#as an introvert the first rule of attending ANY gathering is 'have a way to leave whenever you want'

[pairofmelaninkweens]

Shrine of Lies

Characters: Preist Tamaki x Y/n

Word count: 6131 

By: @sweet-darling91

TW:CW: Marking, biblical references, sacrilege, demons, corruption, marking, biting, mutual masterbation, cunnilingus, blowjob

This Peice is a part of the 𝐀 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛 please check out the other works here, and mind the content warnings!

The work of an exorcist was arduous, traumatizing and even life-threatening. You and your team, a young group of exorcists, continue to train and aid the remote village in Japan from the rising number of possessions and assaults from demons. Tasks range from blessing homes, tending to the ill, cleansing a home from a demon assault and exorcizing the demons from a host body. Even after exorcizing the demon and banishing it, the responsibility of tending to whatever damage the fallout was also fell on you.

 At first nothing phased you, you got into this line of work to help and support others as best as you could. Your views on the locals were expressed when you rolled your eyes and accepted their old fashioned and unfounded tips with underhanded comments of your own, it still weighed on you and formed a jaded view on the locals. No matter what you did for them, they would praise your name for 5 minutes, then resume their onslaught of demands and eventually returned to the sins that drove them to darken your doorstep with sullen expressions waiting for you to clean up their mess all over again. Jaded, was one way of expressing your feelings towards their hypocritical and backwards demands. You were here to help, not to be a slave to their crooked crusade. At this rate once you were perfectly happy having your guard up, only being contacted when necessary. All the other exorcists except Tamaki followed suit. The village favorites the young priest for his pious nature, he was always diligent in his tasks relating to the church and listened carefully to whatever they had to tell him through his slight fidgets and the blush that spanned his entire face.  What’s more is the way he would carry himself, with dignity that compensated the social awkwardness. His habit of mumbling and soft introverted nature was endearing and explained why he would pair with you. You were a buffer between him and those who blindly idolized him, drawn to his purity. You weren’t into socializing with the locals either, but your straightforwardness aided you in taking the lead, and keeping the dreaded social interactions to a minimum for him. He was more inclined to completing the tasks. Whenever you witnessed him performing them, he was a natural genius in the way he made it look so effortless compared to your peers, and in some instances you would swear you would see a fleeting glimmer of darkness in his eyes with the slightest smirk at the sight of the possessed hosts, or  hear a sarcastic chuckle he tried to supress with his mutterings when you were retreating to the confines of your sanctuary. It was clear to you that he was hiding something and on days like today where you paired up to gather supplies in the village gave you optimum time to pick up on some of the habits he would mask with his mumbling and fidgeting, either Tamaki was a pious man, struggling against his own sinful nature, or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, either option was exciting, but you were secretly hoping it was the latter.

 Back on the church grounds you were welcomed with a notice that there was an impromptu meeting with Tashiro, and the other members. Exasperation escaped your lips in a sigh and grumbling as you made your way to the meeting, slamming yourself in the furthest chair from the group and closest to the door to hear what Father Fat gum had to say. When the large, muscled man made his way through the entrance and stood at the centre of the room he cleared his throat and scanned the faces gathered, mentally taking attendance.

“Glad that you were all able to make it to this meeting, it is a bit of an urgent matter to remind you of why we are here, what are roles are and what is expected of us during our stay.” He begins, noticing you huff and roll your eyes then settle yourself to sit quietly and give him your attention. It’s not Fat gum that stoked your irritation, it’s what comes next that tests your patience.

“I’m sorry that I don’t have better news to share with you all, but it seems that the villagers have some concerns that worried head office and now we are instructed to fall into some of their rules if we are to stay here.” He casts a side glance at you as his lips thin in concern of your reaction. Wipes his head and proceed in a neutral tone. “We are supposed to be the example of what they are to follow, so there is going to be more scorn and burden on our part in how we carry ourselves. Namely how we carry ourselves when we are not on duty. I’m not going to spare you the unnecessary details and get to the point. We are to no longer pair off in coed partners unless said partners are married. Interactions with others need to be held to a minimum. So, no touching while we are out. Dressing should be modest.” He pauses to clear his throat, must be from spewing the absolute bullshit they are having him repeat. “Even if your bodies are shaped a certain way, clothing is to conceal not reveal. Now finally the last and most important part is, abstinence. We are to remain pure to these folks to be taken seriously, and before you berate me. I have rung off their phone, bargained and argued with every supervisor leading to the head. Unfortunately, these mandates are not going anywhere, and we have to practice them effective immediately.” He finishes with his eyes on the floor and his mouth sunken into a frown.

 “That sounds like complete and utter puritan garbage.” you spat your disapproval and looked away in disgust.

 “Sorry, it’s what we have to answer to, Y/N. Apparently, this will make us more trustworthy, more reliable in the eyes of the community. Honestly we don’t need to make more waves given the dismal situation they are already in.” Tashiro reassured,

 “It’s still garbage, the whole no sex till married, and no sex for priests and exorcists? It’s ridiculous, no” - you smirked cruelly.  “a divine comedy, that the same ‘community’ thinks they have a say as to what we do in our personal lives, when it’s their vices that cause us to risk life and limb!” You retort with such passion Tamaki looked straight into your eyes. “Tama,” your sudden attention gave him a start. “Yeah?”

“Aren’t you tired of this strain? These incessant rules? They forever give themselves over to the very said demons that they fear whenever they need something. Just last week we had to fight against one of Beelzebub’s lower grade minions because two merchants surrendered to their own greed-'' At the mention of that incident made Tamaki bow his head and pointedly look at the floor, to others that looked as if you were making him uncomfortable. Had that been the case you would have backed up, but that little shit was suppressing a smirk, you were sure of it because that was the same way he would stifle his laughter whenever you studied scriptures on the blind leading the blind, how man-made rules and ideologies lead the people of the past straight into the hands of the same demons they feared. The irony was all too much for him not to grin at, but his reputation allowed him to get away with these mannerisms. The perfect disguise, you thought much like that of one of the princes of darkness. Tashiro cuts you off with a warning look and an irritated noise from clearing his throat, he must be tired of your outbursts whenever you called shit for what it was, and unlike Tamaki, your reputation was less than pious, but your skills were what saved you from being booted from the clergy. “I did warn you of how primitive this neck of the woods can be in certain customs. Celibacy happens to be one of them.  Let’s try not to make any waves, yeah?” he finishes with a hard look of finality and concludes the impromptu meeting, sending everyone to their quarters. You lag to walk with Tamaki. The trip is silent, but you pick up on the way his breathing gets ragged when you catch close in on him, eyeing the rouge color creeping up his neck and the way he bites his lip and hunches his shoulders. As you are round the corner to your rooms you stop him just short of his door in the cranny shielding the two of you from the view of any onlookers, but just barely.

 “Tamaki, this sounds like garbage to you too, doesn’t it?” you whispered to him with a sad look in your eyes that he can’t place. “Y/N, I’m sure it’s a hassle that will pass, just remember to be in check of your emotions so as not to make yourself vulnerable when we go out to exorcise demons ok?” he says hoping it brings some sort of ease to you. He’s surprised when you smile at him and wrap your arms around his middle. Closing his eyes he relaxes in the feeling of your warmth, the smell of your shampoo tempts him to lean into the hug and then he feels the softness of your breasts squeeze into him. “You could do that for me, can’t you….Tama~” your breathy whisper floods his face with warmth, and he leans away when  you release him, meeting his gaze you clasped one of his hands and squeezed it between your smaller ones. You were pushing him, baiting him out to bend the rules.

“Y/N what are you doing? You can’t be touching me here in the open, the hug was risky.” He stammers, turning his head, fixing his attention to the stained-glass windows.

 “Tamaki~” You purr, trailing your finger down his temple, then tracing the sharp line of his jaw, turning his head forcing his gaze to return to meet yours. Tell me, do you honestly think complying to the forced celibacy rule will make us better at our job? Answer me honestly and I’ll let go.”

Tamaki’s body grows rigid, large hands grasping your shoulders and pushing your body against the wall, causing you to pout at him. “That’s not nice.”

 “I don’t agree with them, but I’m not getting into trouble either. I have been able to suppress my desires for years, and despite what you think. We can get in trouble just by being this close.” He mutters.

 “Then are we gonna sort through these feeling together?” you close the space between you and palm the growing bulge in his pants. “You know I like being around you, I like how gentle you are. I especially like how excited you get to see me.” You hum, but he stands upright. “The rules have just been made y/n. I’m not going to break them on the first night.” He asserts and brushes past you  with his hand on the knob of his chamber door, but before he opens it you hear him mutter in a deep, darkening tone that makes your hairs stand on end. “Don’t go knocking on the devil’s door, he might just answer.” You smirk to yourself as he disappears into his room and locks the door. That was his answer, but you could see he didn’t mean it. The rigidness and the fumbling of his hands were tactics in keeping himself busy from grabbing you, that didn’t escape your observations, and you have been watching him for some time, picking up on these behaviours, sparking your curiosity and pushing you to find out where these clues lead to. Repressed urges, or wolf in sheep’s clothing. You were determined to find out, despite his warnings.

Pulling yourself off the wall with a disappointed huff you make your way into your room, slipping out of your robes and walking over to your dresser to get a change of clothes when you heard it. A soft whimper rung in your ears. Tamaki sat on his bed on the opposite side of the wall stroking his aching length, eyes closed and imagining your smaller hands barely able to wrap around his length stroke him from base to tip, playing with his tip. Squeezing his eyes to suppress the frustration that melted away when he heard your voice, through the walls. “Tamaki~ please.” Your sweet moan made him buck into the air unconsciously. His pointed ears twitched listening to you but there was no mistaking the sounds of you fingering yourself. “I can hear you, you don’t have to answer me, but let me do this with you.”  You whisper through the wall. There was no time to think of any reason to reject you, you were moaning so sweetly for him. Helping him through his time of need right? Surly this one transgression would be overlooked. Scooting closer to the wall, secretly kicking himself because it could have been your body, he was scooting closer to instead. “Go faster” he ordered, matching his strokes to the squelching sounds of your fingers plunging into your wet swollen pussy. Fuck he wished it was his cock splitting you open, watching your essence coat his cock before it disappeared deep inside you. “I’m close Tamaki” you mewled the pace of your fingers sped up, the sounds were all he could hear, all he focused on when he fucked into his fist, then finally shooting silken ropes of cum up his belly, as he heard you stifle you moan as you reached your climax. He reached over to grab a cloth to clean himself, smiling over at the wall. Not daring to say anything to urge you to do anything impulsive and get you into more trouble. Then drifted off to sleep, his head pressed against the wall, with you mirroring his actions on the other side.

Then next morning you were sitting in the pews watching Tamaki bless the crosses and refill the holy water bottles for the other priest on duty performing exorcisms in the village. When his hands were busy, it was easy for his mind to focus on the task at hand. The look of total concentration and his steady hands stirred something wicked in you, wanting to push his buttons and shake his resolve. This, moments when he was busy fulfilling his duties rendered his morale struggle and indiscretions invisible in the eyes of the others but you weren’t the others you thought to yourself abandoning the Pew, you join him on the opposite side of the altar tracing your fingers over the cherry oak. “Anything I can do to help… Brother Tamaki” you whisper leaning forward just enough for him to be able to spy your cleavage. Smirking when you see the colour rise from his neck to his hairline, dropping the bottles and stumbling back stuttering. “Ttt-too close y/n”. Pouting with a finger to your chin you slip around the altar to his side. “ooo Tama-kii~”, are you ill? Your rather flushed” you coo, feeling his forehead, making sure to press your chest into his. A smile tugs at the corner of your lips when you feel him instinctively move to grab you, but instead stiffens his entire body, planting himself in place. “You know you can grab me, cus...I’m not going to break.” whispering the latter half you pull back with a wink “unless you want to break me. That would be fun too.” you smile, unable to hide your mirth, but he shushes you with his finger against your lips. “can’t do this y/n” he mutters and slams your hands down to your sides before retreating to his quarters. Well, there is something to be said about that stubborn resolve he has, once he made up his mind on something he sure gave his all in standing by it. Too bad you were hell-bent on making sure that “belief” he had unraveled, it was satisfying to see that look of impending defeat cross his face. You finished his task for him and headed over to your quarters, which are conveniently neighbouring Tamaki’s. With your bed to the wall, you could hear him trying to suppress the low moans and whimpers, as he no doubt was stroking his cock falling apart as he fucked his fist. What was he thinking about? Well, you certainly accompanied him in reaching down your garments and rubbing slow tight circles into your clit, imagining how full his thick fingers would make your cunt feel, how he could mute your voice with two of his digits in your mouth. Hoping that he would give in and come through your door to sink his cock into you and fuck you into the mattress. What you didn’t see was the changes to his appearance he was stifling, as his restraint began to unravel, the fluctuations in his voice and the protesting groans in response to the change of his mass.

 Weeks had passed since you last gotten to work with Tamaki, the confines of the Chapel began to get on your nerves, the frustration of not having your whispered moments in the night, glancing his expressions when you brushed close to him, offered yourself to him only to see the struggle with his own ideals and the orders that were forced on you. The villagers seemed to be well pleased though the visitors never ceased to utter their pleased opinions of how much better you were carrying yourself. You had to bite your tongue when they asked you. “Don’t you feel much better now that you look the part?” they wouldn’t know what looking the part was if it was right before their eyes. From all the secret looks you would cast Tamaki in the brief moments in passing you knew that he wanted more than this. He was full of potential, overlooked for his quiet agreeable nature, but if you took the time, like you have been with the secret nightly routine guiding each other to release, you could see that there was a powerful darkness, a dominance in him that you wanted to feel.  Smiling to yourself you placed in your request for practicing the ritual for confessions after an exorcism. Knowing Tamaki would be the one to answer that request given that he was the most skilled at the task, the one that was always requested by popular demand. It was almost eerie the way that he was revered, naturally drawing the villagers to his side, like moths to a flame.  Always in awe as he banished some of the top tier minions haunting homes, reining havoc from a deal gone awry, and it was the last Exorcism that confirmed your belief and answered your hunch.  A villager’s daughter who was possessed by a lesser demon had made eye contact with him and addressed him with reverence before being slain. You could not ignore the unmistakable look of disdain in his expression, the way his body stood with the confidence of a certified leader. Then of course the muttering of in the distorted tone, “should have executed you long ago.” Approaching his side, you asked. “Did you know that demon?” The question made his eyes hone in on you as if gauging you to decide on the best answer, then dismissing it with an awkward wave of his hand with the attempt of masking the event with his false timid nature, and sheepish voice. That was enough, you just needed him alone, and to stay in the room long enough to get what you wanted. Based on what you witnessed lined with what you studied in The Grimoire of Pope Honorius, the appearance, skills and abilities aligned with Tamaki’s quirk and the way the population of the area perceived him. One of the ancient demon kings was known for his ability to shift from man to creature and even a mixture of the two. As well as the hoarse voice, the demanding presence of a leader since he easily led sixty legions of lesser demons complete with skills to use invisibility, and popularity. The latter lining perfectly with how he was able to hide in plain sight yet being revered by the masses. Indeed this “lesson” would be one to remember.

 When the time came you dressed the part perfectly, not a hair out of place, robes freshly starched and ironed. However, it was the same robes that the village requested you not to wear because of how poorly it concealed your curves. If anything, the garment that would have offered a baggy fit on others, proved to be snug on your frame. You even pushed the envelope in neglecting your tights to cover your bare legs. You were not in need of concealing anything you thought with excitement. Barely containing yourself when you heard the doors swing open.

  What is it that you need my help with y/n?”

 “Oh, you know, just running through the steps of confession, nothing major.” 

His pulse rises, his gut tightens with anticipation; he knows that you were exceptional in what you were doing, but his curiosity and the allure of seeing what you had up your sleeve excited him. He was so good for so long, depriving these forbidden pleasures for years. Years that stretched longer than your lifespan. Surely if he slipped just this once, it could be overlooked; if he could just see what it was you were up to, he could sate his curiosity and retreat to his quarters before anything serious transpired. Closing his eyes and refocusing his attention on you, he asked, “ ok, let’s practice receiving the forgiveness of sins to confess. Y/n I need you to get down on your knees and recite the initial line.” Your lips tugged at the corners into a small smile. “I’m a wretched sinner that needs your sanctification,” you purr, sinking to your knees, palms pressed together, doe eyes looking up at him through lashes barely masking the glimmer of mischief as you open your mouth and stretch out your tongue with a lewd moan, parting your thighs.” Tamaki’s eyes widen in shock at your downright lewd actions in the middle of the pulpit, no less. He could feel lust heat his blood, coursing through his body, tightening the coil in his core, and his mouth salivate. Fuck, that moan sounded so good, so sweet; as bratty as you were, he was sure you could be good, you could behave. He could make you behave with his steady hand. He knew it, was sure of it he thought as he forced his body still to allow him to take the bread and place it on your waiting tongue. He watches you capture his thumb between your lips, pulling a small gasp from his throat witnessing you pulling his thumb in your mouth. Swirling your warm tongue around it, savouring the salt on his fingertips, and humming in pleasure all while holding his gaze. Tamaki’s mouth drops open, watching you, feeling his cock twitch to life, and before he was conscious of what he was doing, he hooks the thumb in your mouth pulling you close to his growing bulge. Not ready for him to take the opportunity to come to his senses, you reach for his hips, smoothing your hand down his thigh, pressing your nails down as you go, dragging them back up and finally palming his growing erection. 

 Tamaki yanks at your jaw so harshly it makes you squeeze your eyes shut, then look up at him. “ You, filthy temptress.” his voice held a deep dark timber that amplified in his chest, his eyes starting to glow with a light of danger as his pupils began to dilate. Once again, he surprises you with that resolve of his when he shakes his head, pulling away from you and raking his fingers through his indigo strands, exhaling as if that would force the temptations out of his mind, wipe the lewd actions and sounds you made from his mind. You couldn’t let that be the case, where was the fun in that? You stood up and made your way to the altar, taking a seat and whistling over to him, getting his attention. “I’m sorry, Tama, but tell me. Do you honestly think that depriving your needs to the point that your mind spirals into insanity will save you? Who do you think your prayers go? And what deity do you think these pitiful actions will appease?” you mock.

 Tamaki’s ears grew hot, and his eyes narrowed. “You think my actions are pointless?”

You pretend to mull over his question. “I never said that. I just think you forgot who you are and are trying to awaken your full potential. You need to stop suppressing it, Tamaki~” you purr his name the same way you do when you touch yourself in the shroud of darkness, to the sounds of him fucking into his fist and spilling his cum all over himself. Tutting at the memory, you lick your lips and hope that this time, it would be your throat he cums into instead of his fist. “Everything I do has a purpose.” irritation heats his word, his canines elongate as he sneers at you, approaching with an unhurried pace. “What potential do you think you can unlock in me and how?” he asks. Finally, he is asking the right question. Spreading your legs and hiking up your robes, you begin to ask, “well, you can manifest what you eat; what if I tell you, I have something that will manifest your truth if you have a taste?” He stops and stares; the look of conflicting thoughts span across his face, but you call out to him. “You know I have never hurt you; why would I start now?” You pull your panties to the side and run your finger up your slit, spreading your lips and curling the finger of your free hand over to him. As if caught in a trance, he closes the distance between you and kneels between your thighs, finally close enough to appreciate the sweet soft scent of your skin and the slick glistening on your lips. Before he could stop himself, he licks a hot stripe up your quivering cunt, moaning in response to the sinful sound coming out of you. The taste of you dances on his tongue, the sweetest and most sinful flavour he has ever had, clouding his logic and corrupting everything he has ever known, tarnishing every practice and need to stop like aged silver. His muscles contracted, and his nails grew into talons that bite into the plush of your thighs, sending sharp pricks of paint ebbing into pleasure as he prods his tongue into you, groaning when your walls flutter around his tongue and squeeze down onto him. He begins to lose himself in you, worshiping you with a hungry mouth, searching tongue, and holding onto you like your cunt is the only salvation left in this life. The feeling of him contorting his tongue in you was overwhelming you, you have had men tongue fuck you before, just not the way Tamaki was actually prodding deep, swirling his tongue against the convulsing walls of your pussy. Your moans rose in volume, pitch and with a tone of neediness. His tongue felt like it was actually stretching you, as he rocked his face back and forth. Nodding when you bucked your hips into his mouth. His eyes rolled back feeling any sense of restraint evaporate, being replaced with the need to claim you, mark you, and consume you. He wanted to ruin you, and why shouldn’t he? If no good deed goes unpunished. Then he’s ready to deal with whatever the wages are for this transgression. His tongue elongates inside of you, the friction it causes has you whimpering from the ways it made you writhe in pleasure, as you submerge into the warm pulsing bliss of your orgasm. Tamaki’s assault on your fluttering walls does not stop, he continues contorting his tongue in you despite your efforts in closing your legs from the feeling of overstimulation, but the force he uses made his talons bite into your thighs pricking you with sharp stings of pain. Pulling back his head and pulling his tongue out of your dripping lips, he laps at the swollen flesh, looking at you with blown pupils almost making his eyes look completely as dark as the night sky outside. 

 Licking his lips clean of you, he leans in close to breathe against your clit. “ Well done, y/n. I think I know what it is you want me to realize, but before we get to that task, and before you get to cum again, why not reward me? nothing is free, so why don’t you go ahead and take a taste for yourself?” He releases his hold on your thighs letting them droop to the altar like the tendrils of a jellyfish. Watching Tamaki rise to his feet made your mouth fall open to see his new height, and the ways his toned body had filled out his robes, threatening to tear at the seams when he moved his arms. You were surprised the effects of his quirk were working so quickly but the time for realizations was cut short when he let his pants and boxers pool around his ankles revealing his veiny erection. He wrapped his hand around his length and fisted himself giving himself a few pumps to alleviate the throbbing need building up. Your mouth watered seeing the way pre began to seep from his swollen tip. Sliding off the altar you make your way before Tamaki, who now caresses your face letting you relax into his large palm so he can sharply grab your cheeks and pull your face close to his. “I’m your God now.” Though he never asked for it, you nodded your understanding. Both your heart and your pussy fluttered with the excitement of his transformation. “Now it’s time for you to worship me as such'' he breathes. Voice so low it resonated in your core, flashing goosebumps across your flesh. “Tch, if you want me to bless you, you have to serve me, nothing is free '' The command shoots down your spine and pools into a tightening cord in your core. When he snaked his hands through your hair, gripping your strands close to your scalp and bringing you to your knees observing intently as you wrap your lips around his cock, slipping your eyes shut and wrapping your hand pumping the length that didn't fit down your throat. Tamaki flexed his thighs and groaned in pleasure, slowly pushing his hips forward as you pump him, swirling your tongue along the underside of his cock twitching in your mouth and moaning around it, letting the vibrations of your moan pleasure him further. Taking advantage of your relaxed muscles he thrusted into you brushing your hands away, content with your actions making you look like you were uttering a lewd prayer on your knees, eyes closed, and hands clasped around the base of him. Fuck you were so eager to please why did he deprive himself this pleasure for so long? Your moans began to sound more desperate, as his pace increased fucking your throat raw. Barely giving you time to catch a breath before his thick hot seed pooled on your tongue. His large hand slipped down from your hair and wrapped around your throat lightly squeezing the side gathering your attention to slide open your eyes. "Don't swallow, show me" he ordered as he slipped his slickened cock out of your mouth, biting at his bottom lip at the sight of your fucked out expression. The sound of tearing fabric filled the otherwise silent room and made you widen your eyes to see what was happening. Tamaki had manifested wings, shredding his robes and you realized he also had claws growing from his hands. You should be panicking, yet the euphoric feeling of excitement floods your bloodstream with dopamine, dilating your pupils, reducing your irises to thin strips of e/c. Lapping up the cum and looking up at his Ruby irises you curl your lips into a smile. "I knew you were something more, a wolf hiding in sheep's clothing. Baal." You mused.

 "And you have done well seeing who I am, obediently recognising me, constantly offered yourself to me despite the persecution you received." He says stroking your hair then grabbing the nape of your neck pulling you up to your feet, then scooping you up into his hold. "Your body is a beautiful offering I accept with contentment." He whispers against your jaw, freeing you of your remaining clothing, effectively removing anything that would prevent him from making direct contact with your heated skin. Carting you over to the altar and spreading your thighs so he could slot himself between them. You stare up at him in a heated gaze, pulse thrumming in your ears, goosebumps line your skin, and your waiting cunt are already slick and quivering. Ready for him to fuck you into the afterlife, and he does. He lines his head with your swollen lips, slipping his hardening cock through your silken folds, relishing the sound of your mewls and stifled moans. It’s cute to see you tremble beneath him, bucking your hips with impatience. He laughs at your futile attempts and slaps his length against your sensitive swollen clit, pulling a small squeal of surprise from you. Seeing how frustration creased your eyebrows, pouted your lips and welled tears threatening to breach your waterline and streak down your face. When you feel his head breach your entrance and you clench down on him, feeling how deliciously he stretches you as he sinks deeper into your warmth that welcomes the intrusion by clenching down on him. The feeling is mutually divine: the burn from the stretch as he bottoms out inside you melds into pleasure almost instantly when he starts to pull out and plummets back into you with so much force you gasp out breaths each time he repeats the movement. Your clit tickling against the dusting of groomed pubes sent pleasure signals shooting through your nerves. Your back arched as Baal dug his talons into your sides creating shallow scratches and lapping at the blood that sprang up. You felt light headed at the mixture of pain from how he was slamming his hips into yours, scratching and marking your body, then feeling pleasure when he licked and soothed the wounds, when he brought his lips to your ear and praised you for taking his entire length how beautiful you are  and how sweet your voice is pleading for him not to stop as your are swept away in the shocking current of  your orgasm. Placing your palms up and nibbling at his bottom lip to deepen the kiss he presses against your lips he chuckles and grabbed onto the altar’s edge and delivers sloppy punishing blows of his hips into yours making your see glowing stars dancing in your field of vision and hearing a splintering noise muted in your ears and  then feeling like you were falling, only to be caught by a pair of large warm hands that offered stability, a safe space to fall apart in, and so you did. Cumming hard, covered in sweat and exhausted from taking the fucking of a lifetime from the Demon king brought you back to your senses to realize you were spit on Tamaki’s dick, while he held you up with no effort, making you feel tiny compared to his now towering form with extended wings, fangs extending from his lips, claws that threatened to pierce your flesh with one wrong move. His legs were thickly muscled and feet hooved in his signature appearance. Despite the changed exterior you could still make out Tamaki’s personality mingled with the dark deity as he brought his lips to your temple, nuzzling you and smiling when he felt your weak hands caress his cheeks. The intimate moment was interrupted with the door creaking open, revealing the arrival of a shell-shocked Fat Gum, other lower ranking priests and exorcist staring at the sight of your joined bodies in the center of the pulpit and the destroyed alter that Tamaki fucked you on now laying in splinters scattered around your feet. Well, now that they see, maybe now they will believe, not everything was what it seemed.

[13reasonsinourstars]

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Hello Again Tumblr!

I am back with another Sims 4 Challenge that I hope you will all enjoy. First off I can't believe how many challenges are already out there and how creative you all are, honestly I was shocked. Everything I thought of doing had already been done... Zodiacs, Flowers, Seven Deadly Sins, Planets... So I was left stumped trying to think of a new idea which hasn't already been done before. At least I don't think it has been done before. It may seem a bit unusual but I hope some of you guys give it a go and let me know if you had fun playing it or if it was a good idea. I tried really hard to create this so please don't be too harsh with me, I'm still new to all this 😅🤭

That being said, I would still love to create my ideas of the above challenges I mentioned, but I don't know if is an okay thing to do since they already exist. I would of course credit the original creators but I would love to release my versions into the world as well 😊

Anyway that is enough talking so let's just get on with the challenge.

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This has the same set up as the 'Not So Berry Challenge' by 'lilsimsie' but other than that everything else is mine 😊

So let's begin shall we!

How the challenge works:

So there will be 10 generations and each one represents and is inspired by the ten most popular cocktails (according to Google 😂)

1. This is entirely optional but for extra fun you can add the colour of the cocktails into your sims - Either a full Berry Sim. Hair, Clothes, or Makeup containing the colours or even decorating the house in the inspired colours. It is completely up to you but I will include the colours next to each generation in case you guys want to do that.

2. Also optional but I will also include the country each cocktail was invented in if you guys also wanted to inspire your sims life/looks from that too.

3. You can live wherever you like unless stated.

4. Every generation must have at least level 5 skill in mixology, unless stated otherwise.

5. Every generation should complete all of their rules before moving on to the next one.

6. Some generations may include certain expansion packs but I will list them and you can tweak things however you like.

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Generation One: Aperol Spritz

(Orange/Red Colour) (Originated in Italy)

You're a self-assured individual that has a job in the critic career. You really love the colour orange and you find a way to work the colour into every outfit you have. You are very ambitious but come across as a bit of a snob as well, enjoying only the finer things in life. You love luxury and you won't quit until you have reached your goal as an Art/Food Critic.

Traits: Self-Assured, Ambitious, Snob

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy

Career: Critic (City Living Pack)

Rules:

. Master the Critic career and complete Fabulously Wealthy aspiration

. Master cooking and painting skills

. Have at least level 5 in Mixology skill

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Generation Two: Mojito

(Green colour) (Originated in Cuba)

Growing up in a rich family and only having the best of things in life, you naturally became materialistic. Although you had everything you wanted as a child, you started to grow jealous of those around you who could do what they wanted and not have to worry about their reputation. After having everything and taking so much from the world, you decided to start giving back, joining the conservationist career and becoming vegetarian.

Traits: Materialistic, Jealous, Vegetarian (City Living Pack)

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Career: Conservationist (Island Living Pack)

Rules:

. Master the Conservationist career and complete Freelance Botanist aspiration

. Master gardening and logic skills

. Gain a good reputation

. Live by the sea or in green area

. Have at least level 5 in Mixology skill

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Generation Three: Manhattan

(Auburn Colour) (Originated in New York)

After growing up by the sea and green nature, all your life you have wanted to escape to the city. Tall buildings, busy streets, loud venues... where do you sign up!? You are friendly to anyone you meet having growing up in a loving household, and outgoing in any situation. You love spending time with your friends and love to socialize and party. However, you stand up for what you believe in and always protest on the street and donate to charities. Like your parents, you want to help and make a difference too, just away from the seaside!

Traits: Good, Outgoing, Bro

Aspiration: City Native (City Living Pack)

Career: Politician (City Living Pack)

Rules:

. Master the Politician career and complete City Native aspiration

. Max out Charisma skill

. Always say yes to an invite from someone on the phone

. Have at least level 5 in Mixology skill

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Generation Four: Margarita

(White Colour) (Originated in Mexico)

Moving to Mexico was all you ever dreamed of growing up. Leaving the city behind and experiencing a whole new culture was your life long dream. So first things first, you need to get away from the city life. You are outgoing like your Mother/Father, but wanted to work in the athlete career having been active since young. Being popular, you are happiest around your friends and in club gatherings.

Traits: Outgoing, Active, Insider (Get Together Pack)

Aspiration: Bodybuilder

Career: Athlete Career

Rules:

. Master the Athlete career and complete Bodybuilder aspiration

. Master the active and charisma skills

. Be in at least one club

. Have at least level 5 in Mixology skill

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Generation Five: Espresso Martini

(Brown/Black Colours) (Originated in London)

Work hard, play hard is pretty much your mantra for life. You may be a mid-week workaholic, but as soon as night falls, you are a person gone wild. Your constant caffeine fix more than helps you keep up with the pack and by the end of the night you'll no doubt be the last one left on the dance floor. And hey! There's nothing wrong with an all black wardrobe.

Traits: Ambitious, Dance Machine, Insider (Get Together Pack)

Aspiration: Party Animal

Career: Culinary Career - Mixologist

Rules:

. Master the Mixologist career and complete Party Animal aspiration

. Must own a coffee machine

. Work in a coffee shop as a barista as a teenager

. Be in at least one club

. Max our Mixology skill

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Generation Six: Whiskey Sour

(Peach/Orange Colours) (Orginated in Peru)

You inherited more of your Mothers/Fathers wild side and don't take life too seriously. Your young at heart and you live life spontaneously, wanting to enjoy the little things in life day by day. You have no idea what you want to do for a living but you are very adventurous and up for anything.

Traits: Outgoing, Non-Committal, Goofball

Aspiration: Beach Life (Island Living Pack)

Career: Freelancer

Rules:

. Master the Beach Life aspiration

. Have had three different jobs before settling in Freelancer career

. Discover 'The Forgotten Grotto' in Oasis Springs and 'Sylvian Glade' in Willow Creek.

. Have at least level 5 in Mixology skill

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Generation Seven: Dry Martini

(White/Yellow) (Originated in New York)

Everyone has always said that you live in the past. As a kid you fell in love with old black-and-white movies and always dreamed or a classic love story like on screen. You are smart, mysterious, and have a way of catching people's attention, but you are looking for your one true love.

Traits: Genius, Romantic, Perfectionist

Aspiration: Soulmate

Career: Actor or Actress (Get Famous Pack)

Rules:

. Master Soulmate aspiration and Actor/Actress career

.Become a Global Superstar (Get Famous Pack)

. Watch a movie or an hour of TV everyday

. Must have full friendship with someone before starting a romantic relationship

. Have at least level 5 Mixology skill

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Generation Eight: Daiquiri

(Yellow/Lime Colours) (Originated in Cuba)

You are a very introverted person so you love to spend your time alone or with a small group of close friends. However, that doesn't stop you from being strong and determined. You have a unique way of thinking and you won't stop until you have reached the top and have gained a position if authority and power.

Traits: Loner, Ambitious, Bookworm

Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Career: Law (Discover University Pack)

Rules:

. Master the Law career and Nerd Brain aspiration

. Only have a maximum of three friends (not including family)

. Read a book a day

. Have at least level 5 in Mixology skill

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Generation Nine: Negroni

(Red Colour) (Originated in Italy)

You struggle to get along with a lot of people but you have a few close friends who share your interests. For some reason your mind is filled with random facts and knowledge on obscure topics, earning you the nickname 'human thesaurus'. You're witty, well-travelled and willing to spend big money on a good meal.

Traits: Glutton, Genius, Foodie

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim

Career: Culinary Career - Chef

Rules:

. Complete Culinary career and Renaissance aspiration

. Only befriend people you share at least one trait with.

. Discover all the foods from the food stalls (City Living Pack)

. Have at least level 5 Mixology skill

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Generation Ten: Old Fashioned

(Brown Colour) (Originated in Kentucky)

You are just your average-joe, blending into the crowd and living life peacefully and quietly. You have an average 9-5 job and don't want much from life apart from a steady income and loving family. To be honest, there's nothing really special about you, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Like I said, just your average-joe. Although, some say your fashion sense is a little stuck in the past, but others just call it 'Hipster.'

Traits: Neat, Family-Oriented, Good

Aspiration: Big Happy Family

Career: Business

Rules:

. Master Business career and big happy family aspiration

. Attend university (Discover University Pack)

. Try to complete every whim

. Have at least level 5 Mixology skill

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Okay so that's it for this challenge! You can tweak what you need to and I would really appreciate some feedback as I know it's slightly unusual but I worked really hard on it, so whatever you guys have to say, I would love to hear it.

Also I know there are many more cocktails out there, but this was just listed as the top ten most popular.

Please let me know if you try the challenge and also if you think it would be okay to create my own version of existing challenges as I really want to...its hard coming up with new ideas 😂

See you next time Tumblr! 👋

© This challenge belongs to me (13ReasonsInOurStars)

[asklyss]

Is he into you, or is he just bored?

When I was brainstorming article topics to write about I couldn't help but keep circling back to this one as my first choice. One of my most commonly asked questions from the many years that I've run Ask Lyss is 'How do I know if he really likes me?'. In my years of being single, I too found myself wasting time on guys who were using me to waste their time... if that makes sense. I admire the types of people that don't need to know where a friendship, flirtationship, situationship, whatever-you-want-to-call-it-ship is going and just go with the flow, letting time and fate work it out. But Lord knows that I am not that type of woman. I needed to know and I need to know ASAP! When I spent days, weeks, sometimes even months talking to a guy, all I wanted to know was whether they were into me or just playing with me so I could figure out if whatever we had going on had any sort of future. The sooner I knew they were into me, the sooner I would feel safer and more secure about investing my time, energy and optimism into whatever we had going on. The sooner I found out that I was just a distraction or a shiny new toy to keep him entertained until someone he really liked walked by, the sooner I would know that I could take my time, energy and optimism and invest it into someone who really deserves it. This is particularly relevant in this moment while we’re in the middle of a pandemic that has left so many of us feeling bored and socially isolated. It makes it easy to consciously or unconsciously, start messing around with people’s feeling to fill our boredom and loneliness. So, without further ado, here are the steps I recommend you follow when deciding whether he is into you... or just bored.

1. Think about how often you text.

Now let me make this clear, someone who replies to all your texts within the minute doesn't necessarily mean they are more into you than someone who texts you several times throughout the day. We all have busy lives and he doesn't need to make you feel like you're the centre of his universe, but you do deserve to at least feel like somewhat of a priority. Does he only text you at night or does he text you throughout the day? Does he text you at work when he’s bored in the office or does he text you when he’s with friends and already having fun? When you're having a conversation, does he randomly drop out when he finds something better to do? If he does, 3 words for you: BIG RED FLAG. Think about it this way, you don't expect your best friend to be around you 24/7 and constantly be talking to you. But imagine you and your best friend were having a conversation, and as you're talking about your day they randomly leave the room and start playing videogames. How would that make you feel? Like you've been ditched for something more fun? That's exactly how it looks when he drops off a text randomly. Unless he returns and apologises and explains himself (e.g. I had to go make dinner, I had a phone call to attend to, I had an emergency) then it is another red flag. Also think about whether he randomly drops off the face of the earth for days and then resumes texting you like nothing happened? In my opinion, it’s not fair of him to assume he can just virtually come and go as he pleases... unless of course he’s gone to a remote island with no internet. Even then, I’d expect a note via carrier pigeon or a reply through smoke signal or SOMETHING. Kidding, kidding! But seriously, if he texts you only at night or when he’s drunk or once every few days, consider whether he’s texting you because he wants to or because it’s convenient for him. Again I will stress that he does not have to treat you like the number one priority in his life, but if you don't feel like a priority at all, then my friend, we've got an issue.

2. What types of things do you talk about?

Now what you talk about is y'all's business but all I want to know is is it meaningful or is it just superficial? A guy who is really into you would centre conversations about getting to know you and revealing things about himself so you can get to know him. There's nothing wrong with talking about superficial things from time to time like celebrity gossip, sport, how hot Lyss's latest Instagram selfie is (Look honey I honestly don't blame you!), but if there's no depth to any of your conversations then he may just be using you as a form of entertainment to kill time. Also, gage whether he answers questions you have about him but fails to ask you questions about YOU! When you’re interested in someone, naturally you develop a curiosity about them, and if that curiosity isn’t coming across, he may not be that interested in you.

3. Does he make time to meet with you in person?

I get this is a weird time where most of us are living in states with strict social distancing and lockdown rules, but does he at least make any plans to take you out? This can be one of the biggest giveaways when determining whether or not someone is really into you. Now lots of people, particularly the more shy and introverted types, would feel more comfortable chatting online rather than meeting face to face. But really, my first boyfriend was, self-admittedly, the most introverted, shy, socially anxious man I've ever met. Before me he had never dated, was scared of women, and barely even met face to face with his friends. But after a few weeks of talking to me online, even though we met online, HE was the only pushing to meet up with me even though he knew how uncomfortable and anxious it would make him. So what’s your crush’s excuse? And, if and when they do make plans, consider whether it’s a plan that’s only made because it is convenient for him, or will he go out of his way to make an effort. For example, will he come to pick you up or meet on your side of town, or does he expect you to always come to him. Does he clear up his schedule to see you or is he only meeting you at a bar because it’s near the restaurant that he’s meeting friends at later? Also, try to sense whether he’s making plans with you because he really wants to, or because it will get you off his back. Is he taking you out on a hot date or a pity date?

4. Gut feeling

Yes ok I know some of you will roll your eyes at this one but really, your gut feeling will give you a great sense of whether he’s really into you or just bored. Lots of people ask me if a guy is into them and most of the time I say no, because if the guy really was interested, they would show it and the askers wouldn’t have to ask me in the first place! I think back to any guy that was ever REALLY interested in me, and those guys never left me questioning ‘do they or don’t they?’. And then I think back to the guys that did leave me confused, and none of them ended up in real, healthy relationships. So just think about it, if you’re so confused that you have to gather several different opinions, don’t only ask yourself whether your gut feeling is right, but ask yourself if this guy is even worth your time. Someone who leaves you with a little something to chase is alluring and interesting, but someone who sends so many mixed signals that you feel frustrated and unimportant is a hard no from me. 

I hope these tips helped you figure out whether he’s into you or just bored! Yes there are several factors to consider in making your judgement, but at the end of the day I’m a strong believer in the fact that if a guy is really, truly interested in you and not just bored, they will eventually do anything it takes to make that clear to you. Trust me and my advice, but above all… trust your gut. If you have any further questions or want more personalised advice, ask me here!

Good luck and have an amazing week!

Love, Lyss

[faveanimeships]

MATCHUP

hi!! i saw your thing about sending you ship requests, so here's mine! i'm 5' 4", korean, and i have shoulder-length dark hair. i wear circle glasses, and i have a terrible prescription. i love to read, listen to classical music, and i'm a foodie! i eat when i'm sad. i'm blunt and direct, along with rather reserved, and i have a hard time letting people get close to me. but, once i do, i love and care for them to no end!!!! i like to dress comfortably (ex. leggings and sweatshirt).

i’m so sorry i just read your rules for your ships and i sent in the description about the korean girl w circle glasses please forgive me … this is for free and BNHA , i am infp-t, ravenclaw, and i am bisexual (i use she/her pronouns). i’m so sorry for not reading the rules before!!

LOOK!! A finally a fricken update lmao I’m finally writing again after procrastinating heh i hate myself thank you for waiting bubba yunseo I hope you like it!!! 

I analysed your character before but now I have more to add lmao!!!

FREE! SHIPS

You are reserved, shy, blunt, comfortable, open-minded and prefer to trust your gut feeling; you’re also thirsty for knowledge and love to learn. Your ability to have an open mind will only lead you to pursue new interests and new genres. When you’re looking for a partner you would probably look for someone accepting or equally open-minded, and probably someone empathetic. I’m not sure bur your reserved personality may bring you lots of outgoing friends, and maybe when you’re looking for a partner, you’d be the listener in the relationship. You’d be great at giving empathetic advice, especially emotional ones since you know, you’d get a feeling of what and what not to say, which IMO is amazing. Looking at your description, you’d be the calm person in the relationship due to your reserved and caring nature, and so you’d probably prefer a louder partner?

ADD+ You’re not confident in yourself, you’re a bit clingy in a relationship you’ll probably want to date someone who can tolerate and understand that. You need your other half to be dependable, understanding and patient.

I ship you with !!

KISUMI SHIGINO

Kisumi is warm, friendly, fun to be with, reliable (in the anime he’s a very strong and supporting friend for Haru and the other boys when they had the whole Ikuya drama), he’s outgoing, patient, caring (him and his little brother TUT sibling goals). However, he is very popular, and has a very active social life- he’ll obviously try to introduce you to his friends, make you go to his gatherings, pout a little if you say no but overall very understanding if you just want to relax after a long day. Due to your very different personalities, you might fight with him a little due to his overly active social life, and while he’s not ready to give up on his social life, both of you will work to find a balance to this relationship. 

Obviously, when he’s with his other friends he won’t reply much but he’ll try to cut down meetings with his friends and try to reply to you when he’s out with other people. If you overcome that first hurdle, you will have a very strong relationship! Of course, Kisumi will spend a night in with you, binge-watching movies and cuddling, ordering uber eats and just listening to you talk. Of course, due to his talkative nature, he’ll be talking a lot too, but yes, you’ll learn how to balance it out in the end. 

Not only that, I feel Kisumi can tolerate your blunt nature (he’s friends with Haru lol) and he’ll definitely be that boy who will talk back, maybe that'll improve your comebacks. Dating Kisumi may be difficult but I feel if you date someone like Kisumi, you’ll learn how to open up and talk about your feelings, learn how to communicate in like a better way instead of being blunt all the time (because you know when you actually go work for other people in the future, being blunt, might not be the best choice haha) I feel like although your relationship might be a little messy and all over the place, you’ll work together to hold it together, and being in that situation allows you to be much more mature, and understanding. 

Additionally, as his girlfriend, you’ll attend at least some of his meetings with his friends and you’ll probably collect a lot of connections thanks to that, or even discover a new hobby or passion you’ll take on later in life. ALSO we know Kisumi likes to meddle in people’s lives so maybe he’ll make you overcome any fear you might have and be super supportive about it. I feel this relationship would be a super supportive and fresh- he’s always thinking about new things to try and do with you, which will only benefit both of you greatly!

Kisumi likes: holding hands, some PDA, eating desserts together, you hanging out with his friends (happily), you being happy, you playing your instrument, you doing taekwondo and kicking some ass like the queen you are, you smiling, hugs!!!, drinking coffee with you

I also ship you with: (more under the cut)

SOUSUKE YAMAZAKI 

Sousuke is calm, quiet, reliable, a great listener, a little bit overprotective, patient, caring and a great mentor. Thanks to him attending a boy’s school, we literally can see how popular he is- my guess is if he was at Iwatobi instead, he would be the king of the school lmao !!! Sousuke is more of an introvert than anything, which I think, you would appreciate since you like staying indoors, he loves relaxing near the pool or with you indoors! 

It is canon that Sousuke is working in a restaurant so he’d probably make you some dishes when you’re doing a stay at home date, or he’ll make you bentos when you have a concert or exam coming up- it’s his way of showing love, kindness and support! Sousuke is also blunt- like you and he doesn’t mind your bluntness at all, if you were to be blunt about his cooking, he’d greatly appreciate it. Sousuke won’t talk a lot, but he’s always there to listen to you rant, he loves it when you’re a little clingy with him, and it gets him into the mood to spoil you. He also loves waking up to you spamming his messenger, and he reads through every message, careful not to miss anything.

 As mentioned, Sousuke is a great mentor and he gives great advice. He listens to you and he’ll try to remain neutral, maybe you won’t be too happy about that but you’ll eventually understand that he’s just trying to remain neutral so he can provide unbiased advice. Not only that, Sousuke also writes you letters sometimes!!! He’d write you a letter during your monthsary and your anniversary, and when you’re feeling under the weather. If you need personal space, he’d be happy to leave you with a letter, some of your favourite snacks, a handmade bento packed to the brim with your favourite dishes. 

BNHA SHIPS

I ship you with !!

MIRIO TOGATA!!!

Mirio is friendly, funny, outgoing, optimistic, energetic, laid back and hardworking. He’s one of the big threes, and he definitely worked hard to be one there and he deserves everything amazing in this world!!! Personally, I think Mirio is an ambivert, he can switch between being an introvert and extrovert, and that is really cool,, which in this case would benefit you greatly since he’d push you to socialise within your quota, but will also reward you with all sorts of cute stay at home dates, where he just solely focuses on you and you only. Mirio may seem confident and all but sometimes, he suffers from self-doubt and low self-confidence, and I feel like you could really encourage him and help him back up again. 

Alternatively, when you’re feeling the same, Mirio would know how to get you back up and make sure you’re okay. Overall, Mirio would be a very laid back boyfriend, and he’d trust you with all his heart. He’d also pull cute pranks on you, or scare you, but he’s doing it with pure intentions only, as he wants you to be happy!!! Because you happy = him happy !! 

Being with Mirio means seeing him working himself too hard, and i feel like your bluntness might just put him in place, and he’d listen. You might spoil him a little after (which he loves), and tell him off (cute). After all of that Mirio would just want to hold you so tightly in his arms, as he takes a short nap with you. 

ALSO !! He’d also introduce you to little Eri, and make sure both of you get along (no problem at all since Eri is a sweet girl), and the three of you would go on amusement park outings? And sometimes you’d get mistaken for being such “sweet parents” or having such a “cute family”, Mirio would tease you afterwards, and wouldn’t deny it if someone asks him if you are his wife- he’d proudly say “yes, isn’t she cute!” Eri would giggle and point out the fact that you are blushing- it’s just such a wholesome relationship tbh!!!

I also ship you with !! 

TSUYU ASUI!!!

Tsuyu is adorable, straightforward, caring, laid back, strong, calm, and is a great source of emotional support (recovery girl)!! Tsuyu is also an ambivert and loves being alone or surrounded by her friends,, She loves being comfortable, which means she appreciates your sense of style. 

Obviously, she’s not the best at showing weakness, which means she’d be the one providing emotional support in this relationship. She’d listen to you rant, and provide you with unbiased advice. (Tsuyu is known for her amazing judgement skills). Of course, you’d start to notice the gap and you’d want her to share her weaknesses with you- it takes time, but it’s not impossible! However, she’d prefer if she was the one doing the listening and advicing instead. 

Not only that, Tsuyu is very attentive so she’d know what to do when you’re feeling meh, she’ll also cook for you sometimes, and bring you to cute and nice restaurants so both of you can just date and chill out. Like you, Tsuyu is blunt and straightforward but she means well. She won’t mince words but she’d make sure she won’t mention any trigger words or events. She’d also make sure you’re okay after that, probably make you some juice and cuddle with you (if you want). I also feel like she’s open to try anything- she’d do anything that would make you happy. Like Mirio’s relationship- this relationship is equally wholesome, supportive and happy!!

[talabib]

Do You Know What it takes to be a CEO?

CEOs are often portrayed as highly intelligent people who wear fancy suits and have a real knack for business. However, many of them neither hold a higher-education degree nor come from a wealthy background. In fact, corporate success often has little to do with book smarts or a massive bankroll.

Experts ran several extensive studies to pinpoint what is truly needed to become a leader of a successful company. These are skills that anyone can learn, and the steps to acquiring and implementing them are clearly outlined in this post. Supported by examples of eminent CEOs across an array of industries, you’ll see that there’s nothing stopping you from becoming the next Elon Musk or Indra Nooyi.

CEOs aren’t born, they’re made.

Many of us believe that CEOs are somehow special and entirely different from the average employee. Furthermore, we believe that wealthy parents or exceptional intelligence is necessary to run a large company. However, the ghSMART project surveyed over 2,600 CEOs and what they found contradicts these beliefs.

The majority of CEOs are just regular people who have developed leadership qualities over the course of their career.

More than 70 percent of the CEOs surveyed claimed that they had no intention of becoming a CEO when they first started working.

Let’s take Don Slager, for example. Slager is the CEO of Republic Services, a $9 billion company and one of the top-500 wealthiest companies in the United States as rated by Fortune magazine. He never went to college but was ranked the number one CEO in the United States by the website Glassdoor. In fact, he started out as a garbageman for the company. By working his way up the ranks, Slager eventually became the head of one of the most well-known companies in the American waste-services industry. It was his knowledge of and familiarity with the general public, as well as the insights he’d gained from working in all areas of the company, that made Slager the best candidate for CEO.

What’s more, the survey showed that you don’t need to be a genius to become a CEO.

Indeed, those who put forth complicated ideas or use long words are typically viewed as bad CEOs. Moreover, they’re less likely to be hired at all. To give you some stats – only seven percent of CEOs graduated from an Ivy League school. Though Fortune 500 companies usually have Ivy League graduates among their leaders, the smaller, less-known firms don’t. But Ivy League schools aside, consider this: like Don Slager, eight percent of CEOs have never attended any college, so, clearly, lacking a formal higher-level education is no hindrance.

You also don’t need to be an exceptionally outspoken person to be a CEO. Egoistic people make the worst CEOs since they’re too focused on their individual success. And, in fact, 30 percent of CEOs are introverts.

Make fewer and thus faster decisions.

Previously, we’ve shown that a college degree isn’t necessary to become the CEO of a lucrative company. But being highly intelligent is not a prerequisite either.

In fact, CEOs who have a high IQ typically experience information paralysis. They are required to make important choices every day. There are many different avenues by which to arrive at a decision, such as being thoughtful, impulsive, logical or decisive. Out of these options, high-performing CEOs often opt for decisiveness, meaning the ability to decide quickly and with conviction. Indeed, experts found in a study that decisiveness made CEOs 12 times more likely to be top performers.

In addition to being quick, an overarching decision is usually better than one that’s detailed.

To illustrate this argument, let’s take a look at Steve Gorman, who took over the bus company Greyhound Lines in 2003 when it was $140 million in debt. After being advised to either divide up the regions and sell off the company’s business in them, or to increase fare prices, Gorman had to decide quickly. Instead of consulting sales figures, he looked at a map of America. Gorman compared this map with the Greyhound route map and made the bold decision to stop all of the routes that serviced low-density populations. Thanks to this decisiveness, after four years, Greyhound Lines was making an annual profit of $30 million. So, like Gorman, find a winning formula for your specific business, and to stick to it.

This is what Doug Peterson, CEO of McGraw Hill Financial, did. He succeeded by following the policy of Jack Welch, legendary CEO of the gigantic conglomerate General Electric. According to Welch’s rule, the company had to have the potential to become a number one or number two player in every new sector it entered, or he would turn down the opportunity.

By following this formula, Peterson simplified decision-making throughout his entire organization and enabled his staff to make quicker decisions about market opportunities by themselves. The company sometimes turned down potentially lucrative takeover deals, but the simplicity and speed were worth more than any single buyout would have been.

To get favorable results, you need to understand your stakeholders.

As mentioned earlier, a surprisingly large number of CEOs are introverts rather than extroverts. This is because, in order to be an effective CEO, you’ve got to be able to consider other people’s perspectives. Company owners need to understand what motivates customers, board members and stakeholders, which means that CEOs need to listen and have empathy. Introverts tend to be particularly adept at this.

By truly listening to people, you avoid making assumptions, which is important. When it comes to other people’s perspectives and outlooks, you shouldn’t assume you know what they think. Instead, you should show genuine curiosity and pay attention when they’re talking about themselves.

One CEO who employs this tactic particularly effectively is Neil Fiske. Though he is mainly known as the man who rescued the surf company Billabong, his biggest achievement came when he worked for a lingerie brand. Fiske interviewed women about their opinions on clothing, and he was mindful not to make assumptions. By listening and gathering as much information as he could, Fiske managed to turn the previously small company into a billion-dollar business.

As the example illustrates, it’s important for CEOs to spend time getting to know their customers.

Jim Donald has had leadership roles in many well-known successful brands, including Starbucks and Safeway. He attributes his success to spending half of his time out of the office and in the shops themselves. Donald’s strategy stemmed from advice given to him from his former boss at Walmart, Sam Walton, who said that the real business occurs among the customers and employees on the shop floor.

Similarly, it’s vital to know the motivations behind the company’s board members.

The benefits of getting to know board members shouldn’t be underestimated, and you should be aware of their individual aspirations and hopes, as well as how your company fits into that vision. Some key questions to be addressed include: How did they become a board member? Are they obligated to an investor or founder? What’s driving them to stay on the board? Is it money, prestige, intellectual stimulation? Finding the answers to these questions could help you achieve your goals for the company, because you’ll know what kind of decisions board members will be likely to back.

People will rely on a consistent and committed CEO.

If two candidates are competing for a CEO position, the one who appears most reliable will get the job. In fact, CEOs who are known to be reliable are twice more likely to be offered a position than those who don’t have that reputation.

To present yourself as a reliable person, you must always follow through on your commitments.

The Genome Project studied the personality traits of thousands of CEOs and found that 94 percent of them scored very high in the category of following through on commitments. Furthermore, those who displayed discipline, thoroughness and conscientiousness were highly favored, unlike the “mad geniuses,” who were less favorable due to their erratic behavior. So if your main argument for getting the job is that you can come up with crazy ideas and schemes, you may wish to rethink your strategy.

Board members want leaders who they know will follow through on promises, even if the promises aren’t extravagant. They prefer a guaranteed modest outcome over an outlandish promise that has a low probability of being delivered. Thus, you can build your reputation for reliability by promising small things, but ensuring that you deliver on those small promises.

You can also appear reliable by behaving consistently. To do so, you should not let yourself be swayed by mood swings or emotions. The CEO of Timberland, Jeff Schwartz, argues that your staff rely on you to be consistent so that they can approach you professionally. Whether you are consistently serious or always friendly, you’ll seem more approachable to your colleagues and employees if your moods are predictable.

Additionally, preparing anecdotes about your prior experiences will help you sell yourself as a reliable CEO.

When in an interview for a leadership position you can prove the fact that you’re a reliable choice by sharing a few anecdotes from the past. Think of previous situations in which you’ve overcome a mutual problem, highlighting how you’ve learned from those hardships and redeemed yourself. This will help you come across as someone who can be relied on to work through common problems should they arise in the future.

Avoid mistakes by building repeatable, well-planned systems.

When you’re leading a big organization, it’s almost impossible to micromanage everything. Therefore, you need to implement self-sustaining systems that have easily repeatable steps to ensure employees work efficiently.

To do so, imagine yourself as a conductor of an orchestra. Rather than playing music, a conductor watches over everyone else from afar. To pull off a spectacular show, the conductor must work with the performers during rehearsal and ensure that everyone knows their role. Together, they work through the piece multiple times in order to reduce the likelihood of errors. On the big day, the conductor doesn’t need to do much, since the performers know what to do, having practiced the same pattern hundreds of times. This is what you should aim for as a CEO, too.

In addition to envisioning yourself as a conductor, it can also be helpful to think like a Navy SEAL. Imagine you’re in a fight. You might think that the best thing to do would be to rely on your instincts, fight back hard and hope for the best. But this is exactly what Navy SEALs don’t do. They are taught to build a strong foundation beforehand so that in the face of rising pressure, they can call upon their repetitive training and avoid making any mistakes.

Lastly, creating a well-planned system can also help prevent errors. In some cases, a reliable system can mean the difference between life and death. For example, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia sometimes encountered errors in their treatment system. Not only were doctors and nurses making mistakes with dosages and treatments; they also tried to cover them up.

Then it was revealed that it wasn’t the mistakes themselves that were causing most of the errors; it was the attempts to cover them up. So the hospital changed the system and decided to rename the errors, or near misses, as good catches. The staff member who disclosed the most near misses – either their own or somebody else’s – was given an award. As a result, medical errors fell by 80 percent.

Forget the past and focus on adapting to future trends.

What do Blockbuster Video and Kodak have in common? Both are businesses that failed because they didn’t adapt to the future.

One important aspect of planning for the future involves making room for new ideas by letting go of old ones.

Though Kodak invented the first-ever digital camera, they waited 18 years to pursue the opportunity further. This missed opportunity was fateful for the company, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Similarly, video-rental company Blockbuster passed on all three opportunities to purchase Netflix, because it didn’t see the potential of an online business model. We now know that this was a big mistake, and Blockbuster, too, filed for bankruptcy.

Both Kodak and Blockbuster failed because they weren’t able to let go of their old practices and adapt to the changing business landscape fast enough.

In contrast, when Intel saw that Japanese companies had begun to produce memory chips at a lower cost, it knew it needed to act quickly. This new competition led to a drop in Intel’s profits, from $198 billion in 1984 to $2 million just a year later. So Intel decided to focus wholly on producing microprocessors and drop its memory-chip-manufacturing business. The company’s willingness to adapt resulted in their market cap rising from $4 billion in the mid-1980s to $197 billion today.

Clearly, then, staying on top of upcoming trends is vital for a company’s sustained success, but how can you manage that in an increasingly information-loaded world?

The answer is to become a trendhunter. Jean Hoffman, CEO of pharmaceutical firm Putney, is a great example of a trendhunter. Hoffman was able to stay ahead of the game by studying the trends in human pharmacy and applying them to better forecast changes in veterinary medicine.

But looking into the trends that lie outside of your industry is helpful, too. For instance, Disney World didn’t look at other theme parks to find a trend that they could adapt. Instead, they compared themselves to any case that involved family entertainment, meaning games, films, sports and toys. From their research, they learned that it would be beneficial to incorporate trends such as the Harry Potter phenomenon and trampolining into their operations.

You need to get noticed to advance to the top.

If you think you’re more important than the company you work for, then the chances you’ll get hired as a CEO are pretty slim. Employers look for team players who will act according to the company’s best interests, rather than those who act out of self-interest.

So how do you show what you’ve got, if you’re not supposed to brag about your talents? To get there, try to be a big fish in a small pond.

Experts carried out a study of 2,600 CEOs and found that 60 percent of those who had climbed the corporate ladder quickly – also known as “sprinters” – did so after having taken a lower position at a smaller firm.

Smaller companies are more likely to accommodate change and ideas faster than big corporations, which usually have no time or room for your personal opinions.

Furthermore, in a smaller company, it’s easier to get noticed. If you become recognized as the one who saved or expanded your company or department, you’ll find yourself being thrust into the spotlight in no time.

For example, Damien McDonald declined a managerial position at Johnson and Johnson, a $50 billion firm, and chose to lead the $250 million spine division of Zimmer, a medical-device company. Under McDonald’s leadership, Zimmer saw growth of 12 percent, while the most he could have achieved at Johnson and Johnson would’ve probably been between one and two percent. Then, in 2016, LivaNova, another medical-device company, impressed by McDonald’s success, offered him the role of CEO.

You also need to make sure you get noticed for the right reasons and by the right people. The first way to get noticed is by asking people at your company for advice. Everyone enjoys giving guidance, and by doing so, they’ll become invested in and support your success.

Alternatively, you could offer skills that the company is lacking, which is typically computer and technology expertise. Everyone will notice when you become the go-to person for such areas.

A third way to get noticed is to become a staff member of an important figure in the company. As a personal assistant to a senior manager, you’ll be granted access to high-level meetings. This will provide you with key insights into company operations, as well as connections to the top brass, thereby creating a competitive edge for you.

Once people recognize your talent, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a CEO.

CEOs aren’t superhuman. In fact, they’re just regular people who’ve developed certain skills that allow them to climb ranks in the workplace. Being decisive, consistent, committed and reliable are all fundamental traits of a CEO. Having a well-planned system in place is also important, as is understanding stakeholders and being able to adapt to the future.

[counselingwithita]

10 Things Mentally Strong People Do During a Pandemic

Research reveals how you can reduce your anxiety and stress during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 global pandemic and the systemic ramifications are not only unprecedented but harrowing. We are all adjusting to new realities and grieving the loss of old ones. All of us are simply trying to manage our daily lives taking care of our children or parents, dealing with financial stresses, and adjusting to a new way to live.

All stressors related to COVID-19 may likely result in a myriad of negative feelings such as depression, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This collective trauma that we are experiencing may feel bleak, but this isn’t the first crisis in our history. For example, research investigations in crises such as the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Ebola, and SARS reveal how individuals respond to pandemics/crises in both adaptive and maladaptive ways.

Researchers have studied how the mentally strong may behave through adverse experiences. This information may help you reduce the likelihood of mental health issues resulting from COVID-19. Further, the mentally strong and resilient may eventually display post-traumatic growth versus post-traumatic stress symptoms. Post-traumatic growth is understood as positive psychological changes that result from traumatic and highly stressful experiences. Although we are in the middle of this crisis, individuals can rise to a higher level of functioning when the pandemic ends.  

Most of us know the basics: It is vital to create daily habits, to exercise, and to connect with our social supports using virtual meetings and social media. However, here are some suggestions based on evidence of how mentally strong people respond to crises. They may help you not only manage the pandemic but decrease the likelihood of long term mental health issues as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

1. They limit news and media exposure.

Research suggests that there are two main predictors to how well a person will respond in a crisis (like a pandemic). The first is how vulnerable they were in their own lives before the crisis. The second is how much news they consumed during the crisis. Chronic news exposure may create vicarious trauma and PTSD.

Media exposure and the 24/7 news cycle can activate “fight or flight” responses, which can lead to traumatic stress. For example, in a study conducted after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, several hours of media exposure after 9-11 were associated with PTSD and new physical health issues 2-3 years later in participants. In another study conducted during the Ebola outbreak in 2014, daily media exposure was associated with increased distress and poorer functioning over the long term compared to those who limited their news and media intake. Mentally strong people limit their news exposure, choose reliable and responsible print/media, and limit exposure to distressful images shown on the news.

2. They accept their feelings as normal.

Mentally strong individuals accept their feelings as normal because this is a time for both personal trauma and collective trauma. A resilient individual understands that feelings such as fear, anxiety, hopelessness, anger, and sadness are normal because the information is too overwhelming to process at once. The American Psychological Association also accepts this from a diagnostic perspective.

Based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (APA-2013), the diagnosis of “Adjustment Disorder with Anxious or Depressed Mood” is applied to any person who is experiencing symptoms and has had a major life event occur in the last 90 days. Naturally, this applies to all of us because we are amid a pandemic that has changed our lives: Whether the loss of a job, homeschooling children, the inability to attend a funeral or see a loved one in a nursing home or otherwise, these reactions are within normal limits.

3. They carefully choose the leaders they follow.

Mentally strong people follow those who display healthy leadership skills and mental health. Garfin et al. (2020) suggested that providers promote calm and rational action and limit watching media and individuals who undermine public health efforts to combat COVID-19. It is both confusing and psychologically harmful to watch leaders who publicly argue and misstate the facts and the research. As a native New Yorker, I find it useful to watch Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he states the facts in a cogent, evidence-based, calm, and thorough manner.

Further, Garfin and colleagues (2020) suggested choosing one or two trusted sources (e.g. Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization) to stay informed of critical updates. Researchers also assert that since there are no drastic changes from hour to hour during a pandemic, choosing a reliable print media source one time per day is suggested. (Baruch Fischoff, Ph.D.)

4. They limit social media and exposure.

Mentally strong people understand how social media operates and limit their exposure. They know that social media platforms like Facebook are unofficial news channels and deliver news tailored for you (some of it fake) based on your behaviors and preferences gleaned over the last decade. Algorithms are used to give you the news that you will most likely consume, and that the news skewed toward your preferences. This increases bias and the propensity to start rumors that increase distress.

For example, in a study conducted with 3,890 college students under a campus lockdown due to an active shooter, researchers found that regular substantive updates were vital during a crisis. They also stressed the importance of monitoring social media use during a crisis to mitigate exposure to rumors and subsequent distress (Jones et al., 2017).

5. They display self-compassion for lack of productivity.

There may be self or societal pressure to “be productive” with the increased time you may have at home. The question to ask yourself is, "Is it reasonable to be productive when we are at war?" It is important to understand that lack of focus, concentration, and overwhelming feelings are common during this time.

Abraham Maslow, Ph.D., used his seminal framework “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” to describe stages that we must pass through to achieve the high levels of self-actualization and creativity. The idea is that we are not able to reach the higher levels of the pyramid without a strong foundation. During a pandemic, most of us are temporarily housed in the first two levels of the pyramid; physiological and safety. Mentally strong people realize that when their physiological and safety needs feel threatened—such as during a pandemic—they don’t put pressure on themselves to produce or achieve.

6. They focus on facts.

Mentally strong individuals are acutely aware of when their emotions are "getting the best of them." According to Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., creator of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), we all have three states of mind: an emotional mind, a rational mind, and a wise mind. Our emotional mind is where emotional statements rule; the rational mind, where facts and logic prevail; and our wise mind is a blend between the two. Being emotional is natural during times of crisis, but consciously moving to a rational mind by listing facts and logic can decrease unnecessary negative states. For example, if someone is catastrophizing—i.e., “I am going to catch COVID-19 and die”—a rational mind approach would list the statistics and the evidence of the low percentage of individuals who die from COVID-19. Other rational statements may include “I have a low likelihood of contracting the disease because I am following stay-at-home orders, wearing a mask,” etc.

7. They meditate.

The benefits of meditation include anxiety reduction, reduced stress, increased attention span, decreased depression, and improved emotional health and well being. Studies have found that long term meditators are able to return to baseline quicker (state of calm) versus non-meditators after exposure to stressful stimuli.

8. They limit toxic people.

Mentally strong people understand toxic people and behaviors and limit their time with them. Behaviors such as gossip, chronic lying, being demanding, being self-centered on their needs vs. yours, are quite negative and take a toll on your well being. While you may be able to tolerate some toxicity with friends, family, and colleagues during non-pandemic times, eliminating toxic energy is vital when you are in survival mode during COVID-19.

If it is a toxic family member, think about limiting exposure or using email or text to communicate. As mentally strong people choose leaders to follow, it is just as important to choose to spend time with loved ones who display healthy behaviors and add to your well-being, not detract from it.

9. They focus on self-care.

Mentally strong people consistently use self-care and attempt to be flexible with new routines. As many gyms are closed, they may choose other exercise options while remaining socially distanced, such as running, walking, biking, and doing yoga. They prioritize things that will help them through the pandemic such as raising their vibration with laughter and connecting with their family and friends, coupled with rest and good sleep hygiene.

10. They know their personality needs: introvert vs. extrovert.

Mentally strong people know themselves and what they need to feel supported. Those that are introverted focus on internal states of being and small gatherings versus external sources of stimulation (a lot of socializing). Introverts often feel drained after heavy socializing and need to recharge their energy in solitude. Conversely, extroverts gain energy from other people and enjoy many social activities. Introverts realize they may have a need to connect virtually, using Facetime, Zoom, Skype, and Google hangouts, but may do so in small groups and less often than extroverts. Both personalities may have different needs to promote well being.

-------------------------

This article was originally published on drtracyhutchinson.com

copyright Dr. Tracy Hutchinson, Ph.D.

Facebook image: AnnaStills/Shutterstock

References

Ahern, J., Galea, S., Resnick, H. (2002). Television images and psychological symptoms after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Psychiatry, 65, 289–300. doi:10.1521/psyc.65.4.289.20240

Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., & Holman, E. A. (2020). The novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) outbreak: Amplification of public health consequences by media exposure. Health Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000875

Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., Lubens, P., & Silver, R. C. (2020). Media Exposure to Collective Trauma, Mental Health, and Functioning: Does It Matter What You See? Clinical Psychological Science, 8(1), 111–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702619858300

Jones, N. M., Thompson, R., Dunkel Schetter, C. & Silver, R. (2017). Distress and rumor exposure on social media during a campus lockdown.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (44) 11663-11668. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1708518114

Joseph, S., & Linley, P. A. (Eds.). (2008). Trauma, recovery, and growth: Positive psychological perspectives on posttraumatic stress. John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Thompson, R. R., Jones, N. M., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (2019). Media exposure to mass violence events can fuel a cycle of distress. Science advances, 5(4), eaav3502. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav3502

[eaglehamlets1-blog]

The Londoners: Samantha, Luke and Nigel

There are some satirical observations recorded from a time when the author was staying in Oxford.The brothers Luke and Nigel relate to each other in a unique way, and the short story explores their lives respectively and it’s a short story whereby Asian introverted aspects of culture contrast with the Western extroversion typified by Samantha, Luke’s wife. Enjoy the piece.

     Work on yourself first, take responsibility for your own progress. I Ching

Samantha was not at home for she worked during the day in a highly paid senior sales management role. She didn’t cook so they ate out instead ordering takeaways on their mobile phones. She was perpetually on the go. What a character she was! They ate at different times. There was a great kitchen area that was decorated beautifully, Luke thought she would bake cakes and have perused their home library to look up some fine recipes, at least. Luke’s brother Nigel thought the marriage felt below expectations.

He thought a wife should be in the kitchen to prepare evening meals. He wondered how Samantha had made his brother so separate and isolated from the family, so selfish. He moved to an area where there were cafes with signboards saying ‘warm home cooked’ food, Nigel thought that this was because in some occasions the area was cold, and felt sorry for the Oxbridge type uppity locals who over thought it, thinking they needed a good spicy curry from East London. They needed to be treated like children who required their care and attention by people who were older and more mature and genuinely equitable. Luke no longer visited his brother and his sisters.

Nigel believed Samantha kept him away from his family, because she wasn’t in contact with her own, her family were a lot less affectionate than his. Luke thought nothing of it, didn’t know any different which was why he didn’t appreciate whether he saw them or not particularly. He didn’t realise other people family’s were not as open and honest as his. Anyway, it didn’t matter because Nigel always tried to oblige him to attend family gatherings because he was too lonesome himself, but Luke and Samantha were very busy, nonetheless, sometimes. It seemed Luke made a lot of compromises.

Source: http://www.jamesvillas.co.uk

His previous relationship was run strictly as the man of the house. Luke had become lenient and Samantha flaunted all the rules, whenever she could. Nigel was upset by this. Samantha had to be nice to Norman because she loved Luke. Nigel talked to Samantha all in polite smiles and glee. He was an introverted man who shyly smirked from an excess of time on his own and thinking to himself without being aware of his surroundings, a kind of indulgent introspection. Nigel and Luke were Asian bros, and Luke’s white race wife was uncompromising, he reflected on this and it came up in his meditations.

It wasn’t that Luke’s wife had taken him away from the family, but had given him freedom and respite from their meddlesome ways, which benefited him enormously. He loved to stay away and they were considering buying a property on the market in the South of France. Luke wanted to spend more time with his friends in his holiday home, he wanted to learn some of the customs of the French, he wanted to be multicultural and a true individual, he was a Londoner, at heart.

Yet with so much trading online, on his laptop, he naturally became interested in cultures outside of his own. What was behind him what what was before him and what was ahead of him only he could vouch for. The architect moved him on all that he used to know. Nigel came into the room with set of opinions he had read in the paper and he felt sure of himself, now he knew what he knew and he could impose his opinion on others it was his stick or sword it was his shield and armour, when out in the world away from his ivory tower. When buying from the door to door salesman he brought he put the kettle on, he thought he would fix them two cups of Asian masala tea, another type of Indian tea.

There were quotes, literature classics in poster form, he hardly let the salesman drum up any further interest in his extensive range of products for his car. There was a stack of boxes and drawers labelled to perfection, he had written off people speaking to them on many occasions, living by fine words but less by verbs! Experiences are instructive as maps, you pour over and go about learning, just what exactly it’s all about. After the conversation and he finished what he had to say, he decided he would get back to him the next day with the answer, something quite uncharacteristic of him.

© Zubyre Parvez 2018, 2019. All Rights Reserved.

The Londoners is a collection of 21 eclectic short stories depicting quintessential London in all it’s breadth and scope with profundity, wit and humour. Meet the characters that make up this inimitable urban collection and explore the short stories and enjoy this quality collection of unforgettable stories to savour.                               

                                 The Londoners on Facebook: 

            https://www.facebook.com/theeaghamslondoners/

                                                  Twitter: 

                               www.twitter.com/theeaghams

                                             Soundcloud: 

                             www.soundcloud.com/theeaghams

                                                   Blog: 

                              www.eaglehamlets.wordpress.com 

                                                   Poetry: 

              A Poetry Collection Original Writings by Zubyre Parvez

 www.facebook.com/A-Poetry-Collection-Original-Writings-by-Zubyre-Parvez-274175479917011/?modal=admin_todo_tour

                                        Poetry and Quatrains: 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Inspired-Paintings-and-Quatrains-by-Zubyre-Parvez

Projects

The The Londoners Audiobook to be created, it will go up on Soundcloud.

The Londoners ebook, it will be considered for Amazon online purchase.

[regrettablewritings]

The Roommate Story, Part 1

@xemopeachx this is the story that jumps the shark because anything else I put after this is just jelly :/ This is also a very long story because there was just so much about this bitch that I have to chop it up into segments within parts. So . . . Here’s the first installment, I guess.

Fact: Everyone who’s gone to boarding school, lived on a college campus, or shared an apartment has a shitty roommate story. If you do not, you haven’t roommate’d right. My story (or, rather, my compilation of occurrences) isn’t necessarily crazy, but the end of it usually has people wide-eyed and using sentences that include the words “smack” and “bitch” and “arrested.” No guarantee you will but if you have crazier, please tell me: I love nightmare roommate stories.

So for a little bit of backstory, my first semester freshman year roommate’s name was Kathryn (whose name has been changed for the purposes of this story). We attend (well, she just graduated, so attended) a college located in a small, dreary northern Ohio town five hours outside of Canada. Really, this place has very few things going for it but I picked it because I didn’t want to pay out-of-state-fees and because as glorious as moving back to New Orleans for college might’ve been, I can’t handle heat very well at all (which is a shorter story for another time). But one of the other things this school has going for it are its learning communities: We’ve got language-based ones, ones for business-oriented majors, ones for education majors, an international student one . . .

The one I applied for was one oriented for creative minds. Sounds nifty, right? (Once again, stories for another time.) When I got the email of whom my roommate was to be, I saw it as a good thing because both Kathryn and I were attending the school as theater tech majors which her focusing on stage management and myself as a costumer. Plus, she shared a name with one of my best friends from high school so I was psyched.

Well, little chickee-poos.

I’m gonna need you to be patient with me because I don’t even know how or where to begin with what all happened. I mean, it started out pretty okay at first. Kathryn was a bit louder and more bombastic than I was but then again, I’m a shy introvert with social anxiety so that’s not an impressive feat whatsoever. She even introduced me to our neighbors May and Allison (names also changed) and thereby led to me meeting May’s friends Marissa and Francesca. And in our classes, I met Graham, Lynn, and Hunter. It seemed like we had a swell thing going on.

Then Kathryn met Stan.

Stan was also in the learning community we were a part of, but we met him through different means. I met him first because we both had a film class together, and she met him through a coloring contest one of the RAs was holding. I don’t know what exactly drew Kathryn to Stan, given that he literally looked and dressed like a facial-hairless Michael Moore, but soon they were attached and I guess going through some sort of courting thing. In hindsight, May and I theorize that it was mainly because Allison and I would talk about the boyfriends we’d both had at that time and Kathryn would often mutter about being single.

I mean, to be fair, Stan wasn’t bad at first. Then I learned that his room was the one causing the stench down the boy’s hallway. The reason this matters is because we lived on a co-ed floor and the laundry room was down the boy’s hall for some reason and you had to pass by his room to get there. The door was always open, releasing this nigh-on visible beam of stench and thereby allowing you to see the cause of it: His room was a mess with his mattress sitting literally in the middle of the floor (the rooms are muy tiny by the way) with his books and shit stacked in the bedframe and dirty clothes flung everywhere. I would later learn that Kathryn had spent nights on said coverless mattress and would subsequently scream inwardly about it. But anyway, aside from this, I was generally indifferent towards Stan. Who cares if he wore the same five shirts like a cartoon character? Not me hahahahahahahahahahaha—

So fast forward to one September Tuesday night: Kathryn and Stan are out doing whatever, I’m on the floor drawing because I finally have the room to myself. They come knocking and enter and ask if I would mind if they watch TV. I have no real qualms about it, so long as they keep it down. About ten minutes in, I happen to look up. They are slowly but surely merging into this heap of flesh upon the futon.

So let’s lay something down about me: In spite of what I write, PDA honestly petrifies me a little. A lottle. I need to be eased into that shit whether it’s myself or somebody else. I don’t know why, but if I get too flustered, my face is a wearable inferno and I feel grossed out and like a trapped animal and eventually literally collapse under how befuddled I am. I don’t know why, I don’t know since when, but it’s something I have tried but frankly have extreme trouble controlling.

My face starts burning. I feel increasingly awkward. I also notice how late it’s getting but unfortunately I am not confrontational in the slightest. Plus, I’ve been critiqued in the past for my “conservative ways” and worried about receiving more if I voiced my discomfort. Apparently the ground rules Kathryn and I had laid when we first moved in were relative . . .

By the time I finally managed to muster up the girly balls to say anything, though, they were making out. In an animalistic panic, I booked it and wound up spending the night in May and Allison’s room. When I voiced my discomfort to them, they looked at each other and came clean about what all had been going on while I lay oblivious. For this, dear reader, is but only the fucking prologue to my first semester of freshman year. Let us begin . . .

For starters, I suppose I should go with the fact that the stage-setter for how Kathryn’s mind apparently works is that not even a full 24 hours after we’d met, she was talking about me. Reminder that I am shy, introverted, and hella anxious to the point of confining myself to the room for hours at a time for the first week of school. I had done literally nothing. But apparently I had: I wanted to design costumes, but I didn’t know my way around a sewing machine. In high school, I didn’t have the transportation to take classes and my school picked the same people for the same tasks in theater tech over and over so I never stood a chance. But that’s why we go to college, right? To learn? Nope! You gotta know exactly what you’re doing the moment you step a toenail on campus!

At least, this is what Kathryn was suggesting when she told the others how ridiculous it was for me to pursue something I didn’t know how to do (to which Francesca later got pissed over because apparently some fashion designers don’t even know how to sew). But what really stuck with me was the fact that my biggest sin according to Kathryn was how quiet I was. And I quote: “She’s just so quiet! I don’t know what I’m going to do with her!” “ ‘To do with her.’ ” Like I was some sort of animal that couldn’t be housetrained. This stuck with me even to now and pisses me off to no end. Because from this, we can tell that Kathryn was an arrogant, ignorant piece of work who took her boldness as something good. It was not. I have the stories and tidbits to prove it:

May, Francesca, Marissa, and I are black. Kathryn and Allison are white. The reason I bring this up is because Kathryn was (and honestly probably still is) ignant as hell. Because let’s be honest: When enough people of a certain group gather (be it ethnic or occupational), certain jokes will fly. We honestly didn’t go to into it, but Kathryn still wanted in for God knows what reason. I don’t know what possessed Marissa, but she decided to give Kathryn leeway and allow her ONE DAY a week to say only a very limited kind of joke (which was more than what should’ve been allowed anyway).

I don’t remember Kathryn ever actually making said joke, but I honestly suspect it might’ve been a colorism thing (I’m light, the others weren’t). What I did here, however, was possibly worse.

So if you would remember from earlier, Kathryn and I were both theater tech majors. One musical Kathryn was especially fond of was Hairspray. Some of you familiar with the story may be getting ahead of me and praying that what I’m about to explain to the less knowledgeable didn’t actually happen. Others who know of the play but still don’t know, jump on in with the rest who just don’t know about the musical at all.

So in Hairspray, the story takes place during the Civil Rights movement of the 60s where a popular dance show serves as a platform of sorts for the main character and her black friends to get their message of desegregation across. This show, the Corny Collins Show, has two separated segments: the regular broadcast where all the teen dancers are white, and a monthly broadcast called “Negro Day” when black performers are allowed on the show.

In short, Kathryn decided that it would be a good idea to refer to the one-day-a-week thing as “Negro Day.” (She also told her parents about it, causing them to dislike May, Francesca, and Marissa despite the three never trying to set a bad impression for their daughter.)

Speaking of her parents, she sort of treated them way too much like they were her friends. Worse yet was how much she talked crap about them. She never gave me any indication or statement that would suggest them to be abusive or neglectful and considering that she spilled way too much into about herself, you think this wouldn’t be a problem. But it was always referring to her mother as a bitch here and boasting about splurging her father’s finances there. Just really uncomfortable stuff. She even once prodded into Allison’s financial situation when she saw her buying stuff on Amazon.

But back to the race thing (because we’re not done yet!), she made a lot of ignorant assumptions born out of suggestible things. And by that, I mean she had attended a predominately white school (though by the way she acted, you would think it was completely white), whereas May, Francesca, and Marissa attended a predominately black school. It wasn’t a bad school, either. Surrounded by cornfields, maybe, but I swear that’s nearly every suburban Ohio school because this state is nothing but corn. And yet, no matter how much they insisted otherwise, Kathryn assumed they had attended school in the ghetto. Furthermore, when she’d learned that May took AP classes in high school, she vocally assumed that their AP classes weren’t off the same caliber as hers. It was also a little disturbing how she, after learning that Marissa got financial help from her aunt, began asking if May and Francesca also required financial help.

But her assumptions weren’t just race-based: They were also connected with sexuality.

So I’m going to just be blunt about something that is honestly a certifiable fact from theater and queer people alike: Theater is chock full o’ gays. Not everyone is theater is queer, but it’s one of those things where the population is so great because it’s where you know you’re bound to find somebody like you. You try not to jump to conclusions with certain people, especially because some characteristics just aren’t the end all be all but with Hunter . . . We all had our suspicions. But it wasn’t any of our business, so there was no need to prod.

Kathryn, however, took it a few steps further. In her mind, Hunter+Gay=It’s Okay to Change In Front of Him. It’s one thing to do this when the other party consents or if there is a sense of familiarity. We had only known Hunter for maybe a month. She tried to get me to change in front of Hunter as well, insisting that it was totally fine even though he was sitting right there. In hindsight, it was a good thing I insisted I wasn’t comfortable doing that because we later learned he had a crush on Kathryn.

Later in the semester, we learned that of the people in the group, she could most easily manipulate May. I think it’s because as loud as May is, she isn’t confrontational and tries to please people. This became most apparent after Kathryn managed to wrong May twice by taking advantage of her good will. The first time was minor in that she begged May to walk with her to the nearby dining hall even though May insisted she had plans. In the end, May agreed to go under the assumption that they were having dinner. But when they get there. Hunter and Lynn are there and Hunter asks, “Are you coming?” May is confused. “We’re going to a reading of A Raisin in the Sun,” he explains. When May turns to Kathryn, Kathryn shrugs.

“I just wanted someone to walk with me in case something happened.” Mind you, it was broad daylight outside and the entire five minute walk from the dorm to the dining hall they went to is populated by students, the fine arts building, the library, Greek Row, and the fancy new dorm. What could’ve happened?!

The second instance was a bit more of a headache but still kinda rude. May and I decided that we were going to get our homework done, then head down to the learning community (it was in the dorm’s basement) to do crafts and shit. Just be productive. I finish my stuff earlier than expected and give her the heads up that I’ll be downstairs if she needs me. It is here that she miserably admits to getting roped into playing board games with Kathryn, Stan, and our RA. Despite insisting to Kathryn that she wanted to do artsy stuff, Kathryn insisted it wouldn’t take long and May didn’t want to disappoint the RA. Because Kathryn has this weird thing about board games, one game turned into three and eventually May was stuck in a hell loop of dice and cards and trivia questions for four hours. During these four hours, May asked Kathryn if they could break and order pizza because the dining halls were closing soon. Kathryn never really directly answered but I guess she kept May playing under the guise of getting food. When the games finally ended and Kathryn went to put her stuff away, May texted about the pizza. No answer. About an hour later, May passed by the computer lab to spy Kathryn with other people, eating pizza and laughing.

Kathryn was also terribly oblivious of her own anatomy. Now, I try to give leeway about this because frankly the American school system is shite about female sexuality but even the shit that she didn’t know was suspicious as hell. (I would later learn that she supposedly didn’t have to take health class but I could’ve sworn that this is an Ohio graduation requirement.) The other reason I’m so hesitant to believe this claim is the fact that she attended a decently upscale school in the northern part of the US. She didn’t even learn about her clit until the year before during a game of Cards Against Humanity! So for some reason, rather than wait until sophomore year when Human Sexualities was an available class (or, you know, google it), she felt it was absolutely necessary to ask May and myself questions about sex. May got the worst of it, having to answer questions about vaginas, the fact that you don’t pee out the actual vaginal canal, and about periods (“What was I supposed to do!? Tell her a pussy troll comes out and smacks her around down there and that’s how you bleed!?”). I, on the other hand, got asked about orgasms.

I never made any indication that I knew what I was talking about and I have never been sexually active or gave any reason for anyone to assume I was. What gave her license to believe I knew anything about the physiology and psychology behind climaxing was the fact that Lynn and I were analyzing a script from our script analysis class called In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play). Which, mind you, Kathryn was also reading. Seriously, bitch just came in as we were studying and goes, “Regrettable, how does an orgasm work? I mean, what happens when you have one?”

I swear she was just doing it to get a raise out of me stumbling to explain blood rushing and spasms. You couldn’t even suggest that she explore herself because when May suggested it, she flipped out and insisted she couldn’t because she was asexual and that would be ridiculous to do as such.

While I have my hangups about sexual activity, I could never quite understand this argument so if anyone who identifies as ace could clarify, I would very much appreciate it.

 (And before you go with the idea of sexual repulsion, I must note that she did let Stan finger her a couple of times apparently and let people know about it.)

Speaking of Stan, he’s going to play a bigger role in Part 2 . . .

[deadsculs]

( » » tasks | 025 ; identity. )

“I am what happens when they turn good men into monsters.”

n a m e   m e a n i n g   —

Alexi

Rare romanization of Alexey. Alexey is a Russian and Bulgarian male first name deriving from the Greek Alexios (Αλέξιος), meaning "Defender", and thus of the same origin as the Latin Alexius.

Nikolayevich

Russian patronymic name, literal translation is “Son of Nikolai.” Nikolai is an East Slavic variant of the masculine name Nicholas, meaning "victory of the people."

Alexandrov

Alexandrov is a Slavic surname derived from the name Alexander and common in Bulgaria and Russia. The name Alexander is derived from the Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), meaning "Defender of the people" or "Defending men" and also, "Protector of men", a compound of the verb ἀλέξειν alexein, "to ward off, to avert, to defend" and the noun ἀνήρ anēr, "man.”

a s t r o l o g i c a l   —

Birth date: April 10th, 1977

Star Sign: Aries

Element: Fire

Quality: Cardinal

Color: Red

Day: Tuesday

Ruler: Mars

Greatest compatibility: Leo, Sagittarius

Lucky Numbers: 1, 2, 8, 9

As the first sign in the zodiac, the presence of Aries almost always marks the beginning of something energetic and turbulent.They are continuously looking for dynamic, speed and competition. They are always first in everything - from work to social gatherings. Thanks to its ruling planet Mars, Aries is one of the most active zodiac signs. People born under the Aries sign, are meant to emphasize the search for answers to personal and metaphysical questions. This is the biggest feature of this incarnation.

Aries is a fire sign, just like Leo and Sagittarius. This means that it is in their nature to take action, sometimes before they think about it well. Their fiery ruler affects their excellent organizational skills, so you'll rarely meet an Aries who doesn't like to finish more things at once, often even before the lunch break! The challenges are increased when they are impatient, aggressive and vent anger on others.

Aries rules the head and leads with the head, often literally walking head first, leaning forwards for speed and focus. They are naturally brave and rarely afraid of trial and risk. They possess youthful strength and energy, regardless of age and they perform tasks in record time. By aligning with themselves they could achieve the best results.

Strengths: Courageous, determined, confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, honest, passionate

Weaknesses: Impatient, moody, short-tempered, impulsive, aggressive

Aries likes: Comfortable clothes, taking on leadership roles, physical challenges, individual sports

Aries dislikes: Inactivity, delays, work that does not use one's talents

Year of the Snake

In Chinese culture, the Snake is the most enigmatic animal among the twelve zodiac animals. People born in a year of the Snake are supposed to be the most intuitive.

Snakes tend to act according to their own judgments, even while remaining the most private and reticent. They are determined to accomplish their goals and hate to fail.

Snakes represent the symbol of wisdom. They are intelligent and wise. They are good at communication but say little. Snakes are usually regarded as great thinkers.

Snakes are materialistic and love keeping up with the Joneses. They love to posses the best of everything, but they have no patience for shopping.

Snake people prefer to work alone, therefore they are easily stressed. If they seem unusually stressed, it is best to allow them their own space and time to return to normal.

m y e r s   b r i g g s   —

“The Defender” ( ISFJ-T )

The Defender personality type is quite unique, as many of their qualities defy the definition of their individual traits. Though sensitive, Defenders have excellent analytical abilities; though reserved, they have well-developed people skills and robust social relationships; and though they are generally a conservative type, Defenders are often receptive to change and new ideas. As with so many things, people with the Defender personality type are more than the sum of their parts, and it is the way they use these strengths that defines who they are.

Defenders are true altruists, meeting kindness with kindness-in-excess and engaging the work and people they believe in with enthusiasm and generosity.

There’s hardly a better type to make up such a large proportion of the population, nearly 13%. Combining the best of tradition and the desire to do good, Defenders are found in lines of work with a sense of history behind them, such as medicine, academics and charitable social work.

e n n e g r a m   —

Type Six ( The Loyalist )

Until they can get in touch with their own inner guidance, Sixes are like a ping-pong ball that is constantly shuttling back and forth between whatever influence is hitting the hardest in any given moment. Because of this reactivity, no matter what we say about Sixes, the opposite is often also as true. They are both strong and weak, fearful and courageous, trusting and distrusting, defenders and provokers, sweet and sour, aggressive and passive, bullies and weaklings, on the defensive and on the offensive, thinkers and doers, group people and soloists, believers and doubters, cooperative and obstructionistic, tender and mean, generous and petty—and on and on. It is the contradictory picture that is the characteristic “fingerprint” of Sixes, the fact that they are a bundle of opposites.

Basic Fear: Of being without support and guidance

Basic Desire: To have security and support

c h a r a c t e r   a l i g n m e n t   —

Neutral Good

Characters of neutral good alignment believe that there must be some regulation in combination with freedoms if the best is to be brought to the world--the most beneficial conditions for living things in general and intelligent people in particular. Characters of this alignment see the cosmos as a place where law and chaos are merely tools to use in bringing life, happiness, and prosperity to all deserving people. Order is not good unless it brings this to all; neither is randomness and total freedom desirable if it does not bring such good.

Neutral goods value both personal freedom and adherence to laws. They feel that too many laws may unnecessarily restrict the freedom of good beings. They also believe that too much freedom may not protect society as a whole and encourage counterproductive divisions and in-fighting. They promote governments which hold broad powers, but do not interfere in the day-to-day lives of their citizens.

These characters value life and freedom above all else, and despise those who would deprive others of them. Neutral good characters sometimes find themselves forced to work beyond the law, yet for the law, and the greater good of the people. They are not vicious or vindictive, but are people driven to right injustice. Neutral good characters always attempt to work within the law whenever possible, however.

To a neutral good person, life and the assurance of other people’s rights take precedence over all else. This is not to say that this character will have an aversion to taking another's life when faced with a choice between an attacker's and his own, however. Neither numbers nor individual concerns have any bearing on decisions regarding the needs and rights of any given peoples. In other words, in the view of a neutral good person, rarely will either the needs of the many or the personal desires of an individual outweigh the needs of any other person. All life is given even-handed treatment. As with all alignments neutral with respect to law and chaos, self-reliance is a cornerstone of a neutral good being's personality. In a crunch, neutral good characters trust in themselves and in no other individual or group. This doesn't mean they can't make friends and develop trusting relationships with others, however. Neutral good beings aren't normally as independent as chaotic good beings, and they can cooperate in groups. But they won't always trust a group to be more effective than they could be themselves.

A neutral good character will keep his word to those who are not evil and will lie only to evil-doers. He will never attack an unarmed foe and will never harm an innocent. He will not use torture to extract information or for pleasure. He will never kill for pleasure, only in self-defense or in the defense of others. A neutral good character will never use poison. He will help those in need and works well alone or in a group. He responds well to higher authority until that authority attempts to use the law to hamper his ability to do good. He is trustful of organizations as long as they serve his utilitarian purpose. He will follow the law unless more good can come from breaking the law. He will never betray a family member, comrade, or friend. Neutral good characters are indifferent to the concepts of self-discipline and honor, finding them useful only if they promote goodness.

t h e   f o u r   t e m p e r a m e n t s   —

Melancholic

Your temperament is melancholic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

e x t r a s   —

Hogwarts house: None, attended Durmstrang. Might have been sorted as Gryffindor.

Ilvermony house: Unknown, possibly Wampus.

Divergent faction: Dauntless

Hunger Games district: District 2

French Republican Calendar: Judas Tree

[erinhime83]

To go along with the fifteenth anniversary of Mirror Image, I figured I’d go ahead and post up some designs I’ve basically been sitting on for a few years, because I’m trash like that.  Keep in mind that these designs are basically for a version of the story that’s not a collab, so they’re kinda how I would design them now. Well, obviously, since I was the one who designed them.  ^^;

This version of MI goes back to the roots of the story, where they’re all in England for various reasons when they get summoned, and just sort of flail around for a bit, not having a clue wtf is going on.

Jennifer Hannisen/Shizuka and Ryu: Considering this is my character, not much has changed about her.  Every time, I keep trying to give her more traditional clothes, just to go back to something like this.  I was going to give her those weird thigh highs she originally had, but…the skirt is a little too long for that, and the capris make a little more sense.

Jennifer is about to start her senior year in high school, and her parents decided to take her on a trip overseas to celebrate.  She’s a bit of a dreamer, and wishes something exciting would happen just once in her life.  She embraces the summoning just a bit more than everyone else before she realizes that this isn’t the sort of adventure she was looking for.

Ryu is her Guide, and he’s a Dragon Tamer, but just barely.  His dragon is the tiniest to ever be tamed, and the rest of the Tamers don’t think too highly of him.  Except they have to respect him because he’s the Sumikian Guide.  He’s sort of out to prove himself, because he’s been looked down upon his entire life, even after it was discovered he is the Guide.  He and Jennifer get along really well, because they have similar personalities.

Lance MacFarlane/Sethos and Kiya:  Lance’s background a changed a lot, but I think it’ll make sense once I explain it.  Lance is from Scotland, but moved to the US when he was about fourteen due to his father’s job.  He attended the same high school as Jennifer, and actually befriended her to a degree. She’s about the only girl he was interested in dating there, but because he absolutely hated the entire move and knew he was going to be going back home the moment he could, he didn’t want to really attach himself to the place.  She’s the only person he friended on social media, and he sort of regrets not pursuing her. 

He’s a bit of a delinquent, although he’s basically the straight man in his group of friends.  He doesn’t have any real aspirations at the moment, since he’s basically catching back up on his old life for the time being. The reason he was in Stonehenge was for the lawl of it, honestly.  Also, I didn’t really change his design too much, because I really like it a lot.

Kiya is his Guide, and she’s an instructor for the royal family of Azibo.  Most people don’t take the fact that she teaches the princes swordfighting because she’s a woman, but she ignores most of the criticism about it. She’s the motherly one out of all of them, taking it upon herself to take care of these ‘children’ from another world who are just really confused about everything.

Elena Guerrero/Evangelia and Antigonus: Elena is Argentine/Canadian, and out of all of the Chosen, she’s the most popular. But, she is actually just as introverted at the other Chosen; she just happens to benefit from the introversion that allows her to enjoy social gatherings for a short period before she has to recharge again.  She’s the most freaked out about what’s going on, refusing to believe any of it at first and only wanting to go home.  She’s in England because of her grandmother who recently moved in with them who has an obsession with Eva Perón.

Her design isn’t anything like any of her other designs, but rather something I tend to do with my Greek/Roman inspired characters.  But I really like it!  But then again, I guess that would make sense, wouldn’t it?  I did keep her hair from one of the old designs, so I guess that’s something, right?  I don’t have a real handle on her character other than the fact that Evangelia and Shizuka end up getting rather close despite the differences in personalities.

Antigonus is a bit of a rebel as far as the Guide as concerned, although he himself isn’t a rebel. Guides are always the around the same age as their Chosen, but the current Guide died before the Chose crossed over.  Antigonus was a former Guide before the new generation took over, and he took the position temporarily while they hunted for the new Guide.  Except Evangelia showed up before they found him. So Antigonus, despite being old enough to be their grandfather, is forced onto this adventure.  He was the former Emperor of Caelestis, having given up the position to his son so he could enjoy his later years.  Melohdia is a peaceful country, so most rulers just give up their thrones in their old age.

Desiree Dahlquist/Freyja and Nannin:  Desiree is the one I have the least handle on, but that seems to always be the case.  All I know is that she’s a photographer, she’s from New Zealand, and that she’s the oldest of the Chosen at twenty-three.  Oh, and that she’s most definitely bi, although I’m not sure who she ends up with, honestly. 

I do really like her civilian design, but I also really like the edgy undercut look, so there’s that. I love the idea of her having dyed her hair teal at one point, but it’s growing out now.  And the only reason I changed her sleeves like I did was just because her old sleeves, while looked cool, was a pain to actually ink.  >.<  (And yes, she does still have the feathers on her circlet and her boots, I was just too lazy to put them in.)

Nannin…okay, Nannin is the true rebel of the Guides. See, one of the rules of the Guides is that they’re always the opposite gender of their Chosen.  However, Baldurnan in the time since the last Chosen came to Melohdia, became excessively matriarchal, and they refused to accept a male in such a prestigious position. Nannin, for her part, didn’t really want to take over for the guy, but she was sort of forced to.  The others really don’t have any idea – the other Guides are sort of confused at her presence among them, but don’t really say anything – until they come to Baldurnan and accidentally meet the guy. 

Freyja is given a choice at that point, and she ends up deciding to keep Nannin as her Guide, since they’ve been through a lot at that point, and formed a bond.  It also turns out that the original Guide isn’t exactly the best sort of person, and they’re left wondering if maybe this was supposed to happen.  But that’s one reason why Nannin has colored hair while the others don’t – she wasn’t born a Guide.  She’s actually got the most gentle personality of the Valkyrie, which is the governing body in Baldurnan, but she’s a perfectly capable warrior.

Dimitri Kaminski/Drustan and Raelin:  Dimitri is the only truly foreign one of the Chosen, being Russian whose studying in England.  He’s a wanna-be novelist, and his divining powers sort of leaked into our world s he’s been constantly writing about Melohdia.  Most of his stories are about Chosen from the past, so he has the most knowledge about what’s going on.  At first, he thinks he’s accidentally taken himself into the world of his novel before he realizes what’s going on.

As Drustan, he’s the soothsayer of the group, although his powers are sporadic at best, and only really through dreams.  His combat skills are about on par with Frejya’s, though, so it’s not like he’s completely useless.  He’s biggest boon, though, is just knowing shit that the others don’t, and more or less helping them understand what’s going on.

Raelin is a princess of sorts, being the daughter of the chief of the biggest tribe in Frelic. She’s definitely rough around the edges, and tends to clash with the other Guides because she wants to rush off into battle all the time without thinking.  She’s pretty much spent her whole life trying to prove herself, since she’s one of many children her father had and is forced to compete with them to succession.  She might not want to be the next chief, but she hates people looking down on her because their perceive her to be weak.

I suppose I should explain the whole colored hair thing.  See, I had this random idea to give Shizuka pink hair, just for the fun of it, and got to thinking how it would be neat to make their hair our favorite color (with Drustan having red hair because his color is red).  And once I started doing it, I liked it.  I wanted to make all of them have colored hair, but I couldn’t think of what color hair the Guides should have, save Nannin, so just stuck them with natural hair and colored eyes.  Basically, the people of Melohdia aren’t really restricted like regular humans are, so they tend to have anime features.

The difference in skin tone comes from the idea that they actually have different bodies in Melohdia. I played around with making this a straight isekai, but considering there are parts where they go back, I couldn’t quite do it that way that they’re different people.  It’s a bit more complicate then their souls being transferred, because their bodies don’t exist on Earth when they’re in Melohdia, but I figure I can think about that later. ;P

It’s always fun to think about this story, and sometimes I do wonder if I should just…go ahead and tackle it someday, because it is rather interesting, even if we never go anywhere with it.  But I think I’m hesitant to do so because I feel it’s not really my story to do that to.  But still, its fun to go back every now and then, and I am shocked it’s been fifteen years now!  Feels like not that long ago and ages ago at the same time. :D

[focussg-blog]

Are Your Children Ready to be Friendly?

Building up their EQ to equip them with social skills

By Sarah Chua

School has just started and as parents, we are eager beavers in wanting to help our children settle well in school and seeing them make new friends. When my firstborn entered preschool, helping him make friends was a top concern for me as I thought that if he had friends, he would enjoy going to school more. Thus, I would ask him regularly after school if he had made any. His response to me was mostly nonchalant as compared to when I asked him about what he did at school which would usually lead to an animated retelling of the snacks he ate, toys or games he played and activities he did.

I quickly realised that my son didn’t think making friends at school was as big a deal as compared to what he was actually doing at school. So what can we as parents do to help equip our children with the skills they will need to make friends, even from a young age?

Model good manners

Nobody likes to hang out with someone who is rude and obnoxious. As I observe my children interacting with each other or with other children, I see the importance of teaching them good manners from young. Children are by nature, self-centred and if not taught, they will not want to take turns, to play nicely or mind their Ps and Qs.

It is important for parents to remember that the social rules of interaction are both caught and taught. Even as we want to teach our children to be polite, to take turns, to queue up and to share, we also need to model these behaviours at home and outside. For example, if you ask your children to queue up for their turn at the slide, you should also be queuing up when you buy food or your children will be questioning why the need to queue at the playground but not at the food court. I had personally witnessed this at a playground when a mother asked her child to queue up, probably succumbing to the stares of other parents when her child was pushing other children away and forcing her way to the front of the slide, and her child protested by saying that she doesn’t queue up either!

“Even as we want to teach our children to be polite, to take turns, to queue up and to share, we also need to model these behaviours at home and outside.”

Empower our children

Avoid hovering over our children when they play and becoming overprotective but allow our children the space and freedom to learn how to handle and resolve conflicts as well.

Mothers are usually more likely to rush to our child’s aid than fathers and this was something I had to learn. I have a natural tendency to step in when I see my children being confronted with challenges, for example, when another child snatches their toy or pushes them around at the playground. However, I am reminded by my husband that I cannot always be there for my children and I need to instead teach them conflict resolution skills, empowering them on what to do when facing such situations, rather than rescuing them every time.

Take time to assess if it is a situation that our children are adequately equipped to handle and intervene if necessary, for example, bullying by another child. We should also seize such opportunities as teaching moments and talk to our children about their feelings and discuss strategies to handle such situations in future.

Organise playdates

Playdates are great opportunities for our children to bond with other children and develop their social skills. As an introvert, I learnt to step out of my comfort zone to befriend the mums of the other children in my son’s class during times when parents gather for school events such as sports day or concerts. This allowed us to set up playdates for our children during the school holidays and helped our children to stay connected with their school community, making the return to school after a long break much easier.

Embrace your child’s uniqueness

I have 2 boys who have very different personalities. One is more reserved but when he warms up to you, he won’t stop talking! The other is a daredevil and will not shy away from crowds. However, he is very adamant about things done his way or else! The way they interact with other children is very different and I have learnt to work with those differences when organising playdates. While the daredevil child would love to have a boisterous time playing with many children, the reserved child would have a more enjoyable time playing with just 1 or 2 other children.

“The way they interact with other children is very different and I have learnt to work with those differences when organising playdates.”

With both my children attending a new school this year, I am still interested to observe how they interact with the other children in class. However, instead of asking whether they have made new friends, I will be asking them “What did you enjoy about school today?”

© 2018 Focus on the Family Singapore. All rights reserved.

For more tips on growing your child’s EQ, join us at one of our upcoming Parenting with Confidence workshops!

This article was first published on family.org.sg and republished with permission.

[day5200-blog]

Introvert

I am eight years old. The window in my classroom, adorned with squishy gel snowflakes, is the only thing protecting me from the swirling storm of silver outside. I want to stay inside, within the comfort of my cozy classroom, and read a book during recess. I ask my teacher if I can stay inside, and she asks why. I tell her I want to read. “Danielle,” she begins, “Is everything alright? Are you dealing with any friendship issues right now?” No, I say, I just want to read. I am confused why my desire to read equates to having friendship problems.

I am nine years old. My teacher lectures our class about how we should include everyone at recess, especially if we see someone playing by themselves. One girl raises her hand says, “Danielle plays by herself! Do you want to play with us?” “No.” My reply is greeted by gawking faces and offended eyes. “...I like playing by myself,” I promptly explain. It’s true; in fact, I love playing by myself. I am confused why enjoying the pleasure of my own company is considered peculiar.

I am fifteen years old. My friends plan some sort of social gathering every other week: bowling, dinners, bonfires, etc. Eventually I realize how tiring it is to interact with ten or twenty people for several hours straight. “Danielle, why aren’t you coming tonight?” my friends always ask me. I quickly learn to invent plausible excuses to justify my absence because somehow, without ever being told, I know of the unwritten rule: “I don’t want to go” is never socially acceptable. I am confused why “I don’t want to go” is not an appropriate response. Now, I am sixteen years old and I have come to terms with the fact that I am an introvert. No, it does not mean I’m overwhelmingly shy, and no, it does not mean I’m a hermit. Introverts can be overwhelming shy and can be hermits, but these words are not synonymous. Introvert means I recharge by being alone, as opposed to extroverts, who recharge through social stimulation. Think of a cup. Imagine that everyone has their own cup; the liquid inside represents their energy. Social interaction fills extroverts’ cups while depleting introverts’ cups. Most of the time, I’m happy to distribute the contents of my cup. It’s simply that when my cup is empty, I have to go off and refill it on my own. Here’s another way to think of it. For me, each class period at school is like running a lap around the track. A friend’s birthday party is like running a six-minute mile. School dances are like running marathons in the mountains, struggling to breathe the thin, oxygen-depleted air. (Again, don’t get me wrong, I love dances; my energy just gets exhausted when the night is barely half over.)

Some of my extroverted friends have told me they are hurt when I say I’d rather spend a day at home, alone, instead of attending the party they’re hosting. But as truthful as I can be, it’s not you, it’s me. Maybe it’s not that I hate you... maybe it’s because I’m tired. I love spending one-on-one time with my friends more than anything, but I dread being in the middle of a crowd, even if the attention isn’t currently on me. So yes, I would truly, deeply, absolutely love to spend time with you. But not with twenty other people around us. Usually, I don’t mind that I’m an introvert, but I’ve never understood why introverts are seen as inferior to extroverts. Introverted qualities are apparently undesirable and not “normal.” Most people think extroverts are better friends than introverts, and an overwhelming majority of teachers believe the ideal student is an extrovert. Even worse, introverts are often seen as problem cases. I had to transfer schools once because the teachers at my first preschool believed I had a mental problem simply because I rarely spoke. As a junior in high school, this feeling of inadequacy resurfaces like a piercing headache: it intrudes your thoughts and is never easy to ignore. You’re only likable among your peers if you attend every party and hang out every weekend. You’ll only receive glowing rec letters if you excel at small talk with your teachers while also participating in class at least five times per period. Long story short, you’re always supposed to have something to say. Always. Admissions counselors from every college information session you attend will say, “If you’re not a funny person, don’t try to be funny when writing your college essays.” Don’t be someone you’re not, they mean. Ironically they also relentlessly advise you, “Put yourself out there! Be outgoing!” Be an extrovert, they mean. Why is it more acceptable to have a dry sense of humor than it is to be an introvert? How is it possible that society is so ignorant to the value of introverts? In the context of colleges, the bias may stem from the misconception that extroverts are smarter, or at least, more equipped to be leaders, than introverts. However, this is simply not true. While extroverts are generally able to get people to pay attention to their ideas, introverts excel at creativity. While cooperation and group work are also necessary, new and innovative ideas are, more often than not, produced through personal reflection and alone time. For example, Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States, was an introvert. During the Civil War, Lincoln didn’t have the advantage of many skilled war generals on his side. He developed the majority of the Union’s war strategies by himself, alone, in the silence of his White House office. Being alone helps us consider the consequences and outcomes of a decision, then choose the best path to take. It is vital for leaders to possess this quality. Moreover, Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” was merely two minutes long. He didn’t beat around the bush, he got straight to the point. Lincoln was an extremely inspirational leader, and, contrary to society’s preconception of successful leaders, he didn’t rely on the power of his tongue. At 6’2’’, Abraham Lincoln’s impressive physical stature mirrored his leadership abilities. This gave him somewhat of an advantage despite his introversion, because, if people thought he was too introverted to be a leader, at least he looked like a leader. However, unlike Lincoln, I am a female introvert who is only 5’2’’. My body screams “docile”, “submissive”, and “weak.” According to society’s immutable judgment, it would be difficult for me to lead because I don’t “look” like a leader. Sure, because of my height, I may not appear intimidating, and sure, I may not have the ability to silence a noisy room simply by opening my mouth. My voice may not pierce through the pandemonium of a noisy crowd, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t profoundly resonate in others’ hearts. If I'm not talking, that doesn't mean I don't have an opinion - that's like saying something doesn't exist just because you can't see it. I may appear quiet on the outside, but that doesn’t mean my mind is quiet; this is not strange, this is normal among introverts. Silence is a necessity to us, and when we are depleted of it, we physically cannot talk as much as we normally can. This isn’t a sign of weakness; you see, no matter how talented he is, an Olympic medalist cannot run another race immediately after he finishes a marathon.

We live in such a closed-minded society; since extroverts make up the majority of the world, introverts’ needs are often forgotten. Introverts have an armory full of weapons to fight the war of making the world a better place, but unfortunately the armory is locked up when our needs are pushed aside. Society is missing out on this power when it doesn’t accept introverts for who we are. Imagine how much quicker the world would progress if introverts didn’t have to worry about being socially accepted, and could focus on working in ways that help society, and themselves, thrive.

Because of society’s stubborn refusal to break stereotypes, introverts are forced to conform to what’s considered “normal,” despite feeling uncomfortable. If a child wants to read a book instead of playing with other kids, LET HER! There is nothing wrong with her if she prefers to be alone. Alone time is the air she breathes, so why are you choking her when her lungs are already empty?! She will live the rest of her life believing her ideas will never matter because she is convinced that no one wants to listen to her. She will live the rest of her life believing she could never be a magnificent leader just because she isn’t a people-person. She will live the rest of her life believing it is unlikely she will ever be remembered for accomplishing the unimaginable because all she has ever been told is extrovert=good and introvert=bad; extrovert:good::introvert:bad; EXTROVERT GOOD, INTROVERT USELESS.

She was me.

Sometimes, I am still her. I try not to be her because I know I shouldn’t let other people drag me down, but sometimes, it’s hard to stand your ground when everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it.

And underground, there is no oxygen. I can’t breathe down there either.

I can’t breathe when I pretend to be an extrovert, and I also can’t breathe when I act the way an introvert is supposed to act - quiet, weak, a follower. I can’t breathe because in my heart I know I am made to do more than that. I know I have many talents itching to burst out of my armory. 

When my cup is empty, all I want is to curl up in bed and not talk to anyone for several hours. When my cup is empty, I unconsciously talk less and appear less enthusiastic. It’s not because I’m not interested; I’m just tired, and that should be okay. That should not be looked down upon because it’s normal for introverts to act this way. 

However, when my cup is full, it’s a different story. When my cup is full, I want to conquer the world. When my cup is full, I can actually decipher my ideas and thoughts and hypotheticals — I always have ideas but when my cup is empty, my mind is too loud for me to hear them. When my cup is full, I can work to achieve my highest potential, ultimately leading me to make valuable contributions to the world around me.

Imagine how different the world would be if introverts’ cups were always full. Imagine if, instead of shaming introverts for filling our cups, the world helped us fill them. Our armories would be unlocked, and we would finally be able to breathe.

Introvert does not mean “shy” or “quiet” or “boring”. Introvert means creative. Introvert means ideas. Introvert means leader.

Introvert means powerful.

[talabib]

Leadership Journey: Edward Snowden

Even if you’ve barely paid attention to the news in recent years, you’ve heard the name Edward Snowden. 

Sometimes this name is uttered with contempt, sometimes with admiration. Depending on whom you ask, he is either a traitor to his country or a modern-day hero. How did a young, introverted tech nerd from Maryland become one of the most important and controversial figures in recent American history?

Well, in proud democratic tradition, Snowden blew the whistle on a situation that he felt was wrong and illegal. Working as a tech specialist for the NSA and CIA, he dealt with the secret system of mass surveillance the US government developed after 9/11, which allowed US intelligence agencies to collect the private communications of any of its citizens and access them at will. 

When Snowden found out that the US government was secretly spying on innocent citizens, he decided to risk everything to tell the world about this violation of privacy. This post tells the story of his upbringing and career, and the personal convictions that made him into the whistleblower he would become.

Born into a family of government officials, Edward Snowden was raised on the internet of the 1990s.

When we hear the word “internet” today, we think of Google, Facebook, and Amazon. These mega-companies have found a way to capitalize on our online time so efficiently that they have come to rule the world wide web. 

But in the 90s, the internet was still in its infancy. Used almost exclusively by specialists and tech nerds, it was a place devoid of rules and full of elaborate amateur websites and forums, where people from around the world gathered to share obscure knowledge and try on different online identities. That was the internet that made Edward Snowden.

Snowden was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, into a family of public servants. His mom was a government clerk from a long line of military officials, and his dad was a technical engineer for the Coast Guard. When Edward was nine, his mother started a new administrative job at the NSA and the Snowden family moved to Fort Meade, a famous US army installation in Maryland. Secretive government jobs like his mother's were typical for the inhabitants of Fort Meade.

But even though he enjoyed spying on his big sister Jessica through his bedroom window, young Snowden initially had no interest in becoming a government spy. His first love was technology. From the early Commodore 64 computer system his dad brought home to his first Nintendo, Snowden loved spending time playing with — and taking apart — electronic devices of all kinds.

When the family bought its first computer with an internet connection, Edward and the machine became inseparable. He spent almost every waking minute online, reading about technology and politics and playing adventure games.

On the internet, Edward found a community of people who shared his interests and were eager to answer his questions. Soon he was chatting with tech nerds from across the globe, arguing about hardware problems, cheat codes, or the death penalty. These interactions didn’t just improve his computer skills; they also helped form his worldview. 

His online peers didn’t mind that in real life he was just an awkward, introverted thirteen-year-old. In fact, they didn’t even know. In contrast to today, when our online profiles have become closely linked to our real identities, the internet of the 1990s was a playground of anonymity.

Edward Snowden had only to change his username to become anyone he wanted, a useful ability for the pastime he soon picked up: hacking.

Young Snowden started hacking systems and subverting the arbitrary rules that adults imposed on him.

You don’t have to know your way around computers to become a hacker. “Hacking” just means knowing a system so well that you can exploit its weaknesses to your advantage. This system can be a computer system, but it can also be any other system of rules — like your bedtime schedule.

Snowden accomplished his first “hack” on his sixth birthday, when he decided he never wanted to go to bed again. Setting all clocks in his home back a few hours, he successfully fooled his parents into believing it wasn’t his bedtime yet– that is, until he fell asleep on the living room rug from exhaustion!

Subverting the arbitrary rules adults imposed on him by using their own logic against them became one of Snowden’s favorite hobbies.

Later, in high school, a teacher revealed that homework only accounted for 15 percent of students’ final grades. Snowden calculated that if he never did homework again but performed perfectly on tests, he would still receive a grade of B for the class. And so he traded homework time for more computer time.

But his plan to spend his nights online and snooze his way through high school was foiled when he was diagnosed with mononucleosis in his sophomore year. The infection rendered him too tired to use even his beloved computer, let alone go to class. After four months of absence, his high school wrote to confirm that Snowden would have to repeat the grade. The thought of having to go to high school even longer than he’d anticipated shook Snowden out of his sickly, depressed state. He began looking for a hack, and he found one: he applied to college. 

Without a diploma, Snowden was accepted at the local Anne Arundel Community College. He would go to class two days a week, and spend the rest of his time recovering. After a few months, he was able to take the exam for his General Education Diploma, which is equivalent to a US high school diploma. 

At community college, Snowden’s computer skills caught the attention of his older classmate Mae, who soon recruited him for her budding online business. From the basement of Mae’s home, the two would design websites for companies, capitalizing on the growing demand for tech-savvy freelancers and hacking the new internet economy together.

The events of 9/11 made Snowden want to serve his country — and enabled his fast rise through the ranks of government agencies.

Many of us remember where we were when we heard the news on that fateful September morning in 2001.

Edward Snowden was at the house of his friend and business partner Mae, when the two got a call from Mae’s husband. He worked at the NSA, and was calling to tell them that terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center. 

As Snowden drove home to be with his family, he passed the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade and witnessed the frenzied evacuation of the building. Seeing his fellow Americans in such panic, Snowden felt a patriotic urge to help his country through this time of struggle. He decided to join the military. 

But just a few months into his basic training at Fort Benning in the southern US, Snowden fractured his ankle, and his military career came to a swift halt. 

Recovering on his mom’s couch, Snowden decided he could serve his country best using the skills he already had: an understanding of computers. He decided to apply for the security clearance necessary to work in a tech position for the CIA or NSA. This approval requires an extensive background check by the government that can take several months to complete.

Waiting for his clearance, 22-year-old Snowden met the love of his life — and where else but on the internet? Lindsay Mills was a photography student from another part of Maryland. Soon after they matched on a site called Hot or Not, the two started seeing each other. 

Finally, Snowden received his clearance and passed the polygraph tests required to work in intelligence for his country’s government. For a few months, he worked as a night-shift security guard at the newly constructed NSA facility in Maryland that had bankrolled his clearance process. But this boring job was just a first tiny step on what would be a very steep career ladder.

Snowden’s swift rise through the ranks of the intelligence community would not have been possible prior to 9/11. But in the name of the War on Terror that followed the attack, the US government was rapidly expanding its security efforts. Intelligence agencies were constantly looking for fresh new talent to recruit, especially in the growing field of cybersecurity. If a candidate seemed promising, agencies like the NSA and CIA were willing to waive some position requirements – such as a college degree, which Snowden lacked. 

That’s why, by virtue of his prodigious computer skills, Snowden would soon hold key positions at the world’s biggest intelligence agencies.

Though he still sometimes questioned the rules, Snowden’s computer skills helped him get high-level jobs in the CIA and NSA.

After his brief entry-level stint as a security guard, Snowden was looking for a better way to serve the government with his talents.

He began to attend government job fairs, at which companies like Dell, Intel and Lockheed Martin recruit talent for specialist government jobs done in their name. On paper, these contractors work for said companies; in reality, however, they often report directly to the government agency paying them. 

Via a company called COMSO, Snowden landed his first contracting job as a systems administrator at CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia. There, he was responsible for managing the agency’s private servers. After working in a lightless basement for several months, however, Snowden was hungry to see more of the world. 

He decided to become an official government employee, which would allow him to live and work abroad. 

To do this, he enrolled in a six-month CIA program to become a Technical Information Security Officer, or TISO. TISOs are responsible for managing the technology behind any intelligence operation, from setting up computer networks to fixing appliances. They are employed at every US embassy around the world. 

During his training, Snowden requested that his first assignment after graduation be at an embassy in the Middle East — he wanted to work in a new and challenging environment. But then he made a mistake: he challenged the authority of the CIA. 

Snowden and his classmates had grown weary of the living conditions in the run-down CIA training center, a converted motel where they had to spend every waking minute. Snowden took it upon himself to write lengthy emails to the school director and his superior, the director of Field Service, to complain about the situation and demand action. To his surprise, this worked: soon after, the class was moved to a new training facility. 

But on the last day of training, Snowden was called into the director’s office. The director of Field Service told Snowden that by reaching out to him directly, he had disobeyed the chain of command. 

As punishment for his disobedience, the CIA sent him to work as a TISO for the NSA in Geneva. This posh Swiss city was a far cry from the field experience Snowden had hoped for, but it became a great stepping stone. When he and Lindsay moved to Geneva, Snowden found himself a tech specialist in the middle of the US government’s transition to technology-based intelligence.

Preparing for a conference in China, Snowden first became suspicious of how much the US government was spying on its citizens.

It was after a few years of working in intelligence that Snowden first realized what the technology he helped build and maintain could be used for.

In 2009, he was working as a systems administrator at the NSA’s Pacific Technical Center. When a colleague dropped out at the last minute, Snowden was asked to attend a conference in Hong Kong to give a presentation on China’s surveillance of private communications. In a matter of hours, he had to read up on the technology China used to monitor its citizens’ online activity, emails, and phone calls. 

While doing so, he had a thought: If China were spying on its citizens, why wouldn’t the US do the same? 

He’d already heard about cases in which US intelligence agencies had overstepped their bounds. A few years earlier, whistleblowers had revealed the President’s Surveillance Program, or PSP, which allowed intelligence agencies to wiretap phone calls without a warrant. The agencies had since released a report to the public explaining the situation. Curious about the case, Snowden went looking through the NSA system for the classified version of the report — but it was nowhere to be found.

Months later, the classified PSP report landed on Snowden’s desk by accident. He was shocked; apart from the name, it had nothing in common with the document that had been released to the public. It detailed a program called STELLARWIND, which aimed for the “bulk collection” of anyone and everyone’s phone and online activities, including such intimate information as a person’s browsing history. Enlisting the help of private telecommunication companies such as AT&T, the agencies were interested in collecting the metadata of people’s conversations – when, where, and with whom they had taken place. Such metadata revealed not only where a person was at any given moment and who was with her, but also where she had been and where she was going next. 

In short, STELLARWIND was a mass surveillance program enabling the US government to spy on its citizens as it pleased. 

At first, Snowden tried to rationalize his discovery. Then he tried not to think about it at all. But by the time he returned to the US to work for the CIA again in 2011, he could no longer pretend he didn’t know what he knew. He grew increasingly depressed. On top of it all, he began having epileptic seizures. 

Burdened by ill health and a secret he couldn’t share with anyone, Snowden decided to take a long break from the work he once loved. 

Snowden set out to investigate the US government’s system of mass surveillance — and then decided to expose it systematically.

After taking some months to recover his health, Snowden took an NSA position in Hawaii. He hoped a new life living in paradise with Lindsay would improve his physical and mental health. 

Financially and professionally, the job was a step down. Snowden didn’t mind, though. He used his idle time to browse the NSA’s readboards, which are internal news feeds containing all the reports coming out of a specific department. Snowden had decided that he wanted to learn everything he could about the NSA’s surveillance program. To browse more efficiently, he even built a program called Heartbeat, which compiled all new and important reports on the readboards into a single newsfeed. 

One of his jobs in Hawaii was managing the NSA’s digital calendar. On Constitution Day 2012, he allowed himself the joke of leaving a printed copy of the US Constitution on the desks of each of his coworkers — printed paper was a rare sight at his workplace, as most documents were top secret. But when he reread the Constitution himself, Snowden was shaken by how clearly the Fourth Amendment stated US citizens’ right to privacy.

In the digital age, what was more private than a person’s browsing history? Snowden came to the conclusion that the government and its institutions were no longer abiding by the principle that had guided their creation: ensuring the freedom and safety of US citizens. Instead, intelligence agencies were brazenly violating people’s freedoms, and rarely making them safer. He decided that the people had a right to know. 

But in order to hack the system and expose its lies, he had to act systematically. First, he would gather as much relevant information as he could without endangering intelligence agencies’ other operations. Then he would share the documents with select journalists, who could be trusted to reveal the information to the public cohesively and in context. 

After a long search for journalists with whom to collaborate, Snowden chose two reporters who had already come under fire from the US government for reporting on its violations: Laura Poitras, a documentarian who had made several films about US foreign policy after 9/11; and Glenn Greenwald, a civil liberties lawyer who had reported on the NSA’s unclassified PSP report from 2009. Snowden contacted the two through encrypted emails from his home computer.

Now the only question left was, who could gather and leak classified documents to them without being caught?

To get classified documents out of NSA headquarters and into journalists’ hands, Snowden relied on subterfuge and ingenuity.

Once Snowden had decided to expose the NSA’s mass surveillance program, he came up against a problem: How do you steal top secret documents from one of the world’s most secure institutions?

With the Heartbeat program he had built, accessing documents was easy. The hard part was searching the files for the kind of information that would be useful to Poitras and Greenwald. Snowden knew that any move he made from his NSA work computer would be monitored by the agency, so he couldn’t simply go browsing through classified material. So under the guise of “compatibility testing,” he began transferring the files onto a bunch of disused computers lying around the office. On these old computers, Snowden could safely search and organize the documents. 

He then encrypted and copied them onto SD cards — a process that could take up to eight hours! To get the SD cards out of the building, Snowden hid them under the tiles of a Rubik’s cube he had started carrying around. To the unsuspecting guards, he became known as the “Rubik’s Cube guy.”  

Back home, Snowden copied the files onto his own hard drive, and sent them to the journalists from his car, which he drove to different places from which he could hack into strangers’ wifi. 

Snowden knew that once the documents were made public, the NSA would be able to identify him, since he was one of only a handful of people with access. He considered tampering with the documents to obscure their origin, but that would have jeopardized their credibility. 

He decided that the public good was more important than his personal safety, and so he sent the documents as originals. 

As a final coup, Snowden asked the NSA for a transfer to the National Threat Operation Center in Hawaii. He wanted to find out more about a program called XKEYSCORE, the search engine that allowed NSA officials to access the data collected through STELLARWIND. Snowden was ordered to Fort Meade one last time, where his fellow analysts trained him for the new job and showed him how to use the system. 

XKEYSCORE was even more powerful than Snowden had suspected. His fellow agents just had to type in a name or IP address to see that person’s entire online history. After a while it became clear that quite a few analysts were secretly using the database to read the emails of their loved ones, or listen in on their phone conversations. But what horrified Snowden was not that jealous government employees could now spy on their spouses from their work desks — it was that they could spy on nearly anyone, any time they wanted.

When the documents were published and the US charged him with espionage, Snowden fled into exile. 

Back in Hawaii, a sense of finality befell Snowden. He knew the government would catch him eventually, and so he started preparing to leave the US — forever. The most painful part of this plan was not being able to tell Lindsay about it, because he didn’t want to get her in trouble. After an agonizing last few weeks in Hawaii, Snowden fled the country while she was on a camping trip with friends.

First, Snowden went to meet Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong, where he helped them put together the articles and videos that would reveal everything. 

On June 6, 2013, Greenwald’s first piece about the NSA program appeared in The Guardian. A few days later, Snowden decided to out himself as the whistleblower, beating the US government to the punch. After he’d revealed his identity, a lawyer friend of Greenwald’s offered to help get him to a safe house near Hong Kong.

Though the US has a law to protect government whistleblowers, Snowden knew he couldn’t return to the country. The documents he had leaked were top secret, and this fact alone could result in harsh sentencing if he went on trial. 

Then, on June 17, 2013, the US officially charged him with espionage, and Snowden had to look for a new country to call home. With the help of a growing team of lawyers, he applied for asylum in numerous countries, but all his requests were denied — no country wanted to risk its relationship with the US. WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison finally organized for Snowden to seek refuge in Ecuador, which had previously given asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. To avoid capture, he would fly there over Moscow, Caracas and Havana. 

But during their layover in Moscow, Snowden was stopped by authorities. The US state department had canceled his passport, meaning that he and Harrison were trapped in the Moscow airport. After spending 40 nights sleeping at the airport – surrounded by journalists – Snowden was granted temporary asylum by a Russian government weary of the situation.

Snowden lives in Moscow still, and Lindsay – now his wife – has since come to join him. From exile, he has continued his activism, developing various online privacy apps. One day, he hopes to return to the US.

Edward Snowden grew up in the shadow of Fort Meade, when the internet was still a free and anonymous community. As a child, Snowden enjoyed hacking the systems around him, especially when he felt they weren’t working. After 9/11, he felt a strong sense of duty to his country, and wanted to put his computer skills into the service of US intelligence agencies. But in working for the NSA, Snowden learned how the system was spying on the private communications of US citizens, and his anti-authoritarian sense of justice kicked in once again. Snowden decided to use his hacking skills to leak classified documents that would inform the public about this violation of their privacy — exposing the US government’s system of mass surveillance from within.

[katybudgetbooks]

YA Books We’re Anticipating in May 2017

Count All Her Bones by April Henry (5/2): Cheyenne sets out to save her former captor in this much-anticipated sequel to Girl, Stolen. Six months ago, Griffin Sawyer meant to steal a car, but he never meant to steal the girl asleep in the backseat. Panicked, he took her home. His father, Roy, decided to hold Cheyenne--who is blind--for ransom. Griffin helped her escape, and now Roy is awaiting trial. As they prepare to testify, Griffin and Cheyenne reconnect and make plans to meet. But the plan goes wrong and Cheyenne gets captured by Roy's henchmen--this time for the kill. Can Cheyenne free herself? And is Griffin a pawn or a player in this deadly chase?

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas (5/2): Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit-and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well.As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords-and hunt for allies in unexpected places.In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the earth will be painted red as mighty armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy them all.

Dreamfall by Amy Plum (5/2): A Nightmare on Elm Street meets Inception in this gripping psychological thriller from international bestselling author Amy Plum. Seven teenagers who suffer from debilitating insomnia agree to take part in an experimental new procedure to cure it because they think it can't get any worse. But they couldn't be more wrong.When the lab equipment malfunctions, the patients are plunged into a terrifying dreamworld where their worst nightmares have come to life--and they have no memory of how they got there. Hunted by monsters from their darkest imaginations and tormented by secrets they'd rather keep buried, these seven strangers will be forced to band together to face their biggest fears. And if they can't find a way to defeat their dreams, they will never wake up.

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr (5/2):  Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumor that was removed from Flora's brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend's boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora's fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So, when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world--in Svalbard, Norway--Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life. But will following Drake be the key to unlocking Flora's memory? Or will the journey reveal that nothing is quite as it seems?

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh (5/16):  The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place--she may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands. At just seventeen years old, Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden, the son of the emperor's favorite consort--a political marriage that will elevate her family's standing. But en route to the imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous gang of bandits known as the Black Clan, who she learns has been hired to kill her before she reaches the palace. Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the ranks of the Black Clan, determined to track down the person responsible for the target on her back. But she's quickly captured and taken to the Black Clan's secret hideout, where she meets their leader, the rebel ronin Takeda Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, his best friend Okami. Still believing her to be a boy, Ranmaru and Okami eventually warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. As Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets, of betrayal and murder, which will force her to question everything she's ever known.

Crazy House by James Patterson (5/22):  There were no charges. There was no trial. There will be no escape. Seventeen-year-old Becca Greenfield was snatched from her small hometown. She was thrown into a maximum-security prison and put on Death Row with other kids her age. Until her execution, Becca's told to fit in and shut her mouth... but Becca's never been very good at either. Her sister Cassie was always the perfect twin. Becca's only hope is that her twin sister will find her. That perfect little priss Cassie will stop following the rules and start breaking them, before it's too late. Because her jailers made a mistake that could get them both killed: They took the wrong twin. Crazy House is a non-stop, summer blockbuster by James Patterson, the #1 bestselling author of Maximum Ride, Witch and Wizard, and Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life.

Dove Alight by Karen Bao (5/23): Shy, introverted Phaet Theta has gone from being a top student to an interplanetary fugitive to the reluctant but fierce leader of a revolution. With the Earthbound on their side, she and her friends finally have a chance at toppling the evil leaders who've held the Moon captive for decades. But as the death tolls rise, the cost of the war weighs heavily on Phaet, even as she's forced to lead her siblings and Wes, the love of her life, into terrible danger. Phaet started this war because she lost someone she loved. Will she have to lose another to end it?

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare (5/23):  Sunny Los Angeles can be a dark place indeed in Cassandra Clare's Lord of Shadows, the sequel to the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Lady Midnight. Lord of Shadows is a Shadowhunters novel. Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she'd be at peace. But she is anything but calm. Torn between her desire for herparabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again? And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters' demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear--before it's too late.

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo (5/30): A funny young adult novel about a Korean-American girl who uses K-Drama techniques to snag the boyfriend of her dreams. Desi Lee knows how carburetors work. She learned CPR at the age of five. As a high school senior, she has never missed a day of school and never had a B. But in her charmed school life, there's one thing missing--she's never had a boyfriend. In fact, she's a known disaster in romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation magnet. When the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi decides it's time to tackle her flirting failures. She finds her answer in the Korean dramas her father has watched obsessively for years--in which the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. Armed with her "K Drama Rules for True Love," Desi goes after the moody, elusive artist Luca Drakos. All's fair in love and Korean dramas, right? But when the fun and games turn to feelings, Desi finds out that real-life love is about way more than just drama. Maurene Goo's I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE is a fun, heartwarming story of falling in love--for real.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (5/30):  A laugh-out-loud, heartfelt YA romantic comedy, told in alternating perspectives, about two Indian-American teens whose parents have arranged for them to be married. Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she's more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma's inexplicable obsession with her finding the -Ideal Indian Husband.- Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn't have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers...right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him--wherein he'll have to woo her--he's totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. The Shahs and Patels didn't mean to start turning the wheels on this -suggested arrangement- so early in their children's lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not? Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

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7 Things Top-Performing Technology Marketers Do With Their Content [New Research]

Technology marketers have tough jobs. Not only must they master their company’s sometimes complex products and offerings, but they also need to communicate quickly and succinctly — and in a way that is different from what their competitors are doing. Complicating matters is the long and often complex buyer’s journey.

But, there is good news. According to our latest research, as reported in Technology Content Marketing 2017: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, sponsored by IDG, 64% of technology marketers say their organization’s overall content marketing approach is much more or somewhat more successful compared with one year ago; 92% of those marketers attribute that success primarily to doing a better job with content creation.

So what specifically about content creation is working? Technology marketers who are most successful with content marketing (i.e., this year’s “top performers”) often approach content creation differently when compared with their less successful peers. Consider the differences shown below, gathered from our seventh annual content marketing survey.

Deliver content consistently

One of the big differences between top-performing technology marketers and their less successful peers is that they deliver content consistently. In fact, consistency tops the list of factors they take into account while creating content — and it’s something they do more often than their top-performing B2B peers (93% vs. 85%).*

Top-performing technology marketers deliver content consistently via @CMIContent #research. @LisaBeets Click To Tweet

It’s up to you to determine what type of consistency works best for your organization. A lot of this will depend on your goals, target audience, content types, distribution channels, budget, resources, and other factors. Maybe you deliver content daily, weekly, or monthly — just be sure you have a defined schedule that you stick to.

(*85% of top-performing B2B content marketers surveyed say they always/frequently deliver content consistently, as reported in B2B Content Marketing 2017: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.)

Prioritize delivering content quality over content quantity

Not surprisingly, prioritizing quality content over quantity is also a differentiator between the most and least successful technology marketers. And note on the chart how the top performers are placing nearly equal emphasis on quality content as they are on delivering content consistently. Perhaps they are learning the “secret” that Robert Rose, CMI’s chief content adviser, shares when asked how often you should publish: “As little as you can and still have the impact you desire.”

Publish as little as you can & still have the impact you desire, says @robert_rose. #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

Want to see how your content marketing efforts compare?  Take this five-question assessment to get personalized suggestions on how you can become more successful.

Consider how your content impacts the overall experience a person has with your organization

Top-performing technology marketers also think about content in the context of the overall experience someone has with their brand. Considering how many products and solutions tech companies offer, this can be a complex proposition.

For instance, Scott Rosenberg, director of Intel’s Digital Governance and Operations group, spoke at Content Marketing World 2016 about how Intel had 12,500 U.S. web pages, 715 microsites, and 324 social media handles. Some Intel customers’ experiences with the brand felt disconnected because so many points of entry and paths to follow were chaotic and disconnected.

How is Intel addressing this? Scott and his team are focused on digital governance, which is a fancy way of saying they are creating rules and norms that keep the company’s content consistent, on brand, efficient, and effective. You can learn more about Intel’s journey if you are interested in improving the experience your customers have with your brand.

Focus on creating content for your audience versus your brand

Another differentiator of top-performing technology marketers is that they focus on their audience instead of their brand. While many companies understand this in theory, it can be tough to do in practice.

Top-performing tech marketers focus on their audience instead of their brand. @CMIContent @LisaBeets #research Click To Tweet

A great example is what Toby Lee has done at Thompson Reuters with its taxologist program. You can read about details of the taxologist program, but, in short, the company’s marketing team identified a persona that focuses on the introverted people in the tax department who use leading-edge technology to get results. To help this group, Thompson Reuters created the concept of the “taxologist,” as well as a corresponding program that includes educational content and an annual user event complete with taxologist awards. More than 1,500 people attend the event, and the taxologist designation now has an official skill set on LinkedIn.

Craft content based on specific points of the buyer’s journey

Crafting and delivering content based on varying audience needs is challenging — even more so when you’re faced with a long buyer’s journey. Consider some of the fill-in responses we received to our annual survey question, What area(s) of content marketing will your organization need the most help with in 2017:

Being able to create content for all phases of the customer’s journey and target audiences in each part of their journey

Deeper understanding of buyer personas and creating content that speaks to each persona at specific points in the customer life cycle

Being more intelligent with the customer journey

Developing content for multiple phases of both the awareness and sales stages

One thing that can help is buyer personas — 60% of the technology content marketers surveyed indicated that they have them, but that’s not enough. How can you create spot-on content for people in distinct stages of the buyer’s journey if you don’t have a deep understanding of their motivations at different points in time? Start by understanding the buyer’s journey. You may be surprised to learn there are multiple models to consider.

60% of technology content marketers indicated they have buyer personas, but that’s not enough, says @LisaBeets. Click To Tweet

Prioritize providing the right content to the right person at the right time

Creating the right content for the right person and delivering it at the right time is exceptionally difficult, especially for technology marketers for all the reasons we have discussed. And, there are multiple ways to think about this concept:

Creating content specific to the channels where it will be published

Helping people find the content they are looking for (or didn’t even know they wanted) when they arrive at your website

Understanding what people want to accomplish as they interact with a brand (enter: the customer journey map)

In short, identify your most pressing goals and needs here, and begin to take steps to incrementally improve how you are delivering content to your customers in the most personalized way possible.

Differentiate your content from the competition

Technology marketers know they need to differentiate their content from what their competitors are publishing, but — as the chart shows — there isn’t a huge gap between what the top performers are doing when compared with the overall sample.

But here’s the thing, the technology space is super crowded, and so much of what is published could come from any vendor. (Try this: Look at your content next to a few competitors’ content. Strip out all references to products and services. Can someone tell what is from your company versus someone else?)

Remove all brand references from your #content. Can someone tell what is yours vs. a competitor? @LisaBeets. Click To Tweet

It’s more important than ever to publish content that no one else is. Find what CMI founder Joe Pulizzi calls your content tilt so that you have an angle that no one else does. It will make a world of difference.

Want to learn more about how technology marketers approach content marketing? View the report for insights on the content marketing tactics and distribution methods they use, techniques they use to learn more about their audiences to create the right messages, metrics they use to gauge content marketing success, how much of their marketing budget they spend on content marketing, and more.

Technology Content Marketing 2017 – Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends – North America from Content Marketing Institute

And, if you want even more, join us at the Technology Lab at Content Marketing World on Friday, September 8, 2017.

Are you registered for Content Marketing World this year? Sign up today and use the code BLOG100 to save $100 off early-bird rates. And don’t forget to extend your stay for the industry lab.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 7 Things Top-Performing Technology Marketers Do With Their Content [New Research] appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

7 Things Top-Performing Technology Marketers Do With Their Content [New Research] posted first on http://ift.tt/2maTWEr

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7 Things Top-Performing Technology Marketers Do With Their Content [New Research]

Technology marketers have tough jobs. Not only must they master their company’s sometimes complex products and offerings, but they also need to communicate quickly and succinctly — and in a way that is different from what their competitors are doing. Complicating matters is the long and often complex buyer’s journey.

But, there is good news. According to our latest research, as reported in Technology Content Marketing 2017: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, sponsored by IDG, 64% of technology marketers say their organization’s overall content marketing approach is much more or somewhat more successful compared with one year ago; 92% of those marketers attribute that success primarily to doing a better job with content creation.

So what specifically about content creation is working? Technology marketers who are most successful with content marketing (i.e., this year’s “top performers”) often approach content creation differently when compared with their less successful peers. Consider the differences shown below, gathered from our seventh annual content marketing survey.

Deliver content consistently

One of the big differences between top-performing technology marketers and their less successful peers is that they deliver content consistently. In fact, consistency tops the list of factors they take into account while creating content — and it’s something they do more often than their top-performing B2B peers (93% vs. 85%).*

Top-performing technology marketers deliver content consistently via @CMIContent #research. @LisaBeets Click To Tweet

It’s up to you to determine what type of consistency works best for your organization. A lot of this will depend on your goals, target audience, content types, distribution channels, budget, resources, and other factors. Maybe you deliver content daily, weekly, or monthly — just be sure you have a defined schedule that you stick to.

(*85% of top-performing B2B content marketers surveyed say they always/frequently deliver content consistently, as reported in B2B Content Marketing 2017: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.)

Prioritize delivering content quality over content quantity

Not surprisingly, prioritizing quality content over quantity is also a differentiator between the most and least successful technology marketers. And note on the chart how the top performers are placing nearly equal emphasis on quality content as they are on delivering content consistently. Perhaps they are learning the “secret” that Robert Rose, CMI’s chief content adviser, shares when asked how often you should publish: “As little as you can and still have the impact you desire.”

Publish as little as you can & still have the impact you desire, says @robert_rose. #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

Want to see how your content marketing efforts compare?  Take this five-question assessment to get personalized suggestions on how you can become more successful.

Consider how your content impacts the overall experience a person has with your organization

Top-performing technology marketers also think about content in the context of the overall experience someone has with their brand. Considering how many products and solutions tech companies offer, this can be a complex proposition.

For instance, Scott Rosenberg, director of Intel’s Digital Governance and Operations group, spoke at Content Marketing World 2016 about how Intel had 12,500 U.S. web pages, 715 microsites, and 324 social media handles. Some Intel customers’ experiences with the brand felt disconnected because so many points of entry and paths to follow were chaotic and disconnected.

How is Intel addressing this? Scott and his team are focused on digital governance, which is a fancy way of saying they are creating rules and norms that keep the company’s content consistent, on brand, efficient, and effective. You can learn more about Intel’s journey if you are interested in improving the experience your customers have with your brand.

Focus on creating content for your audience versus your brand

Another differentiator of top-performing technology marketers is that they focus on their audience instead of their brand. While many companies understand this in theory, it can be tough to do in practice.

Top-performing tech marketers focus on their audience instead of their brand. @CMIContent @LisaBeets #research Click To Tweet

A great example is what Toby Lee has done at Thompson Reuters with its taxologist program. You can read about details of the taxologist program, but, in short, the company’s marketing team identified a persona that focuses on the introverted people in the tax department who use leading-edge technology to get results. To help this group, Thompson Reuters created the concept of the “taxologist,” as well as a corresponding program that includes educational content and an annual user event complete with taxologist awards. More than 1,500 people attend the event, and the taxologist designation now has an official skill set on LinkedIn.

Craft content based on specific points of the buyer’s journey

Crafting and delivering content based on varying audience needs is challenging — even more so when you’re faced with a long buyer’s journey. Consider some of the fill-in responses we received to our annual survey question, What area(s) of content marketing will your organization need the most help with in 2017:

Being able to create content for all phases of the customer’s journey and target audiences in each part of their journey

Deeper understanding of buyer personas and creating content that speaks to each persona at specific points in the customer life cycle

Being more intelligent with the customer journey

Developing content for multiple phases of both the awareness and sales stages

One thing that can help is buyer personas — 60% of the technology content marketers surveyed indicated that they have them, but that’s not enough. How can you create spot-on content for people in distinct stages of the buyer’s journey if you don’t have a deep understanding of their motivations at different points in time? Start by understanding the buyer’s journey. You may be surprised to learn there are multiple models to consider.

60% of technology content marketers indicated they have buyer personas, but that’s not enough, says @LisaBeets. Click To Tweet

Prioritize providing the right content to the right person at the right time

Creating the right content for the right person and delivering it at the right time is exceptionally difficult, especially for technology marketers for all the reasons we have discussed. And, there are multiple ways to think about this concept:

Creating content specific to the channels where it will be published

Helping people find the content they are looking for (or didn’t even know they wanted) when they arrive at your website

Understanding what people want to accomplish as they interact with a brand (enter: the customer journey map)

In short, identify your most pressing goals and needs here, and begin to take steps to incrementally improve how you are delivering content to your customers in the most personalized way possible.

Differentiate your content from the competition

Technology marketers know they need to differentiate their content from what their competitors are publishing, but — as the chart shows — there isn’t a huge gap between what the top performers are doing when compared with the overall sample.

But here’s the thing, the technology space is super crowded, and so much of what is published could come from any vendor. (Try this: Look at your content next to a few competitors’ content. Strip out all references to products and services. Can someone tell what is from your company versus someone else?)

Remove all brand references from your #content. Can someone tell what is yours vs. a competitor? @LisaBeets. Click To Tweet

It’s more important than ever to publish content that no one else is. Find what CMI founder Joe Pulizzi calls your content tilt so that you have an angle that no one else does. It will make a world of difference.

Want to learn more about how technology marketers approach content marketing? View the report for insights on the content marketing tactics and distribution methods they use, techniques they use to learn more about their audiences to create the right messages, metrics they use to gauge content marketing success, how much of their marketing budget they spend on content marketing, and more.

Technology Content Marketing 2017 – Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends – North America from Content Marketing Institute

And, if you want even more, join us at the Technology Lab at Content Marketing World on Friday, September 8, 2017.

Are you registered for Content Marketing World this year? Sign up today and use the code BLOG100 to save $100 off early-bird rates. And don’t forget to extend your stay for the industry lab.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 7 Things Top-Performing Technology Marketers Do With Their Content [New Research] appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

7 Things Top-Performing Technology Marketers Do With Their Content [New Research] syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm