#and you basically just advocate for them and get them set up with resources and help them make appointments and stuff

[phantmheart]

dev patel, thirty-one, he/him   ⟡   —   is that AMIR KAPADIA i just saw walking around kilmer’s cove? i heard they’re a RESIDENT who’s been here for SIX YEARS. it slipped my mind, since they just tend to hang out at THE PLAYHOUSE. at face value, they’re said to be CREATIVE and PATIENT, but i don’t know… some people have said they can be quite STUBBORN and RESERVED. just don’t get on their bad side, i guess! don’t tell them i told you this, but i’ve heard they DO believe in all the ghost stories around town. who knows what the future holds for them!   

basics

• full name: ashwin amir kapadia

• preferred name: amir

• nicknames: am ; ash (by his family)

• gender: cis male

• pronouns: he/him

• age: 31

• date of birth: 12th january 1993

• zodiac sign: capricorn

• sexuality: heterosexual

• place of birth: edinburgh, scotland

• nationality: british-american (dual citizenship)

• occupation: jeweller & metalsmith ; owner of charmed & co

• residence: a small two bedroom house

• aesthetics: the cool salty sea air, wax jackets, vintage books, piles of warm blankets, sparkling gemstones in the sun, steaming cups of tea, handmade cable-knit jumpers, old cinema tickets

appearance

• faceclaim: dev patel

• height: 6'

• build: average

• eyes: brown

• hair: black

• piercings: none

• tattoos: nautical compass on his inner left forearm ; two maple leaves on his right shoulder ; others tbd

• style:

personality

• positive traits: creative, kind, resourceful, intelligent, compassionate, helpful, hardworking, punctual, considerate

• negative traits: reserved, stubborn, shy

• mbti: infj - the advocate

• likes: art, literature, sweet foods, music, going for walks, reading when its raining outside, tea

• dislikes: extreme temperatures, arrogance, heavy metal music, poor standards, sports

• phobias: arachnophobia ; entomophobia

• hobbies: reading, listening to music, playing the piano, watching films, collecting old books, going to the theatre

• skills: ambidextrous (but favours his right hand), pianist (for 25 years)

• pet peeves: tardiness, sexism, prejudice, being interrupted, cutting corners

family

• mother: amrita kapadia

• father: rishi kapadia

• siblings: samira anjali kapadia (younger sister by three years)

• fiancée: tippi elizabeth saint-james

favourites

• food: anything spicy, usually his mother’s curry recipe

• drink: scotch whisky ; lemonade

• time of the day: evening

• weather: dry and cool

• colours: blue ; red ; silver

• music genres: anything classical ; film scores ; alternative

bio

— amir was born at 3:13pm on 12th january 1993 to rishi kapadia, a lawyer, and his wife amrita, an artist and art teacher. he has one younger sister named samira. they resided in edinburgh until amir was five and then moved to london to be closer to family.

— the kapadias had always been close, going out on the weekends to some place educational or of historical importance, and holidaying across the uk, sometimes venturing abroad to places like germany, italy, the united states, and mexico. the trips themselves served as valuable family time as well as creative inspiration for amrita. later amir would take inspiration, too, and use his wonderful childhood memories to create unique and beautiful things. 

— when amir was 11, the family moved back to edinburgh so his father could pursue a better job offer and his mother could set up her own shop in the city centre. on the weekends, amir spent a lot of time in the shop, helping out with daily tasks and serving customers; he grew to live the social side of it and also learned more from his mother about making jewellery. 

— amir was a daydreamer in school. he enjoyed learning, but would rather stare at a wall and think about the book he was reading or the documentary he’d watched on the weekend. it got him into trouble a couple of times, but the teachers were consistently impressed with his grades. for a long time he wanted to be a filmmaker, but having been inspired by his mother’s art from a young age and his fascination with her jewellery in particular amir decided, at the age of 15, that he wanted to make his own jewellery. his parents were very supportive of his choice and so was his sister, but only after a long period of teasing him for picking a ‘girly’ job.

— he went on to university at the age of 18, studying jewellery & silversmithing at the university of edinburgh, and loved it. amir made plenty new friends who were like-minded and enjoyed living away from home even if he had stayed in the same city. he excelled in his course and almost took a masters degree, but changed his mind at the last minute.

— after graduating, amir decided to spend a couple of months travelling alone in new england. it was something he'd wanted to do his whole life and also used it as a chance to gain inspiration for his work. he stumbled upon kilmer’s cove by accident, but felt strangely drawn to the place. he spent two weeks there and had to leave for connecticut, but he never forgot about it and looked back fondly through photographs he took.

— he returned home and worked with his mother at her shop as well as on his own jewellery making. amir began to sell his products in the shop and proved to be incredibly popular, especially with tourists, and it was this success that made amir realise he’d made the right choice in pursuing his passions and turning them into a career, even when there were times when he wanted to quit.

— at the age of 25, amir said goodbye to scotland and relocated alone to kilmer’s cove. it was daunting at first, but his heart was in that little coastal town and knew he had to give it a shot. with the money he had earned from commissions and with a little help from his parents, he managed to buy a little shop in the heart of town and establish it as a boutique selling handmade bespoke jewellery and metalwork. he named it ‘charmed & co’.

— amir met his now fiancée tippi not long after he made the move. he struck up a conversation with her as they waited in line at a café, with him asking what she would recommend off the menu. a few weeks later, she came into charmed & co and that’s when he asked her out on a date. the rest is history!

— he now lives with tippi and their cat shelby and are planning to get married in the summer of 2025.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Archon war anon

Very fair on the roman apartments thing! That was more of a "If I had to make this as we can see it work, how would I do it?" than anything serious. There's enough space around there that I would doubt the people there would have felt the need to cramp into living space like that. I'm also just mentally trying to insert towns everywhere I can for the sake of my many competing god territories story, so that influences how far I'm willing to stretch.

The viewpoint does say scattered, and you're right, that scattered isn't what you'd use for "fled together with the adepti".

On the Geo Diaries/Zhongli's story quest, you are very right on that. But another theory that it made me think of, for the mora-house at least, is maybe that story comes from Zhongli's original people before he joined Guizong? Drawing from the stone tablets book again, he supposedly raised Mt. Tianheng out of the water and had some people there on Shanhui Rock/Fort. Maybe the mora-house story comes from further back than the founding of Liyue Harbour? Given that he apparently had Shanhui while with/before Guizhong, and she set up the ballista to defend it, I think it'd make sense for there to be some sort of earlier settlement that maybe got renamed when Morax took all of his people there after she died. This doesn't work out so well for the many gods thing, but it does play into the "Morax had control of most of Liyue" thing pretty well.

I refuse to believe that people had to relearn how to build stones after getting to the harbor though. That's so useful, and the kind of thing that I think is both basic and widespread enough that I can't really see it getting lost.

The scattered theory, even as a non-canon thing to play with is pretty fun! I was plotting out more of the war in a pre-write brainstorm yesterday and ended up writing it in? Not as far as I think you've been advocating for, but I wrote that Morax kind of dumped his surviving people on his allies and adepti and went off to rampage on his enemies for a bit. And none of his allies or adepti had the resources to take all of his surviving people, even though a bunch died when Guizhong died, so they ended up a little scattered.

:) thank you for the replies, this is so much fun! ily too!

this is fun, yeah! i love rambling about liyue history

i guess it is possible that the account of the mora house comes from a long long time ago? and that it just got for whatever reason repurposed for the founding of the harbor? since the guy explicitly speaks of it in the context of building liyue harbor. it would make sense, i could never really get this idea into my head since i, too, had always been of the opinion that the liyue migration must've happened relatively shortly after the fall of the assembly, so them having to relearn how to make houses would make no damn sense. even if it had been generations between the assembly and the harbor, that's still like- like you said with the stones, i don't think people just forget how to build a damn house. but then zhongli just says that it's true???????????????? idk man. again i know he's a little shit but i don't think he purposefuly spreads/actively perpetuates misinformation of that type. (i've come to the realization that all the misinformation he seems to not care about enough to try and make an effort to correct revolves around himself. like he will correct misinformation on other subjects but seems to care very little about misinformation surrounding morax/rex lapis. i might just be missremembering though)

[masterabating]

@artificeutility

assisted living is a social program that supports people who need help managing life. usually that's because of a mental or physical disability that obstructs you in daily tasks to the degree that you can't complete them or you would be forced to constantly expend your internal or external resources in such a way that your quality of life becomes unacceptably low. those aren't the only reasons you might need support, but there are other programs for people with other problems

the most basic sort of support is just getting stuff that you need to function. medication, assistive devices, regular check-ins from a specialist, therapeutic and medical support, that sort of thing. it's individual. then there's the social level of support, both predictive and symptomatic. like you might have the system take care of stuff that it helps not to have to worry about, shit like having groceries or prepared meals delivered to you, or you might have something set up to do your dishes. you might get a support animal for disability aid or anxiety or ptsd.

and then the assisted living provision is for complex cases that require constant care or nuanced support. one type has you working with medical professionals or subords, and the other pairs you up with someone who lives with you, legally advocates for you, and makes sure your needs are met. they have to be trained to get a license to look after someone. if you have a complex case or there isn't someone who has that specialty available, you might meet with a bunch of students and see if you match up well. and then they'll go for that field of study so they can pair up with you once they're clear.

it's one of a lot of things. i know people with depression sometimes join a transport service that brings you on outings, either alone or in groups. people do wellness checks and if stuff is trending towards a place you don't want to be in, you might get sent books that are predicted to help or get offered invitations to a yoga group or something. i think there's like a subord sector that does nothing but engineer apparent coincidences to reassure people who are having a hard time. i've lived my whole life in a wheelchair, man, and i've been in the ALP system pretty much since i finished school. people get taken care of.

it doesn't have to be like it is where you are.

[autimind]

Ableism is far more toxic than you think.

How's that for a clickbait title? Anyway, let's talk about ableism. I have been reading a lot of autistic activism the last couple of weeks and have reads many references to ableism. It is mostly pointed out in other people's speech. However, much like with racism, ableism is more than the overt extremely clear mean-spirited remarks.

Just as racism is more than 'We don't want you black folk in this here neighborhood', ableism is more than 'People with autism should be cured'. No.. it is far more pernicious than that. In this post I want to talk about systemic ableism.

According to MedicalNewsToday, ableism is this.

Ableism refers to bias, prejudice, and discrimination against people with disabilities. It hinges on the idea that people with disabilities are less valuable than nondisabled people.

As most readers will agree, recent talk about splitting the diagnosis into (mild) autism and severe autism can easily be ableist. It can be meant well of course since society does tend to think about autism in terms of Sheldon Coopers who can self-advocate, are good programmers and are easily able to speech at conferences. Then again, people shouldn't need yet another label to get reasonable accomodations. It is mostly the autism-industrial complex that continues to stress again and again ad nauseam that 'severely autistic' people don't have a voice of their own and need allistic champions to speak for them. I don't think Anantha Krishnamurthy, Tejas Rao Sankar or Trevor Byrd agree!

In the autistic community we tend to follow the social model: A handicap exists against the social background. One of the reasons that the social model is so powerful as well as empowering is that it basically ignores the last part of the above definition, namely the value of disabled people. Why, we could ask, make that a point? Why not instead accomodate as far as necessary, stand back and see the person in question bloom? Of course, not everyone who finds their voice or receives some tool grows into a world-changing luminary but society doesn't consist of luminaries. Those are by definition rare. You don't have to be autistic for that.

My point is that ableism runs deeper, far deeper, than, for example, the barrage of insults that hit Greta Thunberg when she became noticeable to the international press. Ableism runs deeper than punishing autistic school children for meltdowns 'because otherwise it wouldn't be fair to the others'. It runs deeper than the use of functioning labels and the confusion of comorbid disabilities with autism or even describing autistic people as something to be fixed or cured. The basic ground level of all this toxic mess is the cognitively lazy tendency to see others as gains or losses.

It is that callous. It really is that cold-hearted. Ableist thinkers see others as either a net drain on their resources - or society's in general - or a net gain. They also see life as a zero sum game. These are the people who cite 2 Thes 3 verse 10, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” without reading the very next verse. These are the people who claim they built their business all on their own without help from anybody (and certainly not from the guvmint), forgetting that their trucks drive on roads built by the state, by society in fact. They only see their own skills or merits and are blind to what chances and supports they were given.

Allistic disabled people suffer from this, as well as children, old people, anyone more brown than an Italian and basically everyone not the ideal. Most of Western society is conceptualized and set up around white, 30-40 year old allistic heterosexual cisgender non-disabled people (men, mostly) with a job that supports them easily. This is systemic ableism. The rest are simply told to 'keep up'.

This skewed society has formed a large group of people who are ableist as well as able but see themselves mostly as burdened and harrassed. These are the people who think that giving one person something is a loss for others. This is by the way not always entirely untrue because a government has a finite amount of resources. We can't fully support everything. The pernicious part, however, to this way of thinking is that the same people usually think that unlimited wealth shouldn't just be possible but be actively supported.

According to medicalhomeportal.org, simple AAC devices can be bought for less than 1000 USD. I am unaware of any of the other relevant numbers but I am fairly sure that all necessary appliances can easily be financed if we had billionaires pay a tenth of a percent more taxes. People talk a lot about the ethics of negotiating a very very high salary but tend to forget that whether or not you get to keep the money once earned is another ethical question entirely. I am however in danger of going off-topic.

Look at any ableist remark and you'll see poorly disguised loathing of a burden, a net loss.

Why is this? I have called this 'cognitively lazy' earlier and I do believe that is a big part of it. Human brains tend to conserve resources by using heuristics and other short-cuts all. the. time. People naturally shy away from using their intelligence and other energy-intensive skills like compassion unless prompted and/or trained. This is the basic nature of the human animal. Then again, here am I thinking that civilisation exists for the express purpose of training us to live well together. What other purpose does a civilisation have but to ensure that we all live and we all live as best we can?

Ableists deserve our pity. Sure we should be activists and fight for our rights but we should also pity our enemies. They have in a very real sense lost a sizeable chunk of their humanity. Because we are more than our basic natures. We are more than the Hunger Games writ large. We can be more than Tennyson's 'nature red in tooth and claw' - another misunderstood reference by the way - and we are more than just competitive fighters. In fact, our very evolutionary success was partly built on empathy, compassion and our unique ability to see others as like ourselves. Saying otherwise is basically claiming that humanity should behave like bacteria, nothing but naked hunger ever striving for more and more at the cost of absolutely anything.

We are, potentionally, so much more than that. We can be a true society, where the falling angel meets the rising ape. This why we should fight ableism but, far more importantly, should build compassion and empathy in and around ourselves.

Only if we do this, will we have a chance. As autistics. As humans.

[eunoiacarehub]

Understanding NDIS Support Coordination and How It Can Help You

Navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) can feel overwhelming, particularly when trying to manage multiple services and providers. That’s where NDIS support coordination comes in. At EunoiaCareHub, we specialize in helping participants access the right supports to achieve their goals. Our support coordination services are designed to guide you through the complexities of the NDIS, empowering you to make the most of your funding and live an independent, fulfilling life.

What is NDIS Support Coordination?

Support coordination is a service offered to NDIS participants to help them understand, implement, and manage their NDIS plans. The main goal of support coordination is to assist participants in navigating the various supports and services available through the NDIS. A support coordinator works closely with the participant to ensure that they have the tools and resources they need to make informed decisions about their care and achieve their desired outcomes.

There are three levels of support coordination offered through the NDIS:

Support Connection: A more basic form of support coordination aimed at helping participants understand their plan and connect with appropriate service providers.

Support Coordination: A more in-depth service that helps participants implement their plans, coordinate services, and manage their supports effectively over time.

Specialist Support Coordination: For participants with more complex needs, this level of support involves working with specialists to manage high-risk or complicated situations.

At EunoiaCareHub, we provide all levels of support coordination, ensuring that participants receive the guidance and assistance they need, no matter their level of complexity.

The Benefits of Support Coordination

Having a dedicated support coordinator can make a significant difference in how effectively participants use their NDIS funding. Here are some of the key benefits of support coordination:

1. Plan Understanding

NDIS plans can be complex and contain a variety of funding categories and services. A support coordinator helps break down these components, ensuring that participants fully understand how to use their plan to access the right services and supports.

2. Connecting with Service Providers

Finding the right service providers can be a daunting task, especially when there are so many options to choose from. A support coordinator assists participants in identifying and connecting with providers that meet their specific needs, whether it’s therapy, personal care, housing, or education services.

3. Ongoing Management and Monitoring

A support coordinator doesn’t just help set up services; they also provide ongoing management to ensure that everything is running smoothly. They monitor the participant’s progress, make adjustments as necessary, and ensure that the participant is getting the most out of their NDIS plan.

4. Advocacy and Problem Solving

If issues arise with service providers or if a participant feels that their NDIS plan needs adjustments, a support coordinator acts as an advocate. They can help participants resolve disputes, manage challenges, and ensure that their needs are met.

5. Encouraging Independence

While support coordination provides valuable guidance, its ultimate goal is to help participants build the skills and confidence they need to manage their supports independently in the future.

How EunoiaCareHub’s Support Coordination Services Work

At EunoiaCareHub, we understand that every participant’s needs and circumstances are different, which is why our support coordination services are highly personalized. Here’s how we work with NDIS participants:

1. Individualized Support Plans

We begin by conducting a comprehensive assessment of each participant’s goals, needs, and preferences. This allows us to create a customized support plan that aligns with their NDIS funding and personal objectives.

2. Connecting with Trusted Providers

With our extensive knowledge of local providers and services, we help participants find trusted, high-quality service providers that meet their specific needs. This includes connecting participants with healthcare professionals, therapists, personal care providers, and other essential services.

3. Ongoing Guidance and Monitoring

Our support coordinators provide continuous guidance to ensure that participants are on track to meet their goals. We offer regular check-ins and reviews to assess progress and adjust support plans as needed.

4. Advocacy and Conflict Resolution

Should challenges arise, our support coordinators act as advocates, helping participants navigate any obstacles and ensuring that their voice is heard. We work to resolve issues quickly and efficiently, so participants can focus on achieving their goals.

Conclusion

Navigating the NDIS can be challenging, but with the right support, participants can unlock the full potential of their plan. At EunoiaCareHub, our NDIS support coordination services are designed to guide participants through every step of their journey, from understanding their plan to connecting with providers and managing their supports. If you’re an NDIS participant looking for expert guidance, contact EunoiaCareHub today to learn how we can support you in reaching your goals.

[theasteroidlegacy]

Date: October 21 2024

Time: 1:40am - MDT

Entry Number: 1

Current Fronter: Emery

Topic: Fear Responses

------------------------------------

Hello! It's currently the dead of night where we live and I can't get to sleep(how fun/s). So I thought I'd talk about fear responses and how we've experienced a giant leap from one to another due to our current situation.

There are four known fear responses. Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn. I won't delve too deep into them but I'll put basic definitions for all of them here-

Fight Response: Responding to threats or fears through verbal or physical defenses/attacks. This can also include feelings of irritation and annoyance towards others behaviors.

Flight Response: Responding to threats or fears by escaping or "running away" from the danger. This may include maladaptive daydreaming, preoccupying ones self with work/school, becoming apathetic or running away.

Freeze Response: Responding to threats or fears by "freezing in place" while still being hyper vigilant about ones surroundings until your brain can make up its mind to fight or flee, however your brain might instead "Flop" or dissociate if it sees it to be the best option(this often happens if you have a dissociative disorder or experience dissociation in general).

Fawn Response: Responding to threats or fears by "neutralizing the threat" through taking care of or pleasing it. This can often be portrayed by taking care of a parent as a child, making yourself as useful as possible, not forming your own identity. Most of these while seen as "helpful" by the casual bystander, can be more harmful than good for those with a Fawn response.

(Resources:

The Beginners Guide to Trauma Responses )

The reason we are bringing this up is because we've recently(within the past year) gone from being in a constant Fawn and Freeze response, to being in a constant Fight and Flight. Which has hit our system like a brick wall.

It's basically the pendulum swinging from one end to the other.

Lately we've been experiencing anger, and annoyance whenever our brain perceives a new "threat". And while this can be helpful in some instances(such as advocating for proper treatment and setting firm boundaries with our loved ones), it can be a hassle in other areas.

For example we've become more irritated when a friend or loved one comes to us with an emotional problem/disturbance, whether the person just had a break-up or their dog died, we've felt annoyed and irritated at them, even when we want to be there. We want to comfort and help how we can. But those feelings of irritation and annoyance arise.

On the other side with the flight response, we've been apathetic, emotionless, and have been maladaptive daydreaming a lot(which has caused a couple of splits).

These feelings and habits arise when our thoughts get too overwhelming. We've gotten to a point where we feel empty, but it's not a painful empty like it was when we were a teenager. It's more of a comfortable empty. You're not bothered with others thoughts or feelings. You're all you have and that's okay, type of empty.

Honestly we were kind of disturbed by the swing from lack of feelings to the overwhelming emotions of anger, irritation, and annoyance, compared to our people pleasing, co-dependant, not knowing what to do in a strenuous situation, self.

In the past we've experienced these feelings(emptiness, extreme anger, irritability, and annoyance), however we've experienced them differently.

Instead of turning on others with our anger and annoyance, it was turned onto ourselves. The same goes for the feelings of emptiness. It was painful to feel that emptiness and we turned on ourselves to relieve it.

It's like someone switched a circuit, causing this phenomenon.

So we decided to talk to our therapist and got her observation on things. And, after some light digging, we figured out that since I've moved and become more independent, situations have arisen where our brain and body has had to be in flight or flight and not freeze and fawn.

From advocating for proper healthcare to escaping our emotions and avoiding conflict with our pushy relatives, it's all been to protect ourselves from these situations that could turn sour in an instance.

For the past year we truly thought we were doing a lot better with our mental health because we've been free of self mutilation for over a year. Because we're able to set good, firm boundaries without too much trouble. Because we're not always waiting for something good to happen to take us away from the trauma.

But it turns out we're just coping differently. We're coping in a way where no one is worried, and we're comfortable with that. Our brain has told us there's no need for others to worry, because we've got our own back.

But the thing is, we still need help. We still need help with groceries, we still rely on government programs to get us through our current life with the multiple disabilities we have. We're still reliant on several people, but our brain's current fear response doesn't understand that. And it's hard dealing with that.

We've had to set boundaries with friends so WE as a system don't ruin the relationship. Because sometimes, those fear responses don't know when to back down and that can ruin relationships and cause more bad than good.

All in all, it's always good to look at yourself and the changes that have happened in yourself, in order to understand what's happening in the moment, especially as someone with a dissociative disorder.

Thanks for getting this far. Feel free to discuss your own experiences and thoughts in the comments! Love Y'all!

-Emery🦊

------------------------------------

-End Entry-

[dxsturbia]

So what happens is you get your state insurance Medicare Medicaid what have you

And I don’t know if you’ve ever rented anything like property of any kind

But what they’re gonna do is set you up with a business basically you have this many units to your insurance policy and every policy is the same or at least that’s what they’re telling me

And you’re gonna go find a temp agency and they are going to play the role of your human resources department. They’re going to be accounting and payroll.

And what should happen is that if for some reason, my primary provider is unavailable, I am able to contact the agency on a PRN basis to have someone contracted out to fill in the gap for whatever reason my chosen provider isn’t available

What’s happening right now is that I sign up with the agency they do all of my paperwork, my payroll all of that I am only allowed to pay my staff what 11.45 per hour at this point

I am only able to provide them with 21.75 hours per week because that’s all the time I have to rent from the temp agency

I cannot provide them with medical benefits. I cannot provide them with vacation or sickleave. I am responsible for being able to staff in case of an absence, but listen I can’t just hold somebody in emergency position. They are required to work a certain amount of time per week otherwise they will be removed from I don’t Know exactly what it is at this agency but my last one it was 16

So I either hire family or I go live in a home because nobody’s got the gas money to do their jobs without taking on five or six different clients and I am a demanding client and may not seem so because I don’t have the luxury of having every need met

Family doesn’t come because they hate me. They’re not getting paid enough for this either so they’re going to scam the Clock too

And everyone has abandoned Anissa to her own devices again anissa doesn’t have any devices. The state of Missouri does.

Everyone knows it and they’re taking full advantage of it. I need there to be consequences for that real ones.

I need the rights to my life under the American Constitution whether or not I can get off this rat wheel that is the benefit line

Everybody does it and it’s always OK until I do it because I’ve actually got the right to it and it’s a social structure so if you want to keep it, you gotta help

I need advocates ones that are allowed to act as advocates. I need lawyers that work with ADA cases that can take ADA money.

I need people to let the system work

I need to be able to not let people twist up my money so that when they need more of it, I can actually get it

[tanishka123]

The Content Marketing Landscape in 2024: Trends, Strategies, and Why It Matters More Than Ever

The digital landscape is ever-evolving, and staying ahead of the curve is crucial for businesses of all sizes. In this dynamic environment, content marketing remains a powerful tool, but its strategies need to adapt to keep pace. Here at Wranc Marketing Agency, we’re passionate about helping businesses leverage content to thrive. So, buckle up as we delve into the content marketing landscape of 2024 and explore why it’s more important than ever.

Unveiling the Content Marketing Powerhouse: Why It Matters

Content marketing isn’t just a fad; it’s a strategic approach that delivers tangible results. Here’s how it empowers your business:

Building Brand Awareness: High-quality content positions you as an authority in your field. People discover your brand through informative blog posts, insightful articles, or engaging social media content, establishing you as a trusted resource.

Lead Generation Powerhouse: Content that addresses your target audience’s pain points acts as a lead magnet. Valuable ebooks, white papers, or webinars attract potential customers seeking solutions, nurturing them into qualified leads.

Website Traffic on Autopilot: Content optimized for search engines improves your ranking, driving organic traffic to your website. This means more eyes on your brand and your offerings, all thanks to the power of content.

Loyalty Through Value: Consistent, informative content builds trust and loyalty with your audience. By providing valuable resources, you establish yourself as a thought leader, fostering long-term relationships with your customers.

Sales Acceleration: Content plays a vital role in the sales funnel. Educational blog posts nurture leads at the awareness stage, while product comparisons and case studies help them make informed decisions, ultimately leading to conversions.

Content Marketing in 2024: Embracing the Cutting Edge

The content marketing landscape is constantly evolving. Here are some key trends to watch for:

The Rise of AI: Artificial intelligence is making waves in content creation. From generating topic ideas to streamlining content workflows, AI can be a valuable asset, allowing you to focus on strategy and high-level content development.

Personalization Takes Center Stage: Today’s audiences crave personalized experiences. AI will further enhance content personalization, allowing you to tailor content to individual user preferences and interests, leading to higher engagement.

The Short-Form Video Boom: Short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are exploding. Businesses need to create compelling, bite-sized video content that captures attention in a fast-paced world.

The Employee Advocate Advantage: Employees are a powerful marketing force. Empowering them to share company content on their social media platforms can create a network of brand advocates, fostering authenticity and trust.

A Return to Basics: While exciting new trends emerge, remember the core principles of content marketing: quality, consistency, and value. Focus on creating informative and engaging content that truly resonates with your target audience.

Building a Winning Content Marketing Strategy in 2024: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ready to harness the power of content marketing for your business? Here’s a roadmap to get you started:

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[reliquiaen]

(from arisenreborn) Pawn #3, Arisen & Pawn #15, World & Story #3

thanks so much for asking !! ♥ took me a bit to get to it because work this week has been UGH you understand?

questions are here.

Pawn #3: If they were infected with the Dragonsplague, are there any specific ways they would act differently? 

oh so when tarbh gets dragonsplague, vashka can basically tell immediately because she’s suddenly so much meaner than usual? like her sass just SHOOTS off the charts and there’s much less of her charming labrador energy. suddenly tarbh is back chatting. “tarbh will you do this” “oh of COURSE arisen it would be my PLEASURE arisen may i clean your boots arisen???” and vashka just. ok. stop that. vashka is normally in a state of Vague Annoyance at how devoted and wholesome tarbh is so when she stops doing that and starts advocating for walking past old ladies in need or homeless people begging for charity because it’s “a waste of time and resources” vashka right away starts plotting how to push her off a ledge to cleanse her of this evil.

“yes of course i'll set up the tent this evening arisen, heaven forbid you should trouble yourself after i did all the heavy lifting in that fight earlier, wouldn’t want you to strain a muscle, perish the thought”

A&P #15: Do they have a favorite place in the world; be it a town or a particular area or view they’re fond of?

vashka's favourite place is pretty much wherever there’s not a lot of people to bother her. she loves the ocean, rivers, lakes, etc, so anywhere she’s got a nice view of some water that’s perfect. if it’s isolated AND near water? she’s definitely there somewhere. if you want specific to dd2, then harve village. when they passed through there for brant hunting saurians she was instantly enamoured with it – reminds her of her hometown, which, admittedly, doesn’t have LOADS of particularly fond memories, but it’s the general vibe and that salty tang to the air that hit her in the nostalgia.

it's extremely cheesy, but tarbh’s favourite place is wherever vashka is. i am not kidding or being hyperbolic when i say that tarbh is just exactly like a loyal puppy dog. she gave up a lot to join vashka and it fills her with such hope that they can make things better. she also finds a certain peace in churches; something about the high, vaulted ceilings and the colourful stained glass windows, and the smell of the incense, the soft rustle of robes… sends her back to her childhood when things were simple and good and evil were easy to delineate and she misses that. even vashka can’t be easily pigeonholed into Good or Evil and that was confusing for tarbh for a long time, and while it makes sense NOW, there’s just… a comfortable familiarity in churches.

W&S #3: Regardless of whether you adhere to the in-game counter or not, how long do you think their journey took? Did they book it with a sense of urgency, or did things get drawn out - and why? 

vashka ALWAYS strives to be efficient in any task she sets her mind to, so while she would like to complete her quest by beelining it to the dragon so she can stab him in the eyeball or whatever, there’s always red tape. always. she knows this. which is why she likes having tarbh around: to down obstacles when they arise, it’s generally faster than talking things out or… you know… politics and stuff. (she hates politics). assuming they take a bit of time to help people when it seems beneficial to do so (does vashka get something out of this? no? then goodbye) and for stopping to smell some metaphorical roses (which is to say: tarbh is too large to be physically moved by vashka and too pure of heart to be bullied when she takes it into her head to help someone), i'd say it takes them between one and three months. vashka is the opposite of savan: she takes a wagon because it’s faster and she shows up WILDLY underlevelled to her boss fight lmao

[thelikesoffinn]

What does a social worker do? At their job I mean. I thought they were mostly volunteers, you know, everyday-helpers without any specific knowledge? Because I can't really underatand how you know so much about trauma and coping and stuff, do you need that at work?

I'm sorry if it's dumb to asks, but we don't have social workers in my country, me thinks, so I'm really confused.

Ugh, straight to the heart, petal! How could you! (Jk ily all good I swear ❤️)

What a social worker does really depends on the country you live in. So I can't 100% narrow it down to a specific explanation because a social worker from the US, one from South Korea and I will all work really differently.

But, in most countries, at least a bachelors degree is needed to become a social worker. In my country specifically, it can be in social work, social paediatrics, social sciences (with limitations), sociology (with limitations), early childhood paediatrics, and paediatrics. Each of these courses essentially teach the same things with different focal points - social pediatrics will pay more attention to upbringing, education and such while social sciences are more focused on social sciences are more concerned about societies influence on the individual and so on. (Personally, I'm a huge advocate for social work as a major, btw. It combines social paediatrics, social sciences, paediatrics, and sociology, which gives you a well-rounded skill set.)

As for what exactly we do...well, that really really depends. On your country, as stated priorly, and then on the area you work in. In my country, social workers are basically everywhere.

We work in hospitals, hospices, retirement homes, and homes for the disabled and sanatoriums. We work in schools, kindergartens, and orphanages. We work in jails, courts, and police stations - both with victims and offenders. We work in offices where we do counselling for refugees, parents, pregnant people, couples, youths, elderly, those with debt, those with ailments, and those who just need help.

We're mediators, we're financial advisors, we're there to explain medical mumbo jumbo in simple layman's terms, we're there to find out why a teen doesn't want to go to school anymore, we're the people who carry abused children away from their abusive families, and we're there to make sure a victim isn't harmed further just because the police and the court can't be bothered to protect their boundaries.

So, as you can tell, it's pretty difficult to narrow down what exactly a social worker does because we pretty much do everything. Especially in my country, because we don't need extra licenses of anything.

Once you've got your bachelors degree, you can work in all those areas I mentioned, which obviously requires a pretty extensive education and knowledge in many different fields.

But the one thing all those areas have in common is the main question social workers run by.

"What does the individual need to live the life they want?"

So, in all those areas, we always listen to the individual - their wants and fears - and then take a good look at them - their history, the people around them as well as where they live and where they grew up. That is always in order to find out what resources the individual already has and which one we can still activate but also to see what is still missing so that the individual gets to live the life they want.

So, as an example, let's say we have... Thomas O'Malley. A dude in his mid-30s, recently released from jail. His charges read drug abuse and causing bodily harm while under the influence.

Now that he's out, he needs to find both a job and a flat, and he wants to get back into playing football. Jail helped him to get clean, but now that he's out, he's scared that he might relapse. And lastly, Thomas really wants to see his daughter Mary again, but his ex-wife Duchesse doesn't want him to.

As a social worker, we'd write that list down and then get to the questions to find out what resources Thomas already has. Maybe his brothers best friend owns an apartment building and is willing to rent one to him? And if he's scared he might relapse, is there anyone that would stay with him for a while so that he's not alone? At least until we can secure a buddy for him?

After that, we start to weave our own things into it. I'm going to make a pretty generic list down there so that you can imagine what it would look like:

1. Flat: Maybe rent from brothers' friend - call friend to find out what would be required.

2. Job: Call Mr. Jones from the Work Bureau so that Thomas is in their system so that potential employers can reach out to him. Also, since the client mentioned he has issues with writing a CV, contact Eric from the Job Bureau to hook him up with a free CV course

3. Football as a hobby - Contact Michael from the football association and ask about a trial session for their hobby league and what documents would be necessary to join

4. Relapse - Talk to Miss O'Malley, Thomas' parents, about staying with them until a buddy is available. Contact Miss Evernever from the BuddyProject to make sure Thomas is on their list and will be assigned a live-in buddy soon.

5. His daughter Mary - Contact either Miss Duchesse or her lawyer/social worker/whatever to find out why she doesn't want Thomas near Mary and what would need to happen before he's allowed to see her again and what middle ground can be found until then.

So as you can see, there's a lot of calling and e-mailing and all that stuff. Since i'm all about you helping yourself, I'd let the client do the calling themself as much as possible.

So if we stick with Thomas, I would let him deal with 1 - 3 himself - bar the CV course, because you mostly need to know someone to get into those easily, so I'd do that one - and I personally would do 4 and 5.

4 because it's often better if a "person of authority" makes such calls because it highlights a certain amount of pressure and serves as reassurance that the client actually wants that help and 5 because firstly, Duchesse herself may be more willing to talk to someone who's neutral, and secondly...well, if I talk to them first, I can make sure to phrase any information that is relayed to Thomas in a way that won't harm him, which mitigates the chance of a desperation-driven relapse.

That rundown is pretty much standard and can be shoved into any available area of social work. But of course, it's really only the very basic core of the job itself, and there's much more to it than just that. What exactly depends on where you're working and who you're working with. But I hoped this helped paint a picture for you!

[josephsafespace]

My outlook on Bradley Rooney

First Impressions

When I first met Bradley Rooney I don’t even know long ago I literally assumed he was gay. He had the ugliest blonde hair I’ve ever seen. He just looked really skinny (his BMI is 18) and just I didn’t like him. He just seemed like the basic gay bitchy white man that wants to be a LGBTIAQ+ advocate.

His whole like personality

He’s like nice he’s not really nice. He’s capable of being a bitch. Oh, just it’s Bradley Rooney. He just seems like the type of person because he’s smart and nerdy that if you get on the bad side of him, he’s gonna write like an 1,000 word essay on Instagram/Facebook about how much he hates you. One time he just admitted he got himself into drama because someone called him “manipulative”. Instantly I go, isn’t that because you’re Bradley Rooney? Even I can go… you’re like smart right? And you also work as a positive behavioural psychologist AND you have a bachelors in psychology I don’t know what you major in… isn’t that what you studied in uni? All people who do psychology in uni like Lockie my support worker or Andrew my support worker all of them have the same personality. Like once you let them open up and get to know them, they’re capable of being a bitch. Lockie Williams had an Instagram perfect account and I just snaked him on a fake account saying that he looked gay and he instantly blocked me. Andrew even he is all “I don’t use Instagram because I don’t want drama.” Bradley Rooney tried being all like “oh I just literally deleted Facebook and Instagram and social media” and I’m just all like “so you don’t use ANY messaging apps? What’s the point of having a mobile phone then?”

How does he do his job?

If you bring up LGBTIAQ+ issues he gets super involved, literally whipping out his IPad Air and going like “here are statistics of LGBTIAQ+ getting bullied in schools.” And I just literally: “I saw the same set of statistics when I was like in year 9… those statistics are outdated now.” Even I use go like: “I went to high school from 2015-2020. All the LGBTIAQ+ material is all old though. There’s 0 coverage of Cyberbullying. Doesn’t even mention Instagram. Does t even mention Snapchat. Doesn’t mention TikTok. Cat fishing, account phishing, account hacking… if you really want to prevent the bullying of LGBTIAQ+ youth schools need to actually update their resources that aren’t from 2010.”

Even for me, Bradley is already 30+ years old. He graduated over 12 years ago. In 2023-12=2011. Instagram doesn’t exist yet. Definitely not Snapchat. Facebook does exist. Facebook is for old people. People don’t even watch TV anymore.

What did Bradley Rooney do when he was in high school?

“Oh just literally me not showing up to PE because it’s not a real class so I can just skip school. I just really thought I was a little shit.”

See?

Why do you think I hate my life. I was fresh out of high school when you first met me.

I did the same thing.

Year 7

“I hate German. It’s useless. Don’t study for it.”

“Miss Rota is very Rota in history.”

“Literally Ms. Shepard never turns up to teach us geography.”

“Literally Ms. sorenson is fat in Maths.”

“Literaly Ms. Fischer just showed us a Netflix movie of she’s the man or whatever because nobody in the class was trying.”

“PE/HPE nobody studies and nobody studies because it’s not a real class.”

“Food Tech isn’t a real class. It’s food tech. All we literally do is bake cookies and I made fried rice.”

“Maths. Ok. That’s a real subject.”

“English. You have to do that in year 12. It’s a real subject.”

“Science. That’s a real subject.”

Even me,

- food tech = cooking? Useless

- VCD = no future

- Art = useless, homeless, working at McDonalds

German = useless

Chinese = I speak it at home and go to Chinese school

Geography/history = humanities which is useless

Music = useless because I don’t play an instrument

Maths/Science/English = real subjects

Weekly sport = double period of doing nothing

Night of notables = everyone did it the night before

Why the rant about year 7?

Even if you’re nerdy like me, you still want to be popular. Nerds don’t try in year 7.

[informationpolitix]

My thoughts on wokeness, the definition of it and the background

You can be woke and still be a capitalist.  I can explain it this way: The concept of the structural flaw which is at the core of the idea of wokeness, is based on the fact that money, and more generally: capital, is an information technology. This information technology (money and capital) is used by society to determine how to distribute resources and assign work to people. However its a very basic information technology, so the integrity of the data is reliant on society following specific processes in its use. Specifically it needs to be distributed based only on merit, but in the past it was distributed based on race, or rather access to it was granted based on race, and other aspects of identity like homosexuality, etc. That created a huge anomaly in the data, which is still present now. Therefore the entire system of capitalism which relies on the integrity of that data to function equitably, only using merit to discriminate between the recipients of capital, is broken. That system is malfunctioning because the data has a huge anomaly, and specific groups are victim to that malfunction, because of the legacy of historical discrimination set up the data that particular way. I'm a software developer, so it's natural for me to use that kind of analogy. Actually I don't consider it an analogy, that is the reality of the situation. I have observed the exact same phenomenon, of anomalies in data causing undesirable outcomes within systems, many times in my career, so I understand how real the phenomenon is. As a capitalist, it would make sense to correct the system. However the system of capitalism cannot self correct this anomaly, at least not for a really long time. Nobody know, because capitalism wasn't designed to handle that situation, it may never self correct, there is no way to know whether it will except through observation. But people can't wait that long... The same as many software systems, it needs interference from the outside to correct the anomaly. That interference could come in many forms. Wokeness doesn't prescribe any particular action to fix the anomaly, other than to advocate for government interference to fix the problem. Part of the philosophy of wokeness is the recognition that capitalism cannot fix this anomaly, as I described above. So there are a lot of competing solutions to the problem. Marxism is one of them. Wokeness is agnostic of any particular solution, but informs the woke person that they need to push for some kind of solution to fix the problem People who regurgitate this rhetoric about wokeness being equivalent to Marxism are just conditioned to say the worst thing possible about any social or political theory that can disrupt the status quo for your shadowy overlords. They don’t want their game to get messed up, so they compare anything disruptive to the worst thing possible to a capitalist, patriotic American, or whatever kind of imbecilic nationalist you happen to be: the worst possible antithesis to your way of life: Marxism You'll make any argument to try to equate the two, but wokeness is unique and generally a novel concept in its own right. Your mental model is that wokeness = Marxism so you will say anything to convince people that's the reality. Its not objective thought, you are regurgitating propaganda

[regular-lord-reckoner]

i don’t want to speak too soon in case none of this works out, but...i think i figured out my job situation possibly ?? 

my mom seems to be pretty confident that it wouldn’t be that hard for me to be hired on as a full time employee at where i’m at with my second job and that they could probably get a few more providers who need their charts done as well so that i’d have enough work to justify a full time position AND that i could potentially get $15 an hour (which......i don’t see why not, pretty much all the other jobs i know how to do there are paying that much apparently and i.....definitely have not been making that) 

this would be great because it’s something i can do from home so like....not only do i no longer have to do public speaking, i don’t even have to interact with people!! 

the more important thing, though, is that right now my dad’s having a lot of issues with his hip. i’m not entirely sure what all is going on, my mom seems to think right now surgery is the best course of action rather than just physical therapy, but it’s giving him a lot of grief and making it hard for him to do a lot of the stuff he normally does

which...he already has a lot of health problems and in general is just getting older so he’s had to slow down a lot, but now he’s using a cane and even with the medications he’s taking he’ll still be in so much pain he can’t walk and it zaps all his energy so i’ve already been having to do things around the house he normally does and run errands for him, but if i were working from home (and at a company that knows me and knows my mom and would be understanding if i needed to take off to help him) it would probably be best. especially because one of the things we’re most worried about is him being here by himself while we’re both at work and he falls somewhere and can’t get to the phone or something. 

as for my insurance situation, i’m going to turn in an enrollment form tomorrow to cobra my current plan at least until the first of the year. i’ve already met my deductible and out of pocket so i’d really like to be able to keep what i’ve got now so i don’t rack up additional medical debt. 

after the first of the year i’ll either go on this company’s insurance plan since i’ll be full time (and i’m hoping by then they’ll have picked a better plan because their insurance last time i worked there SUCKED) or i’ll look into the marketplace and see what’s available and if there isn’t anything better i’ll just stick with theirs, but either way i should be covered 

the only downside to this route is that keeping my insurance right now is probably gonna be like $600 a month, but my mom said she’d help me with it and i’ll just keep track of how much it is (i think all told it’ll be like...$2,400?) and i’ll slowly pay her back the same way i’m slowly paying off my medical bills 

monetarily speaking that means i’ve really got to be careful about my spending and not just....buy shit i don’t need so i’m going to try my best to not do that and the only little treats i’ll give myself will be few and far between, but i’m hoping with making that much more an hour i should be able to more quickly pay all this shit off and be back to a position where i can actually start saving money......i hope!!! 

i think this will be good too because i really more than anything just need to be in a position where i can start focusing on my mental health and doing everything i need to in order to sort all that out. this job could give me the time to do that, plus since i’ll be home there’s also a lot of cleaning and organizing i need to do that should hopefully be easier to do since i’ll be right here. 

i’ll also be saving a lot on gas too since i won’t have to be commuting 30 minutes to work and 30 minutes home every day so all in all i think it’ll be a good plan i just....need everything to come together and be official before i can breathe easier 

but....things might be okay !!! i hope !! 

also there’s apparently going to be a new m83 album out next month so that’s something to look forward to for sure !! 

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

anyway since this shitcourse is all over tweeter today and I like to try educating folks where I can:

it doesn't matter if sex work is empowering. literally irrelevant. some sex workers love it, some wouldn't do it if they didn't need the money, and some have feelings that fall elsewhere on the continuum between those two things.

regardless, they deserve resources that will make them safer when they're working.

to be clear: this isn't about people who are victims of sex trafficking, which is entirely different than sex work. people who have been trafficked, of course, deserve the help and resources they need, but their mistreatment is not shovel to beat people who have opted into sex work over the head with.

this is the point where you might be saying "but Makenzie, if a sex worker doesn't like their job and is only doing it for the money, have they really 'opted in'? isn't that nonconsensual sex?"

first off - no, literally listen to sex workers talk about this. acting like any sex that someone has with a sex worker is inherently nonconsensual is as dangerous as implying that any sex must be consensual, because either way you're deciding that sex workers don't get to be the ones to decide which sex they did or didn't agree to have. sex workers absolutely can experience rape and sexual assault, and that's an issue that needs to be taken seriously, but acting like any sex for money is inherently violating muddies the issue in a way that doesn't help anyone except people looking to criminalize sex workers.

secondly: hey. listen. have you ever in your life had a job that you didn't especially love and wouldn't have done if we didn't live in a capitalist hellscape where money is required to obtain basic necessities like shelter, food, and medicine? yeah, of course you have. sure, without outside forces influencing you, you probably wouldn't have taken that job. that job probably wasn't empowering. but that doesn't mean you were being trafficked, and it definitely doesn't mean you didn't still deserve to advocate for better, safer working conditions at that job.

whether they like their work or not, sex workers deserve to be able to work safely and without being criminalized. shouting at them that they're objectifying themselves, that their work isn't empowering, that they're setting back feminism - none of that helps them in any way. imagine walking up to a group of factory workers striking for better pay and safer working conditions and telling them that they ought to just work on abolishing capitalism instead of doing such demeaning labor. that's an unhinged thing to say, and willfully ignores the reality that capitalist violence won't end over night and workers need money now.

a whole lot of so-called feminists show their entire ass when they actively fight against measures that sex workers support in the name of "protecting women," often working against the very thing those sex working women are begging to have implemented for their own safety and livelihoods. shut up and listen to what sex workers actually need if you want to help them so badly, and if you're desperate for them to quit sex work altogether then pay for their rent, groceries, student loans, etc, yourself.

if you want to learn more about sex work FROM sex workers who write from an explicitly anti-capitalist lens, and how badly sex workers have been burned by measures rolled out in the name of "protecting" them in various countries, I seriously recommend the book Revolting Prostitutes by Molly Smith and Juno Mac - it's one of the most enlightening books I've ever read.

[fromthewondersystem]

System Communication and Journaling

Since we don’t know a lot to do with innerworlds, I focused on the communication part of today’s prompt for summer system education week.

I wanna share some resources I’ve found on system communication and journaling (which I’m a huge advocate for. Out of the many different ways we’ve tried to communicate, journaling has been the most helpful for us.) I also recently got a pre-set-up journal recommended by my therapist, and I’d like to share some of the things in there as well.

Ok, before getting into journaling, here are some general system communication resources I’ve found:

Internal Communication- The Core of Treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder

Developing Internal Communication - Starting with the Basics

Reducing Amnesia - Developing Co-Consciousness

Integrating ‘new’ parts

Staying Organized with Dissociative Identity Disorder (talks about some different communication methods)

For journaling, my first source is about How to Journal for DID. I’d also like to note some tips:

In free journaling, make sure to put the date, time (if able), and name of the alter journaling. If you’re unsure who’s journaling, put who you might be, who you’re closest to, who you may feel like a mix of, or if you really can’t tell, just put Blurry (or Unknown, if applicable).

Try to write every day. Set a reminder for yourself on your phone or something if it will help, set aside some time to just write.

If you can’t think of anything to write, and prompts don’t help, just start writing. It can be anything, notes, activities, even drawings count. Also beginning to write makes it easier to continue and let ideas flow.

You can write to no one in particular or to the world, but you can also write to other alters. Some conversations can occur back and forth in your journal pages. Even if it takes a few days or weeks for the other alter to see your writing, it can still be helpful.

Read through your journal and re-read it from time to time. Are there entries you don’t remember? Or ones you vaguely remember but feel different reading them as you? You can also write responses to alters asking questions or writing to you.

If you want, feel free to mark out different section for different alters, or a section specifically for talking to others in the system, etc. You can mark them with small post-it notes or bookmarks, so you may know more easily where to look for certain information or notes.

Next I’m gonna share the sections of the journal I got, along with some resources to go with different sections (many are from did-sos.com, because man, it’s a great resource site). Some are relevant to multiple sections, but I’ll only write each one once. I’ll put these below a cut since this post is already turning out to be a little long.

Link to get this journal if you’re interested

Section 1: System Rules - Write down system rules for this diary and also your system rules for behavior, decision-making, attending therapy, and more.

Relevant Resources: Hierarchies and Cooperation

Section 2: Alter Check-In - Write down alter name, switch start time, duration of switch, date, and switch trigger and other notes to communicate to the other alters.

Relevant Resources: Team Meetings and conflict solving

Section 3: Alter Introduction and Profile Pages - Include (applicable) info such as name of alter, age, birthday, gender identity, sexuality preference, likes, dislikes, relevant categorizations (aka roles), and other notes.

Relevant Resources: Roll call, Working with categories of parts to solve complex dynamics

Section 4: System Map Pages

“Use [the map pages] to map the host and other alters, group them with things they have in common.

Keep in mind elements like how much time they spend occupying the body, who is the leader, who is a helper.

Think about who does the alter seek help from, who do they in turn help themselves.

Note the different relationships between the alters, e.g. who else is the alter aware of, who is that alter closest to, and who are they most distant from.

What type of jobs and personalities does each alter have.

Remember to date your map to see how it changes over time.”

Look up some templates (like mind maps) for ideas on creating your map.

Relevant Resources: Mapping for DID/OSDD systems

Section 5: Gratitude Prompts and Inspirational Quotes - Answer these questions to break out of negative thoughts patterns and refocus on the things that make you happy and grateful.

Relevant Resources: Happiness/gratefulness journal

Section 6: DID Symptom Tracker, Mood vs. Energy Log, and Lined Journal Pages

Daily Energy vs. Mood Tracker - Track your daily energy and mood using different colors on this line chart - note your triggers below. (The line chart included has on the left side a battery scale, with it being 0% at the bottom and 100% at the top. On the right is a mood scale with five different faces, the top being very happy and the bottom being very upset. The chart goes Monday through Sunday.)

DID Symptom Tracker Pictures

Relevant Resources for Journaling: The Journal in Trauma Therapy, Structured Journaling Exercises for Therapy, Resource Game for DID, Your (scrap)book of resources

[burntotears]

Title: The Texan Job W/C: 14,609 Summary: Deep Sky won't help collect the alien tech on just the mere chance that it might have been built by Nora, so the gang comes together to perform a heist in the middle of a mansion full of party guests. What could go wrong? A/N: Part 4 of Marriage Ain’t Easy TW: a passing reference to suicide, homophobic language and slur

[ AO3 Link or read under the cut ]

THE PLAN

“So let’s consider the options,” Kyle said, leaning back in the chair opposite of Alex’s desk and taking a sip of his coffee.

“Okay,” Alex looked up from the photos they had splayed out on his desk. They were of the ‘Truman tech’ they’d seen inside of Álvarez’s alien gallery. Still unconfirmed, of course, but for now it was easier to give it a codename and roll with it than to beat around the bush.

“The Lockhart machine had the piece of glass inside that had the information Patricia got from Theo, right? They basically downloaded it from his brain to pass it on to Dallas.”

“Correct,” Alex’s word was clipped, a little annoyed at recalling this information again. They’d gone over it a hundred times.

Kyle didn’t take offense. “But Jones also used it to put some form of call out. So obviously it has multiple functions. It works more like a computer than a phone. So shouldn’t we be able to put in other quote-unquote ‘disks’ and read them from the machine?”

Alex sat back, folding his hands together. “In theory, sure. I don’t know that Nora was really thinking of it that way when she built it, though. The point was to get that specific information to Dallas so there was a way to deal with Jones. I don’t think she was worried about smuggling anything else out after that.”

“Not then, sure.” Kyle made a move to put his feet up on Alex’s desk and aborted halfway through when he saw the look on Alex’s face. Alex kept his office tidy when he wasn’t in the middle of a project–old military habits die hard–and he wasn’t in the mood to clean scuff marks off the wood. “But if those pieces really are Truman tech, then they could be modifications for the original machine to allow that possibility. Once she was stuck in Caulfield, I highly doubt she expected to see Michael again–that was kind of dumb luck that it happened in the end. Knowing how resourceful she was, she very well could’ve been coming up with a way to get her own messages heard.”

“I dunno, maybe,” Alex rubbed his forehead with his forefinger and thumb. “That’s a far fucking leap to make on two complete unknowns. We don’t know if the pieces were made by her and we don’t know if they interface with the Lockhart machine. Which is not a great case to bring to the board for approval.”

“You really think they’d say no?” Kyle looked skeptical.

Eduardo wasn’t a bad guy and if it were up to just him, he would probably let Alex and Kyle chase rainbows to their hearts’ content. But Deep Sky was still an organization at its core and it had to get results if it was meant to keep functioning. “I think it will look as if I’m trying to use company resources to crusade for my husband on a case that is flimsy at best. Which is reason enough not to file; the last thing I need is for them to stop approving my assignments because they think I’m in it for my own benefit.”

“So I can do it,” Kyle said easily.

Alex offered him a sad smile. “You’re my best friend, Kyle. They’ll know you’re doing it for me.”

“So we’re just going to give up? Doesn’t sound like us.” He gave Alex an impish grin. They’d officially corrupted him if he was now advocating to get involved rather than being dragged into it by sheer necessity (usually of the medical variety).

There was no way Alex could leave it alone and they both knew it. Unfortunately, the solution was also going to bring its own set of complications. “No, we’re not giving up. But keeping him to task is going to be a fucking nightmare.”

Kyle snorted. “Should’ve thought of that before you married him.”

—

Alex wasn’t sure how Michael was going to take this. It had only been a few weeks since their Álvarez op, but he hadn’t told (or showed) him what they’d discovered there. His reasoning seemed sound in the beginning, but now that they were going to need help in obtaining the pieces, he wasn’t sure if that argument held much water. He wasn’t even certain how to broach the subject of what was there, let alone explain that he’d lied about having visual evidence of it all.

He had to thank small mercies that they didn’t have the bondprint active right now because Michael would smell the anxiety on him before he even got home from work. He would already be able to tell that Alex was wrestling with something while they ate dinner as it was. Except Alex noticed that Michael seemed to be acting a little strangely too.

“I need to show you something, but what’s going on with you?” Alex asked when it felt like the air in the room was stifling.

Michael looked at his plate for a bit longer before meeting his gaze. “So uh, I got accepted into the Engineering program at NMSU.”

“What?” Alex felt like he was missing part of a conversation they should have had, but he definitely would remember if they’d talked about this before. “When did you even – why didn’t you say anything?”

“I just… I didn’t know if I would get in and I didn’t want to bring it up if it wasn’t going to happen.” He looked sheepish as he spoke.

“Michael, that’s ridiculous. Of course you would get in. But I didn’t know you wanted to go. You never mentioned it.” Alex reached over to take the other man’s hand in his own. ���Congratulations. I’m happy for you.” Alex was happy for him. Before Michael’s world was blown up by Jesse Manes and then Noah, Michael had plans to go to college. He deserved this. Something was itching at the back of Alex’s mind, though, and he couldn’t quite pinpoint the source.

Michael squeezed his hand and smiled. “I felt kind of weird about saying something. I’m in my thirties trying to start undergrad. I don’t know.”

"You're smarter than half the people there already. There's no reason to be embarrassed by some teenagers fresh out of diapers."

Michael laughed. "I took your virginity when we were those teenagers fresh out of diapers."

"Ew gross," Alex’s face scrunched up in disgust and he snatched his hand away while Michael laughed even harder. “Don’t ever say those words in the same sentence again.”

“It was your imagery, sweetheart.”

Alex got up to take their dirty plates to the kitchen, taking longer than was strictly necessary. He was definitely stalling. “What do you need to show me?” Michael asked from behind him and Alex sighed, nodding his head toward the coffee table where his laptop bag was sitting.

Once they both sat down, Alex tugged the bag toward himself and unzipped it, pulling the file folder out. “These are photos of the other tech that Álvarez has in his gallery.” He pointedly didn’t look over at Michael.

“What do you mean? I thought you said the recordings were scrambled?”

“They weren't,” Alex replied flatly. Equivocating would get them nowhere. If he was going to come clean, he needed to be completely honest now. “I didn't want to show them to you.”

“What's going on Alex?” Michael sounded worried, a little guarded, but he wasn’t angry yet.

“Kyle and I think that this tech could be related to the Lockhart machine.” Alex didn't set the folder down on the table. He had a white knuckle grip on it, grounding himself by staring at the discoloration of his fingers while he prepared for what came next.

“Related how?”

“The pieces could have been built by your mother.” Alex took a deep breath and waited. It didn’t take long.

“What the fuck, Alex?” Michael yelled as he shoved off the sofa and away from his husband, standing a few feet away now. Alex stared ahead, unable to meet his eye. “You weren't going to tell me?”

“No, I wasn’t.” God, why had he decided brutal honesty was the right idea here? It made him sound apathetic, but he wasn’t going to lie about his motivations. “We have nothing to base that theory on but our own assumptions, Michael.” Alex finally looked up at his husband. “And telling you was just going to agitate you when we’re literally making guesses about this right now.”

Michael threw his hands up, clearly feeling the very thing Alex had wanted to avoid. Though he knew it was directed at him and not the situation. “Then why the hell are you telling me?”

“Because there's no way for us to verify if it's Truman tech–”

“Truman tech?”

“It's just what Kyle and I started referring to it as. The Lockhart machine was built by Nora, hence Truman tech.” There was a complicated mixture of emotions that rippled across Michael’s face, but he didn’t say anything. “Anyway, Deep Sky isn't going to sanction us to go back on the hunch that my husband's mother might have built it.”

“Personal conflict of interest?” Michael scoffed derisively.

“Exactly. But there’s no way we can leave it there if there’s even the smallest possibility that Nora built it.” Of that his conviction was clear. He’d spent some time going back and forth, not just with himself but with Kyle, and the decision wasn’t really much of a decision at all. Alex was always going to retrieve that tech one way or another. “Which means we're going to have to get it ourselves.”

“I cannot believe this.” Michael was justifiably furious. Alex had told him that stealing anything from Álvarez was specifically off limits when he’d suggested the very same thing three weeks ago. “So now you do want to steal it.”

“It’s our only viable option,” Alex agreed flatly.

“And you want me to go with you.” Another thing that Alex had told Michael couldn’t happen because of his temperament.

“It’s our only viable option,” Alex repeated, with only a slight change in cadence.

“Well don’t make it sound like the eleventh-hour, Manes.” Michael sneered. Even so, he ran a hand through his messy curls and sat back down next to Alex.

Alex barely noticed the name considering the current conversation. He was in his tactical-Manes persona, after all. “You do have a tendency not to abide by mission directives. Or any directives, really.”

He saw Michael’s mouth tick up at the corner and rolled his eyes. He finally handed the folder over for his husband to pursue and waited patiently. Even though he knew Michael was still upset, he could see the immediate anger seeping from him, replaced with a determination to focus on a new target.

“So you got a plan?” Michael asked after a while.

Alex cleared his throat. “Part of one. Still working on the details. You’re not the only alien I would need help from.”

Michael glanced over at him. “Who?”

“We still haven’t gone on that double date,” Alex said a little smugly.

His husband’s only response was a groan of protest.

—

“How exciting! A real heist!”

Michael glared at his sister. “This is serious, Isobel.”

“I didn’t realize that being pleasant meant I couldn’t be serious at the same time, Michael,” she snapped back. “This is why Alex didn’t tell you. You’re incapable of rationality when it comes to Nora.”

Alex’s head shot up at the mention of him. This was definitely not what they needed to be talking about right now. Or ever.

“You’re getting into the middle of my marriage now?” Michael’s tone was icy and he took a few steps toward her.

Isobel wasn’t fazed. She’d been dealing with Michael all her life, after all. “I hardly need to. You do that well enough on your own.”

“Okay!” Alex cut in loudly, knowing this was going off the rails in a bad way. “This has nothing to do with the mission, so let’s just keep our personal lives out of the planning, shall we?” He looked sternly back and forth between the two siblings who took their sweet time in backing down.

Michael had been extra snippy with all of them and Alex knew it was his own fault more than anything. He shouldn’t have kept the information from his husband, but if he’d told him earlier, then there would be no planning phase and Michael could be dead from some half-cocked scheme he put together trying to get the tech by himself.

“Here’s what we know so far,” Alex plowed ahead, giving them no time to pick up any loose threads of their previous argument. “Álvarez is hosting an exclusive gathering at his mansion for gallery viewing. Only select clientele invited, of course, considering most of what he owns is illegal. Kyle and I are a known quantity, however, so Kyle was able to snag us invites.”

“Good job, baby,” Isobel patted Kyle on the chest and he preened a little from the praise.

“Yes, we’re all very proud of Valenti,” Michael rolled his eyes and Isobel shot him an annoyed look.

Jesus, this was like herding cats. Alex cleared his throat. “So that means we will be there legitimately and have access to the main gallery space, which makes half the job a whole lot easier. Unfortunately the alien gallery is connected to the main gallery, meaning we will have to slip inside while other people are there and he has two locks coded directly to him that we’ll have to bypass. I don’t know if he plans to show anyone that space during the party, but I’m leaning toward no. It would be better for us not to rely on him to get in anyway.”

Isobel's eyes were curious. “You don’t want to influence him to get in?”

“I’d rather not. If we could avoid him altogether, it’d be ideal. I’m already going to have to go in to deactivate the alarms on the pedestals, so I think it’s safer to spoof the lock mechanisms on the door through the computer system.” It wasn’t the best way to go about it, but the less they interacted with Álvarez, the better.

“What about some sort of alert for tampering with the system?” Michael asked.

“You’re going to have to help me sever some connections in the physical hardware at the same time that I spoof it–that should kill any alarms that would otherwise be triggered. It’ll be the same situation for the pressure plates on the pedestals.” Alex pointed at the columns he and Kyle had gotten pictures of that held up the artifacts in Álvarez’s alien gallery. It was a pretty simple system as far as museums went and normally they could just swap the weight out, but it wasn’t worth the trouble when they could cut the connections and be done with it.

“And how are you meant to get in without anyone seeing you?” Kyle asked.

“It’s funny you should ask that,” Alex grinned and his friend’s face deflated immediately. “You’re going to distract the party goers while Isobel influences any guards away from the area which lets Michael and I sneak in.”

“Distract them with what?”

“I have faith you’ll figure something out.”

Alex looked down his list of to-do items and addressed the next thing he had written down. “We can’t use any kind of radios to stay in contact–Álvarez has all frequencies locked down for his own people from what we gathered when our audio recordings were useless. Isobel and Michael can talk to each other and I guess Isobel could get into mine or Kyle’s heads if need be.” An idea occurred to him and he glanced at Michael. “We could use the bondprint again.”

Michael’s eyes widened and he was chewing on the idea, but Isobel furrowed her brows. “How would that help?”

“I’m almost positive we can communicate telepathically through it,” Alex said nonchalantly, as if that was something he and Michael had actually accomplished already. They’d used the print again, but they hadn’t managed anything that advanced. Still, something told him that they were easily capable of it.

“What the hell makes you think that?” Kyle asked, baffled.

Michael chuckled. “Because it’s Alex.” Truthfully, he’d expected Michael to think he was insane when he mentioned it as a possibility, but his husband didn’t think it was far-fetched at all. Michael gave him a curt nod. “Probably a good idea.”

The downside was if something went sideways during the op, their emotions were going to be looping and making it a little chaotic for them. Though maybe his calm could help Michael focus and stay on point, too.

“No, not a good idea,” Isobel snapped. “Lest we forget the last time you tried rooting around in the bond all willy nilly not knowing what you were doing, Michael. Alex, how could you even suggest such a thing?” Isobel’s wrath turned on him as well and he couldn’t help but cow a little. She’d been (disapprovingly) supervising when they tested it again to keep them safe. So far no disasters had occurred and Michael was successful in opening and closing the connection without issue now. Alex could manage it sometimes too, but it was more difficult on his end for some reason.

“Obviously we’d practice beforehand,” Alex tried.

“And what happens if one or both of you gets screwy somehow and you’re out of commission for the actual heist? We lose our window and then what?” Isobel had her hands on her hips, staring them both down like a bird of prey.

“Iz,” Michael was surprised by her anger. “My telepathy is great. There is no reason that it would screw me up.”

“But you don’t know if Alex’s mind could handle it,” she barked.

“He has no trouble in a mindscape. This is far less invasive,” Michael said slowly and Alex could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to parse what was bothering Isobel. “Why are you so against this?”

“You have no idea what it was like to walk into your house and find you like that, Michael!” Isobel shrieked and stalked out the back door onto the patio, Alex frowning behind her. Kyle began to follow her but he grabbed his arm to stop him and looked at Michael expectantly. His husband blew out a long breath and stood, going out the door and closing it behind him.

“I didn’t realize it was still upsetting her,” Kyle said quietly. “She hasn’t said anything about it since it happened.”

Alex shook his head. “I should’ve thought of that. It makes sense after Max died and especially now with him on Oasis. Michael’s all she has left here.” Isobel had scolded them, sure, but it had mostly been brushed aside with her insistence to oversee their practice.

“I think Max put too much pressure on her when he left. ‘Time for you to protect the family.’ Kind of fucked up, if you ask me.” Kyle watched the patio even though they couldn’t hear what the siblings were saying to each other.

“Oh it was definitely fucked up. His whole exit was egregious, most specifically the timing.” Alex couldn’t help but glare at an unseen person in his mind. Regardless of how ‘fine’ Michael and Isobel said they were, Alex could see the cracks. Some of them might never heal, even if Max did return some day.

Kyle’s eyes widened at the rancor he could hear in Alex’s voice. They hadn’t discussed this before, probably because both of their significant others said they didn’t resent Max for his departure. “Are you pissed at Max?”

“I don’t agree with the decision he made.” It was Max’s prerogative to leave and help Oasis and it was Alex’s prerogative to disagree with the actions he’d taken. He would absolutely criticize the way the man had left his siblings behind.

“Does Michael?”

“He says he’s at peace with it. He understands why Max had to go.”

“Gotta say,” Kyle eyed Alex in bewilderment, “I would’ve expected those roles to be reversed.”

“I live to confuse you,” Alex said sarcastically and Kyle flipped him off just as the other two came back in from the patio. The humans looked up at them apprehensively.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Isobel said first.

“What, no, you don’t need to apologize to me.”

“I do.” She sat down on the coffee table near him and took Alex’s hands in her own. He was still acclimating to Isobel’s affection toward him. He’d always thought that she hated him for what he’d put Michael through–and maybe she had in the past, but she’d seemingly moved past it. She had nothing but kind words and affectionate ribbing for him nowadays.

“I know that you and Michael didn’t purposely screw up when you started working with the bond. I realize that it’s my own fear of something happening to Michael now that Max is gone that’s making me overreact–”

Alex shook his head, curling his fingers around hers and squeezing. “Isobel, you did not overreact. I cannot imagine what it would have been like for me if I found him in that state.”

She smiled warmly at him. “Even so, I overcompensated by hovering over you two like your mother while you kept trying, dictating every little thing you did. And–” she glanced down at their hands, hesitating for a moment, before looking him in the face again, “I blamed you for talking him into trying it in the first place.”

“Isobel, what the fuck?” Michael yelled as Alex froze in place. Normally he was better at confrontation than this, but Isobel’s words were one of his own thoughts actualized. Kyle looked a little pale in the chair beside them. Whatever Michael and Isobel had spoken about outside, it had not included this if Michael’s reaction was anything to go by.

Michael moved as if to push Isobel away from him and Alex’s brain kicked back into gear. He held up a hand to keep Michael at bay. “Michael, it’s fine.” He squeezed Isobel’s fingers again to let her know he wasn’t upset with her.

“No it’s not.”

“She’s entitled to her feelings, no matter how unreasonable they might seem to you,” Alex said quietly and god did that hit close to home right then. He couldn’t help but glance over at Kyle who understood exactly what Alex was thinking.

Michael opened his mouth to respond, but Alex glared at him and was surprised that his husband bit his tongue.

“I know that Michael makes his own decisions and that he’s been trying to figure out how to heal for a while now. I suppose that your involvement with the bondprint gave me another place to direct culpability other than him. Since, y’know, he’s the one I’m scared of losing now that Max is gone.” Even though she was talking about Michael, she was still looking directly at Alex, her eyes a little glassy.

Alex understood. Fuck, he felt like he was on the road to Albuquerque again, his insides fracturing when Michael told him Max was leaving. He could nearly sense everything Isobel was feeling as she said it to him. He sniffed, only now realizing that he was tearing up too. “It might sound cliché, but I understand exactly how you feel.”

“Oh gosh, that’s not what I wanted for you at all,” Isobel started crying harder and leaned in to hug him. He held her tightly. “But it does help, in a strange way,” she said near his ear. Misery loves company. Maybe later when there was less to do, he and Isobel could talk a little more about this.

“What the hell is happening right now?” Michael was bewildered.

“Shut up, Michael. I’m hugging my brother,” Isobel said over Alex’s shoulder, “because I love him.”

“Yeah, so do I. I married him.” The answer came easily, even though he still sounded confused.

“He’s my best friend, I love him too.” Kyle chimed in.

Alex pulled out of the hug. “Now this is just getting weird.”

—

“Getting in seems to be the easy part. How the hell are we getting out?” Kyle looked over the blueprints Alex had procured of Álvarez’s mansion which they had spread out over Michael and Alex’s dining table.

“The only way I can see us being able to extract the tech without it being obvious is working down through the ductwork here.” Alex pointed at the ventilation duct stemming out of the second gallery room toward the downstairs.

Michael raised his eyebrows. “Neither of us is going to fit in there.”

“No, we won’t. You’re going to have to lower it through with your telekinesis. Kyle and Isobel will be at the bottom to retrieve it.” Alex glanced over at him to gauge his reaction because he knew what he was asking.

Isobel balked. “Alex, that’s impossible. How could he lower it through without being able to see it? It would either get banged on the walls or he’d drop it and it gets crushed at the bottom. Destroying it defeats the purpose of stealing it in the first place.” Michael’s face remained unreadable as she spoke.

“We can bring rope and lower it that way,” Kyle tried.

“No,” Michael shook his head. “I can do it.”

“Michael, the energy you would need alone would be outrageous. You’ll have already disabled the locks on the door and the pressure plates.” Isobel looked sympathetic, but her tone was no nonsense all the same. “There’s no way acetone would get you through that, much less the practicality of something you’ve never done before.”

“The bondprint,” Alex said.

“What about it?”

“You can get energy from me through it.”

“No way. I’m not doing that,” Michael shut it down immediately, which Alex had expected.

To his surprise, Isobel agreed with him. "That's not a terrible idea." He smiled at her and she returned the gesture.

"Yes, it is." It was Kyle now, which Alex hadn't expected. He probably should have, though, because Kyle was always going to see things through the lens of a doctor.

"I'm not stupid. It’s not like I would let him put me on my ass." Though he would need to practice more at closing the bond on his end.

“Oh okay. And what happens when things go south and we have to run out of there, Alex? You think after all that time on your prosthesis and with only half the energy you had before that you’ll be just fine to leave?” Kyle was in frank doctor mode now.

“Hey, fuck you, Kyle!” Alex spat back with a pointed finger at the other man, his blood boiling instantaneously. This was top of the list of things that fiercely pissed Alex off. “Don’t doctor-talk to me like I’m a goddamn invalid. I think I know my limitations a little fucking better than you do since I’m the one missing the fucking leg!”

Kyle shook his head derisively. “You know goddamn well that’s not what I was saying, Alex. Don’t pull your sanctimonious war-hero bullshit on me!”

“Kyle!” Isobel gasped, but Alex was… honestly impressed. Kyle had never called him out before and certainly not for something regarding his disability. They all knew Alex had a tendency to overextend his mobility to his own detriment. Michael was the most vocal with Alex about it, but with him and Kyle working together so much now, it seemed like Kyle was getting fed up.

His anger cooled and he held a hand up to Isobel, letting her know it was okay. Michael’s shoulders eased as well. “I get the concern. We will figure out exactly what he needs and test it to make sure I can handle it afterward, okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” Kyle agreed, his own annoyance leveled. “I will be there to evaluate though.”

“Yes, Doc.” Alex clapped him on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you said that to me.”

“It felt pretty good, actually,” Kyle laughed. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

Isobel patted them both on the back and pushed her way between them at the edge of the table. “So assuming that works out, I’m guessing your plan is for me to get all the guards looking the other way as we walk our way out the front door?” She turned her head to Alex.

“If it’s doable? I don’t know the energy conversion for your powers very well.”

“If we’re talking a short nudge to look away just long enough for us to slip by, it wouldn’t be difficult. But it depends on how many guards we are going to run into.”

Alex figured as much. “That isn’t something we’ll know ahead of time, unfortunately. We can tell you how many we saw when we were there, but with so many guests, there’s bound to be a multitude more.” He also had no way of knowing where they would be posted during the party. He could canvas the mansion ahead of time, but he didn’t expect the guards to be at the same positions during a large event. “I’ll see if I can come up with an algorithm to plot the best route out depending on where and how many guards we’re dealing with once we’re onsite.”

That left one more loose end that he could think of. He turned to Kyle. “I know you’re going to hate this, but I need you to bring some backup in case we need to drop people if something goes wrong.”

Kyle blanched. “Seriously? Your dad had a stroke!”

“Nothing that strong, Jesus. They just need to be unconscious or paralyzed long enough for us to get the hell out of there. No comas, dude.” He preferred no deaths, if they could help it.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Kyle sighed.

“It’s going to be all the two of us have. There’s no way I can bring a gun inside. I could wrestle one from a guard, but I would rather not have to engage with them loudly. We have to expect the worst, though.” Alex checked over the table. “I think that covers the basics. Let’s get started.”

—

After Kyle and Isobel had left the house, Alex could feel Michael’s annoyance with him slip back into place like he was putting on a hat. It was fair, but they didn’t have a whole lot of time to dwell on these things. Alex sat down on the couch with his crutches nearby to start the process of removing his prosthesis while Michael was clearing things off the table.

“If you have more you want to say to me, we should get it out in the open,” Alex said matter of factly.

Michael snorted, but he didn’t turn around. “It’s not a business transaction, Alex.”

“It’s not, but we have a lot of shit we need to get done between now and then, which means we need to be on the same page.”

Michael pulled a chair from the table and sat backwards on it, arms folded on top of the backrest, facing Alex where he was on the sofa. “So if Deep Sky had approved getting the tech, would you have told me at all?”

“Before we had any sort of verification if it was legitimate? No, I wouldn’t have,” Alex said truthfully. He set his leg and liner aside and started to pin up the pant leg on his sweats.

“Right, because I’m ‘too irrational’ when it comes to my mother.” Michael’s tone was flat.

“Isobel said that, not me,” Alex corrected. “The reason I didn’t want to tell you is because I didn’t want to get your hopes up.” He paused for a second, remembering their conversation from earlier. “Sort of like how you decided not to tell me you were applying to school–or even mention you were interested in going at all.”

“Now hang on,” Michael started, caught out. “That’s completely different.”

“Oh, is it? Because you weren’t sparing your own feelings on the matter. Hell Guerin, I don’t even know how this is going to work. Are you moving to Las Cruces for four fucking years? Am I supposed to be moving there? It feels a little like something we should’ve discussed before you start classes in, oh,” he glanced at a non-existent watch on his wrist, “two months from now, is it?” When Michael had first told him, he’d been so shocked that the realities hadn’t fully set in for him. Now that they had, he was pissed.

Michael, for his part, looked apologetic. “Okay, you’re right. I should’ve told you. If you don’t want me to go–”

“I did not say that. Don’t you put that shit on me,” Alex snapped. “I’m pissed that you hid this from me and I have no idea what the hell is happening when you start school.”

Michael got up from the chair and moved toward Alex; he sat on the coffee table directly across from him, legs spread on either side of Alex’s own and put his hands on his husband’s thighs. “My classes will be online until the last couple of years when I have to do labs in person. We’ll figure out what we wanna do then, but for right now I’ll be going to school at the table right over there.” He tilted his head toward the dining table.

Alex took a deep breath and felt the tension in his chest ease immensely. He probably should’ve thought of online classes, but his brain was too wired to scream ‘change, change, change’ and the worst case scenario had popped up. “Shit, I’m an idiot.”

“No you aren’t. Completely valid concerns that I probably should have thought to address immediately when I told you.” Alex reached down and tangled his hands with Michael’s in his lap.

“Michael, there’s still a chance after we do this that this tech isn’t from your mother. We could be making a huge effort for nothing. Someone could have imitated the Lockhart machine, tried to build their own–”

“Yeah, I know. And you’re probably right to have held off telling me. Even now I’m champing at the bit to run in there without any plan whatsoever. So you weren’t wrong and neither was Isobel, really.” He squeezed Alex’s hands, looking a little lost in his thoughts. “Just the thought of having anything that she created fills me with fire, y’know? I want to get anything I can.”

“That’s why I am doing this. But I would hate to see your heart get crushed if it isn’t what we thought.” Alex reached up and brushed his fingers over his husband’s cheek.

Michael turned his face into Alex’s hand and kissed his palm.“Thanks, but I think I need to learn to be a bit more mature about these things. It’ll be a disappointment, but it shouldn’t be a crushing blow to my sanity. The upside is that regardless of how risky it all is, we’ll be training more and get new skills out of it.”

Speaking of which, after he and Kyle had started to argue about Alex’s energy levels, Michael’s objection to it had fallen to the wayside. “Are you going to take my energy through the bond?”

Michael laughed a little sourly. “Somehow I feel like if I didn’t, you’d find a way to force it through anyway.” Alex hadn’t considered that as an option, but if it could be taken, couldn’t it be given, and by force if necessary? “Great, I just gave you the idea, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t think of it as an option before, but you might be onto something.”

“You have to practice closing the bond on your end so that you can stop me. I won’t know how much to take.” Michael fixed him with a steady look. “And Valenti was right. You need to make sure you don’t overextend what you can actually do without.”

“Hmm, ‘Valenti was right’. Three words I never thought I’d hear you say.”

Michael took Alex’s chin between his thumb and forefinger. “See, I know you’re trying to deflect with humor, but I’m serious here, Alex.”

Since when did Michael and Kyle have a united front? That wasn’t a double team he ever expected to see. “I got it. I’ll be responsible, I promise.”

THE HEIST

Fighting Isobel Evans for creative control of his wardrobe for the party was a losing battle. Alex tried explaining about functionality for the mission, usability for the tablet he needed to hide, even mentioned his prosthesis, but she had a rebuttal for everything. Eventually he just conceded because she assured him it would be exactly what he needed.

When his and Michael’s suits arrived two nights before the party, he had to acknowledge that she’d been right. “Don’t tell her that. She’ll wipe out your entire wardrobe,” Michael said with a laugh.

Maybe he wouldn’t mind going shopping with Isobel sometime. He honestly never expected to become close with her, but they spent more time around each other now that she and Kyle were dating. After Max left, Liz threw most of her energy into work so he hardly ever saw her. It had always been her coping mechanism, but he had to admit that he was contributing to the distance too thanks to his recent antipathy for Max. He still texted with Rosa on occasion and Maria was in and out of his life these days too. She split most of her time between working on her astral projection and the Pony, no longer as involved in the day-to-day alien adventures.

“I dunno about that,” Alex said. “I think I have a pretty decent style.” He’d been over the top in high school and too buttoned up during his first few years of enlistment under DADT. It was a year or so after when he finally found a happy medium between those two worlds that felt authentic. Weirdly, the suit Isobel had picked out felt perfect to him. She just had a way of understanding people.

“Definitely,” Michael agreed as he proceeded to unbutton Alex’s shirt for him.

He rolled his eyes. “Naked isn’t a part of my clothing style.”

“I disagree,” Michael murmured, sliding the fabric off his shoulders. “You want it on your chest?”

Alex nodded. “I think it feels stronger there. That might just be psychological, but if it helps, then might as well.”

“You’re the boss,” Michael said, which Alex opened his mouth to refute, but his husband already planted his hand in the center of his chest and tugged him forward with the other arm around his waist, kissing him openly.

It was a little awkward with Michael’s hand pressed between them, but he was distracted by the man’s mouth against his. Alex slid his fingers into Michael’s curls and cupped his neck, noting the slight tingle against the skin of his chest as he slipped his tongue into Michael’s mouth. The moment the bond connected they were both gasping and clutching each other tighter. They didn’t kiss for much longer; Alex pulled back and rested his forehead on Michael’s shoulder.

“You always feel fucking phenomenal inside me,” Michael murmured near his ear, making Alex snicker even though he knew Michael hadn’t meant it sexually. His love-amusement dripped steadily over through their bond.

Fuck you, Alex heard in his head and it only made him laugh more.

“Not everything’s about sex, Guerin,” Michael lamented, pulling out of the cocoon of their hug. Alex missed the contact immediately, but it wasn’t as gut-wrenching as it had been the first time they’d used the print. Once they’d figured out how to open and close the bond, the desperation for physical contact settled on an even keel between the two of them rather than yanking so hard on Michael. Sometimes Alex missed the codependence they shared those first few days, but he also knew it was heinously unhealthy and unsustainable for their sanity.

Says the man who called it a ‘fuckprint’, Alex shot back and Michael’s smirk was luminous. God, he made cocksure the sexiest thing in the whole goddamn world. Michael’s eyebrows lifted toward the ceiling when Alex’s desire made itself known; Alex glared at him and slammed the bond shut like a door in the face, causing Michael to chuckle.

“No one can say we aren’t prepared,” Michael drawled. Alex hoped he was right. He still felt a little wobbly about closing the bond. It was a constant pull to be near his husband whenever they were connected that made it difficult to shut him out. Something like this, as just a joke, was easy enough to accomplish, but their practice runs hadn’t been the most successful. Whatever he could feel that Michael needed, Alex wanted to give of himself, regardless of what it did to his own body or psyche. His promise to Kyle about not letting it put him on the ass had only been upheld twice so far in their dry runs. To say Kyle was irritated with him was the understatement of the year.

Alex packed the rest of his things in his laptop bag and zipped it closed. "You ready to head out? Isobel and Kyle said they would leave in a couple of hours. Kyle has a few things to finish at the office."

That gave Michael pause. "Are you two sure they aren't going to figure out what you're up to?"

"After the fact, yeah, they'll put it together. But being indispensable to the organization does come with a few perks. Asking for forgiveness and not permission, for one thing.” Out of anyone who had ever worked for Deep Sky, Alex and Kyle had the most firsthand experience with Oasians. They were the only ones with clearance from said aliens to interface in all aspects, so that had made them critically influential within the company since their tenure began. It had also gained them more freedoms, though they still weren’t designated as more than high level field agents–with their own offices due to unprecedented circumstances. “But I’ve taken precautions. I know how to hide from them.”

Michael narrowed his eyes. “You don’t always use your powers for good.”

Alex never told Michael what he’d seen when he was hallucinating with the Lockhart machine. Considering Nora made it, Alex assumed that everyone saw her and that she spoke specifically to each person’s fears, but there was that nagging at the back of his brain that made him wonder if it had been different for him because of his relationship with her son. Was it his own fears she was speaking to, or did she not approve of Alex for Michael? Shit, he hadn’t thought about this in a while and it made his stomach twist.

“Let’s go.”

—

Alex set up their make-shift command center in the common area that connected the two hotel rooms in the suite they’d rented. It made things easier than trying to shuffle back and forth between two rooms and also looked less suspicious for the foot traffic.

“Were you able to find anything on Álvarez outsourcing for security?” Isobel asked, sitting down next to Alex on the sofa and offering him a warm cup of tea. He accepted it gratefully, along with the lack of harassment over his excessively paranoid setup in the room. The silent trip alarm for every possible entrance into the suite that sent notifications to his phone was a superfluous touch, even for him.

“No. I can’t track down all the accounts he’s got set up. He already closed the one that we wired the transaction to from Deep Sky, so he’s moving money around a lot.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I wish I could be more precise for you.”

Isobel waved him off with a flip of her hand. “Nothing to apologize for. I’ll have acetone on hand and Kyle has the ketamine on standby so if worse comes to worse, we’ll just put them to sleep for a while.” Alex didn’t want to know how Kyle had gotten ahold of ketamine–he knew from experience that it was heavily regulated because the Air Force had given him infusions while his stump was healing. They’d practically had the vials handcuffed to the doctors. With a hospital full of soldiers suffering from PTSD–many of whom might already be dying–self-administering your own death sentence could be an appealing prospect.

“Yeah, let’s just triple check that we have the dosages right on that before we go stabbing needles into anyone,” Alex said wryly.

Isobel patted his hand that was curled around the mug. “You know he’ll be careful. He couldn’t live with himself if he made that sort of mistake.”

“I know. I’m just nervous.”

“It’s as good a plan as we could possibly conceive, Alex,” she assured him.

“It’s not really the plan itself that concerns me,” he admitted, setting down the tea and mussing his hair, “it’s the crushing disappointment if this was all for nothing. Wasting everyone’s time, putting you guys in danger, and for what?”

“For hope, you idiot,” Isobel chided and shoulder checked him. “I don’t know why you and Michael think that hope is such a dangerous commodity.”

“Because when it doesn’t work out–”

“Anything in life can fail, Alex,” Isobel said, cutting him off. “You’re no Atlas; you can’t shoulder the burden of tribulations for everyone. We all need to have our own hope, even if grief is at the other end of it. Otherwise we wouldn’t be living our lives at all.”

Alex blew out a heavy breath and let her words wriggle into the corners of his mind that he kept cordoned off with remnants of Manes mortar. It wasn’t just wanting to protect those he cared about, but those ingrained exigencies to control every aspect of life he could touch. An overcompensation for a life of having someone else dictate who he was supposed to be–and a realization that he’d joined the military because the command structure was a well-worn groove in his psyche he could slot back into with ease.

He must have remained quiet for some time, because Isobel touched his shoulder and apologized. “Did I overstep?”

Alex shook his head. “I think you just said something that I needed to hear.”

—

Isobel was resplendent in her form fitting floor-length red dress that had a long sleeve on one arm and no sleeve on the other and one slit cut up to her thigh. Alex whistled appreciatively at her when she stepped into the common room, to which she smiled and Kyle told him to back off. The three men had well cut suits, all slightly different in style and color, complete with hidden pockets inside for smuggling necessities. “Here we go.”

They spent the first thirty minutes or so at the mansion meandering about the gallery and down the open halls, taking stock of security placements and relaying the information back to Alex. He had to excuse himself to a bathroom stall to input it into his tablet.

It looks like taking the side exit is going to be our play, he told Michael once his algorithm had finished calculating the best route. He traced along it with his finger as he spoke. Tell Isobel it’s seven guards–two at each set of doors when you leave east from the utility room. Outside door has one more guard, then two at the back entrance to the parking lot.

He felt a twinge of worry drift back to him. Fuck, that’s a lot.

It’s the best option to allow for shorter travel time. We can manually disable if we need to.

Michael was annoyed by something he’d said, but he didn’t explain what. Alex put the tablet back inside his suit jacket and returned to the gallery space where Isobel offered him a wink when he walked past on his way toward Michael. He slid his arm through his husband’s and pretended to look at the art with him.

“Iz and Valenti ran into Álvarez,” Michael murmured when he tilted his head toward Alex.

Alex only stiffened slightly. “It go okay?”

“Iz can make anyone fall in love with her,” was Michael’s response and Alex had to agree.

Give her the go ahead, Alex sent, taking one deep breath to prepare himself. He only hoped their preparation had been enough to make this successful against any unforeseen circumstances.

They remained at their corner of the room, moving slightly as if they were checking out another piece when the sound of glass breaking and a shocked scream filled the gallery. Alex frowned, glancing toward the noise like the other patrons.

“Oh god! What’s happening to him?” a woman was shrieking over a man who was clearly seizing on the floor. “Someone help him!”

“I’m a doctor!” Kyle said, rushing toward the man, while Isobel covered her mouth in concern. Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw the guards posted at the alien gallery entrance begin walking toward the scene that was unfolding, so he and Michael started to inch in the opposite direction.

Alex was pulling his tablet out when he heard one of the guards speak behind him, his heart falling into his stomach. “Give the doctor some room, everyone.” Alex’s breath wooshed and he closed his eyes for a moment before directing his attention to the tablet.

He had prepared the code he needed to add to the security system ahead of time, it just needed to be put in place and executed in sync with Michael severing the wires inside the physical device. Once it was pasted in the correct position, he looked at Michael, who nodded that he was ready.

“Oh god, he’s going to die!” the woman lamented loudly behind them.

“Ma’am, please step back and let me examine him,” Kyle responded in a firm tone.

Three… two… one… go. Alex hit execute just as Michael’s brow creased in concentration and the glowing handprint scanner turned off completely without any fanfare. Anticlimactic, but effective.

Alex prepared the code for the eye scanner, while the woman behind them wailed indiscriminately. When they were both ready, he counted them down again and the eye scanner went black just like the handprint scanner. The door won’t get a signal to disengage so you’ll have to pop it open.

Michael gave a curt nod and there was a small snick as the door gaped open. Alex stuck his fingers through and pulled it just enough to slip inside, Michael following. He heard, “So he’ll be okay?” from the other side of the door just before it shut again.

Alex lifted his arm and started a timer on his watch for fifteen minutes. “Southwest corner first.”

There were six pieces of Truman tech they were going to remove, all placed on separate pedestals. Alex’s original plan was to disengage the alarms all at once, but he was worried about the internal wiring system. They could be spidering out from one central line, but had no schematics that would give a proper choke point to cut at. It was deemed too risky, so they were cutting at each pedestal instead. It would take longer, but there was less chance of failure.

As they moved to the southwest pedestal, Alex could practically feel the drag of Michael’s eyes over the two pieces of alien glass that they had not allotted time to retrieve. “No, Michael.”

“Alex…”

He prepared the code for the piece in front of them and looked at his husband expectantly. “Are you ready?”

To his credit, Michael refocused on their task and nodded. “Three… two… one… go.” Alex pressed execute and Michael severed the wiring to the pressure plate. There were no visual cues here to know that their work was done, which was a little disconcerting.

“Did it work?” Michael asked, his worry slipping into Alex’s chest.

“We did it correctly,” Alex said in lieu of a real answer. “South,” he designated the next pedestal, preparing his next code snippet and moving to the corresponding piece of tech. They repeated the same process for the south and southeast pedestals before Alex checked his timer. Ten minutes left.

“Northeast. Are Isobel and Kyle in place?” It was almost like a dance: grab the code snippet, stand in front of a pedestal, count Michael down, execute the code, side-step, grab the code snippet, stand in front of a pedestal…

“Yes, they’re ready.”

Alex hummed to show he’d heard. “Three… two… one… go. North.” Once they had finished north and northwest, Alex shoved his tablet back into his jacket pocket. This was the real moment of truth. If they picked up this tech and the alarm went off, they were officially fighting their way out of here and he didn’t like their odds.

He held his breath and slowly lifted the piece off the plate. The plate was still depressed as if the weight was never removed. Relieved, he gathered two more while Michael got the other three. “Acetone?” he asked when they’d gathered the pieces in front of the vent.

“Yeah,” Michael agreed and pulled a bottle from his pocket, downing half the contents. He pulled the vent off the opening with his telekinesis and sent it to Alex who set it aside.

“Two at a time? I think three is risking hitting the walls of the duct,” Alex said when he glanced inside the vent opening.

Michael stuck his head in to gauge the size better. When he backed out he nodded his agreement and rapped his knuckles on the inside of the ductwork once. They heard an answering knock moments later. “Ready.”

Alex moved back a bit to give him room and watched as his husband lifted two of the pieces at the same time, carefully directing them through the vent hole and downward until they were no longer visible. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration and Alex found himself holding his breath and standing stock still, afraid to do anything that might distract him.

Moments later Michael’s face softened and he took in a heaving breath, tottering backward a little. Alex was there quickly, hand at the center of his back to keep him steady as a knock sounded in the duct again. “Are you alright?”

“Peachy,” Michael drawled, already sounding tired.

“Can you do the next one or do you need some energy now?” He was tempted to tell Michael to take it now anyway, but he trusted him to be responsible with this.

“I got it. Can you stay here though?”

“Of course.” Alex kept his hand splayed on Michael's back for support, his husband shooting him a grateful look before rapping his knuckles in the duct to indicate the next transfer was beginning. He carefully lifted two more pieces of tech with his mind, easing them down and out of sight through the ductwork and into the waiting fabric net Isobel and Kyle had fashioned below.

When he released his hold on them he stumbled again so Alex wrapped his arm around his waist, placing his chest against Michael’s back. Alex took the other man’s hand in his own. “Take it,” he said.

“Alex, I–”

“Now, Guerin.” His tone must have done it, because Alex could feel that strange tug beneath his skin start almost immediately. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it and he didn’t want to make a habit of it, but he was glad the possibility was there if they needed it. It was just like he’d imagined it would feel if a vampire was draining his blood–like the life was being sucked right out of him. No, he definitely would never get used to it. Once he felt Michael’s frame straighten more and his own body slackening, he snapped the bond shut (thankfully without incident).

“Thanks,” Michael said with real gratitude that Alex didn’t need a bond to feel. He knocked into the air duct again while Alex leaned against the wall nearby, watching him repeat the same process for the last time. He felt winded, but he’d be fine to get out. Alex heard the last echoing knock come through the ductwork when Kyle and Isobel had received the last two pieces and Michael relaxed, pulling out his bottle of acetone and draining the rest of the contents. Two minutes left on the clock, Alex saw when he checked his watch. They were cutting it close.

“Isobel says the guards are at the other end of the gallery still, but they haven’t seen Álvar–”

The door slammed open behind them, startling them both so badly that the bond reopened without any conscious effort. It could’ve been caused by a deluge of adrenaline or just an automatic preservation instinct they couldn’t control. Regardless, there was a flood of fear looping between them that wasn’t going to improve their situation.

Alex wasn’t surprised to see Álvarez walk through the door flanked by two guards–they must have been from another area of the mansion and were untouched by Isobel. The guards stopped at the door once it closed while Álvarez moved closer to them.

He made a tutting noise when he looked at them and shook his head. “I knew there was something suspicious about Dr. Valenti’s very loud proclamations of assistance for Mr. Doyle’s condition. Even more when the man just miraculously stopped convulsing after a few minutes. But I thought, ‘what reason would a doctor have to cause someone to seize, only to stop it not long after’? A distraction, of course!” He clapped his hands together as if he was having a good time recounting the story.

Alex took a deep breath and stuffed down his fear. He needed to keep them both composed if they had any chance of making it out of here with no bullet holes. Do not speak to him, Alex warned Michael, his face impassive as he stared ahead at Álvarez.

“It only took a cursory glance at the cameras to notice the two of you were missing.” Álvarez stepped through the room, merely wandering around as if perusing his own gallery rather than confronting two thieves. His suit was perfectly in place, white with a gray pinstripe, the top two buttons undone on his undershirt and yet somehow he still looked professional. He knew how to carry himself with the authority that made people want to fall in line–Alex only now realized that the man was former military. He hadn’t found any reference to that in the research he’d done, which meant his record was scrubbed. Why?

What is it? Michael had noticed the uptick in Alex’s heartbeat.

He was military, but he has no record.

Michael stiffened slightly. We know what that usually means.

Fuck. The implications were too much to even consider right now. They had to get out alive before he even entertained the idea.

“I had high hopes for you, Captain Manes, despite your… proclivities.” He wrinkled his nose as he looked at Michael. “The Air Force has its limitations, as your father discovered, so when I found out you joined Deep Sky after your brother killed Jesse, I thought surely his plan is to infiltrate and use their resources to gain information otherwise unavailable through the military. A way to carry on the legacy that his misguided brother cut short.”

Alex… They had to be in a parallel world if it was Michael trying to temper Alex’s fury right now.

Alex balled his fist, his fingernails digging half-moons into the flesh of his palm. I know. He’d be giving the literal meaning to biting his tongue soon if this kept on much longer.

Álvarez continued meandering around the room as he spoke. He hadn’t spared a single glance for the empty pedestals, which made Alex uneasy about their validity. “After meeting you the first time, I can’t say I was convinced. You’re petulant, that much is obvious, but you still have a backbone at the very least. Malleable enough, in the right circumstances.”

Malleable? For what his father had been doing in Project Shepard? Was this really the man who was in charge, or was he just another rung on the ladder?

“Knowing that Deep Sky has the Lockhart machine, I was expecting you to contact me after you saw the other tech in my gallery.” He gave an exaggerated weary sigh. “My own folly was not connecting the dots fast enough between the purchase Deep Sky made and the missing tech from the facility that was raided months ago.”

Fuck fuckity fuck.

“But I don’t think Deep Sky is sanctioning raids,” Álvarez said slowly, turning his head to look at Alex. “So then why did they want that piece of tech in particular instead of, say, this alien glass?” He waved toward the other pedestals. “It was innocuous, as far as alien technology goes. Unless someone already had another part of the puzzle to interface with it…

“Once I realized it was you, Captain Manes, interfering with Project Shepard… well you can imagine my disappointment. How your father would be rolling over in his grave.”

Alex wanted to laugh because that was exactly what he hoped for–his father’s perpetual torment in hell while he watched Alex dismantle his life’s work. He hoped his father got dizzy from all the rolling the man did in his grave.

“But then I discovered that you don’t care about that. You have no love for your father, your family legacy, no love for anything of worth.” At this he sneered toward Michael, before fixing his eyes on Alex again. There was anger rising in both of them, but Alex was trying to tamp it down. There were still armed guards standing by the door.

“You see, you were never fit to wear the uniform and certainly did not earn the title the Air Force threw at you. You have only reinforced the fact that a faggot doesn’t understand the meaning of honor, is incapable of conducting himself with dignity, and has–” They didn’t hear whatever else Álvarez planned to say, because Michael descended on him faster than Alex had ever seen him move before.

“No, Michael, stop!” Alex reached out for him too late.

Michael’s fist collided with Álvarez’s nose so hard that Alex heard something snap and the force knocked the man back a few steps. The guards moved toward them immediately and Michael used his telekinesis to throw them back into the wall so forcefully that their heads made contact and they were knocked unconscious on impact, sliding down like ragdolls.

Michael’s next attempt at a punch was blocked by Álvarez’s forearm and the man pushed his husband away. “Oh, Jesse suspected but I thought he was just blinded by his disgust for you, Alex. I should have known your depravity ran so much deeper. You wouldn’t be satisfied with the average trailer trash, no your scatological nature craves an equal in vulgari–”

“Shut up!” The words hit Alex harder than he wanted to admit. Usually he could handle the taunting, but there was something about the way Álvarez was talking about Alex and Michael together that caused Alex to lose the last shred of control he’d been holding onto. His hands were balled into fists, his face tight in outrage, and he closed his eyes as he screamed the words.

Álvarez shut up. He shut up because his body flew back and slammed against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Even though Michael was overexerting his powers, Alex couldn't help feeling pleased that he’d thrown the man.

Except now Alex’s brain felt fuzzy, his knees were wobbling, the room was spinning, and he was definitely falling to the floor. “Alex!” Michael caught him before he managed to knock himself out by hitting his head on the ground.

Álvarez was stirring, finally regaining his breath as Michael eased Alex down. “Give me a second.” Alex was only dimly aware of what he was doing–most likely jabbing a syringe filled with ketamine into the man’s neck before he could regroup. Álvarez slumped back down a few seconds later and Michael was next to Alex again.

“What did you do?” Michael asked, concern-confusion seeping through all of Alex’s pores.

“What are you talking about?”

“You need to take some of my energy.” Alex could only assume that Michael’s outburst had overtaxed him through the bond somehow. Whatever caused it, they needed to leave and Alex couldn’t function like this, so he did what Michael suggested.

He grasped Michael’s hand tightly and concentrated on pulling back his ability to stand and think and escape this hellscape. His head was mostly clear when he felt the flow abruptly stop and Michael fell back from his crouch onto his ass. He pulled out another bottle of acetone and drained it completely. It didn’t make him look much better than before. “Shit, you don’t look good,” Alex noted.

“Neither do you,” Michael teased.

“Kyle and Isobel,” Alex said abruptly and turned over onto his hands and knees to push himself into a standing position.

“They’re still in the utility room freaking out.” Michael gestured over to Álvarez. “What are we gonna do with him?”

“Nothing. He’ll wake up eventually. We need to go.” Alex started toward the door.

“Alex, you can’t be serious. He’s obviously involved in Project Shepard. We can’t just leave him here!” Michael’s scared-desperation cut into Alex a little, but they didn’t have time to deal with it right now. “He’ll come after us!”

“They always do, Michael.” Jesus, why was that so common that Alex felt unaffected when he said it? “We will deal with it, but we have to leave. Now.”

“Fuck!” Michael yanked at his curls, but Alex felt him cooperating. Alex got the door opened enough to peek out into the gallery hall. It was deserted; Álvarez must have sent the party goers to the dining hall so he could march Michael and Alex out without upsetting the guests.

Just as he stepped out of the door, an alarm blared to life overhead. There was no way Álvarez would have activated a motion alarm when he expected to leave the room again, so what had tripped it? Michael appeared next to him in the doorway holding a piece of alien glass in each hand.

“Fucking Christ, Guerin!” Alex didn’t bother keeping his voice down–the klaxon was loud but his anger was louder. Guards would be headed to their location now, so they didn’t have time to do anything but run. Alex grabbed one piece from Michael so he had a free hand, then they headed to the stairwell exit of the gallery hall which exited right next to the utility room downstairs.

Unfortunately Alex wasn’t at his best and there was no way he could move down the stairs quickly. “Need to bar the door somehow.”

Michael waved him on. “Get going, I’ll handle it.” His husband was already searching the nearby landing for something useful, so Alex started his slow descent down the staircase. His stump was already protesting every movement, but he pushed forward anyway, gritting his teeth against the bright spots of pain and ignoring the obnoxious voice of Kyle in his head telling him ‘I told you so’. Alex was halfway down when Michael caught up with him. “I wedged a broom handle in there, but it’s not going to hold for very long.”

Alex didn’t have the space in his head to make it down the stairs and answer Michael at the same time, so he didn’t say anything. He did raise his hand against any protest before returning both hands to the railing. Michael didn’t argue; he jogged down ahead and opened the lower door, looking back and forth down the hall and giving the all clear. “I’ll go get Isobel and Valenti,” and he was gone. Alex finally let some tears escape even though it didn’t relieve any of the pain. It at least felt a tiny bit cathartic in the coffin of the stairwell.

He’d reached the first floor landing just as all three returned to the door.

“I’d ask what the hell is going on, but I don’t think we have the time,” Kyle said sardonically. Alex followed them to the first set of double doors while his stump screamed in agony.

“Definitely not. Isobel are you ready?” Alex ignored the worried look she raked over him.

“Yes, I think so. It will need to be a short time for each or I won’t make it.”

“Just have them face away from us as we pass and then release them completely facing the other way. Hopefully we’ll be out of line of sight by the time they turn around again. If not… we’ll handle it another way.” Fuck, Alex was in no condition to handle anything and it showed. He was going to slow their movements by half and make Isobel have to influence them twice as long.

Kyle shook his head. “I’ll be the asshole–you’re going to slow us down and there’s no way she can influence them long enough.”

“Christ, I know,” Alex groused, rubbing his forehead as he tried to reformulate a plan. “Isobel, can you manage to get the two at the parking lot to leave and we will–”

The double doors crashed open and they were greeted with a group of four guards at once; Alex assumed they were the two groups they were meant to pass in the hallway first. “Drop the art.”

“Guerin, guns. Don’t kill anyone.” Alex said and held a hand out expectantly.

The guards looked at him like he was a moron just as all their guns flew out of their hands, one pistol landing in Alex’s hand and one in Michael’s. The rest went sliding across the floor behind them. Alex shot three of the guards in the left shin in succession, each dropping to the floor on impact. Michael shot the last one in the thigh.

“Can you guys carry this glass too?” Alex and Michael handed over the pieces of glass. “Let’s move.” They had to pick their way through the groaning guards but at least the hallway was a straight shot to the exit now, so long as they could make it before more guards showed up behind them.

Alex tried to pull all his focus into his hands wrapped around the gun and not the excruciating pain that radiated up his thigh and into his hip. He was mostly unsuccessful at that. It felt like he was stuck in one of those nightmares where no matter how far you walked, the exit just kept moving away from you. His head was beginning to ache along with his lower body in a redoubling effort of torture.

They did reach the single door eventually, Michael going out first and clocking the butt of his gun against the temple of the guard right outside. They filed out as quickly as Alex could manage.

“I can go ahead, drop the guards, and pull the car to the sidewalk,” Michael suggested.

“No,” Alex shut down. “We stay together. We’re not taking any chances.”

“He’s right, Michael,” Isobel said in that tone that allowed no arguments.

His husband didn’t respond, but he didn’t make any moves, either. They remained quiet after that, moving as a unit toward the back entrance of the parking area. When the guards came into view, both facing away from the group, Alex shook his head at Michael. Hold until I say.

Michael nodded and the other two looked sideways at them, concern on their faces when they kept moving forward and neither of them were shooting. As they approached, Alex heard the sound of a video playing–both men were engrossed in whatever they were watching on the screen of the phone. Alex held a hand up for Kyle and Isobel to stop and mimed to Michael as they crept up behind them. They lifted their guns and dropped them down hard against each man’s head in unison, the phone clattering to the ground as they crumpled forward.

Alex bade the couple follow and they kept moving into the parking lot. He was momentarily disoriented when he couldn’t find his Explorer until he remembered they had rented a vehicle because he wasn’t stupid enough to drive his own car to this op. He felt stupid from pain right now, though. Michael wordlessly dug the keys from Alex’s pocket and unlocked the rental, waving Alex to the passenger seat, which he wasn’t going to argue. Once the tech was safely secured and everyone was inside, Michael started driving them out.

“Don’t speed once you leave the driveway,” Alex informed him, his head heavy against the window. He was legitimately going to pass out from the pain. “Close the bond.”

“Alex, you’re practically unconscious!” Michael glanced over, his desperate-concern eating into Alex’s chest.

“And you need to stay focused on driving.” There were a few more moments of worry before it shut down and Alex’s world went blissfully dark.

THE DEBRIEF

When Alex regained consciousness he was in the bed at the hotel with an IV in his arm. How the hell they managed to get him all the way here while he was dead weight, he had no idea, but he was grateful nonetheless. His grunt came out like a question because he didn’t feel the pain from his stump anymore.

Michael sat down next to him on the bed and brushed his hair away from his forehead.

“How long was I out?” he croaked and then cleared his throat. Michael grabbed him some water which he accepted, leaning up a little to drink a third of the contents before his mouth felt normal again.

Michael took the water back when Alex was finished. “Couple hours. Kyle gave you a little bit of ketamine for the pain.”

Alex groaned and dropped his head onto the pillow. “Kyle, that shit can give me hallucinations without proper anesthesia, you fuckwit!” he yelled at the ceiling.

“It’s either the possibility of hallucinations or debilitating pain, jackass!” Kyle called back with zero sympathy.

“His bedside manner really sucks,” Alex pouted, causing Michael to grin at him. Alex held up a hand to Michael’s face, brushing his thumb along his cheekbone. “How are you doing?”

“Better than you. Jesus, Alex.”

“I know,” he sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face.

“You really, really don’t.” Michael’s eyes were bright and wide, staring at Alex like he’d never met him before.

Alex’s concern heightened instantly. “Did something happen? Is everyone alright? Did they fi–” He made a weak attempt to sit up, but Michael eased him back down with a hand on his chest.

“No, everyone is fine. It’s not that. When you can get out of bed, we’ll go over everything. You should get some more rest.” His voice was soft but firm.

Alex’s first instinct was to argue that he was ready now, but after the fiasco at the mansion, it would be absurdly irresponsible of him. His body needed the rest, even if he was missing context for something. “Okay.”

Michael feigned shock and Alex rolled his eyes, getting comfortable again. His husband gave him a kiss on the forehead before he left the room.

—

When Alex woke up next he could hear Isobel and Michael in the common room.

“Michael, that’s impossible.”

The IV was out of his arm and his crutches were leaning against the table by the bed.

“Iz, I’m not an idiot. I know what I saw.” Michael sounded exasperated, like he was tired of reiterating this.

Alex pushed himself upright on the bed, one foot on the floor, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before reaching for the crutches.

“I know you like to think that you and Alex have this cosmic connection, but even the two of you can’t defy reality.” It was obvious she was attempting to be conciliatory, but was finding it difficult to indulge him.

Alex got the crutches under his arms and made his way into the other room. “Who’s defying reality now?”

“Alex, hi. You look a lot better,” Isobel smiled far too wide at him.

“I know you were talking about me. What is it?” He levered himself over to the sofa next to Michael and sat down, looking between the two of them.

“Michael’s under the impression that you… used his powers when Álvarez found the two of you in the alien gallery.” Isobel spoke slowly and concisely like she was trying to soften the blow of bad news.

Alex scoffed. “What? That’s impossible.” He turned to Michael, expecting some sort of smirk or laugh but his husband’s face remained serious. “Michael?”

Michael put his hands on Alex’s thigh, his voice even and eyes soft. “When Álvarez kept saying all that homophobic bullshit and you screamed at him to stop… you threw him against the wall, Alex.”

“No I didn’t, that was you.”

“I didn’t do anything. Why do you think you collapsed right after?” Michael moved his thumb back and forth on Alex’s thigh as he tried to parse the scene in his head.

“B-because you had already used so much energy, you overextended…” he said, sounding uncertain even to his own ears. At the time, Alex assumed that Michael had unintentionally pulled energy from him to throw Álvarez.

Michael shook his head slowly, squeezing his thigh. “Alex, I gave you energy afterward because you needed it. I was fine.”

Alex’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “That’s–that’s not possible…”

Isobel held a hand over her mouth, eyes wide as she absorbed the significance of this conversation.

“How would I be able to do something like that and not even know?” Alex asked skeptically. The pod squad all had control over their powers; they used them intentionally and knew that it was happening when they did.

“When we were younger,” Michael started slowly, “we had trouble controlling our powers when we got angry or scared. Alex, when Álvarez was talking, you were… enraged. I could feel you through the bond, you just… you lost total control of yourself. I have never seen you do that before.”

“Oh my god, Michael,” Isobel gasped. “He really did use them.”

Alex’s jaw was hanging limp, his mind trying to process something that shouldn't be possible. “Holy shit,” he whispered and a few moments later, a little louder, “Holy shit.” Michael was right about him losing control from the enmity that Álvarez had stirred inside him. He always tried to keep a tight lid on that part of himself, to not stoop to their level because he knew they were inherently fanatical, but god the way he had spoken about Michael and their relationship–it had broken through the vestiges of Alex’s composure.

Kyle appeared from the other bedroom, drying his hair with a towel, joining in the conversation like he’d been there the whole time. “Wait, so that’s why your leg was in such bad shape? I thought you gave him too much energy in your usual self-sacrificing schtick.”

Alex flipped him off, sufficiently pulled from his meandrous thoughts. “I did it the same way as we practiced.”

“You hardly managed it when we practiced,” Kyle pointed out unhelpfully.

“I liked it better when you wouldn’t challenge me because you were afraid of offending me,” Alex deadpanned, startling a laugh out of Michael next to him.

“Sorry, bestie, that catharsis has already come and gone.” Kyle clapped him on the shoulder before sitting down on the arm of the chair Isobel was in. “So does this mean you’ll have alien DNA now like Rosa and Maria?” Kyle didn’t sound excited to add a new alien-human hybrid to his collection of peculiar patients.

“I don’t see why. If anything it would be analogous to a conduit of sorts. Powers come from him, flow through the bond and out through me.” Alex said it as if it made perfect sense when it absolutely did not. None of this made any sense.

“I’d agree with that if it wasn’t for the energy consumption,” Isobel intoned thoughtfully. “Michael said he was fine and it was only you that had collapsed. If the energy had come from Michael then it would have left him weak.”

Alex put his head in his hands and felt Michael squeeze his thigh. This was preposterous. He couldn’t just be telekinetic through the bond. He was human, he didn’t have any of the necessary biology that made it possible. There was no way–

“We’ve been using telepathy, Alex. Both ways.” Michael’s words were careful, like he was afraid to spook the horse. He was right, though Alex hadn’t thought about it that way until now. When he spoke to Michael through the bond, it didn’t feel like he was using telepathy himself. He had thought of it as an extension of Michael working through him. But had it been the opposite the whole time–Michael giving Alex the capability to work through him?

Shit. The bondprint was a fucking powerprint, too.

—

The only way to take his mind off the fact that he could apparently use alien powers if he was connected to Michael was to focus on the mission. The extremely, horrifically, shamefully botched mission. Owed partially to the fact that Álvarez had them figured out from the get-go, but also because Michael had gone off-script. Again.

On the one hand, they did get the tech. On the other hand, they created a new enemy. Alex wasn’t sure if that was a balanced trade.

“I understand that Álvarez got suspicious of the distraction,” Kyle said while they were gathered in the common room later, “but you said that he and the guards were unconscious when you left the gallery. So what set off the alarms?”

Alex raised his eyebrows and turned to Michael. “What did set the alarm off, Michael?” he mocked.

“Look, we didn’t have the time to disengage them and there was no way I was going to leave them there with that bastard.” Michael didn’t look apologetic. “You heard the things he said, Alex.”

Of course he would never forget the things that man had said. They were burned into his mind inside the corner where his memories with Jesse Manes festered. It almost felt like they were one and the same. “It wasn’t part of the mission, Michael.”

“Neither was Álvarez finding us in there!” Michael replied, agitated.

“And we adapted to that situation and overcame the obstacle.” Not as well off as they should have been, but still on the positive end of things. “We had a clear path to leave the way we had originally intended to and you introduced new variables that put us all in danger.”

“Alex, that’s not fair. The whole point of these raids is to dismantle Project Shepard, to remove alien tech from–”

“This wasn’t a raid. This was a clear-cut heist, planned for an explicit set of items during a very distinct time frame.” Alex spoke in monotone weariness. “This was a plan that you agreed to adhere to in advance for the safety and success of the mission and its participants.”

Michael stood up, throwing his hands in the air. “This isn’t a fucking military platoon, Alex! I’m not a goddamn soldier who’s going to take orders from you!”

“Michael–” Isobel tried.

“They were never orders, Michael. We had an agreement and you broke it.”

Michael scoffed even though he looked uncertain now. “No–no I didn’t.”

“We had just found out that Álvarez was involved with Project Shepard, was extremely dangerous, and you were revealed as an alien to him,” Alex’s words were calm and level, but he was glad that the bond was closed because he was having trouble keeping his irritation in check. “The both of us were physically compromised, myself to an inordinate degree, and you were aware that lifting the glass would set off alarms and make our escape riskier than it already was.”

Michael was flagging with each word Alex said, eventually sitting down onto the couch again.

“Someone could have died,” Alex finished.

“Alex, I think that’s a little extreme,” Isobel interjected.

“No,” Michael said, looking down at his hands for a few moments before he glanced at Isobel and then to Alex. “He’s right. He could barely walk and I was so depleted I couldn’t even help him. I’m the reason we had to move so fast.” He looked at Kyle then. “Is his leg going to be okay?”

“Uh, yeah. The inflammation should go down in a day or so.” Kyle looked directly at Alex when he continued, “He just has to stay off the prostheses. I will break into your house and steal them all if it becomes necessary.”

“Jesus,” Alex muttered, rolling his eyes. “I won’t use one, Kyle. Calm down.”

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Michael said, looking over at him like he was afraid his husband wouldn’t accept him.

“I know you are. I know it’ll happen again. And I love you anyway.” He could never be mad at Michael for his big heart, but he didn’t know how much longer they would keep getting lucky when shit went sideways.

“They’re so sweet,” Isobel cooed to Kyle, holding his hand.

“Yeah, it’s pretty insufferable,” he replied with a genuine smile.

Michael threw a couch pillow at his face just as he kissed Alex softly.

—

“So you think Álvarez is the head of Project Shepard?” Kyle sounded dubious.

“I don’t know if he’s at the top, but I do know that he was above my dad,” Alex leaned back into the cushions of the couch. “He was in the military, but there’s no record of his career anywhere.”

“I still don’t understand how you discovered he was former military.” Michael tilted his head at Alex’s sigh. He snagged his husband by the ankle and turned him 90-degrees on the sofa so that his knees were draped over Michael’s lap. A pillow was floated behind Alex’s back to stop him from lying uncomfortably against the armrest.

Alex’s glare softened when Michael started kneading at the back of his calf. “The way he carries himself; he expects people to listen to him. He was an officer.”

“Is that so, Captain?” Michael had an impish grin as he glanced sideways, his curls falling over his forehead.

Alex ignored the jab. “He knew that I was involved in the raid we did, but I couldn’t really tell from the way he was talking if he thought I was working alone or not.”

Michael was frowning. “He said that Deep Sky isn’t sanctioning any raids. They knew about the raid, didn’t they?”

“Eduardo knows. He’s the only one that Kyle and I tell about them because strictly speaking, they aren’t sanctioned by the organization.” Alex looked at Kyle, an uncomfortable pit starting to open in his stomach.

“But Álvarez knew that Deep Sky was footing the bill for the piece we purchased from him. And he knows that they have the Lockhart machine, but not about us participating in the raids…” Kyle’s eyes were growing wide. “You don’t think–”

“Goddammit.” Alex rubbed his temples. This was just what they didn’t need. “Project Shepard has a mole in Deep Sky.”