#the extra safety of you being in control contrasted with extra sickness of you knowing that it will be dire

[vorkerax]

I've been wanting to make an actual list of horror movies I have watched or partially experienced and document my interesting and fun thoughts on them for sooo long!

I think it would be quite difficult to do right now because I need to rewatch so much stuff and my unmedicated ADHD exacerbated from other factors is just not letting me focus on stuff

but I am looking forward to start doing it one day!

[wizkiddx]

work with me

this is for @worldoftom 'lolbrosgetsicktoo' challenge event thing - go check it out bcos lots of much better writers have got involved too✨! I'm v new to these things but I tried :) the prompt was: 'would you quit whining and just get in the bath' . (also look at me acc posting sort of regularly, who'd of thought?!?!)

warnings: sickness / fever (more dramatic than it needs to be) / LOTS of medical inaccuracies

summary: when tom doesn't take advice and ends up very ill, very far from home, there's one person whose stuck dealing with it

“Please Tom… I need you to work with me!”

It wasn’t his fault he was being a complete nightmare, though your patience was wearing off somewhat.

For context, you were in Morocco, where he had been filming part of his next film, which only made trying to take care of him that bit harder.

Everyone got ill sometimes. It wasn’t his fault.

That was the mantra ringing through your head, even if you had a more challenging time believing it. Tom wasn’t stupid, as much as he liked to joke about it. HOWEVER, what he was less good at was heeding warnings. He was a white boy in Morrocco; the health and safety briefing had literally been aimed at him. Had he taken the advice not to eat any dodgy looking meats at the market?

Of course not; that’d be boring.

Everyone else was fine. You’d all sampled Morroccos culture without giving yourselves the worst case of food poisoning you’d ever witnessed. But not Tom - possibly one of the only ‘indispensable’ people on the set. If you, or one of the minor characters, or even the director, had got ill - the show could continue.

When you’d been rudely awoken by your phone going off, you’d known instantly. It was as if you’d told him not to take a bite out of the weird burger once you were away from the eager view of the street vendor. Sure enough, with bleary eyes, you hissed at the brightness of the phone screen before seeing ‘Tom H’ on the screen.

“Y/n?” His voice was croaky, but just from the single call of your name, it was clear he was feeling sorry for himself.

“Are you okay? It’s late T.”

“Um I… can you come over? You…you might need the key I’m - um- in the bathroom.”

As his stylist, it technically wasn’t part of your job description to also be mother when he was sick, but (unfortunately for you) after the 3 years working side by side with him - you were also friends.

Which you were almost regretting by the second time rinsing the toilet bowl clean after he’d evacuated what seemed to be the majority of his vital organs into it. Honestly, it was impressive how he managed to keep going.

That had been at around 4 in the morning- the doctor had been called at 8, coinciding beautifully with his 5th toilet extravaganza. Once the doctor had confirmed your original, if completely unqualified, diagnosis of food poisoning - you hadn’t been able to bite your tongue. Perhaps an ‘i told you so’ might’ve slipped past your lips, but Tom was a bit too out of it to argue back.

You’d been given firm advice from the doctor - he said little sips of water, rest and control his temperature. It all had seen pretty simple - though the action? Not so much.

It wasn’t his fault, yet Tom was not super compliant. You and Harry had both been taking turns in practically forcing him to take sips of water, having to turn off ‘modern family’ till he did. The blackmail had put you both in his bad book.

Honestly, thank the lord Harry was here too. You’d woken him up at seven, begging for help and since then, you’d tagged teamed. While one was looking after Tom, the other was phoning the director, the doctor, and the crew to inform them of the current situation.

Again, of all people. Why’d it have to be Tom?

Mainly because you knew how mortifying he found this. He didn’t like people fussing over him, never had. He liked to work hard, liked to make people happy - definitely didn’t like to feel a burden. Perhaps what made him feel ten times worse was that he knew he was inconveniencing the whole production team massively.

And yes, as you’d unhelpfully reminded him, it was ‘his fault’.

The lavish hotel room, big bathroom and pretty efficient AC still didn’t manage to mask the pungent in-the-back-of-your-throat smell from the bathroom. At the doctor’s advice, who had been a little concerned at Toms fever, Harry had cranked the AC on high. It had forced you to steal one of Tom’s big hoodies and a pair of joggers- you hadn’t left his room since he first called you, still wearing your tiny pyjama shorts and an old tee.

“Please turn the air con off.” His little voice whined from where he was lying, huddled up under the covers. Perched on the other side of the double bed, but over the covers with your laptop on his lap, you could actually feel him shivering with the chills. It felt like you were torturing the poor boy.

“T you know I can’t. It’ll make your fever worse.” The way he looked up at you, like a little Labrador that you were refusing to pet, actually pained your heart.

Okay, so yes it was his fault, but you weren’t mad, you just felt so awful for him.

“Please I’ll- I’ll pay you more.” His voice was hoarse; though he denied a sore throat, it sounded like the constant sickness was burning his windpipe.

“Tommm” you pouted, sticking your bottom lip out “I don’t want your money, want you to get better.”

Apparently giving up, brown eyes shot you the filthiest look in disappointment, rolling to face away from you. You thought he was giving you the silent treatment in a huff, but instead, he was praying on the weaker one.

“Harry, I’ll buy you that set of golf clubs-“

“NO!” You had to interrupt before Harry would say yes - because from the way his younger brother shot up from the arm chair, he was about to. Scowling eyes slowly focused back on you in annoyance, making you huff - shutting the laptop and kneeling on the bed to face him. After pressing the back of your palm to his forehead, which was scorching hot, you sighed. “I know you feel shitty and I’m so so sorry but I’m trying to make you better. So shut up, drink this and go to sleep!”

Like a child scorned, you received another death glare however, then he complied, taking a sip of the water you offered before lying back - huddling even tighter.

And it had been relatively peaceful for a few hours; Tom seemed to be getting some sleep - even if he was tossing and turning. Eventually, a prescription that the doctor had requested worked its way through the system, Harry getting a text to say he could go pick it up. The nearest pharmacy was probably a 30 minute drive from the hotel, so he left as soon as.

This left you alone with Tom, where the situation only descended into more chaos.

Almost as soon as Harry had left, Tom had stirred with a grunt. All it took was one look at his face for you to know. Both of you leapt up and flew into the toilet, Tom once again getting very familiar with the Moroccan toilet bowl.

This time though, when he had leant backwards, he’d sort of lost control and flopped most the way - you catching him before he could hit his head on the tiled floor.

“Woah, easy there!” It wasn’t like he’d passed out, but the look in his eye as he slumped into your lap… he wasn’t all there either. “Hey Tom… you with me? Tom?”

Lazily he blinked up at you, not really replying except for groans of half-formed words.

Deciding this had all got a bit direr, you almost sprinted back into the room, grabbing your phone and returning. He was still on the floor, his thumb and first finger pressing into each eye - groaning again.

“Hey Tom? I’m gonna call the doctor you need anything?” He whined in response, stopping only when you stroked his sweaty hair back, most of your attention on dialling the correct number.

The solution he’d given wasn’t pretty: Tom’s fever was too high hence why he was all woozy and groany. Until the doctor could get over with the stronger medications, you needed to lower his temperature in other ways or take him to hospital. He’d absolutely hate hospital, but the other choice? Boy, was he not going to like it either.

Ignoring Tom’s croaked question of what you were doing, you busied yourself switching on the bath taps. You let the water run until it was the right (very mild) temperate, then turned back to Tom, who’d managed to work himself up to sit against the sink unit.

“The doctor says you need it.” His brain was foggy, his mind was slow but your tone told him enough to know something was wrong with the bath. “Just take your clothes off and then I’ll help you-“

“Absolutely fucking not.” Good. He was still with it enough to argue.

“I am just as uncomfortable as you are Tom, but we both know you can’t stand up without fainting, so you are going to need my help.”

“Y/n!”

“Keep your boxers on and it’s just like a fitting! I’ve seen you have those before!”

It was clear as day just how emasculated he felt, especially because he knew you were right. Sitting up at this current moment was a push; there was no way he was getting in the bath without some help. Defeatedly he nodded, but gave you a piercing look to turn around before he started wiggling himself out of the flannel pyjama trousers and light cotton t-shirt. Most confusingly, he still felt freezing cold, yet he had long since learned not to argue with you - especially when your justification came from the advice of a doctor.

Your cue to turn around came in the form of an extra angry-sounding grunt- the look you got when you did wasn’t much better either. It was a weird contrast, though, having someone who physically appeared so indestructible (a superhero for crying out loud); to have been absolutely beaten to a pulp by a few mouth fulls of weird meat. You had seen his bare torso before, although it still wasn’t something easy to get used to - making you clench your teeth together just slightly. A very welcome view.

Perhaps you looked just a little too long at the man who was technically your boss, hunched angrily on the floor in nothing but his calvins - another grunt shaking you out of it. By now, the bath was almost full and you hurried to shut off the water, feeling your cheeks heat up as you cursed silently to yourself.

“Okay come on, gimme your arm.” Begrudgingly Tom followed your request, slinging his arm heavily over your shoulder as you crouched beside him. As strong as he looked, you knew right now he felt powerlessly weak - all that muscle was just going to be almost dead weight.

Now it was your turn to grunt and groan as you pulled Tom up to stand, him focusing on blinking away the headrush he got.

“Come on T work with me here.” Getting him to the side of the bath wasn’t too difficult, the issue came when he stepped with one foot into the bath and yelped, instantly withdrawing as if it was a literal ice bath.

The sudden movement had you both losing balance, ending with Tom sitting on the edge of the bath and you leaning over him, in between his legs, and slapping your hand on the wall opposite purely so you both didn’t end up in the bath.

“Tom!”

“It’s like ice water!”

“Its lukewarm like the doctor said!”

“It is not its from the fucking arctic!”

“Oh for god sake!” Exasperated, you paced up and down the bathroom shaking your head at his ridiculousness. This was ALL. HIS. FAULT.

You came back to him with an ultimatum.

“It’s this or the doctor said I had to drag your ass to hospital.”

“Nooooooo.” The 25 year old seemed to convert into a whiny three year old again.

“Those are the two options. So will you PLEASE quit complaining and get in the bath.”

Keeping up the toddler persona, Tom huffed but reluctantly nodded in agreement - you had come up trumps. It didn’t stop him yelping when you helped to lower him in. His breath was shaky, as a response to the ‘cold’, but he was firming it. At least when you felt his forehead after a couple of minutes, it certainly seemed as though the fever was starting to ease off .

“You can go if you want.” His voice was murmured and as you looked up at him, he did his very best to avoid your gaze.

“Not a chance, if you drown on my watch, Nikki will never forgive me.” At the very least he seemed to appreciate your joke, scoffing a little with a small nod. “If you don’t want me here I get it. As soon as Harry’s back, I’ll swap with him.”

“No! It’s not that its… I’m just an ass when I’m ill.”

“A self aware ass, though.” Again he chuckled a little, as you folded your arms on the edge of the porcelain tub, resting your head lying to one side. “You had me pretty scared there for a moment, you know?”

He nodded a little, creating a wave of ripples in the water which you watched to avoid his gaze - which you knew was tracing all your features inquisitively.

“Hey it’s in the job description, always a bit dramatic... I’m sorry though I should never of called you- don’t know why I didn’t just get Harry.” In response you tutted, taking a moment to lean up and push his sweaty curls back a bit.

Just because you could, it was allowed in this moment.

“’m glad you did.”

“Yeh me too” He sighed, eyes fluttering shut in the easy silence of the bathroom. You kept a vigilant eye on him for the next 20 minutes, checking the temperature of his forehead using the back of your hand, whilst he seemed to finally get a bit of proper restbite, appearing like the worst had passed. You had no idea what was taking Harry so long; in fact it was the doctor that arrived first- who you ran to let in (not wanting to leave Tom asleep in the bath one bit).

Whilst the doctor did all his checks, taking his temperature properly this time, satisfied that it was much more manageable. He still wanted to set him up with some oral rehydration rescue packs to get his hydration status a bit better and give some anti-sickness tablets and antipyretics.

Having actually been getting some rest before all the prodding and poking, Tom was back to being a grumbling dick - now not wanting to leave the bath (the irony was real - making you roll your eyes). Once again, he appeared embarrassed to have you see him like this, so you left the doctor to help him get out and changed- instead going down to reception to get a fresh set of sheets, as he’d done a pretty impressive job of sweating through the old ones.

Even if tired and grumpy, when Tom exited the bathroom, he looked much better - he was walking himself without the doctor’s help. Which honestly was such a relief because when he had passed out on you, you genuinely were terrified. Thankfully the doctor stayed for the next 20 or so minutes, which was just when Harry returned with a bag of medications - which were now wholly redundant, given the doctor had already supplied everything.

“What happened?” Harry asked you in a hushed voice, whilst Tom was distracted with getting his medications. Recounting the story of Tom pretty much passing out, Harry grimaced for you, then launching over to give you a tight hug.

“Are you okay?” That was a novel idea, you hadn’t really thought about yourself at all - but honestly, you were a bit shaken, having been running on adrenalin for most of the night.

“I-uhm… yeh I think so… just-just was a bit scared, I guess? Felt bad too because he didn’t want me there but-“

“I can promise you Y/n, he did want you there. Just probably embarrassed he wasn’t all manly and that…” With a nod, you smiled softly at the frizzy-haired boy.

Whilst working with Tom, it also meant getting pretty close to his younger brother. The two Hollands were almost attached at the hip, which you were very much okay with.

It was weird though... your relationships were completely different. Harry was just your brother, through and through. He wound you up like a sibling but also knew you as if he had your whole life. With Tom… it wasn’t that. Arguably, you were closer to Tom, but on a different level. It was more exciting, more nerve-wracking and heartwarming all at the same time. Honestly, you couldn’t get your head around it properly.

“Hey, you’re probably shattered. Why don’t you go back to your room and get some sleep? I got it in here.” You knew Hary was trying to offer something nice, and now all the excitement had worn off, you were unbelievably shattered. But you didn’t like the idea of not being there, as a just in case.

“Uhm, I think I might just stay, you know?” And he did, with a deliberate, knowing smile, he nodded.

He knew you were worried. He knew Tom had really really scared you. He also knew how much you cared about his brother.

Just like how Harry knew Tom wanted you there, even if he felt embarrassed. Well, anyone would- when you are passing out half-naked in front of the one person that really matters.

It was just at this point that the doctor was done, giving Harry instructions about the rest of the day, when you made a beeline for the bed. Tom was propped up against the headboard, still with a pale sullen look and tired eyes, but a bit less clammy and more human. He cracked a smile as you crawled up onto the other side of the bed, kneeling next to him.

“How’re you doin’?”

“All drugged up, just feel fucking exhausted.” Instinctively you reached up to feel his forehead, really appreciating the fact it felt almost normal.

“Join the club mate, I had a 5am wake up call too.” You almost whispered, intending to make Tom laugh, but instead only getting a pout.

“I am sorry, a-are you going to go back to your room?”

“Nah” Tom’s eyes didn’t light up, except the fact that they very much did. “Can’t trust you not to get into trouble while I’m gone Holland.”

“Thanks.” He laughed weakly before shimmying down on the bed, so he was much more comfortable. “And thankyou, I-I’m sorry I’m a dickhead and made your life-“

“Shut up Tom!” Laughing, you lightly slapped his arm, also leaning down on the bed, so you were lying facing him. “You’re all feverish; go to sleep before you say something stupid.”

There was a long pause, Tom just gazing deep into your eyes, because he was pretty sure what he was thinking was nothing to do with the dodgy unidentified meat he’d had the evening before.

“What... like asking you out?”

…..

“Maybe that wouldn’t be so stupid.”

~~~~im really not sure how I feel about this one, let me know what you thought ;) ~~~~

tagging: @lovehollandy12 @hallecarey1 @crossyourpeter@hollandfanficlove

[drxwsyni]

Petrified (pt. 9)

Yandere Erasermic x f!Reader

SERIES MASTERLIST

a/n: This part is really short, and honestly not that good. But seeing as this whole series is a mess, not much is new lmao. Thank you to @sawamooora for beta reading ilyyyyy <3 <3 <3

*Sidenote*: Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed from the taglist!

3.4k words

Warnings: Descriptions of past dubcon, gaslighting.

Waking up, you wished the metaphorical blanket of comfort wasn’t ripped off of you the moment you opened your eyes.

It was an uncomfortable contrast.

While one blanket was ripped off, a real, physically tangible blanket weighed down on not just you, but the two sleeping men who had you sandwiched in between them. Seeing Hizashi on your right, and Shouta on your left was all you needed to be plunged into a dreadful confusion.

Your body hurt. An ache creeped through your spine as you sat up, only to realize you were completely bare. If the pain spreading across your skin wasn’t enough of a clue as to what had ensued less than twelve hours ago, then the evidence marring your body would be.

An intense throbbing radiated from your backside, prompting you to lean over on your elbow. Pulling down the covers, your eyes landed upon the black and blue patterns littering your skin, trailing down to the tops of your thighs. It seemed that both your wrists and hips were adorned with similar bruises, the only difference were those being distinctly fingerprint shaped. No one position completely alleviated the ache.

A sting emanated from your neck and shoulders as you lightly traced over the series of wounds, feeling remnants of bite marks and long scratches. In examining the bedsheets, you were convinced that the patterning of the fabric wasn’t tricking your mind. Little blotches of blood were just barely visible where you once laid.

An indiscernible cloud still hung over your mind, even if it was only slightly there by now. A fog that was muddling your memories, blocking whatever had gone down between you and the men at your sides. Nothing you could recall really felt concrete, at least for now―the possibility of memories returning over time being not all that unlikely. In the present however, the only indicators to tell you what happened were the marks they left behind.

And based on those―you were certain that it was never something you would’ve agreed to.

The morning sunlight was beginning to stream into the room, breaking through the small divides of the curtains. One glance at the alarm clock placed on Shouta’s nightstand told you that it was just over half past five.

On a Sunday morning, neither of them had anything to do. Naturally, the two were still sound asleep. You envied how peaceful they seemed, bathed in morning light, free from worry―a contrast to the nauseating unease you felt.

Becoming more and more horrified by the second, drowning in your thoughts and grasping at what they had done to you, the only one thing that stood out was your need to get the fuck out of there.

As carefully as possible, for fear that one move too harsh would wake one, if not both of the so called heroes, you peeled back the blankets from your battered form. Proceeding to crawl down to the foot of the bed, you gave a glance over your shoulder―just to confirm that the two were still sedated in slumber.

You let out a shaky breath upon confirming that they were, returning to swiftly taking your leave. But in the split second, when a whimper of pain left your lips, body doubling over at the burning enveloping your core as you settled your weight to stand—you were immediately sure their perception as trained heroes would alert them to the noise.

Though still, the steady rise and fall of Shouta’s chest, and the now relaxing sound of Hizashi's light snoring, put your nerves at ease―even if only a little.

Your clothes from last night weren’t in the bedroom, but neither were theirs. In finding a steady trail of frantically discarded articles leading to the living room, you could finally abandon the suffocating atmosphere that was their home. Freedom was the only thing on your mind as you hastily dressed yourself and grabbed your bag from the foyer.

_____

Hizashi Missed Call (7) 10:48 AM

Hizashi Text Message (16) 10:32 AM

Shouta Missed Call (3) 9:54 AM

Shouta Text Message (5) 8:12 AM

It would seem the shake in your hands would be uncontrollable until the foreseeable future, sighing as your phone lit up once again. Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest idea to disappear with no warning, knowing how the two could be when they weren’t in the know of your every move.

Yet, if they knew just how downright terrified you were to stay until they woke up, maybe they’d understand your unceremonious leave of absence.

Unfortunately, they didn’t. Neither of the heroes seem to be all that knowledgeable of how they affected you, what they did to make you fear them.

For so long you tried to bury that anxiety you felt with them. They crossed the line of innocent concern a long time ago with their intrusiveness. And now, with the marks they left behind, spanning across your body and leaving a searing pain as an unignorable reminder of just who they were under their doting facade―you couldn’t simply disregard what this relationship had turned into.

It was toxic.

The safety they should provide feeling ripped away in their presence.

It was suffocating.

Even when you were alone, there always seemed to be an inescapable weight upon your shoulders, mind guessing as to when you’d see them next.

It took you until now to realize it, until they’d done something you couldn't quite ‘forgive and forget’―but you finally knew their tactics, what they’d been doing all along. They were predatory in every sense of the word, targeting your weaknesses to seek a self satisfying goal.

With each missed call and unread text message, you cursed yourself for not fighting your way out of their grasp before it became nearly inescapable. That, and there was a painful tinge of shame riddling your body with how you’d let them handle you.

Most of last night was all but impossible to recall, but the existing memories told a clear story. They made you feel good, really good. Even in whatever stupor they’d placed you under, it’d be impossible to forget the intense and repeated sensations the two men made you reach.

The thought alone had you nauseous, knowing the circumstances of how you ended up like that.

In any case, the idea at the forefront of your mind was that there’s no time like the present. Especially since you were quite literally adding fuel to the fire by ignoring them. You couldn't change what they’d done to you, but you could change what happened going forward.

It was simple―you never wanted to see the two faux heroes ever again.

Hizashi had been trying to contact you for the better half of the hour. But what really bothered you was how Shouta stopped doing so a while ago―better to know what he was up to than the radio silence that only made the pit in your stomach worse.

Though it wasn’t all that bad―it would be easier to stomach the voice of Hizashi, especially over the phone, given what you were about to tell him.

A new call came through. On the final ring, you answered.

“...―Shou’, I’m not gonna stop till she―”

With the sudden absence of noise, it wouldn’t be hard to believe that the call had ended. Though, silence between the three of you was never short. Never before, and still not now.

“...(Y/n)?”

Your jaw clenched in worry, hearing Hizashi use your first name instead of a not so endearing pet name. Laced with the exhausted sounding disbelief, you could tell even over the phone that he wasn’t doing so good.

Part of you almost forgot to respond, his voice alone bringing you back to last night. When you did, you winced at the unintentional shake which you couldn’t control.

“Y-Yeah, I’m here.”

“Oh, thank god. What―Where did you run off to? Gave us a damn heart attack when you weren’t in the house.”

For someone so physically fit, Hizashi sounded like he just ran a marathon. Although, you suppose given the scare you put him through, the out of breath reaction was understandable.

And relatable, as your heart rate was beginning to pick up, anticipating how they’d soon handle your message.

“I, uh...I went home before you guys woke up…”

You could practically see the perplexed expression on his face, the sound of confusion coating his words.

A small laugh of disbelief came through the speaker. “Well there was no need for that, sweetheart.”

As if your body was trying to expel the extra energy from the adrenaline you were using to have a steady conversation with him, you began mindlessly wandering around your apartment.

“I just didn’t...feel comfortable? N-Not after what happened, I mean―last night shouldn't have happened, at all. So I left.”

The two heroes were back in the living room of their home, where they found your stuff missing in the morning. Shouta’s eyes narrowed at your words, hearing them clearly over the speakerphone. He shared a glance with his partner, the latter seated on the couch and nervously bouncing his leg.

“I’m not so sure I’m following. I don’t wanna embarrass you or anything, knowin’ how shy ya get, but...you were screamin’ our names last night. Don’t see how ya could’ve had a bad time, songbird.”

That detail in particular was one of the many occurrences from then that escaped you. With your memory being in shambles, it was pretty much a ‘he said, she said’ when it came to what happened.

...Pretty much.

The things that did stick, well...you almost wish they didn’t.

While all the fleeting events you knew of didn’t leave a good taste in your mouth, certain details made you sick to your stomach.

“I’ll never get sick of seein’ ya like this, songbird.”

The ones you couldn’t explain, and left far too many possibilities of theoretical context. Most of them being a worst case scenario for you.

“…You saying we should speed things up?”

Or, the ones that could be easy to pass off as playful teasing, if it weren’t for the darker undertones that made your wild imagination run rampant.

And when the things they whispered lowly into your ear became a jumbled mess of inebriated nonsense, you could still rely on memories of their touch. How they held you, early in the night when you weren’t completely lost to both natural and unnatural chemical influences. The sensations of frustration, only met with feelings of being restrained. They way it felt almost practiced, as if they were planning to do whatever they did long before it actually happened.

Unconsciously, you wandered into your bedroom, anxiously pacing all the while. The safety of its familiarity was sedating, to an extent.

You shook your head, trying to figure out how you’d get your concerns across to the two men. “That’s...That’s not the problem. Well it is but―the whole thing was just a bad idea.”

A muffled, irritated sigh could be heard. “No, something must be going on with ya. It’s probably better we talk this out in person, yeah? You home right now, sweetheart?”

In typical Hizashi fashion, he failed to respect your boundaries. You let out your own sigh of annoyance, spinning on your heel to face your bedroom’s window.

“There’s nothing―”

...You were most definitely certain that you closed your window before leaving yesterday.

Forgetting that you were in the middle of a very heated conversation, the hand that was holding your phone to your ear fell slightly. With the one that was free, you pulled the frame closed.

…

And it creaked back open.

The latch was busted.

Deft fingers grazed the metal frame, where it would typically snap shut, and stay shut. While it wasn’t untypical for these kinds of things to break, knowing that your apartment complex wasn’t exactly the newest, the fault didn’t sit right with you.

And, when you set your phone down, using one hand to hold the window closed, the other to keep it in place by fastening the lock, you found that too equally damaged.

...Almost like someone tried to leave out the window, in a hurry at that. Which would explain it being left open, and how the aggressiveness of the action would render the whole thing completely useless.

The sound of your name being called through the speaker brought you back to the main issue at hand. Picking up the phone, you could only continue where you left off.

“There’s nothing else to talk about. Whatever relationship the three of us have...I don’t want to be a part of it anymore.”

You managed to shock yourself with that, not actually believing you had it in you to really put your foot down.

Hearing the radio silence that followed, you knew he was more shocked than you were.

It made you wonder if he was more fucked up on one substance or another than you were last night—the sheer level of denial Hizashi was in over the whole thing.

“...Don’t talk like that, gonna give me another heart attack. Two in one mornin’, that’s awfully cruel, dontcha think?”

You were always one to shy away from confrontation, but now was not the time for that. The chance to cut your ties with them in this moment was as best as you would likely ever get.

“I’m not okay with what this has turned into, Hizashi. Not remotely comfortable, and—“

“Where are you, (y/n).”

...

Shouta’s voice.

“...This isn’t something we should discuss over the phone.”

It shamed you that all Shouta had to do was address you in that low, gravely voice of his, and you were instantly regretting every decision you’d made since picking up the phone. He certainly had an effect on you; no matter how many times you dealt with his tone, you could never quite get used to the sternness.

You swallowed dryly, still eyeing the unnaturally broken window.

“I-I’m not telling you where I am. You need to respect my decision on this…”

But if they couldn’t respect the privacy of your own home, why would they care about your newfound insistence?

...

The thought of the two men being culprits to the property damage popped intrusively into your head. Wildly associating it to be an explanation to the fragments of blissed out proclamations, whatever “seein’ ya like this” meant.

Your grip on the cellphone faltered, a shake seizing your hands.

No, they were heroes.

What purpose would they have breaking into your apartment?

Because if Hizashi was referring to somehow having already seen you in such a compromising position as the one him and his partner coerced you into…

You took a step back from the window.

“It’s not something you have to like, b-but neither of you guys cared about what I wanted last night.” With the slight crack in your voice, you winced knowing they could likely tell how hard it was to be firm in your ways with them, only making their job easier. “You...you went too far―that’s why I’m so upset.”

Shouta’s words, as always, effortlessly sent a pang of anxiety through your system.

“You didn’t know what you wanted last night, we made that decision for you. And judging by how you didn’t exactly try to put up a fight...” The small, almost inaudible chuckle only made his claims tear you apart more. “...I’d say you were more than happy with our decision.”

Never failing to find the exact things to say to shut you up, to put you in your place, Shouta remained confident with where things were going since he took control of the conversation.

You fumbled on your words, not quite sure of what would be the best argument to deny his statement.

“T-That’s―”

“That’s the truth, and you know it.”

I can’t even remember half of what happened last night, is what you wanted to say.

You wanted to scream at him, really. The two of them loved assuming they knew everything―what was best for you―despite the clear evidence that they in fact did not.

Naturally, all you could actually do was run from wherever this conversation was headed. It was obvious you would never reach an agreement with them. All they’d want to do was take, take, take. Make demands like they were in charge of you.

You knew that you’d never be able to get through to them.

And honestly, you didn’t have the energy to even try.

The point of answering their call was to finally end things, and that’s all that was left to do.

“...I don’t care what either of you think, whatever happened last night—I didn’t want it. Just...don’t try to contact me again. Goodbye.”

When you finally pressed the ‘end call’ button, you expected to feel that weight of their unrelenting presence lift off of you.

...It didn’t. But you probably shouldn’t be surprised. It’d take time to calm down, all you really needed to worry about now was returning your life to how it was before meeting the two all those months ago.

Another call came through in seconds, startling you where you still stood in your bedroom. Shaking slightly from lingering nervousness, you hastily declined it, not checking to see who it was from. Fingers flying across the screen, you blocked both Shouta’s and Hizashi’s contacts from your phone, proceeding to delete the existing conversations.

A small step towards getting back to normal.

Just one of many.

_____

Trying to conceal the slight limp in your step as you walked to work on Monday was both difficult and mortifying, each sharp pain shooting through your abdomen an unwelcome reminder. A cold shiver ran through you, prompting you to shove your hands in your pockets for warmth.

The changing seasons meant you’d have to work on moving around the shop’s layout. Bringing more delicate plants inside, swapping them out for seasonal ones that could handle the chill in the air. A task that you wondered if you would have to complete yourself.

With the days growing shorter, you noted the dusk already settling over the sky, drawing near the start of your 5pm shift. The orange hues dancing in the clouds were certainly a beautiful sight. Your gaze repeatedly found its way back to the sky as you walked down the sidewalk.

The closer you got to work, the more vibrant it seemed.

Strange indeed.You passed it off as the darkening night merely amplifying the remaining light of the setting sun.

Turning down another street, you could hear the approaching sound of sirens. A firetruck soon whipped past and continued down the road, making you shuffle towards the inside of the sidewalk. The piercing noise left an uncomfortable ringing in your ears.

When such an irritating reaction to the blaring never completely faded, you realized that was because it was just more distant sirens, multiple of them, sounding off in the direction you were heading.

You picked up your pace.

With another glance at the sky, you began to see not just the orange hue intensifying, but also a distinct plume of black smoke.

...

...It’s not...it can’t be…

Soon enough, your leisurely walk picked up speed. The ache in your gut from both physical wounds and growing anxiety making you nauseous.

Barely taking precautions to watch where you were going, you focused only on the direction of your shop, and the beacon of light that seemed to be right on top of it. Mindlessly placing one foot in front of the other, feeling like the end of the road before you turned the corner was only growing further away with each step.

The unpleasant smell of something burnt met your senses—faint, but there nonetheless.

You couldn’t lie to yourself, whatever was up ahead, it wasn’t good. But it couldn’t be what you were thinking.

Not your shop.

No. You’d turn the corner, and it would be fine.

The small boutique would be where it always was, nestled in between two buildings, waiting for you to start your shift.

Things would go back to normal, just like you’d planned.

…

The wailing sirens met your ears in full force. A stifling air, unnaturally hot and acrid washed over you, causing you to instinctively clamp a hand over your nose and mouth.

In gradually coming to the worst realization of the night, your free hand braced the brick wall of the building next to you, knees nearly buckling.

Thirty feet away, lighting up the street to be as bright as day, was your workplace completely engulfed in flames.

[aprilsrant]

Cariad | Young!Remus Lupin x Slytherin!Fem!Reader.

SUMMARY: (Y/N) absolutely hates when professors make their students work in pairs, but the outcome of this particular project may not be so bad.

WORD COUNT: 2,971, more or less.

REQUEST: can i request another half-blood slytherin reader x remus where she tries to learn welsh for him and i hope you can include smth with the lovespoon! 

This was requested by @cantstopmebitch Thank you so much for requesting something, I hope you enjoy it!

WARNINGS: a kiss? And nothing else I think.

A/N: Please remember English is not my first language, so if there are any mistakes, let me know! In this fic, I’ve used some Welsh words, which I didn’t know a single thing about so I did some research but it may be wrong, so sorry if these are not correct! 

Masterlist.

You can always reblog to help me or request something you’ll like. 

TRANSLATIONS: the title, cariad, means “love, affection, lover, darling”; the phrase fy annwyl un means “my dear one”; and the last one, fy nghariad aur  means “my golden darling”.

Advanced Arithmancy Studies, or simply Arithmancy, was not the most interesting subject Hogwarts offered as an elective course for sixth and seventh years, hence why there weren’t many people taking it, but (Y/N) seemed to be a natural — according to the professor’s opinion — and she loved being good at things without trying too much or else she would lose any interest immediately.  

Sitting down on one of the desks at the back of the classroom, she left her brown leather satchel on the cobblestone floor. (Y/N) watched as the students took their usual seats and started to chat with their partner, but all conversations were shut down by the loud voice of the professor, an old and strict woman who didn’t seem to have control of her voice’s volume as she was always screaming and someone who didn’t have any consideration with those who forgot to do her assignments. 

The minute the woman’s body was an inch inside the classroom, she began to give directions about a project expected for next week and how they would have to work in pairs, (Y/N)’s eyes rolling to the back of her head upon hearing the news. She absolutely detested working with other people for two reasons: the first one being that, if they happen to be from a different House, they would judge her for being a Slytherin; and the second, because she was always the one ending up doing it all on her own, but that was mostly her fault. She wanted to be in control all the time if it was something related to school. 

Once again, (Y/N) was observing how some of her classmates changed desks so they could work with whoever they wanted. No one took the empty seat beside her. She never minded being alone in this class (none of her close friends capable of dealing with the intensity of it or not being too interested in numbers), she was not going to start now. It was better anyways, not having a partner meant less headaches. 

But, apparently, the odds were not in her favor.

A diveleshed looking Remus Lupin crossed the entrance door with his arms full of books, parchments and quills; uniform poorly accommodated and a sad dog look on his eyes, definitely trying to avoid the professor’s rage for being late. His lips curved into a hesitant smile, that to (Y/N)’s opinion came out more as a grimace, and when she thought they all were about to hear a pathetic and improvised excuse from Perfect Remus, the old witch shook her hand into a dismissive gesture and signalised the wooden chair next to the Slytherin girl while she informed him about the task. 

Now that Lupin was beside her, shoulders almost touching, she took a closer look at him. (Y/N) had the impression he was sick because of the dark circles below his dull brown eyes, his skin a lot more paler than usual, and the small noise that left his mouth once he sat down, like his chest hurted. She had also noticed scratches and scars on his neck and cheeks, but kept quiet about them too. It wasn’t her place to ask. 

The first ten minutes passed slowly, neither of them uttering a word, and listening to the expectations the professor had for the project. Well, more like (Y/N) was the one actually listening, because Remus was busy running through his things while leaving them scattered all around their shared desk and muttering curses under his breath. She watched him with a weirded out expression on her face, eyes narrowing and eyebrows furrowing with her mouth pressed on a thin line, while he read the first lines of a parchment and then, obviously not being what he was looking for, leaving it on her side. 

“You forgot the essay, didn’t you?,” she leaned closer to him and whispered in the boy’s ear. He turned around to look at her, but it wasn’t necessary for him to confirm it, (Y/N) already knew she was right. 

Picking her satchel from the floor, she took her own assignment, grabbed one piece of empty parchment and, making sure the professor wasn’t looking in their direction, she muttered a spell under her breath. Instantly, the black paragraphs on her paper copied and travelled to the empty one. With another flick of her wand, some of the words transformed, other changed places and a few of them even disappeared. Grabbing one of Lupin’s parchment that had his calligraphy, and corroborating once more the old witch had her back turned to them, (Y/N) copied his writing style to transfer it to the parchment she had just enchanted. With a proud smile on her face, she handed it to him. 

Lupin’s face was now a little brighter, of course he still had those horrendous bags, but it was an improvement. His eyes wide and shining with interest, his face less tired and his mouth opened in surprise. 

“How did you do that?”

“One of my cousins taught me. Him and his friends had been perfectioning this spell for a long time now,” she mumbled, trying not to catch the other’s attention, while she shrugged her shoulders. 

“That was amazing,” an astonish sound accompanying his words, “thank you, by the way, for helping me.”

“Oh no, I don’t accept thank you’s.” (Y/N) sat straighter on her chair, beaming at him while she crossed one of her legs on top of the other. Before he had the chance to ask what she meant, she spoke again. ”I did you a favor, now you owe me one.”

And after that particular conversation, Remus’s and (Y/N)’s destinies were sealed in an unbreakable and everlasting bond.

That following week was spent in the safety of the Room of Requirement, the place where none of their friends would bother them if they happened to see them together, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, working together. (Y/N) believed it was stupid at first, not going to the library because someone may or may not catch them in such a forbiden act, but it was all forgotten when the idea that she could become the next target for one of their pranks popped in her head. She had seen what they’ve done to other housemates and she never wanted to be in the receiving end of one. 

The way the Room looked was another major point in why they continued to meet there. (Y/N) had never visited but she had heard about it and how it changed according to your needs. Right now, the chamber resembled a greenhouse, more beautiful than the ones where they had Herbology with Professor Sprout. All kinds of plants covered the walls (not one was the same as the next), coloured carpets underneath old white marble statues and high columns of the same material, reminding her of all the times she’d read a book about Ancient Greece and it’s Gods. In the middle of the Room were two dark red divans, contrasting against the green on the rest of the place, surrounded by piles of books — (Y/N) had the feeling they were all about Arithmancy and Numerology — and, in the centre, a small coffee table made of wood. 

Not even after hours of working in the assignment they were able to finish it in that afternoon. Both of them were perfectionists, ending up in some small arguments about how they should approach certain topics but had also pushed them in coming up with better and more interesting ideas. No one could deny the pair worked marvelously, complementing each other.

To (Y/N)’s astonishment, Remus Lupin didn’t fit the ideal her mind had set a long time ago for Gryffindors. All the ones she’d encountered were boisterous, incredibly annoying, short-tempered and just general prats. The boy with whom she had spent a whole afternoon was utterly the opposite and (Y/N) would’ve discovered that earlier if she’d hadn’t been so prejudiced.  

The day the assignment was due to, arrived quickly than expected and with it came a sudden and small pang of sadness that startled her. 

When she sat down beside Remus, he had made sure of arriving extra early to compensate the professor for the week before, the boy perceived something was off — his superpower according to his three best friends, he was always capable of reading a person perfectly, even if they hadn’t known each other for too long — because of how she was acting, trying too hard to show an unbothered facade but not hard enough for him to not notice.

The truth was (Y/N) didn’t want this class to start since once it was over so would the partnership with Remus. She had enjoyed his calm and warm company, sometimes a little crazy, in the Room Requirement while they worked on the project. And she was one hundred percent sure she would miss the moments when they both agreed on taking a break after many hours of reading and began to talk about nothing and everything, all at once. Was she supposed to forget that he always carried one chocolate inside his bag, and that he’d started to bring one more after their first afternoon studying together? Was (Y/N) expected to ignore the fact Remus wanted to become a professor because he liked the idea of being there for young people in case they needed someone? Was this girl meant to fail to remember about how this boy had asked his mum to teach him Welsh so they, mother and son, could have one more thing in common? 

When the professor dismissed them, not without praising (Y/N)’s and Remus’s essay first, he noticed the girl next to him hadn’t even smiled at the mention of how perfect they’d worked. Now he knew for sure something was wrong with her and Remus Lupin was not the kind of person who saw his friends feeling down and did nothing about it. 

Following her across the corridor, he tried to catch her attention but she was either not listening or down right ignoring him. Finally being able to reach her, Remus grabbed her arm softly and called her name in a whisper. She turned around, head low and eyes fixated on her jet black loafers, not looking at him. 

“Are you alright? Because if something happened, you can talk to me,” Remus asked in a faint voice, almost swallowed by the noise the other students in the hallway were making, moving his hand towards her shoulder and rubbing tenderly the fabric of her grey sweater that covered her skin, “I know we hadn’t been friends for too long, but you can come to me for anything you may need.”

(Y/N) raised her head after hearing the last part.

“We are?” An incredulous look appearing on her face. “We are friends?”

“Of course we are, (Y/N),” Remus announced while letting out a snicker, as if the thought of the two of them not being friends sounded ridiculous in his mind, “I wouldn’t have shared my chocolate with you if we weren’t. And as a half blood… you are one of the few people who actually understands my movie or book references from the muggle world.”

Her mood better now that she knew Remus considered her a friend and for once since she initiated her education at Hogwarts, she was glad the Arithmancy professor had made them work in pairs.

|||

Weeks and months passed by, and with each one of them the friendship between Remus and (Y/N) grew stronger. There were still several things the Gryffindor was not ready to discuss, like him being a werewolf, his other friends becoming animagi to help him during the nights of a full moon; the creation of the Marauder’s Map and how much he wanted to kiss her whenever she began to ramble about a subject she was really passionate about. He kept quiet, and for several months he came up with excuses, not only for the scars and the nights on the Infirmary, but for the random loss of concentration every time she was too closed to him, cracking up a joke or cursing at the professors for thinking they couldn’t have five minutes without being buried in assignments and deadlines. 

His feelings, unknown to him, were not one sided. 

(Y/N) wasn’t one to go for the boys she liked, she was used to just admiring them from afar, never making the effort to start a conversation and she was fine with it. But Remus was a whole other story. She knew him, and his fears, and the books he would read over and over again, and how much of a good friend and amazing person he was. And all of that made it even harder for her to take that quick but impossible last step. Her friends had been trying to make her pursue him since the moment the Firewhisky in her system led her to overshare. They’d said he felt the same and for a moment she believed it, but long nights of overthinking convinced her that Remus was just being kind to her, his specialty.

She tried to push her feelings away, to calm her heart that couldn’t stop jumping whenever she saw him smiling, to control the sweat on her hands every time he whispered something funny in her ear; to put a stop to the flips her stomach suffered the moment he said her name; to even her breathing on the occasions he would utter random Welsh words — one of the reason why she started to learn the language four months after their friendship began —  to see her confused expression. 

One night after a long and stressful day in the midst of their seventh and last year at Hogwarts, while the last quarter moon shined down from above them and illuminated her features, Remus Lupin decided he would honor the reason he was supposed to be in Gryffindor.

Taking a small object from the pocket of his trousers and releasing a shaky breath, he took (Y/N)’s hand to catch her attention. She turned around, looking away momentarily from the moon and the stars, the things she admired the most, grinning softly at him with such alluring eyes.

“I don’t know how to say this and what I’m doing is barely planned, and so many things could wrong but…,” Remus started, taking a large gulp of air before talking again, “I can’t help myself with you sitting there like that.”

She didn’t respond, understanding there was something bugging him and that it was crying out for someone to just let it out.

“I like you and not as a friend, I mean, yes, I do like you as a friend but I also like you as much more than that,” he confessed briskly, shortly after closing his eyes and chewing his bottom lip, “and I did this for you.”

(Y/N) took the tiny object silently, not knowing what to say, and held it up towards the sky so the moon would cast a light upon it. 

The minute she realised what it was, she confirmed that Remus’s feelings were the same as hers. With a large smile on her face, she traced her fingers delicately across the wooden figure. It had an intricate design, with two hearts in the middle and two fine lines lacing with each other, reminding her of a simple braid. On top of the heart, were three threads forming a knot.

“It’s a lovespoon, isn’t it?,” she mumbled just to be sure this was all truly happening. Remus nodded, still not knowing if she liked him too, “It’s gorgeous, Rem.” 

Locking eyes with her, he didn’t need her to say she liked him back because he already knew the answer. (Y/N)’s eyes were brimming with a few tears, holding such intense emotions and staring at him the way his mum did whenever his dad was in front of her. 

“I like you too, fy annwyl un,” she confessed back. A laugh escaped his mouth while he shook his head.

“Since when do you know Welsh, fy nghariad aur?”

“I learned it to impress someone.”

Remus leaned his body closer towards her, putting his hand over her cheek and running his thumb gracefully across it. Both of them shift their weight at the same time to be nearer each other. 

(Y/N)’s heart shaking violently in her chest, anticipating what was going to be her first kiss. 

“Remember that favor you owe me since last year?,” she reminded him. Their warm breaths mixing, lips so close and yet so far away. Remus nodded slightly as his hand descended from her cheek to caress cautiously one of her bottom lip’s corners. His other hand travelled to the back of her head, intertwining slowly with her hair, “well, I’m asking for it now.”

He smiled while their lips brushed against one another. Taking the lead, Remus finally pressed their mouths together. And it was everything and so much more than she had ever imagined. Eyes closed but still capable of seeing a mixture of red bright fireworks and shining stars.

One of her hands, the one clutching the lovespoon tightly, stayed put on his arm, while the other moved towards his neck, not knowing where else to leave it. Instantly, Remus dropped his hand from her cheeks to her waist, pulling her closer and almost sitting her on top of his lap. He moved her head slightly backwards, making (Y/N) to open his lips more and allowing him to explore her mouth with his tongue. 

None of them cared about what the rest of the school would think when they entered the Great Hall, hand in hand, a dark brown lovespoon decorating (Y/N)’s satchel.

Under the moonlight, no one else had felt more alive than them.

[finnofamerica]

Awful Heart - Dwalin x Reader || Part Two ||

Summary: Being a live engineer for Poor Impulse Control, you usually don’t get a lot of attention. However, playing at seedy bars and the growing popularity of the band has caught the attention of some man - a stalker. With no idea who he is and his notes coming more frequently your production manager thought it’d be safer to hire a bodyguard.

Word count: 2222

Date Posted: 04.29.2020

|| Masterlist || Part One || 

“Another one?” Dwalin groaned as his brother placed a contract in front of him. 

“You’re quite intimidating,” Balin reasoned, “It makes sense why you are the most popular.” 

“Fili and Kili would do just as well.” He ran a hand over his bald head. 

“No matter, he wants you. He was explicitly clear.” 

“He?” Dwalin quirked a brow. Men were often intimidated by his stature, so they more often hired Gloin or Bifur. They were less intimidating but still excellent at their jobs. 

“Yes, Aaron Jones. He wasn’t making a whole lot of sense, only that he was hiring you to protect someone close to him. He wanted you to meet him at, oh what was it?  Lucky Barrel, that’s it.” 

“When?” 

“Tomorrow at noon. I added in an extra line into that contract for whomever you’ll be protecting.” Balin stood, brushing off his shirt even though there wasn’t a speck of dirt on it. He stepped a few paces away and paused, suddenly remembering an important detail. “I would pack some clothes if I were you. They are a touring band.” 

Dwalin arrived at The Lucky Barrel exactly at noon, as requested of him. Folded up in the pocket of his leather jacket was the contracts, requiring the final signature. He just wanted to get this over with. You were just another frail little girl that he’d have to protect because they didn’t know how to handle themself. The sooner he got this job done the soon he got to go home to his cats. He thanked Mahal quietly that Balin had agreed to watch them for him when he was out on a job. 

“Remember to go around the back, the front entrance won’t be open.” Balin had told him just a few hours ago.

“Now or never,” Dwalin grumbled, walking around the side of the building to the alleyway. 

“Ev! You bastard, get the rack!” A voice shouted, obviously frustrated. 

Parked in the alleyway was a van and trailer. A small team of men was pushing rolling crates into the back entrance of the bar. 

“That goes downstage, Dix.” A tall gangly man was directing traffic. 

“Yeah, I got it, Jones.” Dix shot back, shaking his head. Jones rolled his eyes at Dix, smiling once he took notice of Dwalin, who had been watching with abject curiosity, yet aloof at the same time. 

“You must be Mister Dwalin.” Jones reached out a hand to shake, “I’m Aaron.” 

“Just Dwalin is fine.” Dwalin shook Aaron’s hand. 

“Well, welcome aboard. I’ll introduce you to the crew. Come along.” The gangly man turned on his heels, walking briskly inside, making brief introductions along the way. Most of the crew gave him a quick greeting, then hurried back to work. 

On stage, the band was setting up their instruments and tuning. The one Dwalin assumed to be the leader was tuning a guitar, her hair braided down to her waist. Her black hair contrasting her pale skin. Two others were also tuning guitars, one a regular guitar and the other a bass. The one with the guitar switched from tuning to testing a few chords, her dark afro curls held back by a yellow headband, poofing out like a halo, dark skin complimented by the headband. The woman with the bass had longer hair, though it was just as curly. Tan and short, she seemed almost too small for the bass she carried. Finally, the woman sitting at the drumset. An Indian woman with pin-straight brown hair, though she seemed small, Dwalin knew enough about drummers to know that she could probably run laps around everyone in this place. 

“Dwalin, I’d like you to meet the band.” 

The four women approached each one of them looking at him curiously. Yep, exactly what he was expecting, small women who couldn’t fend for themselves. 

“So you’re the bodyguard my brother’s hired?” The leader glowered at him. 

“Oh Ryker, stop being such a grump! I’m Juniper, nice to meet you.” The young woman stuck her hand out for him to shake. Dwalin recognized her as the drummer. He shook her hand, though he was growing tired of formalities. 

“Don’t tell me what to do. If he’s going to be the one protecting my best friend then I want to make sure that -” Ryker argued. 

“That what?” The woman with the afro shook her head. “This is literally his job.” 

“Speaking of, have you ever killed anybody?” The bassist asked. 

Dwalin frowned at her. “No.” 

“A shame. I’d murder that sick el cabron if I could.” 

“You’re just bloodthirsty, Ava.” Juniper rolled her eyes. 

“That’s enough.” Aaron interrupted. “Magdalyn, keep them under control please.” 

The afroed woman nodded, ordering the rest of them back to their jobs. 

“If I’m not protecting them, who is it then?” Dwalin asked, tired of introductions. 

“Our little trouble maker.” Aaron pointed at a woman surrounded by the men who’d been unloading the trailer. So much for an easy job, he thought as he watched her work. She heaved a speaker over her head, carrying it to the other side of the stage with ease. Arms over her head exposed the curve of her waist, the tucked-in Poor Impulse Control shirt only accentuating the shape, jeans tight to her thick thighs. He could almost see the muscle underneath. After making sure it was plugged in properly, she returned to her spot at the back by the bar behind a large desk. Only upon closer inspection, he realized that it was actually a soundboard. 

Dwalin had always had a weakness for strong women, especially those who could carry their own weight without complaint. Those were the women who didn’t need protection, or if they did it was for a good reason. 

“That’s Y/n.” He continued, “About two months ago she started getting disturbing notes from some man. Nobody can figure out who he is since he’s never been seen, and he only signs his love notes with the letter N. Now, Y/n will insist that she can handle her own. She’s had to fight for herself before. Lately, though, the letters have gotten a little more detailed. Which has raised the concerns of yours truly. The police have done jack shit to find the guy, so we’ve had to resort to the next best thing. If that pervert tries something, you’ll be there to protect her.” 

Dwalin grunted. A stalker. That, at least, made for an interesting case. 

“Y/n!” Aaron called her over. 

You looked up at him, then over to Dwalin. The smile fell off your face as you swallowed nervously. You could tell from where you were that Dwalin was a large man. 

“Good luck Y/n/n.” Josh winked at you. 

“Shut up.” You huffed, muting the board before meeting Aaron and Dwalin at the stage. “Yes, Aaron?” 

“I want you to meet, Dwalin. He’s gonna be your bodyguard.” Your lovely production manager introduced. You tucked some hair behind your ear, a little embarrassed that your first meeting was while you were sweaty and disgusting. 

Dwalin reached out his hand to shake yours, being as that’s what had happened so far, why would you be any different. 

“Ahhh no thanks,” You blushed, “I don’t like being touched.” 

Dwalin almost smiled. Finally, someone who understood. He tucked his hand into his jacket pocket, retrieving the contract. 

“You’ll need to sign this,” He said plainly, though you were taken with his accent. 

“Sure.” You slipped it into your back pocket. “You’re a Scotsman then?” 

He just grunted. 

“I didn’t mean any offense, I was just guessing by your accent.”

“The sooner you sign the contract the sooner we can get the rest of this in order.” He replied. 

“Pen, Jonsie?” You reached out a hand. Aaron handed over the desired item reluctantly. 

“I’ll let you two get acquainted. If I don’t get that pen back, I’m coming for you Y/n/n.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” You waved him off. A few quick motions and you were handing Dwalin back the signed contract, which he tucked away for safekeeping. 

“I need you to listen to me carefully, lass,” Dwalin began, “Don’t go anywhere without letting me know first. If you can’t find me, text me, though I’ll be around most of the time. If you’re feeling unsafe in any way, you let me know.” 

“Got it.” You nodded. He made sure his number was in your phone, and then followed you back to your board. 

With the bar empty while the band set up allowed Dwalin enough leeway to sit back and observe. Mentally he was making a map, locating all the exits. If the stalker tried something at the show tonight, Dwalin was certain that he’d find him, but your safety was his top priority. 

The crowd began to pour in at about six o’clock that night. The band was in some backroom inside, doing their usual preshow routine. The rest of the crew stood outside in the alley, enjoying the evening breeze before the show, knowing all too well how hot and stuffy it’d be by the time the show started. The guys talked amongst themselves for the majority of their time spent outside. 

You knew Dwalin wouldn’t come between you and your friends, you didn’t feel much like talking while this mountain was behind you. However, you knew the only way you were going to get used to him is if you talked to him. In the low light of the evening, and now that hardest part had been done, you finally had the time to look at Dwalin. Really take in his rugged appearance. 

He was older than you, you guessed by at least five years. The weight of his work had shown on his face and you were curious to find out where the scar that crossed his nose and eyebrow had come from. His head was bald, revealing tattoos that covered his scalp. The lack of hair up top was compensated by his beard, just as thick and rough as the rest of him.

“You’re staring.” He grumbled. 

“I like your head tattoos.” You shrugged. He looked at you for a second, then turned away. 

“You do this every day?” He finally asked. 

“Well, not every day, but most days.” You turned around to lean against the wall, catching a little glimpse of the stars between the buildings. 

“When you’re not doing this?” 

“Well, I’m the only engineer they will work with so if I’m not in the studio with the girls then I’m probably doing normal people things. Trust me, my job is not as exciting as yours.” 

Dwalin almost smiled at that, as serious as he was. 

“I mean you protect people,” You continued, “You’re basically a superhero.” 

“I’m not a hero. I’m a man doing his job.” He frowned. 

“It’s showtime.” Aaron interrupted, waving his clipboard. “You all know what to do, and I trust you to do it and do it well. Get out there.” 

You were moving faster than anyone else. The second Aaron was done you were off the wall and heading inside. 

Dwalin almost lost you in the crowd. Swarms of not-quite-drunk people were crowding the stage. Luckily, in the dark, he was able to catch just enough of a glimpse of your hair to keep track of you. He knew where you were going, of course, but he wasn’t about to slack on the job and risk losing you on the first night. 

He stood next to you all night long. If he wasn’t working the band would’ve had his full attention, it wasn’t every day that all-female rock bands played bars. His attention was divided. Half was on you, protecting you, and the other half was scanning the bar. Dwalin wanted to identify the stalker if he could, or at least identify someone as suspicious and keep an eye on them. 

Nobody stuck out to him, normally a person of interest would at least act suspicious. Everyone here seemed normal. There were people in Poor Impulse Control shirts similar to the ones that the crew wore, and there were just normal people here on a night out. 

The only real good thing that came out of the night was that he had two hours of you. You were working, sure, but he’d never admit that he enjoyed watching you work - nor could he say that he knew what you did or how you did it. Before he knew it, the crowd was being cleared out and it was time to pack up. 

You reminded him of a bee, the way you buzzed around, helping the guys pack up as fast as possible. 

“Dix! Get the rack!” You called out, holding the last of the lights in your hands, bring it over to the case it belonged in. 

“You got it, boss!” Dix saluted jokingly and set to work on packing up the light rack. 

It was chaos. An organized chaos, but chaos all the same. Dwalin could almost say he was fascinated as he watched you push a crate three times your size out the door and into the gear trailer. 

Dwalin found himself wondering again what could have scared this crew so bad that they needed a bodyguard. Why the hell did you need protection?

Tags: Open || Part 3 || 

[dailynewswebsite]

Can we actually learn to live with coronavirus? Not until we have a vaccine

Shutterstock/eamesBOT

As we transfer into the final quarter of 2020, the virus that has outlined this troubled 12 months is displaying no indicators of going away. Within the absence of a vaccine or a broadly efficient remedy, some are actually saying that we should study to dwell with COVID-19. However what does that really appear like?

It’s an advanced query that boils right down to this: Ought to we enable SARS-CoV-2 to unfold by a lot of the inhabitants whereas shielding all of the aged and people at excessive danger of significant illness, thus creating some stage of underlying immunity within the inhabitants? Or is it higher to maintain up with the management measures and goal for the elimination of the virus?

In attempting to reply the query, the idea of “herd immunity” – when round 60% of the inhabitants is proof against a illness – is commonly invoked. However this time period is just not properly understood. Management of an infectious illness by build-up of pure immunity within the inhabitants has by no means been achieved earlier than. Herd immunity works by focused vaccination, and we don’t but have a vaccine for COVID-19.

Viruses and immunity

Take the instance of smallpox – a really infectious, scary illness and the one human virus we now have ever eradicated. In contrast to COVID-19, individuals who caught the virus at all times confirmed signs, so that they might be discovered and remoted. Anybody who didn’t die would have life-long safety.

However we solely fully rid the world of it by a coordinated vaccination marketing campaign. This was the one manner that prime sufficient ranges of safety might be achieved the world over to succeed in the edge for herd immunity.

Herd immunity can’t occur with out widespread vaccination.

A couple of quarter of all frequent colds are brought on by kinds of coronavirus. Since SARS-CoV-2 can also be a coronavirus, may there be an identical protecting crossover? We don’t know the way lengthy the safety to any coronavirus lasts after you recuperate, however we do know that it doesn’t final perpetually.

One current research, for instance, confirmed that some individuals can get in poor health with the identical sort of coronavirus greater than as soon as in the identical winter season. This exhibits that pure immunity can’t be assumed as a truth of the human-coronavirus relationship, and herd immunity most likely can’t occur naturally. Certainly, it might be exceptional if we may obtain pure immunity with out a vaccine as this has by no means occurred earlier than.

Controlling the unfold

How about attempting to do away with SARS-CoV-2 by controlling its unfold? That is what occurred with its shut family SARS-CoV, or Sars, and MERS-CoV, Center Japanese Respiratory Syndrome, that are each additionally associated to bat coronaviruses. These ailments popped up within the 21st century, and offered a brand new pathogen for human immune programs to answer, so that they might be helpful examples to foretell what would possibly occur with COVID-19.

Sars went around the world twice between November 2002 and Might 2004 earlier than disappearing altogether. This was due to stringent management measures, reminiscent of quarantine for contacts of individuals with the an infection and common deep cleansing of public areas.

A sturdy laboratory testing scheme was arrange. Individuals had been inspired to put on face masks and wash their fingers typically. These measures stopped the unfold of the virus between individuals, resulting in its extinction.

The benefit we had in attempting to include Sars was that most individuals who had the an infection developed signs fairly rapidly, so that they might be recognized, given the medical assist they wanted after which remoted to stop them from infecting others. Sadly, COVID-19 seems to be most infectious initially of the illness whereas individuals have both gentle or no signs, so we will’t do the identical factor as successfully.

Mers was first observed within the Center East in 2012. It causes a really severe sickness and kills 34% of those that catch it. It appears to be much less infectious than SARS and SARS-CoV-2 – to unfold the illness individuals should be in very shut contact.

So sufferers with Mers have a tendency to provide it to these caring for them in hospital or their rapid households. This makes it simpler to include outbreaks and has stopped the illness changing into too widespread geographically. There are nonetheless giant outbreaks, together with 199 instances in Saudi Arabia in 2019.

Like Mers, and in contrast to Sars, we will anticipate outbreaks of COVID-19 to pop up even after we now have it roughly underneath management. They key factor is to determine individuals who have the an infection as quickly as doable, by testing and phone tracing, to scale back the numbers affected by a specific incident. An efficient and broadly used vaccine would assist to get to this stage sooner.

Settling down

Comparisons with influenza outbreaks are additionally useful in understanding what “residing with” COVID-19 would possibly appear like. The 1918-20 Spanish flu is estimated to have contaminated 500 million individuals, and round 50 million individuals died. Between January 2009 and August 2010, not less than 10% of the worldwide inhabitants had been most likely contaminated with Mexican Swine flu, however the variety of deaths, at simply over 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 was just like the anticipated price for seasonal flu.

A newspaper article from 1918 introducing a brand new sort of masks to guard well being employees from Spanish flu. Washington Occasions

The 1918 and 2009 viruses are the identical sort of influenza A, known as H1N1. So why was the dying price decrease for Swine flu? That’s as a result of within the 21st century, laboratory testing for influenza is a routine activity, we had efficient antiviral therapies (Tamiflu and Relenza) and a vaccine. The virus additionally mutated to change into much less harmful. It settled down and joined all the opposite seasonal influenza strains, and is now often called H1N1pdm09

Might the identical occur for COVID-19? Sadly not. We do have correct laboratory checks for SARS-CoV-2 however these had been solely invented in 2020. Testing has created further work for the hospital microbiology laboratories whereas they nonetheless have to hold on with all their standard work.

The antiviral remdesivir is just used to deal with people who find themselves already in hospital with extreme COVID-19. A vaccine is unlikely to be prepared earlier than spring 2021. There are a number of new strains of SARS-CoV-2, however sadly they’re both about the identical as the unique or extra infectious. This virus is just not but displaying any signal of settling down.

The best way out

Most individuals who get COVID-19 recuperate, however round 3% of those that have examined optimistic around the globe have died. We have no idea what quantity of those that make some type of restoration will go on to develop long-term unintended effects (often called lengthy COVID), however it might be as much as 10%. Research of individuals contaminated with Sars within the early 2000s present that a few of them nonetheless had lung issues 15 years later

Confronted with statistics like this, we ought to be attempting to make sure that as many individuals as doable are shielded from COVID-19 an infection, not “studying to dwell with the virus”. We have to proceed with day-to-day measures to cease coronavirus from passing between individuals as a lot as we will. Throughout 2020, that has meant numerous levels of government-imposed lockdown in most international locations.

Within the medium time period, there does have to be a steadiness between restrictions on individuals’s freedom and permitting them to fulfill up with family members and earn a residing. However SARS-CoV-2 is just not like smallpox, not like Sars or Mers and never just like the Spanish or Swine flus. There are classes we will study from these earlier infectious ailments however this goes past poorly understood ideas of herd immunity, elimination or studying to dwell with a virus.

It appears as if outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 can be a truth of life for a while to return, however “studying to dwell with the virus” shouldn’t imply letting it infect giant numbers of individuals. The plan ought to be to ensure that only a few individuals get contaminated in order that new outbreaks are small and uncommon.

Sarah Pitt doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or group that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/can-we-actually-learn-to-live-with-coronavirus-not-until-we-have-a-vaccine/ via https://growthnews.in

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/coronavirus-live-news-and-updates-5/

Coronavirus Live News and Updates

A record number of cases are seen across the U.S. as it heads into the July 4 weekend.

The United States reported nearly 50,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the fifth single-day case record in eight days, as the nation staggers toward a holiday weekend burdened by a pandemic that is only growing worse.

In the face of cases reaching disheartening new highs, health officials around the country have urged Americans to scale back their holiday plans.

Texas reached more than 8,000 new infections, surpassing its previous daily record set on Tuesday. Arizona added more than 4,700 cases, just under its single-day record set a day earlier. In Georgia, there were more than 2,300 new cases. Florida had more than 6,500.

In Arizona, which Mr. Trump visited in May and praised for its reopening plans, Gov. Doug Ducey decided this week to close the state’s water parks and to order bars, gyms and movie theaters to close for 30 days. On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence visited Arizona to discuss the crisis.

Mr. Pence told Mr. Ducey that the federal government would help the state with a request for 500 additional public health personnel by mobilizing doctors, nurses and technical personnel.

In Nebraska, state leaders suggested that holiday cookout hosts keep guest lists to make contact tracing easier if there were an outbreak. The Oregon Health Authority warned residents that “the safest choice this holiday is to celebrate at home.” And in Los Angeles County, Calif., where 10,000 new cases have been announced since last Friday, the health department ordered beaches closed and fireworks shows canceled.

Elsewhere, the pleas were similar: Skip the party. Stay home. Don’t make a bad situation worse.

Employers added 4.8 million jobs last month, the Labor Department said Thursday, the second month in a row that hiring picked up following a calamitous loss of more than 20 million jobs in April.

The unemployment rate fell to 11.1 percent in June from 13.3 percent the month earlier.

But the survey was compiled in mid-June, before coronavirus cases began to surge in Arizona, Florida and several other states. More recent data, also released by the Labor Department on Thursday, showed that 1.4 million Americans filed new claims for state unemployment benefits last week, and more than 800,000 filed for benefits under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

Economists fear that layoffs could accelerate now that California, Texas and other states have begun ordering some businesses to close again.

“We’re in a very deep hole, and we just set ourselves back again,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at the accounting firm Grant Thornton. “It’s difficult to climb out of that hole.”

Total employment has grown the past two months because companies have begun recalling temporarily laid-off workers. But layoffs have continued as the economic effects of the pandemic ripple through the economy.

Another looming threat: the expiration of government assistance, in particular the enhanced unemployment benefits providing an extra $600 per week to laid-off workers. Those benefits are set to sunset at the end of this month.

Congress needs to spend more money, soon, to continue to bridge the American economy through its coronavirus recession. But there is little consensus on what that next aid package will look like and when it will arrive.

The pandemic has turned the world into a giant laboratory of competing systems, each with its own way of fighting the virus and mitigating its economic damage. The contrast between Europe and the United States has been particularly stark.

After the devastating financial crisis of 2008, the United States recovered much faster than Europe, which suffered a double-dip recession. This time, many economists say Europe may have the edge.

Much of Europe resorted to strict lockdowns that mostly beat back the virus but capsized economies. In the United States, President Trump has prioritized getting the economy moving even as infections multiply.

The main reason America did well after the financial crisis was the rapid response of the government and the flexible nature of the American economy, which was quick to fire workers but also to hire them again. Europe, with built-in social insurance, tries to keep workers from layoffs through subsidies to employers, making it harder to fire workers and more expensive to rehire them.

But this is a different kind of collapse, a mandated shutdown in response to a pandemic, driving down both supply and demand simultaneously. And that difference creates the possibility that the European response, freezing the economy in place, might work better this time.

“It’s an important debate,” said Jean Pisani-Ferry, a senior economist with Bruegel in Brussels and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “This isn’t a normal recession, and there’s a lot you don’t know, especially if the virus comes back.”

A groom felt ill at his wedding. Days later, he was dead. Soon, at least 100 guests had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Now, Indian officials have opened an investigation into the mid-June gathering, which some experts are calling a superspreader event, attended by more than 300 guests in the city of Patna, in the northeastern state of Bihar, according to relatives who were there.

The groom, a software engineer living near New Delhi, had returned to his home state to prepare for the ceremony, telling friends it would be remembered forever for taking place during the pandemic.

But shortly before the ceremony, the groom, whose name is being withheld by the police pending charges against members of his family, began to vomit and complained of a headache, according to a relative who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared being ostracized. The relative said the groom’s family took him to a hospital, but that his parents insisted on continuing with the wedding. He was not tested for the coronavirus, the relative said.

A few days after the wedding, Sri Kumar Ravi, the district magistrate in Patna, said he received an anonymous call: The groom had died, possibly from Covid-19, and his parents had cremated his body.

Through an intermediary, the groom’s parents declined to comment. The Wire, an Indian news outlet, quoted the groom’s father as denying that his son had been sick before the wedding. But he said members of his family, including him, had recently tested positive for the virus.

Mr. Ravi likened the wedding to “forcing your guests into mass suicide,” since there was evidence to suggest the groom knew he was sick before the ceremony but proceeded anyway.

Nearly six weeks after Tokyo lifted a coronavirus-related state of emergency and declared the virus contained in the Japanese capital, new cases spiked to 107 on Thursday, up from 67 just a day earlier and the highest level since May 2.

Cases had been rising over the last week, with a high concentration detected in the city’s nightlife districts.

In a news conference on Thursday, Yuriko Koike, the Tokyo governor, said that people in their 20s and 30s accounted for 70 percent of the cases and that many were asymptomatic.

Ms. Koike said she would not ask businesses to close but encouraged the public to take precautions.

Dr. Norio Ohmagari, director of the Disease Control and Prevention Center at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, said the average daily number of cases, whose route of infection could not be traced, had more than doubled in the last week.

“It indicates the possibility that community transmission could be spreading,” he said.

Elsewhere in the world:

New Zealand’s health minister, David Clark, resigned on Thursday, saying that his missteps during the pandemic had become a distraction for the government. He had been criticized for traveling during a national lockdown and mishandling the quarantine of visitors at the border.

An outbreak at the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia — and the kingdom more broadly — prompted fears over the safety of diplomats, leading the State Department to allow voluntary departures.

The pandemic crushed the tourism industry in Venice and other over-visited cities. But many see this as an opportunity to rethink a “tourism monoculture.”

In recent weeks, Brazil has emerged as one of the world’s most severe coronavirus hot spots, second only to the United States. With Brazil’s caseload ballooning, Ernesto Londoño, the Brazil bureau chief for The New York Times, explains what went wrong.

Some conservatives and libertarians have made opposition to masks a political cause, but, as cases surge, a growing number of Republican governors and others in their party are trying to send a different message.

Vice President Mike Pence has abruptly started wearing and recommending masks. Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming shared a photograph on Twitter of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, wearing a cowboy hat and pale blue surgical mask, adding the hashtag “#realmenwearmasks.”

Some Republicans have shunned masks because President Trump has declined to wear them and stressed that doing so was voluntary. “I don’t think I’m going to be doing it,” he said in April.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Trump spoke less skeptically about masks. Asked whether Americans should be required to wear them, he said he wasn’t sure they should be mandatory but noted: “I’m all for masks. I think masks are good. I would wear one if I were in a group of people and I was close.”

In an interview with Fox Business Network, Mr. Trump said he had worn a mask before, but asserted that it was usually not necessary, because he and anyone allowed near him were regularly tested. “But if I were in a tight situation with people, I would, absolutely,” he said.

Mr. Trump added that he “sort of liked” the way he looked in a mask. “It was a dark black mask,” he said, “and I thought it looked OK. I looked like the Lone Ranger.”

Mr. Trump also said that he believed the virus was “going to sort of just disappear,” even as cases rise rapidly across the nation.

On Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia posted a selfie wearing a mask decorated with the University of Georgia’s bulldog mascot. “Wear your mask, Georgia — and go Dawgs!” he wrote on Twitter. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who regularly wears a mask in public, said in Washington this week that there must be “no stigma” about wearing masks.

The new entreaties follow months of misinformation, debate and confusion about wearing masks. Early in the pandemic, government officials instructed Americans not to buy or wear them. In April, they revised that guidance, advising that cloth face coverings were recommended.

Most of the public does not appear to have an aversion to masks. In a New York Times/Siena College poll published last week, 54 percent of people said they always wear a mask when they expect to be in proximity to other people, while 22 percent said they usually wear a mask.

Elsewhere in the United States:

Pennsylvania on Wednesday joined the growing list of states that require people to wear masks whenever they leave home.

Officials rushing to contain a coronavirus cluster tied to a party in a New York City suburb used an unusual legal strategy: issuing subpoenas to partygoers.

Congress is investigating about a dozen medical laboratories and emergency rooms for potential price gouging involving virus tests. In letters on Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked 11 health care providers, including two laboratories that were the subjects of New York Times articles, to submit information on testing prices.

McDonald’s announced a three-week pause in its plans to resume dine-in service at thousands of locations across the United States.

Apple said it would close 30 more of its stores in seven states, including California, Georgia and Nevada, adding to the 16 stores already closed around the country. Apple has 271 stores in the United States.

Ring Mayar spends all day knocking on doors in the western suburbs of Melbourne, asking residents if they have a cough, a fever or chills.

Even if they do not, he encourages them to get tested for the coronavirus, as the authorities race to catch up with a string of outbreaks that is threatening to recast Australia’s success story in controlling the virus.

The spike in infections — Victoria reported 77 new cases Thursday, the most since March — has reinforced a dark truth about the outsize impact of the virus on vulnerable communities. In these places, people often must venture out for jobs that put them at risk of contracting the virus, and communication by the authorities in residents’ native languages can be patchy.

“It’s quite daunting,” said Mr. Mayar, the president of the South Sudanese Community Association in the state of Victoria, who has been volunteering in one of the largely immigrant communities where cases are surging.

As it has elsewhere in the world, the virus found a hole in Australia’s system: It spread in part because of the sharing of a cigarette lighter among security guards working at a hotel where returning international travelers are being quarantined.

It later circulated in low-income neighborhoods in the Melbourne area with sizable migrant populations, including inside a supermarket distribution center.

The surge shows how even in countries that appear to be on track to safely resume normal life, the virus can quickly resurface. The Victoria outbreaks have stalled the reopening of state borders, undercut plans to create travel bubbles with other countries and forced 300,000 people back into lockdown.

When the bars in Michigan reopened in June, Tony Hild forgot about face masks, social distancing and caution and headed out to Harper’s Restaurant and Brew Pub, a popular spot in the college town of East Lansing. There was a line out the door. Inside were 200 people dancing, drinking and shouting over the music.

“It was just so crowded, and I’m like, ‘This is going against everything I’m told not to do,’” Mr. Hild, 23, a college student, said. “But I didn’t think I was going to get it.”

As people eager for a night out flood back into public after months of confinement, public health experts say that college-town bars, nightclubs and corner taverns are becoming dangerous new hot spots for the coronavirus, seeding infections in thousands of mostly young adults and adding to surging cases nationwide.

Louisiana health officials tied 100 coronavirus cases to bars in Baton Rouge, La. Minnesota has traced 328 recent cases to bars across the state.

And in East Lansing, home to Michigan State University, more than 100 cases have been linked to Harper’s, Mr. Hild included. He came down with a sore throat, chest pains and fatigue, and by then, more than a week later, he had already visited four other restaurants.

“I definitely regret doing it,” he said.

Public health experts say that the long nights, lack of inhibitions and shoulder-to-shoulder confines inside so many bars — a source of community and relaxation in normal times — now make them ideal breeding grounds for the coronavirus.

Reporting was contributed by Livia Albeck-Ripka, Julie Bosman, Ben Casselman, Steven Erlanger, Richard Fausset, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, Thomas Fuller, Jenny Gross, Jack Healy, Makiko Inoue, Isabella Kwai, Ernesto Londoño, Mark Mazzetti, Jesse McKinley, Anna Momigliano, Monika Pronczuk, Motoko Rich, Nelson D. Schwartz, Dionne Searcey, Ed Shanahan, Mitch Smith, Sabrina Tavernise, Hisako Ueno, Caryn A. Wilson, Edward Wong and Sameer Yasir.

[storiesofremnantrwby]

Stories of Remnant - Chapter 2

Changing Seasons

It had been years that Pandora had worked for the Styx gang. She became deadly, effective, and one hard force to be reckoned with. The opposing people’s militia of Bronzefield were suppressed with little struggle, but still pushback was faced and complete control did not take for the bandits. There was more resistance in the shadows, trafficking necessary for the gang’s influence were diverted, tasks became forgotten and punishments were forgiven. Midas became less concerned about if his people were really following his orders, and more concerned about his own mortality. He was paranoid, convinced that someone was out to get him. He would spend days on end locked inside his chambers in the hideaway. Pandora became his messenger, and the second in command. Because of this, his control over her actions lessened. At first, she wouldn’t notice, even reminding herself of her duties with her very own personalized head-voice. It mimicked the abuse that was constantly spewed forth since she was eleven. But as visits from The King- as they called him- became less frequent, she found a new type of freedom. She could go and do mostly anything, as long as someone from the gang wasn’t watching. Despite Midas’s paranoia, there were a certain amount of people that Pandora was certain had been tasked with tracking and subtly stalking her ever since he hid away. She’d notice it sometimes, out of the corner of her eye. There were also whispers of differing factions developing within the gang. Without it’s King, some became less loyal, aware that their safety and welfare became side-tracked as their jobs became less and less bountiful. Then there were those who seemed not to care either way, using the name of their gang, and their associations to bully the townspeople into submission, taking extra “offerings” on occasion, suddenly spiking prices, or even outright stealing from people who were already starved of everything. Last were those who were loyal to the King still. They were also similar to the former, but instead of not caring that their wondrous leader had gone away, they instead continued on with the rhetoric that they believed he would have enacted. Pandora was more like one of the loyalists- or at least she was at first. She gave thrashings and beatings to those who would step out of the line of order she was raised within… However, because of the Impartials and the Rebels, her views had started to change. It was foreseen from a while ago, when Midas was still around- mostly anyways.

She had found herself unable to sleep one evening after curfew. She had been sneaking out before, going for walks, getting food and so on, but tonight she felt especially restless. So she threw open her window from her room, having broken the lock on it, and jumped out. She climbed her way down the scale of the building, a place made of stone that had been remade with brick, wood, and metal. It was a castle, but one that had been cannibalized as their main base. She landed safely, and crept into the woods quietly. She made for the main road, which would take her to the town square in just a half hour of walking. When she had made it there, the sun was gone and the stars and moon had settled into place. She went to her favorite little food stand. It was an open bar that served a few nice dishes, but even better home-made swill. She ordered a drink and had a seat. That’s when she noticed him.

A man she’d never seen before was walking to the stand from the inn. It was certainly unusual to see visitors, as those who came through would have to pay heavy tariffs to cross the dam. People stopped coming through in favor of more dangerous and lengthy trade routes, so his visiting meant something was important. He sat near her, a seat away and took one look at the drink she had and ordered one for himself. Pandora wasn’t much for small talk, and instead, elected to ignore him altogether. One of the reasons he stood out so much was because of the colors he put off. Bright oranges, contrasted by blacks. A big flaming skull was situated on the back of a cropped jacket. He wore a black bodysuit under it and had a spiked belt, and piercings. His hair was the brightest, an undercut that was put up in a messy, stiff updo. He definitely looked like a person who had experience with the less fine points of traveling. She had a suspicion that he was a Hunter- which was fine. A lot of the people in the gang weren’t trained all that well when it came to hunting Grimm, but the skills of a Hunter against the gang could be very annoying.

He must have noticed her accidental stare because he pulled a double-take, but then stopped. They went back to ignoring each other. After a while, and a whole cup of swill later, he finally looked at her again.

“What? You got a problem?” Pandora threatened, looking at him back dead in the eyes. The man flinched and put his hands up in a passive way.

“Huh? Me? No!” He looked away awkwardly, “Just thought I recognized you is all.” He mumbled a bit.

That was weird, no one really does that to her. He was new in town, how in the world would he ever have seen her before?

“What is that supposed to mean,” She smiled into her cup. She found this entertaining, and was slightly enticing a fight with him. She’d enjoy some action; maybe it’d tire her out.

“Nothing, nothing…” He looked back at her, clearly more relaxed than before. There seemed to be something telling in his eyes, “Just swear I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

After a few more moments of silence, Pandora was tired of this. She rolled her eyes and sighed, straightening up. “I guess you’re new in town then. Well, before you get yourself into trouble, I’ll let you know something.” She took another sip, “Rule one is don’t ask questions. It isn’t worth the bruises you’ll get. Unless you’re a masochist.”

He giggles a bit at that. She gave a slight smile that was more akin to an annoyed sibling than a threatened stranger, “And rule two is don’t talk to strangers. People will think you’re trying to do something that isn’t…” She paused, looking for the words, “Fitting, for this town.”

Now her smile was a little more maniacal. The man didn’t really react, which kinda pissed her off. After staring at him to see if he intended to reply, she demanded another cup of swill by slamming her flagon down next to him.

“Just what are you doing here, anyway? Aren’t there better places in this shithole of a world to be?”

With that, the man turned his head to her with a smile, “Heh, yeah, I guess so. But wasn’t that breaking rule one?” he giggled again, and before she had a chance to react, he had pulled out a slip of paper and shoved it almost in her face.

“I was right. I did recognize you. You’re Pandora Fae. You went missing nine years ago from Olympus,” He sipped the last drops from his cup, “Crazy how happenstance works, huh?”

Pandora was frozen. It was a missing persons poster. It had a childhood photo of her with the words “Missing”, it had her old address, and a reward of 250,000 Lien. “Wh-what?” She whispered to herself.

It didn’t make sense! Her father had sold her, why would he put up a missing persons report with a high reward for her if he sold her? Why did he want her back? How come he never came looking? A flood of questions raced through her mind, and that voice that had so tightly nestled within her brain- the one that mimicked Midas- became silent for the first time since she could remember.

She sat down again, stunned. She was grasping the poster, and didn’t realize how weak she looked until she saw the man’s eyes prying to reach her. She looked up at him.

“Wow, by that reaction, I’m guessing you didn’t know you were being searched for.” He laughed. “But I guess I should leave you alone now, huh? Got a busy day tomorrow helping the caravans get past the dam. Other passes are out of use at the moment, so gotta get these supplies to the people who need them. Even if it means to take a risk and barter with the scumbags who-”

“What do you know about this?” She stopped him in his tracks. “Tell me. Please.” She looked sincere, a softer tone overtook her eyes, replacing the distrust and anger.

The man shrugged and settled back on his stool. He ordered another drink. “Well, you went missing nine years ago from your home. Your father says you had last been with your trainer, and that a servant had put you to bed. Apparently, they thought your trainer took you, or went missing too, but it turns out he had just made a trip out of town since he wasn’t from around there. He came back and said the last time he saw you was at training that day… He said you had gone to bed that night- basically corroborating everything your father had said. All suspicion had been cast aside thanks to your father’s trust in the guy, and his help in the search.” He sipped, and sat back in thought.

“Damn, I can’t remember the guy’s name… Something something Aurum?”

“Midas.” Pandora blurted out, her voice was low and steady. “Midas Aurum.” She looked at him, confusion and conflict sparring in her mind, “The King of the Styx River Bandits”. The man looked at her with slight surprise.

“Aurum is what now?” He asked.

“The King- but… It doesn’t make any sense, he saved me!” She looked back into the man’s eyes, her mind working to process everything, “He told me my father sold me! He was a cruel old bastard, my father! Midas saved me!”

The man shook his head, “I don’t see it… Your father put together search party after search party, he never stopped traveling around to try and find you. He only stopped after a few years because… Well, he was ill.” He took a softer tone, trying to steadily explain the sensitive nature of the topic, “His body was failing him, and a lot of people said that his grief was causing him to be ill.”

“He’s… Dead?” She asked, trying as best she could not to tear up.

He shook his head, “No, but he’s really sick. His servants are caring for him, but he couldn’t bare to live in Olympus anymore. He moved somewhere else after three years of non-stop searching… Him and everyone else in Olympus held out hope but, you never came back. You were just… Gone.”

She was silent. Defeated. She slumped in her chair, looking over the poster again. It couldn’t be true. All this time, she knew what the truth was. She knew her father was a horrible, evil thing. This had to be some sort of trick. Somehow, this had to be. How couldn’t it be?

“So, this… Midas fella… Did he take you?” He asked, gently interrupting her thought process.

“No!” She yelled. “No…” She said again, less aggressively this time. “He couldn’t have…”

The man leaned to try and look at her again, “Hey, you gonna be alright?” He tried to reach his hand out and touch her shoulder, but in a panic she pulled away and stumbled from the chair.

“I… I have to think…” she was nearly hyperventilating now, “C-can I keep this?”

The man nodded, “Well yeah. It is you, after all.”

She turned to walk away, but stopped to look back. “Tomorrow?” She prompted

“Yeah?” He replied.

“Don’t cross the dam. Don’t barter with them, don’t do anything. Just… Leave. Turn around if you know what’s good for you. Please.” She looked sincere. Not a single indication that it was a joke at all. He would have laughed, but she wasn’t trying to be humorous. Before he could respond, she fled back into the night and into her room. She turned all the lights out and retrieved the gold-lined necklace with the remnant of her mother’s aura crystal in it and cradled it in thought.

“What do I do mom? Midas can’t be lying… Can he?” She started to cry, until she fell asleep hours later.

[aubrey3564341945-blog]

Weight Loss Tablets

We discovered no present, reliable proof to tell agency choices about the efficacy and safety of CrP chromium picolinate dietary supplements in chubby or overweight adults. The FTC has had ongoing campaigns to halt false promoting in the weight-loss class since the mid-90s. By reducing carbs and reducing insulin ranges, you change the hormonal environment and make your physique and mind "need" to lose weight. " Thermogenic supplements may allow you to burn saved body fat by utilizing the physique's fats reserves as a source of energy, decrease your appetite, curb cravings for junk foods and possibly assist offer you more power. 5 kg) of weight reduction over a 3 month period ( 5 ). Curiosity in weight reduction dietary supplements has continually increased over the years. Most weight reduction capsules claiming to be fats burners are really varieties of thermogenics. Effectiveness: One research confirmed that it prompted 21 lbs (9. At one time, it was bought legally in the U. Asking chubby patients about their use of weight-loss supplements and understanding the proof for the efficacy, safety, and high quality of those dietary supplements are crucial when counseling patients regarding weight loss. Curiosity in weight reduction dietary supplements has continually increased over the years. Then, a examine confirmed that the risk was greater than the profit: people taking sibutramine didn't lose quite a lot of weight, however they had an elevated likelihood of having high blood pressure, quick heart price, a coronary heart attack, or a stroke. Pasman WJ, Westerterp-Plantenga MS, Saris WH. A study from 2009 means that in case you increase your levels of Vitamin D when beginning a low-calorie food plan, you'll lose more weight, together with in that stubborn stomach area ( 3 ). The effectiveness of lengthy-term supplementation of carbohydrate, chromium, fibre and caffeine on weight maintenance. A number of the elements included phentermine, acetamidophenol, phenobarbital, chlorpheniramine, sibutramine, diazepam (Valium), mazindol, hydrochlorothizide, fluoxetine (Prozac), and furosemide (Lasix). 47 Whereas these drugs can benefit certain people, shoppers must be aware of what components dietary supplements contain, and their use of those products must be monitored by a doctor. Good to know: While it's generally greatest to get nutrients from foods, supplements win out in this case, since the foods most laden with alpha lipoic acid—red and organ meats—are additionally full of saturated fats and cholesterol. Maybe ask a physician to advocate specific supplements or respected manufacturers, the Office of Dietary Dietary supplements , an arm of the National Institutes of Well being, urged on its website. Inexperienced tea for weight reduction and weight maintenance in overweight or obese adults. Jurgens TM, Whelan AM, Killian L, Doucette S, Kirk S, Foy E. , Weight Watchers or periods with a registered dietitian), whereas the remaining forty five% lost weight on their very own. A evaluate of six research using green tea preparations for weight reduction over 12 weeks found a difference based mostly on country. More than half (55%) of the pattern sought formal or skilled assistance for weight loss (e. Listed here are some commonly found components in weight-loss dietary supplements and what it's best to know about them. In contrast with controls, participants receiving a purported weight loss supplement ate more food on the reward buffet. — Many consumers take inexperienced tea supplements for their assumed weight loss advantages, however research have discovered that the extracts can pose serious health risks. Extra rigorous trials with longer length are wanted to assess the efficacy and safety of GCE as a weight loss pills for teens loss supplement" 30. A number of current studies conducted on dietary supplements found that customers who buy herbal dietary supplements could not get the product that's advertised on the label. These are vital questions for well being care professionals to consider when recommending weight reduction to people with diabetes. three and ninety four. 1%, respectively); being obese will increase your danger of certain illnesses (ninety eight. In fact, the results indicated that almost all who had tried to shed pounds—both supplement customers and non‐customers—believed that weight can impact one's well being, based on endorsement of the next statements: losing a few pounds will enhance your well being (97. 5%); and an chubby person is extra prone to develop continual sicknesses resembling diabetes or hypertension in contrast with a non‐chubby individual (ninety six. Bottom Line: There isn't any proof that raspberry ketones cause weight loss in people, and the rat research showing it to work used huge doses. In the September 17, 2003 concern of the Journal of the American Medical Affiliation, Morris and Avorn of Harvard Medical Faculty performed a survey of well being claims made on the Web about the most common dietary dietary supplements.

[birdnett]

Long term Protection with bird control netting

Hicare anti bird net Bangalore help to protect plants from birds. Plant specialists who are developing organic products, vegetables, and other garden crops birds feed on must get ready for a conceivable assault. Birds come in their numbers to assault products and wind up making noteworthy harm these yields. Nursery workers developing harvests in zones under substantial assault by these ruinous birds can ensure crops with anti-bird netting. The net is extremely compelling and offers the correct insurance to totally anchor crops from fledgling harms. There are numerous reasons and advantages of utilizing the netting to shield crops from conceivable assault.

Durable and Sturdy Nets are Good Investment

Nets are made of the solid most astounding quality material, they are accessible in various shapes and sizes, and they are UV balanced out. The life expectancy of a few nets has been assessed up to 7 years. The sturdiness is the thing that checks in each great speculation, and hostile to bird netting pays off. The establishment is straightforward and simple. It doesn't require additional laborers or some uncommon exertion. You can do it without anyone's help or with the assistance of some relative or a companion. A palette of various shading is accessible, from white and light green to dark. Light stabilizer moderates shading.

This extra component includes one more measurement of insurance. With the exception of birds, it shields from solid light. Light green net converges with the garden as one. You can scarcely see that it is there. Quality nets will never do any damage to winged animals. They just protect the plants from birds pecking. A few Birds categories are secured by the law in specific zones. A couple of extra elements of nets, for example, UV and light stabilizer help in protecting an ideal situation for the sheltered development of your seedlings. These improvements likewise influence the life span of the net. It can be utilized again and again in the following years.

The net has been intended for a simple task and it can be put away off the season. There is no compelling reason to contribute new GUACAMALLAS nets consistently for a similar reason.

Anti bird net price is affordable at Hicare

Birds and the Health Risk can be controlled with bird nets.

Birds are common occupants in our environment. They assume an imperative part in the food chain but once in a while, they speak to a genuine wellbeing hazard. It is particularly valid for pigeons. Pigeons frequently go about as irritations, and they are like rats. Your product appears as a perfect situation for Birds homes. You ought to know that homes and Birds droppings can harm your advantage and transmit a malady. Birds have more than sixty irresistible sicknesses. The vast majority of them don't speak to a hazard for human well-being on account of the restricted connection with birds. The circumstance with your yield is unique. One chomp of the natural product makes it defenseless. Microscopic organisms spread quick causing the spoil that can pass on to different natural products, particularly if collected together. Indeed, even before the decaying begins, the structure and appearance of your item have been changed. Thusly, the esteem has been diminished.

Urban farmers are a quickly developing gathering of aficionado who had transformed their patios into superb gardens. Anti flying creature netting is appropriate for little gardens and in addition for much extensive surfaces. Lamentably, pigeons are totally adjusted to urban territories, other than some different species, for example, starling and sparrow. Their droppings may come into natural products or vegetables and spread the illness into people. Some salmonella diseases have been credited to pigeons. Anti-pigeon solutions that are feathered creatures cordial are the best alternative to bar the wellbeing hazard.

Hicare has Pigeon safety net Bangalore and in other cities in India

Nets are an Effective Deterrent for Bird Pests

Nets have an exceptionally boundless use in the security of the harvests however ranchers and reproducers utilize them in the assurance of little birds too. Aviary netting is a bird control product that repulses predators. Poultry is a prey to birds of prey and sells, and the best way to protect it is to utilize aviaries. The majority of them are produced using the dark polyethylene. UV treatment guarantees the lifespan of the net. This sort of hostile to flying creature netting is productive, enduring, and 100% viable. Each important resource can be ensured and safeguarded as opposed to being presented to a hazard.

Regardless of whether you develop natural products or vegetables or you have the chicken homestead, the assurance is a vital piece of your marketable strategy. The venture and exertion do make a difference for the last outcome that should live up to your desires. As a capable rancher, you will deal with your property. By executing of against Bird netting a scope of issues won't exist any longer. It is a physical boundary that is strong and built to concede light, air, and moistness, however, it has a zero-resilience for the vermin. There is no other method to dissuade birds from going by your property that is so successful and as per guidelines.

For pigeon net Bangalore and in other cities they are best.

Birds are surrounding us however with regards to our products or poultry, they are not invited. We should counteract them to harm natural products or vegetables. Else, we open the respect a hazard. At the season of the gather, the outcome may contrast from the normal one, and it would be incompletely our own particular error. The rundown of undesirable outcomes is long. Among regularly are changes in the appearance and structure, spoil or contaminations. Despite the fact that a ton of exertion has been contributed as the year progressed, it won't pay off except if the essential interest in hostile to fledgling netting has been incorporated. It is the unavoidable piece of the fruitful technique.

[genesage-blog1]

Choosing the Best Life Insurance Option for You

Life coverage in the UK is ending up increasingly famous with numerous individuals presently understanding the significance and the advantages of a decent extra security arrangement. There are two fundamental kinds of well known disaster protection, both of which offer a scope of important advantages to UK purchasers.

Level Term Life Insurance

Level term extra security is the most famous sort of disaster protection approach with UK shoppers, and this might be on the grounds that it is likewise the least expensive type of protection. With level term protection, you and your family can appreciate genuine feelings of serenity at a reasonable cost. In the event that you bite the dust amid the term of this protection strategy, your family will get a single amount installment, which can take care of various expenses and give some level of budgetary security at what will definitely be a troublesome time. The cash could help with costs, for example,

Home loan reimbursements

Memorial service costs

Instruction costs for the kids

Everyday living

One reason that level term life coverage is a reasonable piece less expensive than other life coverage is on account of the back up plan just needs to make an installment if the safeguarded party passes away, and, after its all said and done the guaranteed party needs beyond words the term of the approach for the closest relative (or the named recipient) to be qualified for a payout. An awesome aspect regarding levels term protection is that you can profit by cover for only a couple of pounds every week, and in light of the fact that the installments continue as before all through the term of the strategy, you'll never need to stress over rising installments.

The motivation behind why a level term protection strategy is purported is on the grounds that the reimbursement stay level all through the term of the arrangement, so you will never need to stress over the cost of your approach rising. The approach is additionally assumed control over a settled term, which is the place the 'term' some portion of the strategy comes in. This implies you can appreciate simple planning and minimal effort reimbursements, and you'll know precisely to what extent you will make installment for. On the drawback, once the strategy terminates you won't have the capacity to recover any cash and the approach will be dropped, so you will then need to take a gander at taking out elective life coverage cover.

The normal term of a level term disaster protection approach - except if generally indicated - is fifteen years. There are an assortment of elements that add to the cost of the arrangement, for example, regardless of whether you go for the most essential bundle or whether you incorporate a dart on, for example, basic ailment cover, whether you are a smoker, your general wellbeing, and the term over which you take the strategy out.

Entire Life Insurance

Not at all like level term disaster protection, entire life cover offers an ensured payout, which to numerous individuals improves it esteem for cash over the long haul. In spite of the fact that the reimbursements on this kind of cover are more costly than level term protection, the back up plan will make pay out at whatever point the safeguarded party passes away, so the higher regularly scheduled installments will ensure a payout sooner or later.

There are various distinctive kinds of entire disaster protection arrangements, and customers can choose the one that best fits their requirements and their financial plan. Similarly as with other protection approaches, you can tailor-influence as long as you can remember protection to cover to incorporate extra cover, for example, basic sickness protection. The minor departure from entire extra security cover include:

Non-benefit UK entire life coverage arrangements: This is the most straightforward type of entire life cover, and empowers you to appreciate the comfort of level installments through the term of the approach until the point when you bite the dust. Upon death, your family got a payout and the arrangement winds up invalid and void. In the event that you need to pay some additional, you can take out an arrangement that is settled over a predetermined term, which implies that you might make installments for a specific measure of time, however your family will in any case get a payout when you bite the dust.

With-benefit UK entire extra security: This is a cover and speculation write plot, where your regularly scheduled installments are part between your cover premiums and the venture side of your approach. You will appreciate an ensured guaranteed total, and you may find that your safety net provider includes optional rewards.

Minimal effort UK entire disaster protection: One of the least expensive types of entire life cover, this sort of strategy includes a diminishing term design, and the approach is joined with a benefits finance. As rewards are added to the benefit side of the arrangement, the approach term diminishes. This gives a practical answer for those that need to appreciate the advantages of entire disaster protection cover without making high regularly scheduled installments.

Unitised UK entire extra security approach: When you buy this sort of entire life cover, you will likewise be putting resources into with-benefit units. This implies when the safety net provider makes a payout, the entirety granted will be reliant upon the estimation of the units in contrast with the estimation of the passing advantage (the payout will be founded on whichever is the most elevated in esteem). Every month units are dropped keeping in mind the end goal to build levels of death advantage cover, with audits completed now and again to guarantee sufficient levels of death advantage cover.

Rundown

Both level term protection strategies and entire life approaches offer profitable genuine feelings of serenity to policyholders. The cost of this kind of life cover is a little cost to pay for the genuine feelings of serenity that accompanies being ensured, and you can expand this significant serenity by including additional items, for example, basic sickness to your arrangement for only a little additional charge.

As a country, we jump at the chance to protect pretty much all that we can...our autos, our homes, our possessions, our pets, and even our credit reimbursements. It in this way bodes well that we ought to protect the most essential thing of all - our lives.

Contact Us: 

Genesage Life Insurance

71-75 Shelton Street

Covent Garden London WC2H 9JQ

Telephone: +44 0203 150 1349

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[jakehglover]

Why Greens Keep Making People Sick

By Dr. Mercola

The news across the U.S. with respect to contamination involving bagged and chopped romaine lettuce continues to worsen. After a multistate outbreak dating back to March 13, 2018, involving at least 121 known Escherichia coli (E. coli) infections spanning 25 states, including one death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has isolated the problem lettuce to Yuma, Arizona.1

Because it takes an average of two to three weeks for this type of outbreak-related illness to be reported, even more cases are expected to be made known in the coming weeks.

To date, more than 50 people have been hospitalized with a nasty E. coli infection and at least 14 victims have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure, making this quite a serious matter.2 Yuma-grown greens purchased at the grocery store, as well as those served in restaurants, are equally suspect. Sadly, most bagged salad brands do not identify the region where they are grown and processed, making identification difficult.

For that reason, until further notice, consumers are advised to avoid consuming all types of romaine lettuce, including hearts and whole heads, in addition to bagged and chopped romaine, as well as any salad mixes containing romaine grown in the Yuma region.3 Rather than guess if your favorite salad greens are safe, the wisest move is to avoid buying or eating any romaine lettuce or mixes containing romaine until the situation improves.

If you have any doubt, throw it out! Thankfully, there are many other salad greens and vegetables you can eat safely until this situation resolves. I'd also like to suggest a few tips that will help you enjoy salad greens and other produce safely going forward.

Why Are There so Many Health and Safety Issues With Salad Greens?

It's no secret U.S. consumers love the convenience of prewashed produce that is sold in bags, clamshells and tubs. Unfortunately, those types of greens are precisely the ones continually implicated in outbreaks associated with foodborne illness. In fact, says The Washington Post, food-safety experts suggest "convenience greens — those handy bags of prechopped and prewashed salads — carry an extra risk because they come in contact with more people and machinery before they arrive on your plate."4

E. coli is quite common — its many strains are found in food and the environment and also live in animal and human intestines. Thankfully, most E. coli infections are tolerable, if not harmless. The types of E. coli known to cause illness are often transmitted through contaminated food and water or through contact with animals or people. For example, in a large 2006 outbreak of E. coli involving spinach, wild pigs and well water were suspected causes.5

The particular strain currently in question with respect to romaine lettuce, however, is not your average E. coli. It is Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157:H7, which is known to be particularly dangerous. In the U.S., the CDC says an estimated 265,000 people suffer from STEC infections annually; the O157:H7 variety is responsible for more than one-third of those illnesses.6 While people of all ages are susceptible, the elderly and young children are most likely to be severely affected by STEC's unpleasant side effects.

Generally, symptoms appear one to 10 days after eating the contaminated food item and may include bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting. The age range for the current outbreak, notes the CDC, is from 1 to 88 years, with a median age of 29, again suggesting all populations are vulnerable to this strain of E. coli.7 To date, no one brand, grower or supplier has been tagged as the source of the contaminated lettuce.

Do You Know Where Your Salad Greens Are Grown?

Due to the industrialization of our food system, Americans eat produce from all over the world, regardless of whether it is in season locally. It's not unusual to go to the supermarket and return with fruits and vegetables grown and harvested in Canada and Mexico, as well as countries in Europe and South America, among others. Although enjoying seasonal produce raised far from home has become the norm, this convenience is not without a cost.

According to The New York Times,8 the majority of bagged romaine lettuce provided to grocery stores and restaurants across North America is grown in California's Salinas Valley. There is, however, one exception: In late fall and winter, the industry makes a seasonal move to Yuma.

Given the timing of the current E. coli outbreak, authorities believe the infected romaine was very likely grown in Yuma. While more details will be forthcoming, it seems likely the outbreak was caused either by an animal defecating in a field or some form of contaminated water runoff.

It's worth noting that concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are a major source of water contamination throughout the U.S. Even the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) states, "Nationwide and in Arizona, the potential for surface and ground water pollution exists through livestock facility discharge of manure-contaminated run off to natural waterways and through wastewater leaching to aquifers."9

While the source of the outbreak has not yet been pinned down, it’s certainly possible that industrialized agriculture has played a role. On a brighter note, because most of the industry's bagged romaine production shifted back to California in April, says The New York Times, the Yuma-grown produce should be out of the food supply shortly.10

"Hopefully with it being in one particular growing region and that region moving to California, it won't be too much longer [before you can begin eating romaine again]," said Laura Gieraltowski, Ph.D., who leads the foodborne outbreak response team within the CDC's outbreak response and prevention branch. "It's a fast-moving outbreak," she said. "We're getting reports of new illnesses daily from our state and local health departments."11

Seven Reasons Why You Should Avoid Packaged Greens

Given the health concerns about prepackaged romaine and other processed greens, it may be time to make a change. Below are seven reasons you may want to avoid packaged greens:12

Chemicals

Chemicals such as chlorine are routinely used during the rinsing process for precut, prepackaged greens as a means of trying to kill off bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.13

The use of chemical washes, though not safe for anyone, are of particular concern if you are sensitive to chemicals. Researchers at the University of California — Riverside (UCR) found bleach rinses to be somewhat ineffective for cleaning baby spinach, noting while it caused bacteria to detach from the greens, it did not always kill the bacteria, meaning it could still make its way into your kitchen.14,15 

Disconnection

A continued reliance on prepackaged, convenience greens only further disconnects you from the reality of where your food comes from, the needs of the soil it is grown in and the hard work it takes to grow these crops. While some may view processed greens as a cut above other types of processed food, they are still less than ideal because nature did not intend for us to eat the majority of our food out of shiny packages we purchased from the grocery store.

Frogs and feces

In 2017, a California woman discovered a small frog in a prepackaged spring mix she had purchased from Target — as she was eating it, begging the question, "Do you know what is in your bagged salad?"

After recovering from an episode of vomiting and the shock of nearly ingesting the dime-sized creature, the woman opted to keep it as a family pet.16 Tests performed by Consumer Reports in 2015 on 208 prewashed salad mixes, representing 16 brands, found bacteria suggesting poor sanitation and fecal contamination, in some cases at high levels. They stated:17

"Several industry experts we consulted suggested that for leafy greens, an unacceptable level of total coliforms or enterococcus is 10,000 or more colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) or a comparable estimate.

In our tests, 39 percent of samples exceeded that level for total coliforms and 23 percent for enterococcus. Results varied widely among samples, even within the same brand, from undetectable levels of those bacteria to more than 1 million CFU/g."

Nutrient loss

Most people choose bagged lettuce and other greens for the convenience. The fact they are prewashed and precut perhaps draws some to eat greens who otherwise would not. While washing is meant to clean produce, says CNN Health, it "can also damage plant tissues and expose them to oxygen dissolved in the washing water.

This can cause a loss of vitamins that are water-soluble and sensitive to oxygen, such as vitamin C and the B vitamin folate."18 For this reason, uncut produce is usually a better choice.

Packaging waste

No matter what type of greens you select, when buying fresh greens from the store, you'll always face the issue of packaging waste. Some argue that plastic tubs at least can be recycled. In contrast, the plastic bags housing most premade lettuce mixes, and the plastic produce bags used for loose produce, such as whole heads of lettuce, cannot be recycled.

Sean Cash, Ph.D., associate professor and economist at the Friedman School of Nutrition and Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston, says, "The processing and packaging of bagged salad would still outweigh the cost of making the plastic bags that a consumer might use at the store."19 As such, there is less packaging waste when you buy whole produce.

Triple washing ineffective

Even when the package suggests your greens have been triple-washed, you can never know for sure what may be lurking on them. Even after all that washing, germs can linger in the nooks and crannies of certain produce. Such was the case with respect to the UCR baby spinach study, where researchers observed "upward of 90 percent of adhered bacteria were observed to remain attached to and survive on the leaf surface."20

Nichola Kinsinger, Ph.D, researcher with the UCR department of chemical and environmental engineering, who was one of the study authors, said:21

"In a sense, the leaf is protecting the bacteria and allowing it to spread. It was surprising to discover how the leaf surface formed microenvironments that reduced the bleach concentration. [I]n this case, the very disinfection processes intended to clean, remove and prevent contamination were found to be the potential pathway to amplifying foodborne outbreaks."

Water use

As reported by Mother Jones, many produce companies have been triple washing their packaged greens since the 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak killed three and sickened 205.22

Gidon Eshel, Ph.D., research professor of environmental science and physics at New York's Bard College, said, "What I know is that the bagged, triple-washed variety is enormously water costly. I visited such an operation and saw for myself … the washing was just staggering."23

Given that the greens involved in the latest E. coli outbreak are grown in a water-starved area like Arizona, triple-washing "most likely becomes the single most important environmental consideration, and … becomes very difficult to defend," added Eshel.24

Ways to Safeguard Your Health When Eating Greens

While you may think washing your lettuce would eliminate the bacteria, the truth is it takes but a few cells of E. coli to make you sick. Despite the fact that rinsing your produce with water — even the brands that claim to be triple washed — may lower your risk of illness, it doesn't eliminate your risk entirely. Washing is no guarantee you will get rid of potential toxins. Beyond that, some experts suggest using commercial fruit and vegetable washes are not much more effective than water alone.25

Although some recommend a light bleach solution, I cannot recommend bleach for household cleaning applications and even less so for food preparation. The best way to ensure the cleanliness of your food and food-preparation area is to apply common sense. Below are a few tips that will guide you in handling produce and other foods safely. Always:

Wash your hands with soap and water before handling food, and most especially after handling raw meat

Use a scrub brush to remove dirt and debris from root vegetables or any fruit or vegetable with a rough skin

Keep babies and children away from your food-preparation area

Rinse all produce, even bagged varieties, well under running water

Remember loose produce is touched and handled by many other people before it is purchased by you; wash it well before eating

When chopping more than one type of food, wash your counter, cutting board and utensils frequently to avoid cross contamination

Use separate cutting boards and utensils for raw meat

Do not prepare food for others when you are sick

Because most of the people affected by the current E. coli outbreak became ill after eating at restaurants that used bagged, prechopped lettuce in their salads,26 you can dramatically reduce your risk of infection simply by avoiding salads when dining out and by eating more meals at home. Beyond that, since raw greens pose the most risk, you may decide to cook more of your greens to reduce your risk of contamination.

Two safe options for consuming greens are steaming or using a pressure cooker — you may want to add some healthy fat to promote maximum absorption. In my opinion, your very best option is to grow your own food. Whether that be in a vegetable garden, in containers or in trays, you won't regret the time and energy you invest in cultivating healthy, homegrown food.

The good news is greens such as lettuce are among the easiest garden vegetables to grow, and they are prolific. By planting new seeds every 10 days, you can receive multiple harvests throughout the growing season. Depending on where you live, you may be able to grow certain greens year-round. If gardening is just not your thing, consider purchasing your greens from a local farmers market instead of the grocery store.

from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/05/07/lettuce-e-coli-outbreak.aspx

[sherristockman]

Why Greens Keep Making People Sick Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola The news across the U.S. with respect to contamination involving bagged and chopped romaine lettuce continues to worsen. After a multistate outbreak dating back to March 13, 2018, involving at least 121 known Escherichia coli (E. coli) infections spanning 25 states, including one death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has isolated the problem lettuce to Yuma, Arizona.1 Because it takes an average of two to three weeks for this type of outbreak-related illness to be reported, even more cases are expected to be made known in the coming weeks. To date, more than 50 people have been hospitalized with a nasty E. coli infection and at least 14 victims have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure, making this quite a serious matter.2 Yuma-grown greens purchased at the grocery store, as well as those served in restaurants, are equally suspect. Sadly, most bagged salad brands do not identify the region where they are grown and processed, making identification difficult. For that reason, until further notice, consumers are advised to avoid consuming all types of romaine lettuce, including hearts and whole heads, in addition to bagged and chopped romaine, as well as any salad mixes containing romaine grown in the Yuma region.3 Rather than guess if your favorite salad greens are safe, the wisest move is to avoid buying or eating any romaine lettuce or mixes containing romaine until the situation improves. If you have any doubt, throw it out! Thankfully, there are many other salad greens and vegetables you can eat safely until this situation resolves. I'd also like to suggest a few tips that will help you enjoy salad greens and other produce safely going forward. Why Are There so Many Health and Safety Issues With Salad Greens? It's no secret U.S. consumers love the convenience of prewashed produce that is sold in bags, clamshells and tubs. Unfortunately, those types of greens are precisely the ones continually implicated in outbreaks associated with foodborne illness. In fact, says The Washington Post, food-safety experts suggest "convenience greens — those handy bags of prechopped and prewashed salads — carry an extra risk because they come in contact with more people and machinery before they arrive on your plate."4 E. coli is quite common — its many strains are found in food and the environment and also live in animal and human intestines. Thankfully, most E. coli infections are tolerable, if not harmless. The types of E. coli known to cause illness are often transmitted through contaminated food and water or through contact with animals or people. For example, in a large 2006 outbreak of E. coli involving spinach, wild pigs and well water were suspected causes.5 The particular strain currently in question with respect to romaine lettuce, however, is not your average E. coli. It is Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157:H7, which is known to be particularly dangerous. In the U.S., the CDC says an estimated 265,000 people suffer from STEC infections annually; the O157:H7 variety is responsible for more than one-third of those illnesses.6 While people of all ages are susceptible, the elderly and young children are most likely to be severely affected by STEC's unpleasant side effects. Generally, symptoms appear one to 10 days after eating the contaminated food item and may include bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting. The age range for the current outbreak, notes the CDC, is from 1 to 88 years, with a median age of 29, again suggesting all populations are vulnerable to this strain of E. coli.7 To date, no one brand, grower or supplier has been tagged as the source of the contaminated lettuce. Do You Know Where Your Salad Greens Are Grown? Due to the industrialization of our food system, Americans eat produce from all over the world, regardless of whether it is in season locally. It's not unusual to go to the supermarket and return with fruits and vegetables grown and harvested in Canada and Mexico, as well as countries in Europe and South America, among others. Although enjoying seasonal produce raised far from home has become the norm, this convenience is not without a cost. According to The New York Times,8 the majority of bagged romaine lettuce provided to grocery stores and restaurants across North America is grown in California's Salinas Valley. There is, however, one exception: In late fall and winter, the industry makes a seasonal move to Yuma. Given the timing of the current E. coli outbreak, authorities believe the infected romaine was very likely grown in Yuma. While more details will be forthcoming, it seems likely the outbreak was caused either by an animal defecating in a field or some form of contaminated water runoff. It's worth noting that concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are a major source of water contamination throughout the U.S. Even the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) states, "Nationwide and in Arizona, the potential for surface and ground water pollution exists through livestock facility discharge of manure-contaminated run off to natural waterways and through wastewater leaching to aquifers."9 While the source of the outbreak has not yet been pinned down, it’s certainly possible that industrialized agriculture has played a role. On a brighter note, because most of the industry's bagged romaine production shifted back to California in April, says The New York Times, the Yuma-grown produce should be out of the food supply shortly.10 "Hopefully with it being in one particular growing region and that region moving to California, it won't be too much longer [before you can begin eating romaine again]," said Laura Gieraltowski, Ph.D., who leads the foodborne outbreak response team within the CDC's outbreak response and prevention branch. "It's a fast-moving outbreak," she said. "We're getting reports of new illnesses daily from our state and local health departments."11 Seven Reasons Why You Should Avoid Packaged Greens Given the health concerns about prepackaged romaine and other processed greens, it may be time to make a change. Below are seven reasons you may want to avoid packaged greens:12 Chemicals Chemicals such as chlorine are routinely used during the rinsing process for precut, prepackaged greens as a means of trying to kill off bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.13 The use of chemical washes, though not safe for anyone, are of particular concern if you are sensitive to chemicals. Researchers at the University of California — Riverside (UCR) found bleach rinses to be somewhat ineffective for cleaning baby spinach, noting while it caused bacteria to detach from the greens, it did not always kill the bacteria, meaning it could still make its way into your kitchen.14,15 Disconnection A continued reliance on prepackaged, convenience greens only further disconnects you from the reality of where your food comes from, the needs of the soil it is grown in and the hard work it takes to grow these crops. While some may view processed greens as a cut above other types of processed food, they are still less than ideal because nature did not intend for us to eat the majority of our food out of shiny packages we purchased from the grocery store. Frogs and feces In 2017, a California woman discovered a small frog in a prepackaged spring mix she had purchased from Target — as she was eating it, begging the question, "Do you know what is in your bagged salad?" After recovering from an episode of vomiting and the shock of nearly ingesting the dime-sized creature, the woman opted to keep it as a family pet.16 Tests performed by Consumer Reports in 2015 on 208 prewashed salad mixes, representing 16 brands, found bacteria suggesting poor sanitation and fecal contamination, in some cases at high levels. They stated:17 "Several industry experts we consulted suggested that for leafy greens, an unacceptable level of total coliforms or enterococcus is 10,000 or more colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) or a comparable estimate. In our tests, 39 percent of samples exceeded that level for total coliforms and 23 percent for enterococcus. Results varied widely among samples, even within the same brand, from undetectable levels of those bacteria to more than 1 million CFU/g." Nutrient loss Most people choose bagged lettuce and other greens for the convenience. The fact they are prewashed and precut perhaps draws some to eat greens who otherwise would not. While washing is meant to clean produce, says CNN Health, it "can also damage plant tissues and expose them to oxygen dissolved in the washing water. This can cause a loss of vitamins that are water-soluble and sensitive to oxygen, such as vitamin C and the B vitamin folate."18 For this reason, uncut produce is usually a better choice. Packaging waste No matter what type of greens you select, when buying fresh greens from the store, you'll always face the issue of packaging waste. Some argue that plastic tubs at least can be recycled. In contrast, the plastic bags housing most premade lettuce mixes, and the plastic produce bags used for loose produce, such as whole heads of lettuce, cannot be recycled. Sean Cash, Ph.D., associate professor and economist at the Friedman School of Nutrition and Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston, says, "The processing and packaging of bagged salad would still outweigh the cost of making the plastic bags that a consumer might use at the store."19 As such, there is less packaging waste when you buy whole produce. Triple washing ineffective Even when the package suggests your greens have been triple-washed, you can never know for sure what may be lurking on them. Even after all that washing, germs can linger in the nooks and crannies of certain produce. Such was the case with respect to the UCR baby spinach study, where researchers observed "upward of 90 percent of adhered bacteria were observed to remain attached to and survive on the leaf surface."20 Nichola Kinsinger, Ph.D, researcher with the UCR department of chemical and environmental engineering, who was one of the study authors, said:21 "In a sense, the leaf is protecting the bacteria and allowing it to spread. It was surprising to discover how the leaf surface formed microenvironments that reduced the bleach concentration. [I]n this case, the very disinfection processes intended to clean, remove and prevent contamination were found to be the potential pathway to amplifying foodborne outbreaks." Water use As reported by Mother Jones, many produce companies have been triple washing their packaged greens since the 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak killed three and sickened 205.22 Gidon Eshel, Ph.D., research professor of environmental science and physics at New York's Bard College, said, "What I know is that the bagged, triple-washed variety is enormously water costly. I visited such an operation and saw for myself … the washing was just staggering."23 Given that the greens involved in the latest E. coli outbreak are grown in a water-starved area like Arizona, triple-washing "most likely becomes the single most important environmental consideration, and … becomes very difficult to defend," added Eshel.24 Ways to Safeguard Your Health When Eating Greens While you may think washing your lettuce would eliminate the bacteria, the truth is it takes but a few cells of E. coli to make you sick. Despite the fact that rinsing your produce with water — even the brands that claim to be triple washed — may lower your risk of illness, it doesn't eliminate your risk entirely. Washing is no guarantee you will get rid of potential toxins. Beyond that, some experts suggest using commercial fruit and vegetable washes are not much more effective than water alone.25 Although some recommend a light bleach solution, I cannot recommend bleach for household cleaning applications and even less so for food preparation. The best way to ensure the cleanliness of your food and food-preparation area is to apply common sense. Below are a few tips that will guide you in handling produce and other foods safely. Always: Wash your hands with soap and water before handling food, and most especially after handling raw meat Use a scrub brush to remove dirt and debris from root vegetables or any fruit or vegetable with a rough skin Keep babies and children away from your food-preparation area Rinse all produce, even bagged varieties, well under running water Remember loose produce is touched and handled by many other people before it is purchased by you; wash it well before eating When chopping more than one type of food, wash your counter, cutting board and utensils frequently to avoid cross contamination Use separate cutting boards and utensils for raw meat Do not prepare food for others when you are sick Because most of the people affected by the current E. coli outbreak became ill after eating at restaurants that used bagged, prechopped lettuce in their salads,26 you can dramatically reduce your risk of infection simply by avoiding salads when dining out and by eating more meals at home. Beyond that, since raw greens pose the most risk, you may decide to cook more of your greens to reduce your risk of contamination. Two safe options for consuming greens are steaming or using a pressure cooker — you may want to add some healthy fat to promote maximum absorption. In my opinion, your very best option is to grow your own food. Whether that be in a vegetable garden, in containers or in trays, you won't regret the time and energy you invest in cultivating healthy, homegrown food. The good news is greens such as lettuce are among the easiest garden vegetables to grow, and they are prolific. By planting new seeds every 10 days, you can receive multiple harvests throughout the growing season. Depending on where you live, you may be able to grow certain greens year-round. If gardening is just not your thing, consider purchasing your greens from a local farmers market instead of the grocery store.

[acahill2-blog]

Trauma and Creativity

Asher Lev dealt with some trauma in his mother being sick at the beginning of the story and, more pronounced, his inner struggles to remain a pious Jew despite his seemingly uncontrollable and threatening gift. The biggest conflicts seemed to be in his relationships with others - his father, his teachers, other kids - and the turmoil in those relationships was almost always a direct consequence of his own actions. For example, his father and teachers couldn’t understand Asher’s lack of effort in school or his need to paint and draw so obsessively. His mother was also greatly effected by the role Asher put her in as a mediator constantly torn between siding with Asher and Aryeh. In essence, while you could argue that Asher had no control over his need to create, he was still in many ways the source of the tumultuous and traumatic relationships in his life - he had the power, theoretically, to reduce these tensions.

Claude, on the other hand, faced trauma that was completely out of his control. He was a victim of trauma of neglect, which was not a consequence of his actions. In the beginning of the book, Claude’s mother, Emma, seemed to suffer from alcoholism and was not a particularly involved or interested mother. She essentially left Claude to fend for himself from a very early age while she was at work driving her taxi or at home drinking. In his early years, Claude seemed to fear her and her volatile behavior, and she made him feel unwanted and invisible. Later on, when Claude was in middle school and high school, his connection with Emma seemed to improve slightly, until she, after some sketchy work with potential criminals (which I still do not fully understand), was sent into a period of declining mental health. At one point, Claude saw her protesting in the street and tried to talk to her, but she was so consumed in shouting her message that she didn’t even recognize him (pp.117):

She was wet, her hair plastered down and water running over her face. She held out a limp leaflet to Claude. “It’s all here. Take it.”

Claude moved forward. “It’s me.”

She looked at him, but she didn’t see him... “Unless the people act to stop - ”

“It’s me!” he shouted. “It’s me!”

Other traumas suffered by Claude that were also out of his control were poverty and a lack of a father, though you could argue that Mr. Weisfield became much like a father figure to Claude. However, apart Emma’s story about Claude’s father having died in war (which I don’t think Claude really believed), his lack of a father likely contributed to traumatic feelings of abandonment and low worth. While his piano mastery later afforded him great opportunities and connections, including private school, high-society friends and prestigious concert appearances, his childhood trauma would never leave him. This lingering, sometimes repressed feelings seemed to be both a curse and a blessing for Claude in terms of his creativity.

Claude had buried (but not, of course, completely extinguished) the memories of his early childhood - the vague nausea, the loneliness, weakness, and vulnerability. Fear of those old ghosts drove him, without his knowing it, into dependency on ritual, and into a highly compartmentalized way of life. If there was anything remotely like a center to his existence, it was Weisfield and the studio below the store, but his mother was separate... (pp. 170). 

Claude’s rigid lifestyle, exemplified by his strict adherence to schedule and to rules, was a coping mechanism and escape in reaction to his unpredictable childhood in which he had no control. Even in college, he adhered to this lifestyle, getting up at 5:00 A.M. to practice the piano. He protected this regime intensely, not allowing anyone to interfere or distract him. In this protectiveness, Claude and Asher find common ground. Their different types of trauma and reactions to trauma, however, show stark contrasts. The trauma in Asher’s life seemed to be a result of his creativity while for Claude, it was the other way around. For both, somewhere deep down they needed to work on their craft, but for reasons vastly different. 

Interlude: Resilience

In Sawyer’s chapter called “The Creative Personality”, he discusses the effects of several specific traumas on a creative person’s development. What stood out in thinking about Claude is what Sawyer calls the orphan effect, or the phenomenon of a disproportionately high amount (between 1/3 and 1/2) of eminent creators who lost a parent before the age of 21. As an aside, I would hypothesize that this proportion is even higher in athletes. LeBron James comes to mind as an extremely high achieving person with that never-satisfied mentality who was also raised by a single mother in poverty. Sawyer offers two hypotheses for the orphan effect, the first being that children become high achievers to emotionally compensate for a parent’s absence. The second hypothesis, which I personally put more stock into, centers on a psychology buzzword going around a lot today - resilience. Sawyer suggests that “... loss of the parent forces the child to develop a resilient personality simply to overcome the obstacles that face a life with only one parent” (pp. 69). I think that in Claude’s case, this is right on the money. Claude was forced to be a resilient person from such an early age that when the task came to learn something new on his own like the piano, to figure out a way to fish for coins in sewers to make money for lunch, and getting up at the crack of dawn to commute to his lessons, he had the tools to handle it. The most successful people are the most resilient, and Sawyer even goes as far as stating, “If a person grows up in a happy, financially stable family, he or she may just have it too good in childhood to be driven to greatness” (pp. 69). I’m not a parent, but this does make me question in almost a perverse feeling way if there is a certain amount of difficulty that you should allow, or force (?) your child to go through - the epitome of “tough love”. In class, we talked about hover parents and how, despite the best of intentions, they may be hurting their children in more than obvious ways.

 In viewing this trauma-creativity relationship, I find it useful to think about Maslow’s Hierarchy because, as you said in class, people are usually only able to be creatively productive after a certain trauma - not so much during. This makes sense if you think about creative processes as an “extra” that cannot exist until basic needs, like safety, are met. It seems natural that this trauma/resolution/creativity timeline is different for everyone according to their personal levels of resilience, but that it is somewhat universal for people who see resolution of their trauma. Claude, to an extent, actually exemplifies this in his latching on to the piano when he was a little bit older, more accustomed to his mother’s behavior, less fearful of her and more independent and accepting of his situation. When he was really young, as described in the opening scene of the book, I think he was too inundated with feelings of confusion, loneliness and weakness to pursue a creative activity.

[lindseydianataylor-blog1]

Working With Animals

Print article Report Add New Remark Working With Animals - Need to help? Log in or Create Account to submit a comment. Safety Code: Change Picture Related searches: Working With Animals - Want to assist? Related Articles Working With Animals - Need to assist? Can Animals Help With Depression? Writer: Dr. Jennifer Baxt, DMFT With different individuals looking for their own technique to deal with some light depression they could experience from time to time, a couple of have give you some interesting ways in which they believe will brighten their temper. For some, music can help soothe the soul. Music is what many will flip to because it not only helps them to calm down and leave their worries behind for a while, it can assist them feel refreshed after they have listened to some good tunes. Publisher: nevsaynes Animal portrait painting is, not unlike human portraiture except that animals not often prefer to pose.Animal portrait painting is simply the same as human portraiture with the exception that animals hate to pose. Wow, that adjustments things doesn't it? I imply, the rascally rodent probably zapped his naughty arse to kingdom come but if your own home burns down due to it, it won't be so humorous then! Not to mention the gnawing of your structural beams and pillars can over time, pose an inexpensive risk to the integrity of your constructing as properly. Another annoying trick these animals have up their sleeves is staining your ceiling tiles with their excrement. Being that they're in essence dwelling right on the opposite side of your ceiling, any waste matter, liquid or in any other case, will observe the course of gravity. This typically leads to an extremely repugnant stain on the underside of your ceiling. Varied diseases these animals are recognized to carry pose one other important risk. Rabies, mange, and salmonella are just some of the nasty diseases these animals carry. Don't get within biting range of those animals with out safety, and if in doubt as to how one can handle these creatures, get professional help!

Some gardens include numerous plants which are toxic to most livestock (e.g. Care ought to be taken when fencing off gardens that such plants do not overhang into alpaca areas. Likewise, there's an extended historical past of calamities with other livestock that have inadvertently been fed prunings from such plants. Local nurseries can present good advice on poisonous plants. Though some folks think alpacas don't drink large amounts, they do have to have ready access to good quality, fresh drinking water. How typically do you shear alpacas? Alpacas are shorn as soon as a yr, usually in spring. Shearing is the most important upkeep required and normally takes around 5 to ten minutes per animal for an skilled alpaca shearer. If you're buying your first alpacas, ask the distributors for the title of a advisable shearer, or ask if you can deliver the alpacas again to the property on their shearing day. Depending on the density of the fleece, alpacas lower anyplace between 1 1/2 and four kg of fleece.

I knew the highest of the sphere was getting wet and slippery however I thought if I took a good run at it I might make it by means of the open gateway and up the very steep incline to the highest. Alas the summit was never reached. I estimate that I got about three quarters of the way up and then momentarily I became stationary, time seemed to freeze after which we began sliding with increasing velocity and lessening control backwards down the hill. How we acquired again by that gateway I will never know. A two and a half ton Land Rover, a half ton man and a ten foot livestock trailer fishtailing uncontrollably backwards down a steep hill, boy that was some adrenalin rush. The bottom of the hill came and i could see a fence rapidly approaching in both wing mirrors. There was nothing else for it than to voluntarily enter right into a jackknife situation. The research done on the pigs is part of an ongoing venture to understand quality of life for animals on a farm with the intent of enhancing animal welfare and animal lives normally. It goes with out saying that any pig stuffed animal you might have in your possession ought to only ever be treated with the utmost love and care. In spite of everything, that pig stuffed animal is probably going your most treasured companion and confidante and as is the case, is considered no less than a member of the household. Angeline Hope is a collector of huge stuffed animal toys. Log in or Create Account to submit a comment. Writer: Denise Foster It's a actuality that stuffed animals are an excellent various for presents. These stuffed animals are even able to cheering up your kid's temper. Stuffed animals are available in numerous sizes. The stuffed toys will act as a terribly good pal to your youngster. Publisher: Angeline Hope It's no shock that a plush pig toy is a favorite stuffed animal of kids, particularly after they're young.

As roosters usually are not necessary in egg production and often trigger a disturbance to the neighbours, most councils seem to ban roosters from the yard flock. If you reside in a more rural space together with your neighbours an extra distance than within the suburbs, a rooster could also be allowed if it is unlikely to cause a disturbance. In this instance, I might counsel that you just call your native council or have a look at their website to see if roosters are permitted. Some enable roosters as long as the neighbours do not complain in regards to the crowing. Many Councils also have specific rules about how close a chicken shed could be out of your neighbours fence. This really only applies for those who plan to build a hard and fast hen coop, in contrast with the more and more common mobile hen coops. These restrictions are actually in place to stop poorly maintained rooster coops becoming a problem with the odour wafting over to the neighbours. I had been up early cooking sausages in order that Gus and that i might breakfast in fashion relatively than pay £4 for a crap bacon butty. The sausages were put in a thermos flask, we had buns, ketchup, sizzling espresso for me and scorching chocolate for Gus. We arrived and unloaded after which had to move the automobile and trailer to a discipline designated for trade parking. We trudged back speaking concerning the implausible sausage butties we were going to devour washed down with our own dwelling made hot beverage of choice. We arrived again on the alpaca marquee salivating and in one in all our customary starvation frenzies. Angus sat down and eagerly awaited the promised feast. It was then that I realised that we had left all the meals in the boot of the automobile! With the judges briefing quick approaching we didn't have time to go back and get it.

From the earliest script stages, all subject area content, pictures, and music are intensely reviewed and selected for meeting acceptable grade degree, curriculum targets and requirements for our proprietary productions. The videos we distribute are also screened to meet our excessive requirements. Log in or Create Account to put up a remark. Publisher: Alli Lawrence There may be little question that technology has made its method into the classroom. New types of training technology have changed the way in which that students be taught and work together with one another within the classroom. The roles of teachers and administers have also benefited from schooling expertise. The next record details a number of tools that faculty directors might want to make sure are in their classrooms. Publisher: Gareth Hoyle It's a truth of life that almost each college at some time or different can be wanting space. Whether or not or not it's as a result of reorganisation of courses or as a consequence of building works on site, there's little question that at varied occasions, schools will discover themselves without the required educating area to ensure that their students learn properly. Confinement in holding locations needs to be minimal as you would be obliged to hunt steerage from a certifying agency regarding the time allotment for confining natural hen. Any sort of medication and antibiotics is unquestionably not allowed. Nevertheless, if the hen does get sick, you are required to have it treated with medication. You just don't need to promote it as an organic chicken anymore as a consequence. On the lookout for more tips about beginning a hen farm? Discover the whole lot you might want to know and the way easy it's to boost your own hen. Separate your self from the standard chicken owners and avoid expensive errors. Log in or Create Account to put up a comment. Publisher: Tom S Williams Making a rooster tractor is quite a bit easier when you might have a great set of rooster tractor designs for steerage. Most individuals out of sheer desperation find yourself purchasing prepared-made hen tractor which value anyplace between 500 to a thousand dollars and which require them to be assembled anyways.