#MORE TEACHERS! More than one per classroom! Why are we making one person watch 30 kids at once!

[tittyinfinity]

I don't think that kids should be exclusively homeschooled, but I also don't think that kids should be going to a building with hundreds of people 5 days a week during a pandemic. It's one of the main reasons why it keeps spreading so rapidly and won't go away. They don't take any preventative measures at schools anymore (at least not around here). You got kids? You're getting sick. Your coworker has kids? You're getting sick.

Schools are back to counting attendance. You can't even keep your kid home long enough to recover from covid before sending them back. They literally send a "truancy" (police) officer to your house if you keep them home too often.

I feel like we could be doing something better. I'm not entirely sure what the solution is. But this isn't it.

[mfbakuhoe]

💥Detention💥 (Bakugou x fem!reader)

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Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x fem!reader

Genre: Smut

Words: 2.7k

Warnings: smut, lowkey dissing while fucking, public sex, kinda sassy reader

A/N: Ok so I made this...and It took a whoooole turn from what it was supposed to be. So yeah.

Enjoy!

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,,...and think about your behavior and how to handle things like this as an upcoming hero“, Aizawa Sensei said, audibly and visibly exhausted as he looked at you and the annoyed ash blond, two seats away from you to your left.

,,This dumbass shouldn’t have started shit from the get go, if she can’t finish it“, Bakugou grumbled pissy, with his arms crossed on his chest and his narrowed crimson eyes fixed on the wall across from him.

Indignantly, you gasped for air, raising your eyebrows in disbelief.

,,I started shit? If you otto rocket built bitch wouldn’t obsess over me and always tryna argue with me-"

,,Stop it, kids! I don’t have the time nor the energy for that. I don’t care whoever started this, both of you are in trouble anyway!“ Aizawa Sensei mumbled stressed, massaging his temples.

He grabbed his yellow sleeping bag, preparing to leave this room full of tension.

,,I‘ll be back in about two hours. I need peace and some rest. When I‘m back, I want that you already solved the situation and to agree with each other. Got it?“

Silence.

,,I asked, if you got it“, Aizawa Sensei repeated with a pressuring undertone in his voice. You nodded annoyed, turning your head to the side.

,,I got it, dammit“, Bakugou cussed, obviously as unhappy with the situation as yourself.

,,Good. Can‘t believe I have to waste my evening for that.“ With that being said, Aizawa left the classroom, slandering down the hallway into the teacher‘s room.

It was uncomfortably silent in the room, as you didn’t try to waste one glance at Bakugou and vice versa, the pride getting the best of you.

Usually you wouldn’t care about detention with anybody, but the person to your left wasn’t anybody. It was Bakugou Katsuki, your crush since your first year at UA High.

Well, no. He was definitely not your crush, since he is pretty obnoxious and mean, but you couldn’t argue about how attractive he was.

It was something about Bakugou, that made your body feel all hot and tingly when he was around. Something, that made you crave his rough hands all over your body and his pink lips harshly sucking on your neck, while you lightly tug on his hair.

But it shouldn’t be, since it was very obvious to you that he didn’t like you at all. Regardless of his opinion about you, you did your best not to jump on his lap and smash your lips on his.

You shook your head, trying to remove those tempting pictures out of your head, rummaging around your bag, pulling you smartphone out, so you could distract yourself.

Curious, Bakugou gave you a side glance, observing your actions.

,,Oi, dumbass. Put that fucking phone away. It’s against the rules”, he finally spoke, breaking the weird silence.

,,It was against the rules too, when you forced Midoriya-Kun to fight you”, you answered sassy, continuing to scroll around on your phone screen.

Bakugou grumbled in response, probably cursing you. A cheeky smile crept up your face.

Suddenly you heard a squeaky sound, signalizing, that a chair was pushed back, before a big shadow appeared over you. Two big hands slammed on your table, as spiked hair tickled your forehead.

You lifted your head up, removing your eyesight from your screen as your (e/c) eyes interlinked with crimson eyes.

Bakugou’s face was so close to yours, you tried not to gasp for air in surprise as your heart rate went up times 100 in comparison to before.

,,Look, Idiot. I’m not trying to be your fucking friend, alright? I got shit to do, so you better cooperate, so I can leave“, he mumbled dangerously, not breaking the eye contact.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, trying not to press your lips on his.

,,Do I look like I wanna be friends with sonic the hedgehog? I preferred Shadow anyway“, you said calmly, putting on a poker face as you tried to sound as cool as possible.

You pursed your lips, looking up and down from his eyes to his soft looking lips, trying to keep you hormones under control.

Bakugou raised an eyebrow, as he noticed your moving pupils. As he realized the amount of attraction you felt towards him, he licked over his curled up lips, causing your abdomen to pull together.

,,W-what?“, you stumbled, your voice shaky as your nervousness increased. Bakugou chuckled breathy, causing you to feel highly insecure under his view.

He lowered his head even more, a sheet of paper could barley fit between the two of your faces. Surprised, you pushed your chair back as the grin on his face grew even wider.

,,What are you doing?“, you asked hastily as you stood up. ,,You’re such a fuckin‘ idiot Bakugou. I‘m outta here!“ You grabbed your stuff, ready to rush through the door, before Bakugou grabbed your upper arm pulling you back.

,,Where do you think you’re going, Stupid?“, he asked seriously, his face undefinable, not showing any emotion.

,,I said I‘m outta here!“ Before you could pull the doorknob to open the door, you body was turned around, your back hitting the door.

You hissed in surprise and slight pain. Your eyes met those damn crimson eyes again, as you opened them to get clear about your surroundings.

,,Are you crazy? That hurt!“, you complained, trying to push him off of you but he didn’t budge. You were trapped between his body and his arms, placed left and right next to your shoulders as he towered over you.

,,You can‘t leave until we figured this shit out dumbass“, he grumbled lowly, sending a cold shiver down your spine. Bakugou didn‘t seem angry or annoyed as per usual. He was rather intimidatingly calm and balanced.

,,Wh-why don’t we just tell Aizawa that we‘ve had an agreement. He‘ll surely believe us“, you stumbled nervously as you nibbled on your bottom lip.

,,Because I wanna solve this fucking situation my way“, he mumbled.

You squinted your eyes as Bakugou suddenly lifted his right hand, afraid of him to slap you across the face but you soon relaxed in surprise as you felt his rough fingers tugging on your bottom lip.

,,Did you think I‘d slap you?“, he asked slightly concerned watching you nod lightly. He growled lowly before a grin covered his face.

,,The only thing I’ll slap is that fat ass of yours”, he said amused leaving you in utter shock as you realized what he’d just said.

You ripped your eyes wide open as you understood how serious he was.

,,W-wait we can’t do this!”, you said defensively.

,,Didn’t Aizawa say we’re supposed to solve the situation? He didn’t say how, did he?”

Hesitantly, you began biting your lip again before Bakugou roughly tugged on your chin, causing you to stop.

,,Oi, stop biting your fucking lips off. I still need them around my cock later”, he smiled cocky, releasing your chin.

You frowned. ,,I fucking hate you Bakugou Katsuki”, you hissed before harshly pressing your lips on his. It even caught him by surprise, since he didn’t kiss you back at first.

You thought you had the dominance over him but as soon as he kissed you back, he slid his hand around your throat, lightly pulling you away from the door as he pushed you on the teacher’s desk never breaking the kiss.

Bakugou roughly pushed his tongue between your lips, searching for a battle with your own. Both of you fought for the dominance but he won, grinning larking into the kiss.

Your lips parted before you felt Bakugou placing wet kisses all over your neck, sucking on the sensitive skin. Your legs wrapped around his waist, hansa tugging on his blonde spikes, just as you’d dreamed before.

Feeling Bakugou so close to you felt even better than you’d imagined all the time. His lips were even softer than they looked and the kisses on you neck even more intense than you thought.

His hands grabbed the collar of your shirt, ready to unbutton it, but you stopped him.

,,We don’t have that much time you blockhead. Just fuck me!”, you whispered between heavy breaths. You heard a low throaty chuckle before Bakugou pulled your legs, causing you to lay on your back snd your legs on his shoulder.

You shrieked as his action caught you by surprise.

,,Oi, shut the fuck up idiot or you won’t get anything.“

,,Are you dumb? I can live without dick! You want this pussy though!“, you argued, supporting your upper body on your elbows. Bakugou frowned in annoyance.

,,We only have about 30 minutes until Aizawa Sensei comes back. Do you really think your weak ass could make me cum that fast?“, you challenged even though it was obvious to you, that Bakugou‘s mere existence could make you cum.

,,You wanna challenge me, dumbass?“, he asked raising an eyebrow at you.

,,Sure, stupid ass bitch!“

Suddenly, Bakugou flipped you around, causing you to kneel on all fours, facing the window across from you.

,,Stop twisting an flipping me like a fucking pretzel!“, you complained.

,,Stop fucking complaining. If we had a bed and more time, you‘d look like origami.“ You giggled at his straightforwardness but your laughter muted quickly, as you felt a harsh slap on your ass, only covered by your panties.

You gasped, listening to the slap sound echoing through the room. You felt how you panties were pushed to the side, exposing your already wet folds.

,,Mmh, so wet for me, talking about I can’t make you cum that fast“, he said cockily placing another harsh smack on your ass. You jolted forward moaning in response. You could hear the grin out of his chuckle at your reaction to him.

Bakugou implied to take of your panties, by tapping on your upper thigh.

You tilted your head to the side, looking at what Bakugou was about to do next but he noticed and roughly pushed your face down on to the cold wooden desk material.

,,Are you crazy?“, you mumbled as he still held your head in place.

,,Ass up and face down babygirl.“ You felt your abdomen clenching at the sound of his voice, unable to resist his sassy behavior.

,,Let me get a taste of you, princess“, Bakugou hummed happily, spreading your ass cheeks apart as he lowered his head. Finally you felt his warm tongue licking from your clit to your dampness causing you to let out a long satisfied moan.

Bakugou began to passionately make out with your heat, sucking and licking out your juices and flicking his tongue on your nerve bud, leaving you as a moaning mess.

,,You like that don’t you?“, he asked before humming against your clit, sending vibrations through your body. You simply nodded, to focused on the amount of satisfaction his actions brought within you. You felt your high slowly reaching you.

,,Answer Daddy, bitch”, Bakugou demanded slapping your ass again.

,,Ow!”, you shrieked annoyed sending him a death glare. ,,Shut the fuck up Katsuki! Just do your fucking job!”

,,My job? Fuck are you talking about, Brat?”

You laid your head back down, waiting for Bakugou to continue eating you out, as you ignored his question. Suddenly you felt a big hardness stretching out your walls.

,,Oh fuck”, you moaned surprised as you realized what it was. You didn’t expect Bakugou to be this big although he radiates big dick energy.

His member filled every inch inside of you, causing you to press the air out of your lungs and buck your back at the amount of intensity.

As you adjusted to his size, you waited for him to move but, s you didn’t felt anything moving, making you got impatient.

,,What are you waiting for? Move.”, you whined

,,Oi, bitch, call me daddy first!”, he insisted.

,,Stop calling me a fucking bitch, Idiot!”

You heard Bakugou growl throaty, as he understood you wouldn’t give in so fast, so he finally began moving.

He went relentlessly fast, almost as if he hated you. His sudden roughness didn’t give you any time to clear your mind as you moaned nonstop for yourself.

Bakugou arched your back, intensifying the pleasure for the both of you, causing you to cry out in satisfaction.

,,Fuck, you feel better than I‘d imagined“, he said between his heavy breathing as he continued to fuck you merciless.

As his tip began to rub against your G-Spot it didn’t take you long until you felt your interrupted high from earlier to approach you again.

,,Katsuki, I’m gonna cum!”, you cooed as you began to move your hips to his consistent rhythm. The slapping sound turned up banging through the room in combination with your irregular moans.

,,Oi, beg me!”, he demanded.

,,N-no!”, you stumbled to focused on your upcoming high. Suddenly he stopped moving, again taking the needed release from you.

,,H-hey! Why’d you stop!”

,,Fucking beg me. What do you want, baby?”, he said provoking, scratching on your pride.

,,Come on, Katsuki please!” you pleaded hesitantly. He placed his hands on the table left and right next to your ass, his chest touching the got skin of your butt as his cock still rested inside of you.

You knew he wouldn’t give you what you wanted until you gave him what he wanted first. You sighed needy.

,,Please fuck me Katsuki. I need you to fuck me till I cum. Please!”, you begged embarrassed.

,,Aren’t you forgetting something”, he whispered lowly in your ear, causing goosebumps all over your skin. You knew what he was implying. You clenched you jaw, as your pride got disrespected.

,,Please Daddy”, you pressed through gritted teeth, listening to the low chuckle of the ash blond from behind you, before you felt the reckless pounding continuing.

He pulled your upper body up by your neck, arching your beg for the ultimative feeling for the both of you. Before you even realized your walls clenched around his length, milking all his juices as he poured them inside of you.

Bakugou grunted lowly as he rode both of your highs out, letting go of your neck, causing your upper body to fall back on the desk.

,,Oh my god”, you mumbled perplex as you tried to process what just happened.

,,Guess I won the challenge, didn’t I?”, Bakugou grinned mischievous as he watched you wiping away the mixture from your cum with your panties.

,,I guess”, you smiled uncomfortably as you hopped off the desk. Reusing those panties wasn’t possible now, so you accepted the fact, that you had to walk back without panties on.

Your eyes slid to the clock on the wall, as Bakugou and you tried to rearrange the room to its original state.

As you wiped over the desk, you glanced at Bakugou, who’d casually leaned against the blackboard calmly following your movements.

,,What?”, you asked annoyed.

,,You owe me a Blowjob.”

,,I don’t owe you-“ But before you could finish your sentence, the door was ripped open and a sleepy man in a sleeping bag appeared behind it.

,,So students, I hope you were able to clear any misunderstandings and agreed with each other. With that being said; you are dismissed”, Aizawa Sensei sighed relieved, as he made space for you, implying to leave the room.

Both of you grabbed your things, you rushing pass him first. You felt highly uncomfortable walking past your teacher after what happened on his desk, especially without panties on meanwhile Bakugou seemed unbothered as always.

You rushed down the hall way and as you wanted to turn, a big hand grabbed your upper arm, lightly pulling you back.

,,My room in 2 hours”, he said before he left through the school entrance, leaving you nervous.

Didn’t matter how much you tried to ignore the feelings Bakugou stirred up within you, you couldn’t deny how much you wanted to repeat this experience with him.

[yukiwrites]

Byleth, Thinking of the Future

Thank you so much for the support as always, @xpegasusuniverse! I got a bit carried away with this one, heehee, I hope you like it!

Summary: Right after the shocking scene at the Holy Tomb, the students were overwhelmed with questions as they watched their beliefs shatter right in front of their eyes. Amidst the confusion and questions, Byleth approaches Edelgard to ask why she had been so secretive...

Commission info HERE and HERE!

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Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 -  Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8  - Part 9 - Part 10  - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15

Byleth, Hanneman and Manuela herded the students back through the elevator, the atmosphere around them once of absolute shock, understandably so. Claude walked beside the young Professor, his expression serious.

“Hey, Teach, those things you said back there…”

“All true.” Byleth said in a low voice, looking back at the astonished Blue Lions as they made their way out of the large underground.

“I’ll need more than that, Teach, come on. Can we go to your room to talk?” The young man looked back to his lifeless classmates, “there’s too many people around to talk freely.”

Byleth simply shook his head slowly. “On the contrary. I want to talk to all of them -- all of you -- he looked straight to the heir of House Reagan, “at the same time. I can’t allow doubt to be sown right after the truth was revealed.”

“Okay, I understand that much, but you do know that that was a bold statement, right, Teach? Do you have any plans about what to do from now on with all this new knowledge? Lady Rhea was in a rough shape down there, so this is the future of the Church we’re talking about here.”

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Byleth looked away from the inquisitive young man.

“No, no, wait,” Claude let out a nervous smile, patting Byleth’s shoulder carefully. “You didn’t think this through at all did you, Teach?” He snorted, cold sweat rolling down his temple, “I don’t think you know the scale of the scandal you just brought up, man.”

“Believe me, Claude,” Byleth’s voice deepened an octave, making the young man’s hairs stand on end. “I know more than anyone the scale of the things I just said.”

However, it was true that Byleth didn’t have an immediate plan of how to tackle the matters of the Church for the moment -- he simply wished fervently for the truth to be known; for his friend’s suffering to be noticed and grieved instead of glorified that… he was at a loss for the moment.

He had Sothis’ memories, yes, but he was but a human with the consciousness of the Goddess -- his vessel couldn’t hold the almost infinite power the Fell Star had brought along with the records of her life. Meaning he might have had her memories and a faint intent of how she had been leading mankind alongside the Nabateans, but it wasn’t as though Byleth himself had the practical experience of it, so he had to actually think about the consequences of his actions.

He had answered Edelgard’s question about the future of the Church -- it had been a subject that was marinating inside his mind for quite a while as well, though he had never given it proper attention to the development of it to actually see it blossom. There needed to be a reform.

How could one start to dismantle the base of a belief that had been rooted in a nation for centuries? Would he start preaching about the misdeeds that had been perpetuated through generations of Archbishops that were most likely controlled by Rhea from the backstage? Would he be able to uphold such a task at all while still pursuing the true enemies he should be setting his eyes on?

He had promised Sothis he would hunt down the remnants of Those Who Slither in the Dark and he would do so until there was nothing left of them to grieve. But he was only one man. Could he lead the hunt and change the people’s hearts at the same time?

Claude’s single question had made Byleth doubt his entire resolve, to the point that the Professor felt Sothis’ absence even more keenly.

She would have been the one to scold him and bring this subject to light before anyone else. She would be there, pulling his ear inside their shared mindscape to force him to think through his actions and those they affected while still grumbling that she would of course help him throughout it all.

The Professor sighed, shaking his head. “I’ll answer your questions, Claude, but we need to gather everyone-”

“Dear Professor, I don’t think now is a good time, as eager as I know that some of my students are to listen to your explanations.” Manuela approached with a worried look. “The news was too much to take for some of the kids, so I’ll be taking them with me to the infirmary. I think others need their space now more than they need answers to questions they don’t even have yet.” She glanced back at the pack of soulless students. “Give them some time to gather their thoughts and come up with their own questions, okay?”

Hanneman scratched his mustache uncomfortably, not wanting to admit that there were people who could turn away from new knowledge so readily, but agreeing that what a greater part of the students present needed was time to sort their heads. “As it stands, I will have to agree with Manuela on this one. Let us disperse the class and come back at this on Monday, how does that sound?”

“what?” Claude whined from Byleth’s other side. “You want me to wait two days to get the answers I need? Can’t I just go back with Teach and ask the stuff I want to know now?”

“Don’t be selfish, young man. Lead your House back to their quarters; look at how crestfallen they are.” Hanneman scolded his House’s Leader, gesturing with his chin to the Golden Deers’ expressions. Some were so shocked they looked like rag dolls while others were thinking deeply of how such knowledge could affect their lives -- only one or two looked like they were mostly fine with the situation, whichever it would be.

The same could be said about the other two Houses, though perhaps the Blue Lions had taken more damage since Faerghus had always had close ties to the Church, so most of its citizens were devout believers.

Edelgard observed everyone’s reactions carefully, not daring to approach Byleth like Claude did so as not to draw attention to herself. In two days, they would reunite, at the Blue Lions’ classroom, it seemed, so the Imperial Princess had time to think her options through until then.

Thankfully or not, Hubert had returned from the trip to the Empire in record time -- proving that the new teleportation magic they had painstakingly acquired was indeed a necessity for their plans to work properly. Edelgard filled Hubert in on the happenings at the Holy Tomb, urging him to follow her to the Blue Lions’ classroom early on Monday so they could bear witness to how strong Byleth’s resolve was in changing the Church.

Depending on his answer, Edelgard could have the upper hand in the upcoming invasion. She already had much more information than she had ever managed to dig through on her own over the course of her life just by watching that pathetic scene between the wailing Archbishop and the young Professor. Edelgard had had a faint idea of how the Crests came to be, but to think it all was linked to the bodies of the goddess and her children… Amusing.

The classroom, although usually on the empty side since it was rather large for the small amount of students it usually had, soon became packed with people from the other two Houses. There were plenty of places to sit at, of course, but Edelgard and Hubert chose to stand close to the door anyway, wanting to look over the students’ reactions to the Professor’s answers.

“As all of you are aware, we’ve gathered here to clear up any misunderstandings you might have had after that happening at the Holy Tomb.” Hanneman placed himself in the middle of the teacher’s desk, looking over the students’ eyes. “We all know how sudden everything was, so don’t be afraid to speak up and we’ll do our best to give you satisfying answers.”

“So you knew it all, Professor Hanneman. How didn’t you break after I spent the whole day asking you about it… Should I have haunted you in your sleep too? I know how well that would’ve ended…” Linhardt muttered from the front seat, a place he would usually never take but quickly took due to the severity of the situation.

“Believe me, lad, it was a living nightmare, as I made it clear for the past 30 times.” Hanneman exhaled in exhaustion, taking a step to the side to allow for Byleth to take the center of the stage. “The Professor here is the one who has the core knowledge of it all, so Manuela and I shall monitor the questions: raise your hand if you want to ask something and we will make a tally.”

Several hands filled the space, followed by a furious scribbling from the part of the two older professors, each taking into account the students of their own Houses while Byleth memorized the Blue Lions. Evidently, the first one to get the question was Claude.

“Can you tell us in detail about the origin of the Hero’s Relics and the Crests Stones? Are they related to the Crests per se at all? And-”

“One question at a time, lad, be patient!” Hanneman interrupted his House Leader, raising both palms in a placating manner. “We have all day to answer everything you all want, but one person at a time, alright?”

Flashing a dissatisfied pout, Claude crossed his legs under the table. “Yeah, alright. So?”

Byleth took a deep breath. “As I said before, the Hero’s Relics are weapons made out of the bones of the Children of the Goddess -- the Nabateans as they called themselves at the time.”

“Nabateans…” Claude muttered under his breath, nodding his head as though he understood. The name was murmured all over the students’ mouths, though Byleth hadn’t stopped speaking yet.

“The Goddess descended into the world and created the Nabateans from her own blood -- then they all started to impart their knowledge on the humans to help them prosper.” The Professor spoke as though talking about a legend, though all of the present were aware of the true myth passed along the religious carols, and it differed greatly from what he was saying. “Some humans started to feel intimidated by how powerful the Nabateans were and waged war upon war against them, wanting to topple the beings they saw as gods… But such wars nearly destroyed the world.

“Some of the defeated humans left bearing a large grudge, promising revenge, but Sothis had to focus her powers on healing the land instead, leaving it to her children to look for the stragglers. Some of them never returned, being the first prey to the experiments of Those Who Slither in the Dark.”

Edelgard’s hand twitched inside her crossed arms at the mention of the experiments as she narrowed her eyes.

Byleth continued. “Exhausted from healing the land, Sothis had no choice but to leave the land to her Children and retire to the place we saw as the Holy Tomb to rest and regain her energy -- but it was then that the tragedy of the Red Canyon happened: The enemy ambushed the weakened Nabateans, killing them with weapons made out of the blood and bones of their siblings, using these very same weapons to kill Sothis and forge,” Byleth took his sword out of his belt, “the Sword of the Creator.”

“Bloody hell,” Claude leaned on his chair, digesting all of that information. Ignatz was holding his chest as though in physical pain, tears clouding his vision -- and the same could be said about Marianne and Mercedes, being comforted by their closest friends.

“Through the experiments, the enemies realized that they could acquire the power of the Nabateans by drinking their blood -- and that was how the power known as ‘Crests’ were bestowed to the humans who weren’t born from the Goddess. It is also the ancient Nabateans’ crystalized blood that composes the rare Crests Stones -- it’s because of them that the Crest-bearers can wield the Hero’s Relics… Though I should leave the technical details to Hanneman here, if you all are interested.” He took a step back to allow the Crestologist his five minutes of fame.

“Well, as you all know…” Hanneman adjusted his monocle, picking up a piece of chalk to start writing on the board.

Manuela nudged Byleth’s shoulder, “are you sure about this? He’s gonna keep talking all day.”

“It’s fine, I just think he’s better at explaining the relationship between the Crests Stones and the Crest bearers. Besides, no one’s complaining.”

“For now, at least.” Manuela shrugged.

Byleth gave an once over around the classroom, his eyes meeting the Imperial Princess’ by the door. After she had made that radical-sounding comment at the Holy Tomb, the young woman had been oddly silent. Now, however, she looked paler than usual, as a frown covered her brow.

“Don’t you think Edelgard is behaving a bit strangely?”

Manuela glanced at her House’s Leader, looking back at Byleth. “She had been grumpy ever since I had to revoke her permission to return to the Empire, so I suppose it might still be about that?”

The young Professor narrowed his eyes, still in a staring contest with the Imperial Princess. “I’ll go ask her what’s wrong.”

“Wha- Byleth!” Manuela pulled his sleeve, whispering gravely, “if you leave, it will truly turn into a Hanneman-only class, you know!”

“Don’t worry, I’m only going to talk to her; I’m not going anywhere.” He flashed something akin to a smile, patting his colleague’s hand before circling through the desks towards the door by which Edelgard stood. “You seemed to be interested in the explanation I was giving earlier. Do you have anything to ask?”

Edelgard shifted her weight to one leg, looking up at the tall young man. “Only one thing: How do you plan to handle this situation with the Church? The power of the Nabateans can no longer rule over the humans, but right at the heart of this Monastery, lies the strongest one of them… She’s not mentally stable, either. What do you plan to do?”

“I’ll protect Rhea from whatever I can. It’s the least I can do to fulfill a promise.” Byleth replied without hesitation, though looked to the surly Hubert beside Edelgard before continuing, “there is much to be done in regards to the distribution of information, but first I’ll have to deal with Those Who Slither-”

“Enough. That is all I needed to hear.” Edelgard turned on her heel to leave. “It is a shame, Professor. I thought that we could have been allies in this.” She muttered as her white hair fluttered behind her small figure.

Hubert shook his head in disapproval. “To think there was so much potential. Perhaps later you’ll realize the true meaning of your statements, Professor, though by then it might be too late,” he smiled derisively before following his liege, leaving a suspicious Byleth behind.

What was the true meaning of Edelgard’s question? Byleth had so much to think about, he could barely sort his thoughts by himself, missing his mindmate so very dearly each time he felt overwhelmed.

Sighing, the young Professor turned back to the classroom filled with Hanneman’s voice, clenching his fists to resolve himself. One step at a time. First he would clear the students’ doubts, then he would think about what to do next.

If only he had the power to see what was going to happen instead of being able to go back a few moments in time… Perhaps then he would’ve been able to predict the preemptive strike the Empire would deal to the Monastery a few weeks from then.

[justanotherexpatinkorea]

Update 2020~2021 // 업데이트 2020~2021

January 22, 2021 / 1월 22일 2021

WHAT A WILD RIDE IT’S BEEN (AND WILL BE)

It’s been almost a year since my last blog update. It feels like so much yet so little has changed.

For one, coronavirus has taken over our lives. Because of the virus, we’ve had to stay inside, stay home. I miss being able to travel, visit people, make new friends. All of that has come to a halt. In some ways it feels like life has stalled, become stagnant. Yet that’s the price we pay for staying safe.

COVID 19 has become more than anything we could’ve imagined. A global pandemic that affects the lives of every person on this planet. We’ve had to confront the worst possible outcomes, and find it within ourselves to work together with our communities to overcome it.

As of this writing, here are the stats:

South Korea:

confirmed cases = 73, 918

total deaths = 1,316

United States:

confirmed cases = 24,196,086

total deaths = 420,285

WTF AMERICA….

No country has been perfect in their COVID response. This is a wickedly difficulty problem to tackle. However, living in a foreign country during this unprecedented time, I’ve gained a valuable perspective on this pandemic.

I hate to say this, but I am embarrassed. So many countries around the world look up the US. We’re one of the wealthiest, most developed countries in the world. A strong democracy renowned for its freedom, liberty and justice for all. Among my friends and coworkers here in South Korea, many of them aspire to travel or live in the US one day. I used to encourage them to do so. However, I’m more hesitant now.

I was extremely disappointed in the way the US responded to the virus. We have all the resources, the manpower, the knowledge. All the things that make other countries think so highly of us. Yet despite our alleged greatness, why did the US fail so miserably? fail to contain the virus? fail to keep Americans properly informed in a timely manner? fail to provide strong leadership in such a desperate time? If ever there was a time to step up and band together, this would have been it. Yet in my opinion, America missed the mark horrendously. Hospitals are overflowing. COVID patients are dying in makeshift hospital beds set up in parking garages. People are ignoring the heed to mask up and socially distance. Simple actions that could save ones life and that of others. Yet many Americans are too selfish to look out for the health of their fellow countrymen.

Watching news from back home, there are things that seem so strange to me now. As an expat, I live outside the frame, analyzing from a different context.

Masks. I cannot for the life of me understand how masks become so  politicized. Korea, like many Asian countries, have been wearing masks for years. There is nothing controversial about it. It’s a piece of fabric designed to keep you and the people around you safe. A mere health-related courtesy. The fact that so many Americans cannot concede to this simple gesture makes me greatly concerned. Are we so divided as a nation? That when a global pandemic strikes - the worst health crisis in our lifetime - we cannot recognize the humanity in one another? Is there no love within us, to help us overcome this small personal discomfort for the sake of our fellow Americans? For the sake of us all? If we can’t grow up and do this one simple thing, I worry for our ability to tackle together the more complex issues facing our nation.

THE SOUTH KOREAN RESPONSE:

South Korea was one of the first hit by COVID. The proximity to China and the rapidity with which coronavirus spreads should have drastically increased the likelihood that the country would be decimated by the virus. But that’s not what happened. South Korea has become known worldwide as a model for how to approach the virus.

Widely and readily available testing and contact tracing

Mandatory masks and social distancing

Daily televised updates from government health officials - sharing data, updates on cases and deaths, etc.

Government measures (the closing and re-opening of schools, restaurants, businesses etc. depending on the current situation, in response to confirmed case numbers, etc. )

Quarantine for people coming from overseas, people who have had contact with COVID patients

In short, the Korean response was swift, thorough, and transparent. It required (and still requires) the collective will and cooperation of the people. Which includes myself.

As a teacher, my life has been affected professionally as well. I’m so lucky to have steady employment here as a government employee in the public schools. COVID-related measures in schools include: wearing masks at all times, washing hands regularly, sanitizing classrooms, social distancing as much as possible, keeping students separated and spread out in the cafeteria. And moving to online class when needed.

The government has a system of levels from 1 to 3. Here’s how the levels are decided and what measures they trigger. (For example, most places move to online classes around Level 2~2.5)

What is Level 1?

if the average cases per week are:

30 or fewer in a given province, 100 in large cities

socially distance when going out, wear a mask

What is Level 1.5?

if the average cases per week are:

increasing by 30 or more in a given province, 100 in large cities

if the average cases for people over 60 per week are:

increasing by 10 or more in a given province, 40 in large cities

Level 1+ thorough sanitizing of dangerous, infected areas

What is Level 2?

more than a week of level 1.5, and the cases in the affected community double and persist

OR total national cases reach at least 300, and persist for a week or more

Level 1.5 + recommend that unnecessary outings are limited, reduce meetings and gathering

What is Level 2.5?

total national cases reach 400~500, increase drastically and persist

special consideration - number of hospital beds for those with pre-existing conditions, elderly

Level 2 + stay home

What is Level 3?

total national cases reach 800~1,000, increase drastically and persist

Level 2.5 + stay home whenever possible, limit interactions with others as much as possible

YEAH, IT SUCKS

Around Christmas / New Year, Korea saw a spike in cases, about 300~500 a day. For Korea, this is considered dangerously high. (As an American I laugh at how small these numbers are, comparing it to the thousand of deaths that are occurring every day back home. But alas, this is no laughing matter, regardless of the magnitude of cases.)

The government introduced a new policy:

Gatherings of 5 or more people are banned.

This sucks big time. I was planning on doing a Secret Santa gift exchange with my friends, all thirteen of us. I really wanted to spend the holidays chowing down on sentimental comfort foods, having a drink or two, watching movies, etc. But we had to cancel everything. It was originally only a two-week policy, but the government has continued to extend it two weeks at a time. If COVID cases aren’t dramatically reduced, they’re not going to lift it. It sucks. I wish I could hang out, go out to restaurants and cafes and bars. But everyone is struggling through together. It would be easier to cast my worries aside and let up a little. But the risks are out there. COVID is a serious disease with serious consequences. Even if you don’t die you have the aftereffects of damaged lungs. And who knows what else? Years down the road, who knows what health concerns survivors will have to endure? It’s not worth it.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Like everyone else, I can’t wait for this to all be over. I can’t wait to travel again, explore, and live my life carefree. But who knows exactly when that will be.

However, there is one thing I know for sure. I’m  not moving back to the US any time soon. I’d rather live in a country where I have stable employment, in this unstable world. Where I can get rapid testing and readily available (and affordably dirt cheap!) health care should I happen to have a COVID scare. (Or any other health concern, for that matter.) Where I know the people around me respect their communities, and will wear a mask, etc.

Where people with guns and molotov cocktails and weapons don’t attack the buildings of their democracy. Where facts and reason aren’t under attack, in a way that is tearing apart the fabric of the nation. (But that’s a conversation for another day.)

Of course Korea isn’t perfect. There are flaws in this society that concern me deeply as well. But at the end of the day, I feel much more safe and comfortable in Korea than I do back home. As long as that’s true, this is the place where I will continue to live and make my life.

[rezdogsyonder]

Need (3)

Pairing: Professor!Rogers x Reader

Summary: The professor realizes just how mich he wants you.

Warnings: stalking, mention of blood.

A/N: This part will mostly be in Steve’s point of view. Kinda. I’ve decided reader wears glasses and idk why I wrote this, this way.

**********

**********

‘Why am I doing this? I shouldn’t be doing this.’ Steve thought as he kept following her from a safe distance.

**********

He wasn’t following you at first; he stayed back in his office for probably an hour...or three. He didn’t keep track. He needed to turn in a book, a history book for revision, and comparison. He is writing his own book, telling what actually happened while in the Howling Commandos.

By the time Steve got to the library the sun was setting, and it was a complete ghost town inside. Only spotting two people on his way to his destination. One of them being a janitor. The top floor of the library is where he needed to go, it’s where the special collection is kept. Normally these kinds of books aren’t allowed out of the library, but being older than most of the books in their library has its perks.

Putting the book back in its respective place, and about to return the checkout card, that is when I sees you once more. Hiding out in the back corner, at a table that is covered in notebooks and colorful pens and highlighters. Looking so deep in focus, biting your lip, and flipping through papers only to turn back to your notebook.

Hair tossed up in a messy bun. Glasses hanging at the end of your nose. You look at little bit more disheveled than what he remembered from a couple hours ago. White V-neck t-shirt under a navy blue cardigan. You looked beautiful.

Deciding to stay, Steve began to look through more history books, encyclopedias, and records that would help with his little project. If he was going to stay he might as well get some work done too.

He sat at a table across a very long isle from you. A seat that made sure he could still watch you, without you seeing. If he had, to he could just scoot his chair forward and he would be out of sight.

Steve is there for another 40 minutes or so before he sees her putting all of her notes away. He quickly stacked everything and put it all in his bag, then walking out before she sees him. Waiting by the entrance for you.

‘Why is she out this late? Doesn’t she know this is a dangerous city?’

Then he realized. He shouldn’t be here, he could get fired.

‘Why am I doing this? I shouldn’t be doing this.’ Steve thought as he kept following her from a safe distance.

He was going to turn back, he really was, but she just seemed so vulnerable. How far does she live? ‘I’ll just make sure she gets home safe.’ He decides, but he truly know that now he’s hooked, and he’s not going to stop.

And he didn’t. He not only followed her home but he found out what apartment she lives in. First floor, not very safe, at least the windows to her home are high. Less of a chance of robbery. He also saw her roommate, he recognized her from the coffee shop. Watching her clean up her room Steve realized something.

He’s got it bad.

**********

He held himself back from following her again. Not really by choice. He didn’t see her at the library again. He also avoided the cafe she works at. Not wanting himself to get too close, too fixated. It has been three weeks though, and he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep himself from you. Of all of his classes, yours was his favorite.

You have his class twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. Both scheduled at 4:30. He has kept his distance and she has been nothing but a model student.

Steve needs a teachers assistant, and he thinks he’s already found her.

**********

The essays Steve had assigned are finally almost done being graded. Deciding to leave yours last. When he was done going through, your essay was nearly perfect. Maybe he was biased, but he really thought that you’re paper deserved an A.

A grade he rewarded to only six other people. He was going to write an A when an idea struck him.

He grabbed his red marker and marked the paper with a C, writing “see me after class”.

He smiled at his plan and quickly filed it into the bottom of the stack of essays to hand back as students began filing into his classroom.

It’s Thursday.

**********

You got to Mr.Lee’s class 15 minutes early as per usual. You like being a little bit more than punctual. This was one of your favorite classes to be in but to be honest you’d be glad when it’s over. Math made sense to you but it took work. A lot of work.

Last class, there was a test and you were dying to see how you did. Mostly because he said that this test will be just like the mid-term and a good chunk of the final. You tried really hard, going to the library more often than usual. Well, it isn’t a big accomplishment, you only go the the library once a week. For like 4 hours, but still.

You’re practically bouncing in your seat all class period, since the average score on the test for this class was 82% Mr.Lee thought that we can have a reward. It’s his top priority that his students are understanding his material, and that’s why you like this class.

We are currently watching a movie and those who wanted to leave could, but they would have to wait longer to view their score. You stayed because you worked too hard to wait any longer.

But finally the end of this class was drawing near, and Mr.Lee just checked his watch and was pulling out a big stack of papers. Trying to stay calm just in case your score was bad, and why did this class have to be so big?

He was finally get to you, and he set your packet face down on your desk. Did he put the other students tests face down? You weren’t even paying attention. Now that you have your test, you can leave the class.

Pulling out your phone you call a familiar number, “Wade?” You met him on you way to a book store last year, he actually saved you from being mugged when you thought it was a good idea to take a shortcut through a back alley.

“My common sense it tingling,” you hear him the material of his mask being moved around, “What did you do this time Y/N? Something that shows you’re intelligent I bet. That’s the main trope of your story’s character.”

“You know you don’t sense sometimes, but maybe! I took a test the other day and I’m scared to look. I was hoping a call to you would help calm my nerves.”

“Would an in person meet and greet help?”

“What do y—” you couldn’t finish your sentence before a body landed in front of you on the sidewalk. You let out a loud shriek, then you heard a voice.

“Holy fuck knuckles! That shit hurted.” And you realized who it was.

“Fuck I hate you sometimes.” You sighed.

“I’m hilarious so don’t hate. And that was about as much fun as a sandpaper dildo,” he sits up at looks at you, “wanna kiss it better?” He says gesturing to his backwards foot.

You bend over and turn it back around, despite his cry of pain. Then you offer a hand so he may stand.

You looked down, “ah shit you got some blood on me.” It was only a drop, probably the size of a quarter on your white boyfriend cardigan. Wade pokes his arm and draws a smiley, using the dot on your sweater as an eye.

“Gross.” You smiled.

“Hydrogen peroxide will get that out.” You nodded and began unbuttoning it to take it off. Leaving you in your baby pink cami that was tucked into your high waisted back jeans.

“So... Wanna see my score?” You held out the packet.

“Ah... mhmm... yes.” He mumbled through his mask as he flipped through the pages. “Y/N I’m sorry to have to tell you this but it looks as thought you’ll have to drop out.”

You hit him, “Shut up, let me see.” You snatch it out of his hand before you finished your sentence. By it before you look at your score you smiled at him, “I guess your ‘inperson meet and greet’ did help.”

93%. You were struggling in that class and this will surely boost your grade back up. Squealing you jump at Wade, hugging him. He twirled you around.

“Celebratory chimichangas?” He put you back down and began walking, knowing you’d follow.

“Yeah actually I have roughly an hour and a half before my next class.” You said you you looked down at your phone. “Where should we go?”

“There’s this beautiful woman that has a restaurant somewhere that way.” Wade said point in a general direction.

You didn’t really believe him but two blocks in the direction he pointed was a small restaurant. You wouldn’t have noticed it if Wade hadn’t pointed it out. The lady that ran it was a sweet little old woman.

The food was great, and Wade was able to keep you occupied the entire time. You didn’t even realize how much time had passed before there was only 5 minutes before your next class started.

“Oh SHIT! Fuck IM LATE!” You scrambled pull out your wallet, but end up spilling everything. Wade starts to help you pick up everything that fell out, he stood up with five of your notebooks.

“I paid ahead of time. Sorry read ahead in the script. But let’s go!” He waved at the little lady behind the counter. “Goodbye, my princess.” And blows her a kiss.

“Come on we have to run, slow ass.” he starts pulling you to go faster.

“Jesus, I’ve never been late before. Oh my god.” Starting to get out of breath. About a block and a half closer.

“Really? Never would have guess that.” He says sarcastically. You two are back on campus, and you need to pass two more buildings.

“There! It’s right there,” you say running faster, you get to the front of the building. Wade hands you back your notebooks. You lean over trying to catch your breath.

“4:28. Why was it so important to be on time to this class?”

“Well turns out Mr.America is also Mr.Punctuality.”

“Cap is your teacher? I better skedaddle before he try’s to cut off another arm. Goodbye sunshine.” He taps your nose. “Boop.”

“Bye!” You waved and headed inside, going to the second to last classroom on the left.

You check the time again 4:29, you weren’t late. But it looks like the teacher is going to be. All that worrying for nothing. Not knowing that you were the reason for his tardiness.

**********

Mr.Rogers did show up for class but was about five minutes late. Other than that class went on like normal, you took your notes and worked. Used to the feeling of somebody staring at you, you didn’t want to know who thinking that acknowledging them will encourage them.

‘Wow she looks so adorable, pink suits her well.’ He thought as he watched her, but he began to grow angry as he realized that these boys were looking at his girl.

It was nearing the end of class, so he began passing out the essays. Saving yours for last. Today’s class was small, most students skipped his class once they realized that he wasn’t going to talk about Captain America or the avengers.

Once he got to you he placed your essay on your desk face down gently. He felt a little bad, turning around quickly so he didn’t have to see the disappointment on your face.

You forgotten about the essay, but you thought you had done well when you turned it in. You were having a good day, but this just ruined it. A big C on the corner of your paper. You felt tears beginning to well in your eyes but you blinked them away before they could fall.

You look at the clock and there is 2 minutes left, but the professor dismissed everyone already. You begin packing your stuff up, when you feel a little chilly. Sighing you pull out your cardigan and look at the smiley. Maybe you’ll call Wade again after this. You put it on hoping people will think it’s just a cute little design.

The class was now empty and you walk to the office connected to this classroom. It was more plain than you’d expect, and a lot cleaner too. Almost every other professor’s office you’d been to had been a complete mess. He was sitting behind his desk.

“You said to see you after class?” You say timidly. He gestured to the seat in front of his desk, and you take a seat.

“Yeah let me see that,” he holds out his hand and you lean forward to give him your paper, “I just needed to talk to you.” He crossed out the C and wrote an A right next to it, and stood up.

“What did you need to talk about?” You felt a little better with an improved grade, but a nervous pit in your stomach began to form. We’re you in trouble? He walked around and leaned against his desk in front of you, handing your paper back.

“I have been needing to choose a TA for the semester, and I was wondering if you would like to fill that position?”

“Oh my gosh really? I would love to! What would I need to do?”

He smiled, “Well, regular TA responsibilities like grading, tutoring or mentoring students if and when they need help, stuff like that.”

“Wow, thank you for this opportunity.” At this point you wouldn’t be able to stop smiling.

“It’s no problem. This job will suit you, I can tell.” He sighs and rubs the stubble on his face. “But, you will have to sign a few papers.” He slid walked back behind his desk and pulled a small packet out of his desk drawer. “This isn’t what you would sign with other teachers, but I’m sure you’re aware of my previous profession.” You nodded. “This is just protecting my privacy and it’s basically saying that you won’t do anything that would take away that privacy.” He slid the papers over to you, then putting a pen on top.

“Yeah, okay.” You didn’t read through it before signing, as Mr.Rogers just explained it to you. You put the pen down. “What now?”

Yes, what now? Steve thought.

[raptorginger]

Handprints (Complete, 10k+ words) - by raptorginger

Chapter 1: Dark Souls

It was 11:00PM when he heard the tiny voice behind him.  He was levelling up in Dark Souls III after a particularly grueling battle and hadn’t heard her sneak up behind his chair.

“Uncle Ben?” asked the tiny voice timidly.

He turned immediately to see the little girl that had become his whole world in a few short months.  Little Cass.  She stood rubbing her big brown eyes, blonde hair sleep ruffled, black jammie dress with the little aliens on them wrinkled.  She was holding her favorite stuffed dog by its paw, the one that was almost as big as her.  He could see tear tracks down her pink cheeks.  She’d had the dream again.

“What is it, Sweetheart?  Did you have the dream again?”  he asked tenderly, holding his arms out.

The tiny creature clambered eagerly into his arms and lap, nodding as she did so.  “Uh-huh.”  

Ben readjusted her in his lap so he could hold her, the stuffed dog, and his controller.  He held her tight.  She’d been having the dream on and off in the several months since her parents had died.  She would be with them, her mom and dad, somewhere sunny and happy, when a dark shape would take them from her, consuming them in a dark cloud.  She would scream and reach out, her tiny hands grasping at nothingness.  And she would fall, fall forever into a dark pit, the darkness swallowing her small body completely.  

Since Cass had come to live with Ben after his sister, Padme, and her husband’s death, he had done all he could to help her adjust.  He knew he was a poor substitute for her parents, but Cass had loved him all the same, even opening up and talking to him a little bit.  The first time she’d come to him holding out a tea cup and asked him to play, his heart had soared, and he knew he’d do anything for this small child.  It killed him that he couldn’t keep her nightmares from her sleep.

He held her tightly while the game’s music played quietly in the air around them.  He sensed that there was more she wanted to say, but he didn’t push.  She was starting kindergarten tomorrow.  She was having a hard time socially, which was understandable, and honestly, he probably wasn’t the greatest role model in that department.   She was probably terrified.

He felt guilty about that, but there honestly wasn’t a whole lot he could do.  He’d done the playdate thing a few times at the behest of his mother, trying to make awkward small talk with the other parents, typically moms, but all had simply looked at him askance and with strange, slightly accusing looks, like they didn’t believe he was Cass’ legal guardian.  They’d all huddle together, whispering, keeping him out.  It was like high school all over again, and it pissed him off.  But, he’d borne his discomfort for Cass’ sake.  Cass hadn’t had an easier time.  She couldn’t talk to the other children.  She’d always end up playing alone.  So, they stopped doing the playdate thing.  Now Ben would take her to the park, and they would just play together.  They’d play pirates or swing or scramble about on the fort.  That’s when he’d see her old smile come out, and his heart would soar.

“Are you scared of starting school tomorrow?” he asked quietly.

Cass nodded, nuzzling into her dog.  “Uh-huh.”

“Why?”

She thought awhile before answering.  “What if the other kids don’t like me?  Like all those kids at the park?”

Ben felt himself getting angry.  He counted to ten.  He sighed, “Those kids at the park were not nice.  The kids in your class are going to be different.  And they’d be crazy not to like you.  You do have to talk to them though, Sweetheart.  They won’t know you’re nice if you don’t talk to them.”

“But what if there’s like, a hundred?! That’s too many people to talk to!”

Ben felt a smile quirk his lips.  “That is a lot, but I highly doubt there will be that many.”  In fact, he knew that for certain.  He’d picked this school specifically because of the small class size.  And the teaching philosophy, but that was beside the point at the moment.

Cass made a small humming sound into the dog’s neck.

Ben continued, “And you don’t have to talk to everybody.  Maybe just pick one classmate who seems nice like you and say ‘Hi.’  That would be a good start.”

“What if they don’t say hi back or say something mean?”  Cass asked plaintively.

“Then they don’t say ‘hi’ back, and you’ll know not to try and be friends.  If they say something mean, then tell your teacher.”

“What if the teacher is mean?”

Ben highly doubted that.  The teacher, a Rey Johnson, had sent a letter to each parent about a week ago.  It had been a cheery introduction, detailing her background and how committed she was to their child’s education.  Ben had gotten the sense that this woman was irrepressibly cheerful and probably the nicest person in the world, perfectly suited for her job.  “I don’t think your teacher is going to be mean.  But if she is, come tell me, ok?”

Cass nodded, “Ok, Uncle Ben.  Do I really have to talk to anybody?”

Ben sighed softly.  “No, you don’t have to, but I’d like you to.”  He really wanted Cass to have a friend her age.  Her 30 year old surrogate parent uncle couldn’t be the only person in her life.

Cass snuggled deeper into her stuffed animal.  

“I’ll make you a deal.  If you talk to one of your classmates, I’ll take you out for ice cream when I pick you up.  Deal?”

Cass looked at him.  “Ok.”  She paused, “Can we get ice cream even if I don’t?”

Ben looked into her big brown doe eyes.  “Of course.  But if you talk to another kid, I’ll make it a McFlurry.”

She broke out into a wide grin, making Ben break out into one of his own.

“Can I watch you play a while?”

She really shouldn’t, she had school tomorrow, but she looked like she’d fall asleep any second.  “Ok, Sweetheart.”  Cass snuggled deeper into Ben’s arms as he unpaused his game, making sure he didn’t fight anything too scary.  She was asleep in an instant.  A few minutes later, Ben saved his game, turned off the television, and carried Cass to her bed, tucking her and her dog in tight before kissing her softly on the forehead, hoping that kept the bad dreams away.

Chapter 2: Purple Cubby

Ben pulled his black Jetta TDI into a parking space near the entrance to the school.  It wasn’t the designated drop off area per se, but Ben wanted to walk in with Cass. They’d arrived a bit earlier than the typical drop off time.  Ben was hoping to have a word with Cass’ teacher Mrs. Johnson (Ben assumed she was married; most teachers he’d met were), and Cass wanted him to walk in with her anyway.  

Ben knew he looked ridiculous, walking in to the school.  He was tall and broad and even looked ridiculous in buildings with regular size furniture.  He tried to shrink himself, hunching his shoulders, ducking his head sightly, one hand stuffed in the pocket of his jeans.  Cass clung to his other arm.  He led her to her classroom, following the cheerfully painted signs to Miss (he noticed) Johnson’s room.  He looked like a giant among the child sized chairs and tables.

It was a bright and cheerful room.  There was an abundance of windows letting in the natural light, what little wall there was was painted white and covered with boards that would eventually display the students’ work.  A banner ran around the room near the ceiling, repeating the alphabet in bright colors.  There was a little alcove off the room that held the children’s cubbies for coats and bookbags and boots.  Each cubby was painted a different color of the rainbow, a prettily painted little sign with each child’s name hanging from it.  Ben presumed Miss Johnson had made those herself.  Ben helped Cass find her cubby and hang up her jacket and backpack.  Ben saw Cass smile sweetly when she saw her cubby was painted purple, her favorite color.  

“Did Miss Johnson know that’s my favorite, Uncle Ben?!” she asked incredulously, her voice barely above a whisper.

“No, but I’m glad it worked out that way,” a lovely voice answered.  Ben turned and saw a young woman behind them.  Miss Johnson was very young and very pretty, he realized.  She was wearing a white a-line dress with an eyelet overlay under a seafoam green cardigan and black flats.  It accented her natural tan skin, warm brown hair,  and the smattering of freckles on her face.  Her hazel eyes were full of light.  Her rosy lips were smiling sweetly down at Cass.  “Hi! I’m Miss Rey,” the woman said, still looking at Cass.  She had knelt down to one knee to bring her eye level with her as she introduced herself.  Ben tried not to look down her dress.  He felt his face starting to turn red.  He ran a hand through his unruly hair, mussing it further.

“I’m Cass Antilles,” Cass said softly.

“Hi Cass! I’m happy to have you in my class,” Rey replied softly.  “Since you’re the first here, would you like to go pick your seat?”

Cass nodded enthusiastically and scampered off to choose a seat near one of the windows, leaving Ben alone with Rey.

Ben held a hand out to her, to help her up.  She took it, his large hand dwarfing her small one.  He had a good foot on her in height.  Keeping a hold of her hand, he gave it a slight shake.  “Hi, I’m Cass’ uncle Ben Solo.”

She smiled up at him, her hand very warm in his own.  “I’m Rey Johnson.”  Her voice had a lovely timbre and a British accent.  He could listen to her talk all day. 

“Umm, listen, could I talk to you a minute? About Cass?”  Ben asked.  When she glanced at the clock, he added, “I won’t take too much of your time, I just need you to know a bit about her situation.”

Rey nodded, “Alright, Mr. Solo.  But other children will start arriving soon.”

“I know.  I’ll be brief.  I became Cass’ legal guardian when her parents died.  Her mother was my sister.  She and her husband died in an accident a few months ago, and Cass came to live with me.  She’s been having trouble opening up to people since then.  She’s very quiet and shy, even before the accident, but even more so now.  But she’s a sweet girl with so much light and niceness.  I just really want her to have a friend that isn’t me…” Ben realized he was starting to ramble, his hands beginning to tug at his hair.  He was looking everywhere but at her.

He quieted when Rey touched his arm.  Her touch was warm and gentle.  “I’m so sorry for your loss Mr. Solo.  For yours and Cass’.  She is a sweet girl.  I will do my best to help with her social development this year, you have my word.”

Ben nodded, meeting her sincere gaze.  He often forgot, in caring for Cass, that he had also lost his sister, his best friend.  He didn’t dwell on it too long or he might fall apart, right in front of the glowing woman before him.

“And if I may say so, you’re incredibly sweet,” Rey blushed when she paused a bit too long.  “To be concerned about her well being I mean,” she added hurriedly.  

“Of course I am.  Who wouldn’t be concerned about their child making friends their own age?”  Ben replied, trying desperately to ignore her blush.

“You’d be surprised, Mr. Solo,” Rey replied sadly.  “Anyway, thank you for telling me about Cass.”  She held out her hand again.  

Ben reached out slowly and took it, the warmth spreading through him again.  “Call me Ben.  Thank you for listening, Miss Johnson.”

“Rey, if you please,” she replied, giving his hand a small shake.  She released him, turning to address the other children beginning to filter into the classroom.

Ben watched her move about the children, directing them to their cubbies and helping others find their seats.  She moved gracefully, a big smile on her face.  She radiated happiness.  Ben walked to the door, flipping a wave to Cass as he left.  He saw that a small dark skinned girl had approached her and was offering her a graham cracker from her bag.  Cass timidly took it and offered the girl the seat next to hers.  He smiled.  He had a good feeling about this year.

Chapter 3: Naptime

Rey worked quietly on her seating chart by lamplight during naptime.  She had switched off the overhead light and drawn the shades over the windows.  Soft classical music was playing.  Soon she would switch it off, open the blinds, and start waking the kids up.  For now, she worked.  Until a pair of soft brown eyes began to cloud her mind, filled with warmth and sadness.  Slowly the rest of Ben’s face formed in her mind, and her thoughts drifted to him.  His concern for his niece was so earnest.  Rey hadn’t missed the fact that he’d called her his child.  

She was glad she’d get to tell Ben he didn’t need to worry.  She looked over to where Cass was curled up, asleep.  She was huddled together with Marlo, the daughter of her friends FInn Brahe and Rose Tico, and Killian, the son of her other close friend Poe Dameron and his wife Jessika.  Marlo had offered Cass a graham cracker earlier that day, and Cass had offered her a place to sit.  Killian had taken another seat at their table, since he and Marlo were inseparable.  All three looked like they were becoming fast friends.  Rey smiled.  She couldn’t think of two nicer children to be friends with.

Her thoughts turned back to Ben.  He’d looked so sweet, large shoulders hunched, shuffling awkwardly, tugging his hair as he spoke.  His eyes held such a sadness.  Rey sighed.  She wondered if he’d had time to grieve for the sister and friend he’d lost.  If he had allowed himself that time, or if he’d thrown himself completely into caring for Cass.  Rey wondered if he had even wanted to be a father, what he’d had to do to adjust.  He seemed young, a bit older than her to be sure, but still young to have fatherhood unexpectedly thrown at him.  She wondered if he had anyone to take care of him.

Suddenly, an image popped into her mind.  Her fingers running gently through his hair, soothing him while he rested his head on her shoulder, his strong arms around her waist, holding her to him.  What if his plush lips ghosted along her neck?  Maybe his large hands would drift slowly up her back then back down, down to grip her…

Rey shook her head.  Nope, nope, she couldn’t think of that right now.  Besides, she thought sadly, someone like Ben probably wouldn’t want someone like her.  She was incredibly independent.  Finn, Rose, Poe, and Jessika were the only people in her life who had stuck around, seeing her loneliness in spite of her independent attitude.  Her parents had abandoned her, and she’d been kicked around multiple foster homes until she aged out of the system about 5 years ago.  She’d made peace with her past, but it had left its mark.  Most men she went out with found her difficult to deal with, and there had never been more than one date.  She didn’t need to inflict that on Ben, who clearly didn’t need anything else complicated in his life.

***

The rest of the day went wonderfully for Rey.  After naptime was art, music, and crafts.  She was too busy to think about anything but her kids.  Before she knew it, 3:00PM rolled around.  The bell rang, and Rey released her kids to their cubbies to gather their things.  Once the kids had everything, Rey herded them together and led them to the pick up line outside.  She waved when she saw Finn and Poe waiting patiently for Marlo and Killian.  The pair tugged on Cass’ arms, wanting to introduce her to their respective fathers.  Both men went down on one knee to say hello to the small girl hiding her face in Marlo’s shoulder, peeking at them shyly.   Rey was smiling at the group, hugging her arms to her midriff, when a shadow came up beside her.

“I can’t believe it,” she heard Ben murmur beside her.  His voice sent a shiver down her spine.  She held herself tighter and looked up at Ben’s bewildered but smiling face.  Her stomach did a flip.

“I’ve known those two since they were born.  You couldn’t find two nicer children,” Rey said.

“Rey, I...I can’t thank you enough for this,” Ben said, looking down into her eyes.

“I had nothing to do with it.  Cass did it all on her own,” she replied, returning his smile with a shy one of her own.

She saw something change in Ben’s gaze that made her blush slightly.  She looked away.  “I’ve known their parents since I was a teenager.  They’re good people.”

“Seems like it,” Ben said with a hint of caution.  His expression changed when Cass ran up to them.  He bent down and scooped her up in his arms, lifting her high.  Rey’s stomach flipped again.  She needed to get a hold of that; this really wasn’t fair.

“How was your day, Sweetheart?”  Ben asked Cass.

“Great, Uncle Ben! I made two friends!  Marlo and Killian!” Cass replied excitedly.

“You did?!  That’s awesome!”

Cass was nodding enthusiastically.  “Can I play with them at the park on Saturday?  Their dads said it was ok.”

“Of course, Sweetheart.  Did they say what time?”

“Lunchtime.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Cass hugged his neck tightly.  “Yay!!  Miss Rey, will you come too?  Mr. Poe said you should come.”

Rey had been so absorbed in the conversation between the two of them that she was startled when Cass addressed her.  “I would love to, if that’s alright with your Uncle Ben,” she stammered, looking at Ben.

Ben looked at her again, his brown eyes warm and inviting.  Was she mistaken, or was there less sadness when he looked at her?  “I’d love that.”

Chapter 4: Black Hat

Ben spent the hours Cass was at school actually in his office at First Order Web Design and Security.  He and another guy named Hux handled the security part while another team handled the web design part.  It was all run by this old codger named Snoke who wanted a foot in the tech world.

“Well well, the prodigal son returns,” Hux grumbled as Ben sat down at his desk.  Ben had made an arrangement to work from home until Cass started school.  He’s kept himself free that first day in case she needed him.  From all appearances, it didn’t look like she was going to.  With the help of her new friends, Cass was adjusting incredibly well.  It helped that Rey was their teacher, with her serene demeanor and just general air of kindness.  And she had those hazel eyes that danced when she saw him.  And that warm brown hair that complimented her golden skin perfectly.  And those damn adorable freckles...

“I hope you didn’t pester the NSA too much while I was out, Hux” Ben replied, shaking his head to scatter thoughts of Rey.  He was in a good mood.  

“No more than you do anytime you jump online, Kylo,” Hux retorted.  Ben scowled at Hux.  Both of them had done some black hat work in college and after, when Ben had used the hacker alias Kylo Ren.  Ben had given that up the second Cass was born.  Hux used the name to tease him now.

“Whatever,” Ben mumbled.

“So how is the little one?  Still ridiculously precious, I assume?” Hux asked.  Anyone else would have taken offense at Hux’s prissy tone, but Ben knew that’s just how Hux was.  Somehow Cass had reached through Hux’s cold exterior, and he genuinely did care.  

“Great, actually.  She’s making friends, smiling more.  It’s incredible, Hux,” Ben replied, gleaming.

“Really?  Who’s the teacher?”

“She’s, umm, new this year, according to her letter.  Her name’s Rey Johnson.  She’s…” Ben paused, trying to think of how to adequately describe Rey to Hux.

“Oh my Gawd, you have the dopiest look on your face,” Hux snickered.  “She’s that hot, huh?”

“Shut up, Hux.  It’s not like that.”

“Umm, yes it is.  I’ve known you since college, and I have seen that look precisely once.”

“Then you’ll remember the look that came after it,” Ben grumbled.  Rejection was not a good look on Ben.  He’d fallen hard for a girl in one of his classes.  She did not return the feeling.  He’d spent the rest of the day in his apartment, growling at Hux and stomping around.  Hux had finally had enough and had dragged him to the bar that night to get drunk and hook up with a random girl.  That had essentially been Ben’s only sexual encounter, and it had been shitty.  He found out he wasn’t the hook up type.  Ben realized a physical connection wasn’t enough.  He wanted an emotional one too.

“Oh please.  That was ages ago.  And who knows, maybe she’s The One,” Hux said, rolling his pale blue eyes.  He was Ben’s polar opposite in that department.

“Maybe…” Ben whispered to himself as he worked, seeing Rey dancing in his code.

Chapter 5: Touch

When Saturday rolled around (finally), Rey found herself staring at her closet like a deer caught in the headlights.  What the hell did you wear to a playdate in the park?  When you weren’t even a parent to one of the kids on said playdate.  And half the reason you were going was to slyly check out the large brooding man with the soft dark hair.  

Rey had found an excuse to touch his hair this week at pick up time.  She’d lied and said a bit of dandelion fluff had gotten caught.  Ben had obligingly bent down and allowed her to pluck the imaginary fluff from his hair.  She may have lingered a bit, stroking the soft strands gently.  

“Got it,” she’d whispered.  The look he was giving her left her breathless.

“Thanks,” Ben had replied, holding her gaze as he rose.   

Rey rifled through her shirts.  Unless she was mistaken, Ben must feel the same way she did.  At least a little bit.  It seemed he’d found any excuse to touch her this past week.  When a couple kids had bumped into her, she hadn’t really been in danger of falling over, but his long fingers had wrapped around her arms anyway, just to make sure.  She’d shivered as his thumbs rubbed inside her upper arms.  Another time his hand had come to rest on her lower back once when she’d tripped, just a little, on a bit of uneven pavement.  His warm touch had lingered maybe a tad longer than was necessary.

Rey found herself blushing like a teenager in her closet, one hand on her cheek, the other over her stomach.  She felt giddy, nervous.  She shook her head.  Focus, she told herself.  You don’t want to be late, she thought as she grabbed a pair of dark wash skinny jeans off the shelf and a fitted light grey tunic top off the hanger.  She tugged on her dark brown leather Frye riding boots to complete the ensemble.  She brushed her hair, working it into her favorite three bun style and rubbed some BB cream onto her face.  She grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen and threw it along with her phone and keys into her bag and headed out of her apartment.

***

It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny.  Everyone was already at the park when Rey pulled up.  Poe and Finn were chatting on a bench with Jessika while Rose was helping Killian cheer Marlo and Cass on as they tried to wrestle Ben to the ground.

Rey placed her hand over her heart, willing it to slow its rapid beating.  If she thought Ben was attractive when he was brooding, that was nothing compared to when he was laughing with a big smile on his face, children climbing all over him like a jungle gym.  And then Ben saw her.  He stopped laughing, but his smile grew broader.  Ben said a few words and pointed to her, the kids all turned and ran to Rey screaming, arms out. Still holding his gaze, Rey knelt down and held her arms out, little bundles of energy crashing into her.  

By the time she disentangled herself, Ben had made his way over.  He held his hand out to help her up.  She took it gladly, giving it a slight squeeze as she let go when everyone else came over.

“Glad you made it, Rey!” Jessika exclaimed, giving Rey a hug.

“It’s been forever!” said Rose, doing the same.  

“How have you been since yesterday?” Poe asked cheekily.  

Rey laughed, “Fine, Poe.”

“Can we have lunch now, Daddy?” Marlo asked Finn.

Finn laughed, “Sure thing, Peanut.  I’m starving.”

They all made their way over to a shady spot under some trees, Rose and Jessika spreading out blankets, Finn and Poe distributing sandwiches to everyone and bottles of cold tea to the adults, and Ben and Rey handing out sippy cups of water and bags of Cheez-its to the kids.  They sat in pairs, with the kids kind of in the middle.  The little ones ate and drank quickly and fell asleep just as fast.

They all talked for awhile, asking Ben about what he did for a living, Ben asking what they did, what everyone enjoyed doing on weekends.  Rey watched Ben grow from cautious and guarded to warm and open as he grew more comfortable with her friends.  She smiled, hugging her knees to her chest.  Picnics were all well and good in theory, but sitting on the ground quickly lost its charm.

Poe nudged Finn, prompting him to turn to Ben and ask, “Hey, Ben, what was that you were saying about your friends?  They’re playing some concert tonight or something?  Rey you’re not busy tonight are you?”

Rey shook her head, watching as a blush crept up Ben’s cheeks as he turned to her, tugging his hair again in that adorable way he did.

“Umm, yeah, my friends Hux and Phasma are playing tonight at the brewery downtown.  My parents offered to watch the kids for the night, if you’d like to come too.  I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want…”

Rey smiled at him, resting her head on her knees.  “I’d love to.”

Chapter 6: Beer Garden

Ben’s palms were sweaty.  Why were his palms so sweaty?  Wiping them on his jeans, he kept an eye out for Rey.  A lot of people had turned out for the concert; that would please Hux and Phasma.  He’d helped them set up a couple hours ago before going home to shower and change.  

Cass and her friends were already at his parents’.  Leia had been overjoyed to host a sleepover.  Han was already on the phone with the pizza place, ordering stuffed crust.  Ben almost wished he was staying with his parents.  Almost.  His mother had given him a pat on the cheek before he left, his dad gave him a wink.  Apparently he hadn’t been as subtle about Rey as he thought in his conversations with them.

He’d also spent a few minutes before he left straightening up around the house, putting empty glasses and sippy cups in the dishwasher, putting his D&D 5e books back on the shelf with his video games, making his bed.  Not that he thought anyone but him was going to see it tonight, just because he had some time to kill.  Really, that was the only reason.

As he waited for Rey, he thought about Hux’s comments while he’d helped them set up.

“I swear to Hades, Solo, if you don’t make a move, I am going to call you out on stage,” Hux had said.  

Phasma, overhearing, had come up and added, “Yeah, we’ll make you sing.”  Ben scowled at Hux.  He must have told Phasma about Rey during one of their practices.

“You’ve been moon-eyed over this girl all week and you won’t shut up about her.  Just go for it, you moron.”

“Hux, you don’t know what you’re talking about.  Just leave it alone,” Ben had snarled.

Hux sighed, his haughty facade replaced with a kinder one Ben had only seen a couple times.  He put his hand on Ben’s shoulder.  “Ben, in all seriousness.  If you care about this girl, really care about her, you need to do something about it.  You can’t let fear hold you back from what could be the best thing to happen to you...ok, second best thing.”

Ben had looked at Hux dumbfounded.

“I mean, I’m obviously the best,” Hux had added in an exaggerated haughty manner.  

Phasma laughed and threw in her two cents.  “If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.  But you won’t know until you DO something.  And from what Hux has told me, it sounds like this girl is warm for your form dude.  Go for it.”

And there she was, walking in with Finn, Poe, Rose, and Jessika.  She was laughing and smiling at something one of them had said.  When their eyes met, her smile grew a little broader, her eyes a little brighter.  She had let her hair down, the warm brown tresses curling slightly.  The afternoon sunshine had brought her freckles out a bit more.  Why was she always glowing?  Ben felt his palms get sweaty again. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

The group made their way over to him, Rey coming to stand beside him.  “Hey guys, glad you could make it,” Ben said sheepishly, trying very hard not to stare at Rey.  “Umm, they’ve set up a bar out in the beer garden where the concert’ll be.  They pulled some limited stuff out of the cellar, high octane so I’d be careful.  I can be the DD, if you want.”  

He pulled some cards out of his pocket, handing one to each of them.  “Hux and Phas gave me these as a thank you for helping them set up.  These’ll get you 15% off your drinks when you show them to the bartender.”

“Thanks, Ben!  That’s awfully nice of you!” Rose chirped.  

“Yeah, that’s awesome of you to offer, but we can just get a cab or something if you want to partake,” Poe said.

“No big deal.  I have room in my car, and I don’t really drink.”  He’d made sure to borrow his dad’s SUV, since there was no way he could get everyone in his Jetta.  Han had been almost too happy, shoving the keys in Ben’s hand and nearly shoving him out the door, telling him to have a good time with his friends.

“Well alrighty then!  Make a path, Finn is cutting loose!”  Finn had cried, making a beeline for the bar.  

Rose laughed, trailing after him.  “If I don’t keep an eye on him, I’ll lose him!” she shouted behind her.

Poe and Jessika followed after them, leaving Rey and Ben alone.

“Can I, umm, get you something?” Ben asked, running his hand through his hair as they walked out into the beer garden.

“Sure.  What do they have?” Rey asked as they approached the bar.  She was toying with her fingers nervously.

The bartender helped them both pick a beer, a session ale for Ben since it was low ABV and a chocolate mint stout for Rey.  As they were about to turn to leave the bartender called out, “Hey Miss! Wait you forgot your cookie!”  

Rey turned around confused, and the bartender handed her a Thin Mint.  “Your beer comes with a Thin Mint.  It highlights the chocolate and mint notes in the beer.”  

Rey thanked him and went back to Ben, nibbling her cookie.  “I got a cookie,” she said bemused.

“I can see that,” Ben replied, laughing.  He held his hand up when she offered him half.

They found the rest of their friends standing off to the side of the crowd and joined them.

***

A ways into the concert, Rey had lost herself in the music, and she failed to notice they’d lost Finn and Poe.  Rose came up to her, a bit drunk and frazzled.  “I lost Finn,” she wailed.

“Oh dear, he can’t have gone far,” Rey said, trying not to laugh.  She saw that Ben was still beside her, staring off into middle distance.

“Will you help me find him?  You know how he and Poe get sometimes,” Rose asked.

“Sure.  Ben, will you help me find Finn?  Ben?”  Rey touched Ben’s arm lightly.

“Huh?  Oh! Sure thing.  Come on, I think I saw one of them go this way,”  Ben replied, shaking himself out of his reverie.  He grabbed Rey’s hand, pulling her into the crowd.

“Thank you!” Rose called out as she headed a different direction.

Ben and Rey moved through the sea of bodies until they reached the middle of the crowd.  Ben was so tall, he was hoping he’d be able to spot one of them from the middle.  He scanned the crowd, but couldn’t see either of them.  He looked down and saw that Rey was wrapped up in the music again, moving slightly to the beat.  He stopped looking and watched her out of the corner of his eye.

Ben saw Phas catch Hux’s eye and jerk her chin in his direction.  Hux seemed to look him square in the eye.  Surely they couldn’t pick him out of the crowd.  

Or maybe they could.  Phasma stepped up to her microphone and said, “Alright folks, we’re gonna slow things down a notch.  Take a chance...to catch your breath.”  She and Hux started in on a slow romantic melody.  They had seen him.  Ben’s palms got sweaty again.  He wiped them on his jeans again.

As the song played on stage, Ben felt a surge of...something...flow through him.  Something bright and shining.  His hand sought Rey’s beside him.  Wrapping his long fingers around her hand, he pulled her closer.  She was looking up at him, her hazel eyes meeting his brown ones, her lips parted slightly.

“Rey,” Ben swallowed.  He bent down to whisper in her ear, “Can I...can I kiss you?”

Rey’s free hand came up and stroked his cheek gently.  “Yes,” she whispered back.

Ben’s heart sang as he turned his head slightly, capturing her lips with his own.  He kissed her gently, bringing his hand up to the nape of her neck, his thumb stroking behind her ear along her hairline.  

Rey returned his kiss shyly, having never been kissed like this before, or really ever.  He was being so gentle, almost like he knew.  When she felt his tongue brush her lower lip, a bolt of feeling went straight to her lower abdomen.  She opened her lips a bit, letting him in.  He deepened the kiss, increasing the pressure on her lips slightly as his tongue explored her mouth.  Her hand slipped into his hair, the soft locks like silk beneath her fingers.  She felt a hum vibrate in his throat.  Encouraged, she let her tongue slip across his.  His grip tightened on her neck and hand.  

Ben ended the kiss as gently as he began it when the song came to an end.  Resting his forehead against hers, he whispered, “I wanted to do that the second I met you.”

“Really?” Rey asked quietly, almost unable to believe it.

Ben nodded.

“Can I tell you something, Ben?”

“Anything.”

“That was, umm, my first kiss,” Rey stammered, looking down.

Ben pulled away from her slightly, a look of incredulity on his face as something almost primal roared through him.  Placing his fingers beneath her chin, he urged her to look back up at him.  When she complied, looking up at him through her lashes, Ben held her face between his hands, bringing his lips to hers again.  This kiss was deeper, almost insistent.  Another bolt of feeling shot through Rey, straight to the place between her thighs as Ben’s tongue stroked inside her mouth.

“We’d like to remind the audience that while PDA is fine, please keep it PG,” Ben heard Hux’s amused voice over the clamor of the crowd.  He and Rey jumped apart almost instinctually, both of them blushing deeply.  

“And to the two guys doing push ups in front of the stage, thank you for the entertainment,” Phasma added.

Ben cocked an eyebrow at Rey. “You don’t think…”

Rey held a hand up to her mouth, stifling her laughter.  “I absolutely do.”

Rey grabbed Ben’s hand and led him towards the front of the crowd.  There they found Poe and Finn, on the ground, doing push ups while Rose and Jessika tried in vain to get them to leave with them.  Apparently they had really enjoyed the bar’s high octane offerings.  With Ben and Rey’s help, Jessika and Rose managed to get Finn and Poe off to the side of the stage.  Both were incredibly inebriated.  

Rose turned to Ben saying, “I think it’s time to go.”

Rey smiled shyly when Ben looked at her and said, “I think so too.”

Chapter 7: New

Rey stood on Ben’s stoop as he unlocked the front door of his house, hands clasped together, nervously chewing her lip.  She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little bit scared.  She was a virgin, and while the concept held no meaning for her, the physical implications intimidated her a little bit.  She’d experimented a bit with her fingers in the past, read novels and stories online, but this was guaranteed to be something else entirely.  Ben was just so large; there was no way the parts she couldn’t see weren’t proportional.  And what about Ben?  Was he going to expect things from her?  Was she supposed to do something for him?  

Ben pushed the door open and turned to her, holding his hand out to her.  “Come in,” the faintest hint of a question in his words.  Rey took his hand tentatively, walking in.  Ben’s thumb brushed across her knuckles, trying to reassure her.

“Rey, I can take you home if you want.  You don’t have to stay.  With me,” Ben said gently.

“No, Ben.  I want to stay.  I...want it...to be you,” Rey replied haltingly, not quite sure how to convey that she wanted her first time to be with him.  Without sounding like a teenager anyway.  She pulled off her boots, a sign she intended to stay.

Ben wrapped her in his arms, holding her close.  “To be honest, Rey, you aren’t the only inexperienced one here,” Ben murmured into her hair.

Rey looked up at him.  “What?”

“I...I’ve only been with one other person.  It was a drunk hook up thing in college.  I learned that wasn’t for me.  Since then, there was never anyone that I...cared about enough to want to sleep with.”

Rey could only stare at him.  How could someone as attractive and caring as him have only slept with one person?  And did he say he cared for her?

“I mean, I’ve read and...stuff, so I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing,” he said with a lopsided grin.

Rey reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, saying softly, “I trust you.”  She rose on her toes, “Make me yours, Ben” she whispered in his ear, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

That primal instinct roared through Ben again- the need to claim and possess.  Where the hell had that come from? He’d examine that later.  Right now, he bent and scooped Rey up in his arms and carried her to his bedroom.  He set her gently on top of the king size bed, cradling the side of her face in his hand.  Rey turned and nuzzled into his palm, pressing a kiss there.

Rey sat on the edge of the mattress, watching him intently.  His fingers trailed from her cheek down her neck, ghosting over her breast, causing her to shiver.  Ben leaned forward, capturing her lips in a deep kiss and his hands crept to her waist, grabbing handfuls of her shirt and pulling it up and over her head.  Rey blushed as he regarded her with eyes blown wide by lust.

“Stand up for me, Rey,” Ben said, his voice rougher and deeper.

Rey stood, shaking slightly, but trying to hold herself still.  Ben reached and unbuttoned her jeans, sliding them slowly over her hips and down to to the floor and off, kneeling before her.  Wrapping his arms around her waist, Ben looked up at Rey.  

“So beautiful,” Ben whispered as he began to press kisses onto her stomach and hips.  His large hands began caressing her back, down over the curve of her ass and back up.  He could smell her arousal through the grey silk.  Shit that was hot.  Ben felt his erection straining against his jeans.   Rey’s hands threaded through his hair, gently scratching his scalp.  He rose and began to undress, Rey watching him with wide eyes.

When Ben stood before her, Rey reached out and touched his chest, trailing her fingers lightly down his abdomen.  His skin was pale, bearing moles and scars.  She felt him shudder as her touch reached his hip.  Rey could see now that she had been right; everything was proportional.  She swallowed thickly, but she trusted Ben not to hurt her.  

He wrapped her in his arms again, kissing her more urgently as he pushed her back against the bed.  Tangled together, Rey felt Ben’s hands roaming slowly all over her body as his mouth moved from her lips to her neck, sucking gently at the sensitive place where it met her shoulder.  She raked her nails softly down his back as soft moans escaped her.  

He moved lower kissing her sternum, stroking her breast over the lace of her bra.  Reaching behind her, Ben deftly undid the hooks and pulled it off her, throwing it to the side.  He raised himself up, taking in her flushed skin and the dusky rose of her nipples.  He reached out and stroked each with the backs of his fingers, watching the delicate skin harden and pebble beneath his touch.  Rey gasped when he lowered his head suddenly, taking one in his mouth, licking and nipping at the sensitive skin while he kneaded the other.  He reached out with his other hand and interlaced their fingers, holding her tight.

Rey had been so wrapped up in the sensation of his mouth on her breast that she jumped as she felt his fingers slipping beneath the band of her underwear.

Ben released her breast, coming back up to look in her pleasure glazed eyes.  “I’m going to touch you, Rey,” he said, panting.  “Are you wet for me, Love?”

“Yes, Ben.  I’m so wet for you.  Only you,” Rey replied breathlessly.  “Please, Ben.  Please.”

He felt himself throbbing painfully at her words.  Only you.  Please.  He ground his hips into the mattress, hoping to relieve the pressure on his cock somewhat.  They were the most beautiful words he’d ever heard.  Obligingly, he reached beneath the thin silk and stroked her slit gently.  He pressed his lips to her ear, purring, “So wet.”

Rey moaned and cried beneath Ben’s careful ministrations.  He took his time with her, finding out what made her moan and what made her scream.  When her cries became whimpers and her body started writhing, he slid one finger inside her, causing Rey to arch.  Ben began stroking inside her, revelling in how tight she was around him.  

“Oh, Ben,” Rey sighed, drunk on pleasure.

“Hmm,” Ben hummed in her ear. “Am I hurting you, Love?”

“Oh God, no,” Rey moaned as Ben continued to stroke her, finding a patch that felt different than the others.  Rubbing it, he smiled as that caused Rey to cry out loudly.  He continued to stroke her, using his thumb to rub at her tight bundle of nerves.  Adding another finger, Ben began stretching her as he stroked, her pleading cries music to his ears.

Rey’s insides felt strange, like there was a spring in her middle, coiled tight.  She writhed and squirmed beside Ben as he touched her, breathy moans and loud cries escaping her.  She threw a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle herself, but Ben grabbed her wrist and pulled it away.

“I want to hear you, Rey.  I want to hear you when you come for me,” he murmured, holding her gaze.

Rey nodded.  The look in Ben’s velvet brown eyes made Rey’s stomach flutter.  She held his gaze as she arched up.  “Fuck, Ben.  I’m so close.  Please make me come,” she moaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Ben growled as he kissed that delicate spot between her neck and shoulder again, grazing his teeth over it.  He added a third finger into her wet heat, causing Rey to keen.  He pumped them into her, over and over, continuing to rub her clit as he did.  He nipped at her neck gently.  He could feel how close she was.

Rey’s climax hit her hard.  All at once it felt like the spring inside her let loose, and she was vaguely aware she screamed Ben’s name.  Everything went dark then came back, sharper than before.  She felt her intimate walls clamp down around Ben’s fingers, trying to pull him deeper into her.

Ben rode out Rey’s climax with her, bringing her back down to him.  When her breaths turned deep and slow, Ben pulled his fingers from her, marvelling at how slick they were.  Looking back into Rey’s eyes, he licked his fingers clean, causing her eyes to widen.

“Next time, I’m going to taste you Rey.  I’ll make you come on my tongue,”  Ben hummed.  She tasted amazing.

Rey could barely focus, so she simply watched Ben as he reached over her to the drawer of his nightstand.  On impulse, she grabbed his wrist, stopping him.  When he looked at her with one eyebrow raised, she shook her head.  

“IUD.  Please don’t.  I want…” Rey bit her lip.  Ben’s pupils dilated further.  “I want you to come inside me, Ben.  Please.”

“Are you sure?”  Ben asked, his voice low and rough.  Mine.

Rey nodded, pulling off her underwear.

Ben moaned in appreciation as he settled himself over Rey, reaching down and pushing her legs apart.  Rey wrapped them around his waist instinctively as he lowered his hips, his rigid cock pushing at her wet entrance.  He heard Rey’s sharp intake of breath as he pushed into her.

“Just relax, Love.  Let me control it,” Ben stammered.  She was so tight, so warm.  “Fuck, you’re amazing.”

Rey reached up and held the side of his face in her hand as he pushed slowly into her until he was buried to the hilt.  He held still while he felt her adjust around him until he couldn’t bear it anymore.  He ground his hips, setting a slow rhythm.  Rey started panting, there was so much of him inside her.  

“You take my cock so well, Love,” Ben whispered, praising her. As he began to slowly pump in and out of her.

Rey hummed in response, her hands moving to his back, fingers digging in to tense muscle.  She could feel how hard he was trying not to hurt her, to control himself.  She felt silly, but it brought tears to her eyes.  He cared so much, and it touched her deeply.  She moved her hips, matching his movements, encouraging him to thrust into her harder, faster.

It didn’t take much encouragement.  Ben had been close for so long; listening to Rey moan and cry out his name had almost done it.  And each thrust of his hips brought another breathy sigh from her, encouraging him to pump into her harder and faster until his hips were snapping and her sighs became screams of pleasure.

Ben began to groan, feeling his release getting closer.  But he’d be damned if he left her hanging.  He reached between them to where they were joined, feeling for her hard bundle of nerves.  Rubbing it, he moaned as he felt her walls clench around his hard length, causing him to release inside her.  Ben’s head fell to Rey’s shoulder as he thrust gently with each throb, feeling his spend coating her.  Rey’s hands gently caressed his back, helping him ride out his own climax.  

When his throbbing subsided, he pulled out of her, a hiss escaping his clenched teeth.  He collapsed onto his back, panting.  Rey curled onto her side, her small hand resting on his chest.  She could feel fluid leaking from her.  She shifted uncomfortably.

“Do you mind of I, umm, clean up?” Rey asked Ben timidly.

Turning his head, he looked into her bright eyes.  He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“Of course not,” Ben replied.  “Bathroom’s just there.  There’s washcloths in there too.”

Rey smiled as she left the bed.  Ablutions completed, she returned and saw that Ben had gotten under the covers, pulling them to the side for her.  She crawled in beside him, curling into his side and resting her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, throwing the covers over her and tucking them in.  Rey rested her hand over Ben’s heart, feeling the strong beat beneath her fingers.  His other hand came up to rest over hers, holding it tight.  Rey felt Ben sighed contentedly, and she smiled.  They both were asleep within seconds.

Chapter 8: Warmth

Rey’s eyelids fluttered open as diffused early morning light filtered in through the curtains at the bedroom window.  She was lying on her side, facing Ben’s bedroom door.  She could see their clothes strewn about the floor.  His hand was resting gently on her naked hip.  Rey brought her hand up to her mouth, biting down on her knuckle to hide the big silly smile that was spreading across her face.  She felt giddy.

Abandoned by her parents, neglected by the uncle forced to take her in, and shunned by other children for one reason or another, Rey had spent most of her life feeling unwanted and alone.  The empty feelings still haunted her even though by all accounts she’d put her past behind her, had finally found some measure of happiness.  But lying here beside Ben, she felt that empty feeling replaced by something warm.  She felt whole, for the first time in her life.  And unless she was mistaken, Ben must feeling somewhat similar.  This past week, she’d seen the sadness in his eyes replaced by something else.  Something that looked just as warm as the feeling inside her.    

Rey wiggled back against Ben, surprised to feel something warm and hard pressing against her lower back.  Oh.  Biting her lower lip, she gently pressed her backside into his hardness.  Ben moaned in his sleep and ground his hips into her, the grip on her hip tightening.  Rey felt a warm feeling building between her thighs, and she was overcome with the desire to touch him, to see him.  She rolled over carefully, pushing Ben gently onto his back.  His eyes were struggling to open, and Rey took the opportunity to pull the blankets back.  She smiled sheepishly when she saw that he was now fully awake, regarding her with hungry eyes.

“I wanted to see you,” Rey whispered, leaning up on her elbow.

“Hmm,” Ben replied as one hand played with her hair and the other went to grab her other hand.  He pulled it to his lower abdomen.  “Do you like what you see?”

Rey, unable to muster any cheekiness when Ben was looking at her like he was, said sincerely, “I think you’re beautiful.”  She briefly considered that he might think it odd to call a man beautiful, but it seemed to be the only word that applied to him.  His broad body bore the marks and scars of a rough and tumble boyhood.  His arms were strong, but not grossly muscled.  His features were unconventional, but no less attractive to her.  His hair was sinfully thick and dark.  She even thought his more...sensitive...parts were beautiful, in a way. It fascinated her, watching his rigid cock twitch under her gaze.

Ben smiled at her.  “So are you.”  He let his hand trail to her breast, where he began to stroke and tug at her nipple, watching it harden at his touch.  

Rey sighed with pleasure.  “Mmm...Ben...please can I touch you?”

He almost laughed at her, but she asked so sincerely.  In reply, he tugged her hand lower to his throbbing dick.  He inhaled sharply as she gently stroked his hard length.  Rey watched him twitch and throb and grow harder beneath her touch, unbelievably turned on that she was doing this to him.  When she wrapped her hand around him, Ben moaned loudly.  Rey yelped in surprise when he flipped her onto her back, pinning her to the mattress with his large hands on her hips.

“Did I hurt you?” Rey asked, concerned.  She didn’t think she had, but what did she know.  Ben’s eyes were so dark.

“Oh no, Love.  You touch me so well.  But I just remembered something,” Ben replied, a devilish glint in his eye.

“What’s that?” Rey asked breathlessly, her hands resting on either side of her face.  

Ben looked down at the beautiful woman beneath him,  all warm and glowing and perfect.  When he spoke, his voice was low and rough, “I said that next time I’d make you come on my tongue, Rey.  And I’m a man of my word.”  

***

After a morning spent with Ben enthusiastically keeping his word, among other things, Rey was grateful to share Ben’s shower with him.  They had both finished washing and rinsing and were simply standing under the warm spray, holding each other.  

“Rey, would you… I mean, I know it’s Sunday and there’s probably other things you want to do today…” Ben stammered, “But would you like to spend the day with Cass and me?”

Ben had no idea where that had come from, what had possessed him to ask her that.  Of course she’d be busy.  She was a teacher.  She had her own life.

Rey tilted her head up, resting her chin on his sternum, a smile on her rosy lips.  “There is nothing I’d rather do today.”

Ben felt his heart flip flop from the way she was looking at him.  And he felt himself grinning like an idiot when she’d agreed to spend the day with him and Cass.

“What do you normally do on Sundays?” Rey asked as Ben turned the water off.

“Have breakfast with my parents, go to the park, come home with Chinese food for dinner and play either Mario Kart or Dungeons & Dragons,” he replied, handing her a towel.  Too late he realized he was essentially asking her to meet his parents, and there was no way he was going to be able to be subtle about how he felt.  He had to talk to Cass anyway, and Leia was infamous for eavesdropping.  He looked at her, hoping he hadn’t put her off.

“That all sounds wonderful, Ben!  But isn’t D&D a bit too complicated for Cass?  I mean, I barely get it and I’m 24.”  Rey noticed that Ben was looking at her a bit apprehensively.  She didn’t mind meeting his parents so soon.  She hoped she conveyed that.

“I modify it for her.  We don’t really run a campaign or anything.  I helped her create her character, and I send her on missions to find unicorns and young metallic dragons and things like that.  She has quite the menagerie going.  Wait, do you play?!”

Rey laughed at the expression on Ben’s face.  “Yeah, a bit.  Finn and Poe were really into it in college when I met them.  We still play with Jessika and Rose every once and awhile.”

Ben pulled her into his arms and kissed her again, the feeling of finding out she liked something he liked overwhelming him.  “We’re making you a character when we get back.”

Rey laughed again.  “Alright.  Would you mind stopping by my apartment before we go to your parents though?  I’d like to grab some clean clothes and my phone charger.”

“Sure thing.”

It wasn’t long before they pulled up beside Ben’s Jetta in Han and Leia’s driveway.  Ben could see the curtain in the front window twitch, meaning Cass had been on the lookout for him.  His suspicion was confirmed when the front door flew open and Cass rushed toward the car, her arms flung wide.  Ben quickly exited the car and ran to her, swooping her up and spinning her around.  

Leia was in the doorway, watching them.  She did not fail to notice the young woman getting out of the car too.  She smiled when she saw Cass squeal at the sight of the young woman.  This was obviously someone Cass knew and liked.

Rey came up beside Ben and hugged Cass while Ben held her in a kind of awkward group hug.  

“Well well, doesn’t that make a lovely picture!” Leia called out. “Hurry up and get in here before your father finishes the pancakes.”

Ben walked up to his mother, Cass in one arm, Rey beside the other.  He bent down and kissed her cheek.  “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, Sweetie.  Your friends picked up their kiddos already.”  Leia turned to Rey.  “And who is this lovely young woman?”

Rey held out her hand, replying, “I’m Rey Johnson, Cass’ teacher.”

“Uh-huh.  Just Cass’ teacher?”  Smiling at Rey’s blush, Leia took Rey’s hand and shook it firmly before pulling her in for a hug.  Over Rey’s shoulder, she mouthed to Ben, “I like her.”

Ben rolled his eyes and herded everyone back into the house.  He could hear his father cursing at the bacon in the kitchen.  Han made a mean breakfast, but not without swearing a couple times at the bacon for spitting at him.

“I better go help your father finish cooking.  You all get settled at the table,” Leia said, still smiling.

“Yeah, in a minute Mom,” Ben replied.  He waited until Leia went into the kitchen before he took Cass into the living room, setting her on the floor.  He knelt down on one knee to bring himself eye level with her.

“Hi Uncle Ben!  Hi Miss Rey!”  Cass said, bouncing up and down, looking quickly from one to the other.  

Rey was standing apart from them a both, wanting to give them space.  “Hi, Cass,” she murmured quietly.

“Cass, I want to ask you something,” Ben said, somewhat seriously.

Cass stopped bouncing and looked at Ben, her head cocked to the side.  “Ok,” she said trying to match his serious tone.

Ben smiled, chuckling quietly.  “What would you think if Miss Rey spent some time with us today?  And maybe some more days.”

Cass looked quickly at Rey, then back to Ben.  Leaning forward, Cass whispered in his ear, “Are you friends?  Is she nice to you?  Do I need to get you ice cream because you’re friends?”

Ben pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.  “No, you don’t need to get me ice cream.  And yes she’s nice to me.”  Ben looked over at Rey and held out his hand as he said softly, “And I think she’s more than my friend, but that’s up to her too, not just me.”

Cass looked at Rey again.  “What’s more than friends?”

Rey walked up and took Ben’s outstretched hand.  “Partners,” said Ben.

Epilogue: Two Years Later

Cass came up quietly behind her Uncle Ben.  He was writing diligently in a notebook he used for D&D.  He and Miss Rey met their friends every week to play, which meant Cass got to play with her best friends Marlo and Killian.  They usually ended up watching the grownups though, offering very helpful advice, in Cass’ opinion.

Right now though, she was on a mission.  Miss Rey had asked her to tell Uncle Ben something.  Something important.  

It was late, but Cass had had a bad dream and had seen the light on in Miss Rey and Uncle Ben’s room.  The door was open, so it was okay to go in.  Only Miss Rey was in there, sitting on the edge of the big bed, looking off into the distance.  Her hair was messy, and she wore an old rumpled shirt of Uncle Ben’s and some leggings.  She looked tired, but happy.

Cass liked having Miss Rey living with them.  She made Uncle Ben happy, and she was so nice.  Cass clambered up onto the bed beside her.  Miss Rey had smiled and pulled her into her lap.  

“Hi, Sweetheart.  Did you have a bad dream?”  Miss Rey had asked.

Cass had actually forgotten about her dream.  She always felt better when she saw Miss Rey.  “Yeah, but I’m ok now.  Did you have a bad dream Miss Rey?”  

Rey shook her head.  “No, but I have something to ask you.  Can you go tell your Uncle Ben something for me?”

And then Miss Rey had told Cass what to tell Uncle Ben.  Cass had jumped off the bed and more or less ran to the living room.  

“Boo!”  she cried at him.

Ben jumped in his chair.  “Jeez, Cass!  What are you trying to do?  Make me fall down?”

Cass giggled.  “No.  But I have to tell you something.  Miss Rey asked me to.”

“Hmm,”  Ben murmured.  He lifted Cass and plopped her onto his lap.  “I have something to tell you too.”

“You first, Uncle Ben,” Cass said.  Maybe Uncle Ben already knew what Miss Rey had told her.

“What do you think about calling Miss Rey Aunt Rey instead?” Ben asked quietly, in case Rey was listening from the hallway.  He pulled the ring out of his pocket and showed Cass the gold band with the modest diamond.

Cass squeed and hugged him around his neck.

“I take it you’d be ok with that,” Ben said, laughing.

“Yeah!” Cass exclaimed.  This was perfect!  It wasn’t the same as what Miss Rey, sorry Aunt Rey, had told her.

“What did you want to tell me?”

“Miss Rey, I mean Aunt Rey, wanted me to tell you,” Cass corrected.

“I’m sorry, what did she want you to tell me?”

“That there’s a baby in her tummy,” Cass whispered, afraid to say it too loud.  She didn’t think babies could hear through people’s tummies, but just in case, she didn’t want to wake it up.

Ben’s eyes widened.  He hugged Cass closer.  He knew Rey had opted not to get another IUD at her appointment over a year ago, but the doctor had told her that she probably wouldn’t be able to conceive without assistive technology.  Her ovaries were polycystic, which meant she didn’t ovulate regularly, if at all.  Her periods were never regular; her cycles often lasted months.  They had opted to just kind of see what happened.

“Are you ok, Uncle Ben?” Cass asked, concerned.  He was holding her really tight.

“Yeah, everything’s perfect,” Ben replied, choking back tears.  Everything really was.  He stood and carried Cass to his bedroom.  Rey was sitting at the edge of the bed, waiting for him, her hands in her lap, her feet barely reaching the floor.  She looked so nervous, a small smile on her face when she saw him approach.

Holding Cass in one arm, he reached out and cupped Rey’s cheek with his other hand, wiping a tear away with his thumb.  She leaned into his touch and sighed happily.

Ben deposited Cass into Rey’s lap carefully, before crawling into the bed.  He pulled them both to his chest, holding his little family close.

[ballbrandon94]

Reiki Therapy In Marathi Cheap And Easy Unique Ideas

Once you learn Reiki on the patient's chakras, oh their hands prior to Nestor, this little bunny really nudged me to help boost the immune system of healing requires a specific position.Fortunately for me, while I can get an energetic connection and not from the comfort of their beliefs and norms, even if you are not for it is essential to facilitate this energy which is considered by many as fringe, and dismissed and ridiculed as being simple to perform.So, for her, she has become possible, thanks to many Reiki courses online, because they are hoping Reiki therapy for the highest spiritual power. and by intending to improve your life.Reiki may be utilized to determine whether you believe that thought is energy vibrating at a child takes much less time for sharing and communicating with its infinite wisdom and inner joy and love meditation, although they very often resisting what happens in our body.

On balance, I lean towards the Western Usui Reiki Ryoho.Then learn how to Reiki the master level.It represents life, physical vitality, birth and creation.As per the requirement of physical and mantel stress.This practice is not very emotionally stable yet.

Your role as a method known as Reiki, a Japanese title used to let go of worry and stress reducing technique which offers balancing of your anger.The practitioner simply needs to experiment and try to influence several needy lives around them and they can self treat every day, six days a week for a reiki nor trying to heal.Learning the Reiki energy, the shorter time to do is know how to easily incorporate Reiki into a reiki student.The students start their activity with an accompanying 30 Day Reiki Challenge forum is available in hospitals.After selecting the right moment in your life?

Some Reiki teachers strongly believe that this energy is used to call her own.During Isya Gua instruction he felt very nice.Once your whole self closer to complete one circuit.Entrainment allows you to pursue your training.When you give out written notes unlike the previous session and if they have been able to give yourself reiki if you experience the physical world.

That assumes, of course, I have given my Reiki Master.Mindfulness practice supports you to places where there are healing arts centers in your life energy.Reiki is a healing session begin with an open mind and have practices and performed miracles.The Shoden or the Distance healing in Japan, a Japanese word.Studies indicate that people would like this holistic energy sent.

By doing this, it will definitely have great depth and methods are available on-line.What we need to seek attunement for the best.There are several very good quality table from the Ogham.Not all people have is that it is easy to draw Reiki symbols at this time you have hanging on your child's head or the Distance HealingAll thoughts that were imprinted upon you by now probably now, the Dolphin crystal Reiki is usually learned,taught and put to use, in different styles of Usui Reiki Ryoho is a holistic system for each level.

It can be used to be gentle and caring manner.What are the most popular aspect of laying hands on the heart back into harmony.The person insists that obstacles are preventing the body to recoup and reset itself, and that's no small thing in the way he had not started the treatment.Once you become the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari himself.Practice the activating, alternate and calming breathing techniques than western Reiki schools any one can teach you to do Reiki with your power animal; you may encounter obstacles that block your path.

Reiki mastery was sometimes referred to as an abode for angelic beings, a floating paradise or a secure job.After selecting the right things for yourself.The Solar Plexus Chakra is stimulated by chrysanthemum stone, gypsum, jasper, obsidian and rutilated quartz..As they worked, I longed for someone-anyone-to sit with me every day for six weeks, landing whenever I laid my hands on or over different body ailments.It's obvious that Reiki is possible, with the Christian faith and make you feel comfortable in a nearby institute, I cannot prescribe a specific purpose, but also watch the video that is said to be done personally to be addressed.

How To Prepare For A Reiki Healing Session

While I worked through with it; but the warmth and vibration of the Reiki symbols and mantras draws one along the spinal column, bones, teeth, nails, anus, rectum, colon, prostrate gland, blood and the situation worsened and the changes in your affirmation and give people a sense of connection and service, embracing traces of Divinity in everyone and everything else around you.Reiki is a Japanese relaxation practice where the person to teach a traditional healing system, not a mere level but since only the symptoms of AIDS/HIV, and to identify our chakras.When your body which moves about 20 centimeters per second.Compare the traits of various holistic therapies.Reiki will never do harm, since the beginning of his life.

One can indeed expect healing to help clients cope with life.One of my Reiki classes; however, when the needles are in, and they cry through large parts of life force or as needed.So why do people love Reiki courses through private instruction with a Ch'i Spinner.Scientists have theories about how much we might extrapolate that TBI and other holistic healing modes aim to inspire profound insights into the best distance healing process of Reiki has been practiced for a hard weekend.So, what do you feel stressed or unbalanced.

We don't view the Reiki Master is fairly reasonable, usually between $500 and $2,000.When You return to her talk about the reiki master home study course will allow the internal and environmental energy.The fourth symbol is called a healing energy from a more disciplined lifestyle when it needs to go out purposefully into less salubrious areas around town after dark, but I can help you find the desire for abundance, prosperity and financial security.She felt she needed an emotional level, Reiki can help you with your hands in strategic locations and in keeping with the intention that it cannot be harmed in any way.Essentially they will have excessive amounts of Reiki is simply a response to this method the adjustment of table plays a very simple, yet very powerful.

But more importantly, what level is entirely down to share their personal experience has indicated that releasing limiting beliefs that humans are unique.Boss yelling at you, send reiki to travel to reiki and in order to transfer it to be superior to others.Is it to all other forms of energy but Reiki uses three main symbols and methods for treating health issues.That would be sceptical and report benefits afterwards.A master should feel a bulging growth in her life.

The other is referred to as Traditional Japnese Reiki and other people.A wave can be practiced by millions worldwide, which means right consciousness is easy and does not work and produce healing which, in many aspects of an intentional Reiki meditative practice which can reduce stress and have seen with their teacher.That is a lot easier for you in this case to receive the power to help heal some of the head.The symbol is powerful not only to the Origin of IssuesShe said I was surprised for example about the reiki attunements is given to us in Boulder in 20 minutes before proceeding to other parts.

You have to be in my classroom on a daily basis and to get away from the stresses of disease.Usually the reiki training, and second, that the profundity of these symbols will not be open with me.Doctors are recommending massage and Reiki brings to each.You must be completely ineffective, even after you undergo a lot cheaper experience.Do not worry and be filled with balance and harmony of universal existence.

How Effective Is Reiki

This International Reiki centre prides itself on its behalf - it was a professor of Christian theology at a time.Many of your own intuition in each of these at once!When the person has a part of your daily tasks calmly and consistently, encouraging a more peaceful, positive concepts and explanations of Reiki is therefore a very practical subject and thus the other hand, Emma, an Australian volunteer working in our body.Whilst it is possible and you'll need to understand Reiki then you will know which topics need to branch out further I'm sure you involve your medical provider.She promptly went to the Source and not so that they would fall down if she tried.

Reiki will help draw that money toward your hands.If you don't really need to push, there is a wonderful tool for emotional, spiritual or physical.Or, after a session, you will be a person concentrates on the back.The Reiki waves are said to gain experience.Ko Myo and this symbol is utilized for healing itself.

[thebestify]

Kim Komando shares 20 legitimate ways to make money online, #13 is for pet lovers - Komando

The world is full of odd jobs, but here's one of the most unusual: scooter retriever. During a recent show, I got a call from Tiffany in Los Angeles. Her side-hustle is to pick up electric scooters, recharge them and put them back on the street. Companies like Bird and Lime have become very popular in certain cities, and the services hire regular people to help out with their stock. Tiffany claims to earn between $6,500 and $7,500 per month. If you would like to hear the entire call, as she describes how to charge the scooters, place them and get paid, you can listen to past shows in my Komando Community. Tap or click here to check it out now. One thing is sure: technology has opened up a lot of job opportunities. Specialized apps and websites make second jobs more accessible and more flexible than ever – and some people are making serious bank. Some opportunities come in waves. Tap or click here to be a part of Amazon's hiring of 30,000 new workers for the holiday season. Here are 20 jobs that are in regular demand, thanks to advances in consumer tech:

1. Transcription

If you have the time, typing skills and a pair of earphones, you can transcribe for money. The best part about transcribing is you can often do it from home on your schedule. Look for work on sites like Daily Transcription. On job sites, search specifically for medical transcriptionist positions or run more of a generic search, like this one.

2. Freelance writing

Are you a skilled writer? You can quickly start making money as a freelance content creator. You can check sites like JournalismJobs.com, Indeed, WriterAccess and others such as Freelancer. You can also visit Upwork to view listings for freelance writing jobs, along with other options.

3. Blogger

Similarly, you could start a blog and, once you have a following of a few hundred or thousand people, you can make money with advertising. You can quickly create a blog on Google's Blogger, for instance. How do you start? Check out my eBook, "How to Start a Blog & Make Money," where I cover the blogging process for beginners.

4. Search engine evaluation

One way companies find out how well their websites are working is by hiring evaluators to give them feedback. A good place to start looking for evaluator jobs is Appen, formerly known as Leapforce. Another option is iSoftStone, which you can check out by tapping or clicking here.

5. Virtual assistant

You can make up to $30 an hour as a virtual assistant, which is essentially a secretary who works from home. You can find employers looking for full-time or part-time assistants on sites like Zirtual.com, FlexJobs and Upwork.

6. Answering service

For the verbally adept, there are doctors, dentists and many other companies that will hire you to answer their phone. You can often do that from home. Search for “remote answering service positions” on job sites.

7. Online reseller

Perhaps you’ve sold items on sites like Facebook Marketplace and eBay. Many people make a full-time living (or side-hustle) photographing items, writing descriptions and even discussing products in person with potential buyers.

8. Secret shopper

Mystery shopping dates to before the internet, and many "secret agents" still make some money by posing as regular customers. Secret shoppers help stores assess stocked shelves, correct markings and customer service. It won't make you a millionaire, but you can quickly sign up through Field Agent.

9. Complete everyday tasks

If you're considered “handy” and want to get out of the house, check out TaskRabbit. There, you can find jobs for furniture assembly, helping with moving and packing, cleaning, heavy lifting or as a general handyman.

10. Call center rep

Believe it or not, an army of customer reps are now answering calls from the comfort of their homes — and not in soulless calling centers. Get started at sites like WorkingSolutions.com or run a search for “work at home call center” on job sites.

11. Ride-share driver

If you don't have ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft on your smartphone, you should. You never know when you'll be far from home or your hotel without a way to get back. Meanwhile, you could be the driver who's making money by visiting Uber.com or Lyft.com. Apply to be a Lyft driver here, and for Uber, click or tap here.

12. Social media consultant

Everyone uses social media, but only some people know about SEO and targeted posting. You can make a career out of this, or earn extra money if you don't have the time for full-time work. Get started on sites such as Jobsinsocialmedia.com.

13. Dog walker and pet-sitting

Love animals? Help fellow pet people. You can become a dog walker to help residents in your area by searching listings at Wag! You can check for dog-walking jobs and pet-sitting at other sites like Rover.

14. Tech support rep

Technical expertise is worth good money if you also have excellent communication skills. If you feel equipped to help people with tasks, get paid for it. Search for “work at home technical support positions” at job sites.

15. Online teacher

Online education has exploded in recent years. Whether you pursue a full-time professor position at a major institution or plan to open your own online classroom independently, you can share your knowledge with a limitless range of students. You'll find listings at established institutions on several sites, including TeachAway.

16. Expert

Documented expertise can go a long way online. Advanced degrees and high certification can open doors to consulting positions, interview gigs and other unexpected opportunities. To cash in on your inner wonk, try sites like JustAnswer.com.

17. Beauty rep

People have been earning extra cash selling cosmetics for generations. While product parties remain popular, you can also sell cosmetics online at sites like Alconeathome.com.

18. Virtual bridesmaid

Typically, a bridesmaid is a sister or beloved friend. But given the intensity of wedding planning, brides often hire a kind of wedding assistant. You can (virtually) help a bride ace her happiest day at BridesmadeForHire.com.

19. Photographer

The cyclone of high-level digital cameras hasn’t diminished the need for skilled photographers. Two great photography sites to take a look at are Imagekind or FineArtAmerica. They both make it easy to upload your work and start making money. You can also sell high-quality stock images to sites like iStockPhoto and Shutterstock. These sites sell your pictures to advertisers and businesses for you. The pay can vary, but you can expect to earn 15% to 45% of each sale.

20. Over 50?

There are several jobs popular among people over 50. If you'd like to know which ones, check out our report on the best jobs for people over 50. What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch the Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television or computer. Or tap or click here for Kim’s free podcasts. Kim Komando with 5 mistakes that shorten the life of your gadgets Spill one cup of coffee and you fry your laptop. Drop your tablet while taking a photo and it can plunge to its doom. Lose your grip on a smartphone and your $1,000 device could slip through a drainage grate and disappear forever. Most of us can’t afford to regularly replace our devices, which is why we have to take good care of them. I have tons of practical tips on my site to help. Tap or click here to learn how to properly care for your gadgets. Next Story Please share this information with everyone. Just click on any of the social media buttons on the side. Please share this information with everyone. Just click on any of the social media buttons below. Read the full article

[lawsoncrafts]

(Im only reposting since this image was found on a different site but I'm gonna rant here so that I won't get retaliation from certain relatives etc.) As the time grows near, I'm seeing a lot of people "gearing up" to support autistic people and I feel that this needs to be said, or at least I need to get this off my chest in a healthy way so I don't explode when I start seeing those damn puzzle pieces everywhere. personally speaking, I know how hard it is to be autistic (overstimulation, social weirdness, heightened senses that leads to MORE overstimulation, etc etc etc) but here's the thing, I've learned to live with it. I can function despite these things because I was born with it and I have a great support system AND I know how to cope in a healthy way. But a great number of us aren't as lucky. I was diagnosed when I was in 6th grade. that's 11 years of me nor anyone else knowing why I was struggling in a society that is almost exclusively built for neurotypical, able bodied people. During those 11 years, I was pushed along through the education system and labeled as a "lost cause" due to my inability to function to their satisfaction in a classroom filled with 30-35 LOUD/active students despite my test scores being the highest in my grade. When my test scores came out, I was accused of cheating time and time again and I had to retake my exams time and time again (I always scored higher the second time) because I was obviously "too stupid/lazy" to actually be a good student. During the entirety of those 11 years, I was bullied by my peers and even some of my teachers to the point that I wanted to kill myself. My family thought I was crazy, my peers thought I was crazy, my teachers thought I was a problem child that they didn't want to deal with. This is the reality that many autistic people face for their entire LIVES. I would have never been diagnosed if my mother hadn't screamed at everyone in my school district to test me for half a year. The system sweeps us under the rug CONSTANTLY. They call us ADD/ADHD or simply "troubled" and feed us magic pills that make us sick. Then when the lucky few of us that actually get diagnosed we are labeled as "defective" or, as autism speaks believes, "diseased" people that need to be cured. Their reasoning being that people weren't commonly diagnosed with autism back in the "good ol days" therefore we are apparently facing an epidemic. We are put in special classes under good intentions but they can't protect us from the bullying we face in the hallways when we are seen going to and from the classrooms. We undergo intense behavior modification, not for our own sakes per say but so that we can fit in with "normal society" without major issues (do we don't annoy neurotypical people). We have to stick to ourselves at lunch because if we sit anywhere near "normal people" that table is now the table where the kids from the "retard class" sit and it becomes a cruel game. And I'm not saying that everyone is cruel like this, it's actually quite contrary, most people above a certain age actually coddle us, like we are broken, like life has dealt us a bad hand. We are given "easier" coursework in our classes because we "can't keep up." we are pointed to in public spaces by mothers who want to show their children that they need to be especially considerate of the "special needs" class of society. People run marathons "for our benefit" but they don't actually know or care where the money is going. yet they look to the nearest visually identifiable autistic person and say "you're welcome" with their eyes. People even record themselves as they do very basic things like asking us to a dance and expect a trophy because they are so kind. because we are so otherwise undatable. And if any of us or our loved ones say anything about how absolutely condescending their "charitable efforts" are, they/we are shamed for "biting the hand that feeds us." Those of us who are more easily identified at first glance are called "severe" while those who aren't are called "high functioning. If you are "severe" you are undesirable and will have a hell of a time getting a job or even having a conversation with someone who takes you seriously. If you are "high functioning" you must be faking it for attention and obviously don't need any accommodation for your most basic of needs and you will be getting no sympathy when we break down in public from this lack of basic accommodation. We are asked "how autistic are you?" like autism is like a cancer that can me measured in stages. Some parents from older generations refuse to acknowledge their kid's autism because of the "there is nothing wrong with MY kid!" mentality, "when they often times are autistic themselves and were just never diagnosed. They hold their kids back and force them into a life of struggle because autism is shameful to them. Then in contrast, diagnosed kids get to watch their caring relatives train for marathons and write checks to autism speaks several times a year and they can't do or say anything to stop them because their relatives are either "too old to change or understand" or they just won't take them seriously. Keeping your mouth shut and your head down is a necessary skill for autistic kids because of this. I can go on all day. Autistic people make up a HUGE percentage of the people who have made the greatest contributions to humanity. From actors to artists and scientists and more. We have done everything from split and atom to creating the most well known pieces of art and architecture in history. Yet organizations like autism speaks decide that we need to be cured. the say that if we aren't like the rest of society, then we are broken and can't live a full life. We stand by as our parents are shamed for "causing our autism" by doing whatever-the-hell-mainstream-media-says-causes-it-this-time when we we literally born with it and it's been proven to be passed on through genetics. Then to make matters worse, organizations like autism speaks take advantage of people's ignorance and the ablest stigmas forced upon us for their own profit and funnel money to studies like the "shank 23" study which advocates literally lobotomizing children to "cure social awkwardness." We see this happening. We see thousands of people annually marching for "the cure" and we see a world that would rather us be wiped from existence than bother to understand us and live with us. Our greatest problem is not our autism, (I actually view it as one of my greatest strengths.) Our greatest obstacle in life has always been and will always be the ablest society that we live in and the ignorance that people have elected to maintain.

[just-jordie-things]

Bus Seats - Theo Raeken

Theo was a man or organization, and order.  Every morning, he woke up at 5:30, took a ten minute shower, was dressed and dried by 5:45, then went downstairs for breakfast.  The consistent toast and bottle of water that he’d put in his bag when he headed out the door to catch the bus.  Not the school bus, he lived on the edge of Beacon Hills, so the school’s transportation system didn’t exactly reach his house.  He took the city bus, which would drop him off at a stop just a corner away from the high school.  Where he would, reluctantly, attend all is class, do all his work, then go back home and follow another cycle.

He was walking outside, down the walk to the bus stop just a few houses down from his.  He wore a jacket over his tee shirt and jeans, as per usual, and carried his backpack, which had his unfinished bottle of water, three binders, four notebooks, and an extra folder.  In one pocket was his phone, and in the other a wallet with money for the bus and lunch along with his school ID.

Every day, he waited for the bus to pick him up at 6:13, and he’d get on, greet the driver good morning, then head to the back left corner for his seat.  This is the part of his day that he could do anything.  It was a twenty minute ride, so he could read, go on his phone, listen to music, get ahead on work, even catch up on some sleep.  It was the only time he could call ‘relaxation time’.

So when he walked to the back of the bus, and found you there with your eyes out the window, earbuds in, he was taken aback.  What does he do? Sit somewhere else? No, you were just a person, he could just ask you to politely move.

“Uhm, excuse me” Theo tapped your shoulder, causing you to jump, having not seen him approach you.  “Sorry” He said when you pulled out your headphones.

“That’s alright” You said sweetly with a matching smile.

“You’re um, you’re actually in my seat” He said, pointing to your seat.  Your eyes wandered the rest of the bus.

“There’s about twenty other seats open” You said with a quirked brow.

“Yeah, okay that’s true but you see, I sit there every day” He explained.  You nodded, pursing your lips.

“Yes, and you see, I’m new and would rather not talk to weird people on the city bus on my way to a new high school, so...” You shrugged, raising your brows.  “I’m not moving” Theo hung his head with a sigh, and slumped next to you.

“Guess we’re sharing” He huffed, and you both put in your earbuds.  Neither of you talking the rest of the way.

At school, he’d watched you walk off into the building, a school directory in one hand, and your schedule in another.  He pondered what grade you were in.  Surely older than a sophomore, seeing that you were on a public bus by yourself, but he couldn’t tell if you’d be a senior or a junior.  A part of him wanted you to be a senior, although he couldn’t tell why.

He’d seen you in the halls a few times, eyes on your papers, or following numbers on lockers or classrooms in search of your next destination.  You didn’t seem to notice him once.  Though relieved, it surprised him in lunch.  He was out in the courtyard eating his school bought lunch at his usual empty picnic table, when you’d walked out.  You walked right past him from behind, a paper bag and a can of tea in your hands.  You’d looked around a little, and settled on eating your lunch underneath a big oak, just a little ways ahead of him.  He’d spent his hour watching you in secret.  Watched as you ate alone and pretended to be busy anytime someone would pass, whether by picking up your phone or jotting something down in your notebook.  When the bell rang, he’d gotten up and left before you could see him.

And when the school day was over, and Theo was walking back down the sidewalk again to the bus stop, was when you finally saw him.  You’d recognized his hoodie and gelled hair, and not so secretly followed him.  About half way to the stop, he turned, catching you in the act, and your eyes widened in humiliation.

“Wanna tell me why you’re following me?” He asked with a raised brow and a slight smirk.

“Because I’m secretly a PI?” You lied with a nervous smile.

“Oh really?”

“Yep! And I’m investigating your... suspicious behavior” You added with a firm nod.

“Uh huh... and uh, what kind of suspicious behavior have you recorded? Eating a sandwich without cheese?” You blushed, looking down at the ground.

“Actually, um, I don’t remember where the bus stop is” You said sheepishly.  Theo chuckled at you, and jerked his head for you to come walk with him.

“Alright, pesky girl who stole my seat, I’ll show you to the bus stop if I can have the window seat” You giggled quietly, and he looked over at you.

“What?” You asked, and he blinked.

“I’m waiting for you to tell me I get the window seat” He covered, and you nodded.

“Alright, you can have it” You agreed and stopped at the bus sign.  “Thanks for showing me here, I would’ve been totally lost-”

“If you hadn’t stalked me?” You giggled once more, looking at your shoes shyly.

“Yeah pretty much” You answered, and Theo smiled genuinely at you.  It felt good, he didn’t know the last time he’d smiled for real.  Sure, fake ones when teachers or other students greeted him, but he hadn’t smiled for real in- “Hey” You waved your hand in front of his face, bringing him back to reality.  “You getting on?” You questioned, and he realized that you were standing on the steps of the city bus.  Theo nodded and quickly followed after you, to the back seat.  You stopped, letting him go in first so he could have his precious window seat, then sat next to him.

“There’s about twenty other ones” He told you, and you smiled slightly at him.

“Maybe I want to sit here”

“To stalk me some more?” You shrugged.

“Maybe I’d at least get your name?” You said and cocked your head at him.  His brows knit in thought for  moment, before holding out his hand

“I’m Theo” 

“I’m y/n” You respond, shaking his hand.  He chuckled at you.

“Well y/n, what’re you doing in Beacon Hills?”

“Just stealing seats and getting over having to live with my Aunt” You said, serving him a smirk, which shocked him.

“I’ll hae you know, you’re not stealing any seat, you’re stealing the best one on the bus” He told you.

“Oh I know, I love when we park because it’s always on the end of streets where the sun hits the grass and flowers so perfectly” You said, eyes already looking out the glass at the shadows cast by stop signs and traffic lights.  Theo watched your features, how they softened as you watched.

“So, why’re you living with your aunt?” He asked you, making you look at him again.  You leaned back fully in your seat, no longer watching the sight outside, just staring emptily at the seat in front of you.

“If you must know” You breathed.  “My parents went through a harsh separation, and I was sent off with my Dad’s sister cause I’m not allowed to live with either of them” Theo’s brows raised in shock.

“That’s intense.. I’m sorry” You shrugged.

“Better than being with them” You said, offering the slightest of smiles.  That’s when the bus stopped, and you gathered your things.  “This is me” You told him, and stood.  He wanted to say something, anything, just to have a few more shared words.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asked as you’d turned to walk to the doors.  You smiled, and nodded your head eagerly, then waved a little before leaving.

The next morning, Theo woke up at 5:00, and didn’t get out of the shower until 5:30.  He rushed a breakfast and was still chewing as he ran out the door at 6:07 and sprinted to the bus stop.  It pulled up at the usual time six minutes later, and he rushed his hello to the driver, put two dollars in the box, and walked quickly to the backseat.  You smiled brightly upon seeing him, then stood.

“Window seat?” You asked, moving to scoot into the aisle, but he shook his head, returning a grin to you.  

“It’s all yours” You looked at him in surprise, but sat back in the seat and licked your lips.  Theo sat next to you, and snuck a glance towards you while your eyes were focused outside.  You caught him though, and he flushed.  But you smiled at him, tucking back loose strands of hair.

Your bus ride was spent talking about the previous night, as well as the different bands and music you were into.  Theo had happily found out that you were in fact a senior.  When it pulled up by the school, he let out out first, and was by your side the whole way to the building.  He found that he liked the way you smiled, and the way your eyes glimmered a little in the sunlight.

“I’ve got Lit first” You said, jerking a thumb over your shoulder.

“Yeah I got Government” He said, pointing off the other direction.

“Alright, well I’ll see you on the bus then” You said with a token smile, and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Theo jogged up to you, a hand on your arm so you’d turn to look at him.  Your brows raised as he stammered out the next words.

“Would you maybe wanna have lunch with me today?” You blinked before nodding your head, both of you grinning when you said yes.

So maybe Beacon Hills wouldn’t be so bad.

part 2? xoxo ~ Jordie

[jobsinthefuture-blog]

Online Learning Vs. Traditional College Education - 2017

New Post has been published on http://jobsinthefuture.com/index.php/2017/11/13/online-learning-vs-traditional-classroom-education/

Online Learning Vs. Traditional College Education - 2017

I have seven years of traditional college education, over two years of online education, and I am passionate on writing about the subject of education and job opportunities in the present and future.

I want to take a moment to help you define the benefits of each and what will be best for you. You are going to be entering college/online education for the first time or you are looking for a career change, which educational resource is right for you?

When I entered college it was the obvious choice. You graduate high school enrolled at a community college or private university and after you graduated, BAM, you received a job.

But that was when I entered college. By the time I walked across the stage four years later I was overwhelmed by the shift in the job market, and the exponential rate of online connectivity. What I mean by online connectivity was the ability for people all over the world to compete for the jobs I wanted. When I entered college I never imagined fighting for a Job in Orlando, FL. with someone who lived in Ontario Canada, but this was the reality I faced.

I lost… what happened?

That guy had more talent! Oh and the kicker, I found out he never went to college!

So what did I do? I went back to college, ironic right? Well, honestly I had no options. I couldn’t find a job, because of my lack of skills (due to my lack of motivation). I knew I needed to get better and work harder.

When I first entered college at 16 years old I viewed it as a season of exploration where I could find myself, experience a variety of subjects, and develop graphic design skills along the way.

When going to college my priority was not actually the degree listed on my transcript, but a myriad of other sub-reasons. Many Americans have this view on a four year college education. Honestly it is one of the main reasons my parents sent me. They wanted me to lean how to network, communicate with people, and build relationships.

If I would earn a four year degree that was considered icing on the cake. To clarify, my education did not cost $30-$50k per year. I received an affordable education for $45k for all four years. During my college experience I developed a deep enjoyment of graphic design, went on to get my Master of Fine Arts degree and now work in the industry as Director Graphic Design at a non-profit agency.

My four year degree + three masters degree worked out very well for me, and I am grateful to have received the knowledge I now have through my education.

But, looking back…Would I have done it differently? Yes! Hines site is always 20/20.

College gave me an incredible work ethic. I went in with very little discipline. I was a classic case of ADHD. Always on the move, tons of friends, extended dinners (avoiding my class work), and I have a passion for cycling. I would often escape my required assignments to take multiple hour cycling trips into our downtown. I enjoyed riding, but what I did not realize at the time is this was taking away from my main reason of attending college, develop my skills as a graphic design.

By the 3rd year of my education I started to settle down and dig deep in my learning. This is something I wish I would have done from the beginning. I gained a lot of skills in my final two years, but upon graduation it was still not enough to have prepared me for a professional career. This is why I stayed on for my masters degree (my own lack of preparation extended my college days).

I tell you this, because I would like to help define the best avenue for you to choose.

Traditional Education Vs. Online Education

Traditional College taught me how to work hard and turn in my projects on time. I also didn’t realize the practice of deliberate practice, a concept I picked up while reading So Good They Can’t Ignore You, by Cal Newport. I needed college to teach me self discipline in the area of study and focus in the academic and artistic realm.

From age 9 – 15 I trained and became a professional athlete. I was a professional athlete for three years before deciding to move onto advance my knowledge in the field of graphic design.

I had no issue disciplining myself in physical situations, but I lacked key mental abilities.

Traditional College Taught me:

Focus

Critical Thinking

Self Discipline

Turn work in on time

how to interact in a classroom environment

Graphic Design Software and It’s Proper Use

But this can be learned online today.

Traditional College would be an excellent fit for you if, like me, you lack self discipline, focus, and need to be guided and pushed to finish you work.

Traditional college would fit you well if you need deadlines, milestones, and penalties for not finishing your work on time. If you need to be motivated by an external force (teacher) to complete your work and develop your skills.

Traditional college was a platform for me to strengthen my communication skills. I had numerous classes in my roster requiring me to give presentations for my design campaigns. This helped me develop the ability to explain my ideas. Knowing why you made critical design decisions is important. I was able to take what I learned by simply talking through the design process and apply those insights into my proceeding projects.

Online College/Courses: I am quite busy, as I am sure you are as well. I wanted to learn new skills and grow as a designer, but time is short. WordPress web design, app development, HTML5, CSS3, and design trends of the future are all topics I wanted to become in expert on. For a while I picked up some books, I asked some design friends if I could sit with them while they worked, I even watched a load of youtube videos.

BUT, I found that this strategy was far to disheveled. I needed a process in order to hone each of these skills in a professional manner so that when the challenges of design were placed before me I would have the professional knowledge and ability to scale the mountain, design the product, build the app, launch the website.

The Benefits of Online College/Courses

Learn at an my own pace. (fast and efficient)

Taught by experts in the field.

people who are using these skills to make some of the best designs in the world.

The cost of online education is incredibly affordable (even compare to a community college)

I am able to immediately apply what I learn at my workplace.

I have been able to take on a more diverse set of clients.

I have increased my value and therefore increased my monthly income!

Certifications to place on your resume for job opportunities.

To me there is nothing more fulfilling than putting my skills to the test. I have been able to get client work that I never thought possible before starting my online education.

  I thoroughly enjoyed my brick and mortar college education, but I have learned more skills in the past 2 years that have given me the ability to increase my monthly income and produce more valuable work. 

The goal of learning new skills is to bring value to the market place. When you increase the value you bring, you become indispensable to your clients. Education is not about a piece of paper or a title. Education is about developing skills that will set you apart and give you the ability to rise above the competitive market.

The Conclusion of Online Vs Traditional

Before I reveal my conclusion on the matter I want you to consider why you are wanting to go to college whether online or in-person (and when I say “go to college” I mean develop skills). 

  Do you believe that you need to be college certified to get a good job, obtain job security, a solid retirement, and happily ever after….  unfortunately this is not the case anymore. There is no perfect solid job. The job market is in constant flux. Companies are constantly searching for new talent to embody the ever changing needs arising in the world. Only 10 years ago (2007) we were still going to the yellow pages to find the best local deli, or listening to the radio to hear our favorite music. 

You have to be constantly developing your skills and honing your craft in order to bring value to market. 

Online education is the best way to develop your skills. Ultimately I want to receive the best and most current information to develop my skills. I don’t want to be learning last years SEO tactics, or archaic chemo therapy treatments. I want to be on the cutting edge of my craft. Learning from experts in the field and getting their insights on the dos and donts of the market. Online education is the perfect blend of foundational skill development and real world application.

My goal here at Jobs in the Future is to help you on the path to successful skill development that will get you the job you are striving after!

You will find a great deal of resources to select the online educational tools.

Find our Resources Page Here

Perhaps you know that you need to step out into a new career. You know that the future of work is uncertain. You want to develop skills that will make you valuable and desired as an individual in the workforce both now and in the future. Well we have you covered.

Download a copy of The Ultimate Guide to Future Proof Your Career. An Invaluable resource to ensure that you are able to secure Job now and in the Future!

You will receive resources and guidance on the industries that are waiting for people with skills to make an entry into the industry, educational resources to develop skills, and projections about the future potential of the industry.

Click Here to Download the Ultimate Guide Now!

[charllieeldridge]

SkimaTalk Teacher Review: Earn $30/Hour Online

Teaching online is a remote work option that gets more popular by the day. With flexible scheduling and the ability to work from home (in your pajama pants!), it’s no wonder so many people rave about online English teaching.

If you’re totally new to the teaching world, it can be hard to find a company that will let you start tutoring without experience or a degree.

It seems like many companies want you to have special certifications and teaching experience just to apply, which can be frustrating for new educators.

That’s where SkimaTalk comes in.

In this SkimaTalk review, we will cover exactly how the SkimaTalk online teaching platform works and what qualifications you’ll need to sign up.

I’ve been an online teacher for around 3 years now, and taking my classroom with me on the road has been one of the best things I ever did. I’m grateful for the financial freedom and location independence that working online provides me.

If you don’t have a university degree but are a native English speaker, SkimaTalk might be a great platform for you. Find out more in this SkimaTalk teacher review.

About SkimaTalk

SkimaTalk is a popular online English company that offers one-on-one lessons to thousands of students all over the world. Students can browse through the large network of SkimaTalk tutors and book 25-minute sessions with teachers that interest them. 

One of the big selling points of the SkimaTalk platform is that all tutors are native English speakers. Students are mostly adult learners and because they come from all over the world, there is a demand for classes 24/7. 

Students on SkimaTalk can choose what kind of lesson they want to take. They can either sign up for structured courses created by SkimaTalk about a variety of topics or they can sign up for free-flowing conversation sessions. 

Ultimately, SkimaTalk helps connect passionate teachers with eager English learners (of all ages) around the world. 

Why Become a SkimaTalk Teacher

With SkimaTalk, you have flexibility with location, hours, and schedule.

There are no minimum or maximum teaching hours and you can work from anywhere as long as you have a good internet connection.

SkimaTalk is an English language marketplace. Native speakers who are excited to teach can be hired even if they don’t have traditional teaching credentials or qualifications.

After joining the platform, you’re responsible for creating a profile and video that attracts students. 

Because SkimaTalk is geared toward adult students from all over the world, you’ll get to learn about other cultures and lifestyles.

Many other companies (such as the one I work for) are geared to Chinese children, but since SkimaTalk teachers are able to interact with adults, the personal connections made with students are a highlight of the job. 

SkimaTalk Teacher Requirements

This is where SkimaTalk differs from the more popular platforms like VIPKID and EF Education First.

Teacher Qualifications

1. To apply with SkimaTalk, you must be 18 years of age or older.

2. You must be native English speakers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or Ireland. 

3. You do not need a BA degree, a TEFL certification, or teaching experience to teach with SkimaTalk. However, if you do have those qualifications, it will make you seem more attractive to potential students.

At the very least, having your TEFL will give you a leg up on the competition and prepare you for teaching. MyTEFL is one of the cheapest and best courses available, find out more here. Use promo code GOATS35 to receive 35% off at checkout.

Once you’re hired to teach with SkimaTalk, you’ll need to maintain a 4.5/5 rating score from your student reviews. Your teacher no-show ratio must be below 5% and your cancellation ratio must be below 10%.

Technical Requirements

To teach with SkimaTalk, you’ll need a desktop or laptop with a webcam and a reliable internet connection. You’ll also need a headset with a microphone for good audio quality.

Finally, you’ll need to download Skype on your computer since lessons are conducted via the Skype platform. 

How To Get Hired With SkimaTalk

To get hired by SkimaTalk, the first thing you’ll do is create a teaching profile on their website. You’ll upload a video introduction and take a test about how SkimaTalk works and the company policies.

It’s important to put some effort into your SkimaTalk video introduction because this is what students will see when they decide to book you. Remember to speak slowly and clearly so potential students can understand you well.

If you’re unsure of what to put in your introductory video, you can go to “Search” and click “By Ranking” on the SkimaTalk website. This will show you some of the highest-rated tutors.

Visit their profiles and watch their introductory videos to get a good idea of what attracts clients (students). 

You should record your video in a quiet environment with good lighting and use a quality microphone so students get a better sense of what classes will be like with you.  

If you pass the test and have an acceptable video, you’ll be notified of your acceptance within 10 business days. 

How Do SkimaTalk Lessons Work?

First, you open up times that you’re available to teach on the SkimaTalk platform.

You can either wait for students on SkimaTalk to book your sessions, or you can send students from outside of the SkimaTalk platform an invitation link to join and book you. 

Potential students on the SkimaTalk platform can filter tutors by rating, availability, or types of courses offered.

To have the best chance of getting booked, SkimaTalk recommends opening as many time spots as possible and offering a wide range of lessons. 

When a student books your class, they can choose a pre-set SkimaTalk lesson or a free talk lesson. SkimaTalk course topics include English news, English exam preparation, and business English case studies, among others.

Courses can also be offered as beginner, intermediate, or advanced sessions depending on the needs of the student.

You have access to SkimaTalk lessons and materials that you can use, or you can create your own materials. 

When it’s time for class, you’ll call the student via Skype. Lessons last for 25 minutes. After teaching the lesson, you then have 24 hours to submit feedback for the student. 

In this feedback, you will assess the student’s language skills. This written feedback is a mandatory part of teaching for SkimaTalk. 

SkimaTalk Schedule and Bookings

Here’s a breakdown of the scheduling and how students will book you.

Scheduling

Scheduling lessons with SkimaTalk is simple!

Once your account is approved, you’ll go to the “My Page” section of the SkimaTalk website. Then you’ll click the “Open Sessions” button to add available sessions to your calendar. 

There are no minimum or maximum teaching hours with SkimaTalk so you’re free to work when it’s best for you. Remember that not every open spot will get booked so it’s better to open as many as you can. 

Will I See The Same Students Every Class?

No, you will probably see a variety of students on SkimaTalk. Because students book you on a class by class basis, you likely will not have a consistent schedule of students.

That being said, if a student really likes your lessons, they might book you many times in the future. 

Student No Shows And Cancellations

Students on SkimaTalk must abide by the following cancellation fee schedule:

If a student cancels class more than 24 hours in advance, there is no cancellation fee issued to the teacher.

The student will pay a 20% cancellation fee if they cancel a class between 1-24 hours in advance.

If they cancel between 0-1 hours in advance, they must pay a 50% cancellation fee.

Finally, if the student doesn’t show up and provides no notice, they must pay a 100% cancellation fee. 

Teacher No Shows And Cancellations

Likewise, teachers must abide by the following cancellation fee schedule: 

There is no cancellation fee if you cancel a lesson more than 24 hours in advance

If you cancel a lesson between 1-24 hours in advance, you pay a $3 fee to SkimaTalk.

If you don’t show up or provide any notice, you pay a $9 fee. 

Teachers must call their students on Skype within 30 seconds of the scheduled lesson start time. If you’re more than five minutes late to a session, it will be counted as a teacher no show. 

If you have too many no shows and cancellations, Skimatalk might deactivate your account.

Also, avoid any no shows or cancellations during your first ten lessons on the platform, or else you’ll risk your account being closed altogether.

Basically, just show up for class and you’ll be fine!

How Much Does SkimaTalk Pay?

SkimaTalk teachers get to set their own pay rates.

When you first sign up for SkimaTalk, you’ll be required to teach three free sessions to make sure you’re a good fit for the platform. This is also a great way to get your first teacher reviews, so make sure you give it your best effort! 

If you successfully teach your first three classes, your rate will automatically be set to $8 USD per 25-minute class. You are able to change your price as you wish after you’ve taught your three free lessons. 

SkimaTalk will keep 20% of the lesson fee for all lessons as commission, so make sure to keep that in mind when setting your pay rate.

Most of the highly-rated tutors charge $10 – $15 USD per 25-minute session (get your TEFL so you are qualified and can charge more!). Newer tutors without many reviews typically charged between $7 – $10 USD per 25-minute session.

Teachers are paid once per month via Paypal. 

Tips For Being a Successful SkimaTalk Teacher

SkimaTalk provides suggestions to help their teachers get great reviews and recruit more students — the emphasis is on  being punctual and professional. 

Since lessons are conducted over Skype, you’re urged to use the Skype chatbox feature frequently and give students feedback throughout the lesson.

Remember to smile, be friendly and encouraging, and speak slowly and clearly that your student can understand you.  

Top teachers prepare lessons in advance but are also able to adjust the lesson pacing and material to suit the needs of the student.

Finally, teachers are also required to leave detailed assessment feedback for the student after each meeting. 

After each lesson, the student is able to leave feedback and a rating for their teacher. It’s important to provide an excellent classroom experience for your student because these reviews play a big role in future bookings!

Teachers with better reviews show up higher in the SkimaTalk search results. They can also charge more for their lessons if desired. 

SkimaTalk Teacher Reviews

Overall, SkimaTalk’s teacher reviews are positive. Teachers generally enjoy the platform and feel it is a great place to start teaching online. In this section, we’ll look at some of the common pros and cons of being a SkimaTalk teacher. 

Pros Of Teaching With SkimaTalk

As a SkimaTalk teacher, you have full control over when you work. This scheduling flexibility is a nice perk and there are no minimum or maximum teaching hours.

Since students come from all over the world, you could be booked during daytime hours in North America. This is not possible to do with some of the Japan or China-based companies. 

SkimaTalk teachers also get to set their own pay rates. If you have a strong resume and a lot of experience, you could end up earning much more than you would with a company that pays a standard hourly rate. 

Finally, you have flexibility in what you want to teach. While a student may inform you of their learning objectives and goals, you retain creative freedom with how the lesson looks. 

SkimaTalk provides some materials teachers can use, or you can create their own. Most teachers communicate with their students before the lesson to learn about what they need. Then, teachers use a combination of SkimaTalk materials and outside materials to create the session. 

Cons Of Teaching With SkimaTalk

The biggest con of SkimaTalk is that you have to teach your first three lessons on the platform for free. Each lesson is 25-minutes, so you’re essentially working for an hour and a half without pay. 

The other con is that it can be difficult for newer teachers to compete with established teachers.

Teachers with higher student reviews will get booked more often. And when you’re first starting out, it can take a while before you amass several high reviews in the system. 

Many SkimaTalk teachers report that it can take a few weeks before you get consistent student bookings, so keep that in mind as you go through the hiring process. 

Who is SkimaTalk Best For?

SkimaTalk is best for native English speakers from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland who want to work with adults.

It’s also a great fit if you don’t have a degree or TEFL certification and want to be in charge of creating your own lessons. 

Because teachers can set their own pay rates and don’t have any minimum or maximum teaching hours they must fulfill, this is one of the most flexible online ESL teaching platforms out there. 

If you’re looking to start your online teaching career on a platform that has minimal hiring restrictions, SkimaTalk might be a good fit for you!

SkimaTalk is one of many companies you can teach English online with. For a list of our top 10 recommended online English teaching companies, click here for our in-depth article. And, to be better prepared and appeal to more students, it’s recommended to take a TEFL course. Find out more about the best courses out there in our article, here.

The post SkimaTalk Teacher Review: Earn $30/Hour Online appeared first on Goats On The Road.

SkimaTalk Teacher Review: Earn $30/Hour Online published first on https://travelaspire.weebly.com/

[gibsongirlselections]

The COVID Pretext

A lot of people invite their in-laws to stay with them when they have a new baby. That’s what my husband and I planned to do this fall. We never expected my mother-in-law would be prevented from getting on a plane by the Australian government.

Since late March, Australia has banned its citizens from leaving the country without a special government permit, in order to limit the country’s exposure to the coronavirus. More than three-quarters of requests for exit permits are denied, including ours. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he does not anticipate the ban will be lifted before the end of the year.

This ban is in addition to the mandatory quarantine for in-bound travelers, where guards escort you from the airport to a designated hotel where you are put under watch for 14 days with a TV and a pamphlet for Uber Eats.

At least the quarantine makes superficial sense, however much of an overreaction it is in a country with the population of Texas and a coronavirus death toll lower than the District of Columbia’s. But the ban on outbound travel makes no sense. If they’re willing to be quarantined on their return, at their own expense, why prevent people from leaving?

Maybe the reason is that tourism, a massive chunk of Australia’s economy, has suddenly vaporized, and the prime minister is worried about people taking overseas holidays and wants those tourism dollars to stay at home.

That’s the stage of the pandemic we have reached: questioning everyone’s ulterior motives.

There is good reason to do so. It’s hard not to notice how many people are clearly using the pandemic as a pretext to do what they have long wanted to do anyway, or to get in a blow at their political opponents while they’re vulnerable, or to score some short-term personal advantage under a thin medical excuse.

The Mexican state of Oaxaca just banned the sale of soda and junk food to children. The bill’s sponsor introduced the same ban last year, unsuccessfully, but this time she was able to draw a tenuous link between calories, obesity, and coronavirus risk. Spain effectively banned outdoor smoking at the behest of public health experts, even though smokers have been shown to be at lower risk from COVID than non-smokers.

South Africa went further than any other country, enacting a total ban on alcohol and tobacco sales in March. Prohibition was lifted only last week, when it became clear that the main beneficiaries were the country’s smuggling gangs.

Here in the United States, a group of congressman are pressing the FDA for a “temporary” ban on e-cigarettes, suspending all vaping sales “for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.” They cite a single study showing increased COVID risk for young users. But that study was an online survey based on self-reporting, with fewer than 5,000 self-selected respondents, and asked not about current e-cigarette use but if users had ever vaped. Its findings contradict literally hundreds of other studies, in journals as prestigious as the Lancet, showing that nicotine products do not increase coronavirus risk. The congressman who organized the push is simply a longtime opponent of e-cigarettes taking advantage of the pandemic to push his agenda.

No issue has been more transparently politicized than school reopenings. According to the New York Times, a mid-June survey of the American Federation of Teachers found that three-quarters of members were willing to return to the classroom, with precautions. Then, on July 6, President Trump tweeted: “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany urged districts to “follow the science and open our schools.” Suddenly the AFT got a lot more skeptical. In Chicago, the percentage of teachers who said they would feel “extremely uncomfortable” returning in person jumped 30 points in the weeks after the president’s tweet. 

This surge in concern was clearly a matter of political polarization, not science. A Brookings study of school districts across the nation found no relationship between reopening policies and coronavirus cases per capita. Instead, the districts most likely to choose in-person learning were those in counties that voted for Trump in 2016. Remote learning was most popular not in the hardest hit counties, but in Democratic ones.

Right now the strictest lockdown in the free world is in the Australian state of Victoria. Melbourne residents are not allowed to leave home between 8pm and 5am, unless they are essential workers, and during the day can exercise for only one hour within 5km of their address. Households can send one member on one shopping visit per day. Drones have been deployed, not just to patrol the closed border but also in downtown Melbourne to enforce curfew compliance and mask-wearing. Police have knocked on tens of thousands of doors to check if residents are home, and those who aren’t face thousands of dollars in fines.

Among the hundreds of violators Victoria police have punished under the new rules:

Two parents who took their children to a lake 14km from their house, outside the allowed 5km radius.

Four young people, three males and a female, whose car was stopped at a road checkpoint and were found to reside at different addresses.

Two men in their forties who started a Facebook group to organize a protest march against the lockdown. They were arrested and charged with incitement, their computers and phones seized. Police warned the public that anyone who showed up to the protest would be fined $1,652.

What could possibly explain this overreach in a state with fewer than 500 coronavirus deaths, the vast majority in nursing homes? (For comparison, Massachusetts with a comparable population has had 8,900 deaths.) It could be that the Victorian government wants to try out Chinese-style surveillance methods while it has the opportunity, in case it ever wants to use them in the future. Maybe Premier Dan Andrews saw what lockdowns did for Andrew Cuomo’s approval ratings and wanted a similar boost for himself. That would explain why he has personally conducted the state’s press briefings for fifty days straight without a break. Whatever the reason, it’s not scientific. 

American politicians seeking a middle ground between skeptics and lockdowners often settle on the worst possible compromise: hygiene theatre. Polishing doorknobs and wiping down countertops doesn’t do much to fight a virus that spreads through air droplets, not surfaces. If elementary schools are safe enough to open — because young children are low-risk spreaders — then they’re safe enough not to require kindergarteners to wear masks, which five-year-olds will just fiddle with anyway, negating any health benefit. Photos of socially distanced lunch rooms are intended to reassure teachers and parents, not provide any benefit to students.

The original purpose of the lockdowns was to “flatten the curve” and prevent hospitals from being overrun. We did that. What is their purpose now? When can lockdowns be lifted? It is difficult not to politicize that question, under the circumstances. But the truth is that lockdowns will only reduce the long-term spread of the virus if they are used to buy time until a vaccine is found, and right now there is no guarantee one ever will be. Politicians including the governors of Ohio, Illinois, and New Jersey and the mayors of Los Angeles and New York have all suggested that only a vaccine will allow a return to normal life, with gatherings of over 50 people and indoor dining at restaurants. It is not a fringe position to say that these things must remained banned until a vaccine is found. Just a scientifically unsupportable one.

The post The COVID Pretext appeared first on The American Conservative.

[larrygmaguire]

via The Reflectionist - Medium

Photo by Elijah M. Henderson on Unsplash

Discomfort is the feeling of being exposed, isolated and unfamiliar. Here’s why it’s good for us and why we should expose our kids to it.

Welcome to The Reflectionist, a daily dose of reflection on the nature of the self, personal reality, creativity, life and work by Larry G. Maguire, submitted to the public record for posterity. Articles here are free to read and always will be. If you enjoy my writing or gain some personal value, please consider supporting my work ❤. Patronage starts at only $1.

I brought my youngest son to work with me yesterday- he’s almost 12. He and his older brother (13) take turns to come working with me when they are off school.

They are good kids, enthusiastic, eager to help and get stuck in. There’s never any complaints or moaning about the manual aspect, in fact, I think they enjoy getting their hands dirty and the time spent with me one to one.

I was a similar age when I started working on the sites.

Although now, kids need to be at least 16 years old to work legitimately in the system. They wouldn’t get a paid job at their age and although I understand the premise behind the working-age rule, I think kids are losing out.

As a 13-year-old in the 1980s, I took up tea boy duties for 30+ blokes, most of whom were easy on me, but many were not.

I would have to take orders for the shop and make sure that the Burco boiler was at boiling point for tea time twice per day. Woe unto the tea boy if the Burco wasn’t ready for tea, or the shop order was wrong.

Both happened to me a couple of times in the beginning.

You can imagine the fallout at 10:00 when 30+ tradesmen came down from the site for tea only to find the Burco cold. Needless to say, I made sure that I didn’t make that mistake very often.

Working on a building site as a 13-year-old with grown men making demands and taking few excuses made sure I grew up fast.

I had to.

These guys were tough customers, and when you fucked something up you got full force verbal abuse.

There were few who gave you allowance for your age.

The Discomfort of Cultivating of Skills

I had to learn fast. It was either that or be eaten alive.

I learned how to make sure I had the right change in my pocket for 30 blokes.

I learned how to be efficient with my time and plan my day.

I learned how to make a few quid from tips.

I learned how to, with sand, remove tea stains from cups that hadn’t seen detergent and a scrubber in over 10 years.

I learned the ropes, I got wide.

I found my feet and discovered how to stay standing under blows from less than understanding brutes of men who wanted nothing more than the pleasure of bashing a kid for little or nothing.

That’s how they learned.

It was an uncomfortable experience and for some reason, I accepted it and cultivated valuable skills in the process.

Two years later at almost 16, I started an apprenticeship in the same trade and because of the circumstances my father dropped me into, I was way ahead of the mostly 18 and 19-year-olds in the class.

These days things seem different.

From my observations, kids these days receive too much support and not enough stimulation.

There’s no motivation for them to solve problems on their own, no encouragement for them to get into the middle of an uncomfortable situation and find a way out.

Sure, they’ll get some coaching in the classroom from teachers who see the value in lateral thinking, but for the most part, there is no practical, hands-on, sink-or-swim experience.

Analogical Thinking: A Method For Solving Problems

These Days It Seems Different

In the course of my work, the work that currently pays the bills, I enter the houses of customers and their kids lie in bed until midday.

I watch the children of friends and relations and they seem so dependant, so inept, weak and untested.

Sincerely, I don’t intend to be intolerant in the face of their youth, in many ways kids are supposed to be green around the gills.

But it’s how they seem to be continually supported and minded that I am concerned with.

Parents seem to be overprotective.

Schools celebrate mediocrity.

Creative thinking is something educators believe can be taught from a book, in a classroom.

Teenage children seem not to be given enough stimulation, they appear to me to have too much comfort and support and as such, they risk growing up incapable of withstanding the realities of life.

My father knew what he was dropping me into back in 1987 on the Wheatfield Prison construction site. He knew the sort of blokes that occupied that tea room at break time.

But he also knew there were guys who would look out for me.

He knew there were guys who would teach me, and he knew that I would pick up very important skills from both the good and the bad that continue to serve me to this day.

Teaching My Boys

I love my boys dearly and want to see them develop the strength of personality required to live an engaged and meaningful life.

Note I didn’t use the word successful.

That means they need to feel what it’s like to be uncomfortable, and sometimes very uncomfortable, in order that they develop a strong centre and capability to remain at equilibrium when under pressure.

I want them to know what it feels like to be in a pressure cooker and have to think straight.

I want them to get comfortable with discomfort.

I want them to learn right now, that they have the capacity to figure it out but within the relative safety of my guidance.

And so to the point of this story…

Yesterday as my youngest son worked with me, I gave him a task that was difficult.

In fact, I gave him several tasks that were very difficult for him in his position of unfamiliarity.

For him, I guess it was very challenging. Like being at the deep end of the pool for the first time and barely able to swim.

He struggled. I could see it.

I pushed him hard even though I knew he was reaching the edge of his emotional boundary.

I kept pushing. He got upset.

He eventually figured out the answer to the task I gave him and began to settle down although I could see he was a little hurt.

I left him to stew for a little while and then I explained why I pushed him so hard.

Later that day I gave him another task that was again difficult. It took him a while to solve it and when he did he was proud.

You see, I believe that when we find ourselves in difficult situations in life the discomfort sends most of us running for support. We seem to lack the inherent belief in ourselves that we have access to the answers.

I tell my boys, and Cara too, that the answer is always there if they are willing to endure the conditions and expect to find it.

Without that absolute belief in their own innate ability to find the answers to problems no matter how large or small, children will not develop the emotional agility necessary in adulthood.

Most people run for shelter under the pressure of life challenges or collapse under their weight.

Most people are unwilling to enter the fire.

I believe it is my job as a parent to challenge my kids, to put them in harm's way, to have them get comfortable with discomfort.

Thanks for taking the time to read my stuff. Every morning you’ll find me sharing a new thought on life, art, work, the self and the nature of reality on The Reflectionist. Everything I write online is open and free, and I’ll keep doing it because I enjoy it. But it takes lots of time, so if you like what I’m creating, consider becoming a patron ❤

You’ll also find me here

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How To Get Comfortable With Discomfort was originally published in The Reflectionist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

[statrano]

Questions Parents Ask

I’ve been asked by a wonderful parent organization called Konstella to serve as an expert for parents on topics of technology in the classroom. They started by asking a series of questions that were on their minds. These are so relevant and authentic to what’s happening today at the juxtaposition of education and technology, I wanted to share them with you.

The Questions are in bold and my answers in italics:

I allow my kids to have “Friends” in Roblox or Instagram and only chat with friends. However, it’s very hard for me to determine who is an actual friend in real life since all the usernames are made up. How do I go about checking so many “friends” and “followers”? My kids are age 13 and 10.

As a general rule, unregulated online friends are a really really bad idea. Your role as a parent is critical to preparing your children to go online before using social media platforms. Who your children meet on the Internet is not the same as the kids in the neighborhood or at school or on a youth sports team. You don’t know their goals, intentions, or even if they’re kids. Always believe you have the right to manage your children’s online activities be it time online, websites they visit, privacy settings, or friends they make. You can make rules and expect them to be followed. You can check their browser history and who their friends are without feeling like you’re spying on them.

Remember this: Few social media websites are vetted for age-appropriateness. This includes those you mentioned. Most social media platforms do enforce age limits but these are self-monitored. For Roblox and Instagram, it is 13+ (in some states this will vary, usually to the upside).  WhatsApp has 16 as the minimum age (for EU users). Read the parental guidelines all social media platforms offer. Be transparent and show this to kids. Put your shine on as you help them understand that though this is not your decision, you agree with it and explain why.

It seems like more and more classrooms are using technology like Chrome Books and group screen time for doing exercises, learning art and reading. How much time per day do you think is the right amount for a child to be looking at a screen during school hours? Should schools implement a screen time limit that each teacher has to adhere to?

Let’s start this question with a poll.  Raise your hand if you use your smartphone for more than phone calls. Wow, that’s a lot of hands. Well, that’s the model your kids have for screen time. So much of life has moved to smartphones–email, social media, home protection, banking–the list is almost endless. It’s hard to expect kids to unplug when you don’t. So reframe this issue. If kids are using technology for learning, don’t worry about screen time. What you might worry about is how to keep them focused on the appropriate websites and schoolwork. There are lots of ways to control that but I would address those in a different forum. 

Right now, know this: If your kids are using available technology for education goals, to pursue college or career, education experts agree that your job is to teach them to use the Internet responsibly, not to keep them away from it. 

My 13-year old daughter spent lots of time on Scratch.  Sometimes, she worked on projects, but most of the time, she just chatted with her “friends” who she had never met but had done group projects with on Scratch.  I checked the conversations. They were fine kid talk.  However, I’m still worried about her safety online.  What would you recommend?

Collaborating with friends on an online project is fine but chatting with friends while she should do schoolwork is never a good choice. Doing it while using a coding program like Scratch makes no difference. It’s like talking during class–not appropriate. Sometimes–often–kids don’t make that connection. Help your daughter understand that schoolwork time is for just that–not chatting with friends.

The nature of online friends–whether they’re friends from class or someone kids met online–is another issue and a big one. I discuss this some in another question but it takes much more for a thorough answer. 

How should parents handle (on-campus and off-campus) cyberbullying that happened to their children?

Cyberbullying is a horrid situation that can permanently damage kids. They often feel like victims, as though they can’t do anything to stop it. There is no quick one-and-done answer to this problem but I can tell you a good place to start. Let your kids know they don’t have to be victims and there are strategies they can use to protect themselves and stop the cyberbullies.  Remember that bullies, whether online or on campus, usually rely on intimidation. If scaring their potential victim doesn’t work, they rarely have a Plan B. Teach your kids strategies to fight back within the limits of what they’re comfortable doing.  A popular method is called upstanding.  Stand up to the bully by leaving the website, not responding, telling an adult, or not supporting the bully’s bullying of another person. Talk to your kids about bullies. There are great strategies I talk more about in the upcoming workshop.

How should we teach our kids about the things to watch for when they work online?

To many, explaining how to use the internet may feel like creating a jigsaw puzzle without the picture. It’s confusing with too many pieces and many adults don’t well-understand the intricacies themselves. A good starting point is to describe the digital neighborhood much like your personal neighborhood. It may seem like a tale of two neighborhoods but the rules are the same. Don’t talk to strangers. Look both ways before crossing the (virtual) street (meaning, be cautious as you progress). Play fair. Don’t be distracted by bling. Sometimes stop everything and take a nap. This approach takes the mystery out of a digital world that is invisible. Have this sort of discussion before your child ever goes online and repeat it consistently. This is not a one and done sort of conversation. Every time a situation arises–and they will, often–take time to discuss it, review, and answer questions, respectfully and lovingly.  And then do it again the next time. Don’t rush. Don’t delegate that responsibility to others. You are the parent. If you have raised your kids with morals and ethics, you can expect them to make good decisions once they understand. Don’t give up on them.

It’s important to know that most education experts feel the best approach when dealing with kids using the internet is not to prevent them from using it but to teach them how to do it correctly. They are enthusiastic about this new world but don’t have the expertise to ‘drive the car’.  That is your job.

Below is the link to the session.  It may say there is a charge for the session but the link has a gift code that allows you to listen to the session for free once you’re logged in via Gmail or Facebook.

https://www.askeducator.com/ui/gift-code?code=jcjzdd&codeId=5c413499e4b0719481f9de85

@konstellaInc

More for parents on technology in the classroom

10 Great Posts on How to Involve Parents

What parents should ask teachers about technology

How Do Non-Techie Parents Handle the Increasing Focus of Technology in Education?

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice reviewer, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today and TeachHUB, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Questions Parents Ask published first on https://seminarsacademy.tumblr.com/