you began to panic. You did not exactly fancy dogs that looked near-ready to maul harmless people, no matter how easy the target looked. Before your own fear had a chance to kick in, your instincts had and you dropped your cart to help your friend.

The closer you got, the cloudier your rational thought had begun to come. The combination of panic and fear had won in your mind, and it was too late. Instead of grabbing the dog, out of fear you had grabbed Naruhodou and tossed him over.

Hey, you and Iris had been learning a lot from your foreign friend. But even you did not think that her lessons would be on the surface of your mind as you panicked.

Naruhodou once again found himself in a situation where his mind could not make any sense of it. Once he made contact with the floor, the dog had scampered off into the street, seemingly satisfied with the destruction it had caused.

"Naruhodou!! Are you alright?!"

He made a groaning noise, but could Susato really ask him that right now? Wasn't it obvious?

"Naruhodou-sama, what happened?"

Wait, had that been Susato's voice? Then who was just speaking to him?

"Ah…." The realization hit him slowly. He had not expected, in a million years, that you would have been the one to toss him over.

Tears glistened in your eyes as you grabbed his hands. "Naruhodou, please, can you hear me? Oh no…"

He had found himself for a loss of words. Not because of the dog, nor because of being tossed over. It wasn't even because of the haziness of his mind. No, it was because he had his pride attacked by none other than you.

How could, even you, see him as someone who is so easily toss-able?

#ace attorney imagines #ace attorney x reader #ryuunosuke naruhodou x reader

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smartgirlguru · 3 years

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Why is it so critical to build an email list?

Do you find it difficult to convince your clients or your employer of the importance and feasibility of email marketing?

Even if you understand how persuasive it is, with web-based media highlighting, development hacking, and the vast variety of different common phrases out there, persuading others can be difficult at times.

Email advertising is one of the essential drivers of traffic to this blog and the primary way we speak with our clients.

We reached out to a few of our friends (who turned out to be marketing experts) and asked them to share some of their experiences of how they've used their email lists to grow their businesses and why they're so relevant.

What is the definition of an email list?

An email list is a collection of messages gathered from visitors/clients who may be interested in receiving information, updates, limits, and other insights about your company.

Email records are important because email marketing is the most effective way to connect with customers as compared to other forms of online media. To be honest, you're 6x more likely to get higher navigate rates from messages than from tweets. Similarly, email is far more effective than Facebook or Twitter at attracting new customers.

What is the definition of email list building?

To take advantage of interacting with clients via your incorporated email records, you'll need to work on building an email list.

Building an email list is a demonstration of getting more people to subscribe to your messages. If your landing page has a call to action, that can be used to grow your email list. The more ways you can persuade people to subscribe to your email, the more solid your email list will be.

How would you go about building an email list?

When building an email list, there are a few steps you should follow, which we'll go over in detail below. As previously stated, you must provide guests with more options for subscribing to your email. You can do this in a variety of ways, including:

On each greeting page of your website, use CTAs to entice visitors to buy in.

HERE IS ONE OF THE BEST EMAIL AUTORESPONDER CLICK HERE TO GET ACCESS

Images that appear or slide into place across the entirety of your points of arrival

Studies that are planned to spring up while guests are perusing

Use your social media accounts to promote your email bulletin.

Show what guests will miss out on if they sign up for your email list.

Here are a few examples of how companies invite visitors to subscribe to their email lists through their websites and social media accounts:

The most reliable way to handle and update your email list

It's important to keep your email records organized if you want to have a successful email crusade. If you have a large number of email subscribers on your mailing list who aren't opening your messages, your open rate will be poor, which will skew your performance.

Use the following strategies to keep your rundowns in order:

Separation

Division is a method of isolating email records based on personalized preferences. When email supporters went after your email records, you might have prompted them to ask a few questions

As per a new email showcasing research, sectioned messages drive multiple times more income than more general messages.

You can segment their messages based on any personalized information they provided. The following are a few examples of sectioned email records:

Client socioeconomic variables, such as geographic location, age, and sexual orientation

Limits, occasion nuances, and bulletins — client email notification preferences

History can be purchased.

Examine the data in your email list.

Almost all endorsers do on their email is tracked.

You can monitor whether or not clients navigate the links in the email you sent them. In the unlikely event that

it is more likely that they will open your email. It's possible that they'll follow your email if they've communicated with it in any way.

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To build a viable and efficient email list and cook your messages to those investigations, keep a close eye on your email list details.

Reconnect with old acquaintances.

Send a re-commitment email to your latent supporters if you see a large number of them in your email list details. It's possible they just needed a break from your messages but aren't looking to stop completely.

Indeed, research shows that reconnecting with old contacts costs about half as much as converting new visitors to email list endorsers.

When we send out another mission, piece of material, or item highlight, email advertising consistently generates 80-90 percent of the traffic to our presentation page. Email helps us to reach out to our audience in a special, personalized way that blog posts and tweets cannot.

We've been building our email list even before we built our item, and it'll continue to be a top priority for Marketing until Google Telepathy arrives.

Email provides advertisers with a creative forum to show that we understand a prospect's problem, that we can have a solution, and that we can do so in a professional manner. Since each email is an opportunity to identify with your leads and demonstrate that you're relevant, our team often reworks messages and autoresponders multiple times to get the phrasing just right."

"Building an email list is critical because it is the most effective way to develop a close relationship with potential clients. You aren't just a public service announcement.

that is there and gone; you're directly in somebody's inbox, where they get other significant correspondence from their work, family, and companions.

Messages stand by in somebody's inbox until they're perused, and when you compose truly helpful messages individuals may allude to them more than once, on the grounds that messages are effectively accessible, as well.

Individuals burn via email in a different way than they do other media, and it now translates to deals faster than other mediums. The more people on your mailing list you have, the more people can see your promotional messages, and every time I send an email, I see an increase in sales.

Furthermore, when you write a text, it is "yours" – you don't have to be worried about a third party changing the rules on you. In comparison, a free service like Facebook might opt to limit your contact with your fans in order to convince advertisers to pay for ads, but you don't have these limits when someone has given you permission to send them valuable messages."

"There are a variety of reasons why compiling a list is important, but I'll focus on one that is well-known right now: Reach.

Today, you're on your way to reaching a norm of 1-2 percent of your Facebook fans, just as a small percentage of your Twitter followers sees one explicit Tweet.

Email isn't ideal either; according to reports, 22% of messages sent end up in the trash or spam files, or are blocked by ISPs. However, this leaves you with a typical message delivery rate of 78 percent.

Your message's life expectancy will be determined by your beneficiary by then, and your email will remain in the Inbox as "uninitiated" before it is remembered.

This explains why you're still getting clicks a few days after you've sent the mission. On the other hand, the lifetime of an online media post can vary from a few hours to a few minutes.

Email is, by far, the most effective means of communication between your image and its audience (or the vast majority of it)."

Finish up

If there is one thing that industry, content, and conversion rate experts all agree on, it is the importance of creating an email list. Don't be the entrepreneur who misses out on attracting new customers, growing your company, and protecting yourself from changes in search and social calculations. Don't be the entrepreneur who regrets not structuring your email list earlier because you didn't use enough email building techniques.

Have you been working on increasing and managing your email list? In certain instances, automating tasks is more convenient, and you can do the same for texts. Consider these ideas for computerized work processes to keep the supporters engaged.

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#email list building #affiliate marketing jobs #makemoneyathome #make money online #affiliate email marketing

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info-copa · 4 years

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WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

It is time to commit to a process of reconciliation. By establishing a new and respectful relationship, we restore what must be restored, repair what must be repaired, and return what must be returned. (From the TRC final report)

Lucas, one of Joyce Echaquan’s 7 children

What are we waiting for? Carol Dubé confronts us with this question in a heart wrenching statement made to media after the death of his partner Joyce Echaquan, who took her last breaths in a Quebec hospital last week whilst enduring verbal abuse, racial slurs, and abject cruelty from her caregivers.

Joyce, a mother of 7 children, and a member of the Atikamekw Nation, died a day before the one year anniversary of the delivery of the Viens commission report which revealed the pain, disorder and damage that systemic racism perpetrates on Indigenous peoples in Quebec, a year after the end of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and 5 years after Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) ended its investigation into the residential school system. All of these extensive public initiatives summarized their findings by charging us as individuals, and our governments as representatives of us, with the task of overcoming systemic racism against Indigenous peoples in Canada.

What ARE we waiting for?

There is of course, the usual and ultimately inadequate flurry of politics surrounding Joyce Echaquan’s tragic and dehumanizing experience. There are accusations, firings, the launching of inquiries, and the criticism by opposition leaders of the inadequacy of those in power. Everyone claims the knowledge, ability and will to do better than those who are in charge.

It is the usual rhetoric of blame that accompanies one more unmistakeable example of our collective inaction and failure in the face of systemic racism against First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

The problem is that we already KNOW what has to be done, the time and effort that must be invested in overhauling our public institutions and transforming the way they are structured, and their focuses and their priorities.

There is racism in Quebec and until we can put aside the petty arguments over semantics on whether it is systemic or not, until political leaders can put aside their pride and reach out to the other side instead of waiting for an invitation, until leaders have courage to show each other empathy without anticipation of gratitude, Quebec will be divided and fall short of its full potential. (press release, Grand Council of the Crees and Cree Nation Government)

Despite the arguments on both sides, we have ample proof that deeply entrenched and systemic racism continues to drive our social priorities – both in Quebec and the rest of Canada. We know this because it has been uncovered and proven by multiple investigations that have also spelled out the steps that we need to take to address it.

"When we talk about systemic racism, for me it's in relation with the Black people in the United States. For me I don't see that in Quebec. But there is for sure some racism against the First Nations in Quebec, and I want to fight it," (Premier Legault) said Friday.

As Lorraine Whitmen, president of Native Women’s Association of Canada said in a statement sent to CTV news:

Only when governments recognize the harms that are being perpetrated against Indigenous people, take steps to correct them, and make the necessary reparations, will repugnant incidents like the one endured by Joyce Echaquan be prevented.

Carol Dubé

And what are WE waiting for?

But beyond the politics there are the people, and what must be urgently addressed are the fundamentally flawed ways in which non-Indigenous people see Indigenous people. What needs to change is a mindset that counts others as somehow less human than ourselves. This ‘othering’ is what enabled Joyce Echaquan’s caregivers to behave in the way they did and withhold compassion for a human body and soul that they, as healers, had pledged to care about and care for. It is what allows health care staff to assume that someone who is in physical and mental distress is intoxicated, or that the pain someone suffers is related to making bad life choices, and to judge them as less deserving. This is not an isolated incident, the prevalence of it is documented, proven, apparent and indisputable.

The institutions that are charged to care for, protect and heal us reflect the mindsets of those within them, and the individuals within them reflect the priorities of our culture, our economy, and every other aspect of our lives on a daily basis.

“The hospital staff did not see her as a human being, but as something that they could abuse with impunity. …. Such conduct could only happen in an environment that tolerated it.” Grand Chief Abel Bosum, Grand Council of the Crees and Cree Nation Government (press release)

Addressing this way of seeing others is as important as the political will needed to overhaul our institutions. Otherwise, the institutions that care for us: our government, schools, hospitals, etcetera, will continue to reflect our distorted views of ourselves and others, and our distorted values. They reflect what we prioritize, and what we value.

The rhetoric that fuels this is everywhere in our news cycle now and only exacerbated by the pandemic. It is the assumptions made when an Indigenous person arrives in the emergency room of a hospital, it is our use of the word deplorables to describe other people, and it is the ongoing refusal of elected officials to call out white supremacists, or to acknowledge the existence of systemic racism.

It emerges as the neglect, abuse, and discrimination suffered by Joyce Echaquan in her final moments, as the death of George Floyd at the hands of hate-filled police, and as the gang rape murders of women in India who are considered low caste.

What does it take to change hearts and minds?

What does it take to create the political will to overhaul our institutions?

What does it take to cast away the illusion that most of us have that we are somehow fundamentally different than or superior to other humans?

Beyond the 3 inquiries that have been launched into Joyce’s treatment and her death, beyond the media outrage and beyond our individual horror which will be so quickly forgotten by many of us and not so quickly by the Atikamekw community in Manawan or Joyce’s 7 children.

What can we do?

And what are we waiting for?

First, we must acknowledge the deep and palpable SYSTEMIC racism that exists, and hold the system that perpetuates it accountable.

Not sure about that yet? Here is some evidence:

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls findings

Quebec’s Viens Commission findings

Then we must understand that we are all Treaty people, and that we are all part of both the problem and the solutions. DO take it personally and please DO something about it.

"It is no longer enough to ask for change. We must be the change." Verna Polson, Grand Chief of the Council of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation and spokesperson for the AFNQL Council of Elected Women.

From the TRC executive summary:

This lack of historical knowledge has serious consequences for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, and for Canada as a whole. In government circles, it makes for poor public policy decisions. In the public realm, it reinforces racist attitudes and fuels civic distrust between Aboriginal peoples and other Canadians. Too many Canadians still do not know the history of Aboriginal peoples’ contributions to Canada or understand that by virtue of the historical and modern Treaties negotiated by our government, we are all Treaty people. History plays an important role in reconciliation; to build for the future, Canadians must look to, and learn from, the past.

Find out what it means to be Treaty people.

Read the powerful suggestions for individual action from the Association of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (AFNQL).

We must learn to care about people and their unique experiences and contexts. How can we do this?

Listen to and read the real stories of Indigenous people in order to widen your understanding of what others experience and why. We all have stories to tell and in order to grow in tolerance and understanding we must listen to the stories of others. Reverend Stan McKay, TRC executive summary

The TRC report contains many firsthand stories of the experience of individuals from First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities

Here are some stories of people who collaborated with COPA over the years in creating resources and tools for First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities and families, and schools.

Catherine Davis Woman Who Walks on Water in the Mist Shirley Williams Théo Deb St. Amant

3. The Viens Commission report is full of stories as well – many of them heartbreaking. The Viens Commission itself actually spent an entire week in Manawan, Quebec, listening to stories of intolerance associated with the experience of Atikamekw Nation members in this same hospital in Joliette where Joyce Echaquan died in such an agonizing way. The findings of the commission made it abundantly clear that prejudice toward Indigenous peoples is widespread in the health care system and between caregivers and patients.

From the moment she was admitted to the hospital in Joliette, Que., Joyce Echaquan started filming her interactions with staff. It was an impulse, friends and family say, driven by long-held concerns about the way Indigenous people are treated at the hospital 70 kilometres north of Montreal. (CBC news)

Still, in a statement in response to Joyce Echaquan’s experience and death:

Daniel Castonguay, the executive director of the health authority, said he was "shocked and disappointed" to hear the language captured on video coming from one of his staff members. But he denied there is systemic discrimination at the Joliette Hospital against Atikamekw patients."We receive complaints from people from all backgrounds, and those complaints are taken very seriously," Castonguay said. "But to say that residents from Manawan are systematically treated this way? No, that's not true."

4. And of course, these painful and illuminating stories from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

5. Read books by Indigenous authors. This is a list of 35 amazing books put together by CBC. Not all of these books are fiction - but remember that reading fiction can increase the complexity of our thinking, and by extension our understanding of the lived experiences of others.

Joyce Echaquan

We must help our children develop the compassion and caring that is natural to them – both at home and at school.

At home,

Our children are, very simply, the key to our future. They will go further than us to create a world in which we are all Safe, Strong, and Free. Part of our fundamental values at COPA is our vision of a world in which all children, all youth and all people can flourish and reach their full potential. Thus, we have created many tools to support the development of awareness in children of the rights and needs of others. Here are some of our suggestions:

Read with your children (link to short film), so that their understanding widens and their natural and inborn capacity to accept and care about other people ignites.

Our fabulous storybooks highlighting kindness, caring and compassion are a good place to start. Note that these are available in 7 Indigenous languages.

A Circle of Caring is a project created and widely implemented by COPA through a 3 year grassroots approach in collaboration with First Nations, Métis and Inuit families and community leaders. Topics for discussion and reflection include cultural pride, helping our children succeed, understanding bullying and discrimination, getting involved in school life, and nurturing safe and healthy schools and communities. Our toolkit offers a range of multimedia tools and resources in seven Indigenous languages plus French and English. COPA offers workshops based on A Cricle of Caring in French and English as well.

And at school,

Check out our blog full of resources for a compassionate curriculum.

Joining the Circle is a workshop and toolkit to support educators in creating and sustaining safe, strong and free schools for and with First Nations, Metis and Inuit students, families and community members. Part of COPA’s commitment to a collective effort on the journey of truth and reconciliation, these resources are designed to increase confidence and sensitivity in education practices. The aim is to facilitate the flourishing of First Nations, Métis and Inuit students and to learn how to embed the histories, languages, cultures and perspectives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit into all aspects of school and community life. Our toolkit and workshop based on Joining the Circle contain information, tools and resources that will develop individual capacity for creating systemic change. The toolkit is available in 6 Indigenous languages plus French and English.

#Indigenous #first nations #reconciliation

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crewhonk · 5 years

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Of The Line (10)

Summary: Ross presents the “Sokovia Accords”, Steve receives some news, the team flies to Geneva and London, a question is asked, and an old familiar face reappears.

Warnings: Funeral, Fluff, Sad!Steve

Songs: “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)”- The 1975 / “Waves”- Dean Lewis / “River” - Bishop Briggs

Words: 3.9K

Till The End Masterlist / Of The Line Masterlist

______________________

YN was swaying back and forth in her chair, across the table from Steve and in between Sam and Giovanna who were both pretending (far better than YN was) to listen to the Secretary drone on and on about something to do with golf.

YN had dealt with powerful white politicians her whole life. She had learned the ins and outs of international governments to help her and her dad stay under the radar and live as legally as they could for the first sixteen years of her life, and having Secretary Ross look at her as if she was no more than a spec of dirt on a white shirt reminded her just how much she didn’t like the American government.

She was openly not paying attention, sure, it was an immature move, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care much about what he was talking about until Giovanna passed her a note from her notebook.

‘this guy is totally never going to be the white man of the month.’ She read and chewed her top lip to stop a smile.

‘stan twitter would, in fact, be disappointed.’ She passed the note back and heard Gio breath through her nose a little too loudly.

‘seriously, if he has to talk about golf for much more I might just leave. Or die. Whichever comes first.’ Giovanna passed back and just as YN was about to pass another note back that read something about a double mystery death, Sam caught her wrist, not looking at her, but at the secretary who was already looking back.

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” Natasha asked, a cool, easy tone to her voice. The Widow voice that sent a chill straight up YN’s spine.

“How about "dangerous"? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?” He replied, stalking back and forth across a screen that was used for mission briefings. The first word YN could think of, but with tremendous guilt, was the word ‘Terrorist’.

“New York.” Ross moved and pressed the switch which turned on the screen behind him, and YN sucked in a breath as she saw her father as Hulk, soaring from building to building until a pile of debris landed on the person filming. The video cut out, and YN dug her fingernails into her palms, refusing to look up from her fists at Steve or Giovanna or Ross who she knew were all watching her for any reaction.

“Washington.” The three Insight helicarriers, firing on each other. The destroyed Triskelion. A helicarrier crashing into the Potomac and throwing up a massive wave, engulfing citizens and the camera. Sam was the one to look down, the movement caught by YN’s periphery.

Steve watched his teammates react to the footage rather than the footage itself, and seeing the hurt on their faces was so much worse than the carnage on the screen.

“Sokovia.” Steve watched as YN’s head shot up, her eyes glassy as she scanned the screen for any trace of her dad— any video of him the day he disappeared. When there was nothing, he watched her brow furrow and her bite her lip and he extended his leg under the table to rest his foot on top of hers. She looked up at him and blinked away a tear, smiling shyly at the motion of comfort and nudging his foot back with a twitch of the corners of her mouth.

“Lagos.” Steve watched as YN’s eyes moved from his to the screen again, flinching when she saw Steve in the background with his uniform top unzipped— great purple splotches leaving no normal skin tone behind as Natasha pressed her fingers to his ribs. Steve watched as Wanda turned her chair away from the screen and watched as Giovanna took Wanda’s hand in her own.

“Okay. That's enough.” Steve said sharply, and Ross nodded with a grim expression, shutting the screen off.

“For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution.” He placed a thick book on the table in front of Wanda who read the title and pushed it down the line towards YN who read the words the ‘Sokovia Accords’ on the title page. The United Nations symbol was just under the title and she raised an eyebrow incredulously.

“What is this” YN asked, flipping over the first page and feeling Sam peek over her shoulder. She pulled her feet away from Steve’s (much to both parties dislike) to sit up straighter as she began to read.

“The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries . . . it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.”

“The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that.” Steve grumbled, watching YN begins to disappear in the words she was reading— something she only did when she was wholly focused on something. Or concerned.

“Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?” Steve glared up at Ross who was standing over him, challenging the older man to say much else about Bruce Banner to his face.

“Neither of them are a threat to any living person.” YN snapped, not taking her eyes off the paper in front of her. Her cool voice was betrayed by the way her hand holding the book shook angrily.

Ross only shrugged. “If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes . . . you can bet there'd be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground. Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords.”

“And if we come to a conclusion you don’t like?” Giovanna snarled quietly. Ross smirked, and Giovanna wanted nothing more than to rip that smile off his face with her freshly done acrylic nails.

“You retire. Talk it over.”

_________________________

The had moved to the living room soon after Ross had taken his departure— the meeting room appearing too stuffy for the whole team who had each decided their viewpoint on the Accords. YN stalked into the room last, book in hand and handed it to Steve who held his hand out for it. In another situation, she could trick herself into thinking that he was holding his hand out for her, but the tension in his and her shoulders told them both that this was not The Occasion.

She stood a foot to the left of Steve, on Sams flank as Rhodey pointed his finger aggressively at his friend.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have.”

“So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?” Sam asked and Rhodey scoffed, pinching his nose.

“117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, ‘No, that's cool. We got it’.” He glowered and YN was reminded of the way she used to talk to Giovanna when they were younger and mocking each other.

“Rhodey.” YN snapped, and both Sam and Rhodey looked up in shock at the sharpness of her voice. Even Steve, who was skimming through the tray looked up, eyebrows raised. He never expected her to take his side after everything that had been through, but seeing the fire in his eyes made him feel something flutter feebly in his chest— something like hope.

“Think about this logically, okay?” She started. “We aren’t going to be able to do anything under this council if it’s anything like what the treaty describes. It’s a version of the Security Council, and you and I both know that that's not going to work.”

“Why wouldn’t it work?” Giovanna asked, and YN turned to her.

“Well, each country that’s apart of this council would need to meet quickly if we needed to be somewhere. First problem. The second problem is that if every member has a ‘no’ vote, the issue is immediately dropped and can’t be re-visited.” YN explained, sitting on the couch across from Giovanna.

“Which means?”

“Which means if it’s something domestic— in America— Russia and China won’t let us do anything because our country is a competing superpower with them. They don’t want us to succeed. And if it’s something international, other countries are going to say no because while this Treaty is garbage, Ross was right. We do act without restraint, and while we should be in contact with some form of government this is not the way to do it!”

“We can’t go against the United Nations, YN!” Rhodey said, exasperated.

“They have no means of treaty enforcement anyways! What’s the worst they could do, okay?” YN shot back quickly. She was not going to submit to a government leash unless it was a damn good leash.

“I have an equation.” Vision piped up, and YN’s head spun towards him she almost got whiplash. She had genuinely forgotten the robot was still a part of the team.

“Oh, this will clear it up.”

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.” He explained slowly, and YN crossed her arms and leaned back against the cushions, offended.

“Are you saying it's our fault?” Steve voiced her thoughts for her.

"I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.” He replied, and YN rolled her eyes so hard she felt something pop.

“Boom.” Rhodey finished.

“Did you just say ‘boom’? How old are you?” Giovanna asked, half angry, half amused.

“Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal.” Natasha piped up and YN looked at her uncle, who was covering his face with his hands until Natasha spoke.

“It's because he's already made up his mind.”

“You were in on this?” Giovanna almost shrieked, and Tony flinched.

“It’s the middle ground, Kid.” He replied, voice sad. “There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.” And Giovanna let out a sound of protest.

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up.” Steve sighed.

“Who said we're giving up? We’re not giving up.”

“If we’re signing something to make us sit and wait on our asses and just do what we’re told, yeah— we are giving up.” Giovanna barked as she rose to her feet. YN mirrored her.

“Maybe Tony's right.” Natasha’s voice was quiet as she spoke and everyone looked at her in shock. “If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off—“

“Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam cut her off and Natasha bit her lip nervously. She and Sam had ended up getting…. Close to each other and seeing him about to tear her a new one made almost everyone uncomfortable.

“I'm just— I’m reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back.” She said carefully and Sam shook his head, turning his back on her. She dropped her expression to her lap and pinched her wrist.

“Nat, it doesn’t feel right,” YN whispered in the sudden, pressing silence.

“I’m done with this bullshit. I’m not signing anything.” Giovanna growled and stomped from the room. Before YN could make a move to follow her, Steve’s phone went off, and he rose as well, halfway to the door before he said ‘I have to go’.

Torn between which persons o follow and comfort, YN turned to Wanda who had appeared at her side. Her touch was gentle on her hand, and she felt Wanda’s calming powers flood her body. A sharp turn from their time on the African Coast.

“Go to him. I’ll make sure she’s alright.”

“Thank you, Wan.”

________________________

YN tore off after Steve jogging to see if she could catch up with him. She turned the corner of a hallway just in time to hear the sound of a stairwell door ‘click’. She walked to the door and pressed the handle, opening it and letting herself in. There was the sound of a sniff from a flight below her and she tried quietly down the step, stopping only when She saw Steve sitting on a bottom step, curled in on himself.

She walked down the steps and sat beside him, the left side of her body against his right, as she rested her head on his hunched shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his large bicep and traced patterns in the crook of his elbow.

“What happened,” YN asked, voice soft and steady and enough to make Steve look up at her. His eyes were red again— they seemed to be more red than any other colour these days, and her heart broke.

“Peggy’s dead.” He whispered thickly, voice shaking and chin wobbling. When he said the words out loud, his face crumpled and he dropped his head into the crook of her neck, whimpering. She pulled away slightly, pushing him back before climbing into his lap and awkwardly straddling him on the step. She was immediately greeted with his trunk-like arms wrapping tightly around her waist, face pressed into the fabric of her shirt as his body shook with the will to not cry in front of her.

She wrapped her arms around his head and shoulders, pulling him tighter to her and combing her fingers through his hair as soothingly as she could.

“You can cry, Steve. Please, cry.” She whispered, knowing the grief he was going through— the loss of an old life— a life before this team and this life in New York.

He gave a great, shuddering gasp and once he pulled her so close to him she thought she would disappear into his body, he let out the most heart wrenching, gut turning sob she had ever heard.

Steve Rogers was now, and officially, a broken man, crying into the arms of the last, truly good thing in his life.

________________________________

“You’ll be fine, okay?” Giovanna said, standing beside YN and staring at the church in London she knew held the funeral of Peggy Carter.

“What if I’m intruding on a moment or something. This is weird. And a bad idea.” YN rushed, turning around and making to walk away, only to be stopped by Natasha with both arms on each of YN’s shoulder.

“He wants you there. I know because if Clint died I wouldn’t want to be alone.” She said, staring hard enough into YN’s eyes she had to look away.

“Okay. Yeah. Sure.” YN mumbled, curling her hands into fists and turning back at the grand church doors. Just as she took a step forward to enter the church, they swung open.

A blonde stepped out, then. Her mid-length hair was curled just slightly and her skin was perfect and it seemed to glow under the sun. Her pantsuit was classy, yet form-fitting and it showed off a beautiful, strong figure. She was tall, too— taller than any of the three women watching her walk towards them.

“Can I help you?” She asked, and her voice sounded like honey dripping on perfectly toasted white bread.

“We’re— uhhhh,” YN tried to say, but she was honestly blown away by this woman.

“We’re here to see if Steve Rogers is still here, we wanted to make sure he was okay. Well, as okay as someone can be in his place.” Giovanna piped up, and YN was flooded with gratitude for her.

“He’s going to need a few weeks to be okay, I think. With everything going with the Accords and that girl who ran away and now this— it’s like his world is falling apart.” She said solemnly and the other three women tensed. YN raised an eyebrow and shifted her weight to one foot.

“Who are you, again?” She grumbled, and a smile blossomed on the blonde strangers face.

“Sharon Carter. I was Steve’s neighbour for the year and a bit he was in Washington. I don’t think I caught your name, though?” She explained and offered her hand for YN to shake.

“I’m YN Banner. The girl who ran away.” She shook Sharon's hand with a grip that was a little too tight and Sharon’s smile fell off of her perfect face.

“I’m sorry— I—“ She tried, but YN cut her off with a slow smile.

“It’s okay, Sharon. Thanks.” She let go and led them all into the church, leaving her new friend on the steps alone.

“Bitch,” YN grumbled when Natasha and Giovanna caught up to her in the foyer.

“We are in a place of God, YN.” Giovanna chastised and YN only rolled her eyes angrily.

“Perfect bitch.” She replied and Giovanna coughed, smacking her in the arm. Natasha only smirked.

All previous amusement or contempt was cut off by the sight once they entered the main cathedral. Steve was leaning against one of the pews, head bowed and silhouetted by the glowing light streaming in the stain glass window over the stage. The sight was beautiful and sad, and everything to do with Steve Rogers.

“Go, we’ll join you soon, okay,” Natasha whispered in her ear and she nodded, nervously stepping forward and walking down the aisle. Steve, ever the one for impeccable senses, looked up at who was walking towards him. His shoulders slumped in relief when he saw it was her, and He pushed off the pew, making his way to her and meeting her halfway.

His solid arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close, and she only wrapped her arms around his neck and pull him to rest in the crook of her neck.

“I’m so sorry, Steve.” She whispered, and he hugged her tighter, nuzzling his face into her. She wasn’t sure if it was to be closer to her or to wipe tears and snot onto her shirt, but frankly, she couldn’t care less which was which.

“Thanks, Sweetheart.” He mumbled, and she scratched the back of his head soothingly. They could have stood there in the heart of the church for seconds or hours or years before Natasha and Giovanna joined them. For their sake, Steve let YN go, and she remained by his side.

“Who else signed?” Steve asked, looking over at Natasha and wiping his nose.

"Tony. Rhodey. Vision.” She listed, her voice soft.

“Clint?”

“Says he’s retired.” YN hummed, smirking. She hoped Laura was doing okay— with the baby and Clints never-ending desire to remake the house.

“What about you two?” He looked from Giovanna to YN, and Giovanna scoffed.

"I’m not signing if it kills me, but dad wanted me to come to the signings to 'see it with my own eyes’.” She mocked her father's voice and everyone could see how hurt she was with her father decision.

“You’re so dramatic, always.” YN teased quietly. She looked up to Steve, then and her gaze was warm and everything he wanted to drown in. “I’m not here for that. I’m here for you.”

He could have died right there and then.

_____________________

YN and Steve strolled the down the street in London to the hotel he was staying in. He had taken her arm in his— ‘for the sake of being a gentlemen’— he had said, but it had made YN flush bright red, nevertheless. They had chatted about the beauty of downtown London, and the accents and the few times he had been here with Peggy for meetings and awards. The conversation lulled into a comfortable silence before a thought came to YN.

“So, you’re retiring, then.” She commented, and he sucked in a breath, squinting into the distance as if trying to spot something on the horizon.

“I guess, yeah. Never thought I would do it so young, but I guess so.” He hummed, looking down at her and smiling. There was a peace in his eyes she had never seen and it made her heart swell fondly.

“You are too then.” He replied, and she shrugged.

“I’m young enough. Maybe I’ll get an official degree or two— be like a normal 22-year-old for once.” She said and he chuckled.

“I don’t think you could be normal if you tried, Sweetheart.” He nudged her and laughed when she let out a squawk of indignation, pushing him away playfully.

“Excuse you!” She laughed, and he giggled right back, throwing an arm over her shoulder and pulling her close.

“Well, since we’re just a pair of retirees, when we go back to the States, would you maybe wanna— I don’t know—“ He stumbled, his voice was nervous and the natural flush of his cheeks seemed to be getting darker by the second. How Steve stayed single for his whole life, she didn’t know. An image opened in her mind, then— a sight of an impossibly shy, small Steve Rogers with a second-hand suit and a bruise under his eye nervously asking a pretty girl out and her heart grew warm.

“Ask me, Steve.” She smiled, her voice serious and firm and inviting.

“Wanna grab dinner or something? Maybe a movie?” He mumbled, and she reached forward and wrapped her fingers through his. He looked up at her, then— his face a glowing ray fo hope and a small smile on his lips.

“Just us?” She whispered, and he stepped closer, pulling her chin up to look at him in the eyes.

“Just us for as long as you want it to be, my girl.” He mumbled and her stomach flipped aggressively in her body, making her sway and heat up ten more degrees.

“Then yes. It’s a date.” She whispered, slightly leaning forward on her tip-toes and he ducked his head slightly.

“I’m looking forward to it, then.”

“Steve! YN! Hi!” A chirpy voice appeared from somewhere to their left and YN wanted to take Sharon's hair, and throw her into the busy street.

“Sharon, hey.” Steve greeted her warmly and with a hug and the butterflies that were fluttering in YN’s belly turned into scorpions, angry and venomous and red hot. “YN, this is Sharon! Sharon this is YN— the woman I was telling you about last week!”

“We’ve met.” YN interrupted coldly, shocked by the news that Steve and Sharon hung out regularly. She took a side-step away from him and Sharon seemed to swoop in, further greeting him with a hug that made YN want to snarl.

“Yeah,” Sharon smiled nervously. “I’m really sorry about that, by the way.” She seemed genuine, but the scorpions in YN’s stomach were stinging and painful so she just offered Sharon a tight smile.

“It’s fine. Like I said. I think I see Sam at the bar, I’m gonna go say hi.” She grumbled and without saying goodbye to Steve, turned and walked into the hotel.

________________________

“She’s really nice, YN.” Sam offered pathetically and pushed another beer in YN’s direction. YN just frowned and took a sip.

“She could shit rainbows and I wouldn’t give a damn.” She bit back and Sam laughed. She had always, always liked Sam, so it was nice that he was here for her.

“He likes you, YN. He really does, he’s just… oblivious to a fault.” Sam commented and she lifted her drink.

“I’ll fucking cheers to that.” She took a sizeable gulp and glared over at the place where Steve and Sharon were sitting and laughing like friends.

“Wait— hold on.” Sam stopped YN from opening her mouth and motioned for the bartender. Instead of paying attention to what he was saying, she watched gloomily as Steve and Sharon left the bar together and into the lobby.

“YN— look.” YN tore her eyes off of the now-empty doors, and to the TV which was now at full volume and showing the wrecked remains of a large, shiny building. YN squinted and read the news broadcast title and a noise of shock and anxiety left her throat.

‘United Nations Bombed’

The sound int he room seemed to turn down in volume, and all she could hear was the broadcast that was certainly going to change her life in one way or another.

“More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations.”

YN and Sam looked at each other, shocked and anxious and looking ready to vomit.

“We need to get Steve.” They said at the same time and they both got up, threw a fifty dollar bill on the counter each and ran out of the bar.

_______________________

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jobsearchtips02 · 4 years

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Meet billionaire Expense Ackman, who made billions off coronavirus crash

REUTERS/Richard Brian.

Billionaire hedge-fund supervisor Bill Ackman made $2.6 billion off a questionable bet that the coronavirus would crash the stock market last month.

Ackman was accused of making inflammatory remarks throughout an appearance on CNBC with the intent of moving the markets to increase his earnings however denied it in a press release

Ackman, worth $ 1.6 billion, has a history of making controversial bets.

While most of the world saw their nest eggs decimated as the stock exchange entered into a free-fall over coronavirus worries last month, one hedge-fund supervisor was raking in billions.

Costs Ackman, the chief executive of Pershing Square Capital, made $2.6 billion off a $27 million bet that the pandemic would tank the marketplace. Ackman has a history of controversial bets that earned him a $ 1.6 billion fortune and an examination by the New York District Attorney’s Office.

A representative of Ackman at Pershing Square Capital did not right away respond to Service Expert’s request for comment on Ackman’s profession, net worth, residential or commercial property holdings, or domesticity.

Keep checking out to find out more about Costs Ackman.

William Ackman, 53, was born and raised in a wealthy suburban area outside of New york city City.

Bill Ackman.

Reuters/ Allen Fredrickson.

Ackman was raised in Chappaqua, the wealthy New york city suburb of north of New york city City, according to The Daily Mail Chappaqua is likewise home to Costs and Hillary Clinton, Ben Stiller, and Vanessa Williams, according to The Daily Mail

Ackman’s father, Lawrence Ackman, owned an industrial real-estate financing company, according to The Minneapolis Star Tribune His mom, Ronnie Posner Ackman, serves on the board of New York’s Lincoln Center, according to The New York Times

Ackman made a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Harvard, according to Forbes Quickly after graduating in 1992, Ackman established an effective investment company with a former schoolmate called Gotham Partners at age 26, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The company achieved success however Ackman chose to wind it down in 2002, mentioning a series of lawsuits.

In 2003, Ackman was investigated by the New york city State Attorney General Of The United States over Gotham’s trading practices.

Costs Ackman.

No charges were ever submitted, Ackman said the extremely publicized investigation was difficult on his household.

” Individuals look at you amusing,” Ackman told The Minneapolis Star Tribune of the occurrence in2008

Ackman went on to found Pershing Square Capital Management with $54 million in 2004.

The cash was a mix of funds from his individual fortune and a loan from Leucadia National, according to The Minneapolis Star Tribune The firm was a near-instant success. In one of its finest years, 2014, Perishing Square posted 40%returns compared to the S&P 500’s 13%gain the exact same year, according to Investopedia

Pershing Square has large stakes in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Starbucks, and Hamburger King owner Restaurant Brands International Inc., Bloomberg reported. The value of its overall possessions tops $6.5 billion, according to Forbes

In a 2014 interview with Bloomberg, Ackman stated his guidelines for investing are to be bold, do the opposite of what everyone else is doing, and do lots of research study.

A Wendy’s junk food dining establishment is seen in Los Angeles, California U.S. November 7,2017

Ackman’s hedge fund made the majority of its money by purchasing stakes in big corporations, lobbying management to make changes to increase its stock rate, and after that quickly unloading their shares at an earnings, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported in2008 Pershing Square purchased a large stake in fast-food burger chain The Wendy’s Company in 2004, pushed it to offer off its effective Canadian subsidiary Tim Hortons, and went on to cash out its financial investment at a profit, according to Investopedia

” His video game is to increase the stock and go out– quick,” Howard Davidowitz, then-chairman of a New york city investment banking and consulting company, told The Minneapolis Star Tribune of Ackman in 2008.

However Ackman is extensively thought about to be an activist financier, according to Markets Insider.

” What we provide for a living, purchasing stakes in business and working to make them better, more effective, more efficient, I think it’s excellent for the shareholders, I believe it’s terrific for the workers,” Ackman told Bloomberg “I think I can do some great with that, and it’s likewise extremely rewarding. I like my day job.”

Pershing Square’s success made Ackman a billionaire. He first appeared on Forbes’ billionaire’s list in 2013.

Source: Markets Expert

Ackman’s strong bets have made Pershing Square a lot of cash– but they have likewise cost the hedge fund billions too.

Bill Ackman.

Ackman’s 2012 short versus multilevel marketing supplement maker Herbalife was one of the most prominent mistakes of his career, according to Investopedia Ackman wager $1 billion that the company would fail, while fellow billionaire investor Carl Icahn made a long-lasting financial investment in the business, Organisation Insider formerly reported. Ackman publicly implicated Herbalife of being a pyramid plan whose stock cost was bound to hit absolutely no, according to The Wall Street Journal

Icahn and Ackman entered into a public battle over the business’s prospects that was called “the hedge fund equivalent of Stalingrad” by The Journal, with Icahn eventually emerging victorious. Ackman lost hundreds of countless dollars on Herbalife, Business Insider reported.

Ackman likewise made a questionable investment in near-bankrupt drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals that led to a contentious Senate hearing over Valeant’s practice of purchasing existing drugs and offering them at inflated prices in 2016, Service Expert reported at the time. Valeant has since been renamed Bausch Health

Pershing Square also lost money on bets on now-defunct bookseller Border’s Group and big-box merchant Target Corporation, according to Investopedia The losses put the hedge fund into what Bloomberg called a “three-year losing streak” in 2019, prior to Ackman’s bet against the stock exchange.

Ackman’s hedge fund made billions of dollars when coronavirus fears sunk the stock exchange in March.

Costs Ackman (left).

Pershing Square invested $27 million in credit security on investment-grade and high-yield bond indexes earlier in 2020, when the market was widely perceived to be healthy, according to Markets Expert

Ackman has considering that used the revenues to strengthen Pershing Square’s financial investments in Berkshire Hathaway, Hilton, Lowe’s, Dining Establishment Brands International, Starbucks and Agilent, Markets Insider reported.

Ackman was implicated of actively sinking the marketplace to increase his profits.

Costs Ackman.

Ackman made an look on CNBC on March 18, declaring that “hell is coming” since of the outbreak, after tweeting comparable beliefs previously in the day. Ackman’s remarks sent the already unpredictable market down, triggering allegations from various news outlets and on social media that Ackman went on television with the intent of making his bet versus the marketplace more profitable, Forbes reported.

Markets plunged so dramatically that the market struck a so-called circuit breaker, stopping trading for 15 minutes, Markets Expert reported.

The billionaire defended himself in a declaration to Pershing Square financiers, writing that “By Wednesday, March 18 th at 12: 30 p.m., when I appeared on CNBC, we had actually currently sold a little over half of the notional amount of our CDS, realizing a gain of more than $1.3 billion, with the unrealized part of our hedge having a market value at that time of $1.3 billion for an overall of $2.6 billion,” Ackman wrote in a news release “Importantly, our hedge had currently settled prior to my going on CNBC.”

Ackman also ruffled plumes by safeguarding a fellow hedge-fund manager who has been connected to Bernie Madoff.

Ezra Merkin privately invested his customer’s cash with Bernie Madoff, losing billions after the Ponzi plan was exposed, according to Bloomberg Merkin was investigated by the New york city Attorney General Of The United States as a potential coconspirator of Madoff’s however settled his case in 2012.

” I’ve known him for 15 years,” Ackman stated. “I believe he’s a truthful individual, a smart person, an interesting individual, a smart financier. People don’t want to hear that since if you invested with Ascot you lost all your cash.”

Fellow hedge fund supervisor Michael Steinhardt of Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co. likewise publicly defended Merkin, according to The Street

Ackman credited his new household for motivating his earnings.

Bill Ackman and Neri Oxman go to The New York Stem Cell Structure Gala And Science Fair at Jazz at Lincoln Center on October 7, 2019 in New York City City.

” Possibly it has something to do with being liked and getting married?” Ackman stated of his successes at an investor conference in April 2019, Bloomberg reported.

Ackman and his partner, retired Israeli Flying force lieutenant and MIT teacher Neri Oxman(who is best known for being a reported ex-girlfriend of Brad Pitt), invited a child in the spring of 2019, according to Bloomberg

The couple got together in 2017, after being introduced by both Ackman’s previous teacher and a college good friend following a contentious divorce from his very first spouse, landscape architect Karen Ann Herskovitz, according to Page 6

Ackman and Herskovitz have a “civil, however not warm, relationship,” an unnamed source informed Page 6 in2017 The former couple share three daughters, according to Page Six

Ackman promised to give a minimum of half of his fortune to charity.

Ackman has given more than $400 million in grants to organizations focusing on cancer research, education, economic advancement, and social justice, according to his structure’s site

Ackman and his wife also offered $26 million to Harvard in 2014, according to Philanthropy News Digest

He spent a big portion of the rest of his money on an extensive portfolio of luxury realty.

The Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Ackman bought a $225 million penthouse in the neighborhood, The Wall Street Journal reported in2018 Ackman also owns two other systems in another luxury pre-war building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side that cost nearly $221 million combined, The Journal reported.

They also own a six-acre estate in the Hamptons.

An aerial view of beachfront mansions in Bridgehampton, New York. Ackman’s house not visualized.

Ackman bought the properties, which are located in the town of Bridgehampton, for $235 million in August 2015, according to The Real Deal

The combined value of Ackman’s real-estate portfolio is more than $165 million, according to The Daily Mail

In his spare time, Ackman is a passionate tennis player.

Ackman has actually been playing considering that youth, according to Forbes

Ackman also has an interest in politics.

Costs Ackman.

We now have a business owner as president,” Vanity Fair reported Ackman said.

Ackman hasn’t always been a fan of Trump. In 2016, Ackman penned an essay in The Financial Times asking Bloomberg LP CEO and former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg to run for president.

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/meet-billionaire-expense-ackman-who-made-billions-off-coronavirus-crash/

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adiabetesfreedomreviews · 4 years

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Diabetes Freedom Review

Diabetes Freedom Prediabetes Obese people in antioxidant diet insulin performance. This increases the efficacy of metformin by an Italian medical team. We all know the beneficial effects of antioxidants on our bodies. But the study found that it enhances hormones in people with metabolic syndrome.Diabetes Freedom Prevent Metabolic syndrome is one of many risk factors for the development of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. People with the syndrome cannot use the full potential of insulin in the body. Insulin is the hormone that regulates blood sugar in the body. Antonio Mancini, an endocrinologist at The Catholic University of Rome, said that oxidative stress plays a role in metabolic syndrome. Antioxidant stress is a biochemical system that can damage blood molecules and cells, leading to an imbalance between unwanted antioxidants and demanding antioxidants. It also leads to premature aging. Diabetes Freedom Blood Sugar Antioxidants are most commonly found in fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts, and include vitamins E, C, selenium, and beta-carotene. Researchers have shown that antioxidants are essential for the prevention of oxidative damage to cells and to repair damaged cells. Mancini and his friend investigated the effects of dietary antioxidants on insulin resistance in the University’s Italian Department of MIUR and Research. Participants were 16 men and 13 women aged 18 to 66. Who were not affected by insulin but were diagnosed with diabetes.

Participants were then divided into four groups.Diabetes Freedom Download Each group recommended eating only 1,500 calories a day with 25% protein and the remaining carbohydrates. Group A consumes the proposed diet. While Group B consumes the same diet and takes metformin. Group C and D had an antioxidant-rich diet of 800 to 1,000 milligrams of fruit and vegetables per day. While Group D took a compulsory diet from metformin. All groups lost weight, but only the C and D group decreased insulin resistance. The fourth group shows the best improvement they receive is a diet of fruits and vegetables with metformin. The subjects showed no side effects from the diet. Mancini says that 800 to 1,000 milligrams of fruit and vegetable foods per day are completely safe. This is the safest amount of fruits and vegetables you can eat in a day. Patients with diabetes need to take proper care of their feet as they become infected. Foot problems can lead to nerve damage if not properly addressed. Many people notice an infection after a leg injury, which can lead to worse outcomes. Diabetes leads to reduced ability to fight infection, thus delaying the flow of blood and oxygen to the legs. As a result, ulcers and skin breakouts can occur. Which can lead to skin ulcers in the absence of proper care. People with diabetes have significant chances of getting nervous. So it is wise to check their feet twice a year. Diabetes Freedom Facebook Cracks, bruises, pimples, and warts are some problems that can cause diabetes. You may neglect to think about a minor injury, but it can cause serious complications if not treated properly. So having a diabetic foot care tool is a good idea.

Diabetes Freedom Testimonials

Now, let’s look at the components of the foot care tool. In each group, a fungicide cream is added to prevent the growth of fungi and bacteria, and to protect against skin cramps and pimples. The pumice stone, widely used to soften the feet, comes with a diabetic foot care team. Foot kit for Improved magnifying glass and glass are provided with this kit. In addition to these medical supplies for diabetics. A pair of socks and shoes are provided as well as an increased risk of foot injuries and injuries. Many people wonder why they buy diabetic socks. Diabetes Freedom YouTube The two features are similar. But there are significant differences between the two. The foods you eat will be your body’s healthy levels. What you eat can keep you alive or even cause death. Some foods are high in sugar and your body doesn’t have insulin. How do you end up with diabetes? Diabetes Freedom It is important to keep your sugar levels as normal as possible. If your sugar intake is too high, it can cause serious damage to your body. But if it is too high, it can put your body at risk. Medication can control your diabetes, but you also need to eat healthily. Dosing or taking insulin injections may not help, but you can eat foods rich in sugar and fat. The important thing is to keep your weight as low as possible. The moment you gain weight, add bad and excess fat your body will not only increase the risk of heart disease but also the severity of your diabetes. Not many people realize the devastating effects of diabetes.

Most teenagers and children have diabetes because they no longer eat healthily.Diabetes Freedom Does It Work In the old days, mothers cooked healthy vegetables from the garden, and children used trees from their fruits. They don’t treat all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Not only are the chemicals harmful to your body, but in today’s rush of life, you can easily order ready-made foods or buy ready-made frozen foods. It is unfair to look at the amount of fat in these types of junk foods. Take a regular slide, for example. Diabetes Freedom Diabetes Treatment The moment the dried oyster is burned in a fire, it will turn black and the fat will fall from it. Another thing that can affect these bad foods is your metabolism. This can lead to weight gain that affects your body organs and diabetes problems. You may not know it now, but diabetes may make you feel blind. When your kidneys and liver cannot cope with the disease for a long time, you are in a coma and you may die.Diabetes Freedom Review Foods to avoid include white rice, white noodles, white flour, white sugar, fatty foods, caffeine, and alcohol. Also, instead of choosing these white wheat products, you should choose brown wheat products. Use brown sugar instead of white sugar. Instead of frying your food, you can steam it with fresh herbs and you will taste better. Yes, you and your friends order pizza and drink. It may seem fun, but your health and life are very important. Are you looking for a way to create more benefits or more benefits for Medicare beneficiaries? It doesn’t matter what kind of products you sell, whether it be sleep apnea products, energy chairs, diabetes products or other products for the elderly. Nationally advertised television ads invite consumers to find out more about diabetes products or medical care.

Diabetes Freedom Does It Work

For example, if you focus on diabetic patients, you can contact them. They are then asked to get a series of questions about their medical plan and how they check blood sugar and whether they use it. Glucose meters or not. Diabetes Freedom Guarantee Callers also collect “vital statistics” including name, physical address, date of birth, telephone numbers and other necessary information. Additionally, callers may ask if a Medicare representative can phone them or help callers find the best solutions for diabetes supplies. Customers are allowed to call back; All of these calls are recorded so that when the caller is already connected to the permission. Each lead will be sent one to three times each day. All relevant information is included, including contact information and other relevant data. Such as products that customers are currently using. All you have to do is take those customers back and close every sale in a row. These simplify include how you can look at your ROI, completion rate, and cost of acquisitions. Because quality leads are consistently delivered. You will probably receive enough customer contact so that you can continue to grow your business. One important word about compliance: compliance is, of course. Important so that these medical care procedures and diabetes are never simply reduced. Or avoided by spam or other bad methods. Diabetes Freedom Program Instead. Our system ensures that all Medicare opportunities and sugar fantasies are selected by customers. Which means they can choose to receive information and are allowed to call back. This ensures that every advance you receive is legitimate and confident. The shows are made via TV. These tracks are those that give you explicit consent to contact them.

This means that the “offline” rules do not apply to them. However, we do take steps to ensure that individuals are continually brought in. So compliance rules are always very important for various organizations, including the DNC, FTC, and HIPPA. Diabetes Freedom Natural Cure We are legitimate and will never violate these rules. One of the big advantages would be a hot market, and as the “baby boomers” age, this demographic increases day by day. We can generate 100 to 5,000 customers a day, which ensures that our leads are competent and that media quality will never change. The blood glucose meter is a compulsory medical device for home care for people with diabetes. Diabetes Freedom Treatment First aid kit should be an advanced blood sugar device in the case of adults in the home. Not only your blood glucose levels. But you can also monitor your glucose levels to match your insulin quality and adjust your glucose levels. Some visitors come with the option to check the effects of food and portion options. As the best measure of glucose in diabetes management, proper attention should be paid to their effectiveness. Diabetes Freedom PDF Download Here are some suggestions on blood glucose monitors for optimal storage and maintenance. First, read the manufacturer’s instructions on the use and maintenance of your glucose monitor. Sometimes, you may need a specialist to guide you on the application and technical queries. So be aware of the means of communicating with the manufacturer, for example, a toll-free telephone line. Some manufacturers of glucose meters offer video tutorials for the best use for their clients. Try out the live demo and make sure you’re comfortable with the device. The meter calibration must be performed by the manufacturer each time a new set of test strips is used. It does not require a meter to use pre-calibrated strips.

Diabetes Freedom Diet

If you experience a sudden increase in sugar, check the test strips. The result should be identical to the other chipset to check if the device is working properly. Any problems you find at the counter, please refer to the manual and try to fix it yourself. If this does not work, contact technical support. You should periodically check the accuracy of these home medical equipment.Diabetes Freedom Form Read the instructions on how to use the control solution and see if the meter is operating at the optimal range. The storage space is selected by your glucose meters. The temperature change can lead to incorrect readings. Similarly, test strips should be stored at room temperature, preferably in an airtight container. Keep the glucose meter clean. Be careful not to enter the food or any such item at the counter. Regular cleaning should be done as directed by the manufacturer of the device. Dampen a cloth with water or soap and wipe off the counter. For disinfection, a solution is made by a domestic beach worker (1 to 10 parts). Alcohol and ammonia for contraception can be harmful to the system. According to the Mayo Clinic in the United States, tobacco smoking increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by increasing blood sugar levels, leading to increased insulin levels. This can lead to insulin resistance, which increases your chances of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Diabetes Freedom Diet Non-smokers with more than 20 cigarettes per day double the risk of type 2 smokers. Non-smokers who spend time with smokers often develop more common ailments like smokers.

Researchers at Korea’s Epidemiology and Health Index, Center for Genetic Sciences, Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Osong, Korea and Preventive Medicine, Kashan Medical and Science University, Incheon, Korea. Diabetes Freedom Medicines The results of their study will be published in the January 2011 Annals of Epidemiology. Ten thousand thirty-eight people aged 40 to 69 were included in the study. Of the four hundred and forty-two volunteers who never smoked and were diagnosed with diabetes Over the next six years, 485 people were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes People who smoke secondhand at home are 40 percent more likely to have Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes FreedomInsulin Volunteers who smoke second-hand cigarettes more than 4 hours a day at home and work are nearly twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes From these results. The researchers concluded that passive smoking is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes. If secondhand smoke is an issue in the workplace, it is worth a separate application to turn it into a ventilated or non-smoking environment. When family members smoke. They can sometimes smoke outside, use e-cigarettes, or even better. Diabetes is a disease referred to as a normal glycemic marker, which is more or less insulin in our body. Diabetes Freedom Amazon Insulin is made from the pancreas. The main function of insulin is to stimulate the growth of the liver glycogen and synthetic protein. Excess insulin in the body slowly destroys most of the body’s tissues. Leading to complications such as stroke, blindness, nerve damage, heart disease, kidney disease, and impotence.

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The main symptoms of diabetes include dry mouth, blurred vision, persistent thirst, fatigue, accidental weight loss, and frequent urination. Type 1 or 2 diabetes is very important for family support. Diabetes FreedomRecipe Book The situation in The Whole Family Can Help. Here are four important steps that diabetes patients can take to help their families. The most effective thing you can do for your diabetic pet is to talk to them. Diabetes Freedom Access Let them know what you are doing. You can recognize them with a meal and realize that this is their new way of life. They need to develop this new way of life and be with them forever. If they don’t stick to the new diet, they will be physically depressed. Diabetes Freedom Testimonials Find new recipes and try them together. Help a family member with diabetes keep an accurate record of blood sugar readings. You can take the initiative and create a spreadsheet to record their daily readings with what they ate. This will help you raise blood sugar levels. This article is about encouraging them to exercise. This is the most important step in living with people with diabetes. Go to the gym with them, or do the workouts at home at The Video. Exercising is often very easy if you have a partner. If you are going to take these steps, your family member with diabetes will have a much easier time adjusting to their new lifestyle and if they don’t feel lonely.

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rachelroams · 4 years

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I HAD COVID-19. THIS WAS MY EXPERIENCE.

Important note: my story is just one story. There are many people experiencing coronavirus, and each one of those narratives is valuable.

And, while each of our stories may provide a window into an individual experience, together—as compiled by experts—those stories allow for vetted, reliable data.

Please look to the tried-and-tested knowledge from medical professionals as you navigate this health crisis.

And remember: I’m just a regular person who had an experience and wanted to invite you into the fold.

***

THE BEGINNING

That photo was shot four days before my symptoms began. It was March 10th, and I was on assignment in South Carolina. I had just wrapped a public speaking engagement in NYC. The U.S. was still figuring out how seriously to take the Covid-19 threat, so storefronts, mass transit, and most of the world as we knew it was still open for business.

By March 12th, as I traveled home to the West Coast, Trump had announced a travel ban on flights from Europe, and things were starting to get serious in the States. I made a plan to self-quarantine for 14 days so that any potential germs I might have brought back from NYC didn’t get passed on to others.

THE ONSET

On March 14th, I noticed I had a light headache and muscle aches. I attributed them to post-travel fatigue and went on with my day. Within a few days, however, my body aches grew notably worse, I was constantly exhausted, and I was starting to have trouble sleeping.

By the 18th, my body was in full decline, and the pile-on of symptoms got scary fast. I had the symptoms that most of the news stories list—fever, aches, cough—plus a whole bunch more. (A full list of symptoms is in the next section.)

Between March 18-25, I fell into the void that is Covid-19. I ran a 102-degree fever for seven days. I had chills. Shivering. Fever dreams that looped, and looped, and looped again. Body aches severe enough that extra-strength acetaminophen did nothing lessen them.

One day somewhere in the middle of that time frame, a cough came on so strong and fast that I had to avoid talking, sitting up, or even moving. Those actions agitated the coughing to an extreme. My body became fatigued enough that I eventually couldn’t stand, walk, or even sit up for longer than a minute or two at a time. I wanted to sleep constantly, but never got past 4-5 hours without waking up in need of more pain or cough medication.

THE SYMPTOMS

Here’s the full list of symptoms I experienced. They’re not all pretty, but they were all present.

Fever Cough Body aches Headaches Exhaustion Chills Night sweats Fever dreams Diarrhea Loss of appetite Clammy skin Red ring around eyes Loss of sense of smell Inability to sit up, stand, or walk Sensation that joints weren’t connected Sensation that knee caps were going to slide off my legs

(Yes, those last two are strange. Yes, they were part of my experience.)

THE TEST

My symptoms were notable enough that on March 19th, my husband called Urgent Care and asked what they would advise we do. After an interview about my condition and travel history, nursing staff said we should come in that afternoon.

At the staff’s instruction, my husband Todd put on a mask and gloves, and entered the hospital to register me as a patient. I was asked to stay in the car so that I didn’t come into contact with more people than necessary. After Todd returned to the car, a nurse called my cell phone and interviewed me about my symptoms and recent travel history. Based on my answers, we were waved through to the drive-through testing tent.

Nurses in gowns, face shields, masks and gloves approached the car and asked me to remove my mask. They took my temperature, listened to my lungs, confirmed my symptoms, and called a doctor to the tent. While the doctor ran through my list of my symptoms, triple-checking what we had described to the nursing staff, he inquired about my travel history. When I listed New York, he paused, turned away from us, and yelled, “We’re gonna need a Covid test here! This one’s been to New York.”

First, I was given a conventional flu test, and informed that it would be processed within the next few hours. If it came back positive, the hospital would assume I had the flu. If it came back negative, they would assume it was coronavirus and ship my Covid test out for processing.

The Covid-19 test was… uncomfortable. To test a person, medical staff inserts a 6-inch swab deep into the nasal cavity until it reaches the nasopharynx/upper throat, rotating it several times over the course of 10-15 seconds to gather a sufficient sample, and sometimes repeating the procedure with a new swab in the second nasal cavity. Normally fairly stoic, I had to be reminded to breathe during this process, wiping tears away as the doctor dipped my swab into a sealed pouch and passed it to the nurse.

The image below shows the handout I received following my test.

THE RESULTS

Within a few hours of our drive-through experience, we received a call from Urgent Care informing us that my flu test had come back negative. Next, they would be sending out my Covid-19 for processing. We were told that we would have to wait 5-10 days for results. The national average for results turnaround was five days at the time of testing (March 19).

In the meantime, we were instructed to stay home and treat the symptoms ourselves. The only exception would be if I started experiencing extreme shortness of breath (as per the nurses: “[feeling like I had run a marathon while sitting still, or feeling like I was suffocating]”), at which point we were to return to the hospital seeking intensive care. Barring that, we were to continue self-quarantine until both my husband and I were symptom-free for at least 72 hours. (Thankfully, Todd never developed symptoms.)

Over the next two weeks, we had a series of follow-up calls with nursing staff. On March 25th, I was told my test had been sent from Oregon to a North Carolina LabCorp facility, where it was “in process.” At that point, I was informed it would be closer to 12 days before I would receive results due to an inundation of tests needing processing at East Coast facilities.

Over the next couple calls, however, it became clear something strange was happening. On call two, my test was no longer showing “in process” in the lab records, but it was also not marked “complete,” which is the next stage. On call three, the nurse said my test notes now read “future,” indicating the swab had not begun processing, even though we were nearly two weeks past my test date.

THE MISSING TEST

On April 1st, 13 days after testing, the test was suddenly, inexplicably, not in the system. It was not listed in North Carolina. It was not listed in Oregon. It was not listed anywhere.

That day, I received a call from the Head of Nursing at Urgent Care. He informed me that I would not be receiving my Covid-19 test results… ever. He conferred, “[The staff here feels confident you had Covid-19, based your on symptoms and recent travel history. That’s why we gave you a Covid test. Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to confirm your positive results, because we don’t know where your swab went. We can no longer located it in any lab’s computer system.]” He continued, “[Unfortunately, this has happened a number of times now, with a number of different patients. Swabs have gone missing, and we don’t know why. At this point, I can say with confidence that we will never find those tests.]”

Somehow, between my Covid-19 test on March 19 and the swab’s transit to a LabCorp facility, my test disappeared, along with a number of others. In a nation with an already-limited number of tests, an unknown number of them are now afloat, unprocessed, and uncalculated in the national totals.

THE HEREAFTER

Regardless of official results, I believe I can safely say I’m on the mend from coronavirus. It has been exactly four weeks since the onset of symptoms, and I’m feeling mostly human again. While I still need to sleep 10-12 hours a day as my body repairs (my husband says I’m “sleeping like a college student”), I’m finally able to walk farther than the distance between the living room and bathroom. In fact, I made it beyond the mailbox this week. All things considered, that’s a victory.

As I take each day as it comes, I’m thankful to the body I normally take for granted. The partner who supplied me with Gatorade, prepared me miso, and noted my temperature three times a day for two weeks. The community of friends and family who sent love notes, funny gifs, and encouragement as I faced the fire.

As I place my trust in the healing process, I’m grateful for the opportunity to reflect on life’s small pleasures. Who knew it could be so exciting to watch a daffodil bloom? To note a Cooper’s Hawk outside the window? To get a good night’s rest, play a board game, or walk the whole length of the driveway? Who even remembered, in this wildly busy world, what a gift it is to simply listen to the breeze?

As I look forward, I send gratitude to the people deemed essential workers, whose employment at hospitals, grocery stores, restaurants, and more, requires them to show up at the front lines daily to keep our society fed and functioning.

As I acknowledge the vast unknowing that all that of us face, I encourage everyone (yes—even YOU!) to stay home if you’re not an essential worker. To get to know not only the inside of whatever building you’re calling home, but also the inside of your mind, your heart, and the wide expanse of space that is Not Knowing. To ask yourself what you feel today—every day a new day for asking—and grant permission to yourself to experience whatever natural, beautiful, and challenging feelings this whirlwind may ask of you.

THE AMA (“ASK ME ANYTHING”)

Do you have questions about my experience? Please let me know in the comments below. I’ll do my best to provide an answer.

I’ve had friends ask what supplies to keep on hand in case they get sick, what mindset I adopted during the healing process, what shows I was watching on Netflix when I was down for the count… whatever you’re wondering, let me know.

Thank you, as always, for sharing this journey with me.

You are appreciated,

Rachel

#covid19 #covid-19 #coronavirus #health #medicine #wellness #virus #pandemic #corona outbreak #outbreak #travel #newyork #nyc #new york

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