#Steward Health

[mostlysignssomeportents]

When private equity destroys your hospital

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW in PHOENIX (Changing Hands, Feb 29) then Tucson (Mar 9-10), San Francisco (Mar 13), and more!

As someone who writes a lot of fiction about corporate crime, I naturally end up spending a lot of time being angry about corporate crime. It's pretty goddamned enraging. But the fiction writer in me is especially upset at how cartoonishly evil the perps are – routinely doing things that I couldn't ever get away with putting in a novel.

Beyond a doubt, the most cartoonishly evil characters are the private equity looters. And the most cartoonishly evil private equity looters are the ones who get involved in health care.

(Buckle up.)

Writing for The American Prospect, Maureen Tcacik details a national scandal: the collapse of PE-backed hospital chain Steward Health, a company that bought and looted hospitals up and down the country, starving them of everything from heart valves to prescription paper, ripping off suppliers, doctors and nurses, and callously exposing patients to deadly risk:

https://prospect.org/health/2024-02-27-scenes-from-bat-cave-steward-health-florida/

Steward occupies a very special place in the private equity looting cycle. Private equity companies arrange themselves on a continuum of indiscriminate depravity. At the start of the continuum are PE funds that buy productive and useful firms (everything from hospitals to car-washes) using "leveraged buyouts." That means that they borrow money to buy the company and use the company itself as collateral: it's like you getting a bank-loan to buy your neighbor's mortgage out from under them, and using your neighbor's house as collateral for that loan.

Once the buyout is done, the PE fund pays itself a "special dividend" (stealing money the business needs to survive) and then starts charging the business a "management fee" for the PE fund's expertise. To pay for all this, the PE bosses start to hack away at the company. Quality declines. So do wages. Prices go up. The company changes suppliers, opting for cheaper alternatives, often stiffing the old company. There are mass layoffs. The remaining employees end up doing three peoples' jobs, for lower wages, with fewer materials of lower quality.

Eventually, that top-feeding PE company finds a more desperate, more ham-fisted PE company to unload the business onto. That middle-feeding company also does a leveraged buyout, pays itself another special dividend, cuts wages, staffing and quality even further. They switch to even worse suppliers and stiff the last batch. Prices go up even higher.

Then – you guessed it – the middle-feeding PE company finds an even more awful PE bottom-feeder to unload the company onto. That bottom feeder does it all again, without even pretending to leave the business in condition to do its job. The company is a shambling zombie at this point, often producing literal garbage in place of the products that made its reputation. Employees' paychecks bounce, or don't show up at all. The company stops bothering to pay the lawyers that have been fending off its creditors. Those lawyers sue the company, too.

That's the kind of PE company Steward Health was, and, as the name suggests, Steward Health is in the business of stripping away the very last residue of value from community hospitals. As you might imagine, this gets pretty fucking ugly.

Steward owns 32 hospitals up and down the country, though its holdings are dwindling as the company walks away from its debt-burdened holdings, after years of neglect that have rendered them unfit for use as health facilities – or for any other purpose. Tcacik's piece offers a snapshot of one such hospital: Florida's Rockledge Regional Medical Center, just eight miles from Cape Canaveral.

Rockledge is a disaster. The fifth floor was, at one point, home to 5,000 bats.

Five.

Thousand.

Bats.

(Rockledge stiffed the exterminators.)

The bats were just the beginning. One of the internal sewage pipes ruptured. Whole sections of the hospital were literally full of shit, oozing out of the walls and ceiling, slopping over medical equipment.

That's an urgent situation for any hospital, but for Rockledge, it's catastrophic, because Rockledge is a hospital without any hospital supplies. Steward has stiffed the companies that supply "heart valves, urology lasers, Impella catheters, cardiac catheterization balloons, slings for lifting heavier patients, blood and urine test reagents, and most recently, prescription paper." Key medical equipment has been repossessed. So have the Pepsi machines. The hospital cafeteria had its supply of cold cuts repossessed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/massachusetts/comments/1agc1j4/comment/kolicqo/

It's not just Steward's nonpayments that reek of impending doom. Its payments also bear the hallmarks of a scam artist on the brink of blowing off the con. The company recently paid off a vendor with five separate checks for $1m, each drawn on "a random hospital in Utah" (Steward recently walked away from its Utah hospitals; its partners there are suing it for stealing $18m on their way out the door).

This company – which owns 32 hospitals! – has resorted to gambits like sending photos of fake checks to doctors it hasn't paid in months as "proof" that the money was coming (the checks arrived 22 days later).

Steward owes so much money to its employees – $1.66m to just one doctors' group. But the medical staff keep doing their jobs, and are reluctant to speak on the record, thanks to Steward's reputation for vicious retaliation. Those health workers keep showing up to take care of patients, even as the hospital crumbles around them. One clinician told Tcacik: "I watched a bed collapse underneath a [patient] who had just undergone hip surgery."

Rockledge has nine elevators, but only five of them work – the other four have been broken for a year. The hospital's fourth floor has been converted to "a graveyard of broken beds." The sinks are clogged, or filled with foul gunk. There's black mold. Nurses have noted on the maintenance tags that the repair service refuses to attend the hospital until their overdue bills are paid. The fifteen-person on-site maintenance team was cut to just two workers.

Steward is just the latest looting owner of Rockledge. After the Great Financial Crisis, private equity consultants helped sell it to Health Management Associates. The hospital's CEO took home a $10m bonus for that sale and exited; Health Management Associates then quickly became embroiled in a Medicare fraud and kickback scandal. Soon after, Rockledge was passed on to Community Health Systems, who then sold it on to Rockledge.

Steward, meanwhile, was at that time owned by an even bigger private equity giant, Cerberus, which then sold Steward off. That deal was performatively complex and hid all kinds of mischief. Prior to Cerberus's sell-off of Steward, they sold off Steward's real-estate. The buyer was Medical Properties Trust, who gave Cerberus $1.25b for the real-estate: three hospitals in Florida and three more in Ohio. Steward then contracted to operate these hospitals on MPT's behalf, and pay MPT rent for the real-estate.

This complex arrangement was key to siphoning value out of the hospital and to keeping angry creditors at bay – if you can't figure out who owes you money, it's a lot harder to collect on the debt. The scheme was masterminded by Steward founder/CEO Ralph de la Torre. De la Torre is notorious for taking a massive dividend out of the company while it owed $1.4b to its creditors. He bought a $40m yacht with the money.

De la Torre was once feted as a business genius who would "disrupt" healthcare. But as Steward's private jet hops around "Corfu, Santorini, St. Maarten and Antigua" as its hospitals literally crumble, he's becoming less popular. In Massachusetts, politicians have railed against Steward and de la Torre (Governor Healey wants the company to leave the state "as soon as possible").

Florida, by contrast, is much more friendly to Steward. The state Health and Human Services Committee chair Randy Fine is an ardent admirer of hospital privatization and is currently campaigning to sell off the last community hospital in Brevard County. The state inspectors are likewise remarkably tolerant of Steward's little peccadillos. The quasi-governmental agency that inspects hospitals has awarded this shit-and-bat-filled, elevator-free, understaffed rotting hulk "A" grades for quality.

These inspectors jointly represent a mismatched assortment of private and public agencies, dominated by a nonprofit called Leapfrog, the brainchild of Harvard public-health prof Lucian Leape, who founded it in 2000. Leapfrog likes to tout its "transparent" assessment criteria, and Steward are experts at hitting those criteria, spending the exact minimum to tick every box that Leapfrog inspectors use as proxies for overall quality and safety.

This is a pretty great example of Goodhart's Law: "every measurement eventually becomes a target, whereupon it ceases to be a good measurement":

https://xkcd.com/2899/

But despite Steward's increasingly furious creditors and its decaying facilities, the company remains bullish on its ability to continue operations. Medical Properties Trust – the real estate investment trust that is nominally a separate company from Steward – recently hosted a conference call to reassure Wall Street investors that it would be a going concern. When a Bank of America analyst asked MPT's CFO how this could possibly be, given the facility's dire condition and Steward's degraded state, the CFO blithely assured him that the company would get bailouts: "We own hospitals no one wants to see closed."

That's the thing about PE and health-care. The looters who buy out every health-care facility in a region understand that this makes them too big to fail: no matter how dangerous the companies they drain become, local governments will continue to prop them up. Look at dialysis, a market that's been cornered by private equity rollups. Today, if you need this lifesaving therapy, there's a good chance that every accessible facility is owned by a private equity fund that has fired all its qualified staff and ceased sterilizing its needles. Otherwise healthy people who visit these clinics sometimes die due to operator error. But they chug along, because no dialysis clinics is worse that "dialysis clinics where unqualified sadists sometimes kill you with dirty needles":

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/the-dirty-business-of-clean-blood

The bad news is that private equity has thoroughly colonized the entire medical system. They took hospitals, fired the doctors, then took over the doctors' groups that provided outsource staff to the hospital:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/04/a-mind-forever-voyaging/#prop-bets

It's illegal for private equity companies to own doctors' practices (doctors have to own these), but they obfuscated the crime with a paper-thin pretext that they got away with despite its obvious bullshittery:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/21/profitable-butchers/#looted

The financier who decides whether you live or die depends on an algorithm that literally sets a tolerable level of preventable deaths for the patients trapped in the practice:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/05/any-metric-becomes-a-target/#hca

Private equity also took over emergency rooms and boobytrapped them with "surprise billing" – junk fees that ran to thousands of dollars that you had to pay even if the hospital was in network with your insurer. They made billions from this, and spent a many millions from that booty keeping the scam alive with scare ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/21/all-in-it-together/#doctor-patient-unity

The whole health stack is colonized by private equity-backed monopolies. Even your hospital bed!

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/05/hillrom/#baxter-international

Then there's residential care. Private equity cornered many regional markets on nursing homes and turned them into slaughterhouses, places where you go to die, not live:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/23/acceptable-losses/#disposable-olds

The palliative care sector is also captured by private equity. PE bosses hire vast teams of fast-talking salespeople who con vulnerable older people into entering an end-of-life system before they are ready to die. Thanks to loose regulation, the nation is filled with fake hospices that can rake in millions from Medicare while denying all care to their patients (hospice patients don't get life-extending medication or procedures, by definition):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

If you survive this long enough, Medicare eventually tells the hospice that you're clearly not dying and you get kicked off their rolls. Now you have to go through the lengthy bureaucratic nightmare of convincing the system – which was previously informed that you were at death's door – that you are actually viable and need to start getting care again (good luck with that).

If that kills you, guess what? Private equity has rolled up funeral homes up and down the country, and they will scam your survivors just as hard as the medical system that killed you did:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/09/high-cost-of-dying/#memento-mori

The PE sector spent more than a trillion dollars over the past decade buying up healthcare companies, and it has trillions more in "dry powder" allocated for further medical acquisitions. Why not? As the CFO of Medical Properties Trust told that Bank of America analyst last week, when you "own hospitals no one wants to see closed." you literally can't fail, no matter how many people you murder.

The PE sector is a reminder that the crimes people commit for money far outstrip the crimes they commit for ideology. Even the most ideological killers are horrified by the murders their profit-motivated colleagues commit.

Last year, Tkacic wrote about the history of IG Farben, the German company that built Monowitz, a private slave-labor camp up the road from Auschwitz to make the materiel it was gouging Hitler's Wehrmacht on:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/02/plunderers/#farben

Farben bought the cheapest possible slaves from Auschwitz, preferentially sourcing women and children. These slaves were worked to death at a rate that put Auschwitz's wholesale murder in the shade. Farben's slaves died an average of just three months after starting work at Monowitz. The situation was so abominable, so unconscionable, that the SS officers who provided outsource guard-labor to Monowitz actually wrote to Berlin to complain about the cruelty.

The Nuremberg trials are famous for the Nazi officers who insisted that they were "just following order" but were nonetheless executed for their crimes. 24 Farben executives were also tried at Nuremberg, where they offered a very different defense: "We had a fiduciary duty to our shareholders to maximize our profits." 19 of the 24 were acquitted on that basis.

PE is committed to an ideology that is far worse than any form of racial animus or other bias. As a sector, it is committed to profit above all other values. As a result, its brutality knows no bounds, no decency, no compassion. Even the worst crimes we commit for hate are nothing compared to the crimes we commit for greed.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/28/5000-bats/retaliation#charnel-house

#pluralistic #Rockledge Regional Medical Center #private equity #looting #Steward Health #ponzis #maureen tcacik #Medical Properties Trust #Ralph de la Torre #Massachusetts #florida #Cerberus #too big to fail #pe #guillotine watch

[eternalstrigoii]

I hope you all are ready for more writing.

#the tl;dr is Mental Health Crises Mediated By Quitting Most Social Media And Becoming A Land Steward #the slightly longer version is that I am /regularly/ regaining periods of full sentience so....let's try this again. once more with feeling. #Let me live half my shit before I write it I suppose. But we're not Herman Melville. No farming facts unless u want em

[mishraff14]

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[pwrn51]

How important forgiveness is for our own peace

How important forgiveness is for our own peace

    Betsy welcomes back Adam C. Hall, who was interviewed back in March. Adam C. Hall is CEO of Genius Studio, Founder of Earth Stewards/United  Earth Keeper Alliance, and Author of “DIVINE GENIUS”, The Unlearning  Curve. Adam is a Serial Entrepreneur, Speaker, Futurist, Social Architect, Impact  Investor, Advisor, and Conservationist. Adam discusses what motivated him to write this book, how we…

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#kickalzheimersassmovement #Adam Hall #Betsy Wurzel #Earth #Earth Day #Earth Guardians #Earth Stewards #Entrepneurner #Global #Global Peace Week 2022 #manifest #meditation #Mental Health #Students #United Earth Keeper Alliance #Valencia College

[zoroshark]

This is my zonai oc, Tohma! She was once an oracle of Rauru and Sonia before the events of TOTK. She went mad after seeing the fate of the kingdom through her visions multiple times with no sign of change. She eventually ran away after a misunderstanding between her and the royal court, becoming a hermit in the process.

More information about her is down below! Warning for spoilers for TOTK. It's also a lengthy read.

Gender: Female

Age: 27 (in hylian years)

Height: 7'0"

Personality: Humble, Nervous, Confident (to an extent), Jumpy, Easygoing, Mischievous 

Secret stone: Stone of Future Sight (Symbol based on the kanji meaning "see")

General info: Running away from a broken home, Tohma grew up in the wilderness of Hyrule (before it became established as Hyrule). Tohma was born with the ability to see into the future. At a young age, she saw misty visions of zonai falling one by one, along with other small instances that made her jittery. Despite of that, she did her best to keep her head up high, even if things looked grim.

As an adult, she believed she was the last of her kind and wandered around different locations to make what she could with her life. Eventually, she was found by Rauru and Sonia and the two took her to their castle. She joined their royal court as their oracle. Along with becoming an oracle, she was given a stone of her own, and it helped amplify her visions.

However, when Tohma looked into the future with the stone in hand, she saw the fall of the kingdom. Terrified, she immediately notified the couple of the kingdom's fall and started to look into other futures/solutions to deter the outcome. She became obsessed with changing the future, to the point her mental health took a heavy toll and she became a hazard to everyone. At one point, an intervention for Tohma was to be held, but she ran away before it ever happened. In her paranoid state, she took this as a sign they were going to lock her away. She became a hermit in her final years, waiting and praying that her visions never come true (sadly, they did).

Abilities

Future Vision:

Her visions were almost a guarantee. There was always a slim chance of the outcome being different, which tend to give Tohma some hope for a different outcome.

Thanks to the stone, she could see years into the future and get a better general estimate in when they will happen

She uses her visions in combat, making it easier to dodge/plan attacks. However, due to these being a quick insight, they are not as accurate as putting her full focus into a vision. It was used to have a general feel and idea of what may happen/what is to come during a fight.

Her third eye opens whenever she looks into the future.

Puppetry:

Along with her future vision, Tohma also had a puppetry ability. She was more attuned to her visions than her puppetry, hence not being affected by her stone. Her puppetry was zonai magic based.

With her puppetry ability, she was able to pull and throw small objects towards her or anyone and control constructs. Because this ability wasn't amplified, the ability required full body involvement when used on a construct (when she moves, the construct in her control copies her exact movement. Ex: if she points with her right hand, the construct's right hand does the same)

This ability can also work on disembodies zonai parts and can act as extra set of limbs

Her hands would glow a bright teal color (like Rauru's) whenever this ability was in use. Small zonai runes would appear next to the object being controlled. these runes would look like strings and would fade out as they went towards Tohma (on a construct, each body part would have a "string")

Notes:

She ran away with her stone. At some point, she avoided using it and seeing into the future as much as possible, seeing her future sight as a curse.

Tohma puppetry ability was found out by Mineru when looking out a window and seeing/hearing a steward construct in distress from Tohma controlling it. From there, Mineru would make a battle construct for Tohma to use her ability on. (design is a WIP for now)

Before her puppetry ability was found out, she would secretly mess with the constructs, dancing with them

Despite being an the royal court's Oracle, Tohma had experience in combat. It was mainly used for self defense or when needed. Her weapons of choice would be her fists, legs, and zonai spear. She would also use her construct in combat.

Her confidence is mainly a façade to keep herself from spiraling into anxiety/from losing hope. Basically a "fake it till you make it" type of deal.

She eventually dies from a broken heart, becoming a spirit who constantly weeps and morns for the kingdom.

An alternative ending for her is after the Imprisoning War, she falls into a chasm and swallows her stone, not wanting to live with the memories and visions that haunt her. She becomes a dragon that roams solely in the depths below.

As a hermit, her voice becomes raspy from constantly crying and screaming.

She tends to shoo off any unwanted visitors as a hermit but should one attempt to stay, she would let them

In her loneliness, she would control a broken construct and have "conversations" with it

#my art #artists on tumblr #tloz #tears of the kingdom #legend of zelda #totk #tloz totk #loz #zonai #zonai oc #tohma #my ocs #oc ref #I'll draw the construct she controls and her what if dragon form at one point #I love my sad zonai gal ;-; #totk spoilers #just in case #stuff may change but this what i got

[peaches2217]

Toadsworth was originally steward to the Mushroom Queen, the current regent’s late mother. They were very close friends, often spending hours in deep conversation, always at one another’s sides (to the point that whispers of an illicit affair between the two weren’t entirely uncommon, though certainly untrue — he loved her just as dearly as the King did, yes, but in a completely different manner). When she became pregnant with the King’s child, she cheerfully asked Toadsworth if he would like to be its godfather. He accepted.

The title was meant to be more a nicety than anything, a declaration of the Queen’s love for her friend and desire for him to remain a part of her family. Neither anticipated he would have to take on said title’s responsibilities.

But the Queen fell into poor health, and in spite of every medical intervention known to man and Toad alike, it became clear as the months went by that she wouldn’t live to raise her child. Mercifully, she gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl, and then three weeks later she passed peacefully in her bed, her husband and her steward both by her side.

The King fell into grief so immense that it swallowed him whole, and he shut out the world and numbly threw himself into his duties as monarch to cope. And though he too grieved for his dearest friend, Toadsworth had every intention of honoring her wishes: he took in his godchild — Peach, the Queen had named her, because she looked a great deal like the fruit when she was born, plump and swaddled in pink — and he raised her in her parents’ place.

Three years after he lost the love of his life, pneumonia or something similar befell the King, and he put up no fight against it, dying no more familiar with his wife’s child than he had been the day she was born. But in raising Peach, Toadsworth found the healing his King had shunned; he processed his grief between late-night feedings and tired lullabies sung in scratchy voices, and soon the love he felt for her as the last living reminder of his best friend became far more: the love a father feels for his own.

To this day, Peach doesn’t know that Toadsworth is her godfather. He never told anyone, least of all her; when she asks for stories of the woman she never knew, he’ll happily tell her all except for that little tidbit. He’s merely her humble steward, serving her as he served her mother. But he’ll always consider himself her father in secret… and Peach, in turn, is all too happy to consider herself his daughter.

#peaches has opinions #peaches' fancy fics #sorta #It ties into my fics! #super mario bros #smb #princess peach #toadsworth #where did this even come from… #peaches’ illustrious lore

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Conservationists say they have high hopes a proposed shift in B.C. policy could result in revolutionary change for forest protection. The province is currently conducting consultations on its draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, which it describes as “a new and strategic direction for a more holistic approach” to stewarding land and water resources for future generations. The policy builds on a three-way deal between the province, federal government and the Indigenous-led First Nations Leadership Council announced earlier this month to protect 30 per cent of B.C. lands and waters by 2030.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #british columbia #forests #forestry #environmental justice #first nations #environmental conservation

[psych3-delic]

Forks And Smothered (1/4)

Written for this AU I have been thinking about where Sebastian is contracted to Vincent instead of o!Ciel. 

Forks And Smothered Mates are chess terminologies. 

In Fork, the Knight is the best-suited piece for attack because it can attack multiple pieces that are more valuable than itself in a single move. A Smothered Mate is the name for a checkmate that occurs when a king is surrounded by their own pieces.

I’m thinking of dividing it into 4 parts: Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter as Ciel grows up and Sebastian becomes more and more attached to the point of breaking his contract/betraying Vincent for Ciel. The following part is Spring.

Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter

The boy could feel he was being watched. A moment ago, something had strained the air, like a heaved breath held in too full lungs, then abruptly released, leaving a bone-chilling impression. The room suddenly eerily still. Even the incessant ticking of the father clock had gone mute. He could feel eyes on him – dozens, perhaps hundreds of them, just outside the periphery of his vision, perceiving him at once from every angle. Strange. He remembered entering the room alone, and the door hadn’t once creaked open once since Tanaka delivered his afternoon dose of medicine.

Despite his intuition, the ten-year-old turned his head; toward where the nothingness made his skin crawl and tearing himself from the book he had been emerged in on the carpeted floor. 

As if summoned, a gale howled and rushed through an open window, snuffing out candles along the wall. The room plunged into relative darkness. Far darker than it should be this time of afternoon in March. The young boy rubbed his eyes (for the wind had delivered a speck of dust), barely missing the two glowing red dots in the corner.

“Young master,” the abrupt tangibility of a human voice startled the boy. A soundless chuckle was felt more than heard. “You shouldn’t leave your window open like that. You shall have another coughing fit.”

“Ah,” the ten-year-old let out a surprised gasp, followed by a sigh of relief, “Oh, it’s just you, Sebastian.”

Mr. Sebastian was the newest hire of the Phantomhive manor since last December. A Butler, whose arrival had relieved Tanaka of his duty after more than half a century of serving the earldom. It was a good thing, the child thought, for Gramps had obtained a grave injury around that same winter. Tanaka remained on the estate still, but acting as a steward prevented him from having to over-exert himself and worsening his health condition. 

In three short months, Mr. Sebastian had taken over the vacant position with ease. He followed the Earl like a shadow and performed his senior staffer duty with such swift efficiency one would be hard-pressed to dismiss. The manservants admired his extensive knowledge of all subjects imaginable. They respected him. The maids fawned. Yet, not much is known about this newcomer. 

No one knew from whence the man had come. His hometown, his education, and his previous employment… were one question mark after another. All they knew was that last winter, the Earl had sent his wife and their children away to London to celebrate the twin’s birthday with her relative (who, suffering great loss of her unborn child and husband due to a tragic accident, had remained bed-ridden); uncharacteristically failed to show up for the feast; then, upon the mistress and the children’s return from the townhouse, was found accompanied by this ebony-clad butler.

Funny, they used to have a Borzoi named Sebastian. The day Sebastian the Dog disappeared was also the day Sebastian the Butler showed up. 

Gracefully, the butler navigated the litany of toys and plushies littering about and his young master sprawled on the ground to relit the room’s candles. Their warm flickers animated the wallpaper. That done, the man stopped before the window, reaching for its brass handles with pristine gloved hands, intending to close them shut. 

"No wait," the boy called out and got onto his feet to halt the action, but he was seized by a violent coughing episode. 

The butler looked on confused. To him, his young master’s opposition made no logical sense. Then his keen ears caught sounds of childish laughter beyond the window. At once, realization dawned on him. The corner of his mouth couldn’t help but stretch upward. Humans are indeed such pathetic creatures. Still, he shook his head:

"Looking through the glass panels will have to suffice, young master."

His young master recovered from the hacking fit and passed Sebastian to press his nose and palms onto the clear glass. While the sickly child was still busy gazing forlornly at the garden, at his brother and cousins playing outside no doubt, Sebastian made himself at home and plopped down onto the empty chaise in the center, long legs propping on an armrest while his head pillowing on the other, right next to where his young master had been. Now, slouching would not at all befit his aesthetic of an aristocratic servant, however, that bastard of a Master of his had been one hell of a slave driver to serve. For a Marquis of Hell such as himself to stoop to that level was nothing short of egregious. He began to contemplate that he might have misnegotiated the terms of their contract.

Sebastian leisurely reached out; long arm inhumanly elongated even further to fetch the book abandoned on the carpet. Mother Goose it was, the page opening to "Old King Cole". The noise he let out was a cross between a scoff and a snake’s hissing – awfully disgraceful, but no human would be able to hear him at that frequency. Fate was messing with him. The prose was about serving a demanding monarch.

“Old King Cole was a merry old soul, And a merry old soul was he; He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl, And he called for his fiddlers three…”

“Sebastian!”

The Butler turned his burning red orbs onto the voice towering above him. He realized his mistake when the boy jumped half a step back, face ashen. So engrossed in his brooding, and letting his guard down around the sick, frail creature, Sebastian had been taken by surprise when the child approached from such a close distance and turned hellfire eyes on him. With a blink, he returned them back to a demure tea color. 

“Young master, my apologies,” He stood and bowed, turning to make his leave. How annoying. Master Vincent had made it clear that none was to know about the nature of their covenant. The frightened child would no doubt run crying to his father, and the sadistic bastard would find new and creative ways to torment Sebastian. If only…

Sebastian was taken aback by the tug on his tailcoat.

“Wait!” The young master cried; small hands clutched small round fists on the black fabric. He had his eyes squeezed close fearing repercussions, but his grip was surprisingly strong, “Please stay. I’m sorry I startled you.”

“Young master?” This was the second time Sebastian was made to feel confused that afternoon. Long legs frozen in place. His young master continued:

“I promise I hadn’t meant to play a prank on you. Mom said it’s impolite to play pranks. I merely thought you looked upset and… and… I meant to ask after you…”

The latter half of the sentence was stuttered in apprehension, but explained himself he did. The boy peeked at Sebastian finally, still holding fast onto the end of his coat. Dumbfounded by the turn of events, Sebastian just stared. 

“Young master, I had thought I…” scared you, frightened you, terrified you – Sebastian shook his head. Perhaps this sickly child has more boldness and dauntlessness in his bony frame than everyone took him for. Or perhaps, his tiny brain cannot process what he saw. Either way: “I assure you; I do not take offense.”

The frown between his brows relented. Still, the tiny fists refused to let up.

“Really?” The boy tilted his head, his eyes sparkled like fine needles sapphire and round with naivete. Not unlike those earthly felines, Sebastian found. All that was missing was a pair of fluffy ears.

“I tell no lies, young master.” His human mouth curved into an appeasing smile.

“Then…” The boy rocked back onto the ball of his feet, suddenly bashful, like he anticipated rejection, “you will stay?”

Sebastian deliberated. On one hand, he couldn’t care less for the offspring of his master – the weaker of the twins at that; his contract detailed no provision pertaining to the safety nor fulfillment of anyone but his contractor. On the other hand, with the Easter banquet scheduled for the evening, every other room in the estate had been filled either by guests or staff working on preparation. The bustling of the festive party did no favour to his sensitive ears.

“If you insist, my lord,” The butler decided at last. He spun around and got down on one knee, bowing with a palm over where the heart should be in a gesture of mock devotion. Only then was his coattail released. His tiny master appeared mighty pleased, “I shall keep you company. But whatever shall we do, young sir?”

The boy immediately brightened. Unlike his brother, the child was much more socially reserved. It seems his weak constitution contributed to both his not being able to keep up with his peers in physical activities and entertaining guests for any extended amount of time. Such a pathetic, lonely creature. Sebastian could almost taste his soul: too sweet with a tang of bitterness. Perhaps if he could cultivate it, it would make a rather fine snack one day… But alas, he had a bigger fish to fry.

“Are you familiar with chess, Sebastian?” The boy asked.

“Somewhat, sir,” replied the servant humbly, thinking of the various variations of the game he had familiarized across lands and centuries. 

“Then, we shall play chess!”

Pattering on tiny legs, his young master made for the board and pieces already set up on the high coffee table. Sebastian followed. He pulled out a chair for his charge, then promptly took the other seat across the boy.

“Very well, young master. But what is a game without consequence? I propose a bet.”

“Uhm… What’s a bet?”

“T’is but a stake to make our game more fascinating. Hmm, let's see… say if you win, I’ll let you have a whole chocolate gateau to yourself tonight?”

As expected, the boy’s eyes lit up at the mention of sweets. Like a hungry cat indeed at a mere hint of food.

“What do you get if you win?”

Sebastian put a slender finger to his chin feigning deep contemplation:

“Oh dear, I must ask you to keep whatever happens in this room today a secret. It wouldn’t do to give His Right Honorable the impression that his new employ is slacking off now, wouldn’t it? I shall be out of a job in no time!”

The boy in front of him giggled:

“Very well, Sebastian! However…” When he once more glanced at his butler, there was a shard of sharpness concealed underneath childish curiosity as he sized Sebastian up: “There is something I want more than cake today. If I win, I want you to show me your eyes again.”

Ah, so the little kitten did see after all. But instead of running into the loving arms of his parents, here he was daring the Devil himself, whether he knew it or not. There was a streak of pride and competitiveness in the tiny creature, too. How fascinating. Sebastian was thoroughly entertained.

“Oh my, does the tiny lord believe he can best me?”

The child snickered again. The sound clear as Musica universalis in his all-hearing ears.

“I’ll have you know only Father and Ciel had managed to beat me before.”

The White rook moved. The game began.

#kuroshitsuji #black butler #fic #sebaciel #sebasciel #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive

[house-strong]

— TWO BIRDS, one stone ʾ ⋆

summary ; requested by anon.

“Hello, could you write about Daemon x Fem! Reader? Could you base it on Two Birds by Regina Spektor? Daemon and the reader are friends and little by little they fall in love, but the reader has always been in delicate health and little by little he dies, but not before getting in a relationship with Daemon. I'm looking forward to reading something sad and sweet. Thanks 🥺”

pairing ; friends-to-lovers!daemon targaryen x frail!reader

notes ; i listened to the song while thinking about this imagine and omg?? the parallels,, the symbolism,, regina is a genius

two birds on a wire, one tries to fly away,

and the other watches him close, from that wire.

he says he wants to as well,

but he is a liar.

daemon targaryen has always been a man with a boys heart. eager to be on some new, wild adventure, to swing his sword and play at war to defend his family, or even explore the wonders of the great world. whatever it was, daemon made it known that he would accomplish those and so much more.

he often told you stories about what he had learned from brothel keepers, ship stewards, and merchant traders. he always said that he would keep you by his side forever, even going as far to even haunt you in what ever afterlife their was. you supposed, in his own way, it was a sweet gesture.

that was some twelve years ago when you were both children.

now, daemon was a grown man. battle-hardened and still eager to explore, he had always asked if you were interested still in exploring the world with him. now that he had his dragon mount caraxes, it would make traveling safer and shorter. you’ve always remain loyal and steadfast to him, offering him council when he complained about his older brother.

your answer had always been yes to his questions about traveling the world with him. with bright, eccentric ideas, you knew daemon was meant for something greater than being the commander of the city watch. yes, it was something to ease his mind and be his plaything for now, but you knew he would always get bored. perhaps you should’ve voiced your concern about leaving kings landing before you agreed to travel with him.

that was before a sickness like no other took hold of your body, leaving you weaker by the day.

i’ll believe it all,

there’s nothing i won’t understand,

i’ll believe it all,

i wont let go of your hand

“would you fly across the world with me, to the ends of the earth?” daemon asked you one night. this was after he had an argument with his brother of over his.. activities concerning the city watch and his rather boastful announcement of his nephews demise.

daemon was your bestfriend, so the next words that leave your mouth are out of pure love for him, “i would.”

this seems to quell the lingering ache in his heart as he leans forward and gently rests his forehead against your shoulder. you bring your arm up to comfort him, drawing lazy shapes into his clothing in attempt to help soothe him.

there’s a moment of silence that passes between you two. he pulls away only a fraction, his eyes searching yours. his are full of softness and devotion – one that he doesn’t share willingly to others. you smile and do your best to contain a cough. you raise a hand to cup his cheek, thumb gently caressing his skin.

in the smallest voice he could muster, he says, “i love you.”

two birds on a wire,

one says come on,

and the other says i’m tired,

“daemon,” you say in a voice that’s full of warning, “i’m tired.”

you’re breathless at this point. your lungs are screaming for proper air flow and your legs are starting to ache with a radiating pain.

he huffs, long legs easily carrying him up the steps of the tower, “we’re almost there, just a few more steps.”

you stop for a moment, hand flying towards the stone wall as your attempt to steady yourself and quell the fire that’s burning in your lungs. you take a few deep breaths, desperate to stop the burning sensation. you close your eyes and lean into the wall, taking a moment for yourself. it’s only then that daemon returns to you, his brows furrowed.

“are you alright?”

the energy of your youth was slowly dissipating and it was starting to become obvious to yourself and those around you. however, you’ve tried your best to conceal your predicament from daemon. the last thing you needed was a hellbent daemon trying to be desperate to find something, anything, that would help you.

there’s a shaky exhale that leaves you, “yeah– yes, i’m alright.”

he extends his hand out to you and your take it, allowing him to help guide you up the steps at a slower pace than what he was going before.”

“are you sure you’re alright?”

“yes, i am.”

the sky is overcast

and i’m sorry,

one more or one less

nobody’s worried

“let’s leave tonight,” daemon says one night while you’re sharing a bed. your head is on his chest, your hand splayed on his lower abdomen. you feel a pang in your chest, how much longer could you evade daemon and his suggestions?

you so desperately want to live this fairy tale life with him: explore the world, leave the safety of kings landing, and do whatever they want without the leave of a king. you wanted to share his excitement and thrill of being young and eager to learn new things. but alas, that was not the fate the seven had decided for you.

“daemon,” you say slowly, tilting your head slightly up to look at him through your lashes, “you said we’d stay for rhaenyra’s wedding.”

daemon tuts and begins playing with the sheets that covered his lower half, “i have no desire to be apart of that fest, no doubt it’s going to be dull.”

“she’s your niece, daemon.”

he looks down at you, eyes scanning your face, “i don’t care for her, i desire to be with you,” he turns his head away, “in essos.”

you bit your lip, gently nipping on the skin until it becomes warm and plump.

“i want to stay.”

daemon sighs, but after a moment, “alright.”

two birds of a feather, say that they’re always,

gonna stay together, but ones never goin’

to let go of that wire

daemon had spent days in your room when your sickness began to become more obvious, leaving you bedridden. he would bring things that he knew you would both enjoy, oftentimes that would valyrian books and scrolls that depicted the great age of valyria and it’s many successes. he’d recite these for you in both english and valyrian. there was something about the way his voice dropped an octave when speaking in his mother-tongue that you loved.

“how long until you’re feeling better?” he asks, the book he was reading becoming forgotten. he closes it and rests one of his hands on it as he turns his attention to you.

your move your head to better look at him, a shrug moving your shoulders slightly. even this small action is enough to cause pain, “the maester said–”

“forget about the bloody maester, what do you think?”

you blink at his interruption, pulling your bottom lip between your teeth and slowly gnawing on it. you hated this–the lying and going behind his back to find care from a maester without his knowledge. you hated the impending doom and you hated not knowing when your day would be your last.

but instead you smile, your hand twitching as you try to reach out for him, “soon, daemon. soon.”

he shifts the chair closer and takes your hand in his. he notes that it’s cold and lifeless compared to his warm hand. daemon tries to smile.

“good. i need you by my side when i do my travels.”

two birds on a wire

one tries to fly away

and the other..

daemon knows at this point and some part of him wants to believe that it’s not too late.

he’s the farthest thing from a pious man, but he had begged the gods of the old and new for more time to be shared with you. he told them that it was too much–that they were being greedy. but one can’t make demands of a god and expect a turn in a fate.

“we should have run away,” he says in a low voice. he’s by your bed, ears tuned in to sound of the low, shaky breaths that drew in and out your mouth. he’s afraid that if he speaks too high, you’ll break, and if he leaves the room, you’ll find peace without him by your side. “maybe we would have outrun your fate.”

the hand he’s holding twitches in his hold, something that makes him give a sad, lopsided smile. he’s surveying you now, eyes gently trailing over your pale body and the purple hue of your lips. your throat bobs up and down with struggled swallows and it’s the only sign of life on your otherwise still body.

“i’ll take you with me,” he continues, his thumb gently rubbing up and down your hand. “this won’t be the end for us.”

daemon feels a sense of regret fill every fiber of his being. he wants to travel back in time, rewind the clock, and berate at his younger self. he wants to tel his younger self to take what is his and maybe, just maybe, you two could’ve been happier earlier.

daemon feels the sadness beginning to well inside him as he hears you take a long inhale. he winces at the sound.

“it’s time to go, isn’t it?”

daemons feels your fingers squeeze his, the action barely noticeable but to him, to him it was everything.

“i’ll see you soon, my love.”

in between bleary blinks, daemon watches your chest rise and fall with a final breath.

#daemon targaryen x reader #daemon targaryen fanfic #daemon targaryen imagine #daemon targaryen fic #daemon targaryen #hotd fic #hotd x reader #hotd imagine #hotd fanfic #daemon targaryen reader insert #my writing

[howtomuslim]

Embracing the Beauty of Islam: It’s Profound Effects

Islam, with its plethora of teachings, is a source of profound beauty that enriches the lives of its followers and extends a universal invitation to all. This article explores some of the positive effects of Islam, shedding light on how these principles enhance our lives and contribute to the well-being of society.

Compassion and Charity: A Heartfelt Connection

Islam places a significant emphasis on compassion and charity, encouraging believers to extend a helping hand to those in need. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “The believer’s shade on the Day of Resurrection will be his charity” (Sahih Al-Bukhari). Acts of kindness and charity not only alleviate the suffering of others but also purify the soul of the giver.

Social Justice: Upholding Justice and Fairness

In the Quran, Allah emphasises justice, declaring, “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just” (Quran 5:8). Islam advocates for fairness and equality, rejecting discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. This commitment to social justice fosters harmony and unity in diverse communities.

O believers! Stand firm for Allah and bear true testimony. Do not let the hatred of a people lead you to injustice. Be just! That is closer to righteousness. And be mindful of Allah. Surely Allah is All-Aware of what you do. [Quran 5:8]

Family Values: The Foundation of a Strong Society

Islam places great importance on family values, considering the family unit as the cornerstone of a healthy society. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “The best of you is the one who is best to his family” (Sunan Ibn Majah). Islam encourages love, respect, and support within the family, fostering an environment where individuals can thrive and contribute positively to society.

Personal Development: Nurturing Mind, Body, and Soul

Islam offers a holistic approach to personal development, emphasising the well-being of the mind, body, and soul. The Quran instructs believers to seek knowledge continuously, and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) highlighted the importance of physical health. This holistic approach promotes balance and harmony in individual lives, creating a foundation for a prosperous society.

Environmental Stewardship: Guardians of the Earth

Islam teaches believers to be stewards of the Earth, reminding them of their responsibility to protect and preserve the environment. This environmental consciousness encourages sustainable practices and a sense of responsibility towards the planet.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “The world is sweet and verdant, and verily Allah is going to install you as vicegerent in it to see how you act” (Sahih Muslim)

As Muslims, embracing these teachings enhances our lives, and as a universal message, it invites people of all backgrounds to appreciate the beauty inherent in Islam. By embodying these principles, we contribute to a world where family, justice, and community prevail.

#islam #islamicreminders #muslim #islamdaily #islamic #allah #quran #islamiyet #mosque #new article #newblog #writing community #social justice