#and my actually job title is admin assistant

[butchsaint]

i may. have hacked my way into some museum/historian experience

[ms-demeanor]

Can I ask you how you ended up a purchasing manager and what the "technically" means? I've been a purchaser for a couple years and I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I've taken my role in much more of a creating-reports and helping-people-with-data direction than probably purchasers are supposed to, so idk if I should look for another purchasing job or something else

We're a tiny, tiny (less than 10 employee) company so I'm kind of a one-person procurement department with about eight other roles stacked on top (including marketing, website administration, and proofreading my boss's emails).

The purchasing part of what I do is I manage vendor relationships and customer licensing through our vendors, and I research hardware and configure hardware solutions for our clients then do the ordering and order management.

I think my boss's goal with "purchasing" as a job description is just to keep me distinct from accounts payable/receivable (because of the type of business we are, the purchaser at this company needs to have a significant degree of computer literacy, so the role has always been far removed from the accounting department at this business; I'm not a tech, I'm not sales, I'm not precisely an office admin, but I kind of am those things stuck in a blender with an executive assistant).

"Technically" just means that "purchasing manager" is what the business puts on my tax form but I don't have the requisite freedom to make choices to *legally* be considered a manager in California (so 'technically' purchasing manager is my job description in actual fact, but i don't 'technically' meet the requirements of being a manager - my job title is fake).

I think that in normal procurement jobs there is some data crunching that is required, but I see it more as logistics than analytics. If you're more interested in the analytics side of things than the logistical stuff, it may be worthwhile to cast your net outside of the purchasing pool.

[romewritingshop]

Biker Book Club

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Pairing: Biker!Sukuna Ryoumen x Reader

MASTERLIST

A/N: So I wrote a smut and here's something to tide people over whilst I'm working on Part 3 of my Choso series. Thanks and I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think! Follow, comment or reblog, IDC because I enjoy writing this fic. Please pay attention before reading.

NO UNDER 18s 🔞

WARNING: Smut, Explicit Sex, Cowgirl, Blowjob, Fingering, Use of Lube, Almost unprotected sex, Use of Protection, Slight Choking, Gagging, Slight dominance, Swearing, Talk of sex, Loss of Virginity, talks of cunnilingus and face sitting, cum eating

This wasn't where he expected to find his next good fuck but somehow he found you. He noticed you sitting at a beanbag in the library. Your glasses were pushed right up your face.

Even the way you were dressed was getting to him as he took in your black straight jeans and matching woolly turtleneck. You were reading a book with an interesting cover, it had skulls and thorns with cursive that made it difficult for him to guess the title.

What drew him to notice you was the way your face was deadpanned, almost looking uninterested in what you were reading. Why continue reading a book you're uninterested in? Your legs were crossed over and you had white headphones covering your ears, probably blocking all the sound.

He came here to look for Geto and Gojo, apparently he needed to go over details for the gig they were being security detail for. The two of them were meant to be in the library for some college assignment. Sukuna stood out with his facial tattoos and black leather jacket.

Right now, he wanted you to warm his bed tonight, you seemed like the type of girl who liked to be wined and dined which wasn't so bad as long as he got to use them however he wanted. Rolling back his shoulders, eyes locked on target, he stepped towards you.

You were feeling hot under the collar as you read your book and followed along the words with your audio book. It was embarrassing reading this in your library but lately your parents weren't allowing you any privacy. They felt that you stayed indoors too much thus you went to the library to prove that you did go out.

You were a grown woman who should be allowed to do what she wanted but you worked a retail job whilst being rejected for different jobs as an admin assistant. Apparently they didn't want to hire an inexperienced graduate which made no sense.

You were stuck to reading smutty books in libraries and working inhumane hours for minimum pay. The book you were reading currently involved a tall tattooed biker that fell for the mayor's daughter and it was hot as hell. Currently you were listening/reading about them getting hot and heavy in the mayor's office during a party.

You were just getting to the bit where the biker was going down on his knees when something tapped you on your knee which made you drop your book, phone and headphones. You let out a short scream but shut up quickly when you realised that you were in a library.

The first thing you saw were black laced boots, nicely polished before trailing up to ripped black jeans. Your eyes went up to a white form fitting t-shirt underneath a black leather jacket. He had pink hair with a black undercut which was an interesting colour in comparison to his attire.

For a moment you thought you were hallucinating and the biker from your book had somehow come to life. However the facial tattoos reminded you that it wasn't the male lead, this person was actually standing in front of you.

Sukuna found it cute the way you were reacting to him, shocked like he caught you doing something nasty. Although, it didn't take him much to realise that you probably were as he picked up your book, headphones and phone to hand back to you. He took a look at the title and snorted.

"What the hell kinda book is this?"

You crossed your eyebrows as you folded your arms expecting him to return your things. You stood up, but suddenly felt a little nervous at the fact that this man was a whole foot taller than you.

"It's an action book about a biker."

That wasn't a whole lie, the book involved a biker and a lot of actions. Just more of the sexual type but she wasn't going to explicitly say what the book was to a total random stranger. Especially one that looked like a handsome jerk.

"An action book?"

"Yes, why?"

He shrugged, tucking his hands into his jean pockets.

"Why are you reading it if it looks boring?"

You frown as you look at the book cover. It was far from boring. What did he even mean by that but he answered your question.

"It's just, I came in looking for some people … I noticed you looking bored while you were reading."

It took a second before you made an 'oh'. Sometimes reading smut made your face go straight, especially if it was written in a generic formula. You pursed back a smile as you put your hand out to ask for your book.

"Well, I was reading a very important scene and wanted to focus."

Sukuna didn't really believe you as he opened the book, flicking to where your bookmark was. With a quick scan of the page you were on, he noticed an interesting word which made him quirk an eyebrow at you, which made you realise that his eyebrows were pierced.

"Important scene, huh? So you don't mind if I read that?"

Your eyes widened as you lunged forward to grab your book. You don't know how much he saw but you weren't going to let him find out more. Sukuna was quicker as he swung his arm to raise the book above his head as he tutted.

"Ah, ah ah! Mind if I read, Rosy?"

"It's not your kind of book."

"Maybe it is, Rosy, what would you know?"

"You haven't even read the book from the start! You're not gonna understand a thing if you start from the middle."

"So what? I just wanna know why this is such an important scene."

You scoffed as you dropped your hands to your hips. You couldn't believe this guy. Sukuna smirked as he glanced up at the title page, you were clearly hiding something about this book.

"'Sides, why are you reading about a biker?"

"Because they're interesting."

"You ever met one, Rosy?"

"Pft … where would you find one?"

There was a smug grin on Sukuna's face as he spread his arms to gesture at himself, answering your question which made your eyes widen. The coincidence was creepy but Sukuna almost laughed at the reaction on your face.

"You're a biker?"

"Yup but that's a part time hobby. I run a security company, lending out freelance security guards to events and people."

You nod and he brings a hand out to introduce himself. Sukuna was his name, it was interesting and even Sukuna found your name nice to repeat on his tongue but he liked the nickname he gave, Rosy. He had you on the hook, all he needed to do was to line and then reel in.

"So, Rosy, did you happen to see two tall guys: one with a dark black ponytail and the other with white hair and sunglasses?"

You scratch your head as you think back, shaking your head. Sukuna looks at your book one more time before finally handing it back to you, along with your headphones and phone. He was gonna get you in his bed tonight as he exhaled.

"I see. By the way, are you doing anything tonight?"

You deadpanned at the fact that Sukuna was cocky enough to ask what you were doing. You weren't that easy although this has been a literal dream. He was probably a red flag in disguise as you amuse his ask.

"Why? You plan to ask me out on a date?"

"Well a certain someone won't let me read this important scene without reading the whole book so I want you to read the book to me. Think of it as a … what's that thing those housewives do where they read a book together?"

"A book club?"

"Yeah, Rosy, a book club. We'll have our own little book club."

Sukuna was amused as he watched you make several confused expressions, looking at him, the book cover and the pages.

"What?"

"Come on, Rosy-"

"Why are you calling me, Rosy?"

"I promise, you'll have a good night. All we'll do is read your book. What have you got to lose?"

It wasn't much and this was a good opportunity for you to get out of the house like your mother wanted. You tapped your toe, looking down before looking back up at his face. He was persistent for sure and as long as you held out your temptation to dive in, you'll have an interesting night.

"No funny business?"

Sukuna wanted to snort at the fact that that was a total lie but he straightened his posture and raised his hand to show his fingers weren't crossed.

"No funny business, Rosy. So your place or mine for our book club?"

"Yours."

This was too easy as Sukuna took your phone out of your hands, he unlocked it and typed a few things before handing it back to you. You looked as he saved his number as 'Sukuna' with a skull emoji.

"Send me a text with your address when you're ready and I'll pick you up, in the full biker fit and motorcycle. Don't forget your book."

Without letting you say another word, Sukuna walked off leaving you confused yet lowkey excited at the fact that you were probably going on a date of your fantasies. 

It took you half an hour to get home, your parents were still at work so you went up to your room to change. You were going to wear your plainest most unattractive clothes which was a white button up and a long lilac coloured skirt with a nice silver necklace and earrings.

He surely wouldn't be aroused by these clothes as you pack your bag with your book. You look at your phone, hesitating to send the text. You could just not go … he seemed like a conceited douchebag. But he promised an interesting night and heck he might end up being a highlight in your boring miserable life.

You sent the message and not long after you hear your phone ping with his response that he'll be at yours in twenty. This was plenty of time, you took this moment to ponder on your thoughts. You couldn't make your mind up as you were interrupted by intrusive thoughts begging you to sleep with him.

You didn't know much about him and he seemed like the type of guy that had one night stands. You didn't want to be a conquest. Plus you didn't know if he was good in bed. The cocky ones were usually all talk no bark. You had a sneaking suspicion that he maybe was good in bed.

A loud roar sound from outside, this made you jump as you rushed to your window to see who had a lion only for you to notice Sukuna outside your front door with his motorcycle. That was embarrassing as Sukuna caught your eye in the window and waved.

It was time to go as you took a few quick breaths, going down and sending a text to your mother before you stepped out of your front door, locking the house and walking to the tattooed biker who was leaning against the seat of his parked motorcycle. He was still in the same clothes as before and he did not shy away from looking you up and down.

"You look nice, Rosy. Didn't know you had more colours in your wardrobe."

"I see you didn't change."

"Of course not. We're doing a book club. I'll dress nice when we have our first date."

He winked at you which made you huff before he reached around the right side of the motorcycle to hand you a black coloured helmet. You turned it around your hands in surprise as he then pulled out a red helmet for himself, sitting it on his head and lifting the visor up to look at you.

"What's the matter?"

"I didn't expect you to have a helmet."

This made Sukuna laugh as his head reared back, shaking his head. You may have read too many biker stories to come up with that assumption as he took the helmet from your hands, to sit on top of your head.

"Of course I do. Don't want my book club partner to have an accident before she can read her book to me."

You roll your eyes as Sukuna sits the helmet on top of your head properly, adjusting the strap before checking if it was secure on your head, he gives a nod and goes to take his motorcycle off its stand, sitting on it and starting it up. It had a nice loud purr that almost vibrated in your chest as he cocked his head to gesture you.

You look at Sukuna and then at your clothes, realising that maybe your plan to look unsexy may have made it unsafe.

"Sukuna, how am I gonna sit on your bike?"

"You're just gonna have to hold your skirt up, Rosy."

You crouch slightly to lift the hem of your skirt up to your knees as you step up to Sukuna, holding your skirt in your left hand and using your right hand to rest on his shoulder to help you bring a leg around his bike. You're seated properly and bunch the skirt in the middle of your legs, unsure of where to put your right hand.

Sukuna can hear you think too hard as he gets your hand to hold onto his waist. He pushes your visor down as he warns.

"Hold tight, Rosy. Squeeze or scoot closer if you're scared. I don't mind."

One rev. Two revs and the motorcycle is kicked into ignition as Sukuna pushes forward slightly before beginning to drive to his place. He's smooth at driving as he effortlessly weaves in between cars, surprisingly it's not too fast or too slow and you're able to actually look around you

Motorcycle driving was a different experience as the lit lamps gave the city a lively vibe than the sleepy one you often used to see when looking through a car window. You could feel the rush of wind on your arms as you tighten your grip on Sukuna.

He was giving you a wonderful experience and it isn't long until he reaches an apartment complex, he parks his motorcycle near the kerb. He steps off first before giving you a hand so that you could lift yourself off his bike.

You had a good time, Sukuna could tell as you took off your helmet and gave him a chance to see your exhilarated facial expression. He too took off his helmet as he led you through the doors, straight to an elevator to the third floor.

His apartment is neat and tidy with an open floor living room and kitchen. The colours were dull and grey, almost like it hasn't been lived in for a while as you examine.

"It looks nice."

"Thanks. Only moved here two months ago so I didn't get a chance to redecorate."

"Ah, where were you before that?"

"Around Japan. Never settled in one place. When I set up my company, I decided to settle here. Makes it easier to list the business."

You gave a nod, looking around, there weren't many pictures. Was he alone? There were two doors in front of you, one door to your right and one to your left as Sukuna pointed at each one.

"The far left one is the bathroom, next to it is a guest room, my room and then a laundry room."

You nod, taking your shoes and socks off by the front door as you go over to his dark grey cushion sofas, setting your bag on the white coffee table. It was better if you knew more about him and surprisingly he wasn't shying away from any personal questions which made you wonder what he was intending.

"Yeah. Been on my own for a long time."

"You live alone?"

He was an interesting open book. As you get your book out, he heads to the kitchen to look in his fridge.

"Want a drink? I got water, beer or orange juice."

You crinkle your nose at the beer and juice, instead asking for water. He comes back with two bottles of water, handing one to you and taking a sip from the other one. He was definitely not what you assumed him to be.

"No beer?"

"Don't feel like it."

That was a lie as you picked your book up, flicking to get to the front page after making sure that your bookmark was in its proper place. How were you going to do this? But Sukuna answered that as he sat right next to you on the double sofa, his arm spread on the back and his legs spread wide.

"Go ahead and start, Rosy."

With no other qualms, you started to read. You had a nice soothing voice as you began the story and Sukuna was getting into the vibe. He was curious and interested as he asked you all sorts of questions about the characters, further clarifications about certain scenes and actions.

It was a nice intellectual discussion and Sukuna was for once enjoying with you. In fact he was slowly beginning to let go of his idea that you would be sleeping in his bed. He would much rather read which surprised him.

You had reached halfway and your hands started to get clammy as you were getting to the scene you were reading earlier. This was going to be embarrassing as you rolled your shoulder back, feeling a slight stiffness as you paused your reading. Looking up at him over the book, he seemed calm and interested which somehow made it harder to ask.

"What's up, Rosy? Wanna take a break?"

You were almost thankful as Sukuna glanced at his phone, noticing you had read for a good hour and a half. Yeah you needed a break.

"Let's take a break."

"Thanks, I'll just go to the bathroom and be back."

You step off the sofa and shuffle to the bathroom, rushing in and locking the door behind you. Taking deeper, harsher breaths to try and calm your beating heart. Surely Sukuna had to have some inkling that this was not an action book else why would he insist on you reading it to him.

You pee and wash your hands, freshening up and shaking away your nerves. It was just a book and fiction, you read it quite a lot, heck you can pass off your facial expressions to not be a giveaway. But Sukuna was going to know that this was a porn book and he was going to tease you endlessly.

After a few minutes, you leave the bathroom and rejoin Sukuna on the sofa, picking up the book to pick up where you left off when he plucks it out of your hands, offering.

"Why don't I read? This is a book club and we should share reading turns. Besides, I wouldn't want you to overexert your voice."

This was the worst idea Sukuna had as he began to read where you left off. All of sudden the temperature dropped, his voice dropped as he started to talk about the female lead encountering the male lead. You kept your body still as you listened to Sukuna begin to slow his pace.

Talking about the male lead getting down on his knees, kissing a trail up the female lead's legs and nuzzling his face into her panties. It felt like a whisper in your ear and for the moment you felt like you had been transported into the mayor's office and Sukuna was the one in between your legs.

His hands stroked up and down your legs whilst he sniffed at your panties, you felt yourself lull into a dizzy lusty spell as you closed your eyes to fully manifest the image in your mind. The voice stopped and you were back in reality as you opened your eyes to watch Sukuna pout.

"Is my voice so bad that you fell asleep?"

You hadn't fallen asleep as you blink your eyes, furrowing your brows at Sukuna. His lips twitched slightly and you had a feeling that he knew what this book was all along.

"No … not at all."

"We were just getting to the scene you said was important and I can see why."

You huffed, bringing your bare feet to tuck under you as you face him fully, straight posture and slightly leaning forward.

"You knew what this scene was?!"

"I caught a glimpse of the word 'suck' back in the library but snuck a better look while you were in the bathroom. It's an interesting book."

"Interesting book? It's got explicit sex scenes!"

"And? Sex is natural. There's nothing to be ashamed about. We will have an intellectual grown-up discussion about it. I'll continue."

That he did, he brought the story to life as he read about the oral scene in the mayor's office. You tried to keep a straight face but inside you felt yourself slowly burning, from shame or excitement the two were blurring.

Sukuna, too, was getting hot under his shirt, having shed his jacket now to show you his arms which were muscular and tattooed making your eyes wonder where else is tattooed. The book wasn’t what you were expecting, since it was meant to be a highly smutty pornographic book.

It was nothing, since you listened to the story. The main leads were hot and heavy in her room and the office. You had passed your bookmark and reading the climax was … underwhelming for you. Apparently the male lead was using the female lead to get revenge on her dad by screwing her in his office. She finds out, they argue and they make up. The big sex scene which your friends hyped up was unbearably tame.

Sukuna found it incredibly hot as he finished off his last sentence, closing the book and turning it over in his hands. He got a few good tips from the book which will help him as he took a moment to look at his book partner. His eyebrows crossed with confusion as he took in your disappointed disgruntled expression.

"Rosy?"

"Yeah?"

"What you think of the book?"

You look at the book cover, taking it from his hands and reading over the reviews. In all honesty, you couldn't believe how disappointing the book was despite the four/five star reviews.

"You tell me first, Sukuna."

"Well … the plot is interesting. Both the guy and the girl had interesting chemistry which made the love scenes hotter. I liked it. Especially that argument scene."

His words eventually stopped at the growing disappointed look on your face.

"So you didn't like the book?"

"It just … I have completely opposite opinions to you. The guy and girl have no chemistry. There was no captivating conflict and just the sex scenes were lackluster."

Sukuna tilted his head, you were unhappy? He wanted to grin so badly, hearing you be so disgusted by the lack of creative sex, making him wonder what you were into.

"Lackluster?"

"Yes. I've read better books than that. With better chemistry and sex."

"Really? What books are they?"

You were about to answer his question when you clamped your mouth shut. Did he truly want to know what books were better? Nah there was no way. He was just doing this to get you to have sex with him. You huff and let out a sarcastic sneer.

"Maybe when we have our next book club meeting."

"Sure, you're free tomorrow?"

"Wait … what?"

You wanted to laugh, say that he's joking and get him to give up but the serious expression on his face confirmed that he was interested. More than that, he would read more books with you.

"I'm serious. Look … I'm not gonna lie, at first I wanted to have sex."

It shouldn't surprise you. It really shouldn't. This was an expectation whenever you hung out with men who wanted a quick fuck. Basically a fuck boy but somehow you were surprised and taken aback by the fact that he outright admitted his true intentions. You wished you could be disgusted but instead you felt … vindicated.

"But when you started reading and then I took over, I enjoyed reading. I especially enjoy the conversation we're having, which surprises me as much as it might surprise you. I could be satisfied just reading a book with you, tonight."

You blinked once. Blinked twice, ruminating over his words. You least expected this outcome. Did your outfit work all too well? You look down at your clothes before looking up at Sukuna, just perplexed and befuddled. Sukuna seemed to reveal something to you which made him incredibly more attractive to you.

"You're not just saying that to guilt trip or manipulate me?"

"I might look like an asshole but … I'm not just saying that without any meaning. I'm serious."

This time he called you by your actual name, not that god awful nickname. He was serious. Dead serious. Somehow that made him more attractive. You shook your head harshly to knock that thought out of your head. You were in some kind of mood. Sukuna watched you rather nervously.

"Right. Well … I guess … thank you for being honest."

Sukuna gave a nod as he turned the book in his hands, changing the topic back.

"Well thanks for reading this book to me. I guess we agree to disagree on this book. Although I still find that argument scene hot. Especially when she grazes her teeth on his dick. Shit had my dick twitch."

At the mention of his dick, your eyes dropped down to see the imprint of it against his right thigh. What the fuck? Your eyes widen slightly, looking at his imprint. He looked like he had quite a bit of length on him.

"You liked the teeth? Isn't that like a no-no in blowjobs?"

Sukuna shrugged, looking up and answering the question.

"There is no rulebook on how to give a blowjob. You just go with the way you feel. Never really considered the thought of teeth on my dick but this book proved me wrong. Would be nice if a girl was rough with my dick."

At that moment a challenge was presented in front of your eyes. Somehow you felt the urge to be that girl. To be Sukuna's girl, even if it was just for one night and if he never called again. All your logic and reasoning went out the window and you only live once.

Sukuna watched you curiously get inside your head, wondering what you were planning. He exhaled looking down at his phone to see the time.

"Well, it's getting very late Rosy and I'm hungry. Want to order some -"

He was about to get up when you stood up and pushed him back onto his double sofa. What was going on with you as Sukuna watched you get on your knees, his eyes widened.

"Hey! What are you-"

You pressed your hand against Sukuna's mouth, your other hand drawing circles on his knee.

"For the record, this is out of my own volition. Can I …"

You trailed off, almost feeling embarrassed to say what you wanted to do to him. Your bravery was all over the place and Sukuna quirked a curious eyebrow. He couldn't believe this was happening and he didn't even initiate it. He didn't know whether to stop or carry on. Either way he felt like a dick and he was going to be an inconsiderate dick.

Sukuna gently pried your hand off his mouth, holding it and fiddling with your fingers.

"Can you what? Come on say what you were gonna say, Rosy?"

You huff through your nose and bite your lip. Now you definitely weren't going to say it as Sukuna grinned. You were the type of girl to live in fantasies so he truly didn't expect you to follow through as he brought his hand onto your shoulders.

"You know this is very cute but … I'm fine with just reading. Don't strain yourself."

You hated this placating tone, like Sukuna wouldn't believe you and let you do what you wanted and this made your nose scrunch in anger.

"Fine. Can I give you a rough blowjob or are you gonna be a difficult piece of shit?"

"Well shit, Rosy. You didn't have to be such a brat but I appreciate you asking for permission."

Sukuna watched you as he gestured for you to go ahead, his eyes trailed down from your eyes to your nose, mouth and neck. He was gonna let you have your way with him as he watched you unbutton the jeans, unzipping the fly and tugging slightly so that his jeans were off his butt.

You could see the dick more clearly as you noticed it was not only long but quite girthy. It was half erect which offended you as you brought your finger to stroke along the length. Sukuna flinched at your sudden touch, watching your finger stroke him through his boxers and making it rouse to life.

This was your first blow job. Heck, this was the first time you've ever done anything sexual except for masturbating and even that was … You've read books and watched porn. You could do this. Somehow you weren't too fussed about giving your virginity to someone special. You could do this. You didn't care about your first as long as you found someone to be a lifelong last.

Hooking your index finger into his waistband, you tugged it down, almost getting smacked in the face by the sudden growth. Even more, he was circumcised, and trimmed. Sukuna was a shower for sure, looking up at him and connecting your eyes with his.

"Are you waiting for something Rosy?"

"Nah, just wanted to see if you were watching carefully."

Sukuna huffed a laugh, leaning his head back before shuffling down slightly to get his dick to brush your lips.

"Oh, I'm intending to watch everything, Rosy, especially if you're planning to use your teeth. Lemme know if you need help."

You frowned at his words, deciding to just go for it as you leaned forward to purse your lips around his tip, you begin suckling on it, pushing your tongue down to lick up his length. Making your mouth water more so that your saliva drips down as you slowly push more of his dick into your mouth.

His hands clenched the cushions of his sofa, his nose let out short breaths as he watched you slobber over his dick like a dog on a bone. You had no experience for sure but somehow this was so much better than any blowjob he had received. Your inexperience was driving him crazy as he watched your saliva droop down.

For sure you were a messy girl as you took Sukuna's dick out of your mouth, licking up and down before spitting on it and retaking it into your mouth. You bring your teeth down and gently graze against his frenulum which made him yelp. An interesting sound as you repeated your action.

This was way better and somehow his heart pumped faster every time your teeth pinch the length. You could bite down and somehow the potential pain of that made him grow so hard, and before he knew it, he was whining. He's never whined or whimpered. Your teeth teased at his girth, threatening to bite down which almost had him arch his back.

Watching Sukuna react like that made you push harder, licking down to where his balls were. You kissed them before gulping them into your mouth and sucking at them like they were a melon ball. Precum was starting to pool at the slit of his penis which surprised him because it took Sukuna longer to get to an orgasm stage.

There was something different about you as you noticed the white viscose cum on his tip. You licked at it, finally tasting what you've only read about. It wasn't great and it wasn't awful. It was salty and you began to suck his tip again in the hopes to get him to produce more.

"Shit, Rosy. Stop teasing."

Sukuna was at his whims end as he watched you guzzle his dick like it was ice cream. You weren't teasing at all in fact you wanted to try to fit him into your mouth as you sat up straighter and brought your head down. Slowly swallowing his cock to try to deep throat him.

Unfortunately you had a terrible gag reflex that made you pull up immediately, Sukuna jerked in surprise as he watched you pull away, gagging. You were an overachiever which made him grin with glee at your grumpy pout. He patted your cheek to reassure you.

"Hey Rosy, don't be so grumpy. You're doing well."

You mimicked his words and tried again but failed once again as your gag reflex made you pull up. Sukuna exhaled exasperatedly, grabbing both your cheeks to make your attention face him.

"Why are you being a brat? You clearly cannot deepthroat me so don't do that again."

"Or what?"

You were in that kind of mood as Sukuna almost guffawed in laughter. One of his hands slid down to press just below your jawline. A shiver ran down your body as Sukuna leaned in, quoting from the book.

"Or I'll fuck that throat so hard that you lose your voice."

You bit back a smile, the logic of that made no sense and you just found it funny which made Sukuna curiously tilt his head and tighten his grip on your neck.

"That funny?"

"I mean … that is so not possible."

Sukuna pursed back a smile, bowing his head slightly so he could not laugh at your words. You were by far the funniest most interesting lay, he was for sure never going to make this a one time thing as he looked up and into your eyes, trying to maintain that serious tone.

"Oh yeah, wanna bet?"

"Totally."

Sukuna shaked his head and huffed out a laugh, leaning his head back and palming his face. You and your terrible sense of humour got to him.

"Goddamn it Rosy, I'm tryna set a mood here."

You shrugged and were about to return to sucking Sukuna's dick when he shook his head and pulled you up by your shoulders. Standing up and lifting you in his strong arms, pressing his lips onto yours. His tongue licked around your mouth, taking in his own taste.

He blindly guided you to his own room, stepping on top of his own bed to lay you down. There was no more patience in Sukuna as he let go of your lips to fully undress and show his full nude body. This time you noticed that he was covered in tattoos, all over his chest and arms and legs. You were surprised there weren't any on his dick.

"I see you admiring me Rosy."

"Nah, just wondering why your dick ain't tattooed?"

"Just cause I didn't. Now I'mma ask this once: can I be your first?"

You blinked in surprise, how'd he know you were a virgin. There was no way he should have been able to tell that. You clear your throat and unbutton your shirt.

"What kinda question is that? You're not my first."

This was funny to Sukuna as he broke out into a full blown laughter. It took a few minutes for him to settle before he loomed over you making your thighs rest on his hips as his nose brushed against yours.

"Don't try to be funny. It's actually cute that you're a virgin. Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

Sukuna pulls off your shirt and skirt, raising an eyebrow at your fox print bra and underwear. At least you were wearing matching underwear as Sukuna snapped the band of your panties against your waist.

"So this is the new kind of lingerie nowadays. You're just getting cuter by the minute."

You frowned, you weren't cute, you were sexy and you had enough of Sukuna's cockiness as you brought your hands to his shoulders, shoving him to roll onto his back. Bringing your whole body to straddle him and have your pussy press against his cock which made the both of you shiver.

"Think I'm cute now?"

By instinct, your hips began to slowly roll on his cock gradually increasing in speed which made Sukuna huff and whimper, the only thing he could hold onto was your hips. You had your hands on his chest to steady yourself. This was way better than anything you imagined as your head lolled back in pleasure.

Sukuna too was enthralled in the act, there was something about you that was making his cool dominant demeanour just fade away as you began to hump him faster. He brought a thumb down to rub rapid circles on your clit which had you convulse and beg.

"Sukuna! Fuck!"

"Shit!"

You were being brought closer to the edge by Sukuna's thumb as you gyrated your hips faster until you shuddered with pleasure. Finally reaching your high, followed by Sukuna who's cum spread: a little bit on your underwear, his stomach, his chest and his lower jaw.

You were lost in pleasure as your head rolled back and forth, Sukuna was also feeling a little out of breath but he had enough energy for one more round, this time he was going inside. He blindly reached into his bedside drawer to pull out a red bottle of lube. He squirted some onto his hand and fingers, spreading a little more onto his penis.

Sliding your underwear to a side, you let out a broken gasp at the intrusion of Sukuna's lubed fingers inside your vagina. Thrusting them a few times to get you used to the feel before sliding them out and grabbing the base of his penis. In your orgasmic daze you noticed his hand on his penis.

To help him, you shift forward slightly and guide the penis inside you. Full on moaning uncontrollably whilst one of your hands dug and yanked Sukuna's hair.

"Fuck Rosy, gonna be the death of me."

You smiled and gave a nod, finally sitting down onto his dick. He fit snugly inside thanks to the lube as your gushy walls clenched at the feel of his dick inside you. This was way better than any book you've ever read. You were way better than any woman Sukuna fucked.

It felt incredible and warm being inside you, Sukuna was never going to let you go. However something seemed to snap in your head as you squealed and pulled yourself out, hopping off the bed and going through the drawers before tossing a foil packet on Sukuna's chest.

"Fuck, you forgot protection."

Sukuna huffed with a smirk, ripping open the foil and rolling the condom on himself.

"Shut up!"

"Virgin. Totally called it."

You got back on the bed, this time sliding onto Sukuna's dick again, your insides clenched and relaxed at the feel of him inside you. A hiss left his lips, planting his feet on the bed and making you bounce up and down as if you were on those bouncy balls.

Your nails dug into Sukuna's shoulders as you couldn't control your movements, feeling like a toy. No wonder the female protagonists in the books you read were pushed to their limits in sex because sex itself was tiring. Sukuna had his eyes closed and teeth gritted whilst sweat was sticking like water droplets on his skin.

Once again feeling a little offended, you brought your right hand onto his neck, squeezing as hard as you could to get his attention.

"Hey! Sukuna! Keep your eyes open! Thought you were gonna watch everything."

He opened his eyes which made you notice that he had dark brown eyes like the bark of trees in a forest. It was the warmest kindest thing you saw from him as you watched Sukuna take your fingers to scoop some of the cum that was about to dry on his skin, moving your fingers into his mouth and sucking off his own taste.

"Don't worry, I'm not missing anything."

A few more thrusts and you were close to cumming which disappointed you. For some unknown deep embedded reason, you wanted Sukuna to cum first, to tire out first. Just anything to get rid of that placating confidence. You needed to delay your orgasm and the best way to do that was to completely move away.

Immediately you got off Sukuna, huffing and puffing rather tiredly which made Sukuna groan in disappointment. He couldn't believe that you pulled yourself off again, as he turned his face to watch you only, for you to climb back on him, slide him in and go again.

Sukuna tilted his head in confusion, unsure of what you're playing at. Although he could feel himself getting close to the edge, he was about to move his hand down to squeeze at the base of his penis to delay his orgasm but you grabbed his wrist and pressed it down beside his head. You did the same to his other hand. 

Thrusting harder and uncontrollably, Sukuna was getting very close to spilling as he hissed through his teeth.

"Fuck Rosy! Stop! I'm gonna-"

"Go 'head. I want ya to."

This was what you were playing at as Sukuna knowingly grinned. Instead he dug deep into himself to mentally block himself from coming but the sound of your words snapped him out.

"Oh Sukuna! Fuck! You feel so good!"

You were playing dirty. Talking loudly, holding his hands down and bouncing on him. Truthfully, he could overpower you, and really fuck you hard. However you were the one who initiated the sex, so you were the one in control. Sukuna was fine with that and next time he could get the upper hand and really mess you up. 

You could have this one as Sukuna exhaled deeply, ejaculating into the condom. He came harder than before and somehow he felt a little more exhausted. He looked down to where you were joined, watching his penis disappear into you and it wasn't long until you reached your high. Your vagina got wetter and started dripping down his condom.

Your arms and legs started to burn slightly as you dropped yourself onto Sukuna's chest making him huff in pain at your sudden drop. His eyes furrowed in confusion, tapping your shoulder and calling your name to see if you were still awake. You hummed slightly which made Sukuna exhale in relief.

"Hey, wake up. Gotta dispose the condom."

You frowned rather tiredly but rolled yourself off him and beside him. Taking deep breaths to cool down your skin, looking to your left to see Sukuna take off the condom and tie the end with a knot. His legs felt like they were glued to his sheets, he broke out in a smile and wiped his forehead. There was a small bucket which he used as a bin, he tossed the condom as it landed inside.

Sukuna glanced back at you, seeing you take deep heavy breaths. You were tired out like him.

"How was that for your first night?"

"That wasn't my-" You cut off at the look on Sukuna's face. There was no point lying. "It was … good. You?"

Sukuna laughed heartily, heart warm from you asking him how it was.

"I mean, I cannot feel my legs so … it was really really good, Rosy."

Your heart swelled from the praise as you bit your bottom lip and looked away which made Sukuna grin because you were shying away again. He brought his hands onto your waist to make you lie on top of him, stretching his hand out to pull the sheet over both of your waists.

"Why'd you call me Rosy?"

"Aw don't look away Rosy."

Sukuna shrugged, his fingers coming up to stroke at your cheeks.

"Cause I like how flustered you were when I called for your attention for the first time."

That was clever of him and flattering as you gave a nod. Sukuna grinned, bringing your chin up to give you a peck on the lips.

"So same thing for tomorrow's book club?"

You raised an eyebrow, bringing your finger to trace at Sukuna's lips.

"I never agreed."

"Come on Rosy. We need to read a book that's not so … lackluster as you so put it."

There was something about Sukuna that just made you roll your eyes but agree as you give a short nod.

"Okay fine. But we are strictly reading."

"Says the one who initiated this."

"I did not-"

"Really? I told you I was just fine reading but you said it yourself: 'I'm doing this out of my own volition.'"

You laugh breathlessly, agreeing and not contesting his words.

"Okay fine. But we are not recreating book scenes if we do end up having sex."

"Ugh, stop acting like a virgin now."

You smack Sukuna on his shoulder which makes him squeeze your thighs, staring down into your eyes whilst raising his eyebrows. You technically hadn't recreated a sex scene as Sukuna informs you.

"Well if you wanna get technical: we only recreated an oral technique. We've still yet to recreate a sex scene. Did I tell you that I have an office for my company? We can do the office scene there."

"We're gonna have sex, again?"

"I mean …it's only a suggestion."

It sounded like a challenge again as you pierce your eyes together. Somehow you manage to gain some strength in your body as you push yourself to sit up on his thighs.

"Why wait for your office when we can just go ahead and recreate the bedroom scene? This time following - it - exactly."

He liked where you were going with this as he nudged your body to shuffle forward slightly.

"Sure, why not? But you're gonna have to scoot up and take a seat on my face because I still can't feel my legs."

[heliopauseentertainments]

Pairing and 2 AUs: Jazz/Megatron (because I am predictable) or Megatron/Nickel (because it would be fun) - you choose.

Either way for AUs:

(a) fae, or

(b) academia (not a college AU, but the sort of thing where all the focus is on the professorial types - Oxbridge SCR/David Lodge style New Uni struggles/whatever)

I have basically zero knowledge of anything fae-related (it's not a cultural feature here), so by default I have to pick option B, but with the disclaimer that I don't recognize any of the the names you mentioned (beyond that Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge).

Also, further disclaimer, as uni admin staff, my feelings towards faculty are... complicated at best.

This one is difficult to assemble.

The trick is finding departments where any of them would come into contact with each other.

I will make the following assumptions:

They are still robots in a Cybertronian cultural context.

We're using a loosely IDW1 continuity.

Academia on Cybertron functions at least somewhat similarly to real-world. I am using the US context because that's what I know, but I realize this is not universal. I.E. I'm using similar positions, academic divisions, fields of study, and issues.

The best I'm coming up with is if Nickel works with some department of Population Health (to keep in line with her medical background) and if Megatron were brought it in from a more statistics-based humanities (what would a Cybertronian equivalent be?) department (demography, social statistics, labor studies, etc.) for a data consult.

Jazz would almost certainly be working with a music and/or dance department. He probably even has a dual appointment.

Finding a department fit for Megatron is very difficult.

The bigger struggle is "who let Megatron into a university? who let him graduate and get a job?" because he would butt right up against the systemic discrimination against working class grad students and likely be forced out via dubiously legal black-balling from faculty not approving projects and/or requiring him to pay for mandatory activities and conferences out of pocket.

In a Cybertronian context, the biases against manual class mechs, even post-Zeta lifting fanatical functionism, would function similarly to the real-world working class bias, along with the black-balling probably actually being more overtly allowed.

I'm also struggling to see him actively choosing to work in academic environments, but the spite of "I am going to go be an asshole and do it anyway" is a good motive for him.

Alright, I've got two options:

Jazz/Megatron - Jazz with his dual appointment and Megatron having a tentative appointment in labor studies doing cross-disciplinary research on music's (and dance's) role in labor movements. This would also allow them to both draw on their strengths and experiences to reach a common ground.

Nickel/Megatron - Nickel requiring outside assistance to set up and account for certain social variables for a new project that is part of a government research grant and the only one available from the appropriate statistical or demographic department is Megatron. The focus would be their struggle to mesh their terse and obstinate personalities to actually work together and complete the project and keep that sweet, sweet grant funding.

Both actually have a lot more potential than I would have thought before noodling it through. It's hard to pick, but I think I'm actually going to choose option 1: Jazz/Megatron.

I think it could be a solid 10k or under one-shot. However, I wouldn't want to actually parallel too many real-world issues, so this is something I wouldn't ever actually write.

Title: Building Bridges

The description is already a good loose summary.

[chrissieshauntedbones]

This is not the slightest bit true.

Maybe for some corporate offices / corporate based retail chains & the like where you are just a number, then MAYBE this could be true... but in today's world, this doesn't seem to hold up, or, it at least hasn't been my experience.

I have worked in some form of management role between three different jobs over the course of 7 years prior to the car crash I had been in, back in 2023. When I had interviewed for each position prior to getting them, I had been my genuine and authentic self.

For context, I was an assistant manager, then was promoted to a store manager, and managed two different store locations for a retail CORPORATE store. I was, however, being underpaid, so I had requested a review and raise, and though my review went spectacularly, they could not offer me the pay I wanted, and I left to work in a Doctor's office. I got weekends off and had great health insurance, and the latest I would be home would be 7pm most nights vs 9pm, so it was a no brainer to leave.

When I worked in the Doctors office, I climbed the chain fast, and went from a front desk worker, to a site supervisor, before being promoted to the front desk manager for all SIX locations. A few months later COVID hit, and I lost a lot of my staff. I HAD to work, I couldn't afford to stay home... So, I got worn down real fast, and wound up butting heads with the practice admin. She was honestly awful. There was no way I could come to any sort of compromise with this woman, so, when I received a job offer from a friend, I left to work in a construction based field doing office work...

After 5 months in my most recent job i had been promoted to the office manager/service manager, then was relieved of the service manager position, but was given the sales manager title that way my skills could be better utilized.

In every role I applied for, I had been honest, polite, attentive, and I asked questions. I didn't try to pretend to be anything I wasnt, and wound up getting the jobs.

In these management positions, I was responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training new staff members, as well as doing my own job duties, which usually went hand in hand with whatever my team was responsible for.

In every field I had been working in, when I went to interview someone, depending on the role I was hiring for (receptionist, cashier, scheduler, customer service rep, etc) the criteria obviously changed slightly to fit the role, but overall, I looked for people who had experience with the position I was looking to fill, and I looked for people who could show an overall level of basic competency.

I also always looked for:

Empathy

Compassion

Kindness

Responsibility

A sense of humor!!!

The ability to work under pressure

The ability to work as a group or on their own

The ability to ask questions (you would not believe how often people are afraid to ask questions about all sorts of things in fear of being judged)

The ability to take constructive criticism as well as give constructive criticism

I actually called prior employers to confirm employment dates, and would just ask how they were overall. I never asked for specifics. Just how they were seen in their role, and if they had any issues that needed coaching, or caused write ups (it would not be held against the applicant, just so that way I could understand a separation from the previous job better).

I almost always hired people based off of their personalities, and their eagerness & willingness to work (as long as the experience was there).

I worked with my employees, and constantly trained, offered help and support, and did what I could for them.

I would always want someone to be honest with me at an interview, because spewing information at me isn't going to prove your ability to do a job or work with a team... It's just going to prove that you can read, which I suppose is important, but there are far more important qualities people have which make them valuable employees.

remember that interviews are not about giving a good and honest first impression that they'll carefully consider. interviews are about saying the special words and phrases they're looking for that give you points and when they tally those up whoever earned the most job points wins

[illegiblescript]

I made this blog for talking when I feel like I have no one to talk to. I've been using it to let out a lot of negative feelings, but sometimes I feel like I don't have anyone to talk to about the good stuff either.

I mean, I haven't used this blog in a while, so I've actually had people who talked to me and listened to me and hung out with me and made me feel included for a bit! I went to job corps as an office admin trainee. I finished in less than 5 months and now I have an awesome job as a title clerk/administrative assistant.

at job corps, I had a large group of decent friends and a smaller (but still pretty big) group of close friends and found myself hanging between friend groups very often. I miss them every single day. my instructor was amazing and really, because of her truly believing in me so much that I had no choice but to believe in myself, I was able to say for the first time in my life that I was proud of myself. I've been proud of things I've done, but never of myself. for a large majority of my time, my dorm was a family to me. we all lifted each other up and, even though things were going smooth because of my distance from home, I knew that if I needed someone to talk to, I could knock on any door and someone would listen. it's been difficult not having that anymore.

but after job corps, I started this sweet job! it pays well, I'm getting experience for the position I want to retire in, I enjoy what I do, and it's just me and my boss and my boss is so cool. I cannot express how much she has made this enjoyable. not only is she just an all around enjoyable person to be around, she and I both have adhd, so the way she teaches Perfectly matches the way I learn. it's unreal. I haven't even been there a full month yet (very close) and when I did orientation, I told her I had planned a trip and wanted to know if it would work for me to go on it and she was totally okay with it and keeps bringing it up, asking for pictures. ah! it's awesome!

I mean, there are not so awesome things too, but even though they really upset me for a brief moment, I've learned to handle it. before job corps, I wouldn't have reached out to a friend to talk about it, but I did and the response was what it should be when you have a friend in need and enough space to listen. long story short, I've been feeling really lonely. people like me, but not enough to make the sacrifices I've been making and that friendships require. I recently had a friend completely stop talking to me after I asked for better communication. I hurt him on accident, he hurt me on purpose in response, and although I apologized (he hasnt responded) and I'm worried about him, I don't think I want be friends with him anymore. on top of that, I've kinda noticed that no one really talks to me. if I don't start any conversations, I will not have any conversations. there are certain friends I don't expect that from, but when I can go nearly any length of time without anyone trying to start a conversation with me, it gets disheartening. I've tried not to let it bother me and I've decided to start playing viola more. I'm more excited to play viola more than I am upset about being lonely. things are alright B)

[vanitysunday]

Finally feeling basically 100%. It really took almost two weeks. My period started two days ago so it has just felt like I've gotten my ass kicked back to back. I had a gynecologist appointment last week for a Pap smear and HPV test and the results came back clear. Happy I got that out of the way.

I scheduled an audit for March 1st and the bookkeeper left me a message at the beginning of the month confirming the date. While I had covid I spent a lot of time worrying about it because I really don't want to do an audit at an employer's location just yet. I want to get comfortable with the audit process first before doing one from start to finish at an employer's location. I tried to call her last week to have her send me their records by email but I couldn't reach her. Thankfully today I got a hold of her and she'll send me the records Monday or Tuesday so that I can do the audit from my office 😌.

As of the 25th I'm officially a Revenue Examiner 1. Nothing changes except my pay and title. I'll continue to do the work I was doing as a trainee the last two years. Now that I've experienced a lot of different situations and did hours of research to back up my decisions, I feel a lot less anxious about my job. There are still some situations I will experience for the first time but I'm at least confident in my ability to document and back up my decisions. I actually kind of enjoy my work. I like the freedom for sure. I speak to my boss between 0-5 times a month. I see my boss between 0-2 times a year 😂.

One of the things that gave me the most anxiety when I was an accounting clerk/admin assistant was dealing with the general manager. Mostly because he operated at an energy level that was overwhelming. He would ask for things and give me deadlines as if I wasn't performing two roles at once. If there is one thing I will never do again, it's taking a job that is two positions in one and having to answer to two separate bosses. Admin work isn't for the weak. I am weak.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get back to working out soon. My cramps are debilitating and I know they shouldn't be but my period is only 4 days long so it's no big deal.

[triflesandparsnips]

Unfortunate Theories (NOW EDITED TO REMOVE NONSENSE AND TO BETTER PROMOTE NEW FAV IBRAHIM THE QUARTERMASTER):

Izzy Hands was not, in fact, Blackbeard's First Mate. Not on Blackbeard's ship, anyway. There's another guy over there, a Quartermaster, let's call him Ibrahim. Ibrahim is watching all these shenanigans from a good distance away, drinking endless cups of coffee and making a note in the log every time a new crazy flag goes up or down the Revenge's main mast.

So who was Izzy?

We know that, canonically, Ed's actual direct requests of Izzy seem to be comprised of:

Collect gossip for Ed

Do small tasks that could otherwise be given to others for Ed

Make Ed tea

Fetch people who Ed would rather talk to

Listen to Ed as he describes clouds

Help Ed down from his high-wire act

These... are not matters for the second-most important person on the crew.

So my questionable theory? It's Ibrahim the quartermaster who does a bang-up job of actually running the dang ship for Ed. But Izzy... is basically Ed's assistant.

(...maybe rising to the level of Toxic Personal Assistant. But even that is giving him a level of management over Ed's actual day-to-day life that just isn't present in the canon. He doesn't even own a Blackberry.)

So Izzy's whole Thing about getting to have power of his own really starts with him coming over to the Revenge and no longer just being responsible, primarily, for random gofering. But hey, we believe in upward mobility! Shadowing opportunities! Gaining important industry experience in a competitive field! Izzy's been in the same position for a while and hasn't really developed the additional skillsets it takes to earn a promotion, so Ed thinks this is a nice chance for Izzy to maybe try taking on more responsibility in a low-impact environment, giving him a title he absolutely doesn't have the experience for but doesn't particularly need to be great at anyway while he gets some key on-the-job training with his fellow staffing professionals.

Meanwhile, Ed is on this rather nice office retreat with his new friend Stede.

(Ibrahim is, in fact, also having a nice time back on the Queen Anne, having the crew tidy up the decorations from the most recent fuckery, meditatively making himself endless pots of coffee, and drawing up new pages in the inventory so everything is set for the new fiscal year. It's great.)

But anyway. Izzy, unlike everyone else, is not have a good time. He's fairly sure he's acing this First Mate thing, but Ed doesn't seem to be giving him the, ahem, Respect he deserves now that he's no longer a lowly assistant. (Izzy is still very much an assistant.) Izzy still somehow has admin-things he has to do (help Ed down from the fuckery! also probably do the laundry!), but no real First Mate duties, and even his previous daily tasks seem to have taken a cut (he didn't make the best cup of tea or whatever, and it was certainly no task for a Very Important First Mate, but... now Stede was making it? What the fuck?)

So Izzy, rather than seeing all this for the relaxing vacation and/or training module it could be -- as, in fact, everybody else on the ship has decided it is -- takes all this as some kind of, well, demotion. And, from there, decides to become what even the kindest HR rep would term "a goddamn nightmare."

So we end season 1 in a significantly worse state than we started: Ed, saddled with an admin who could at any moment poison his tea and yet still thinks he should have access to Ed's calendar; Izzy, attempting to both recreate his previous job and engage in a low-level administrative coup that wreaks havoc with everyone's work-life balance in the process; and Stede, who's fucked off to a conference without telling his team or remembering to charge his phone, thereby putting the whole retreat off schedule.

Suppliers are raising prices, stocks are going down, and the company newsletter is three days late. Disaster.

(But, completely uninvolved in this extended office drama, there's Ibrahim. He finally has a chance to shift everything in the hold for the first time since November, really get the crew in there to scrub the corners, do the regular repair work, it's great. He wonders if this is that "vacation" thing he's heard so much about. He loves being able to really catch up on all these backburner projects.)

(...This is his coffee pot.)

(...and okay, I have spent too long as an admin. Write me fic about Ibrahim the quartermaster instead, I want him drinking coffee and being competent, I beg of you.)

[pumpumdemsugah]

What is your job title? I’m really interested in your shift into tech✨🤧

I don't really consider it tech but I am around alot of numbers, data and coding so I guess lol. It's more a data role than anything with finance and coding. Idk about saying my job title ( it's a pretty broad term and I might change my mind in the future) but I'm more than happy to tell you if you directly message me and answer any questions. I'm happy if any of my advice can help other women skip some of the nonsense I went through

I wanted to become a data scientist or UX designer but my brain was not having it lol and I just didn't have the skillset years ago to make the jump in a year so I had to figure out what my bridge job to that path would be. My previous job put me on a course for data science. I completed the dell data science associate and analytics, which helped and the benefit of doing courses is it will expose you to even more jobs involved in that sector. When I applied for my previous job, the job title was, data administrator but the title changed.

It got long sorry lol

When I was trying to go from customer service roles to office roles years ago, I looked up assistant positions for jobs I wanted and wrote out a list of the software, skills, achievement and main duties from the job specifications I kept seeing. This gave me a rough idea for a time line for how it will take to gain certain skills and what I'd be willing to do ( willingness is key )

Then I tried to figure out how to force my customer service job to give me opportunities to do lesser versions of these tasks, which was easy because I'm assertive and I'd just flat out ask lol. All customer service jobs usually involve admin tasks the key is figuring out what data or tech skill is similar enough that you can call those admin tasks " database maintenance"

YOUTUBE is actually really helpful for understanding what a specific skill looks like in action. It's one thing to read a duty for a job being, creating a database but you might not realise a spreadsheet is a database and that's how lots of people end up under-selling themselves. That way you can describe your skillset in a more accurate and flattering way

Going on indeed and searching for assistant versions of certain jobs and going on sites like https://www.prospects.ac.uk/ and looking up related jobs or career progression for roles can help you better apply for or find role titles, related to what you're trying to do because you might have enough skills to get entry level roles in close proximity to more data and tech jobs

Tbh data is much easier to get into but I'm in a data role so I'm biased lol

I've also tagged this and some of my other posts about this and jobs as "job blah". Hopefully something is useful and I really don't mind answering any direct messages. My job doesn't ramp up for a few weeks so I'm bored lol

However easy these YouTube videos make it sound that you can become a data analysis in a few months, ( it is possible with a good plan and Adderall) it's normal that it takes longer lol. My ADHD means everything I do takes longer.

Also I forgot about looking into credible certificates or professional certification you can pay for ( ranging anywhere from £300 to £2000 ) that you might need for certain jobs. Just make sure it's a credible provider ( LinkedIn certificates, udemy and most things on coursea don't count though it can help you learn more but jobs don't care about LinkedIn certificates)

[madtomedgar]

There is just something so. Belittling. About being Carefully Questioned about whether or not, as someone whose last job had director in the title, I am actually Qualified for a job as an admin assistant.

There is also something so belittling about the fact that the answer to "can you perform high quality data entry and calendar management with a side of spreadsheet analytics" is "probably not because my disabilities directly intersect with all parts of those tasks."

[commandershepardvasfuckit]

So for the last year I’ve worked at the school district. I was hired as “office support 1” which just means secretary.

Now it’s only me and the program planner in my office, which is bad.

We’re in charge of all home education students in one of the largest districts in the US

Just the two of us

There was always 4 people before

One retired so they hired me, then two others left and they decided that hiring a secretary was enough and they didn’t have to replace the two admin assistants who left

So my job title and pay is “office support 1” but my actual job is administrative assistant

I confronted the higherups about that and got almost word for word a “we know you should be given the title and pay of an admin assistant, but we’re not interested in spending more money on your department”

So while I was already looking for a new position now I’m looking for it quickly and without remorse

Now the program planner, my only coworker and my direct supervisor, is a sweetheart. She has no say or part in my position or pay and has gone to bat several times to get me up to admin

But they shoo her off too

Well the department we share an office suite with wants me as an analyst in a position that pays a minimum of 10k more a year than I’m making now and that’s before the union pay raises go in affect in a few months, so it’ll go up too.

Literally the manager cornered me in the hall and goes “you know we have an analyst position open and we all like you and know you work hard and want you here in our department”

So I applied and messaged the manager who is also the person who gets the final say in who they hire

So fuck you to my department (except Cheryl) good luck getting someone else to stay in my old position!

[chispas-and-broken-bindings]

okay, serious question. how did this woman negotiate? like what did she do specifically? we're having a little kerfuffle among the people at my peer level about pay raises. I'm too new to have any skin in this game but watching from a distance, it seems like my colleagues are going about it all wrong--way too aggressively, too fast, not much understanding of the fiscal reality of our organization, etc.? and i just keep thinking: this is going to blow up in alllllll the wrong ways. so, i'm super curious as to how this situation at your work played out?

oh boy...I mean there is so much that goes into pay negotiations and whether they are successful or not, and honestly, 80% of it is outside the person who is asking for the raise, so I have no idea if what she did would have any bearing on your peers (though I'll explain anyway, if it helps demystify things).

Generally, if a whole level of contributors are being underpaid 1) leadership already knows, and 2) there is market evidence that is the case. Your company would have trouble hiring people with the right skill set and experience at the salary ranges they are and you'd be losing your highest performers to the competition.

If that isn't happening, unless you have a union and are going to go on strike...I doubt your colleagues are going to collectively get pay bumps. They'd be better off angling individually for raises, and then, from the management side, it's all about who you think is really a risk of leaving, and whether or not you can afford that loss (aka, is it easy to hire or train for your job).

Capitalism. It's a joy.

As for my team member, she correctly assessed her value within the market we are in, and consistently and professionally advocated for herself, and upped the pressure at just the right moment.

Putting this under the cut, because I'm a long-winded bitch.

I work in tech, so there is no specific pathway to the kind of job I have, but most of the people on my team either have ample experience in software and technology, or they have ample experience in the industry our technology serves (often coming from senior individual contributor levels or even leadership positions).

The woman in question came in straight out of college, with no relevant school experience or work experience, and was actually hired in as the administrative assistant for my team (coincidentally, after I told my boss I couldn't keep up with e-mail or admin tasks anymore). She did that for a year, but when a position opened up on our team, she applied, and my director who believes in cultivating internal potential took a chance on her and hired her on. Because she has significantly less experience, she came in with a yearly salary well below the rest of the team.

But, it was a good opportunity for her, and she dove in, learning the ropes quickly, taking on the more junior tasks, and then excellently transitioned into more complicated work when several members of the team went on maternity leave.

I became her manager right before annual "merit" increases came out, so I had the lovely (not) job of telling everyone their excellent work was only giving them a 2.5-3.5% raise....our company was a start-up before being acquired by corporate overlords, so those of us who were around during the startup days were used to much better raises and annual bonuses.

Needless to say, no one was happy with their raise. Everyone grumbled about it. I passed that feedback on to our VP.

The individual in question though, immediately took the next right step. She continuously asked what she could do to be considered for a leveling opportunity (basically bringing her from job title 1 to job title 2). I coached her, and then she delivered on that coaching. On my one-on-ones with her she did a really great job of showing her accomplishments. She took on work no one assigned to her, she volunteered when there was opportunity, and maintained excellence.

By the end of this past summer, it was clear she was working at a similar level as most of her peers, if not exceeding some of them, and it was very obvious that paying her that much less than everyone else was no longer fair. She consistently asked about the leveling opportunity, timelines, what else she could do, and the likelihood of it happening within a year or not.

These conversations were definitely awkward and uncomfortable at times, but I never took it personally as her manager, and I also never thought she was whiny or entitled. I was impressed with her perseverance, and because she consistently brought it up, I could consistently remind my boss that members of my team were a flight risk.

At the same time, due to market influences (again, ours skills are in demand and there are lots of opportunities) we thought we were going to lose someone else on our team who has just a bit more experience and was just a bit more overtly a high performer. At that moment in time, we could only yank one leveling opportunity out of HR, so we were planning on giving it to that other person. Unfortunately, HR moves slow as molasses, and someone else snatched that person up (and offered them an astronomical sum), and we lost a second person to another competitor as well.

This is when my other team member upped the pressure. She flat out told me in a touch base that she was really unhappy with what she was being paid, and felt it was unfair given the level of work she was doing. I asked her what she felt she was worth and she named her salary.

We had just lost two people on the team. It was right before the holidays. My VP had spent months fighting with H.R. that we were going to keep bleeding if they didn't re-evaluate our salary ranges.

While they are still fighting over re-evaluating salary ranges as a whole, they caved on the raise for my team member, and I was able to give her that 17% raise, which was slightly lower than the number she asked for, but she'll be at her named price when our annual increases come in the spring, and she is now in alignment with all but the two or three highest paid individual contributors in our department.

I don't know how much if any of it is relevant to your work environment or industry, but I think my biggest advice is to pay attention. Pay attention to what is happening in your industry as a whole, what opportunities are out there, how your skills can be applied, and most importantly what your priorities are.

Like I said in that reblog, I have asked for raises multiple times. Sometimes I got what I asked for right away. Sometimes it took time. When we were a startup, my director had tons of leeway to dole out raises as she saw fit. Now that we are part of a publicly-traded company, there is a lot more red tape, and these things take time.

If you are professional in your tone and speech (and work, obviously), and have an accurate assessment of your value, and your leadership team is also professional, the worst they should say when you ask for a raise is not right now. And then a good follow up for you would be to ask what you can do/what the requirements are for that promotion/leveling opportunity/raise and what the timeline would look like once you meet those expectations. Then work toward that. If you do and that raise still isn't coming, or they are moving the goalposts, or even worse, acting out because you advocated for yourself, etc....look for opportunities elsewhere.

[myautisticpov]

Honestly, as someone currently looking for a job, I’m getting well pissed off that the solution to “job titles like secretary and receptionist have come to be seen as lesser” has been the renaming of every single fucking job to “assistant” instead of “secretary” or “receptionist” because it makes it really fucking difficult to tell at a glance what the job actually is.

Like, I work in admin and everybody with an entry level job has the title “assistant” but we’re all doing wildly different things.

Also, like, I’m gonna abstract out to animation because that’s not the industry I work in, but the way my job basically works is if you had a job title of “animation assistant” and that was the entry-level job for animators, but you also had a job called “animation team assistant” that was actually just a secretary job for the animation team.

You get a lot of people wasting their time applying for the wrong jobs.

Like, I just spent ages today having to comb through an “assistant” job to figure out that it was actually a receptionist job, while I was looking for an “assistant” job that was a secretary job.

(Not that one is better than the other, the secretary jobs just mean dealing with strangers less.)

[oceanselevenism]

I've seen that most of the stories on ao3 about them are mostly canon-compliant (and I don't have anything against that tbh) but I was wondering if you have any aus that you think could fit them or that you'd like to see?

omg i have SO MANY aus!! (it got Very Long so its under a cut)

- college au! danny gets kicked out (hes on full scholarship and does Thiefly Things to cover his expenses so hes not endangered just fairly fucked up abt it) (does it count as kicked out if u only live w ur dad three months a year) in freshman year, he befriends rusty (1 year below him) in sophomore year, debbie also befriends rusty (she and danny dont talk much but shes 2 yrs below him at the same college), and when reuben comes calling for a job he thinks debbie has a boyfriend (thanks to debbie telling her dad that she does) so she fake dates rusty. who ends up joining the job. and danny is Very Jealous

- snl ripoff au! danny and rusty are the weekend-update-adjacent anchors and they get gay. i Would have this take place in la (reuben is taking A Risk producing a late night sketch comedy show on the west coast but the 11/12/however fuckin many are fantastic cast members so even though they lose revenue from the other timezones not watching as much as they watch snl or whatever, they still make BANK... but danny and rusty getting gay throws the equilibrium out of whack) BUT la sucks DICK so its happening in new york. also this way u get Ocean Sibling Banter (debbie and lou are the anchors for The Actual Weekend Update and when debbie/lou get together and also when danny/rusty get together there are so many ‘just switch out the blondes/brunettes nobody will be able to tell and we won’t have hr down our necks’ jokes)

- au where the caldwells, abt to go deep undercover on a Huge Fucking Case, have to give up custody of 6 year old linus to tess and danny. the case stretches on for twelve years and linus grows up w tess and danny (who get divorced like right after they adopt him bc tess finds out abt dannys Thiefly Activities-- he confesses to her bc he doesnt rly want to predispose the kid to said thiefly activities) and also isabel (she and rusty break up like Right Before tess and dannys wedding and its very funny; she then goes on to marry tess) parenting him (rusty isnt as much in the picture bc he doesnt feel bad at all abt stealing and tess doesnt want linus to pick up that mentality also rusty Feels Things abt danny)! then when linus is like 18 or 19 danny disappears (tess and isabel think its Thiefly Activities again and arent concerned, just disappointed, but linus is very concerned for his dad-slash-stepdad-slash-sort-of-uncle) and he tracks down rusty so they can find danny. they roadtrip across america and eventually catch up to danny, who is helping the caldwells, and the five of them take down whatever gang the caldwells were chasing. linus now has 6 parents

- au based on this post where some archaeologist finds a bunch of dannys [french person voice] Love Lettairs 2 rusty and so obviously the logical course of action is to rob the museum (which happens to be the museum that tess is curating. funny how things work out) without telling his team What Theyre Stealing. they successfully pull off the heist but turns out the letters were not among the items they stole!! danny is getting desperate. as a last-ditch attempt he calls tess and asks her to let them rob the museum. shes like Why The Fuck Would I Do That. he explains and she begrudgingly agrees. danny and livingston go break into the museum Again but rusty tails them bc dannys been acting Weird and he finds out abt the letters bc livingston sweats more whenever he tells a lie. they live happily ever after (literally, theyre immortal) the end. also even though dannys a werewolf the 11 all call him the new jersey devil (its not his fault that legend came to be ok!! he was very drunk!!)

- childhood friends au!! danny and rusty were best buds as very young kids and then the oceans had to move. flash forward 2 present day where danny and debbie r robbing a museum (theyre building a flower shop over the vault and tunneling in, the dudes in brazil who came up w it are very very clever) and guess which two people are the assistant curators (is that even a title?). guess. ill tell u its tess and rusty! danny recognizes rusty, rusty ‘does not recognize’ danny (which is valid. look at photos of child george clooney and tell me you would recognize him). the 11 demand that they use this to their advantage and so danny and rusty Sort Of Date while the rest set up for the robbery, and danny feels really bad abt it so on the day of (after everyone has gotten away, ofc, he might be a lovesick bitch but hes not a snitch) he confesses and rustys like lmao i was onto u from the start. what kind of a name is [insert alias here] anyway. then they go live a life of crime and its great

- @sanduschism came up w a fantastic au where danny pickpockets rusty and feels bad so he sends the wallet back and they strike up a Correspondence

- HOSPITAL AU!!! danny and rusty r er techs while theyre doing med school and nobody knows how they juggle their shifts w school but also rusty can do a tracheotomy in like 5 seconds and danny can tell when a person needs an mri before they even list their symptoms so nobody questions it and nobody splits them up Ever. when they eventually become surgeons, danny does cardio and rusty does neuro, and whenever they have to work together not only do they never have to say what theyre doing, they don't even have What Do U Want To Cook For Dinner convos fully out loud. tess is head nurse... she makes so many excel spreadsheets... they are ALL color coded. isabel is head er doc and nobody dares to halfass things on her watch. reuben is head hospital admin, saul is chief surgeon, basher is head of the burn unit, the malloys r the HUNKIEST nurses in town, frank does plastic surgery/ent (every patient loves him bc he is just So Calm), livingston is The IT Guy, yen does like orthopedics or physical therapy, and linus is their fav resident who they all lovingly tease 24/7. the ocean sibs r both Cardio Gods and each dominate their respective coasts. debbie is an nyc doctor and if she sees a mass gen doctor its on SIGHT. the few surgeries that she and danny collab on go so fast that the med students in the gallery Cannot tell whats happening. lou is also a plastic surgeon and she and frank r best buds. linus requests time off like 6 months in advance Every Time and everyone hates it bc then They have to be on call but he doesnt realize his Extreme Overachieverness is causing so much strife. whenever tess and danny get in an argument she colorcodes his rounds spreadsheet to be the most neon shit youve ever seen. can you tell i never fully progressed past my greys anatomy phase this one is like 93489302 lines long

- superpower au where rusty has midas touch and danny has corrosive touch and when theyre too young to have control over their powers (abilities develop throughout adolescence and the user gains control at the end of adolescence) they accidentally brush hands and are terrified they just killed each other but turns out their powers like. cancel out. so until they reach like 21 or 22 and can touch things without fucking them UP they just. hold hands all the time. bc otherwise they have to wear gloves to prevent Accidents and both of them “hate gloves” (and also love holding hands. gayasses)

- uhhh hallmark au where danny is a crime fiction writer out on some beach north of ocean city nj and rusty is his fancy nyc editor. everyone else is a thief including debbie who is just Very weirded out that her brother, who robbed boston’s institute of contemporary art at age 22 and got away with it, has decided to spend the rest of his life churning out books. he is very critically acclaimed and about half of the 11 are buds with him and use his published books as heist inspo. the other ~half of the 11 are buds with rusty, and they tell him if danny’s heists are feasible or not (they always are. scarily so.) anyway rusty and isabel break up 12 days before xmas and danny and tess break up 8 days before hanukkah so dannys heading to debbie’s place in upstate new york to mope for the holidays when A BLIZZARD HITS and he gets stranded in midtown. and he and rusty are buds but like. Email Buds. they dont hang out irl and therefore they dont let their Totally Bud-Like Feelings mess up their professional relationship. but danny is stranded and its hanukkah and he ends up crashing at rustys place for the duration of the blizzard. and then rusty ends up coming to debbies place for the rest of the holidays. and then they kiss on new years eve and debbie kicks them out bc theyre being gross

- And More! thanks for the ask, anon! sorry it got so long lol i just have Many Thoughts

[readyplayerhobi]

Flower | 01

; Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Fluff, future angst, future smut

; Word Count: 2.8k

; Synopsis: You finally decide to take a dip into the world of online dating and find the Flower dating app. One of the top matches for you proves to be a guy who looks to be your complete opposite; tattooed, pierced, a metalhead and oh...incredibly handsome. What happens when you throw caution to the wind and reach out to him?

; A/N: This is going to be a drabble series. It’s not planned out, it has no planning. It will be written as and when I get the inspiration for it. The Flower app is inspired by the Bumble app in which women make the first move on it. This is just purely something to try and get me back into enjoying writing again so...please show it and me some love because I already love this Hoseok? I haven’t proof read lol

Flower Masterpost

“Okay...okay. Let’s do this...you can do this. It’s easy. Just...download the app and go. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Well you could get murdered. That would suck. But it would resolve a lot of issues I guess. On the other hand...I could meet the love of my life. I mean...is that likely?” The soft sounds of your muttering are probably barely heard over the soft playing music through the speakers connected to your television, YouTube playing mindlessly to itself on the screen.

Your focus though, is solely on the phone in your hand. Soyeon, your best friend, had been bugging you to join some online dating sites for a while and it had only gotten worse when your other friend Chungha told her that she fully agreed with her. Part of you felt cornered by them both but another part of you understood them.

They were just looking out for you. You were naturally quiet and shy, introverted and preferring to remain inside or on the sides if you were dragged to a party. An inability to engage in small talk meant that that you struggled to make conversation with people as well. That all resulted in a small circle of friends who understood you well but that was it, everyone else was merely acquaintances who would hang out with you simply because they were friends with your friends.

As such, it meant that you struggled with dating. And by that, you mean that you hadn’t been in a relationship for a long time. Nor could you do flings like some of your friends did, the very thought filled you with anxiety.

This was why they had suggested trying online dating, because you’d lamented to them about how lonely you’d started to feel. You were still relatively young, and you knew that relationships weren’t the be all and end all. But when you haven’t dated since college, it starts to feel like no one is interested in you at all. And that was a hard feeling to take in.

You wanted to be like your friends. To have someone to talk to about things without feeling embarrassed, someone who would enjoy being in your company and actively seek you out, someone to be intimate with. Someone to fall in love with. It sounded cheesy and stupid but both Soyeon and Chungha had taken your concerns to heart.

They’d asked if you wanted to be set up on blind dates but the very idea of that made you lose your breath with anxiety, the fear of failure or judgement from someone who has never met you before overwhelming. So Soyeon had suggested online dating and now here you were, curled up on your couch on a Saturday night, a glass of water on the side because you don’t like alcohol and the app store open to dating apps.

“Tinder...isn’t that just for hookups?” You murmur, frowning as you look at some of the reviews. There were probably people who had managed to get lasting relationships on Tinder, but the idea of having random people actively deciding whether or not you were worth trying simply from a photo or something was horrible. Not that you had any idea how it actually worked, but still…

A few other apps look to be the more traditional online dating route and you consider whether to download one of them. But then you see an app that attracts your attention, a small soft pink and orange logo with the outline of a white flower in it. The title is simply ‘Flower’ and you take click on it to read the description.

‘Find the perfect partner and watch love or friendship bloom like a flower! 

The Flower app asks you to set up a profile by asking you a series of questions to determine your interests and personality. We then set you up with a series of people we consider to be a good match and give you the opportunity to initiate a conversation!

Here at Flower, we want to make sure that dating is fun and most importantly, equal. As such, we allow women to be the one to initiate contact with their matches. This means that if you’re looking for a same sex relationship, then you can both reach out. The same goes if you don’t identify as female or male. If you’re looking for a heterosexual relationship, then you can reach out to your match and he can decide whether he wants to respond. 

We don’t tolerate any form of hate speech or intolerance and will respond with quick action against this. At Flower, we promote inclusivity, diversity and tolerance. We want the world to grow and bloom with love, one relationship at a time!’

The reviews for the app seemed to back up their description and you felt curious. An impulse takes over and you download it, tongue sticking out as you wait before loading it up once it’s done. The interface is clean and take a moment to chew your lip before clicking the sign up button.

Everything seems to be rudimentary at first, asking for your age and location, name and occupation. But then it starts to ask some other questions. Your favourite film genres, a list of favourite films, your favourite books, where you’d like to go on vacation, favourite music and songs and so much more. Some of it felt bizarre, like would you rather eat chicken or beef? Would you rather drive an Audi or a Ford?

You presumed it all had a reason though, and after what felt like five minutes of answering questions, you finally had a profile. Flicking through the gallery on your phone, you found a picture that you felt was flattering while still showing your personality. It’s from a few months ago and was taken with a Polaroid camera, giving it that distinctive filter that always seemed to be flattering everyone.

You were giving a small smile, eyes looking to the left of the camera while your chin was in your hand. Nose wrinkled slightly, a soft and fluffy white cream sweater covers you while a cherry blossom scarf is wrapped elegantly round your neck. And on top of all that...a bright yellow Pikachu hat sits on top of your head.

It had been your birthday and the girls had managed to coax you out for dinner before presenting you with a bunch of presents. They’d been a random assortment, as usual, but you’d loved it all. A skin care gift set, the Pikachu hat and a Pusheen stationery set. Your colleagues at your admin assistant job had given you the side eye when you’d added yet more cute and strange things to your already colourful and cluttered desk but you’d ignore them.

This picture had been one of the best taken of you recently and you smiled gently as you made it your profile picture. You didn’t like being photographed, constantly convinced that you were unattractive but your friends were convinced otherwise.

Everything looked to be set up and you wondered what you meant to do now, when a sudden notification pops up on the screen with ‘20 Matches Found’. Sudden anxiety makes you feel sick, stomach rolling with nerves as your veins practically fizz as you click on the view more button. These were people who the app had compared your own answers to and considered to be the best matches.

There’s a tiny moment of waiting as a tiny flower in orange and pink blooms and you sigh when it finally clears. The profiles are shown in descending order with those most matched to least. A tiny refresh button in the corner let’s you see that you can refresh your matches if necessary.

Each profile shows their profile image, their name, age and location. Scrolling through them, you note idly that you seem to have got a wide range of people that you had matched with. A 24-year-old swimming instructor named Kim Chaeyoung, a 31-year-old high school English teacher named Seo Jinwoo, a 29-year-old mechanic called Park Jisoo and more.

It was interesting to see the wide range of people that had come back and you perused their profiles carefully, reading the little description they’d written for themselves along with a few answers to questions similar to what you’d had to answer. The app seemed to pull a range range of questions for you read, with each person’s being slightly different.

You supposed it meant that you would need to ask for that information and you found yourself curious about one or two people, pressing the little button that indicated it would bookmark their profile for later viewing. Apparently you had a week to make the first interaction before it would vanish.

Humming lightly, you wondered if anyone would be interested in talking to you? 

Everyone looked so pretty on here and you wondered if you matched up to them. Would they consider you worth their time? Biting your lower lip, you shrug your shoulders and decided you had nothing to lose really. You didn’t know these people in real life and no one would laugh at you for simply reaching out and trying to make a connection.

You come across one profile that makes you pause though, your brow lifting in surprise as you wonder why on earth the app has matched you with this guy. The two of you don’t even look like you come from the same planet, nevermind have enough aligning interests to warrant being in your top 20 matches at the moment.

Clicking on his profile, you read through his basic info question while you purse your lips, making soft noises in your throat.

Jung Hoseok. 28 years old. IT Technician. 

He sounded pretty normal and you wouldn’t even give it a second thought normally, but his appearance did not match the casual job description he had. Maybe you were just being stereotypical here, but most of the IT people in your workplace were of the nerdy looking variety. And you only say that because every one of them wore some form of Rick and Morty or other pop culture shirts.

Which you were fine with, because you enjoyed most of the same things too. But no one looked like this guy.

The reason you were so surprised was because of his profile picture, and despite your earlier thoughts about just sending messages to everyone for the sake of it, you felt a well of anxiety rising again as you looked at him. This guy is quite possibly the most handsome man you’ve ever seen, the kind of guy that people only think exists when they’re rich and famous.

But he’s also completely unlike you. He’s evidently at some sort of event as he has a bottle of beer in his hand while his other hand is making the metal horns shape. One eye is closed to camera, winking while his tongue is poking out of his mouth on one side, white teeth visible beneath pink lips amidst gold skin. A silver ring pierced his lower lip on the right while a small ball is visible in his tongue.

His hair is jet black, gleaming in the crappy lighting in a messy state that looks slightly wet while his exposed skin has a sheen of sweat on it. A red and black shirt unbuttoned on him, rolled up to his elbows to reveal toned forearms that are completely covered in vibrant and bright colour.

The tattoos make what you presume to be full sleeves on both arms, his left arm appearing to be a swirling galaxyscape with brilliant galaxies, planets, moons and more interwoven with, bizarrely, dragons that are almost transparent. They look beautiful though, and you get an image of space dragons made of fine dust flying through the vast expanse of space as you look at them.

His other arm looks to be a mesh of things together, flames and flowers and skulls and ships. None of it makes any sense to you, but you’re positive it probably means something to him. One of the sleeves expands onto his hand, the one showing the horns and you eye the clock tattoo that takes up the space.

His tattoos look to expand beyond his arms as the black top beneath his shirt gives tantalising glimpses of the black and colour tattoos that obviously sprawl across his chest. Strands creep upwards, almost to his neck and you get the impression of something fiery, the soft wisps of red and orange looking like burning embers on his skin.

This guy...looked like he belonged in a metal band or tattoo shop. And he was...beautiful, way out of your league. 

Which was why you had to have experienced an out of body moment when your finger presses the message button, the screen popping up with an automatic message pre filled out for you.

“Hey, Flower shows that we’re good matches so I’m reaching out to you! If you would like to talk to me, please respond!”

Scowling, you deleted the message, deciding it would be bad manners to just send the template message to someone that you were attracted to. That thought gives you pause, acknowledging that you are in fact attracted to him. He looked like the kind of guy who would take one look at your profile and laugh himself home at the prospect of doing anything with you.

The man clearly thrived on social situations, enough of his profile gave that away and again you wondered why the app matched you together. Maybe he had some secret love of Pokemon or something. Looks could be deceiving, obviously.

And even if you’d never listened to a metal song in your life...you were always open to trying new things. If you were going to open yourself up to the prospect of online dating, then you may as well go fully out of comfort zone.

Swallowing, you carefully type out a short message and spend the next five minutes reading it over as anxiety and fear swirl within you. Indecision causes you to wonder whether you should just delete it all and ignore his profile, going for the safe option of someone who looks like they’d be more accepting of you on your list.

But the allure of something so unlike you pulls you in and you press send, watching the message swoosh away and changing his profile to a soft pink to indicate that you’d initiated contact. Almost immediately you feel sick, body going cold as you pant ever so slightly.

Oh god, he’s going to read that message and take one look at your profile then delete the message. He probably had hookups all the time, the kind of guy you shouldn’t get involved with. You had no interest in being a one night stand and- you shake your head, clenching your teeth and taking a deep breath.

Stereotypes are damaging to yourself and others, you tell yourself quietly. There’s no reason to paint him with a negative brush already when he’s not even had a chance to do anything. And so what if he only wanted hookups? It was the 21st century, men and women could sleep with who they wanted, as often as they wanted and they shouldn’t face the prejudice you’re showing him already.

Before you can even think anything else though, your phone sends out a soft, melodic note and you look down with wide eyes. The message icon has an orange notification on it, signifying that you have a new message on there. Hesitating, you wonder if it’s just one of those generic ‘welcome’ messages that you sometimes get when you sign up for sites.

But the name of the sender tells you very much that it’s not a generic message, and the cold fear mixes with nervous excitement and trepidation as you see Jung Hoseok’s name. He must have already been on his phone to have responded so fast, and you wonder if he’s just sent a polite ‘thank you but no’ back.

It would be awfully nice of him if he did. Embarrassing, but polite.

Opening the message, your jaw drops and eyes widen as you read what he’s responded with.

You: Hi. I don’t know how to use this properly, so I’m sorry if I do it wrong. You showed as a match and...well I guess I say I’m interested? Not as a friend, unless you want that. I mean...the other way. Feel free to say no! Y/N

Reading it back over, you cringe at how...you it sounds. Hesitant and awkward and shy. Dammit, why couldn’t you just seize the moment and sound confident for once? Say something bold that would attract his attention.

And then you read his response.

Hoseok: Hey Y/N. Thanks for reaching out. How are you tonight?

[literaticat]

At a literacy agency, what's the difference between the duties of an editorial associate, literary associate, and an assistant? And if you enter a mentorship program like ABLA's, might you be any of these, or none of these/something different?

I'm assuming you are getting this from our agency website (because that's one of the few places I have ever seen such designations), so let me tell you from my perspective:

We have a central agency office - but we also each run our own satellite office. So, along with the support staff for the whole agency (our Admin, our accountants, our royalty person, etc) -- I have my own assistant, who does whatever I need them to do (mostly second reads, some editorial, gathering info for data entry, etc).

My wonderful colleague Laura has a much more complicated office set up than mine, involving an entire fleet of assistants with different titles (and I assume they have all different duties and job descriptions). If I were to hazard a guess as to what they do, it would be that an "editorial associate" specifically focuses on, well, editorial, a "literary associate" does... ???? actually I have no idea ???? .... and an assistant is, well, generally speaking, an assistant, who does whatever else needs to be done. My colleague Kelly has a regular assistant, and also a contracts assistant. Some other agent might have somebody regular assistants, as well as a person who specifically focuses on marketing or something of that nature. Different agents might need or want support in different areas.

What I'm saying is, each agent runs their personal office however they want, and there is no universal standard for what titles mean or what job descriptions are that would always be true from one agent/agency to another.

Our mentorship program is entirely separate from the personal agent/assistant ecosystem. As you can see on our website, at least last I checked, our current summer mentee (we love you Sara) is listed as "2021 ABLA Summer Mentee" - she is participating in a program with a curriculum that involves the entire agency, and while it is paid, it is not a "job" like an assistant is.