#Green Cooling Technologies Market

[coltermartinez]

Green Cooling Technologies Market Analysis With Key Players, Applications, Trends and Forecasts 2027

The Global Green Cooling Technologies Market to be Propelled by Rise in Emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

According to a recently published report by Research Nester on “Green Cooling Technologies Market: Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2027” delivers detailed overview of the green cooling technologies market in terms of market segmentation by type, by end user, and by region.

Further, for the in-depth analysis, the report encompasses the industry growth drivers, restraints, supply and demand risk, market attractiveness, BPS analysis and Porter’s five force model.

Based on type, the global green cooling technologies is bifurcated into unitary air conditioning (UAC), mobile air conditioning (MAC) & chillers and by end use the market is segmented into residential, commercial & industrial.

Over the recent years, the increase in demand for electricity due to refrigeration and cooling is expected to contribute significantly towards the growth of the market. In addition, the noteworthy growth of the market can be attributed to perpetual rise in worldwide demand for refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) equipment. This increase in demand for such equipment can be further attributed to growing population, urbanization and economic growth. Moreover, several treaties which were adopted and implemented in order to prevent the depletion and protect the environment from harmful emissions such as Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocol have also contributed toward the market growth.

On the basis of region, the green cooling technologies market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa region.  North America and Europe market is anticipated to observe a significant growth on the back of adoption and implementation of strict regulations in these regions. The market in Asia Pacific is also expected to witness a considerable growth during the forecast period owing to increase in the production and sales in the RAC sector particularly in the developing economies, such as China.

Get a Sample Copy of the Report at: https://www.researchnester.com/sample-request-885

Increased Emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

The green cooling technologies market is anticipated to observe a notable growth over the forecast period. This can be attributed to rise in emissions of greenhouse gases such as, CFCs and HCFCs from the refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment. Rise in emissions of CO2 coupled with increase in total annual GHGs emissions from the energy and industry sector is also estimated to accelerate the growth of the market over the forthcoming years. 

Furthermore, supportive government policies and regulations in the emerging economies concerning the adoption of advanced and sustainable cooling technologies during the forecast period is expected to propel the growth of the market.

However, high upfront cost associated with the installation of green cooling technologies along with requirement for specialized equipment and niche installation knowledge are expected to operate as a key restraint to the growth of green cooling technologies market over the forecast period.

This report also provides the existing competitive scenario of some of the key players of the green cooling technologies market which includes company profiling of Dpac UK, AHT, Cooltech Applications, InvenSor GmbH, Efficient Energy GmbH, Taco Comfort Solutions, Technology in Business, Carel Industries S.p.A., and other prominent players. The profiling enfolds key information of the companies which encompasses business overview, products and services, key financials and recent news and developments. On the whole, the report depicts detailed overview of the green cooling technologies market that will help industry consultants, equipment manufacturers, existing players searching for expansion opportunities, new players searching possibilities and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to the ongoing and expected trends in the future.     

Research Nester is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties.

Contact for more Info:

Ajay Daniel Email: info@researchnester.com U.S. Phone: +1 646 586 9123 U.K. Phone: +44 203 608 5919

[liquidplates]

Innovating the Thermal Management System Market

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[1-2-3-4-4498-0]

Cooling the Future: Emerging Green Technologies in Cooling

Green cooling technologies market refer to eco-friendly freezing, which cause minimum negative impacts on environment. The main components that specify the meaning of green cooling technologies are — energy efficient and friendly refrigeration. These organic refrigerants do not produce persistent residues in the atmosphere, leading to zero pollution. The emission of harmful greenhouse gases such as chlorofluorocarbons, hydro fluorocarbons, and halogens are accelerating acceptance of green cooling technologies. Expanding populace depend on a worldwide scale, combined with quick urbanization is offering rise to an expanding demand for HVACs (heating, ventilation, and cooling). Air conditioning systems cause emission of ozone harming substances, which negatively affects the earth. So as to decrease greenhouse emission, green cooling advances are being coordinated with HVACs nowadays. Harmful effects of climate change, which is a direct result of greenhouse gas emission have elevated concerns among various non-profitable organization working for the improvement of the environment. Increasing initiatives and support from such organization is also expected to increase the demand for green cooling technologies in upcoming years.

Covid-19 scenario analysis:

The global market for green cooling technologies is severely impacted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a decline in the economic growth in almost all the major countries, thus affecting consumer spending patterns.

Owing to the lockdown implemented across various countries, national and international transport have been hampered, which has significantly impacted the supply chain of numerous industries across the globe, thereby increasing the supply–demand gap.

Thus, insufficiency in raw material supply is expected to hamper the production rate of green cooling technologies, which negatively impact the market growth.

Top impacting factors: Market Scenario Analysis, Trends, Drivers and Impact Analysis

The green cooling technologies market is anticipated to observe a remarkable development because of rise in emission of greenhouse gases for example CFCs and HFCs. The prime emission of outflow of these gases is refrigerators and cooling gear. Different government arrangements and guidelines with respect to the selection of economical and innovative cooling technologies that use natural refrigeration in nations and worldwide are assessed to support the development of the market during the forecast time period. Such improved advancements are foreseen to decrease GHGs discharges and upgrade the energy efficiency.

One of the major limiting factors concerning the growth of green cooling technologies is the high production cost related with the establishment of these equipments. Moreover, the technology is quite new and requires specific hardware alongside knowledge about the equipment. Along these lines, because of due to lack of presence of trained personnel and spare parts required for installation of this equipment the growth of the market is expected to decline during the forecast period.

New product launches to flourish the market

Cooltech Applications, a main magnetic refrigeration organization, has reported the accessibility of the primary business attractive cooling framework for its attractive refrigeration framework (MRS) product offering. The magnetic cooling framework uses a water coolant rather than a refrigerant gas — a significant supporter of environmental change — bringing about an eco-friendly solution that consume minimum energy. The magnetic unit functions at low pressure with low rotational speed almost eliminating vibrations, cutting noise to less than 35 decibels and reducing the maintenance costs.

Surge in use in mobile air conditioning applications

As the automotive industry is increasing with respect to the customers segment, it is augmenting the demand for mobile air conditioner. MAC can be used in all transport models like cars, buses, trains and trucks. Due to its portable feature its demand is increasing. Automotive industry is getting a high boost with MAC. With more advancement and innovation in green cooling technologies, more demand will increase of its in different sectors.

Key benefits of the report:

This study presents the analytical depiction of the global Green Cooling Technologies market along with the current trends and future estimations to determine the imminent investment pockets.

The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities along with detailed analysis of the global Green Cooling Technologies market.

The current market is quantitatively analysed to highlight the global Green Cooling Technologies market growth scenario.

Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers & suppliers in the market.

The report provides a detailed global green cooling technologies market analysis based on competitive intensity and how the competition will take shape in coming years.

[astroa3h]

How Pluto Entering Aquarius Will Shape the Next Two Decades

Hold onto your hats, because the cosmos just handed us a front-row ticket to the most exhilarating and unsettling ride of the century. Pluto, the planet of transformation, power, and those deep, dark truths we’d rather shove under the rug, is strutting into Aquarius, the sign of innovation, rebellion, and humanity’s collective future. This isn’t just a cosmic shuffle. It’s a full-blown revolution that will flip the script on every corner of life as we know it. We’re talking society, technology, relationships, and yes, your personal universe. This not your average astrological transit.

Pluto doesn’t mess around. This is the planet of the phoenix, meaning if something isn’t working, it’s about to burn down to ashes. But don’t panic. Aquarius isn’t here to destroy for the sake of destruction. This air sign is the visionary genius, the tech whiz, the humanitarian. Together, they’re rewriting the rules of the game. Think of it like a power wash for your life and our world, a little messy at first, but ultimately freeing. For the next 19 years, expect seismic shifts in how we connect as a species. Aquarius rules technology and social systems, so the digital landscape will explode with changes. In terms of astrology predictions, AI won’t just be a cool tool; it’s going to reshape the job market, education, and even how we understand what it means to be human. If you’ve been clinging to outdated ways of working or communicating, Pluto is here to snap you out of it. The advice? Embrace the new. Learn, adapt, grow. That app you’re too stubborn to download could end up being the key to your next career move.

Power structures are about to collapse. Pluto in Aquarius doesn’t tolerate inequality, corruption, or anything that reeks of the old guard clinging to control. Governments, corporations, and even social hierarchies are in for a rude awakening. On a personal level, ask yourself where you’ve been giving your power away. Is it to a boss who doesn’t value you? A partner who keeps you small? A habit that numbs your potential? Pluto is here to tear those chains apart. But it’s on you to step into the freedom that follows. Of course, there’s a shadow side. Aquarius can be cold, detached, even ruthless in its pursuit of the greater good. Be wary of losing yourself in groupthink or tech dependency. Just because the world is speeding up doesn’t mean you have to lose touch with your own humanity. Make time for real conversations, face-to-face connections, and grounding rituals. This isn’t just a suggestion.

It’s a survival tool for navigating the chaos.

And let’s talk relationships. Traditional bonds might feel stifling under this influence. Aquarius loves independence and freedom, so if you’re in a situation that feels too confining, it’s time to shake things up. This doesn’t mean running for the hills every time someone asks for commitment. But it does mean being honest about what you need to thrive. Maybe that’s more space, or maybe it’s a complete reimagining of what love looks like for you. Just know this: Pluto doesn’t do surface-level. Any connection that’s shallow, fake, or rooted in outdated ideals is going to crumble. And that’s a good thing. This is also a time to dream big, no, bigger. Aquarius is the sign of invention and radical ideas. If you’ve been sitting on a creative project, a business idea, or a vision for your future, Pluto is giving you a cosmic green light. But there’s a catch. You can’t just dream it; you have to build it. Aquarius is innovative, yes, but it’s also fiercely logical. It’s about using your genius to create something real. So, roll up your sleeves. Get to work. You have a 19-year runway to make something extraordinary.

But remember, transformation isn’t a one-and-done event. Pluto moves slowly, digging deep into the cracks we don’t want to see. There will be moments when it feels too intense, too overwhelming. That’s when you lean into the Aquarian gift of vision. What kind of future do you want to build? What kind of person do you want to become? Keep your eyes on the horizon, even when the ground shakes beneath your feet. Pluto in Aquarius isn’t just a transit. It’s a call to action. It’s a demand to evolve. The world is changing, fast. And the question isn’t whether you’ll adapt. It’s whether you’ll rise to meet the opportunity. The universe believes you can. Now it’s your turn to believe it too.

Sending you all my love and blessings,

Ash (@AstroA3h via Instagram & TikTok)

✨💓

Ready for your own personal reading?

Visit astroash.net to book yours today!

[komsomolka]

VEB Scharfenstein, with four production units in the GDR, produced household refrigerators not only for the home market but had export partners in 30 countries. Just prior to unification it was producing over a million fridges and freezer units per year. [...] Everyone in the factory feared for their jobs because even though it had been the biggest manufacturer of refrigerators in the Eastern Bloc, by 1992 it was facing bankruptcy. In an attempt to save jobs and give the company a new lease of life, one of the company’s engineers, Albrecht Meyer, together with the West German environmentalist, Wolfgang Lohbeck, made a technological breakthrough, enabling the company to manufacture more environmentally-friendly refrigerators. In their research and development the company collaborated with Greenpeace and the Dortmund Hygiene Institute to develop the world’s first refrigerator free of chlorofluorocarbon and hydrofluorocarbon. Instead of using chemicals that damage the ozone layer, the new units used gases like propane and butane for cooling. The company was renamed ‘Foron’ and went on to produce 650 million of the new units after its reorganisation.

This innovation represented a serious threat to the market dominance of traditional refrigerator manufacturers in the West. They immediately countered with a massive and disingenuous propaganda campaign condemning the new system fallaciously as dangerous and environmentally unfriendly. This campaign succeeded in ruining Foron’s reputation – the political climate made it easy to deprecate an East German product. Foron was forced out of the market and in 1996 it went bankrupt and was taken over by a Dutch company.

On the insistence of Greenpeace, the new technology developed by Foron had not been patented because Greenpeace wanted it to be adopted quickly by other manufacturers. When those other companies did eventually begin manufacturing similar ones they could make free use of Foron’s technology without having to buy any patents. That was an additional bitter pill. In the meantime, most manufacturers have taken on the technology developed by Foron and it has now become a standard for the environmentally-friendly manufacture of refrigerators worldwide.

Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It by Bruni de la Motte & John Green with Seumas Milne (Contributor), 2015.

[osmanthusoolong]

Because I see posts about this going around often, and I don’t want to argue about it on any given post:

Personal cameras for amateur photographers have been common since the turn of the 20th century. The Brownie camera was released in 1900 and marketed to children, amateur photography, whether developed at a photo lab, or at home, was very common. I’ve got a pretty pink art deco camera from 1930, and its existence really highlights that by then, cheap novelty cameras (pretty cameras for the girls !) were common because of market saturation.

While some areas (urban, industrialized) had more cameras than others, it’s kind of ridiculous to act like nobody outside of the wealthy had them, or took mundane pictures or silly ones or nudes and lewds within the 20th century. (Note: if you were taking something risque, you’d have to develop it yourself or know a lab that was cool with some things, but still.)

It is important to understand the presence of technology in history, not least because of the really asinine conspiracy theories about how black and white film is a psyop to convince people that the civil rights movement/HIV history was further in the past than it was (you can still get b&w film, btw), or that it would be really rare and special for someone to photograph a pet in the midcentury, on a less harmful level.

Also, because it sure is Pride month, I’m gonna recommend the book I’ve been reading, Len and Cub: A Queer History by Meredith Batt and Dusty Green, which is about the discovery of a trove of photos from the first half of the 20th century of life, including gay life, in a supremely rural Canadian village, taken by a young man who got a camera in 1905.

[mybeingthere]

Described as a ‘Virtuoso of the potter’s wheel’ by Peter Timms, Art Critic for the Melbourne Age John Stroomer is a master potter who is internationally recognized for his work with Crystalline Glazes. His forms are classical, balanced, simple, full bodied and reflect his mastery of both the potter’s wheel and crystalline process.

“I have been making for almost 50 years, employing 23 potters during the 80s/90s supplying wheel thrown domestic stoneware to major retailers, direct selling companies and homeware stores Australia-wide.

The recession of 1981, a devastating factory fire in 1988 followed by the 1990 recession and subsequent fluctuating market forces eventually led to a change in personal philosophy/direction. They were all pivotal in leading me to where and who I am today.

The exacting nature, temperature control, balance and understanding of materials and glaze technologies demanded by the Crystaline process reflect John’s mastery of his craft over many years. Each pot is fired at over 1,300 Degrees Celsius for at least 18 hours. Once peak temperature has been reached, the kiln is rapidly cooled to pre-determined temperatures, at which point the crystals begin to be formed. As crystal formation requires slow cooling, the temperature is held and slowly reduced/managed with a crystal growth period of an additional six hours.

Crystals can take on a myriad of shapes and are three dimensional in nature. In direct sunlight or strong light, spectacular effects can be created by the refraction of light bouncing off the crystals, giving each pot a true three dimensional appearance.

Metallic oxides and combinations of various materials are used to produce a wide range of colours, ranging from dark browns, to cobalt blues and coral greens, amongst many others.

The end result are a range of pots that are exquisite.

[mariacallous]

One night this past February, over drinks and moody bar lighting in Brooklyn, Eric Green and his friends were swapping stories of their recent hookups when one mentioned they’d used the app Sniffies to have public sex. A 30-year-old tattoo artist who works in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Green identifies as a bottom, is a frequent user of dating apps, and has an active sex life—only, he’d never heard of Sniffies.

It wasn’t long after that night out, Green was overtaken by “complete and total horniness” while at home, and decided to sign up himself. When he opened the app he was reminded of Google Maps, only instead of restaurants and shopping recommendations, he was inundated with nudes and suggestions for the nearest pump-and-dump. “I expected it to be like Grindr and Jack’d, but after I checked it out I realized it was super accessible,” Green says, referencing two other popular queer hookup platforms. “More accessible than any other app.”

Access is Sniffies’ main selling point. A map-based cruising platform for men of all sexual identifications (gay, bi, DL, and straight-curious—yes, you read that right), Sniffies has become something like an adults-only Disneyland for queer men interested in sex-positive, no-strings-attached casual encounters. “We really focus on in-the-moment connections,” says Eli Martin, the company’s chief marketing officer and creative director. “On other apps, it’s not always clear what people’s intentions are—some people want to find a boyfriend, others just want to look around—but on Sniffies, we try to make it clear that people are fulfilling their sexual desires and fetishes.”

Sniffies is not your typical dating app, or a dating app at all, really. In lieu of the typical song and dance on Tinder or Bumble, where conversations are bogged down in endless chatter that often never materializes into an IRL meeting, on Sniffies you can anonymously browse a map of guys looking for sex with other guys. Along with web-apps BKDR (short for backdoor), Motto, and Doublelist (think a more streamlined Craigslist personals), it has reignited an appeal in cruising culture that for so long had been taboo, even among certain queer circles, for fear of acceptance or health concerns.

“Destigmatizing casual sex has been our biggest hurdle in general,” says Martin. “It’s been ingrained in us to be monogamous, but we should have this sexual freedom. Cruising doesn’t have to be seedy or something that only happens in back alleys.” Thankfully, he says, that’s changing. “In the last couple of years, we’ve been able to enjoy it more without as much judgment, but it was still hard on day one, because I was like, how do we create an app that’s [not only cool] but going to continually push people to engage in?”

Launched in 2018, Sniffies was the brainchild of former Seattle-based architect Blake Gallagher. A problem-solver by nature, Gallagher was fascinated by the way urban environments influence sexual interactions. He wanted to better augment natural human connection in public spaces, and decided to implement a map feature and geolocation technology as the basis for Sniffies—tapping into what author Jack Parlett calls “the democratic potential of cruising.” Gallagher first tested his idea in Seattle and, with the help of his brother Grant, a programmer, slowly built Sniffies into what it is today—a “cruising app for the curious” with an increasing global reach.

“We really push for the physical aspect of getting off your phone and out and about,” Martin says. And it’s paying off. According to data shared with WIRED, the US cities that see the most action—that is, the horniest cities—are Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta. (These figures are based on the highest number of sessions within a geographic area.) London saw a 475 percent growth in usership from 2022 to 2023, and Vancouver is Sniffies’ most discreet city.

Green says he uses the app twice a week “if I’m actually going to meet up with somebody, but I will go on there and scroll every so often.” (His last name was changed to protect his privacy.) According to the company, the average Sniffies user identifies as vers (25.6 percent of total users), has a penis size of 6.67 inches, prefers to cruise a park, restroom, or a residential tower of some sort, is into edging and cum play, and is most likely having sex on Mondays. Since joining, Green describes his time on Sniffies as “kinda calm,” compared to his friends. The encounters he has had, he says, have been “from apartment to apartment, nothing outside or in the gym.”

BKDR is another rising player among the burgeoning world of queer cruising apps. Eric Silverberg says users on Scruff and Jack’d—sister apps to BKDR (all three are owned by Perry Street Software)—were identifying “a clear desire for a platform that prioritized sexual expression and sex.” Cruising has occurred for centuries, he says, and an app like BKDR is a “direct, no-nonsense product that allows people to get on and get off in a very literal sense.”

The demand certainly seems to be there—and the potential for such apps is only growing. Although BKDR launched less than a year ago, it has already expanded to Latin America and Europe. “It’s early days for us, but over 1 million people have visited BKDR in the past month,” Silverberg tells me, adding, “We think it will be the biggest product in our portfolio.”

Growth brings its own set of problems, however. A recent Reddit post detailed how a more conservative kind of user now inhabits the Sniffies. “Now that [the app] is getting really popular in some places there are a ton of guys on the map in my area and most of them are just there to waste your time. I'm looking for [a] hookup right now,” user @curiousFriend2 wrote. “Sniffies used to cater to lowkey guys and even some cumdumps and the more sleezy side, but now the Grindr crowd [has] come in and a lot of them are not even into those things and publicly announce it.”

Sniffies took off following the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, and Martin believes the isolation of the pandemic led to users being more open-minded about cruising. “People’s mindset changed to realize that they want to take advantage of the moment,” he says.

That’s mainly what Green is after most days, though he says he tries not to use Sniffies as a crutch. “It’s cool to go on during my downtime—late at night or early in the morning,” he says, “because I actually have stuff to do, and I don’t want to throw my day looking for dudes,” he says, before adding that “if you’re solely looking for fun,” it’s unbeatable.

[solarpunks]

A rendering of a rooftop terrace installed by the Parisian startup Roofscapes.

Paris When It Sizzles: The City of Light Aims to Get Smart on Heat

With its zinc roofs and minimal tree cover, Paris was not built to handle the new era of extreme heat. Now, like other cities worldwide, it is looking at ways to adapt to rising temperatures — planting rooftop terraces, rethinking its pavements, and greening its boulevards.

In many cities, this urban remodeling project is already underway. In New York City, workers and volunteers have planted over a million trees to add shade and clean the air. In Seville, Spain, city planners are using the technology of ancient underground waterways to provide cooling for the city without depending on air‑conditioning. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, officials are creating urban gardens, improving access to clean water, and erecting plexiglass awnings over outdoor markets. In Los Angeles, public works crews are painting streets white to increase reflectivity. In India, they are experimenting with green roofs, which absorb heat and create space to grow food. But perhaps nowhere in the world do the challenges, as well as the opportunities, loom larger than in Paris, where nearly 80 percent of the buildings have zinc roofs — an affordable, corrosion-resistant and virtually inflammable innovation of the 19th century. But those roofs are, in the 21st century, deadly — heating up to 194 degrees F on a summer day. And because top‑floor garrets were not insulated, that heat is transferred directly into the rooms below.

[spann-stann]

Setting Blurb: The Solar System (Reworked)

• Sol Invictus: The physical “center” of human civilization in the 3600′s. Most settlement of the Unconquerable Sun (renamed after the Human-Crystalline War) centered around the development of solar energy platforms by all members of the Big Three. Specially made habitats built to withstand the Sun’s heat also orbit it, housed by those that wish to hide from the rest of the Universe in the light of the Sun (Ex-Serviles, disgraced WCOF Party members, and market failures).

• Mercury: Mercury was not subject to colonization like the rest of the bodies in the Solar System. Rather, it was made into a giant strip mine to feed the Corporate Empire’s growing infrastructure. To supply the needed manpower, large numbers of Serviles (violent criminals sent to be worked to death) and industrial Serfbots were shipped to serve in removing any/all valuable materials the tiny planet could offer. Some enterprising Imperials have pitched the idea to convert the mined-out portions of Mercury into layered habitats. A moderately sized population of monks has been growing as well.

• Venus: The terraforming of Venus was a massive project initiated around the end of the Second Dynasty. The Human-Crystalline war put a temporary pause on that project. The once-Amber Planet is now entering the end of its second Ice Age, the descendants of those that staked claims centuries ago were more than eager to live their ancestors’ dreams. To celebrate the triumph of Venus’ terraforming, the settlers of Venus have all employed passive cooling into their housing, no more living in air-conditioned cylinders for them! The majority of the planet (and orbit) is CorpEmp, with the palatial estates of the Kechua-go, Silavfirika, and the Eurekan Ulus dot their three Terrae (major continents). The Neuhansa of the United Markets also enjoy perusing their open-aired markets, located on prime beachfront and alpine real estate dotting the planet. Even the World Congress of Freedom’s prestiged Party members have a few dachas in secluded locales.

• Earth: The former crown jewel of Human civilization, slowly healing from the near-endless use of nuclear weapons used during the Human-Crystalline War 800 years ago. With the Earth’s decreasing radiation, more and more call for the re-colonization of the homeworld. A few important sites remained inhabited, mostly areas that attract tourists and pilgrims. The many battlefields that dot the surface are treasure troves of old technology and resources (human and alien). While a majority of Earth’s human inhabitants evacuated, some decided to wait out the apocalypse. Many survivalist and bunker-building cultures thought that the rest of humanity would be “purged” by the invading aliens and retreated into their underground shelters. Slowly but surely these cultures have emerged and regained contact with the outside world. The Big Three’s plans to individually retake Terran territory may result in inevitable conflict with these “successors” to the Earth. The environmental fanatics of the Green Consensus have maintained holdings on the Earth as well, and they have made it known that those responsible for the nuclear bombardment will not have an inch of the Earth without paying some sort of price...

Earth Orbit: The myriad peoples who live in Earth's orbit pride themselves on being the "guardians of the motherworld". Being directly above the birthplace of humanity, Earth Orbit is the most culturally diverse and has the largest population in the Solar System. While many Terrans bemoan not living on Earth proper, many more recognize the profit in living right above the universe’s largest wilderness preserve and pilgrimage site. Each of the Big Three have claimed a chunk of Earth orbit for themselves: The Terran Viceroyalties, CorpEmp’s mighty satrapies in their cylindrical habitats control all Geocentric Orbit above 35,000km (everything below geosynchronous has been a no-go zone post Crystalline War). The Viceregal habitats are built as counter-rotational pairs, one habitat houses the population in a patchwork of rural communities (its interior recreating the landmass of an empire in the corresponding Viceroyalty), and the second a nature preserve (both based on the environment of the habitat’s founders). Their ultimate goal is constructing a series of linked habitats known as “rungworlds” surrounding the Earth. Earth-Moon Lagrange point 5 is under United Markets control. The leadership of the many Megacorps that survived WW3 and the rise of CorpEmp laid claim to this Lagrange point during the divvying up of the Solar System after what was called “Worlds War One”. Their slowly losing ground to the Covenanters of the Belt is of no concern to those that dwell in Terran orbit. UM habitats are a mishmash of architectural styles, designed to attract different kinds of immigrants and tourists. Some habitats don’t house any permanent population at all and are meant to offer some sort of service (casinos, colossal hunting preserves, etc). Their latest operation is offering discount prices for prospecting equipment for those eager to do some “private Terran reclamation” on the Earth’s surface. Lagrange point 4 is fully controlled by the World Congress of Freedom. Although the Party headquarters has been relocated to Titan, E-M L4 is still a large population center for the WCOF. Habitats constructed for habitation in this polity tend towards the minimalist. Inside the habitats, most if not all space provides some function to serve the revolution. Needs are met but wants may cost the average Party member that doesn’t have the right connections. WCOF space in Terran orbit is heavily fortified, with Clonscript garrisons on every habitat providing security for the resident Party Members.

• Luna: The first celestial body to be colonized by Humanity, the many domed habitats on the Moon’s surface now served as humanity’s oldest settlements still surviving the destruction of the Human-Crystalline War. The Big Three’s settlements on the near side of Luna are a patchwork, as colonial claims were established on a “first come, first serve” basis. This resulted in frequent border skirmishes between the colonies. This bad blood has yet to really subside even in the 3600s. As a result, the Moon was never fully terraformed. Large, pressurized domes serve as the barriers to the many colonies, and lava tubes beneath the lunar surface were made habitable as well. The Big Three colonies are concentrated in the Lunar Maria, with Reserves preferring their own little domes on the far side. Lots of millenarians flock to the dark side, in a manner of speaking.

•  Mars: As greenhouse emissions are used to help terraform the Red Planet, Mars is only second to the Asteroid Belt in terms of industrial output. Mars was divided evenly into thirds, following a series of border conflicts erupting into Humanity’s first interplanetary war. Each of the Big Three received three Terrae each on the Red Planet. CorpEmp received Tempe, Xanthe, and Sirenum Terrae. The United Markets received Arabia, Sabaea, and Noachis Terrae. Finally, the WCOF took Cimmeria, Promethei, and Tyrrhena Terrae. Aonia Terra, was set aside to serve as a wilderness preserve for retro-engineered megafauna. Argyre Planitia was designated for extensive Reserve settlement. Mars was the site of the second worst terrestrial battles in the Human-Crystalline War, leading to lots of expended munitions that can be dug out of the ground. This resulted in munition excavation and recycling being the largest industry on the Red Planet and plenty of minor conflicts have broken out over rights to spent shells along the Big Three’s colonial borders.  Phobos became exclusive CorpEmp territory. The entire moon serves the Imperial Space Force; and is dotted with training, construction, and housing facilities. Deimos was divided by the UM and WCOF, with plenty of Reserve settlements acting as a buffer between the two.

• Asteroid Belt: While CorpEmp and the WCOF control “gateways” through the Outer Solar System, the major centers of the Asteroid Belt, Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta, are exclusively under United Markets control. Unlike the Inner Solar System, which is mostly the domain of the UMs founding megacorporations, the Asteroid Belt is home of the UM’s Covenanter culture. Small, insular, and very militant mining communities, Covenanters have slowly grown to become the dominant culture within the UM. So much so, that many Megacorp personnel defected to the Covenanter memetic when they evacuated to the Belt during the Human-Crystalline War. The Covenanters have not rested on their laurels and launched multiple colonial expeditions within and beyond Sol in recent centuries. The pirate mothership Libertatia, flying under the banner of the UM, also prowls the Belt to prey upon statist spacecraft.

• Jupiter: Following the conclusion of the Worlds War One, and the consolidation of colonial territories in the Inner Solar System, the Big Three came together to divide the Outer Solar System. Rather than sharing the outer planets, the Big Three split the gas giants between them. CorpEmp received Jupiter the King of the Planets. Slowly but surely, concentric band of settlements formed orbiting closer and closer to Jupiter itself as CorpEmp tech could counter the planet’s strong magnetic field. To prevent Jupiter’s growing colonial project being a projection of the Terran Viceroyalties’ influence, the earliest colonies were constructed with a quota system, with a certain amount of kingroups from each Viceroyalty to move into the colonies. This policy was subsequently dropped as the Human-Crystaline War entered its terrestrial warfare phase, and refugees fleeing the Inner Solar System needed housing. Similar to the Terran Viceroyalties, each of the Galilean moons’ orbits serves as an autonomous entity, their precedence ranked in order of settlement. Except for Io (which is mined for its resources), the moons themselves are mined for ice and water, and are home to aquatic life (mostly Terran stock, with a few indigenous lifeforms). Seafood is a staple of Jovian diet. Minor moons and the Trojans are dotted with small CorpEmp settlements and independent squatters. The Hildan asteroids were (begrudgingly) ceded to the United Markets. Jova Prota (Callisto’s orbit) is home to CorpEmp’s fifth ruling dynasty. Jova Terta (Europa) is the sulking ground of House Rotthey of Europa (a cadet branch of the first dynasty).

• Saturn: Saturn, after Worlds War One, was awarded to the World Congress of Freedom. Immediately, the Party Leadership drew up plans to develop the ringed planet as the “revolutionary core” of human space. Titan, due to its cold temperatures, was slated for a special sort of settlement. The Party Leadership sought to recreate the old cybersyn system of economic management, and the vast computer complexes required for such an undertaking would use Titan as a planetary cooling system. The others 145 moons of Saturn would be mined until they were hollowed out and made to spin so they provided Earth-like gravity. Initially, there wasn’t a large rush to populate the new territories. Non-Party citizens moved to Saturnian orbit, as Party membership was offered to those that would help bring the Party’s vision of Saturn to life. The population of Party members would dramatically increase in the 2800’s during the Human-Crystalline War, as the fighting on Mars, Earth, and Venus forced many civilians to flee into the Outer Solar System. The decisive space battle in Saturn’s orbit, that ended major combat operations of the war. Most of Saturn’s minor moons have been made habitable in the 3600’s, with Titan’s governing cybersyndicate having loftier ambitions as the major moons are continued to be hollowed out themselves. The ring of Saturn would be harvested, and replaced with an orbital ring, allowing for even more housing for a larger population.

• Uranus: The third of the Outer Solar Systemto be granted after Worlds War One, Uranus was given to the United Markets. Although the Asteroid Belt already served as their industrial core, the United Markets primarily mined the planetary system for volatiles and ice. Increase in Uranian gases has increased, as it is the easiest of the giants to extract Helium-3. For a time, Uranus was sparsely populated. The Megacorps preferred the thriving markets of the Inner Solar System, and the growing Hoppean Covenant was content to mine the Asteroid Belt to their heart’s content. Uranian colonization was undertaken by only small expeditions, UM and Reserve in affiliation, and primarily staffed by robotic mining equipment. It was only after the Human-Crystalline War, and the devastation of the Inner Solar System did the movers and shakers turn their eyes to the ice giant. Primarily, this was due to the Megacorps’ leadership thinking they could seek shelter in the Belt. The already established Hoppeans, not that receptive to the Megacorps they moved to the Belt to get away from arriving on their turf. So they made it simple: comply with how the Hoppeans run the Belt, or skedaddle. The Megacorps took the latter and began to build their headquarters in Uranian orbit. The planetary system was made a freeport for scientists looking for ways to bring Humanity’s collective population back to pre-war levels (that could afford the rent to orbit Uranus anyway). The “From Scratch Society”, advocates for artificial human genetics, have made Uranus their homeworld (or at least the moon Oberon).

• Neptune: While Jupiter was the primary location for CorpEmp refugees during the Human-Crystalline War, some groups thought it necessary to go further and established themselves on Triton. Gears started turning in the minds of CorpEmp leadership and allowed the settlement of Neptune to continue during the War. Once the War came to an end, the other polities of the Big Three couldn’t really contest the annexation, and as a concession Neptune’s Trojans were ceded to the UM, and Pluto to the WCOF. As Jupiter was CorpEmp’s mining powerhouse, Neptune served as a home for Crystalline War veterans (primarily the Knights of the Starry Temple) and some eccentrics. A few families of engineers, utilizing mass-streaming technology, sought to construct a planetary shell around Jupiter. As Neptune was smaller (and had a weaker magnetosphere) than Jupiter, these engineers then moved into Neptune’s orbit and use that planet as a proof-of-concept to show their plans for Jupiter are feasible.

• Pluto and The Kuiper Belt: Pluto and its four moons were given over to the WCOF after a diplomatic snafu over CorpEmp refugees squatting in Neptunian orbit. Like the Saturnian moons, the end state of each body in Pluto’s orbit is going to be hollowed out and spun up to better allow human habitation. Whatever minerals found inside will be repurposed to further along the construction. While the Inner System houses most of the Party’s membership, and Saturn the Party’s leadership, Pluto would house the more eccentric and problematic members of the Party. Inspired by the Covenanters in the rival UM, the self-styled “Plutonian Congress” seeks to further advance the revolution. The Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud are considered “free space”. Too damn big to effectively govern, and no real way of fighting over it all. So, it’s free space. The largest of the Trans-Plutonian objects serves as stations for motherships making their way to and from the Extrasolar Territories. The Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud are mostly home to lonely mining habitats, Reserves that really want to be left alone, the occasional Space Force patrol, and the mythical location of the “Catgirl prison complex” (believed to have been built during the Transhuman Wars). Many have tried to find this El Dorado of the stars, but none have succeeded.

[slic3d--br3ad]

Arcane Order Eli has been on my mind for a few years. Eli is one of my favorite characters and has been since I joined the fandom sometime after season 2 aired; he's baby, yk? Bellroc and Skrael are sexy so full of potential that got crushed with the movie's release, which fuels my love for them. It's only natural I'd want to pair them up, which is challenging when Eli hasn't interacted with any of them in canon.

When it comes to Eli actually joining them, I've been stuck on what makes this twist of fate liable. The Arcane Order hates humanity, why would they accept this rando kid as one of them? Eli has probably the most sunny disposition of the cast, how on this green Earth would he get along with Bellroc and Skrael?

Now I'm at the point where I can post a concept that I agree with, though it surely needs some tweaks.

Eli's Side

• As we've seen at the ending of RotT, Toby isn't nearly as assertive against Steve's bullying and this continues for quite a bit even after becoming the Trollhunter. As a consequence, Steve doubles down on his bullying because no one has the nerve to humble him. Eli and Steve never become close enough to become the Creepslayerz and their relationship rots after they're paired together by Jim, who, missing the finer details of their friendship, assumes that they will become close eventually.

• Because they aren't friends, Eli doesn't bond with the Royals; he instead sees them as his bully's girlfriend/the girlfriend's brother, prompting him to keep them at arm's length for his own safety. Krel becomes the one to bond with Steve the most, though he vetos being called a Creepslayer lol.

• After being brought into the Guardians, his friendships don't seem to extend beyond talking at school. He obviously doesn't vibe with Steve, but Eli doesn't have a chance with the tight-knit Toby Trio. Douxie, Zoe, and Claire are the resident Wizards, and Eli obviously doesn't have magic(yet). Krel, being a tech genius, provides all the technological knowledge the group needs which makes his computer skills lackluster in comparison.

• Key events that previously led to Eli's discovery of the supernatural are disrupted; Jim already knows about Bular and the changelings using the museum, so there's no need to stake out Eli's house when he shows everyone the picture of the dead goblin. Toby can't keep a secret as cool as being able to form a suit of armor with a magical amulet (despite Jim's best effort lol) and manages to humble Steve sometime after Bular's defeat. Toby becomes Steve's go-to for reporting supernatural incidents, like the wild goblin in his garage. With no one believing him, Eli ultimately gives up on his conspiracy theories, instead opting for small self-improvement, like indulging in his love for scriptwriting or jogging at night.

• The supernatural worlds are gradually revealed to the public by Toby and Co., which leaves a bitter taste in Eli's mouth when he receives no credit for making his discoveries before them.

• All in all, Eli is left feeling unappreciated and isolated; Toby still entrusted a Troll Market key to him but Eli doesn't utilize it much and keeps his distance from their missions.

Arcane Order's Side

• Merlin, the only one aware of Jim's status as a time traveler, utilizes Jim's memories of the alternate universe to convince Morgana that she's on the wrong side of history so she deflects from the Order and kills her mind-broken brother to put him out of his misery. Whether time-travel shenanigans take place or not is in the air right now.

• Douxie levels up and KO's Bellroc and Skrael, the Guardians win, Merlin lives, the city remains under their protection, and the Arcane Order scurry away to plot for another 900 years...supposedly.

• Bellroc feels an odd connection to the town(actually the Heartstone below the town that they managed to briefly connect with in the movie) and risks their discovery to relocate their damaged ship behind the mountain and fix it up.

• Bellroc has generally been preoccupied with chasing Camelot around and has little time to indulge in hobbies; Skrael has slightly more freedom to chillax. As they hadn't quite written out the kinks in a wonky fixer-upper spell, Bellroc is drained after repairing the castle and comically tucks in for a week-long nap.

• Skrael takes it upon himself to explore their surroundings and perhaps find Nari in the town. Speaking of Nari, her magic signature is dulled with a device that Krel creates for her safety. Not even Merlin can track her while she wears the collar device so he decides that there's no need for her to flee while Douxie is around to keep his eye on her in the safety of Arcadia. Nari feels owned grateful for Merlin's wisdom and generosity and, while she has to keep a low profile and Merlin advises her against using her magic, she enjoys her time with the kiddos.

• The Arcane Order is now without a Champion and an Enforcer, while Nari shows no interest in returning to them; things 're tough for them at the moment.

• In hindsight, a mind-broken, undead king and a witch who worked for them on emotional impulse weren't the most ideal candidates to employ.

• What they really need is someone who's ready and willing to learn from them and fight for their cause with their own free will, but fat chance of that happening anytime soon lol.

Meeting

Their story starts after the battle between the Arcane Order and the Guardians of Arcadia, which happened around the same time as it happened in Wizards. Obviously, Eli doesn't become the ambassador of Akiridian-5 and only has surface-level knowledge of the events.

Eli finds Skrael entirely by accident while running in the forest, still habitually accustomed to staying up late working on his conspiracy board; when Skrael tries to leave, he grabs onto them and is teleported to the castle. This wakes Bellroc, who's a little peeved at being disturbed two days into their nap and is like "!!????"

Eli is not aware that they are the ones who caused a bunch of damage to the town recently. Seeing the majesty of their newly repaired castle is the tipping point Eli needs to finally geek out over something supernatural after restraining himself for months.

He fawns over the castle, strokes their egos a bit (which saves his life, because it's a smidge harder to kill someone who's being nice to them), and asks them if someone like him has any chance at learning magic.

Bellroc and Skrael are baffled at this twist of fate and while they certainly debate killing him, they drop it after Eli innocently tells them that he's a part-timer for the Guardians(and if they are lost wizards needing advice from the Great and All-Powerful Merlin then he can work something out blahblahblah).

Offing the guy would risk Merlin's suspicion and him striking them in a weakened state would be a major blow, like kicking a wasp's nest.

Sleepy Bellroc isn't really in their right mind but nonetheless has an idea and decides the best way to get rid of this human without homicide is by accepting his request to learn magic.

No, really.

Sleepy Bellroc plays along with his delusion of magical expertise and, after giving him a few dozen sheets that make up a single beginner's spell, makes him an offer: if he learns that spell within the week, less than five days at this point, entirely by himself, Bellroc will accept him as their apprentice. If he fails, however, he has to consent to a memory wipe of the past week and get lost. Eli accepts.

Skrael, in shock at Bellroc's supposed generosity, looks over this "beginner's spell" they gave to the boy. He quickly picks up on Bellroc's trickery and wishes Eli the best of luck before taking him back to the forest.

What Eli doesn't know is that the papers (translated to English for his convenience) are actually the directions for performing a combat spell that even young master wizards can have trouble with; about as far from the basics as a wizard can get. In other words, Eli will fail no matter how hard he tries and get his memory wiped and probably chucked off a small cliff to pass off his memory loss as an accident. Skrael can't wait to bear witness to the greatest prank ever.

Unfortunately, they severely underestimate Eli's reawakened enthusiasm for the supernatural and intense desire to belong in a group. Fueled on nothing but coffee, dreams, and that happy feeling of having passion for something new, he manages to awaken the magic inside him. Accident, or perhaps fate?

With a rough estimate from Douxie (who takes his secrecy at face value and innocently wants him to succeed) that a new spell on a beginner's level takes a few hours to around 3 days to learn, Eli manages to pull it off within 4 days, just hours before his deadline. All in all, Bellroc is pissed at his success but doesn't want to pull back on a promise. Skrael just thinks it's hysterical that Bellroc's trick completely backfired on them and is engaged in the progress of his companion's bizarre new apprentice.

Bellroc's method of "teaching", while unorthodox and not at all providing their desired result, has some basis in reality: not specifying to someone that a task is supposed to be "hard" can increase the likelihood that they can complete that task with little struggle. (Get Anyone To Do Anything! David J. Lieberman!) This doesn't work on everyone but it worked on Eli lol.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Anthropocene Magazine:

I write about the climate and energy for a living and even I can’t quite wrap my head around how cheap low-carbon power technologies have gotten. The cost of onshore wind energy has dropped by 70% over just the last decade, and that of batteries and solar photovoltaic by a staggering 90%. Our World in Data points out that within a generation, solar power has gone from being one of the most expensive electricity sources to the cheapest in many countries—and it’s showing little signs of slowing down.

So where does this all end?

Back in the 1960s, the nuclear industry promised a future in which electricity was too cheap to meter. Decades later, the same vision seems to be on the horizon again, this time from solar. It seems, well, fantastic. Perhaps (almost) free renewable power leads to climate utopia. Then again, should we be careful what we wish for?

The Road To Decarbonization Is Paved With Cheap Green Power

1. More renewables = less carbon. The math isn’t complicated. The faster we transition to clean energy, the less carbon dioxide we’re adding to the atmosphere and the fewer effects of global warming we will suffer.While humanity is still emitting more greenhouse gases than ever, the carbon intensity of electricity production has been dropping for well over a decade.

2. Cheap, clean power also unlocks humanitarian goals. Modern civilization rests on a foundation of electricity. Beyond its obvious uses in heating, cooling, cooking, lighting and data, electricity can decarbonize transportation, construction, services, water purification, and food production. Increasing the supply and reducing the cost of green electricity doesn’t just help the climate, it improves equity and quality of life for the world’s poorest.

3. Scrubbing the skies will take a lot of juice. Once we get emissions under control, it’s time to tackle the mess we’ve made of the atmosphere. Today’s direct air capture (DAC) systems use about two megawatt hours of electricity for every ton of CO2 plucked from fresh air. Scale that up to the 7 to 9 million tons we need to be removing annually in the US by 2030, according to the World Resources Institute, and you’re looking at about 0.5% of the country’s current energy generation. Scale it again to the nearly 1,000 billion tons the IPCC wants to sequester during the 21st century, and we’ll need every kilowatt of solar power available—the cheaper the better.

Cheap Power Has Hidden Costs

1. Cheap technology doesn’t always mean cheap power. If solar cells are so damn cheap, why do electricity bills keep rising? One problem is that renewables are still just a fraction of the energy mix in most places, about 20% in the US and 30% globally. This recent report from think-tank Energy Innovation identifies volatility in natural gas costs and investments in uneconomic coal plants as big drivers for prices at the meter. Renewables will have to dominate the energy mix before retail prices can fall. 

2. The cheaper the power, the more we’ll waste. Two cases in point: cryptocurrency mining and AI chat bots. Unless we make tough social and political decisions to fairly price carbon and promote climate action, the market will find its own uses for all the cheap green power we can generate. And they may not advance our climate goals one inch.

3. Centuries of petro-history to overcome. Cheap power alone can only get us so far. Even with EVs challenging gas cars, and heat pumps now outselling gas furnaces in the US, there is a monumental legacy of fossil fuel systems to dismantle. Getting 1.5 billion gas cars off the world’s roads will take generations, and such changes can have  enormous social costs. To help smooth the transition, the Center for American Progress suggests replacing annual revenue-sharing payments from coal, oil, and natural gas production with stable, permanent distributions for mining and oil communities, funded by federal oil and gas revenue payments.

[dracolupus628]

Big News! My Store is Now Live!

Hello, All! I have been trying to set up my own little store, where I can sell my handmade chainmaille crafts. After several months of preperation, toil, and fighting technology, the store is fully operational! It can be found at https://lupuscrafting.com.

Below, you can find a collection of the products you can find on the site. Everything is handmade by me, and I create each object custom for each order.

  Two examples of the chainmaille necktie, a fun way to incorporate a little fun into your outfit

A scale mail bag- The only one on the market that is proper scale mail, using rings to secure each scale! Useful for many purposes, such as dice bag, coin purse, or a bag for any small trinkets you can find. The bag is lined with fabric to protect whatever you put in it from abrasion.

Two dragons, of different sizes- A wonderful little friend to keep you company, debug code, or decorate your desk! Like everything here, the colours are completely customizable. The green one is 25 in (60cm) long, while the black and blue one is 10 in (25 cm) long, perfect to fit in your pocket!

One of the many models of earrings I have. A wonderful gift for mother’s day, or to make your friend feel extra cool!

These are just a small collection of the products available at the link above. On top of the listed products on the website, I do custom orders! Just contact me at lupuscrafting@gmail.com, describe what you would like to be made, and we will work together to make your vision come to life!

[devoted1989]

the elusive hundred percent vegan

WHAT IS VEGANISM?

The term vegan was coined in 1944, by the Vegan Society. The following definition applies

[…] a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms, it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

(Updated 1979, The Vegan Society)

It is impossible to live in the world and avoid everything that uses animals in one way or another.

But we can take time to research manufacturers and producers and be able to make an educated decision on the products we buy and use.

Thanks to modern technology, we have greater access to retailers all over the country – even the world - and have wider choices.

As more and more people are made aware of the atrocities involved in everyday items, more people are looking for these.

If they don’t find them they will begin asking why not. Manufacturers and developers will see a market that has been created and will be motivated to make sweeping changes.

Living in the society we do, with advances that have had a huge impact on our daily lives, we should take the position that we will, whenever possible, only consume cruelty free alternatives.

I don’t believe that the issue here is one of being a perfect vegan.

Rather, it is a question of being the best vegan we can. And by making sure that every choice we make is one that is in the best possible interest of animals.

If we love animals, our priority should be to reduce their suffering as much as possible and to do our best to make a difference to their lives.

As long as we live in a world that is frighteningly dependent on animal products, we cannot be completely vegan. But we can put in a 100% effort to living as cruelty – free as possible.

Animal activist and lecturer Gary Yourofsky:

 “I’ll just add briefly that our ability to achieve 100 percent vegan status really depends on our definition of vegan.  If being vegan means striving to commit the least amount of harm possible, then one can be fully vegan. Unfortunately, as long as we are living, we will inadvertently cause harm to other living beings.  But we can consistently strive to reduce this harm to the best of our abilities.”

Here are just some examples of non – essential (ie. not necessary to sustain life) products that may contain animal products or may make use of animal products in their production:

Antifreeze

Asphalt

Batteries

Biodegradable detergents

Books

Bricks

Cars (or any form of transport) 

Cell phones

Cement

Chemicals

Computers

Explosives

Fireworks

Glue

Home insulation

Industrial oils and lubricants

Insulation material used to cool and heat houses

LCD screens

Many electronics

Musical instruments

Organic foods (manure used as fertilizer)

Paper

Pesticides

Plaster

Rubber

Sports equipment

Steel

Tools that have any moving parts

Tyres

Varnish

Wood

X-ray film

HOW TO IDENTIFY PRODUCTS THAT AREN’T CRUELTY FREE AND ALTERNATIVES (WHERE AVAILABLE):

ANIMAL INGREDIENTS LIST - WITH ALTERNATIVES WHERE AVAILABLE:

ANIMAL INGREDIENTS LIST

BEEF “BY PRODUCTS”

ETHICAL SHOPPING

With thanks to World Preservation Foundation, Vegan Society, Vegan Outreach, Natural Society, Treehugger, One Green Planet and Mother Nature Network.

[softbean]

color me green

FRIDA/FCG 1090 words Gen, rated G Some robots are just built better.

I met another automaton today. Like me!

Thinks, feels, eats coins…

They’re pretty cool.

The first I’ve ever met, maybe the only one I’ll ever meet.

So…suave, polite, kind.

Capable, efficient, protective.

Empathetic, communicative, considerate…

Tall…legs…gun…

I glance up askance. FRIDA is chatting with Fearne and making her laugh so hard flowers fall out of her hair.

I feel small next to them.

I roll my saw blade idly while we camp, eyes zoning out at a spot on the ground.

I don’t know if I trust this person.

I mean…someone better than me? Plenty.

Someone better than me, but in every way?

Seems too perfect.

Suspicious. I don’t trust them.

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.

  //

  If I think about it, it makes sense that of all the technology that existed from those bygone times, I can’t be the one and only. There was never a guarantee that I am the latest, most advanced build.

Oh, the many engineers Aeor must have had.

Competing designs on the market.

Good-willed rivalry between innovative minds…

Some robots were made with love and care, more than others made with nefarious intents in mind, and it shows in the stellar craftsmanship, in the attention put into detail, in the way some automatons were programmed to be the best version of themselves.

Once upon a time, before we had to become of our own, someone must have adored FRIDA when they brought them to life.

With the Changebringer so far from me lately, I’ve been wondering what that feels like.

Some robots are made with love, from love.

Some robots are just built better.

  //

  Maybe I should get a pair of legs, too. Maybe that’s what I need.

And a retractable hand.

And some nice, fitted clothes, maybe…

If I get legs, I want them to be long.

Or would that mess up my proportions?

Why am I so small? Am I small so as to seem disarming?

Who says small guys can’t pack a punch?

I can defend my friends, too.

I don’t do it perfectly, but I pull through when it matters.

You know what, maybe I’ll keep this wheel.

It’s not my favorite, but it’s…it’s me.

  //

  I’m sitting across FRIDA when they get up and walk right at me.

“FCG, you are…quite amazing.” They sit.

If I had an eyebrow, I’d raise it.

“Why do you—what’s this about?”

“Nothing, I’ve just been watching you. Your friends seem excited for you that the two of us met. Isn’t it kind of miraculous?”

I hug my arms.

“You’re more amazing yourself,” I mumble.

“Not true!” FRIDA’s eyes twinkle.

I look away, not sure what to say.

It takes FRIDA but a moment to read me.

Darn it. Why do they have to be so perceptive?

“You’re carrying all your virtues on your back, you just don’t see them.”

Stupidly, slowly, I turn around to look, only to find my backpack with my primitive gadgets.

FRIDA laughs.

“That was a figure of speech.”

“I know that, I just—” was dumb, but “I know that much.”

FRIDA is watching me intently. Yikes!

“You seem on edge. I saw you sitting there, just…reflexively spinning your blade last night. Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes—I mean, no, but yes. I’m alright.”

I don’t need your concern—

“Thank you for asking.”

I don’t need your care—

“You can talk to me, at any time, alright?”

I don’t want to talk to you, because you—

“You’re so good at being a person.”

  //

  Oops. I misspoke. Maybe I am short circuiting. “Leaking”, so to speak.

FRIDA looks confused. “I’m just a person…like anyone. You’re as much of a person—as real as me, as anyone.”

“Well. Thanks, I guess…I don’t feel like I’m doing human or robot very well.”

“Fresh Cut Grass…there’s no right way to be. You just are.”

Even saying things like that—

“You always know just the coolest, most perfect thing to say,” I shake my head in defeat.

“That’s not true...I mess up plenty.”

Modesty, even now…

I wish I were just a little bit more like you.

What is this feeling? FRIDA? Dancer? D? Who can tell me?

This tightness in my chest, this sadness, loneliness, unworthiness…

I didn’t even know I had the words. Even then, I don’t know what anything is. I’m trying to jigsaw things in the dark.

“—there’s no right way to be,” they go on.

“You’re alive, FCG.” FRIDA’s emerald eyes glimmer, and I feel sparks of electricity down my mess of wires.

“Isn’t aliveness itself the greatest gift?”

I shake my head. This heaviness in my chest, sting in my eyes…feels like I’m on the precipice of something, and I don’t know how to cross the threshold. I want to emote in a way my programming isn’t built for.

“Someone gifted this life to me. I feel like I have to make it a worthwhile one for them.”

FRIDA looks down at me with empathy, some modicum of understanding. “I understand. I can understand where you’re coming from.”

I look surprised. I thought they would talk about stuff like volition and purpose again.

“I won’t try to change your mind, but I do hope one day you close your eyes and take the trust fall into the arms of what you’re afraid of.

“When you do, you’ll see so much meaning. So much freedom.”

Clunk.

I feel something shift in me at those words, just the barest nudge against a gear that has not budged for millennia. The littlest difference some words can make, but I fear the power an utterance has in setting things in motion.

I’m glad they accepted me even if I feel differently.

Thank you for letting me take my time.

There are things I understand, but have yet to embody.

  //

  Here’s the thing.

I am high key jealous of FRIDA, but damn it feels really great to have someone so cool compliment me.

And…I respect them for who they are. Who they’ve become. Who they choose to be.

Rude awakening, but I may still be in the infancy stage of becoming a person.

I may be underdeveloped, in comparison to some.

But every day, unwaveringly, I carry my tools of defence on my back, I carry my promises, my virtues, and sometimes my friends themselves.

Some robots are built…better.

That much doesn’t change.

But that doesn’t stop me from taking my time getting there.

  //

  end

You can also find this fic on AO3.

[thelioncourts]

"Facio ut Facias" Interview with the Vampire (2022) Armand/Louis de Pointe du Lac Rating: E; Chapters: 1 of 2; Tags: Human AU, Power Imbalance, Power Dynamics, Boss/Employee

"I do that you may do"

When he was little and the summer paid its annual visit, Louis and his siblings would fill up a plastic kiddie pool with the hose attached to the back of the house. The pool was their stage and the sun their blaring stage lights. Sometimes they would engage in sea battles, their toy boats becoming imposing pirate ships, their green army men becoming pirates, and every splash, every joyful scream, every dramatized “Oh no!” as a ship went down was the performance behind it all. Sometimes Grace, his sister, would beg and guilt them into playing mermaids, the saddest “Please, Louis!” and “Paul, for me?” quickly becoming an enthusiastic “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” before the intricate story of the captured mermaid, her best fish friend, and the king of the oceans resulted in lots of feet-flapping and water sloshing over the pool’s rim. And, sometimes, if Paul wanted to stay inside and Grace was at a friend’s house, Louis would go out to the pool by himself, relishing in the cooling effect of the water and sometimes putting his face under just to see how long he could hold his breath.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…

When he would resurface, a gasp for air loud in his water-clogged ears, he’d count again, this time to steady his heart.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…

Nowadays he needed to steady his heart for many other reasons, usually ones related to his too-high blood pressure for any twenty-six-year-old. And to do so, he didn’t just count anymore. No, now he counted, the numbers slow and precise as they crossed his mind, but they were paired with the thrumming of his fingers on whatever was the nearest surface. His pointer finger always was the strongest sound, falling in the pause between two numbers, and when he felt centered again, he’d drum out a happy beat. Just for him.

As of right now though, he’d counted to fifty three separate times and had even taken breaks between each attempt at finding his peace to fix the collar of his shirt, to adjust his posture, to consciously put a stop to his bouncing leg, and yet he couldn’t get his breathing quite right, couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he was drowning in apprehension, couldn’t —

A paper coffee cup, all white except for the blue logo of the Warehouse 88 coffeeshop down the road etched on the front, slammed down on his desk. The few drops of still-warm coffee that escaped from the tiny drinking hole in the lid landed on Louis’ hand and startled him out of his fourth attempt at counting, his eyes opening, a sound of protest leaving his mouth.

“I lost my spot,” Louis said without explanation, wiping his other hand across the coffee splattered one before glaring up at Bricks.

He might as well have been glaring at a wall for all the impact his glare had on Bricks who simply leaned against the corner of his desk, her hip resting against the drawer he kept his notebooks and personal calendar within.

“And I cannot tell you how little I care about your ‘spot,’” Bricks said. Still none-too-gently, she pushed the cup of coffee closer to Louis, her manicured nails only a shade lighter than the Warehouse 88 logo.

Bricks was one of the digital marketing managers here at Romanus Nisus Technologies and she was damn near the best. Nothing got by her. Every detail was seen, every possibility was thought of, and every “I” and “T” got dotted and crossed as long as she was working.

She had been on the hiring team that interviewed and brought Louis on, and beyond the Big Boss, as she — affectionately, Louis was pretty certain — called him, her questions were the most intimidating given how ill-prepared he felt for them, how much thinking they required him to do on the spot. She had also been one of his biggest advocates once he was hired, not letting anyone steer him in the wrong direction or take advantage of his newness.

And here she still was, checking in on him on what would be the make-or-break day of his career here.

Louis eyed the cup warily. “I can’t drink that, Bricks. I’m already too nervous and the caffeine will just give me more jitters.”

“No, the caffeine will keep you from getting a caffeine-headache. If you do get a caffeine-headache, you’ll be useless and will probably end up crying or yelling. It’s pretty fifty-fifty on which it’ll be.”

“That’s not —” Louis started to protest, but any and all protests died quickly, shriveling up into nothingness in his throat. They bloomed out into a sigh instead, a heavy one that raised Louis’ shoulders damn near to his ears before letting them fall heavily. Atlas tabling the world.

It was true, afterall.

Louis was notorious for his coffee, needing it like air to get through the day. It wouldn’t be smart to not have it today, to risk his addiction getting the best of him.

“What are you so worried about?”

Bricks’ voice was quieter, unobtrusive in Louis’ ever-running psyche, and when Louis looked at her again, really looked at her, he could see all that this was: her worry about him.

It meant more to him than even the coffee.

So he truthfully answered her. “Everything.”

She rolled her eyes. “Really? One little review has you contemplating the meaning of everything?” She pushed the coffee even closer to him.

“It’s not just one little review,” Louis said, and he leaned back in his chair, legs extending out in front of him uselessly. “It’s the end of my probationary period. If they don’t like me, they can let me go.”

Bricks rolled her eyes even harder. “They’re not going to do that.”

“How do you know?” Louis asked, and there was an edge to his voice, like he might push, like he might act out and say, “You’ve been here since it was a startup, you didn’t have to do all this.” But he didn’t.

“Because everyone likes you,” Bricks said. She said so without room for argument, said so with conviction, and she leaned down into his space, crowding him against his own chair as she continued with, “There’s not a person here who doesn’t like you. Well, maybe except that crazy-ass lady —”

“The one who thought that I was trying to steal her man because he wouldn’t quit touching me at the party we had a couple of weeks ago?”

“Yeah, that crazy-ass lady is the only person here who doesn’t like you. And she don’t count. So that leaves us with an office of fifty-three other people who do like you.” Before Louis could say anything, Bricks continued. “And that leaves us with you being on nearly the same level of crazy as that lady with her delusions that you want her balding man. Do you really want to be associated with her in any capacity?”

“No.”

“That’s what I thought. Now drink your coffee, do your job like normal, and when you get called back to see the Big Boss, keep your cool, keep your head high, and go get that rave review you’re going to get.”

She turned and started walking back to her office before Louis could even reach for the coffee and he sighed again, still eyeing the cup a bit warily, before he picked it up and brought it to his mouth.

I’m going to buy her the biggest gift basket ever, Louis thought as he repressed an almost-moan from escaping him at the first taste of his favorite Warehouse 88 latte, the maca root latte. It’ll have at least three different bottles of wine. And a month’s worth of face masks. And a gift card to that massage therapy place. And a DoorDash gift card too.

He took another sip, feeling the heat of the drink travel all the way down his throat before settling comfortably in his stomach, warming him from the inside out. After a few more worshipful drinks, he turned to his stagnant computer monitor, shook out his shoulders a little, and settled in.

Bricks was right — she was always right — he just needed to work. There was nothing else he could do about the review anyhow. Not now.

Louis was a conversational design consultant. Artificial intelligence was, arguably, the fastest growing technological advancement of the 2020s, and Romanus Nisus Technologies was a leader in its implementation and ever-growing performance. It was a lot of writing and a lot of research, things Louis was an expert in, and he was good at it. He, and the rest of the design team, would put together dialogue, writing it and responding to it, in order to simplify, eliminate, automate, and encourage customer problems and connection.

Right now they were working with an up-and-coming fantasy sports league app designer. Louis was assigned to work on the exceedingly complicated search function, something that sounded simplistic but got really finicky when artificial intelligence was put in. It was especially finicky for something so expansive given that this particular fantasy sports league app was international and all-inclusive with its sports options.

Cracking the knuckles of his fingers and taking one more long drink of his latte, Louis got to work.

By the time lunch rolled around, Louis was in the zone. He was hardly thinking at all about his review, his brain now too focused on getting all he could done before the Zoom meeting he had to be on with their Dubai office later. His fingers were flying across the keyboard, his eyes darting between his split computer monitor screen, his mind firing away with a hundred different thoughts at once, and it was so much going on that he, once again, was startled by Bricks’ approach. Instead of a coffee, it was her hand covering the mouse of his computer, shaking it violently across his screen and dragging one of the charts he’d created out of alignment with the rest of the file he was working on.

“You’re the worst,” Louis said, snatching the mouse away from Bricks, unable to be serious at all about it when she was laughing infectiously.

“And you’re embarrassing. Eyes nearly bugged out of your skull.” Even though she was the only one actively harassing him, there were a few others standing behind her, smiling familiarly at the banter he and Bricks always fell into, and Bricks nodded her head back at them. “We’re going to lunch. Probably down to the bistro on Greenbriar, but we’ll go to that diner on Jillane if the bistro’s too busy. You want to join?”

Her tone was casual, but her eyes were demanding, telling him without telling him to get his ass up, put on his coat, and walk with them to lunch. And he was hungry. As soon as he had snatched the mouse back, his stomach had growled, rumbling deep and equally as demanding as Bricks’ stare.

But…

“I can’t,” Louis said. He leaned all the way back in his chair, fingers fiddling with the hem of his shirt to avoid looking back up. “I’ve got a lot done on this file, but I need to clean it up, get it perfect, because I have that meeting with Dubai soon. I’m just going to stay.”

He didn’t need to be looking at Bricks to know that she was upset with him.

“Can we get you anything?” Anne, one of the SEO managers, asked.

Louis smiled at her and reached into the pocket of his coat hanging on his chair, pulling out his wallet and rifling through it for a couple bills. He looked up at Anne, then at Bricks pleadingly, handing forward the money.

“Another latte? To get me through the day?”

Anne agreed cheerfully, not at all reading the clench of Bricks’ jaw, and Louis kept his pleading gaze, trying to soothe away her worried irritation. Bricks snatched the money out of his hand.

“I’m keeping the change,” she said as she turned on her heel.

Louis wasn’t going to argue with her one bit about that.

It took a few moments to get back to work properly, and those few moments of not working were enough to get him dwelling on his inevitable review meeting today.

He tried to put his mind back to where it was, tried to remember exactly what he was going to say next, and so he reread what he’d typed so far, getting as far as halfway down the page, to where he said, “...Cialdini’s authority principle is an ethos appeal, relying on…” before he got distracted by Rashid walking hurriedly in front of him. He was talking into his earpiece, the words mumbled and not meant for the ears of others. Louis watched him until he disappeared down the hallway.

Rashid was the Big Boss’ personal assistant. He was a quiet man, always dressed in subdued colors, always fiddling with his iPad, always doing whatever it was the Big Boss needed him to do. When the Big Boss traveled, Rashid traveled. When the Big Boss was staying late, Rashid was staying late. When the Big Boss held an all-staff meeting, Rashid stood right beside him.

Louis wondered —

No. That wasn’t appropriate.

And yet he couldn’t help but wonder.

He wondered so long that he got nothing else accomplished on his file before his computer calendar dinged at him, telling him it was time to log in for his meeting with the Dubai office.

The meeting started as all Zoom meetings did, awkwardly and full of stilted small talk. There were a couple of other people from here at the New York office, and most of the Dubai attendees were people Louis had become very familiar with. He didn’t know why they had to play this formality game every time.

About halfway through the meeting, a meeting in which Louis had uttered four words and been steamrolled over by the Dubai team leader every other time he’d tried to speak, Bricks and the others returned from lunch and she snuck around his desk to set his latte on it. He mouthed a quick ‘Thank you’ to her and cautiously took a drink of it, watching his own picture in the Zoom camera to make sure he looked normal and like he was still playing attention despite his now lazer-focus on his coffee.

The meeting ended on the same note it had run on, Louis staying mostly quiet while the more experienced people talked, and everyone signed off just as awkwardly as they had signed on. Louis had long drained his coffee dry during the remainder of the meeting and was taking off his headphones to thank Bricks properly for it when Rashid came back down the hallway on silent feet.

“Louis de Pointe du Lac?” he said succinctly, looking down at his iPad, his voice clipping sharply on the final ‘c.’

Louis felt like a deer caught in the headlights, his hands resting on the arms of his chair in preparation of pushing himself up and out of it, and, just as a deer, his heart immediately picked up its pace, wanting him to run but leaving him frozen instead.

“Mr. de Romanus will see you now.”

If Rashid noticed his expression, his insurmountable fear, he didn’t pay it any mind. He stood passively at the hallway’s entrance, iPad held in line with his diaphragm, shoulders relaxed, and it was inevitable that Louis was going to go with him.

Louis finished the act of standing, fingers dancing across the surface of his desk as he did so, and found himself too aware of how stiff his legs felt, how almost shaky they were as he took his first step forward. Rashid’s eyes, though non-judgemental, were watching his every move.

Louis smoothed down his shirt.

When he reached Rashid, the toes of their shoes only a couple of feet apart, Rashid tapped on the iPad with precision two, three, four times, then said, “Come with me,” and began the journey back down the hallway.

The hallway was a dark gray, in-line with the rest of the office and its grayscale coloring, everything all simple shades of blacks and whites. To some, it may seem dull or monotonous, but Louis knew there was a reason behind it all; it made the art on the walls pop.

The Big Boss was an art aficionado. Louis wasn’t sure if it was a hobby or if he did it professionally in any capacity — though he would put money on Rashid knowing — but he did know that he had an eye for it. EVery piece was specially chosen, was specially placed, and Louis had heard him once on the phone talking to an art dealer, had heard the knowledge and passion in that conversation, and it had plagued him for weeks.

As they walked down the hallway, Louis a step behind Rashid the entire time, the art got rarer, stood out more, caught Louis’ eye.

It was grounding, in some way.

Of course, whatever grounding it provided vanished entirely when they reached the end of the hallway, reached the offices.

There were two offices down here. The one office was Rashid’s. The door to it was open and Louis could see that, like his clothes, the office was subdued. Almost unused. The other office, with its closed door, had a silver plaque on the outside of it, the name ‘A. de Romanus’ etched sharply into its surface.

Louis stared at the plaque, eyes unblinking, and he only stopped when Rashid trailed off to say, “Whenever you’re ready.”

He wanted to reply, wanted to say, “I’m never going to be ready,” but Rashid was already going to (returning to?) his office, the door creaking shut behind him.

It had been inevitable that Louis was going to come down this hallway with Rashid and it was inevitable now that he was going to enter this office.

With a soft hand, he knocked on the door — and he immediately cringed at how weak the knock sounded, wishing it had been stronger, been more professional.

No matter the strength of the knock though, it brought on what Louis knew was going to be the response.

“Come in.”

The voice was muffled through the solid-core door. Louis swallowed down a lungful of air, breathed it out, then reached for the doorknob.

This door swung open with no creaks and revealed a much-lived-in office, an antithesis to its neighbor’s.

There was art everywhere. Paintings, small sculptures, books, and other miscellaneous collected things covered nearly every available surface of the walls and shelves and cabinets. Most of the paintings were from the Renaissance era, that much Louis recognized, and yet he couldn’t pay them any mind, not when the man in the office was sitting there.

The Big Boss.

Armand de Romanus.

CEO and founder of Romanus Nisus Technologies, Armand de Romanus was not what people expected.

He hadn’t been what Louis had expected, that’s for sure.

When Louis had first gotten his foot in the door for an interview here, he’d interviewed with a team chosen specifically for the initial hiring process. Mr. de Romanus hadn’t been part of that, hadn’t bothered to meet Louis until Louis had made it past the first three rounds of interviews, until the pool of possible hires had narrowed down to five remaining candidates.

Louis hadn’t given much thought to what the CEO of the company would be like. He hadn’t assumed he would meet him at all, really. But he supposed that if someone were to have asked him what he thought Mr. de Romanus was like, Louis would have answered ‘Old and white?’ because weren’t most CEOs that?

When Mr. de Romanus had walked into Louis’ fourth-round interview, Louis had been taken aback by everything he was.

Young. Gorgeous. A soft-spoken kind of assertiveness. Not at all the old, white man Louis was expecting.

His appearance was blinding, beautiful and sharp, all dark intensity and edges. He reminded Louis so much of the art pieces he decorated the office space with; meant to be looked at, not to be known.

Do not touch.

As for his age, Louis had left that fourth-round interview and, sitting at the bus stop, Googled his possible boss, the name Armand de Romanus bringing up a hundred articles, each one talking about the brilliance of the young 34-year-old CEO of the technological startup, the young 34-year-old CEO that was — as far as anyone knew — New York’s hottest and richest bachelor with no apparent intention on changing status anytime soon.

That fourth-round interview had also left Louis certain that he wasn’t going to get the job. Mr. de Romanus had walked in that room and all intelligent thought had left Louis in a rush. He was so sure he fumbled over all of his answers that interview, wavering under the stare from those all-consuming brown eyes, stuttering and stopping as he saw those long fingers pull a sleek, leatherbound notebook closer, as he saw those same fingers soothe down the edge of his strong jaw.

And his voice…

Louis had been so surprised to get the call from Rashid the day after that fourth-round interview asking him to come in for a fifth and final interview. He’d felt no more put together with Mr. de Romanus in the room again, but somehow things had fallen in his favor.

Since his first day here, the start of his probationary period per the hiring contract, Louis had met with Mr. de Romanus as much as most others. He saw him once every week during their weekly all-staff meetings, saw him every other week in the biweekly meetings with him and the rest of the AI-specific team, and, a handful of times, had even talked to him one-on-one when Louis had a question that couldn’t be answered by any of his managers — AI was still, in this context, very new — or when Louis had a particularly enlightened idea that had even Armand de Romanus interested.

The most vivid personal interaction they’d ever had was so insignificant in the day-to-day workings of the office, had to have been so miniscule in anyone else’s eyes, that Louis got embarrassed at just how flustered the memory made him.

It had only been a month ago.

There had been a complication with a prototype software the Dubai office had headlined and they’d been in hours and hours worth of meetings with them trying to work out a solution. Mr. de Romanus was notoriously cool and collected, utterly unfazed by seemingly anything, so when Louis saw even him pinching the bridge of his nose after days of meetings, he’d found himself staying later and later, waving goodbye to colleagues that left at five, making good friends with the late janitorial staff, working and working and working.

It had paid off. Between some movement made by Damek in Dubai and a particular statement Mr. de Romanus had said about simplicity, Louis had discovered what exactly their problem had been and, more importantly, how to solve it. He’d pulled Bricks aside immediately that next morning, explaining to her what he had found and asking how to best go about proposing it to whoever needed to hear it, and by ten that morning he was standing in front of everyone in the office, Mr. de Romanus sitting front and center.

Mr. de Romanus had been quiet during Louis’ entire presentation, a hand curled up in front of his mouth, and when Louis had been done talking, he had nudged Rashid, muttering something Louis couldn’t hear, then he had stood up, thanked Louis for his work in an offhand way, and left. And Louis had thought that had been it; and he was okay with that. But a few hours later, Louis had been making himself a coffee in the lounge and had turned to find Mr. de Romanus — Armand. Mr. de Romanus had insisted Louis call him Armand that day. — standing there at the threshold. Louis had almost jumped at the unexpected sight of him, had brought a hand to his chest like a goddamn damsel in a film, and Mr. de Romanus — Armand — had smiled a small, quiet smile, had apologized for startling him.

“I wanted to thank you,” he had continued after he apologized, his voice low, the tone of it warmer than the coffee in Louis’ hands. “Your hard work has not gone unnoticed. Not at all.”

“I was just trying to do my job,” Louis had said. He felt awkward, stuck, standing between the countertop and the exit, Armand the only thing in his way. Armand had kept that small, quiet smile, had kept it as he walked forward.

Every step he had taken made Louis hyper-aware of his growing proximity and when he was only inches away, they had locked eyes, had kept them locked as Armand’s shoulder brushed his.

But he hadn’t been walking forward to say anything else, hadn’t been walking forward to…Louis couldn’t finish that thought, its unrealisticness, its fantasy. No, he had only been walking forward to make himself a cup of coffee too, those hands of his busying themselves with the high-end espresso machine he generously provided for the employees.

Louis had been so embarrassed that he had thought Armand was going to say anything else, do anything else, that he immediately shuffled to the exit, trying to hurry out of there before the flush to his face became obvious, that he almost missed when Armand replied, “Yes. You’re very good at your job,” with something indefinable in his voice.

Louis had startled again at that, feet hesitating in his walk, and he had tried to, with dignity, say a quick, “Thank you, sir,” before actually leaving to avoid further embarrassment.

He had smiled the whole walk back to his desk though.

And he had thought about that moment so much since, had replayed the warmth where Armand’s shoulder had touched his, had replayed that indefinable tone over and over and over again.

“Louis.”

Mr. de Romanus saying his name brought him out of his reminiscing and made Louis suddenly aware that he was just standing in the doorway, his hands hanging at his sides like an idiot.

God, Louis thought as he focused control on his walk to the chairs in front of the big desk, Can’t I just be normal?

Mr. de Romanus — Armand, Louis kept repeating, trying to make it familiar before he was corrected again — wasn’t facing him, was sitting in his tall-backed chair and facing his main computer monitor, his fingers typing rhythmically on the keyboard. Louis could see a wave of his black curls in the bit of him that could be seen around the chair’s mass.

Armand made no other movement, said nothing else, after Louis sat. He continued to type instead, silent and busy, and Louis found every passing second added new heights of anxiety to the whole situation.

Louis was lining up the seam of his sleeve with the curve of his wrist, giving him something to do, giving his worried fingers pause, and he almost missed the definitive sound of Armand clicking away from whatever was on his screen, almost missed the slight push of Armand’s chair just far enough back for him to turn.

“I apologize. One of the investors doesn’t know how to read his own contract.”

Louis had seen Armand walk through the office once this morning, seen him and Rashid walking shoulder-to-shoulder as they went to a meeting with the SEO team, and yet seeing him up close was something entirely different.

There was no one like Armand de Romanus.

Dark curls of black hair. Straight, strong brows over beautiful, hooded brown eyes. A nose belonging to the statues in old museums. A sharp smile hidden behind his lips. Brown skin shown a tantalizing amount with the slight openness of his shirt that stretched over broad shoulders.

Louis breathed out a heavy, consuming breath.

“How are you today, Louis?”

Grateful you can’t read my mind, Louis thought ruefully.

But…

It was a simple question and it had a simple, expected answer. Yet Louis found himself, however briefly, distracted by the shadow shifting across Armand’s collarbone, by the skin of his forearm that was bared as he reached across his desk into the organizer there, plucking out a file. The initials ‘LDPDL’ were printed on its tab.

“I’m fine,” Louis answered, his hands resting nervously on his lap. “How are you, Mr. de Romanus?”

“Haven’t I told you to call me Armand?” Armand smiled that small, quiet smile Louis had come to associate with him, but his tone was firm. Louis adjusted his shoulders.

“Yes, sir. I’m not very good with first names.” The ‘with authority’ was left unsaid.

Armand’s small, quiet smile deepened. “That southern raising is hard to shake, I'd presume.” Louis tilted his head slightly, felt his eyes widen just so, but Armand was settling into his own chair, broad shoulders perfectly in-line with the width of it. Then he flipped open the file he had grabbed, eyes falling on its first page. “Graduated from Tulane University in 2018. Full-ride covered by the Dean’s Honor Scholarship. Summa cum laude at graduation.” His eyes went back up to Louis, just for a moment, then fell to the file once again. “You graduated early. You must have worked incredibly hard.”

He paused and there was an opportunity for Louis to speak, but he didn’t know what to say. He’d never been too great at taking compliments and while these were mostly all facts, there was praise implied behind the words, praise that made Louis warm all the way down to his toes. It was best he stayed silent and that didn’t seem to bother Armand at all anyhow. He kept perusing the file at his leisure.

“You worked for your father while in high school and also while completing your undergraduate degree. Can you tell me about that?”

“Sure,” Louis said, leaning forward in his seat a little. “My daddy started his business real young so a lot was established already. He taught me the basics, scheduling clients, organizing things and whatnot, but by college I was helping to bring him into the twenty-first century by making everything electronic. I tweaked a couple of established software programs to better fit his business. That was it really.”

Armand didn’t look at Louis while he talked, only kept purposefully rifling through the papers, humming thoughtfully.

“Excelled in your graduate school,” Armand said, though this sounded more to himself than to Louis. “As you’re aware, part of this evaluation process relies on me receiving feedback from trusted employees here.”

Louis was aware. It had been something the HR head had gone over while Louis signed his contracts and was informed about the ninety-day probationary period. The first ninety-days would be spent being trained and given more and more individual responsibility so, by the end, the new hire was working the job as they would be should they be hired permanently. In order to assure that the new hire was handling the pressures of the job, the boss — Armand — would collect reviews from at least five different managers in positions that worked hand-in-hand with the new hire’s position. Those reviews would be a huge component of the new hire’s chances of being taken on.

“Yes, sir.”

“And, without reading them all to you word for word, I can tell you,” Armand kept rifling through the papers, “that each one is full of nothing but glowing praise.”

Heat from the rush of relief, from the rush of being praised, shot out all down Louis’ extremities, tingling in the tips of his fingers, dancing down each knob of his spine, settling at his feet.

Armand lingered on a specific page in the file. “‘Louis is dedicated to perfection. He works tirelessly in order to assure that his work is the best when it is turned in, making certain it needs no fixings. If everyone worked like him, all of our problems would be almost nonexistent.’” Another page. “‘Louis is intelligent and creative. He finds solutions that many of us miss because his mind interprets things as an artist. It’s different than our predominantly STEM-related approach to things and it’s wonderful to work alongside him and see it play out in real time.’” Another page. “‘Louis is efficient. He is constantly working, never letting something sit still on his desk, in his emails, for any extended period of time before it is addressed. He completes assignments in record time and with minimal, if any, mistakes.’”

Armand folded the file over, humming again. “Even our mail deliverer has nothing but good things to say about you. He made a point to tell me when I was signing for a certified letter that you go out of your way to show him kindness. That also does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.”

For the first time since Louis had sat down, Armand looked at him. Really looked at him. He was quiet, unnervingly so, for too long a time in Louis’ mind, those intense eyes seemingly searching for something. For what, Louis didn’t know. But he did know that he wanted nothing more than for Armand to look away. He also knew that he wanted nothing more than for Armand to never look anywhere else.

“What do you want, Louis?”

There were many things Louis had thought could happen in this review, many questions that could be asked, and he had ran through, in his head, what he thought were the most probable ones, figuring out how he would answer, what he would say and how he would say it.

This was not one of those questions he’d practiced.

“Oh. I — I’m not —” and he was stuttering, already messing up. “I’m not sure what you mean. I apologize.”

That small, quiet smile made another appearance. “No need to apologize. Allow me to clarify. What do you want to do? What do you want here at this company? What do you want out of life?”

Now that Louis could work with.

“I want to contribute and assist in any way I can. I hope to rise to a higher position so I can contribute and assist even more, on more imperative assignments.”

This entire meeting was a show in how much Louis could be unprepared. Because he thought his answer, while standard, was just fine. He hadn’t expected Armand to laugh.

It wasn’t loud, nor had Louis ever thought Armand’s laugh would be in the times he’d allowed himself to think about it at all, but it was deep, resonating in his chest. Louis was certain that if they were touching in any way, he would’ve been able to feel that laugh travel through him like an electric current.

But he didn’t like that Armand was laughing at him, didn’t —

“You misunderstand me.”

Louis swallowed hard passed personal protest.

“I have no questions, no concerns, about your dedication to this company or to your job. I’ve seen your work. I’ve seen what everyone has to say about your work. No, I want to know what you want to do. Is this everything you dream of? Is the technology business something you see yourself doing the rest of your life?”

“I’m not sure…” Louis started. Then he clamped his mouth shut. Armand tilted his own head at the action.

“Go on.”

“I’m not sure what this has to do with me working here.”

Armand folded the file down slightly, pulling it closer to his chest. “Why is that?”

“Because…” and Louis fumbled again. It didn’t feel right saying this out loud here, to his boss, to —

But Armand’s stare was unrelenting.

“Because my dreams aren’t realistic.”

Armand kept staring, his fingers tapping silently on the back of the file now. “How so?”

Louis wanted to rear back at all the questioning, at how unsteady it made him feel. Is this an interrogation? he wanted to ask. Why do you want to know? How badly will the truth hurt me? How do you know there’s more? Why do you care that there’s more?

“The art,” Louis started instead, gesturing around the room. “Is it a personal interest or a professional one?”

“A bit of both,” Armand said. He sounded amused. It was getting underneath Louis’ skin.

It was sobering too, like cold water being splashed right in his face.

“Literature is that for me.” Louis paused. “Or I want it to be, anyway. It’s been a personal interest since I was little, since my mamaw started reading bedtime stories to me. I’d like for it to be my professional interest too, but, as I said, it’s unrealistic.”

“I’m going to repeat myself,” Armand said, leaning forward in his chair, coming a whole three inches closer, three whole inches of air that he seemed to suck right out of Louis’ lungs. “How so?”

“There’s no money in literature.”

Armand hummed again and, this time, Louis saw the question coming. So he elaborated.

“I could have tried to become a professor, and it has a lot of appeal still, but it’s not stable enough. It’s too flooded with applicants and research. And given the lack of support for the arts, the push for STEM, there’s too much in the air around it anyhow.”

There was a thoughtful look on Armand’s face now, his attention rapt. It made Louis continue unprompted.

“I told my parents once that I wanted to write a book. My daddy said, ‘You have to accomplish something first before you write a book.’ He didn’t know that I wanted to write stories, not memoirs. My mamaw had agreed with him, telling me to get a good job, build a good life, and then I could write a book in my retirement about how others could be just like me.” Louis felt himself smiling wryly. “I knew then they’d never support anything but business. They wanted me to be just like my daddy. Better than him actually, but that was only implied.”

“And you ended up here,” Armand said, opening up Louis’ file again, skimming through it with some kind of new interest. “How did that happen?”

“I listened to my parents’ wishes. Went to college for business. Relied on English literature courses to make up my humanities requirements and fell in love with books all over again. But I was doing good with my business classes and my parents were proud. I almost changed my major anyway, was encouraged to do so by a journalism professor I had actually, but then…” Louis trailed. Armand said nothing, only waited patiently. “Then my daddy died and I became the provider for the family.”

“Surely a businessman like your father had something in place to take care of them all with his passing,” Armand said.

“We all thought he would. I definitely did. But when we talked to his lawyer we learned that our family was in hot water.” Louis shrugged. “He made some bad investments and never recovered. So I had to do something.”

“Hence the early graduation,” Armand said, filling in the story. Louis nodded.

“I needed to start making money.”

The file lowered in Armand’s hands again. He opened his mouth to speak then shut it, pausing himself, contemplating something, before opening it once more. “So you worked, got into a top graduate program, worked while completing said program, and chose to move here to work for me.”

“I suppose that’s the best summarization of it all,” Louis nodded.

“And, in your opinion, is this company the best place for you to be at in this stage of your life? Is this company the best place for you to be in order to achieve what it is you wish to achieve?”

Louis didn’t answer right away. How could he? It was such a loaded pair of questions.

He took in a deep breath then breathed it out steadily before he tried to answer.

“I like it here. I do. There are good people here. There’s good work to be done here. I’d like to work for this company, be successful for it, help the company be successful as well. Then, one day, when I’ve got decades under my belt, maybe I’ll have the time to write a book. I should have a hundred ideas to work with then, lots of life experience to help me out too. It’ll all fall as it should. I could write the book slowly, starting now too, use what free time I have to —”

Louis’ tongue almost bled with how hard he bit down on it, a physical attempt to stop his mouth.

He hadn’t meant to talk so much.

Embarrassment — was that the right word for what he felt? It wasn’t shame, but it was close and — flooded him, made his face flush, burned the tops of his ears.

And anger of some kind, bubbling and vicious, flooded through him too, settled unhappily in the pit of his stomach. Armand had pushed him to talk, hadn’t let Louis’ professional and appropriate answers stand on their own. He had made Louis say all of this, had —

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Armand was no longer looking at him. He had, within the last minute, turned his impenetrable gaze back to Louis’ file, his expression unreadable as he tracked over the words on the pages.

Louis wondered what page he was looking at, wondered what he was thinking…wondered the worst.

It was another eternity before Armand made a sound, a click of his tongue on the back of his teeth, and he tossed Louis’ file onto his desk with a flourish. It closed on its own, the sleek, dark front of the folder falling over whatever page had held Armand’s attention for that agonizing minute, and when Armand said, “I need to see you after work. Five sharp,” he didn’t make it optional.

“Why?” Louis couldn’t help but ask anyway, fumbling the word out after Armand didn’t elaborate.

It brought those intense eyes back to Louis’ and Louis couldn’t help but look away, shifting in his seat.

“Because I have another meeting in ten minutes and I’m afraid that what we need to go over will take much longer than that.”

Only a few minutes later, Louis was back in the main office, feeling dazed like he just left a movie theater after a matinee showing. It must have showed on his face too because Bricks came over to him, eyebrows high and face expectant, a hesitant smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

“So?”

Louis blinked. “He wants to see me after work. Says that we didn’t have enough time to go over what he wanted to.”

“Quit being so defeatist!” Bricks said, threading her arm through his and leading him toward her office. Her voice was as it always was, but Louis could see something flicker across her face, a confusion, a worry, a — he didn’t know. He did know that it made him feel even worse. “Maybe you’re getting a promotion. It’d make sense.”