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musicfeedsmysoul12 · 5 years ago

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Plague Rat Chapter 3

Three months later…

“Hello and welcome to Channel Eight! I’m Erica, bringing you the news!”

“Today we are speaking of what is now called ‘the Plague of Truth’, brought upon us by the Akuma Plague Rat.

Due to the Akuma’s powers of infecting people with a deadly virus resembling the Black Plague but targeting liars, many secrets came about. And many consequences have occurred. The most high profile ones are the former mayor, his wife and a dozen city officials who are now closing ranks and trying to-“ Marinette turned off the TV and closed her eyes.

After she had been purified, the girl had been horrified at her actions, feeling ill and disgusted. She had done that? She had attacked people? She had nearly…

Luckily there was a therapist employed by the hospital that sat with her and spoke with her. He was open and honest and she had a lot off issues she usually kept locked up.

He helped her speak of them and confront them. Helped her understand her issues. Helped her realize how many were people putting things on her and expecting things if her when they shouldn’t.

She still didn’t feel okay. Knowing what she did made her feel sick, but her classmates where there. Alix spoke with her softly, the girl knowing she had killed one. Kim spoke of rewatching his actions and feeling horrified. Rose shuddered at what she had done.

It helped.

More so, honestly, it helped knowing that her actions had exposed Lila and a lot of corruption. Not only had she hit the mayor, she’d hit the commissioner, Audrey, Nadja and a bunch of others.

Andre had been removed from office and was now facing trial for his crimes. The commissioner had been removed from office along with Roger being fired and were also facing charges. Rumors said they would probably get ten years at least.

Audrey was going away for child abuse, corruption and the abuse of her staff. She had admitted everything and Chloe had been removed from their care in a second, being placed with an aunt on the other side of Paris who hadn’t spoken to her sister in years and had never cared to. The aunt had agreed to take Chloe in but had warned the girl she would not put up with any of her actions.

Marinette hadn’t heard anything since as Chloe had been expelled by the new principal that had replaced Damocles when the fact he was being bribed came out. Bustier had also been replaced. Marinette wasn’t sad to see them go- even if it was only recently she could go back to school after the shock to her system becoming an Akuma had been. It wrecked her metabolism again and she’d been stuck in a bed for months.

Luckily, there was a friendly nurse around who was happy to take over for Akumas. Marinette has the best time hearing her rant about magic and how stupid it was she couldn’t tell who Ladybug was when she was in the hosptial. Often right in front of her door.

Tikki found it hilarious to.

But she had finally left the hospital and Tikki said she could go back to fighting, something she was glad about. She missed it, not that she’d admit it.

But before that, there was a trial to be had.

-0-

“So you willingly did it-“

“I did.” Alya interrupted the lawyer. “I willingly exposed her to sick children but that was at the urging of Lila who said she had to be lying. I believe the videos I’ve given show that.” Alya felt like a bug as everyone in the courtroom stared at her. She kept her chin up though. She would not be cowed by this lawyer Lila’s father got her. Apparently Lila’s nasty habits came from someone and that was her father. Her mother had been furious to know she was in contact with him and was not pleased by the lawyer but agreed to it.

She didn’t want her baby in jail either.

He was a good lawyer, knew how to come at things from all angles.

But Alya had been Rena Rouge. The Fox Miraculous left marks deep in her soul, which made her slippery and sly. She had forgotten and gotten caught in lies herself, but she remembered now.

And she would not yield.

“I wonder, if anyone actually knows that the reason she wants Marinette dead is because she called her out on her lies in college.” Snapped Alya, suddenly latching onto the thought. The lawyer blinked. “Didn’t know that? Lila is just angry that Marinette didn’t follow her around. That Marinette called her out.” The lawyer actually stepped back and turned to look at Lila who couldn’t hide her furious face fast enough. Alya smiled at her while the lawyer said he had to dismiss himself from the case now, his clients had been lying to him.

Alya hadn’t been a good person for a while. She had followed a liar and had blinded herself to truth for a long time. But she had once been a hero, once been a good person.

She was going to start again.

-0-

“So you thought it was like tabloids?” Dr. Shaw asked Adrien who sighed.

“Yeah I mean…” Adrien shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe if I hadn’t known the truth I’d have believed hem but when I did I saw how stupid they were and they reminded me of the tabloids. I thought they’d figure it out themselves. I didn’t think she was hurting anyone.”

“But she did. Her actions almost caused many of them to miss out on incredibly important opportunities for their futures. It was lucky your friend Marientte managed to convince them it was a good way to show case their skills to the supposed contacts Lila had.” The doctor said and Adrien winced.

“I… I didn’t want her Akumatized again.”

“And yet Marientte was.” Adrien looked down. “Adrien, if I can be very blunt- you despise conflict and prefer a passive approach to it. While disliking conflict is fine, and I encourage you not to seek it out, not confronting people who you know are in the wrong isn’t always the best idea.”

“...” Adrien didn’t want to think about it anymore. But he had to. His father had made him go to therapy and Plagg had told him it was a good idea for him to do so. He needed to get over this. “It’s easier when it’s not me.” Adrien blurted our. “Online I mean.” He quickly covered. It was easy to confront people as Chat Noir.

“Then pretend you’re not Adrien when you confront people.” The therapist offered and…

That was really good advice.

Two months later…

“Hello and welcome to the new Ladyblog!” Alya grinned on the screen Marientte was watching. “As you know due to certain circumstances I left this blog for the last few months. This is due to Lila and her actions towards my classmate and my own actions. However, this is a new start. First and foremost- this blog will now only contain facts. I have three people to check over anything I post that’s an article and needed to be researched who will do so. I spoke with Ladybug and she’s agreed to an interview with all heroes providing they agree-“ that was the only small crack, a shadow of sadness. After Miracle Queen everyone know she’d been a hero, and seeing a new fox must hurt.

Marientte though was just amused that Alya was such a good actor. Sure she no longer used the fox but she fit the Turtle very well. And Nino was a fine Dragon, while Luka was a great Fox and Kagami was an amazing Bee.

It hadn’t been to hard to manage to have an interview with them- though all separate. It was enough to show Paris they were human to.

Marinette smiled, watching as Alya continued her speech.

Things had changed since she’d become Plague Rat. Lila was now in jail back in Italy. Youth jail but still. She would spend two years there before being released on parole for either ten years or for the rest of her life depending on her actions. While she had lost her first lawyer they had been assigned a second one who had managed to get a psychiatrist in to look at her.

The man said she was either a psychopath or a sociopath. They had tried to say that meant she was allowed to be free but that was ended when the doctor pointed out she knew what she was doing was wrong. She just didn’t care.

She wasn’t allowed back in France and apparently other countries had also banned her. She was forever stuck in Italy.

The former mayor was also in jail. Five years, chance of parole in two and a half, maybe less depending on behaviour. Nadja had lost custody of Manon after it got out she routinely used the girl to gather info and had put her in risk multiple times. Audrey was in jail, Roger had lost his job and was on probation.

Paris had experienced a revolution after Plague Rat. The new mayor was a woman who took no shit and was a hardass who was happily funding the police to find Hawkmoth, and bring him down. The new commissioner had fired all corrupt cops- Roger had been part of this sweep- and now Paris was thriving.

Adrien as well seemed to have changed. He had formally apologized to her for his inaction and he was taking steps to be able to confront people. He’d already had a fight with his father about being a model and had leaked to the press how Gabriel treated him. Gabriel was in therapy now and Adrien had a social worker doing random checks on him.

“I guess even Akumatized I’m a hero.” She remarked to Tikki who chuckled.

“Perhaps. But I like you as you.”

“Same.” She still has nightmares about what she’d done. She still freaked out about the hospital. Hell she was still recovering months later from the stress of being Akumatized while suffering from sickness and a horrible immune system.

But she was doing better. She was moving forward.

And that was all she could do.

Tagged: @anastasian-dreamer @magicalfirebird @kibastray @thesunanditsangel @virgil-is-a-cutie @marinettepotterandplagg @heaven428 @sofmimis @so-freaking-done-with-people @moonystars14 @slytherinhquinn @spartanxhunterx

#ml au #plague rat #akumanette #end of story.

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shaharyar22 · 3 years ago

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MICHAEL SESTAK’S CUSTOM LIGHTING SACRAMENTO

Michael Todd Sestak discusses effective teaching Teacher as a role model Course material Preparations

Michael Sestak’s light-bulb moment was a literal one. After years as a pastry chef, Sestak left the sweet life behind to start a shiny new career in lighting design.

“Pastry is about presenting the end of the dinner with something showy, fun, and creative,” says Sestak, who studied at City College of San Francisco’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Program. “That’s the connective thread from one career to another: In pastry and in lighting design, you mix ingredients together to make something great. Now those ingredients happen to be wood, steel, glass, and electricity instead of flour and sugar.”

Michael Sestak used his keen artistic eye not only for breathtaking feats of baking but also in remodeling his various homes—first in San Francisco, then in

Sacramento, where he moved in 1986 to serve as a pastry chef for the Hyatt Regency. It was lighting that he found most transformative.

“Adding lighting to a home makes it more enjoyable,” the Carmichael resident says. “Friends would come over and ask me to do the same thing to their homes, and that’s when the light bulb went off.”

Custom lighting solutions

In 2000, Michael Sestak left a star-studded pastry career—he’d designed pastry showpieces for The Rolling Stones, Ella Fitzgerald, and Cartier—to see what he could create with electricity.

After acquiring a contractor’s license and taking courses sponsored by SMUD and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, he opened Sestak Lighting Design. Over the past 17 years, Sestak has designed custom lighting solutions for high-profile residential clients, including Mark Friedman, Lina, and Ken Fat, Jeanne Reaves, Cecilia Deluty, and Vince Jacobs. He’s also done commercial projects like the McKinley Village underpass, The Barn in West Sacramento, Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park, and The Sutter Club.

“I consider myself a resource in lighting,” says Sestak, who conducts what he calls “collaborative interviews” with clients to figure out what they want. “There’s a giant world of discovery when it comes to lighting. It’s a great place to play and create and have lots of fun, but there’s also a lot of science behind it. I can look at the photometric of a fixture and tell you what it’s going to do, how much light will come out of it, so we can select the one that will illuminate the space properly.”

Common thing Michael Sestak

The most common thing Michael Sestak is asked about these days is LED lighting.

“LED brings with it a whole new world and lexicon,” Sestak says, adding that lighting has come a long way from the “plug-and-play” incandescent and fluorescent bulbs on grocery-store shelves. “I try to take the mystique out of it and explain to the layperson that it’s just a light source that can be used in many different ways. LED is actually most exciting because it allows you to use color with light. That’s what I did with the McKinley Village underpass and The Barn. It’s also energy-efficient and long-lasting, but it’s the artistic applications that make people ooh and ah.”

Recent technological advances also allow consumers to interact more directly with lighting displays, either through smartphone apps or the communication potential of colored LEDs.

“Lighting is no longer just a wall switch,” Sestak says. “The current idea in Sacramento is how to use color for the facades of buildings—how color can act as a message for the city. For example, purple lights for a Kings game; pink for breast cancer awareness; red, white, and blue for patriotic holidays. When lighting is applied strategically, it can send a message and communicate. That’s what’s most exciting to me right now: the ability to share light as art and to use it in a way you’ve never seen.”

Michael Todd Sestak on effective teaching

Thrive Global invites voices from many spheres to share their perspectives on our Community platform. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team, and opinions expressed by Community contributors do not reflect the opinions of Thrive Global or its employees. More information on our Community

Michael Todd Sestak believes more than simply academic knowledge is required for effective teaching. You must be able to communicate with others and assist them in grasping a fresh perspective on life. This is not a simple task! Even though there are many diverse ways to teach effectively, outstanding instructors have a few characteristics according to Michael Todd Sestak.

They are well-prepared, have clear and fair standards, have a pleasant attitude, are patient with pupils, and regularly evaluate their teaching. They may adapt their teaching tactics to the students as well as the topic, knowing that students learn in various ways. You are a role model who sets the tone for the class as a teacher. Your pupils are more inclined to reciprocate if you can demonstrate excitement and devotion. When you are negative, unprepared, or irritable, your kids will reflect these traits in their attitudes. Students at universities have high expectations of their professors, and they also have a variety of conflicting interests outside of the subject you’re teaching. Give students a cause to remember your class as a pivotal moment in their college career! Maintain a pleasant attitude to keep your students engaged as per Michael Todd Sestak.

Learning skills

When students are driven to learn rather than by grades or degree requirements, teaching is most successful. Many new teaching assistants are perplexed by their newfound authority and misinterpret intimidation for respect. Consider your pupils as allies rather than foes. Learning and teaching might be difficult, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself in the classroom. Maintain your concentration, but don’t be scared to be imaginative and inventive.

Michael Todd Sestak says Allow yourself to be excited and discover methods to show pupils what makes your topic intriguing. You should be familiar with the course material. It seems natural that you would attend lectures and read assignments if students are compelled to do so. Graduate TAs are expected to attend lectures by most professors, especially if they have never taken or taught the course before. If you’re unsure about essential concepts or ideas, go over them again, especially if it’s been a while since you’ve worked with the subject you’ll be teaching. Consider how the topic may be demonstrated most effectively and devise a method in the eyes of Michael Todd Sestak.

Prepare your overheads, diagrams, handouts, and other aids well in advance, and write an outline or take notes to follow throughout a presentation. Don’t put it off until the day of the class! Have an arrangement for what you need to instruct. Your responsibility is to outline key focuses and fundamental settings, to assist understudies with incorporating their work (perusing, labs, tests, papers, addresses, and so on) for the course. Given that there will never be an ideal opportunity to show everything, pick the main ideas and show how they are connected. Clarify thoughts so understudies can expand on the material they have effectively dominated, regardless of whether from your course or past classes. Don’t simply focus on what you end up being instructed today. Show understudies how the thing they are adapting now is associated with material shrouded later in the course. Remember your drawn-out objectives, find a steady speed so you don’t use up all available time toward the end, and attempt to end each class with an end. Viable educators can clarify complex thoughts simply according to Michael Todd Sestak. As you foster ability in a scholarly field, it is not difficult to fail to remember that understudies may have no earlier information on basic ideas that you underestimate. Assist understudies with comprehension and utilize new phrasing, so they can get conversant in the language of your order.

Ideas

Numerous ideas pointed by Michael Todd Sestak can be all the more viably shown with visual guides like graphs, drawings, diagrams, slides, and so forth Ensure that they are sufficiently huge to see, adequately slick to peruse, and don’t hold up traffic! Consider the job non-verbal communication can play. Having your instruction seen by another person can uncover propensities that you could never see all alone. Keep your understudies thinking

#Michael Sestak

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13dead-ends · 4 years ago

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Blood Bound

Henry Cavill x Named OC

Summary: In a world where vampires are a part of everyday life, Nina uses her blood to her advantage.

Word Count: 1910 (future chapters will be longer)

Warnings: 18+ in future chapters, but only swearing, and mentions of blood for this chapter. Nothing gory though.

A/N: This is my first original post. Go easy on me! Anyways, if you have any questions about this crazy universe I barely established, message me anytime! It was roughly edited, so sorry if there are mistakes. Please enjoy! :)

I sat with all the girls, and a few guys, we were all here for the same thing. An interview, the same interview. To become a blood donor for one of the most prestigious companies in the blood business. Positive, the leading company in providing human blood to vampires, located in Los Angeles. They did it from labs, taking bags from donors, to providing humans to clients. I was one of those humans. This company had a tedious process of selecting people for the job. They only wanted the best and most reliable. It’s probably why they are doing so well. They make their clients happy.

Vampires ‘came out’ to society in the 80s. They felt it was safe to make humans aware of their existence after inventing an artificial blood. As people grew more accepting of them, companies like Positive were born in the early 2000s. Someone had the idea of safely giving blood and began to regulate. Women were the main donors and men were the main clientele, though it was open everyone. While there are companies who don’t do well, the good ones are held to a high standard and new laws are being put into place every day to help regulate it. They good ones still get their far share of protesters still, but they’re becoming less frequent.

I had been at one of those not so good companies, I just didn’t know it until a month ago. I had one regular client. It was a very basic arrangement, not like those “sugar daddy” type arrangements, that a lot of women donors had. We met up, he fed, and there was money in my bank account by the end of the day. He was a businessman, Wall Street type. Never had a problem until he went too far one session. I woke up in the hospital with an email from my company already ‘letting me go.’ I got fucked over when I tried to sue too. I was terminated before the incident could be reported or some bullshit. Another way men have taken advantage of a mainly women-based system. Now I was scrambling to find a new job. I didn’t think Positive would even interview me, let alone give me a second one.

“Nina Locke?” I jumped at my name and stood. The woman who called my name was in a crisp pencil skirt and held the large door open for me.

“So, we’ll ask you some questions in here.” She led me down the hallway to a small office, with an almost empty desk. Another woman professionally dressed sat on one side. She stood and held out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Sarah Jenkins, head of the donor program here at Positive.” I shook her hand. “This is my assistant Kari” The first women, Kari, sat down and we followed suit. “So, this isn’t your first company?” I shook my head.

“Yes, I was with one for about a year and a half.”

“You put on your application that you choose to leave, but we called, and they said you were let go.” I chewed on my lip before answering.

“There was an incident with my last client. He went to the company first. They let me go before I had the chance to report anything.” I took a breath.

“One thing that I want you to know is that at this company we do things a little differently.” She slid over the thick folder on the desk to me. She opened it to a page titled Donor’s Resources and Benefits. “We want our clients to have the best donors, and to do that donors have to be treated as the highest priority. Happy donors, happy clients.” I blinked at her. I never thought I’d hear a company like this say that. It was always all about the clients. “You’re all human beings and will be treated like it. No matter the client.” One thing about this company, many celebrities used their services. It upped the stakes if something were to go wrong. “We want to be sure you’re being well-treated at all times.”

“Wow, this isn’t like any company I’ve worked for.” Was all I could say. After these last few weeks of therapy and lawyers hearing this almost made me choke up.

“I promise, as long as I’m in charge. I’ll take care of you and every donor here.”

“It almost feels like you’re just trying to convince me to stay.” I blurted. My eyes went wide, but Sarah laughed.

“You’re one of our favorite applicants, and you have experience. We are ready to hire you,” My jaw dropped.

“Really? That’s really good to hear.” Sarah smiled, shutting the folder.

“We would like to have lawyers present to discuss and sign your contract. I suggest looking over all of these papers with your lawyer beforehand, as well.” I nodded, taking the heavy stack in my hands. “Call us to schedule a meeting, myself, as well as Kari will be there. If you would like to bring your own witness, you may do that.” I felt myself grinning.

“Okay, thank you so much.”

I had just got back from the meeting with Positive. I was officially under contract. My best friend Irene came with to be a witness, but she was just curious to see inside of the company. We were roommates, so she was right behind me when I stepped inside. The setting sun shone brightly through our windows. While I went to my room, I heard Irene popping open a bottle of wine to celebrate.

“What shall we order for takeout, Nina?” She yelled. “It’s your day, you get to pick.” I threw my bag, still stuffed with papers, on my bed.

“How about Sushi?”

“Yes, ma’am! Look at the menu!” I plopped on my bed, thankful to be out of the Cali heat. Only another month until fall, and Halloween. I pulled up our favorite sushi place and picked some rolls.

“Come on, let’s have a toast.” I rolled my eyes as I struggled to pick up a large roll with my chopsticks.

“Stop being cheesy, I just got a new job, that’s all.”

A better paying, better clientele, job. Plus, they give a shit about their employees!” I huffed but lifted my wine. “To Nina, who is moving up in the world! A bizarre world, but she’s killing it anyway.” After getting too full and too wine drunk, we went to bed. I went to sleep, feeling better than I had in weeks.

In the morning, I woke up with a small headache, but I could sleep in, so it didn’t matter. I rolled over, planning to do just that. Then my phone screen lit up. I grabbed it from my bedside table. It was an email from Kari.

Nina, I hope you are having a wonderful day so far,

I looked at my phone, it was already 11:30.

I wanted to let you know that there are already donors requesting you!

I almost forgot I had let Kari put my profile out after everything was signed and notarized. She offered to wait too, but I was excited to get started again.

Their files are at the office. Come by any time before five today and I can take you on a tour and show you the files. Have a wonderful day!

Kari

I stared at my phone, surprised someone had already seen my file, let alone requested me. I chewed on my lip as I thought of the possible clients I could get. While yes, celebrities did use this company a lot, that doesn’t mean I’ll be donating to one. Lots of rich one percenters used it too. I cringed as the image of an old white guy popped unto my brain. I shook my head. I should go check out the files, the curiosity outweighed the nerves.

“Nina, where are you going?” I had gotten dressed and stepped out, Irene was rubbing her head, hair messy, and her eyes were blood shot.

“Some clients have already requested me. I’m going to look over their files.” Her jaw dropped, and she followed me out to the kitchen. I put the kettle on and started coffee for Irene. I started emailing Kari back, telling her when I’d be there.

“Damn, you’re so popular.” I shrugged.

“It’s my type.” After the interview I had asked Kari and Sarah why they wanted me so bad and they told me a lot of vampires enjoyed my blood type. I was AB-negative, a rare and apparently popular type. “At least that’s what Sarah was saying.”

“Who knew, vampires have preferences.” Irene sat at the table, slumping, and rubbing her temples. I shrugged, sending the email. “Hey aren’t you hungover?” I laughed and went to the bathroom.

“My head hurts, yeah.” I called out. I looked in the mirror and I had baggy eyes. I sighed. It was just a tour and some paperwork.

“God, how much did I drink?” I heard Irene mutter. I smiled and cleaned myself up a bit and went back out to make my tea. It wasn’t long before I was stepping into my new place of employment, Kari meeting me at the front desk.

“Hello! How are you?” She just began walking toward the elevator as she spoke.

“Great. How about you?”

“I’m wonderful thank you for asking.” She pressed the up button. “We’ll start right away with the tour. Then I’ll show you your office, the files are on your desk there.”

“An office?” The doors opened and we stepped in. There were lots of buttons, I forgot how many floors this place is, but it was a lot.

“Yeah, every donor gets one. It’s a nice place to keep paperwork and an easy meet up spot for you and your clients.” I she hit a button. “I’ll take you to the labs first, you are allowed to donate blood this way anytime you like, as long as the medical staff clear you, it’s just like donating blood to the Red Cross. We…” She continued with her spiel and took me to all the different floors and told where to go for certain things. It was a lot, but I felt comfortable enough to ask her question, which she almost always had an answer too. We ended on the donor floor, with private offices, a cafeteria, and a gym. I really had it made.

She opened up an office, it was empty except for a nice desk and a computer, plus a few files. “This is your place, you can set up a code for the lock,” She jiggled the handle. “that phone has all the extensions on it” I nodded. “Just call or email me if you choose anyone today, but please take your time. I’ll set up a meeting with them as soon as possible.”

“Thank you so much Kari. I’ll let you know.” She nodded with a smile and started to step out. “Kari, um,” She stopped. “I was wondering what they know about my last job.”

“Oh, we left all that information out of the file. It’s at your discretion.” I nodded and she left. I sat down and took the first file in my hands, pushing the other ones away. I closed my eyes and didn’t open them until the file was open. I almost had a heart attack. Henry Cavill was at the top of the page.

Shout out to one of my bestest friends and my first tag on the tag list! Love you girl :) @hellcaster901

#fanfic #fanfiction #henry cavill #henry cavill x oc #henry cavill fanfiction #june writes stuff

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idiocie · 3 years ago

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ᴀ ʜᴇɪꜱᴛ ᴄʀᴇᴡ? ᴡᴇʟʟ, ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ 'ᴇᴍ ᴜᴘ, tell me who we’re dealing with here. it’s hard to say, 𝙸𝚃'𝚂 𝙰 𝚂𝚃𝚁𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝙱𝚄𝙽𝙲𝙷. . .

JADE TAO. the graduation from master thief to criminal mastermind was inevitable despite her reluctance. with a bright and creative mind, jade has been changing up the grand larceny and confidence artistry game even as she was being brought up by the old world’s criminal legends. now, she is a pioneer in the latest thieving, conning, and intelligence gathering fields. she leads her carefully curated crew with a careful balance of caution and chaos. [ NOTHING EVER GOES TO PLAN ANYWAYS. ] in all senses of the word, jade is the head of this heist crew. her plans are often elaborate and layered; she engages the diverse talents of her crew and pushes the limits of what is generally considered impossible. she works off of gathered intelligence, advanced profiling, socioeconomic patterns, and the bending of laws ( both legal and natural ).

JACK. as a master confidence trickster, he has played every game there is to play, seen all there is to see, and still wants more. known for his relentlessly cheerful and upbeat energy, jack is an amiable man whose huge network of contacts reflects his friendliness. this is a man who enjoys his work along with every good and bad thing that comes with it. his oldest working relationship is with jade tao; they have known each other since they were infants and have been making trouble together since then. he operates as the jade’s right hand man on the crew. because he thrives in the midst of maddening dynamics and growing chaos, jack easily navigates the elaborate plans set before him, making sure that every small goal is hit and the crew remains on schedule. he often has a hand in the creation of these plans and remains the most versatile member of the crew ( moving seamlessly between helping lead, running several cons, spying, and hands - on labour ).

LUCILLE BAZIN. initially, lucille joined the crew as a part of a deal [ PROVE IT TO ME. give me a reason not to turn in right now. ] and only stayed after realizing what exactly it was that jade is attempting to do with her work. lucille’s education spans the fields of criminal law, criminal and moral philosophy, and abnormal psychology. a job which often gets written off as superfluous or unnecessary for a heist crew, both lucille and jade argue that having a person designated to looking after the moral and mental health of the crew is absolutely necessary. her analyses of crime patterns, criminal history, criminal profiles, and interpersonal dynamics are invaluable to not only jade, but the rest of the crew as they attempt to navigate whatever tasks they’ve been assigned. she is often found helming the central controls and coordinating communications during active jobs.

OLGA KOWALSKA. she, a woman who could hold the world and its future in the palm of her hand if she wanted to. she is the only child of an incredible and ancient business empire, brought up to lead, to innovate, and to disregard all worries about morality and sentimentality. what she honed, instead, was a mind of her own; and it is a brilliant one. although olga is only a MECHANICAL ENGINEER by formal education, her abilities reach far beyond that. she has spent her life surrounded by the whirring of magnificent machines and the latest technologies. quite the inventor herself, olga is happy to work with her old childhood friend as the crew’s quartermaster; she provides weaponry, special equipment, materials, and demolitions. anything that the crew may need, if she can’t acquire it herself, then she will find a way to assemble it anew. nowadays, she finds time between helping run the empire she will inevitably inherit to join in on the occasional job or con.

AMINA LAMARI - LABELLE. on paper, there’s nothing special about amina. she is exactly what you would expect of a former mercenary. [ highly trained in a combination of disciplines, deadly with a diversity of weapons, hard - hitting, brutal in execution, and a kill count so high it’d make you dizzy just reading it. ] but that’s the least of it. over the years, with every kill and contract done, amina realized it wasn’t enough to kill just for the sake of killing; the answers she wanted weren’t found in the bloodshed. she found those answers in love, in mercy, and in refining what it means to operate in the grey area. 𝙺𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝙿𝚄𝚁𝙿𝙾𝚂𝙴. amina is the crew’s weapons and combat expert, often protecting the others or performing physical takedowns during jobs that involve a high volume of militarized security or high likelihood of physical confrontations. she advises jade on combat strategy and the dossiers of other assassins or mercenaries.

NIKOLAS LABELLE. a man with no name, no face, no history; when you are as good of a spy as he used to be, there is no such thing as mere existence for you. he’d like to think the lines blurred so slowly that he never noticed, but there were no lines to begin with, were there? he operated like [ A GHOST, A PAWN, A PUPPET. ] anything they needed him to be, anything for the intel, anything to manipulate the reality of the world into whatever they wanted it to be. but he was a ghost with a memory outside of the loop, he was a pawn which had learn the ins - and - outs of the game, and he was a puppet who knew how to pull his own strings - and theirs. nikolas did not disappear right away, he stayed and he festered inside the system until it rotted apart from the inside - out. A NEW MAN, A WILDCARD: exactly what this crew needed. cunning yet good - hearted, his skill - set is varied and well - rounded, a master of reconnaissance and secrets, and he aids in running cons, providing back - up, and connecting discordant intelligence.

AVA J. MONDAY. being excommunicated from several universities worldwide and getting labelled a DANGEROUS AND AMORAL FUGITIVE OF NATURAL LAW freed up a lot of time for ava monday. as a result of this and additional funding from a mysterious benefactor, she has expanded her scientific expertise beyond the fields of biology, evolution theory, biochemistry, and botany which were her original areas of interest. although she was incredibly reluctant to give her name and number to jade ( and jade being equally reluctant to include her ) she couldn’t deny the curious and exciting work the mastermind had to offer. given that she is no stranger to activities which are not strictly speaking legal, ava often provides her knowledge and scientific know - how whenever scientific files, objects, situations arise and jade needs a reliable translation of the material. she also creates and advises on the effects and uses of certain sedatives, poisons, and bioweapons.

LIAM QUINN. a man who has so far lived a life marred in conspiracy, privilege, and drama, liam quinn had resolved to make a life of his own, something to be proud of and enjoy. he first turned to education, filling his head with the knowledge he thought most exquisite in this world: the liberal arts and history, the fine arts and mythology, the hidden arts and the occult. a savvy man, he was able to build a criminal enterprise based on the acquisition of rare and strange artifacts or information. for a long time, liam acted as a client, consultant, and fence for jade tao; eventually, he was in and around jade and her work so often that they figured it’d be best to bring him on officially. ALTHOUGH HE’D NEVER ADMIT IT, HE WOULDN’T’VE WANTED IT ANY OTHER WAY. liam’s criminal skills run towards the white collar sort. he continues to help move product, verifying the quality of artifacts and information, and occasionally throwing around his name and image to round out more difficult cons.

TALIBA. hers is a complicated story, beginning abruptly when she woke in a hospital bed without her memory. A BLANK SLATE. for years after waking up from a decade long coma, tali worked for a shadowy crime syndicate that has embedded itself in intelligence agencies worldwide. with an iq that is rumoured to be record - breaking, tali applied herself to computer engineering, advanced calculations and mathematics, and theories of probability. these talents are remnants from her old self, the only things carried over to her new self. when there was a small attack mounted against one of the smaller cells of the syndicate by jade tao and her crew, imagine her surprise when she learned that they had come specifically for her. known by the moniker [ MONUMENT ] she operates as the crew’s hacker, computer and communications expert, and resident mathematical genius.

#* DOSSIER [ . . . ] OUTSMART : the heist crew .#* note that the LaBelles and Tali are currently NPC status.#* otherwise - yes! here are how most of the muses on this blog are connected as team :D #long post *

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cheshasleverage · 5 years ago

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The Homecoming Job Rewatch

Here we go, another one! I want y’all to know I’ve given up on any chance of making these short so strap in

“he's cheating on you.... with a camel!” “ok it was one time”

jenny can suck my dick

I like how the first season almost always has the client say something along the lines of “I don't want the money I went them to pay for what they did” or “I want them to face consequences”

“Doc he’s cool I found him on the internet” so by now they've set up some kind of way to be found but who the hell is gonna trust that? What kind of information did Hardison/Nate put up to not only make them sound appealing but also trustworthy to people who had literally just lost everything

This nurse is so sweet and I love her. She’s obviously dealt with scammers before, and she really cares about all the vets in her hospital

Oh and her line about people not showing up to help? I feel like Nate might at one point have had that idea, but after realizing he could be the one that helps, he’s out to prove to people like her that they can trust some people

OK so yeah, Hardison and Nate have been in contact after their first con. The team must’ve split to keep a low profile, but were waiting for Nate to give that signal. BUT, I want to know how many times Hardison called Nate talking about potential clients or a new base or their website because Nate became a stable source for Hardison and Nate manages to keep him from getting distracted, gets him to focus

Sophie has absolutely no acting shame and goes ALL OUT when she thinks about a character's motivation and story. Obviously, in cons she’s able to do this more eloquently and makes it fit the situation better so I wonder what exactly causes that shift in her. Is it because at the end of the con is a goal that she’s really determined on scoring? are acting jobs just not high enough stakes for her?

Eliot’s actual style is finally here, but did he really just pull a yo mama joke and then throat punch that dude? harsh

PARKER STEALING A PAINTING WITHIN THE 3 SECONDS A GUARD TURNS AROUND AND THEN ANSWERING THE PHONE IN THE MIDDLE OF A HEIST

alright so even if Hardison and Nate were talking, they never told the others what was happening so I’m 95% sure Nate might've mentioned a business to Hardison and then let Hardison go crazy with it (while stepping into reign him in)

Either Hardison found enough time to stare at Nate until he finished a painting or he found pictures of Nate to create that beautiful painting

If Sophie bought three houses and Hardison bought all that illegal software then it’s safe to say that the hospital Nate donated to got a lot of money for their equipment (That must’ve been sam’s hospital right? that’s what's being implied)

There it is... the very first “it’s very distinctive” line

I love the way the crew will say something about the job being too dangerous or hard to pull off and all Nate has to say is something briefly, vaguely almost, that makes them realize it won’t be that hard and then they all suddenly hop on board and start talking about strategies etc.

“I remembered gravity and the squishiness of all my manly bits”

Anyone else notices that for the first few cons Parker wears that hair cap but eventually, she gives up on it and just leaves her hair down?

Ngl the first time I heard DuFert talk about buying congressmen, I had the same reaction as Hardison and Sophie. Then I also had a short crisis when I realized that’s essentially how the gov is run now :)

DuFart is yelling at Eliot for being a stupid fuck but I have no idea how the fuck Eliot managed to pull off a name like that. I guess it also kind of hints at his expertise with food

Another thing I find great, and so satisfying is when Nate (or any of the team really) piece together what’s happening

Mr. Perry flirting with Sophie despite being in a dangerous situation is a mood

Again, Eliot’s ability to spot the military and their distinctive looks. Kind of makes me wonder just how far Eliot got in the military. Obviously, a lot of his info he picked up as a retrieval specialist but he must've spent a good number of years in the military and with his skills, I think Eliot might’ve gotten pretty well known

After getting through 5 seasons I kind of forgot that everyone except Eliot had never hurt or killed people when they were on their own

Love when Hardison and Eliot have these little moments where they’re joking around a smiling

Also when Hardison tries to add some of his classic flair and Eliot has to shush him

It’s clearer after seeing Nate and Hardison share a beer and popcorn while watching Parker that they clearly seem to have bonded first and that Hardison is kind of like Nate’s right-hand man, at least in these early episodes

“Might want to ease up on that” Nate casually reminding Hardison that Parker is not like most other women and that he probably shouldn’t make comments like that about her, especially not when it’s only their second time working together

Eliot says he hates baseball but he manages to not only hit a camera from several yards away with a rock, but he manages to throw it hard enough that it shatters and if that’s not the arm of a baseball player idk what is

I missed the comment Eliot makes about Parker and Hardison having a creepy contest when I first watched this episode

Again, Nate brings up giving away money because now technically they’re the good guys and that’s something the crew will have to adjust to. Now they’re not just taking down bad guys and stealing money to steal money, now they’re doing it for someone and they’re giving that money to the people who really need it

Fucking Sophie and Nate acting like a crazy married couple who have no idea where they are or what's going on give me LIFE. Also, Nate just fucking calling this bigass dude with a gun a jackass

Hardison makes me laugh at least once an episode, but watching him power walk away from Parker, whos putting a bomb on a crate, is a big fucking mood and I love him

“This is ‘cus I'm Jewish?” His nametag just says, White. Hardison put on a nametag that says White

Real slick of Nate to pull the walk away card when everyone's standing around enjoying how gratifying it feels to help someone who needs it (even though that was definitely his plan all along)

Of course, he bought himself a tesla. With as much money as they accumulate there’s enough to help someone but still take care of themselves, and I guarantee Nate brought his car to show it off and to show the crew that they can still spoil themselves. (plus this feels like another hint toward him being surprisingly good behind the wheel)

#i might make a separate post talking about how the team has never really killed anyone but well see #skunk of rage #leverage #eliot spencer #alec hardison #parker #sophie devereaux #nate ford #the homecoming job

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96thdayofrage · 4 years ago

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The Affordable Care Act requires traditional health insurance plans to provide “minimal essential coverage,” which includes preventive care, mental health care, substance abuse, maternity and more. The less-conventional plans are exempted from those requirements. Some of the plans are offered by name-brand companies like UnitedHealthcare, but critics say they’re typically big moneymakers for the companies that can leave patients with unexpected medical bills. The plans’ limitations often are not explained in the advertisements or in brokers’ high-pressure sales presentations. Hundreds of complaints about the plans show up on consumer sites like the Better Business Bureau or Yelp.

“The marketing is extremely deceptive,” said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. “Both the advertising and the brokers use terms that to the average consumer would make them think they are buying a comprehensive insurance plan that provides coverage if they get injured or sick. But quite often nothing could be further from the truth.”

The misleading marketing may be ensnaring more consumers now, as an estimated 14 million Americans have lost employer-sponsored health benefits due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Google and companies involved in the marketing generally defended the term “Trumpcare,” saying it’s legitimate to use to describe the president’s general philosophy about health care or his 2017 executive order that allowed short-term insurance plans to cover a time period of up to 12 months rather than three months. Facebook said the word “Trumpcare” on its own didn’t violate its rules. However, Facebook and Google both initially accepted “Trumpcare” ads that, after they were flagged by ProPublica, the companies later said did violate their rules.

A ProPublica reporter responded to one of the “Trumpcare” ads and took calls from five insurance brokers. The brokers seemed to have no idea what type of ad had led to the call. They were focused on closing the deal. One said, wrongly, that “Trumpcare” was just a new name for “Obamacare.” The other four acknowledged that there’s no such thing as “Trumpcare.”

“It’s fake news,” said one.

“Trumpcare” “is not even in existence yet,” said another.

“They’re starting to change over from ‘Obamacare’ to ‘Trumpcare,’ but it hasn’t switched over yet,” a third broker said.

Traditional health care plans sold under the Affordable Care Act must comply with a host of regulations, including not discriminating against people with preexisting conditions. But the plans are expensive, and some consumers may not qualify for the income-based subsidies that reduce the cost. For example, a 40-year-old single person who makes more than $50,000 would likely not qualify for a subsidy to help pay for an individual health care plan, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator.

The less conventional plans — called short-term, fixed indemnity, accident-only or specified disease plans — offered by the brokers are less expensive. Some provide benefits for a short term or give a fixed payment to cover a portion of a doctor or hospital bill. Others pay out only if the beneficiary had some type of accident. A purchaser would need to read the fine print to know what they did or did not cover.

ProPublica contacted the Federal Trade Commission and insurance regulators in all 50 states and found hit-and-miss enforcement of misleading ads and sales tactics. Some states, like Delaware and Virginia, have meted out discipline for using misleading tactics to sell the limited plans. But many have not. Most who spoke to ProPublica said they have no jurisdiction over the online “lead generation” advertisers. The regulators say it’s like playing “whack-a-mole,” as those caught using abusive marketing tactics can simply incorporate under a new name and resume the same behavior.

Online “Lead Generators” Lure in Consumers

Identifying deceptive tactics related to health care plans is as easy as going online and looking.

Southern California marketer Stuart Millar said he’s placed “Trumpcare” advertisements to join in “the gold rush of online entrepreneurship.”

Millar has spent at least $350,000 on 12,500 “Trumpcare” ads from four Facebook pages with “Trumpcare”-themed names since last October. “Thanks to our President,” one of them said, “U.S. health insurance companies have had to drastically drop their rates.” (ProPublica can see how much Millar spent because he had proactively marked his ads as political, triggering Facebook to disclose this information.)

Millar isn’t an insurance broker — one of the people who sell insurance and are regulated by the states. He’s a “traffic broker,” a marketer in charge of running ads to drive visitors to his clients’ websites. There’s little regulation of his activities. His ads have focused so much on the term “Trumpcare,” he said, because it’s clickbait. He called it far more attention-getting than the “left-wing one,” his term for “Obamacare.”

“I’ve got to find a fun way to make health care interesting,” Millar said. “‘Trumpcare’ is interesting but health care in general isn’t.”

Stuart Millar’s ads. (via Facebook)

“Traffic brokers,” like any Facebook advertiser, can select the specific demographics of the Facebook users who will see their ads.

Millar declined to get into details about how he targeted his ads, but said he mostly relied on Facebook’s algorithm to find him the people who’d click. He said he tested thousands of iterations of the ad to make sure it found an audience. “What I went with was what converted,” Millar said, a reference to people responding to the ads.

Some “Trumpcare” ads — not apparently linked to Millar — have been targeted at people Facebook labels as “interested in Donald Trump,” according to targeting data provided by Facebook to users along with ads that are shared with the Ad Observer project.

Millar says he didn’t come up with the idea of using “Trumpcare.” That came from his clients, whom he wouldn’t name. Many of Millar’s ads led to a page featuring a red, white and blue “Trumpcare” logo on HealthPlansAmerica.org, which is owned by a company called Apollo Interactive. (The company is not a nonprofit, but anyone can buy a .org website address.)

Apollo Interactive isn’t an insurance broker either. It’s what’s called a lead broker, yet another cog in the lightly regulated machinery of insurance “lead generation” marketing. That means it gathers profiles of people who are looking for health insurance. Those who input their information on these sites become “leads.” And then they’re put up for auction.

Officials from Apollo Interactive wouldn’t say how the company sells leads. But Colin Sholes, an activist and former online health insurance marketer, said lead generators extract an anonymized sample of each person’s data: ZIP code, age, gender. This profile, without any contact information, gets shared with potential buyers, who bid for it in an instant, automated auction. The winning bidder or bidders get the person’s name and their contact information.

Leads are often sold as “shared leads” — meaning they’re sold to more than one buyer at the same time. Some of the buyers are insurance brokers. Some are other lead brokers who bid so they can resell data that originated elsewhere. “It’s a big web and everybody’s interconnected,” Sholes said. “A lot of data just floats around.”

So how much is each “lead” worth? Sholes estimated that a lead for a person under 55 would cost as much as $20.

The lead might be even more valuable if it was sold as what the industry calls a “warm lead,” he explained. Some companies exist just to buy leads, then have a call center agent call and, if a human picks up, the agent “warms you up,” Sholes said. That means they check to make sure the consumer is interested in buying insurance. At that point the company sells the call to an insurance broker as a “warm” transfer. “A connected call,” he said, might sell for up to $80.

Millar confirmed he got paid by the lead, but he refused to say how much. He did say that he made a profit on what he paid Facebook to run the ads. He was not aware of what happens to consumers who click on his ads, then purchase the health plans. “I didn’t ever call in myself. I am not exactly sure how any of that works.”

Facebook and Google Profit From the Misinformation

This fall, someone Googling for affordable health insurance might have come across an ad that said: “Healthcare changes are coming. Check out the new pricing tiers under the American Health Care Act.”

The American Health Care Act — the bill most commonly called “Trumpcare” — failed to pass the Senate in 2017 when the terminally ill Sen. John McCain dramatically walked across the chamber’s floor and gave a thumbs down, leading to the bill’s defeat. So there were no new “pricing tiers” on offer, as the ad claimed, in 2020.

Those ads led to Apollo’s HealthPlansAmerica.org site. Apollo Interactive attorney Chris Deatherage said in a written statement that the Google ads “appear to be old ads” from when AHCA “was actively being discussed in the legislature.”

Deatherage said “Trumpcare” is an “abstract” term used to “tie together” various pieces of intended or existing legislation and policies and that Apollo’s “Trumpcare” website said the term refers to Trump’s “collective policy updates.” He compared it to “Obamacare” — which specifically refers to the Affordable Care Act — and proposals for “Medicare for All,” which are not law. He added that Apollo Interactive’s website lets visitors connect with brokers who can explain the term.

Google’s rules say it does not allow ads that “deceive users by excluding relevant product information or providing misleading information.” Facebook says it bans ads with “deceptive, false, or misleading claims.” But both accepted the “Trumpcare” promotions. Google even gave the misinformation prime real estate, with the ads as the top-listed results when people search for affordable health insurance.

Christa Muldoon, a spokeswoman for Google said, “Health care ads cannot make misleading claims about the advertiser’s identity or the services they offer.” She said Google removed the ads referencing AHCA under that policy after ProPublica contacted Google about them. She wouldn’t explain why the company apparently let the ads run for years, despite violating Google’s rules.

Until last year, Google also sold ads that lured in consumers with the phrase Healthcare.gov — the federal government site where you can purchase plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act — even though they were for private, lead-generation websites.

It’s not clear how much Google earned from selling “Trumpcare” ads. Unlike Facebook, Google doesn’t consider ads about “Trumpcare” political, so it doesn’t publish any data about them. Muldoon would not say how much Google made from the ads.

But, she said, citing Trump’s executive orders on health care, “We do not consider the phrase ‘Trumpcare’ alone to be misleading,” so it’s allowed in Google ads.

A report a year ago from Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, criticized Google and other search engines for showing ads for for-profit lead-generation sites listed above the official Healthcare.gov site when a person searched for “Obamacare” or even “Healthcare.gov.” Casey called for search engines to put an “answer box” above all content, even ads, with a link to Healthcare.gov on searches for health insurance.

Muldoon hinted at a coming change to what kinds of health insurance-related ads the company will allow. She said that Google is “evaluating the health insurance space to strengthen our protections for users and prevent misleading ads.”

After Newsweek flagged the Facebook ads in a blog post in August, the Lead Stories news organization published a fact-check saying that “there is no such thing as Trumpcare.” That prompted Facebook to stop accepting the ads, under a policy that bans ads with content that fact-checkers have found to not be true.

Devon Kearns, a Facebook spokesperson, told ProPublica that some of the ads were removed for violating a Facebook policy that bans “scammy tactics.”

But then in mid-September, more “Trumpcare” ads appeared on Facebook, from something called “National Center for Medical Records,” which didn’t return a request for comment. These ads led to another company’s website, not Apollo’s. One of them featured a smiling Trump with his arm around the shoulder of a doctor and the slogan: “Trumpcare from $1/Day.”

Omissions and High-Pressure Sales

ProPublica wanted to learn more about the sales tactics involving “Trumpcare” ads, so we checked for ourselves. One of the reporters on this story, Jeremy, had been laid off in May. So he clicked on an ad in Facebook’s ad transparency portal, featuring photos of a health insurance card and a tuxedoed Donald Trump with Melania Trump in a ballgown. It took him to HealthPlansAmerica.org, which prompted him to input his contact details, as well as his age, gender, address, income range and whether he had any “major medical conditions.”

Jeremy is young and healthy, and he answered the questions honestly, so his information made him a hot prospect.

Jeremy entered a burner phone number that he acquired for this project — a good choice, because he got 67 phone calls the day he submitted the form; the day after, he got 46 more. The plans the brokers offered were legal, to the extent that they gave enough information to check. But to be informed, a consumer would want to know each plan’s limits and exceptions and be provided with detailed information about what’s covered, or not. The brokers often withheld crucial information.

Alex, from “the Enrollment Center,” said his plan offered free preventive care and would let Jeremy pick his own doctor. Using the lingo of the Affordable Care Act he described the insurance as a “minimum essential coverage plan.” But that’s exactly what it was not. Jeremy, who is married with no children, had to ask if the plan covered maternity costs, something that might be relevant to a childless couple. Alex said that would require something else, a “major medical plan.”

When Jeremy asked Alex to email the plan documents, so he could read what the plan covered or excluded, the line disconnected. Alex never called back.

When we called back several weeks later to ask for comment, the line was apparently disconnected.

Another company, “Modern Health,” would not even provide a brochure about its health plans. A supervisor named Louis said he was “in charge of the company” and that it would be a violation of patient privacy laws to send information in writing about the plan. (It isn’t.) Those details would supposedly have to come from the insurance company, and only after Jeremy signed up.

Anthony, who said he worked for the “National Health Enrollment Agency,” also wouldn’t send anything in writing. But his reason made it sound like he needed to lock in a fare on a flight that was rapidly running out of seats. “Once we disconnect the line, the companies aren’t going to let me hold onto the plan,” he said.

When Jeremy said he wanted to talk it over with his wife, Anthony countered: “Is she a licensed broker?” He offered to add her to the call rather than have the couple discuss it alone.

Dr. Anthony Fauci will see data from government-funded vaccine trials before the FDA does. One caveat: Pfizer’s study, which is ahead of the others, isn’t included in his purview.

None of the salespeople volunteered the details a consumer would need to make an informed choice. Brandon, the salesman from Modern Health, for example, offered a plan from a company called “HealthShield.” It’s for “things like emergency surgeries, hospitalization, ambulances and prescriptions,” he said. He went into painstaking detail about the amount it paid for certain items. But when asked if he’d shared everything Jeremy needed to know, he said, “It does have your essential package that a lot of people sign up for, especially at this time.” Only later, when asked what category of insurance the plan fell under, did he say that “they do remove certain things, which include substance abuse, mental health and maternity benefits.”

Reached for comment for this article, a man who said that his name was Brandon Greer and that he was now in charge of Modern Health said “I’m not sure” when asked if these omissions might confuse consumers. He said that the company instructs its salespeople to note the exclusions “upfront.” He then ended the call.

When we tried to reach the National Health Enrollment Agency minutes later, to get a comment for this story, the phone rang at the offices of Modern Health. The person who picked up denied knowing what the National Health Enrollment Agency was and hung up when asked his name.

Omitting the details of health insurance plans can harm consumers. In August, the Government Accountability Office, the auditing and investigative unit of Congress, published a secret shopper investigation of the sales tactics for the plans. GAO investigators tested 31 brokers by using a fake persona, a person who had a preexisting condition. Eight of the 31 brokers made misstatements, the report says. One was selling the GAO investigator — who claimed to have diabetes — a health insurance plan that the broker said would cover the investigator’s diabetes, but it really didn’t. In a different case, the investigator told the broker that they had diabetes, but the application completed by the sales representative said there was no treatment or diagnosis for diabetes in the past five years. “This indicates that the broker may have intentionally falsified information,” the report said.

The GAO didn’t disclose the names of any of the brokers in its report, but it said it referred them to the Federal Trade Commission and state insurance regulators.

“Garbage” Insurance Generates Profit for Brokers and Insurance Companies

USHEALTH Advisors, one of the companies whose broker contacted Jeremy, posts videos online to show off how much money its brokers are making selling limited insurance plans.

“How much can you earn monthly at US Health Advisors?” asks one of the videos, posted by US Health Advisors Coral Springs.

“$16,000,” says a bearded man in a black shirt and tie.

“$18,000,” says a woman in a sleeveless top.

“$34,000,” says a man in a dress shirt and tie, a family photo in the background behind him.

Then, the closer: “$42,000 — in one month,” a man says.

Justin Brain, the USHEALTH benefits specialist whose number is on the US Health Advisors Coral Springs Facebook page, said commissions vary depending on a broker’s “production,” or sales totals. He declined to say how much the commissions were per sale, but he said the video is used for bringing in new sales recruits to “give them what’s possible.”

An April study by the Urban Institute found brokers making commissions of around 25% for the type of plans offered by the company. Other insurance brokers told ProPublica the commissions on some plans could be as much as 50%.

The video closes with a USHEALTH Advisors logo that adds, “A UnitedHealthcare Company.” UnitedHealthcare is a massive company that provides health insurance and benefits. It’s part of UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest companies in the country, with $242 billion in annual revenue in 2019. UnitedHealthcare declined to say how much the brokers made in commissions.

A USHEALTH broker pitched Jeremy a plan sponsored by Freedom Life Insurance Company of America, which is also a UnitedHealthcare company. The broker characterized the coverage as similar to Affordable Care Act plans and sent a 36-page brochure that laid out the details of the offer.

The document he sent made it clear that the Freedom Life plan would provide limited coverage that could leave a person with hefty bills. But it would take an exceptionally savvy consumer to sort through dozens of pages of insurance jargon to understand that. At ProPublica’s request, Jeffrey Hogan, the Northeast regional manager for Rogers Benefit Group, a national benefits marketing firm, examined the document.

Hogan pointed out that it disclosed on Page 3 that the plans would “supplement” any “essential health benefit plan,” meaning one of the more comprehensive plans sold under the Affordable Care Act. If this plan was meant as a supplement, then it would not be ideal for an uninsured couple. This was not mentioned in Jeremy’s sales presentation from the Freedom Life broker.

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cristinablackthornkingson · 5 years ago

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Shadowhunters Short Story #58. Baby Lightwood-Bane #4.

It is a chilly February day in 2016 when Magnus and Alec Lightwood-Bane receive the news that will change their lives forever.

It has been two years since Magnus and Alec adopted their youngest child and first daughter, Anna Catarina. Anna is almost two now and has remained a very happy, content little girl. She idolizes her brothers and is best friends with little Mina, as well as Clary and Jace’s daughter Lucie and Simon and Isabelle’s son and daughter George and Jessie.

Right now Alec is sitting in a room that he and Magnus made into a type of schoolroom for the boys (and Anna when she’s older) working on some history with Rafe, though Alec takes Rafe to The Institute to train, he works on the academic side of his (and Max’s) education here at home, often with help from Magnus. Max is in the living room finishing up a lesson with Magnus and Anna is in Magnus and Alec’s room, taking her nap.

“Okay Rafe, can you tell me the story about the first Shadowhunter? What was his name, how did he create Shadowhunters, stuff like that?” Alec asks, pulling the textbook away from Rafe so he can test him on what they just learned.

“Uh well he was a mundane in the 11th century and he was a crusader, and he was really worried about all the demons coming in through the void, so one day on his way to Constantinople he met a warlock- like papa- and asked him to summon Raziel at Lake Lyn. He did and when Raziel was summoned, Jonathan begged him to mix his blood with his to create a new superhero race of people who could defeat the demons. Raziel saw that Jonathan had good intentions so he agreed and then gave him to The Mortal Instruments- like Uncle Simon’s band’s name!- then Jonathan used the cup to turn his sister Abigail and his best friend David into Shadowhunters. David and Jonathan were inspired by the story of Jonathan and David in the Bible, so they took that story and created a ceremony where they took eachother’s blood and spoke the oath and put the runes on each other and became the first ever parabatia, but their bond was broken later when David became the first Silent Brother- like Uncle Jem use to be a Silent Brother- and that’s really all we know.” Alec smiles proudly at his son, he was sure to pass all his exams in a few years with flying colors, he could do wonderfully at The Academy if he chooses to go there when he’s older.

“Good job buddy, but remember when you’re writing about this in your tests don’t mention anything unrelated like how Uncle Simon’s band is also called The Mortal Instruments and that Uncle Jem use to be a Silent Brother, okay?” Alec gently says. He doesn’t mind Rafe’s brief diversions from the story, but an examiner certainly will.

“Okay, I just got excited, sorry.” Rafe quietly says, feeling embarrassed that he got distracted like a little kid .He’s almost 10 now, he’s a big boy, not a little kid anymore, like Max who’s still only 8 or Anna who really is only a baby.

“It’s okay buddy don’t be sorry, you know I don’t mind you adding in little things like that, but an examiner who doesn’t know us and our family won’t understand it’s relevance and importance and could mark you down, okay?” Alec gently says. Rafe nods his understanding. “Alright, I think that’s enough for today, how about you?”

“Uh-uh.” Rafe agrees.

“Come on, lets go see if your papa and Max are finished, then I’ll wake Anna up and we can go to the park if you like.” Alec says, closing the textbook in front of him.

“Uh-uh! Can we have pizza for dinner, please?” Rafe begs, turning his big brown eyes to his dad, knowing Alec can never resist his eldest child’s puppy dog eyes.

“Well I’ll talk to papa but I certainly think you’ve earned it today, and I’m sure Max has too.” Alec says, ruffling Rafe’s hair as they walk out of the schoolroom.

“I’ll go ask papa!” Rafe exclaims, darting out to the living room before Alec can say another word.

When Alec steps into the living room he sees that Magnus and Max have finished their lesson, and both boys are asking for pizza for dinner, so Alec quietly slips into his and Magnus’ room and make his way over to the crib by the bed, where Anna is sitting up, rubbing her eyes. He gently scoops her up and snuggles her close, breathing in her scent and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Hi baby.” Alec whispers, as Anna clutches his shirt and buries her face in his chest. “Oh sweetheart are you still tired? Did you have a nice nap?” He softly says, rubbing soothing circles on her back. “Come on, lets go see your brothers and papa, that will wake you up.” He grabs her pacifier from the crib and makes his way back into the living room, which has now been cleared up. The minute Anna sees Magnus she perks up and reaches for him. Magnus smiles broadly at his daughter and takes her into his arms, smoothing her hair down and kissing her forehead.

“There’s my girl, I missed you.” He softly says.

“Papa’s girl aren’t you Anna?” Alec says in an amused tone, lightly tickling his daughter’s cheek, causing her to squeal with laughter and squirm away from him.

“You just love being with papa because you know I’ll dress you in something amazing while your daddy would stick you in the first thing he found, isn’t that right my sweet Anna banana?” Magnus lightly says, holding her above his head which makes her scream and giggle with delight. Magnus loves having a little girl to buy adorable dresses and outfits for, there is such a small selection for fashionable boy clothes, especially when those boys are 10 and 8, but for a 2 year old little girl, the sky’s the limit.

“I just don’t understand the point of putting her in a designer outfit when she’s only going to end up getting half of her meals all over it and ruin it.” Alec says, as Magnus settles Anna back onto his hip. “Our daughter is the messiest little thing alive, you know that.”

“Yes but at least she’ll be fashionably messy when I dress her.” Magnus points out.

“She’s going to end up like Jace if we’re not careful.” Alec teases. Magnus gives a fake gasp of horror and covers one of Anna’s ears.

“Don’t you dare say such a thing! You’re going to confident like papa, right Anna? Not an arrogant fool like Uncle Jace.” Magnus coos. Anna smiles up at him in delight and clumsily claps her hands.

Half an hour later, the little family are walking toward the local park, Alec pushing Anna in her stroller, Magnus at his side and Max and Rafe running up ahead. As they walk, Magnus’ phone begins to buzz in his pocket.

“Hello?” He answers a few seconds later.

“Hey, it’s me.” Catarina’s voice comes down the line and a smile breaks out on Magnus’ voice.

“Oh Cat! Good to hear from you! Listen, Ragnor, Tessa and I are going out next week, do you want to come?” He asks, as Alec walks ahead a little bit so as not to listen in on Magnus’ private conversation.

“Id love to however I actually called about something in specific.” Catarina tells him.

“Oh what’s that?” He asks.

“Well a few weeks ago the hospital asked me if I could work on the maternity ward for a while, cover maternity leave ironically. A couple of weeks ago a young girl was admitted with bleeding, thankfully she and the baby are fine, but I grew close with her and got to talk with her a lot. She’s only 16 and not ready to be a mother yet at all, she’s planning to place her baby for adoption, I showed her yours and Alec’s profile and she took to you straight away, she’s not in hospital anymore but we keep in touch and she’s always asking me things about you and Alec, she really wants to meet you, if you’re interested.” Magnus stops dead in his tracks when Catarina finishes her story. Not long ago he and Alec agreed that they would like to extend their family for the last time. At one point in time Tessa had been an adoption consultant and helped bring together many children and parents, so she helped them create a profile book, which she then took a few copies of to give to any clients she and Jem got who were looking to place their child for adoption, and Catarina took another bunch to do the same.

“R-really? We only made up the booklet a few months ago.” Magnus says in a breathy tone, beginning to walk again and running a hand through his hair.

“I know but it can happen very quickly, I know with Max, Rafe and Anna you all found each other by fate, but with a profile book to show expectant mothers and adoption consultants it can happen much more quickly.” Catarina explains. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“No! We do! I mean, I’ll have to speak with Alec about it but I’m certain he will want this as much as I do, what’s the mother’s name? Is she mundane, Nephilim,what?” Magnus asks.

“Her name is Molly Bridgestock, she’s a Shadowhunter, from a very high up, proud, old Shadowhunter family. Her parents threatened to kick her out if she didn’t give up the baby, when I heard this I offered for her to stay with me or offered to contact Tessa, see if she and Jem could help, but Molly says she’s doing this adoption on her own terms, she loves her baby but she knows she can’t give them the life they deserve, though I do worry how her parents will react when they find out you’re a Warlock and you and Alec are a gay couple, Molly is completely fine with it, she was awe-struck when she saw Alec’s picture, truth be told I think she has a little crush on your Consul Ligthwood.” Magnus laughs lightly, not surprised that this young girl has a crush on his gorgeous husband, he can’t understand how everyone in the world isn’t in love with Alec.

“That doesn’t sound like a good home for any child, is Molly safe?” Magnus asks in a concerned tone, more than willing to take in both this young girl and her child, if need be.

“She says she is but I just don’t know, her parents are very ‘traditional’ if you know what I mean.” Catarina tells him.

“Yes unfortunately I do. I’ll talk to Alec and get back to you, in the meantime can you give Molly my number and address and let her know our door is always open for her? We would take Molly in and help her raise her baby herself if she wants.” Magnus softly says, wanting to do all he can for a child in need.

“Of course, talk to you soon.” Catarina says, before hanging up.

Over the next half hour or so, while Max, Rafe and Anna tire themselves out in the park, Magnus explains the whole situation to Alec. Alec agrees to meet Molly and adopt her baby if that’s what she wants, or to take her in and help her raise the baby, either, whatever she wants.

Magnus calls Catarina back and arranges a meeting with Molly for a few days from now, at their home.

Three days later, it is a bright, breezy day, oddly warm for the middle of February. Alec has just gotten back from dropping the kids off with Maryse, while Magnus stayed behind to make sure everything was perfect for Molly’s visit. She is due to arrive any minute now, and he and Alec are doing everything they can to stay calm.

At 2:00 p.m. on the dot, there is a light knock on the door and Magnus and Alec exchange nervous glances, before Magnus goes to answer the door. When he opens the door, he is struck by how young the girl standing in front of him looks. According to Catarina she is sixteen, but she barely looks it, with brown skin, long black hair falling around her shoulders and bright green eyes, she looks like she should be preparing for her first Clave Exam, not preparing to have a baby.He can’t help but think that this could be his daughter or one of his nieces in the near future, and his heart goes out to this young girl, who is doing this alone with no support from her family. He doesn’t understand parents who turn their back on their children, no matter what his kids do he will always, always love them and support them.

“You must be Molly.” Magnus says, smiling warmly at the young girl standing in front of him.

“As far as I’m aware.” She replies with a grin. ‘Sarcastic, Rafe is going to love her.’ Magnus thinks to himself.

“Come in and make yourself at home, we’re so glad you wanted to meet us.” Magnus says, guiding her into the living room where Alec is waiting.

“I’m glad you agreed to meet me, I’ve considered a few other people as parents to this baby, but when Catarina showed me your profile book it just felt right, I mean the idea of my baby being raised by The Consul and The High Warlock of Brooklyn is pretty amazing.” Molly says, her hand resting on her protruding stomach.

“I’m glad you think so, though our kids often seem to think we are the worst dad and papa in the world because we won’t let them have chocolate for breakfast, I don’t know why we let their aunts and uncles look after them anymore honestly, their grandmother feeds them properly but Alec’s brother and sister seem to only feed them junk.” Magnus says in an amused tone.Though really he can’t complain, the last time he and Alec looked after Mina, Tessa had nearly throttled him when he sent Mina back hyper as hell.

“You’ll have to excuse my husband being a hypocrite Molly, a few weeks ago we were looking after one of our nieces and Magnus gave her basically all the chocolate in the house, her mother almost killed him when she found out.” Alec says in an amused tone, as Molly and Magnus walk into the living room. Molly laughs lightly and says

“Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same, are your other children here?” Magnus indicates for her to take a seat.

“No, they’re with my mom, we thought it would be best if this first meeting is just the three of us, but if things work out you can meet them another time.” Alec says.

“Alright.” Molly says with a smile and a nod. “I don’t have that many questions for you, just one.” She adds.

“What is it?” Alec asks, grasping Magnus’ hand in his.

“Would you be okay with the adoption being open? Or at least semi-open? I want to be a part of the baby’s life, I want to be able to visit him and watch him grow up, and be there for him to ask questions when he’s older, and I don’t want the fact that he’s adopted to be a secret from him, I’m not saying I want to be his mother or anything, but I’d like to be like an Aunt to him.” Molly quietly says. She knew from the minute she found out about the baby that she couldn’t fully part with him forever, she knew placing him for adoption was the best for him, but she couldn’t hand him over and never see him again, though that’s exactly what her parents want. They wanted to send her away for the duration of the pregnancy and arrange to have the baby adopted out themselves, a closed adoption. They claimed it was for Molly’s sake and to save her reputation but she knows better, she knows it’s for their sake and that they’re ashamed of her and her baby,

“Yes we are absolutely fine with that, we never personally set out to have closed adoptions with Max, Rafe and Anna, it just worked out that way really, we know nothing about Max’s parents, he was abandoned, Rafe’s parents were killed in the Dark War with Sebastian, and Anna was abandoned too, but we’ve always been open to any form of adoption.” Magnus explains. “My friend Tessa Carstairs use to be an adoption consultant, she can help with the legal side of things.” He adds. Molly smiles and visibly relaxes.

“Okay great, you can ask me any questions you have now.” She says, glad to have at least one worry off her mind.

“You said ‘him’ when talking about the baby, do you know you’re having a boy?” Alec asks in a hopeful tone. He’d like to know if he and Magnus are going to have another son or daughter, he’ll be thrilled either way but he would like to know before the baby is born.

“No I don’t know for sure, I just have a feeling he’s a boy, but if you two want to find out I’m happy to ask Brother Enoch at my next check up.” Molly replies.

“How far long are you?” Magnus asks, trying to calculate by the size of her stomach, even though he knows that’s not very accurate. When Tessa had been 6 months pregnant with Mina, Magnus had thought she was full term and asked if she was far from her due date, Tessa had almost killed him. It’s surprising Magnus is still alive, the amount of times he’s done something to warrant leaving Tessa ready to kill him.

“5 months, I’m due at the beginning of July.” Molly tells them, rubbing her bump.

“I’m sorry if this is a sensitive issue and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but is the father in the picture?” Alec gently asks. Molly blushes and shakes her head.

“No, I-I don’t actually know who the father is, it was a one-night stand, I don’t remember his name, what he looked like or anything, so you don’t have to worry about him.” Molly quietly says in a tone of embarrassment.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed Molly, these things happen, it doesn’t make you a bad person or anything.” Magnus gently says.

“I’m sorry I brought it up, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Alec softly says.

“No it’s okay, you have a right to know.” Molly says, taking a breath to ward off the tears.

The three of them continue to talk for another hour or so, getting to know each other and their situations.

“Well.” Molly says an hour later, once they’ve spoken about anything and everything. “I made up my mind before I even met you, I’m choosing you as my baby’s parents.”

“Thank you, we promise we will give your baby the most amazing life, and you can be as involved as much as you like.” Alec says in a strained tone of joy.

“I know things aren’t great at home, you could stay with us if you like, you can stay for as long as you want, we have the room and we could take care of you and the baby.” Magnus offers, unable to not offer help to a child in need.

“That’s very kind of you but I actually recently moved out of my parents house, I’m staying with a friend and their parents are extremely kind and good to me.” Molly says. Magnus relaxes at this, knowing he won’t have to worry about his child and the mother of his child as much.

“Well I’m glad, but please know that our door is always open, before and after the baby is born.” Magnus gently says. Molly smiles broadly and says

“Thank you, I appreciate that.” That night, for the first time in months, Molly is able to sleep peacefully, knowing her child is going to have the most wonderful life, being raised by two of the kindest, most caring people she has ever met.

Over the next few months, Magnus and Alec tell their friends and family about the baby and start to prepare for their child’s arrival. Shortly after meeting Molly, she invited them to attend her 6 month check up with Brother Enoch, where it was confirmed she was carrying a boy. Max and Rafe are thrilled at the idea of having a little brother, though Anna isn’t too sure about it yet.

Alec insists on decorating the nursery by hand, not allowing Magnus to use his magic to fix it up. This is the first time they’ll have a new-born, Max was almost 1 when he was adopted, Rafe was 5 and Anna was a few months old. This baby will be days old when they bring him home, and they’ll get to be there for his birth, get to hold him and love him straight away.

While Tessa was helping Magnus, Alec and Molly with the legal side of the adoption, she offered to deliver the baby, having spent years as a midwife (Alec wondered if there was anything Tessa hadn’t done.) and delivered hundreds of babies, including her own grandchildren. Molly happily accepted and ended up having the majority of the rest of her prenatal check ups from Tessa.

They decide to name Ragnor and Tessa as the baby’s godparents. Ragnor was surprisingly good with children, Mina absolutely adores him and is always asking about her Uncle Ragnor and it never fails to make Tessa, Catarina and Magnus laugh, to see their foreboding, grumpy green friend, wrapped around the finger of a little four year old.

Right now, its the last week in June, and Molly is due in just two weeks and Magnus and Alec are gathering together just a few last things for their son. They picked out a name a few weeks ago but decided to keep it a secret until the baby is born.

Currently, Alec is sitting at the kitchen table with Anna in his lap, scribbling on a piece of paper, while he talks with Clary, who is sitting across from him at the table, with her and Jace’s newborn son Stephen, asleep in a sling across her chest.

“So how’s Lucie adjusting to having Stephen around?” Alec asks, knowing that his little niece was not too happy about having a brother, when Clary was pregnant.

“Really well actually, she adores him. I was painting the other day and had Stephen on a blanket on the floor beside me, I looked over at him at one stage and found Lucie curled up beside him, telling him stories, it was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.” Clary says in a fond tone, looking into the living room, where Jace is standing with Lucie on his back, her arms linked around his neck. Lucie is such a daddy’s girl, she has Jace wrapped tightly around her little finger and has done since the day she was born. Jace is a big softie when it comes to his kids, he’s happy to sit and have tea parties all day with Lucie, and he loves to sit at the piano with Stephen and play for him. Often on sleepless nights, Jace will take Stephen downstairs to the music room and play for him until he falls asleep.

“Hopefully Anna warms up to her brother just as well, Max and Rafe can’t wait to meet him, but Anna isn’t too sure about him.” Alec says, running his hand over his daughter’s blonde curls.

“I’m sure she will, Maryse was telling me the other day how jealous you were of Izzy when she was born.” Clary says in an amused tone.

“Oh no, did she get out the baby pictures again?” Alec asks. Maryse loves to tell embarrassing stories about Izzy, Alec and Jace to Clary, Magnus and Simon, and the kids love hearing stories about their parents as little kids.

“Of course, I never realized how much Jessie looks like Izzy, if you put a baby picture of the two of them side by side you could hardly tell the difference, and Stephen is his dad’s twin.” Clary says.

“And Lucie is your twin, Jocelyn showed me your baby pictures the other day, when she and Luke were looking after the kids for us for a while.” Alec says with a smile. Little Lucie has ginger red curls like her mother, as well as her pale skin, freckles, green eyes and her bone structure, all she got from Jace it seems, are his eye shape, mouth shape and nose shape.

“Ugh of course she did, Stephen I promise I’m never going to be as embarrassing as your nana okay?” Clary coos, dropping a kiss to her son’s curly blonde head.

Just then Alec feels a hand on his shoulder, and twists in his seat to see Magnus standing behind him.

“Hey, you okay? You look worried.” Alec gently asks, taking Magnus’ hand from his shoulder and pressing a kiss to it.

“I just got a call from Tessa, she and Jem are with Molly, she asked them to come around because she was bleeding a bit and having pains but she wasn’t sure if it was labor or not and didn’t want to worry us if it was nothing, but Tessa’s checked her over and it is labor. They’re at the Basilias.” Alec’s eyes widen and his heart begins to race, their son is going to be born in the next couple of hours, they’re going to be parents again.

“You guys go, I’ll call mom to come pick up the kids and Clary and I will stay with them until she gets here.” Jace says, coming up to stand beside Magnus.

“Really? Are you sure?” Alec ask, trying to keep the panic out of his tone.

“Positive, now go, you don’t want to miss your son’s birth.” Jace says, taking Anna from Alec and lightly shoving his parabatia toward the door.

Magnus and Alec quickly gather a few clothes and such for the baby and quickly portal to The Basilias,which is now located in New York.

When they arrive, Jem is waiting for them to show them to Molly’s room.

“Is Molly alright, is the baby alright?” Alec asks in a frantic tone filled with worry. Jem smiles understandingly, having been just as anxious and worried when Tessa was in labor with Mina.

“They’re both fine Alec, Tessa gave Molly a painkilling spell so she’s much more comfortable, there are no problems with the baby either, come on I’ll take you into Molly.” Jem calmly says, gesturing for Magnus and Alec to follow him.

Jem leads them into a sterile white room with an en suite bathroom, a bed,a few chairs, a tray by the bed and a nightstand. Molly is half lying half sitting in the bed, propped up by a mountain of fluffy white pillows, dressed in a white and blue hospital gown. Tessa is standing beside her, talking quietly to her.

Magnus and Alec stay with Molly throughout the rest of her labor, while Tessa and Jem come in from time to time to check up on her and the baby.

When it comes time to push, Tessa sits at the bottom of the bed, ready to deliver the baby, Jem stands off to the side so that he can be on hand if anything goes wrong but he’s not so close that he’s crowding Molly, and Magnus and Alec stand on either side of her. Molly grips both Magnus and Alec’s hands in hers, drawing strength and comfort from them being there. She is just so glad she isn’t doing this alone.

Her labor is long and painful and as the time goes on, the painkilling spell begins to wear off and Molly begins to feel almost everything, while growing more and more tired, feeling like it will never be over.

“Oh God I can’t do this anymore.” Molly weakly says, as the contraction eases and she leans back into the pillows, grimacing in pain.

“Of course you can, I know how difficult this is for you and how painful it is, but you are so close, I can see the baby’s head, you’re almost there now.” Tessa gently reassures her.

“You’re doing so well Molly, like Tessa said it will be over soon, then your life can go back to normal, you won’t have to deal with all this pain and morning sickness and all that anymore.” Alec gently says, squeezing her hand encouragingly, trying his best to be helpful. He’d never been present for any birth before, he had no idea how to comfort a laboring mother. He knew he should’ve asked Jace for advice, even though he was more of a wreck during Lucie and Stephen’s births than Clary was. Maybe he should’ve gone to Jem, or Simon.

“I just want it to be over.” Molly weakly says in a teary tone, her breath hitching in her throat as another contraction hits.

“I know darling I know, and it will be soon, and it will be all worth it, I promise you it will, I know this isn’t a typical situation but you will get to be in your baby’s life, you’ll get to hold him and love him as much as you want, while carrying on with your own life, knowing that he’s in good hands.” Magnus calmly says, rubbing soothing circles on Molly’s back. He can’t imagine how bittersweet this moment must be for her, not long from now she’ll get to meet and hold her baby, but she’ll also be placing him with someone else, unless she changes her mind at the last second, which is something Magnus has been worried about for the last 4 months.

At 4:21 p.m. on the 16th of June 2016, Molly gives birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy, who looks just like her, with tanned skin, a mop of black hair and vibrant green eyes.

“By The Angel, he’s perfect.” Alec says in a breathy tone, gently stroking his son’s bloody cheek, once Tessa has laid the baby on a blanket on Molly’s chest.

“Molly you did so well, you are absolutely amazing biscuit.” Magnus softly says, gently squeezing her hand and brushing her hair back from her face. Normally Magnus reserves that nickname for Clary, but he has a feeling he and Molly will grow to be as close as he and Clary, and the nickname suits her.

“Thanks.” Molly says in a breathy tone, still trying to catch her breath, feeling as though she’s just run a marathon.

"Hello little one, your siblings are going to adore you, and your grandma is going to spoil you rotten.” Magnus quietly says, turning to look at his son.

“Anna is going to be so mad she’s still the only girl.” Alec says in an amused tone, knowing how much Anna wanted a sister, she thought it was only fair that the baby be a girl, since she already had two brothers.

“Do you want to hold him?” Molly asks, once Tessa has helped her wrap the baby up to keep him warm.

“You hold him first Alexander.” Magnus says. Alec carefully and expertly gathers the baby into his arms, and is instantly brought back to the first time he held Max, then Rafe and then Anna. Holding his son he feels a sense of peace settle over him, and somehow he knows that his family is complete.

“Hi baby, I love you.” Alec quietly says, taking the baby’s tiny hand in his and pressing a kiss to it.

“What are you going to call him?” Molly asks, as Magnus joins Alec and slips an arm around him and their son.

“You tell her.” Alec encourages his husband, stroking the baby’s hand with his thumb.

Magnus looks from his baby to Molly and proudly says

“Henry, his name is Henry Jonathan Lightwood-Bane.”

“Oh, after our Henry?” Tessa quietly asks in a tight tone, as Jem slips an arm around her waist in an attempt to comfort her. Magnus smiles sadly and nods, grieving for his old friend.

“Yes, Henry was one of the greatest friends I ever had, he was a wonderful man and I can only hope my son grows up to be like him too.” He quietly says, looking down at little Henry in Alec’s arms.

“He’d be honored Magnus, and with parents like you and Alec, you can be sure he’ll grow up to a wonderful young man.” Jem kindly says, which makes his wife tear up even more.

“And you say you don’t have a way with words, James Carstairs.” Jem laughs lightly and presses a kiss to his wife’s temple and whispers to her

“Well it seems we’re going to have to come up with a different middle name for our son.” Making sure that Magnus and Alec aren’t looking, Tessa rests her hand on her belly and softly says

“Nathaniel, William Nathaniel.”

Just a few hours later Magnus and Alec head home with Henry, with promises to send Molly lots of pictures and an open invitation for her to come visit whenever she’s ready.

That night, back in Magnus and Alec’s loft, little Henry lays sleeping soundly in his bassinet by his parents bed, while they try and settle Anna in her new room. Half an hour after being put to bed, little Henry wakes up and starts to fuss when he realizes he’s alone. Just then two figures materialize either side of his bassinet. On his right is a tall thin man, with kind hazel eyes and wild ginger hair, dressed in a white shirt, a red waistcoat and black trousers. On the left of the bassinet, is a small thin woman with flowing brown hair and kind brown eyes, dressed in a flowing teal evening gown, that looks like it’s from the Victorian Era.

“Shh little one you’re alright, don’t cry sweet boy, you’re safe.” Charlotte Fairchild soothes the baby, reaching out to stroke his cheek.

“He’s beautiful.” Henry Fairchild quietly says, marveling at the tiny creature in the bassinet, bringing him back to when his boys were little.

“Oh he really is, I can’t believe it’s been so long since our boys were this little, or our girls for that matter. Oh Henry can you believe they named him after you?” Charlotte asks in an excited tone. She and Henry had been shocked when they learned this little boy’s name from Will, who would often come and go to see Mina and Kit. Henry was and is honored and delighted that his old friend still thinks about him and has named his son after him.

“No I’m still rather shocked, but delighted. I’m so happy for Magnus Lottie, he was so miserable for so long before he met Alec.” Henry softly says, smiling down at the little baby.

“Me too, Alexander is so like Gideon, and he looks so much like Will, it must hurt Tessa terribly.” Charlotte says in a concerned tone. She’s always looked out for her Tessa, and has always worried about her, even though Jem has always been there to keep her safe and Tessa is more than capable of protecting herself.

“Our Tessa is stronger than that, she has learned how to cope with her grief, the sight of anything that reminds her of Will no longer drives her into despair and she’s happy now too, now she has Jem, Christopher and Mina.” Henry says.

“True enough, now we better get this fussy little boy settled, if he’s anything like his name sake he should be dead to the world in no time, isn’t that right sweet boy?” Charlotte coos, smiling as the baby grabs at her hand and stares up at her in awe. Henry smiles warmly at his wife and says

“Where did you think Matthew got his ability to sleep through anything, from? But you’re right as usual Lottie, you should sing to him, our four always loved when you sang to them.” Henry suggests.

“Well it’s been years since I’ve sang a lullaby, but I suppose I could try.” Charlotte shyly says.

In no time at all, Little Henry starts to drift off to the sound of his Aunty Charlotte’s voice, while his Uncle Henry sits beside him and holds his little hand, assuring him that he’s not alone.

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rivalsofnycupdates · 5 years ago

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“There is no failure except in no longer trying.”

■ ABOUT. ■

name: Preston Henderson age: thirty occupation: lawyer gender: cis-male pronouns: he/him sexuality: utp

■ HISTORY. ■

Born in Portland, Oregon, Preston was the only son to relatively successful Lawyers, Cassandra and Richard Henderson. The duo had opened up their firm, and within a decade and rose to become some of the most prosperous lawyers in the State. Often handling high profile cases, which kept them busy and left them no time for their growing son. So instead, Preston was left to his own devices being pushed through private schools and cared for by nannies who seemed to know more about him than his parents. Not that he could complain, considering he had never wanted for much, and knew unlike many children, his family was very well off. When he was seven years old, his parents had another child. One that he knew they wouldn’t raise just like when they couldn’t raise him. What he didn’t know, was his parents were hanging on by a thread. They were losing clients, invested too much money into their office. His parents were able to just make it by every month, though it means they needed to work almost every hour of every day. By the age of sixteen, Preston had started to resent his parents and their absence, not realizing the financial situation they were in. As a teenager, he still hated being one of the only students who didn’t have either of his parents cheering him on at his baseball games, in which he considered the MVP as a star catcher, or when he graduated, earning entrance into Oregon state as their future catcher, only a letter of congratulations was sent. Thus when he moved away for college, it seemed they hardly noticed.

He was thankful to not have needed his parent's money for university. He was able to live independently while on his baseball scholarship. He was able to attend classes, live in his fraternity, be a baseball player all under the university’s dime. While halfway through his undergraduate degree, he got a call from his sister. His twelve-year-old younger sister who had been dropped off at an aunt they’ve never heard of. Preston hadn’t known what to do, his parents were unable to be located from both him, his sister or the unknown aunt. After days of trying to find them, he finally was able to drive home and see that their house had a sign from the bank, claiming they owned the house. Preston couldn’t believe his parents had simply taken off, without saying a word to him, and dropping his younger sister off at an aunt. Or so he thought. After visiting his old family home, that was now owned by the bank. He went to find his sister, only to find out, they weren’t related to the woman by any means. She was a woman who took in foster children.

The twenty-year-old didn’t know what to do, he pulled his sister out and let her live with him in his fraternity house. Though that secret wasn’t one he could keep very long. In those few months, his younger sister had grown up a lot more than she’s already had. Despite him and his sister Adelaide being seven years apart, they both lived similar lives in the sense that they needed to rely on themselves and were able to bond because of it. The months after their parents left them, they both grew up to be the oldest version of themselves. They chose to make a plan. After reaching out to the woman who took in foster children, Preston offered to pay her a monthly fee to take care of his sister during the week and whichever weekends she wanted to be there. Preston chose to pick up a part-time job on campus in order to make the money. For a few months, Adelaide spent every weekend at the fraternity house. Though eventually, she met a few friends both at school and in the foster home. They vowed to one another that they would always be there for each other, and almost ten years later, it was still the case.

Preston worked his ass off, in those last two years. He was able to shift his classes around so that he attend class in the evening, work night shifts, during the days he didn’t practise baseball. By the time the weekends came around, he was too exhausted to do anything. During this time, he started to rely on a few drugs to help him get by. During one of his classes, he was partnered with a girl who truly took his breath away. Her name was Emilie Nolan. While balancing his time, they wouldn’t have been able to become close if they didn’t have a project together. In his final year, his drug abuse was starting to get out of the control, he and Emilie had remained close. Due to his busy schedule, they balanced between friends and dating for a few months. One night, he triple booked himself. He had baseball practice, a night shift at work, and a large paper due. He needed to get it all done and there wasn’t anyone he could ask for help. That night he relied heavily on drugs and ended up having an overdose. He woke up in the hospital the next day, with Emilie by his side. He’d mentioned to her his busy schedule, and when she came by to check on him. He was on the floor of his bedroom completely passed out. He didn’t remember any of this and only woke up more stressed knowing that he had missed out on hours of his final paper. Only to learn that Emilie wrote it for him, while he was passed out.

■ WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? ■

After graduating from Criminal Justice, his sister was old enough to get her own job and start helping him pay for her stay at the foster care. It wasn’t something he pushed on her, though something Adelaide offered. After a year of working, he chose to apply for law school. When he and his sister vowed to better their lives, deep down he knew that he wanted to prove to himself that he would do better than his parents. Though he would never admit that. His love for law grew when he studied criminal justice in high school. He found the world unfair and unjust and wanted to be apart of bringing it together again. He and his sister remained close, he chose to move to New York when she did.

■ KEEP THIS AWAY FROM YOUR ENEMIES ■

While starting his new job in New York, he wasn’t getting many cases. He was at the bottom of the totem pole to one of the biggest law firms in the city. They were incredibly popular, and all he wanted to climb his way to the top. That was his plan, recently he felt that his plan was moving forward when he was asked to take part in a client's court case. A sexual assault case against a man named Robert Beaufort. It wasn’t pretty, and the guy didn’t seem genuine about anything, though his job was to protect him. Little does he know the absolute damage this man has done in his past. For example, putting his partner in jail which eventually lead to his partner's death. With the little research he’s done on this man, Preston felt ass backwards protect a prick like this. He wanted to do good, this didn’t feel like doing good. He felt he was getting this evil son of a bitch off the hook. Currently, he’s working at learning more about his new ‘client’ to find some reason he should get justice for this current claim. As he begins this task, he doesn’t know it will connect him to a love from his past.

■ RELATIONSHIPS. ■

■ Adelaide Henderson: His younger sister Adelaide was mostly all he cared about these days. She was the only family he had left. He doesn’t have a clue, she went looking for their parents, despite how much he encouraged her not to look into them.

■ Emilie Nolan: Emilie was someone he would always love, she was there for him in more ways than he’d ever know when they were friends and during their three years of dating. Though they weren’t perfect. He thought she was cheating on him with an older man, though when confronted, she told him everything about her history, who her father was, the men who set him up. He thought she was crazy. He needed time to think, and during that time. She packed up her things and disappeared from his life.

■ Matteo Riccardi: Leo was his best friend on the baseball team, and one of his fraternity brothers. of his who ended up making it into the MLB.

■ Emmett Wade: When he and Emilie Nolan’s relationship had turned for the worst. He got it in his head that she was seeing Emmett. That their friendship was more than she lead on. A large mistake on his part. He was soon told the truth.

■ CONNECTIONS. ■

■ Adelaide Henderson > Sister

■ Emmett Wade > Friend through Emilie

■ Sawyer Graham > Intern

■ Rosaline Richards > Paralegal

Preston Henderson is an OPEN character and is portrayed by Paul Wesley who’s FC IS NOT NEGOTIABLE.

#bio rp #semi appless rp #gang rp #new rp #crime rp #all #men #paul wesley fc #civilian #non negotiable fc #prestonhenderson #open #openm

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hellohongkong-blog2 · 4 years ago

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COVID-19 19: Laura Cozijnsen

“Laura you are being irrational you wanted masks but you got disposable gloves!”

To start off the COVID-19 19 interview series, I invited Laura Cozijnsen for a discussion at her office in Tsim Sha Tsui on a Thursday morning. Laura is the founder of Lighthouse Consultancy, a communications consultancy delivering diverse public relation campaigns and events with high profile clients such as Tai Kwun, HKUST and HKIA. Alongside Laura’s entrepreneurial success at Lighthouse, she is an award-winning MC and public speaker hosting events such as the 2010 Expo in Shanghai. With Laura’s longstanding involvement and commitment for Hong Kong’s communications industry, this interview hopefully reveals a glimpse into the potential changes and innovations Lighthouse Consultancy and the larger creative industries will have to go through in order to adapt with COVID-19. And as much as it is important to consider the new corporate strategies set in motion, I also wanted to know how Laura was personally coping with the pandemic whether it be with how she greets her dog when she comes back from work or on the political nature of the face mask. Everyone in Hong Kong has their own memories of SARS and now COVID-19, and this is Laura Cozijnsen’s:

T: Reflecting on the past, what was your understanding and experience of SARS in 2003?

L: 2003, I was working for a media company starting in Hong Kong. I remember vividly that it was very scary. The times were scary. Scary in a sense, there is almost like this fog of fear around hong kong. I think it was scarier then now. I remember vividly because my role back then was a regional role. I had to travel to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. We had a few trips planned before SARS. There was this Singaporean company who called us and said “please don’t come to Singapore, you are from the SARS zone”. And I felt so bad, we always felt so welcomed to have meetings and then we could dine out. And then all of a sudden all we got was “you’re from the SARS zone”. It was also a time when I felt…we felt collectively sad. And the loss of medical professionals - the doctors, the nurses and the caregivers all live in our memories. And of course Amoy Gardens and the area around it, no one wanted to be near the buildings. That was how scary it was.

T: I wrote an essay before this all happened - an essay focusing on illness narratives. I wrote about how prevention was also part of an illness really, because it was a social reaction. So I wrote about the prevention methods in the United Kingdom versus Hong Kong. It reminded me that one time, I told my mom that I was going to a birthday party buffet in the Metropole Hotel in Mong Kok. I didn’t know at the time, because they changed their names and everything. So my mom was like “What’s wrong with you?”.

L: I think it was different from now. SARS was more a Hong Kong/China thing. At the beginning of coronavirus, it felt very much the same. There was China and there was Hong Kong. No one knew that it would blow up in the rest of the world. And now it felt like it was the whole world going through this. And from a financial perspective, it’s worse now. Because SARS was just here, and now the rest of the world. I think, is this nature’s way of telling us like “wake up”. No one can escape.

I had a friend in the UK that caught coronavirus. She is from Hong Kong, she works in London. Her mom visited her in January and her mom came back early March, after staying with her for two months. And the tests at the airports, she was confirmed as a case. And then my friend started feeling coughs and heavy breathing, and it was only then that she realised that she might have coronavirus. She was not tested, because they said we do not have enough test. So the numbers…what does a number mean?

T: You touched on it briefly, but how has it changed in 2020? And especially in the earlier months, when it felt so much more like an “asian problem”. What was your perspective in Hong Kong?

L: I thought it would be like SARS. Okay, as long as we continue doing the precautions we will be okay. But then there was also this scare of the lack of masks. Everybody was trying to get a mask. You know the internet meme of “two boxes please”? When someone says, I have a source and then you respond with “two boxes please”. That has become a joke amongst friends but that was the most scary. Because we had no idea we would need so many masks. And it was Chinese New Year. The Wuhan lockdown was 25th of January. And that really sent a message. I should send you my Facebook Live, I did a facebook live on the survey results. It was amazing, the day Hong Kong people started wearing masks was before the Wuhan lockdown. So why would we know, how come we can predict that we need to wear masks? It was before the first confirmed case in Hong Kong. So there was this collective memory of this type of illness, and the knee-jerk reaction of us needing to do this.

This was so funny, one day like many others I was trying to get a box of mask for myself and my mother who does not live with me. I went all over the neighbourhood trying to get masks. We ended up at a grocery store, and the saleslady said “We ran out of masks, why don’t you get some gloves?”. I think the irrationality got the better of me, I bought two boxes of gloves. So it’s still sitting in my kitchen, unused. That was the moment where I realised “Laura you are being irrational you wanted masks but you got disposable gloves!”. I think it was also realising that the death rate in Hong Kong was much less than SARS in Hong Kong was reassuring. But yes, that was the early days.

T: Especially the HKU Prevention of Diseases department, they continued to speak out even after Carrie Lam was asking citizens to not wear a mask. And the team at HKU, they were like “please wear a mask!”.

L: There are so many mixed messages! I think a lot of them come out and say “don’t wear a mask because there is a shortage”. If you don’t have enough stock, you should be clear about it. We have stock for how many days, what’s the best alternatives. You cannot say you do not have to wear one, it is irresponsible. When you look at the statistics, how the growth was being contained in certain cities you realise mask wearing helps. When you look at the President of the United States, he does not even wear a mask, he does not wear a mask in the hospital.

Which brings to the question - how do we select our leaders, how are our leaders being selected and why are they our leaders?

When I was writing my thesis, inevitably people would start talking about the Anti-Mask Law, last year in Hong Kong for the protests. But I think as researchers in that role, we report what is being brought up. And its totally okay, with people there has to be politics.

I think we should provide all medical and sanitation staffs a bonus and a longer holiday after this. Because they work their asses off. I’ve got close friends working in public hospitals that were so stressed, understandably stressed. You also see the beauty of someone going into the Dirty Team with SARS experience, bringing in new nurses and doctors who do not have SARS experience. Hopefully that would educate them and help them understand what it is like. There is a good thing going on as well, those who have experienced it say, “I need to do this because I want the second and third generation of caretakers to know what it's like.”.

T: Going on more of a business perspective, since industries have been pushed into a digital realm during COVID-19, how has that changed working in event management?

L: I think there are a few layers, when you see something that is such a change that is so abrupt. I would think the first thing to do is internal stabilising within the company. In early Feb, we talked about how COVID-19 would affect us as an industry and what we have to brace ourselves for. Every month we have a “situation room meeting”. We basically talk about how business is, what it is going to be like. So internal is phase one. The second is facing external but not in terms of switching gears but understanding what our clients are facing. Because we are all human. They might be afraid of losing their job or bottom line. So really understanding their concerns is what is important. And the thought then would be to switch gears or to think about new things. It would hopefully in the next year that hybrid events could be an option. Once we have this, we can go back and have internal education and the talk yesterday for clients we can reassure them and tell them that we have done this before.

Everything begins with the team, then to understand what the market and client wants and then do it instead of jumping right in. Because without an internal support or understanding you can never do it well. Of course during this time period, all companies are under a lot of stress. It is a time to tell people’s virtues and real characters.

T: Do you think it will change the future of physical events, do you think people will be less willing to participate since you do specific location based events?

L: I think there is going to be a push and pull. There will be a switch in terms of the proportions for a while. And if digital picks up and serves the purpose then we will see events in a different light. Digital events will become less of a ‘nice to have’ and more of a main thing. The benefits have not been capitalised before. I do think that physical events are important because we are human beings, we crave social interactions and seeing each other. But it will be very different.

T: Thinking about your colleagues at work, since they are younger do you think their understanding of SARS is vastly different to yours?

L: I don’t think a lot of them remember, I think at least you have to be 30 years old to have good memory of SARS because it was 17 years ago. To pick up a new thing it does not necessarily have to be for young people, you might see older generations willing to pick up new things. It does not mean that young people will be more accepting to change. So I think the future of education is about growing a generation of agility, flexibility and change. Instead of having to tell students to take ten subjects and pass all of them.

T: How have you and your personal circle (family and friends) been coping with COVID-19?

L: It’s interesting, I get to see more friends now than before. We will call each other more. Before, I had a busier schedule. I do not think that without COVID-19, I would have met so many friends if that can be considered a plus. Family - my mother has been through SARS, she is okay. She has more supplies than she needs, but her only thing is that she is a big church person. So I was teaching her how to use Facebook to watch mass.

T: My grandma does that too! She tells me, “Yes we can go to mass together online!”.

L: I think that has changed, my mom is 78 and she can still learn which is pretty amazing. I also think the world has slowed down. And for us to realise when there is less work, what is important. It is the friends and family that we have. I have friends who paid horrendous amounts of money just to get their kids to get back on the soonest flight. I asked them, “Can you wait for a week? It would be maybe 1/10th of the price.”. And they responded with, “No it must be today.”.

T: This question is more of a precursor to developing one of my other projects, something I want to extend beyond this interview series: In terms of understanding the political nature of the mask, what is your opinion on Hong Kong’s culture of donning masks?

L: I think mask wearing in Hong Kong is a constructed social defence, because that is something we can do. It is almost like psychologically I can do something about it. SARS has redefined for us what a mask is. Because it used to be if you were sick or for a medical staff. But now after SARS, if it is the flu season, you see a lot more people wearing masks. Especially now, according to my research, it is 96% of Hong Kong people wear a mask. Maybe every now and then before the pandemic, someone wearing a mask would be not judged that much. So in fact, the social judgement can change. And not to mention last year, the anti-mask law, and now people see differently. It is something that we feel i can control - both on a hygiene level and on a choice level. So I will do it.

T: How do you feel about the anti-mask law? How did others go about it? Because when I first heard of that law I wondered what people who were sick would go about their day. Even if you were stopped by authorities how can you really prove that you are sick?

L: Personally I was quite resistant to the anti-mask law because I think it is a personal choice. Of course there is a discussion with those who would be held responsible in the eyes of the law with those participating in unauthorised rallies but I still think this is a human right. I think we should want to choose whether we want to wear a mask or not. Of course if a police officer needs to check my HKID for whatever reason, they can request me to temporarily take off my mask. But you cannot say you cannot wear a mask. It’s like if its for religious purposes, oh you cannot wear a veil. It just does not make sense. Or by telling people that you cannot wear a mask it makes people want to wear a mask, its a kind of reverse psychology.

T: I would like to talk about the situation in Mainland China. There are videos on the Internet of people coughing on lift buttons. Now, I do not know if these videos are one hundred percent real or staged. But even the very act of filming it or recording it from a security camera, what does that mean for the health and safety for people living their day to day lives?

L: I feel the most sorry for the people in Wuhan. I think they would require a lot of support after this because it is like where the nuclear bomb hit, right? You didn’t know it was happening, it happened, you didn’t know how to react, you didn’t know who to trust, and you’re just trying to fight for your life. And it is so sad to see videos of people living there and reporters trying to cover footage, its such a quiet city. It is a city that needs a lot of love. And politics is one thing but we always need to remember we are all people, whatever political affiliations we have we are human beings. And imagine that feeling in Wuhan, is like the feeling of being in SARS in Hong Kong. Like, “Fuck, what’s going on? What’s going to happen next?”. I still remember during SARS when I go home, I’d take off all my clothes and then run straight to the bathroom and take a shower before I’d play with my dog. And my dog would be looking at me like (makes confused face). Even now, its not as serious. I would go home, wash my hands and then take off my mask and change into home clothes and then I’ll play with my dog. But she still looks at me confused. And I’m sure people with kids as well. Just imagine doctors and nurses with kids, they (kids) don’t understand. If this is happening to us, we aren’t even in the epicentre. Imagine those in the epicentre.

T: I remember when they did the lockdown in Wuhan, initially they said it was two weeks. But when I saw the lorries barricading the city. I thought to myself, “This is not for two weeks. This is something very serious.”

L: I think for us in communication there is a lot to learn. How should we communicate? What should we communicate? And I think the Taiwan government this time has done a good job. There is so much to learn from them, how they communicated, what to say and what not to say. It is not a parental way of ruling, it is more like how can we work together. I think it is a lot to learn in terms of communications and media.

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hufflepuff-ravenclaw-reviews · 6 years ago

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Proven Innocent Season 1 Episode 6

We open with Madeline and Violet at the women's prison, offering the women “gift baskets” with make-up and $25 commissary cards, but also offering them forums to fill out if they think that they've been wrongfully convicted. A girl pushes her way to the front line, and asks if Madeline knows her/her case. Madeline agrees, and asks that she fill out the forum if she thinks that she's innocent.

Her case is called “CinderHella”. She was adopted from Korea when she was six years old, and her adoptive mother apparently never loved her. Except instead of finding her prince and getting away from a shitty situation, she just snapped and killed her mom instead.

One crucial piece of “evidence” is the 911 tape, in which she sounded... unemotional. Madeline said that it was the same way with her own 911 tape. You're either not emotional enough, or too emotional; you can never win.

Another important evidence was mysterious bruises all over the client's body. She doesn't remember how they got there, but also says that her aunt had her committed to the mental hospital right after the murder. The entire thing sounds shifty as fuck-all.

When they go visit the mental hospital, the doctor clearly wants them to come back with a warrant... and not just because that's how things are done. She clearly wants to show them something.

As the team is discussing how shifty that the entire case seems, Levi shows up and tells Madeline that the guy from the previous episode hung himself. After Madeline says that he'd confronted her after Levi had confronted him, Levi feels better because he thought that the things he said to the guy had made him kill himself. Madeline is quick to jump onto a perfectly reasonable explanation for the man killing himself: he was depressed and never got the help he needed. He says that they should go to the funeral.

Bodie goes to the golf club, where he casually slides up to the client's aunt, the one who had her committed to the mental hospital, and who also inherited $300 MILLION dollars. However, she insists that she liked her niece... and that she already had money of her own.

But later, Violet tells the others that the murder victim was having an affair with her lawyer, but called it off just before she was murdered. However, neither of these suspects were ever so much as questioned once by the police.

Just then, Bellows's political opponent comes in to slam Madeline for having given Bellows ammunition against him in the campaign. She instead offers up something that would destroy Bellows more than the info Madeline gave Bellows: a way to destroy Rosemary's Law by offering up Mr. Lynch, who has always been opposed to the law in the first place.

Meanwhile, all is not exactly great with Bellows's campaign. He's running out of money, so he talks to some rich sob in a polyester leisure suit (yes, he was wearing a fucking golden chain). The guy apparently has enough money to ensure Bellows's campaign now is well-funded, but also that he'd be pushed all the way to the top. But in exchange, he'd ask that Bellows get the FDA to stop hounding him about this drug that he made. Bellows doesn't want anything to do with it, if only because... there's probably a reason why the FDA is going after this drug so much.

Eventually, Mr. Lynch stars in a campaign ad and speaks out against Rosemary's Law. Bellows and his team watches it from the office, and admit that this is insanely bad. Bellows wants to launch his own campaign ads, but his campaign money has run out.

So, he goes crawling back to the sleazeball, and begs for money anyway. And because wearing tacky suits wasn't enough, he also asks about Isabel after he agrees to help Bellows.

In court, the doctor from the mental hospital testifies that she'd informed the prosecutor at the time of the initial trial that the client's bruises were the result of being physically restrained, not from having been in a physical altercation with her adoptive mother. The judge doesn't like that one bit, and agrees to a new trial.

However, as they're leaving, Bodie says that the aunt and the lawyer boyfriend both have air-tight alibis for the night of the murder. So they're back to square one to figure out who actually killed the mother.

They go talk to their client again. She says that the night of the murder, she was at her friend's party. She was there all night, but some guy claimed that she'd left at midnight. And that's what got her put in jail.

They go talk to the friend who'd hosted the party, who says that the client's mother was a real asshole. She lorded it over everybody that the client was adopted, even though literally everybody with eyes could see that. (Two white people does not equal an Asian baby.) She also said some unkind things about the guy who lied on the stand, but agrees to give Madeline and Easy the photos and video from the night of the party (which had been previously taken by the police).

Violet and Bodie then tell the lying liar who lies that he's invited to be on their podcast! Whee, who doesn't enjoy that! He says that he was the designated driver that evening, so he hadn't been drinking at all. He also says that the client hit on him pretty hard, because she'd been doing drugs with her friend that night. However, he gets upset and storms out when he finds out that they'd representing her in court. But not before they serve him with a subpoena to testify.

Meanwhile, Madeline and Levi go to the funeral. Levi says that everybody at the high school got an email about the funeral, so everybody's there. And it goes about as well as you might expect. Everybody hates Madeline and Levi. Everybody. Heather goes up to talk, although she does the most tacky thing ever: she makes the eulogy about the dead guy all about her opinions about what happened about Rosemary.

However, one lady gets up and storms out... and she's not Madeline. The lady used to be one of Heather's friends in high school, but while Heather now maintains that “perfect housewife” persona, this lady is more “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Madeline's actual words). Madeline follows her out, and talks to her. She says that she overdosed and almost died because of Heather, so they're not exactly friends anymore. She then tells Madeline that Heather would steal her father's prescription pad and would sell it to people, but “friends” of Heather got the drugs for free. Because of course they did.

She then tells Madeline to drop the subject, and makes a weird mention that this guy's death won't be the last as far as Rosemary's case is concerned. Which... I feel like that's not going to get Madeline to stop. Furthermore, maybe this hasn't affected the chick all that much, but Madeline was literally jailed because of this. Of course she's not going to let it go.

Later, Madeline bitches about the entire thing to Dylan... the show finally said his fucking name. Ugh.

As Madeline goes to court, she's cornered by Bellows, who begs her to drop this case, because the client is guilty. However, Madeline throws back Bellows's quick sinking campaign in his face, and insists that he doesn't need another one of his convictions overturned.

In court, they question the guy who'd previously lied on the stand about having seen the client leave the party at midnight. He continues to insist that he was the designated driver, however, video footage from the party that night clearly shows him doing lines of coke off the coffee table. Clearly very sober. /sarcasm

As they're leaving for the day, a man approaches them. He says that he's some sort of professor, and he thinks that the murder was caused by a serial killer.

Back at the office, he explains about his theory. First, the killer in question had gotten off on some BS technicality on some of his earlier murders, but he believes that this murder fits the profile. He then says that this murderer communicated with his victims via email, and Bodie is set on the task of getting into dear old mum's email account to see if she had anything like that.

Bodie comes back later and shows them that the mom did have emails from the serial killer that matched the description. A lot of them. So obviously, this is the work of a serial killer, and not their client.

Just then, Violet gets a message notification on her phone. An article published about Madeline and Levi... with a byline by Dylan. In it, details that Madeline ONLY said to Dylan are written.

Violet later tries to make sure that Madeline is okay, but she insists that Dylan didn't mean that much to her in the first place.

While Madeline's having a melt-down over Dylan being a creep, he confronts his boss. He'd previously told him that there was no story about Madeline, except that she was working to uncover who actually killed Rosemary. So, the boss took Dylan's work on his company-owned computer, and gave it to another reporter. Apparently, this paper doesn't give a shit about their reputation, because literally none of that news is remotely verifiable. Dylan then quits on the spot.

In court, they have the suspected serial killer on the stand. She produces the emails as evidence, and says that the IP address is registered to his home address. (Which, that's not how fucking IP addresses work. My current IP address lists me as being in another town in my same state.) When Madeline presses if he'd sent similar emails to his other victims, and the judge presses him to answer, he pleads the fifth. Which is never a good sign.

The jury later comes back with a not guilty verdict for the client, so she goes free.

Later, Violet has both the now former client as well as the professor who's information helped to free the client on her podcast to talk about the case. However, as they're sitting together and talking about the case, Violet can't help but notice that the client tenderly touches the professor's hands. In a way that conveys that they're way more than casual friends.

Violet left the room with the table mics off, but had the room mics on to record their conversation after she'd left. She plays the recording for Easy, Madeline, and Bodie. And it basically suggests exactly what Bellows had tried to warn Madeline about earlier: that this one is completely guilty. But their hands are tied. They can't just suddenly retry their client, because that would be double jeopardy. They can't file charges against the professor as an accessory after the fact, because that would break attorney/client privilege.

But what they end up doing is sending Bodie, aka the person who isn't a lawyer, to follow them and see what he can dig up/catch them doing. He takes pictures of the two of them kissing in public.

And finally, Dylan comes to Madeline's apartment. She'd been avoiding his calls and otherwise ignoring her. He tries to say that he didn't write the article and that he quit, but Madeline starts beating him up on the floor outside her apartment.

#Proven Innocent #The Ravenclaw mod

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rason-rodd · 7 years ago

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Nightwing : The Rise of Flamebird (Chapter 5)

Summary: Nightwing and Flamebird were two ancient Kryptonian gods, yet completely opposite. He was darkness and rebirth, tasked to hunt the evils in the shadows. She was fire and destruction, born to annihilate the creations of her mate, Vohc The Builder. Destined to fall in love and achieve great things but fated to be separated. That’s the story Dick Grayson and Terry Olsen heard. Strange that it is also, somehow, their story

Major Pairing: Nightwing/Dick Grayson x Flamebird/Original Female Character

Chapter Summary: After the kidnapping of another child, Terry starts to devote herself even more to her work at the expense of her life as a couple. But there is no time for personal life. The autopsy of Jane Antol has revealed too many terrible things and she believes she may have a lead. Problem is, she needs Nightwing's help.

WARNING: GORE & VIOLENCE, KIDNAPPING

[Previous Chapter] [READ ON AO3]

Readers List:

- If you’re interested you can ask me to add you to the list. - Also, don’t forget to tell me what you think about the story. Your opinions mean a lot.

Terry and Josh’s Apartment – Halyard Street – Blüdhaven – Morning

Another child was missing. Terry had received a message telling her so early this morning. Chloe LaGrange. Five Years Old. A sweet little girl with curly black hair, big black eyes and mocha-coloured skin. Living in Ravenshood Heights and an orphan adopted last year by a couple of doctors. “Just like Isaac.” Terry whispered as she pinched the bridge of her nose, the picture of the little girl in her hand. Now she was certain that this wasn’t a coincidence. She was dealing with a serial kidnapper… or worse.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t see Josh sitting by her side with a mug of hot black coffee. “Here, you’ll need this.” She didn’t hear him either. He sighed and put the mug in her field of vision. “I’m sorry … Thank you … You were saying?” He smiled. He wasn’t mad. He knew how much her work meant to her. “There was nothing you could have done, Terry.”

“ I know. But it kills me to know there is a psychopath hurting kids somewhere in this city and that the only clue I had is now on the coroner’s table.” “ Any idea who that might be?” “ Well I’ve established a profile using the data on the children. Since both Isaac and Chloe were orphans, adopted by rich families and living in the most luxurious area in the Blüd, I believe our kidnapper is an orphan too … However, I don’t think he was ever adopted. Actually, I think the kidnappings are acts of vengeance and resentment, to punish the families that didn’t choose him. But maybe I’m wrong.” “ You’re never wrong.” He tried to kiss her on her lips but he only met the corner of her mouth as she remained still. “You’re going somewhere?” She asked as she noticed him taking a grey duffel bag “To the gym. I signed up yesterday for a ridiculous price and I read on the Internet the coach is very competent” She faked a smile. Another. Truth was she couldn’t care less about his hobbies. Awful, right? She knew. “But hey, he might interest you. He is also an orphan adopted by a rich guy.” He joked as he zipped his sport jacket. “Oh really?” Why did she ask? Just let him leave. “Yeah. Dick Grayson. Heard he was Bruce Wayne’s ward” Terry froze instantly and Josh noticed it. He frowned. “Do you know him?” “Who doesn’t know Bruce Wayne?” “I meant Dick Grayson.” She hesitated for a second but then answer with a “Nope”. But the truth is she knew him. After all, how could she forget him? That poor boy that had lost his parents the same night she lost hers. “Dick Grayson” she whispered inaudibly.

Grayson Cross Train Studio – Blüdhaven - Morning

The alarm made Dick jump. For a second, he thought he had just closed his eyes a couple of minutes ago. But when he checked the clock on his nightstand he realised he had been sleeping for at least three hours. A record this week, but still not enough to erase the dark rings under his blue eyes. He yawned but managed to get up even though his knee was still hurting. A splint and he hopefully would be ready to work. He limped towards the windows and drew the curtains. The sun hidden behind the high buildings of the city centre was slowly rising, replacing the crazy noisy neon night and colouring the sky with yellow and orange shades. It was one of the many reasons he loved Blüdhaven and refused to call it Gotham’s little sister. Blüdhaven was not Gotham. It didn’t look like her at all. Yes, crimes and lawlessness had given her this reputation of dangerous dark place but Blüdhaven was also this eternal patchwork of colours, a flashy skyline sparkling in the dark night in which even more colourful people were living. Blüdhaven was not just black and white, neon pink and blue.

Just like the sign on his windows, that Josh was staring at, happy that he had finally found the place after his GPS had got him lost at least twice. He opened the door and was immediately welcomed by a still sleepy yet smiley Dick who approached him to shake his hand. “Hi! You must be Josh” The ex-surgeon instantly noticed his splint but, out of respect, he just smiled and chose not to say a word though he thought Dick looked like he definitely needed medical advice. “Yeah. Sorry, I’m a bit late. I’m new in this city. Still got some orientation issues.” “ No worries. At least, I was able to take my time this morning. Plus the others are not here yet so … Coffee?” He nodded. Dick was a very warm and social man. His comfort and ease around people stroke Josh who wished for a second he was like this too. Even his voice was smooth and immediately gave him an incredible trustworthy and friendly vibe. “So you’re new in town?” Dick handed him a cup of hot coffee. “Yeah. We moved in few days ago.” “ We, as in …” “My girlfriend and I, Terry. I got a job opportunity, a huge contract from the mayor’s office to renovate the old harbour salt factory into a seaside resort. I’m an architect/ interior designer” “ Wow. That’s looks like a huge work.” Dick took a sip of coffee as he massaged his knee, a gesture that caught again Josh’s attention. “It is and it’s taking me most of my time which is actually something I didn’t want to happen when I changed my career path. I was a surgeon at Metropolis Hospital.” “ Why that huge change?” “ I did it for my girlfriend, mostly. We’ve been through a lot recently.” Sadness was suddenly in Josh’s deep brown eyes. He tried to conceal it behind a smile. “We needed a new start and I wonder ‘why not’” But Dick noticed, as he had been taught to discern every details. However, he knew how to react according to them. The man was basically a stranger so chatting about his personal problems was not a good idea. “And well, it looks like we’re getting better.” Good for you, lucky man. Dick winced as he crossed his leg. Stupid knee. “You know, you should see a doctor. You may need surgery… Medical advice.” Dick smiled slightly just to be polite but the truth is he was tired of people worrying about him. “It can wait.”

Dick’s phone rang, cutting short the conversation before it became too awkward. It was a text from Helen, one of his clients, a professional hockey player with gorgeous blue eyes, curly dark hair and a smooth mocha-coloured skin. “Car trouble. We will be late. Sorry <3” “Looks like Helen and Wallace are going to be very late. So let’s start without them.” “Looks like Helen digs you.” Josh winked as he noticed discreetly the heart at the end of the text. Dick scoffed and smiled. “She’s a cool girl but I’ve got no time for romance right now.” Josh shrugged. “Or you don’t want to take the time for some reason” The ex-trapeze artist was a bit surprised by the familiarity but better a weird too sociable client that than an introvert shy one, no? “Sorry that was inappropriate.” “Actually you may be right.” Relieved, Josh smiled and dared ask “We should totally go out sometime. Terry and I haven’t get the chance to meet people since we arrived. And you seem like a pretty nice guy… You can ask Helen and Wallace to come as well … or other people, as you wish ” He winked with a smile. “Sure … why not.”

Blüdhaven Police Department – Afternoon

As soon as Terry opened the door, an intense cold invaded her body. For a second she wondered it was the low temperature in the room or the naked corpse on the table in front of her that was making her shiver. She opted for the last theory. “ Detective Olsen. I was no expecting you so soon.” The coroner approached her with a smile and stretched out his hand to salute her. She did the same but quickly reconsidered when she noticed the blood on his glove. “Oh sorry.” He took it off, a bit embarrassed and finally shook her hand. “I just began the autopsy this morning right after I received the Examining Magistrate’s authorisation.” “ And? Have you found anything yet?” “ I have indeed.” He waved her to come closer to the corpse and pointed at her slit neck. “She bled to death. I’m still trying to figure out what blade was used but the precision of the cut shows the killer took his time.” “ His? How do you know?” “The bruises on her jaw and on her wrists– beside the ones that show she had been tied up pre and post mortem – correspond to very large hands, definitively not female. I suppose the killer caught her wrists first to tie her up and then held her head to slit her throat while she was still alive.” Terry frowned and gulped, imagining the pain the girl must have endured. “But there is worse. Her abdomen was entirely cut in half after she died. The liver and the heart are gone.” He opened the abdomen a little to show her. Terry closed briefly her eyes, deeply disgusted. Poor woman. She was maybe guilty of what happened to Isaac but no one deserved to be treated this way. “Did you find anything that would allow us to track down the killer by any chance?” “ No. Whoever did this is a professional. There is no DNA, nothing” Terry pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, frustrated and more than annoyed. “What’s this?” She pointed at a long red scar on Jane’s pale face. “ That’s the creepiest part.” As if things were not already creepy enough. He turned Jane’s face to the side to show a thin cut all around the prostitute’s face. “It was made post mortem. It looks like the killer peeled off her face and then sewed it back” “ What?” Her eyes widened. She had seen a lot in her young career and read a lot when she was a student but she had never heard or seen anything like this. “Sicko I know… And I also found this, in her mouth” It was a piece of paper. Words had been scribbled on it but the saliva had damaged it so much it was impossible to read. “I only found residues of food on it.” “ May I take it?” She asked as she looked at the paper in the plastic bag. “ Sure, yes. If you believe you can do something with it.” “ I may know someone who can actually.”

Blüdhaven Police Department – Night

“ No. No way you’re staying here, Victoria’s Secret” Elise growled as she tried to make Terry go away, pulling her by the arm towards the door. “I don’t see why I couldn’t stay. I’d really like to talk to him myself about the case.” “ I believe I can repeat everything you told me.” Svoboda insisted as she opened the door. “I’m not that sure to be honest. You seemed more interested in your burger than in the conclusions I had drawn from the autopsy and both kidnappings.” “ Male. Serial offender. Possibly a resentful never-adopted orphan bla-bla-bla … See I listened to you.” “ Actually the bla-bla-bla part worries me.” Elise sighed and pushed the young woman before attempting to close the door to prevent her from coming back on the rooftop. “Fine, I’m leaving … But don’t forget to give him …” “ The paper. I know” The detective slammed the door and waited a little bit to make sure her colleague was gone. When she heard the footsteps going down the metallic stairs, she breathed out loudly, relieved she had succeeded in getting rid of her. “ What paper?” Svoboda jumped and put her hand over her racing heart. It had skipped more than one beat, she was sure of it. “You’re going to give me heart attack one day, kiddo.” She groaned and looked up at the vigilante casually leant against the BPD flashing sign. “Don’t worry Elise, I have a defibrillator in my suit” She frowned, not really liking the joke but happy his usual cheerfulness was slowly resurfacing. “That was a joke.” “ I know it was joke. But I’m not in a mood.” “ I’m not really in the mood either.” He admitted before jumping from his spot to come down and meet her. “So what paper?” “ This one.” She handed it to him. “Found in Anne Darrow’s mouth but the words have been erased because of the saliva. My colleague thought she could count on you to find out what was written.” “ Yeah I may know a way to do this.” He stared at the paper in the plastic bag. “Anything else?” “ Well, Olsen drew some conclusions concerning our killer. She believes he is an orphan who was never adopted judging by the fact both the abducted kids were orphans” “ Both?” Nightwing frowned, surprised by the words. “Yeah. A little girl was confirmed missing this morning. Chloe Lagrange.” “ Why didn’t you tell me about this, earlier?” He growled, angry with the detective and with himself. Classical guilt. “Well, because I worked on the case all day as well.” She spat, not liking his tone at all. “Anyway, she also believes he had done this before considering his ‘modus operandi’. The killing of Jane was ‘very well calculated and conscientious. A professional work.' I’m just paraphrasing. He extracted her heart and liver and peeled off her face to sew it back like a real surgeon” “ Her face was peeled off?” His eyes widened. This detail was more important than Svoboda seemed to realise. “ Yeah… The guy is a real psycho” “ Yeah and I know only one criminal capable of this … Barton Mathis aka Dollmaker.”

#nightwing #dick grayson #nightwing: the rise of flamebird #chapter 5 #nightwing x flamebird #dick grayson x original female character #fanfiction

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wealmostaneckbeard · 7 years ago

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Safe Zone City AU

I think the Overwatch setting needs to be simplified a bit. So what if instead of the entire Earth, the narratives of Overwatch took place in a single city:

When the Omnics turned on humanity, it wasn’t with guns or cannons. They were subtle, crafting pathogens in labs and seeding them into infrastructure around the world. High-tech metropolises were the first to get quarantined while professionals of all kinds fled to impoverished cities to start anew. Some of those cities fell apart from the influx of refugees, civil unrest, and new outbreaks of the engineered diseases. But our city survived through our sacrifices and we will work hard everyday to keep it alive.

SZC Locations and characters found in each:

Downtown

Police HQ

Jack Morrison: Chief

Has a daughter at the University, less concerned about the Facility since Moira has been fired

Lena Oxton: Patrol Officer

Fun Motorcycle Cop who is Currently Dating...

Emily: Records Clerk, Forensic Accountant

“It’s not as boring as it sounds, honestly!”

Gabriel Reyes: Captain of Investigation Division

Has a lot of informants within The Network, is actually the second highest ranking member of the The Network

Jesse McCree: Detective

Currently under review for misconduct, continues doing private investigations for clients

Fareeha Amari: Captain of SWAT division

Took over the position from Reinhardt, visits her mother out on the fringes every weekend

Hospital

Angela Ziegler: Head Administrator

Took over after previous Admin, Mondatta, was assassinated.

Tekhartha Zenyatta: Resident Doctor

Worked in quarantine zones as a doctor alongside Mondatta. In charge of the quarantine protocols at the Facility

Moira O’Deorain: Resident Doctor

Kicked out of the Facility, Discretely selling medical supplies through The Network to fund her own research into pathogens outside the safe zone.

Docks

Akande Ogundimu: Dockmaster

Keeps a low profile because he is the Network’s leader within the city. Commands an army of private security.

Hanzo Shimada

Lives in a mega-yacht, Was overseas searching for a place where his family could resettle when the family safehouse was destroyed in an explosion. Ashamed he wasn’t there to save his family and how Genji has been “Disfigured”

Genji Shimada

Also lives in the mega-yacht, Motorcyclist, was in the family safehouse and saw his parents die, nearly died himself. “Brother, please stop saying I’m disfigured.”

Old Town

Slums

Sombra: Loiterer, Network Operative

small time drug dealer, big time hacker, Reyes’s best informant

Reinhart Wilhelm: retired, community activist

Led riot suppression squads as Captain of SWAT, regrets his actions and is trying to do right by the people

Junkrat: “Professional Arsonist”

oblivious to sociopolitical issues, makes bombs for all kinds of buyers such as children and terrorists

Roadhog: “Trouble Shooter”

Quiet Mercenary, Concerned about the Networks growth and consolidation of illegal activities within the city

Amelie Lacroix: Refugee, Network Assassin

Had to kill her own husband who was infected with self-replicating nanites. Got partially infected herself, is receiving treatments through the Network in exchange for eliminating targets.

Lindhom Factory

Torbjorn Lindhom: Factory Owner, Chief Engineer

Family man nearing retirement, great boss, has a daughter in the University

Aleksandra Zaryanova: Factory Security

Can scare employees, chooses not to, most of the time

Fringes

University

Hana Song:Student

slacker daughter of the police chief, studying robotics but not really

Lúcio Correia dos Santos: Student

recording arts student, came from the slums, buddies with Reinhardt

Brigitte Lindhom: Student, Campus Security Volunteer

Hard working daughter of the Factory owner, not sure whether to get into law enforcement or industrial engineering

Oladele Farms

Mei-Ling Zhou: Climatologist

Concerned that changing weather patterns are going to be threatening crop yields which might lead to another food riot in the city

Orisa: Farming Bot mk-3

Daughter of Efi Oladele, sweet cinnamon roll on four legs

Bastion: Farming Bot mk-1

likes birds and can be overly cautious out in the field

Facility

Satya Vaswani: Logistics planner

meticulous planner of expeditions out into the quarantine zones, look but don’t touch

Winston: Theoretical Technologist

reverses engineers the abandoned technology recovered from the quarantine zones, likes peanut butter

Ana Amari: Explorer

leads expeditions out into the quarantine zones, volunteers at the University police station

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missingverse · 7 years ago

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Missing Chapter Twenty Six

So by now the fic has moved quite far from the original idea and is moving closer to the issues surrounding the rest of Arnold and Helga's lives. I'm wondering if I should make this and the next chapter the last two and start another fic about the aftermath? What do the readers think?

Note: Obligatory suggestion to check out my novel on Kindle if you like my work: The Hothouse Princesses by S.A. Hemstock.

…..

Three months on:

Arnold knew his grandfather wasn't happy about letting Ambrose and Helga move into the boarding house, but financially he wasn't really in a position to refuse a paying customer. It looked like the adoption process was going through with no problems, and thanks to Helga's many donated funds she was able to get a ramp installed in the back of the house, as well as repairs done on the ground floor. Even Phil had to admit that it was a relief getting some of the old fixtures replaced.

Curtis Waring's trial was coming up, and although Helga was able to walk with a cane now she couldn't walk for long and would have a permanent limp thanks to a shattered ankle she sustained during her catatonia. It was decided for her own safety that she would stay in the hospital for the duration of the trial, to prevent any backsliding in her condition.

Ambrose moved into the two room apartment without her, and set about making it habitable for a man and a young girl. It hadn't been touched since the last person who lived there moved out seven years before, and had been neglected by both Phil and Arnold since they had all the other rooms to service. Ambrose stripped the dingy wallpaper, tossed the old moth-eaten furniture and gave the whole place a new coat of paint. By the end it barely looked like it belonged in the boarding house.

“Is Helga's trust fund covering all this?” Arnold asked when he stopped by to bring Ambrose a glass of iced tea.

“I didn't touch none of her money,” Ambrose told him from the ladder he was using to paint the wall sconces. “I have plenty of my own.”

He drove back to his old apartment to collect his furniture and his dog, an old bloodhound named Della. Arnold helped him carry the stuff in, and he was struck by how many classic antique pieces Ambrose owned. Ambrose caught him staring at a particularly fancy chair, and laughed.

“Ed picked out most of this stuff,” he explained. “I didn't care so long as I could sit on the porch of an evenin'. But I figured Helga would like that chair.”

A set of pictures went up on the walls, most of them Ambrose's deceased partner or the two of them together with Della lying in front of them. Arnold liked the look of Ed; a chubby middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a quirky grin. It really was a shame that they'd never been able to adopt together, but he knew Ambrose felt like Ed had sent Helga to him so in some way she was their daughter.

“Ed would've loved her,” Ambrose said once. “He always wanted a little girl, especially a little spitfire.”

Ambrose was as good with Arnold's grandmother as he was with Helga. He was patient with her nonsense rambling, which had just gotten worse since the stroke, and he often helped her out with cooking in the evenings. Phil had been quiet, cautious around him at first, but even he came around eventually when Ambrose offered to take a look at any of the broken fixtures in the house.

“I'll take it out of your rent,” Phil offered. “Since you're saving me a repairman's bill...”

“Nah, keep it,” Ambrose shrugged. “I like to keep busy. Let Della warm herself in the kitchen and we'll call it even.”

But what was best about Ambrose moving in was that now Arnold had a lift every time he visited the hospital, instead of having to make the long journey by bus and staying in that crappy motel overnight. Phoebe hopped in with them sometimes, and even Patrick tagged along though he had a car of his own and was busy with college.

Helga was doing well. She had a good, safe place to live when she got out of the hospital, someone to take care of her the way she deserved and her friends nearby. She would have everything she needed. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Nothing.

…..

On the first day of the trial, reporters showed up on Arnold's doorstep and peppered him with questions as he and Ambrose were trying to leave. He heard at least one ask about him finding the murder scene and a few mentions of the words 'crime forums.'

“No comment,” he managed to remember to say as he barreled through them to Ambroses' truck.

They were worse at the hospital, and were wise to the trick of sneaking Helga out the back. Officer Plaskett covered her with his coat as Ambrose pushed her chair, and by the time they got her into the truck she seemed a little freaked out.

“They had cameras,” she murmured. “I thought they weren't allowed take pictures of me?”

“The gag order is up because you waived anonymity,” Plaskett explained. “Unfortunately, that's what it's going to be like for a while. I'll keep you under wraps as much as I can but realistically a few pictures are going to be released. This case is very high profile.”

Arnold saw her swallow, hard.

“Don't be too nervous,” Plaskett continued. “The defense has been warned to stick to certain topics and not to grill you. The judge will interfere if they get goady, and if you feel like you need a break you just ask for it. Don't push yourself too hard.”

The court was mobbed with reporters, onlookers and a handful of people holding up signs of support or condemnation. There was a pretty shocking amount of people that thought Helga was lying about Waring, and that his other victims were just human garbage that the world didn't miss. The court police cleared a path but they had to carry her up the steps, and Arnold had a feeling that that was an image that would show up on the news that night: Ambrose carrying her bridal-style up the stairs while Plaskett and Arnold lugged her wheelchair behind them.

They were allowed into the courtroom early, to make sure Helga was comfortable and ready. The judge even came in plain clothes to talk to her privately. He looked nice, a grandfatherly type of man, but Plaskett had warned that he was a hard man with a poker face you could never interpret. Waring's lawyer, wearing another painfully expensive suit, came in early too to discuss with the judge.

The jury trickled in, a distinct mix of young and old, men and women from all walks of life. Two black, three vaguely Hispanic, one Asian, four white. According to Plaskett that was a good mix. Spectators and support filled the benches, court reporters took their seats, the prosecuting lawyer arrived too late to talk to Helga but at least looked smart.

Finally, Waring was brought in. In a suit, not even handcuffed, groomed and trimmed to look as normal and nonthreatening as possible.

Even so, Arnold heard Helga draw in a ragged breath and saw her hands clench under the desk.

…..

For three straight hours, Waring's lawyer built up an image of a man who had been accused of nothing more than a misdemeanor. He painted a picture of a shy and quiet man whose desire to keep to himself and live a back-to-nature life in the woods lead to him being accused of murdering prostitutes. He made it sound like the girls who had gone missing from Pocaselas had brought it upon themselves by entering the notoriously risky job of streetwalking.

The prosecution brought up his dishonourable discharge from the military, but even this was dismissed as a petty act by a vengeful ex. By the time Helga was called to the stand, Waring was being painted as a saint with some spiteful enemies.

But even Helga's presence in the court dimmed the lawyer's hard work. The jury looked on sympathetically as she wheeled herself to the bench and was sworn in.

“Could you state your full name for the court, please?” the lawyer began.

“Helga Geraldine Pataki.”

“And, how old are you, Helga?”

“Sixteen.”

“How old were you when you claim to have been involved with my client?”

“I was eleven when he caught me.”

“Caught you? Am I to believe there was a struggle?”

“Yes, he threw something over my head and knocked me to the ground. Then he jabbed me with something.”

“That's a little vague...could you elaborate?”

“A needle. He jabbed me with a needle. Whatever was in it knocked me out.”

“I see....could you tell us where he caught you?”

“In the woods, the hills just outside Hillwood.”

“And what were you doing out there? According to your statement, this was just after dawn, am I right?”

“It was about 8am, I was trying to get downtown early. I spent the night up there.”

“You spent the night in the woods?”

“I had a hideout there, I slept up there sometimes.”

“I see, and what did your parents think of you sleeping in a cave in the woods?”

“They didn't know.”

Helga was impressively stoic on the stand, but Arnold's irritation with the lawyer was building. His rapid-fire questioning was clearly designed to knock her off balance.

“Is it safe to call you a runaway, in that case? Because you had gone hiding somewhere without your parent's knowledge?” he continued.

“I suppose so,” Helga shrugged.

“That's a risky thing for a little girl to do.”

“No riskier than staying at home, I thought.”

“Were you aware that there were other people in the woods at that time of day?”

“No. I'd been staying up there a long time, I hardly ever saw anyone else. It was rough terrain.”

“But the area was open to the public, so indeed anyone could have stumbled across you.”

“I suppose, but they would have had to try very hard. They would have had to been watching me for a while.”

The jury murmured, and the lawyer just about suppressed a frown.

“Let's go back; you were staying overnight in a public area without your parent's knowledge. That's a fact you have in common with a lot of these missing women.”

“I suppose so.”

“Would you have said you were a difficult child, Ms Pataki?”

“Depends on what you mean by difficult.”

“Well, I have some reports here....they use words like hostile, uncommunicative, defiant, rude....I could go on. Would you agree with those statements?”

“To that person, then yes. Maybe.”

“You had a habit of hanging around older boys, am I right?”

Arnold heard Patrick, just behind him, suck in a breath.

“What do you mean by 'hanging around?'” Helga asked.

“You were often seen in the company of older boys.”

“I was on the baseball team with a lot of older boys, so yes, I guess.”

“But outside of baseball, you saw some of these boys socially.”

“Mostly just one, the others I saw in passing if we were all doing the same thing. I was the only girl on the team so they looked out for me.”

“Forgive me, but it's a rare kind of boy that wants to be in the company of a younger girl without getting something in return, would you agree?”

“Then I was lucky, because the ones I knew treated me like a younger sister. Maybe the boys you knew were different.”

A wave of soft laughter echoed in the courtroom. Red spots of annoyance popped up on the lawyer's cheeks.

“Still, running away and hanging out with older boys, that's not a usual thing for an eleven year old girl, is it Ms Pataki?” he prodded. “That combined with these reports suggests you were pretty troublesome back then. Is that fair to say?”

“I didn't realize having crappy parents was such a crime,” Helga quipped.

Now, the courtroom didn't attempt to suppress their amusement; they laughed openly. But when the laughter died down, one person was still loudly chuckling. All eyes in the room turned to him.

Curtis Waring.

He had been blank-faced throughout most of the proceedings, but now tears of laughter ran down his face. When the judge banged the gavel and commanded him to be quiet, he calmed down, wiped his eyes. And then he looked directly at Helga and mouthed three words to her.

That's my girl.

#missing #hey arnold #hey arnold fanfiction #tw: abuse #tw: crime #courtroom drama

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fredahahn95-blog · 4 years ago

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unigard auto insurance

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unigard auto insurance

unigard auto insurance to the cost of your vehicle. If something happens to your car during these years, you get the car insurance coverage from your previous employer. Even if you still have workplace coverage for your car, you can keep it on yourself if you want with a few different options. Some insurance companies allow employees to add on a separate policy to have different limits of coverage. While this may not always be a bad decision, it’s good to review when it suits you. There is no perfect decision for your particular situation. All insurance products advertised on are underwritten by insurance carriers that have partnered with , LLC. HomeInsurance.com, LLC may receive compensation from an insurer or other intermediary in connection with your engagement with the website and/or the sale of insurance to you. All decisions regarding any insurance products, including approval for coverage, premium, commissions and fees, will be made solely by the insurer underwriting the insurance under the insurer s then-current criteria. All insurance products are governed. unigard auto insurance, which lets you drive on the side of the road at high speeds. It also lets you enjoy a great view of the city and highways while you drive. The state doesn’t require drivers to have but if you drive, it would. If your current auto insurance policy does charge for the miles driven, it would appear as the policy only pays for a few miles an hour. If you choose not to have car insurance, keep the policies and consider moving. If your credit score is below 620 and you have a low credit score in your 20s, you won’t find great rates on car insurance in Ohio. If your credit is below 620 and you ve received a low credit score, you can now start to lower your rates. A great way to lower your car insurance rates is to work with an insurance agent, as your agent will be able to work with you to get a lower rate for your car insurance policies as low as possible, and offer you the right level. unigard auto insurance in Colorado is $1036 annually. Colorado state law requires drivers to carry at least the minimum levels of required insurance. That doesn’t mean you’re breaking the law. Many drivers carry more than the state legal minimum when they buy car insurance. Check with your insurance provider to know what level of coverage you’re required to carry. In Colorado, drivers can choose to waive uninsured motorist coverage. This leaves the driver not alone. Colorado law requires a good driving record for drivers that find themselves in this situation. If this can be a problem for you, you can consider avoiding it altogether. If it makes you uncomfortable, shop around to the minimum insurance requirements you can afford. You will find that average rates are much more expensive than what drivers of a bigger budget might pay for insurance in Colorado. However, what if you’re in an accident without insurance at all? Here’s an example. Suppose you are at fault in an accident that causes serious injury.

6. Unigard Insurance – USA Coverage

6. Unigard Insurance – USA Coverage in the US can be for as little as $30 a month (with $50k annual value). In the USA they are required to offer a $20 a month for health insurance to cover their service and expenses. In the UK, they are a separate matter of your credit or financial history. They are generally offered by credit check, but can be offered by . All of these services can be obtained with at no additional charge. The premium is based off the annual value of the contract so it s easy to get your foot on the gas. The insurer may cover dental expenses in a variety of ways (in the case of dentistry to repair teeth), but they offer other dental services as well. These may include: Frequent cleanings and fillings Ocular, dentitive, etc. In addition to physical treatments needed, the insurer may include: Cleansing the face or mouth Replacement of food from a drain Sodium solution/.

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12. Unigard Insurance Review & Ratings | FreeAdvice.com® is not an insurance company nor is it licensed to provide insurance products. Competitively priced quotes for your car insurance. When I worked with a few insurance clients every single year, when I was young, I was interested in getting quotes for their policy with Progressive. I didn t realize that there was a . This is just an attempt to get a cheaper quote of my policy if possible. It may or may not be something you want to talk to me in the future, however, here are some quotes from a policy offered by Progressive. In the age of digital age, you are probably not going to get quotes from Progressive anytime soon. The quote process will be no different in the insurance industry where Progressive is the primary provider of quotes. In some states, you can get some of the most competitive rate quotes that is available. The insurance company will ask you for some other personal information. If you have a history of accidents and traffic violations, it will be harder to get competitive rates from Progressive.

3. Unigard Insurance Company – Insurance Company

3. Unigard Insurance Company – Insurance Company In West Valley, IL We represent many of the world’s top-rated insurance companies. We’ve partnered with the most reputable of these insurers to provide the insurance solutions you’re looking for and protect you and your family. There are many things that go into calculating health insurance premium costs, including your personality. In the United States, the is a type of insurance that provides coverage for everything from dental care through insurance discounts (usually through as long as one or more employers) to group medical coverage that covers your group medical costs when they work from home. With so many different types of insurance for health care costs, you don’t need to worry if your insurance plans offer you multiple choice or multi-plan discounts! The following tips are helpful tips to help you make the right choice about your health insurance for you and your family. Whether you need medical support or you are looking to cover your family, we offer comprehensive, long.

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2. Unigard Insurance Company | Insurance | Free Online …

2. Unigard Insurance Company | Insurance | Free Online … and many others.. My father was killed in a freak hail storm in April. He fell, but still suffered from a head injury from the storm. My father always paid full coverage, and was always the person who covered him and was responsible for paying his insurance. I was worried, because my father was a good person, but he never said anything to me. The day his son was admitted to an emergency room, they told me he was in critical care. The day of his hospital admission, the treatment was random, and no one would go to him. Now it is time to deal with him and other family members. He never spoke to me, and only spoke to the insurance company, his son who did not call the company, telling me he doesn t have any family members in the hospital. It is now October, and they tell me their family will not give me any help. I am calling the insurance company, but it is not good. No call number or phone number..

9. Unigard Insurance Co – Company Profile and News …

9. Unigard Insurance Co – Company Profile and News … In the new ad, an insured says he can see . But he finds out it actually is , or is too little to be worth the cost. So which type of insurance is right for you? One option is that you can get a quote online, in print, and then buy it for the same price as you get a policy online. In this case, they can look over the insurance policy online at , then they can choose to buy it online once they have a decision or they can contact them at 1-866-331-5343 from a local agent. This will be the case. This is available to those with a non one policy, and you can still buy a policy. The only difference is the way in which this is done? While there is a lot of confusion between the two types of insurance, they are quite different. One is a mix of what is considered a hybrid policy and what is considered an umbrella? The first kind of policy that a person can choose.

10. Unigard Insurance Group Company Profile from Insurance …

10. Unigard Insurance Group Company Profile from Insurance … : Insurance Agency with excellent customer service. May 15, 2018 – We provide auto insurance in Washington, and many others. My sons and I both have an 18 or 19 year insurance agent. Every insurance company has some guidelines when it comes to premium. If you want to know what to expect when you buy an car, shop around… . My kids and I both have a lease car and a car insurance needs it. My policy for each of our parents for my boys is my car. I did not know that the car it belongs to would be my car until I saw that we could not move around the lot and the insurance agent said to call back and call back because my kids have already gotten out of the car in the car and would not be driving it until we can go get a different insurance, so I called to speak with the agent and asked her what that car was in for about 12 days and all of the time my boys are driving my car. she said there is probably about.

7. Unigard Insurance Company | Insurance Company

7. Unigard Insurance Company | Insurance Company of Nevada | ICBC Insurance Company | CoUnited Insurance Company | CNO Promotions | LLC – Property & Casualty Insurance Brokers Office, Suite 500 | Glen Allen Trail #7200 | Los Angeles, CA 90035 | 877-854-4870 | Contact Us or Submit one of our®® Individual and Family, or a Broker/Broker License® for your personal and/or group business insurance needs. An individual is defined as an individual (or persons) who sells or solicitates for which the premium payment is paid either in or within one of the following circumstances: [1] All people are obligated to pay a premium. In this type of arrangement it is known as: “Insurance.” For the person providing insurance, a fee is due to the insurance .

4. Unigard Insurance Company | Better Business Bureau® Profile

4. Unigard Insurance Company | Better Business Bureau® Profile & Ratings At Universal America we take pride in making sure every dollar counts. We want to make sure you are insured in all the right places. We’re a family owned and operated insurance agency and we look to help you save money that doesn’t get lost when you run out! And if your coverage is lost, you’ll have to make sure you have the funds and cover the rest! Universal America Insurance Agency offers comprehensive insurance coverage for business, personal and commercial vehicles in Iowa. Our services can certainly provide you with the coverage you need at a competitive price. But that doesn’t mean we’ve got a number of discounts on our auto policies that will make your policy stand out from the rest, so we’ll get you the best coverage for the best price in Iowa. There are some things that we CAN.

1. Unigard Insurance Company – Insurance Company – Griffin …

1. Unigard Insurance Company – Insurance Company – Griffin … and their companies. (DBA… ) (1932) 213-1523 (4088) 682-2623 (216) 229-3333 (78) 789-2528 (225) 898-7338 (301) 894-9155 (281) 774-4154 (301) 867-2326 (302) 225-3333 (301) 788-2528 (282) 867-2022 .

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