#cs enters into this equation anyway so

[lonepower]

i noticed that merry has little vestigial/emergent wings which is So cute, and then i looked up "wait what's the difference between a tiefling and a cambion then", and now i'm even more confused

[trollhunter94]

Heroes And Villains

Pairing: Metatron x Reader

O/Cs: Sam and Dean Winchester

Warnings: Swearing, Slight Tension and Restraint, Creepy Metatron, Unwanted Advance.

Words: 1.5K

A/N: Here it is @uselessace, apologies for the long wait. It’s a kinda angsty/ romance that portrays the love/hate relationship we all have with Metatron. Hope you enjoy it!

Summary: You and the Brothers had been put on ‘babysitting duty’ after Castiel recruited Metatron in the fight against Lucifer. A simple debate quickly turns into a heated discussion.

This was Metatron’s first visit to the bunker. You could tell that Sam and Dean were already struggling against their better nature of punching him. He did nothing but follow them around, travelling from one room to another, talking incessantly just for the sake of being heard.

As he trailed the brothers from the kitchen to the map room, you noticed the increased level of tension they brought with them. Dean walked past the table where you sat with a pile of open Lore books, shooting you a look of desperation.

In an attempt to alleviate their suffering, you decided to distract him with a debate. “Hey Marv” you called, gaining his attention. “Sit down for a minute. I want to ask you a question”.

His countenance changed with interest, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth. “Ooh, I’m happy to oblige” he confessed, quickly pulling out a chair to sit opposite you. “Fire away”.

“You’ve read a mountain-load of books, right?”

“Oh yeah” he nodded viscerally, happy with where this was going. “So, who do you think makes for a better character, a hero or a villain?”

He gave you a creepy smile and a low cackle. “Ooh, now this is my forte.  Well, it solely depends upon the context of the story". You eyed him sceptically. “What do you mean?”

“Well, yes, the hero uses his force for goodness, saving the people or the damsel from danger”. He stopped to look at you more intensely, shifting his eyebrows suggestively. You scoffed at his flirtatious words. Sam and Dean took this opportunity to slip out of the room, practically tiptoeing behind Metatron in fear of being noticed.

“But the villain” he continued, giving a pleasing grin whilst rubbing his hands together. “They challenge the norm; the expected behaviours of society. Rebellious acts of defiance to get people’s attention and challenge the law. That’s how social change is made, you know”.

“So, you think villains such as Norman Bates or Hannibal Lecter, are similar to social change advocates, like Gandhi or Martin Luther King?” He scoffed at your words, shaking his head disapprovingly at your cynicism.

“They’re flawed, but they have goals, you see. A set of morals or beliefs that they fight for”. The tone of his voice lightened as his train of thought broke away. "You know, the persistence and style of a villain is something to behold. The way that they overcome their tragic backstories, healing their wounds and finding a higher purpose in life”.

You shook your head, still unconvinced. “You’re acting like they’re justified in the chaos that they create. How is it fair when people die and cities are brought to ruins by an individual’s struggle for power?”

He placed his palms on the table. “Yes, they may take lives and cause destruction. But you see, without a villain in the story, there can never be a hero”.

You began to close the books on the table. “You may be right. But in this story, there’s enough evil to go around. With Demons, Vampires, Werewolves and Spirits in the equation, why did you make yourself a villain? There was no need for it. You made yourself an unnecessary evil, and what did that achieve, really?”

He stood from his chair and moved around the table, head tilted as his hands glided along the wooden surface. “You know, I don’t think you really mean that. Do you?”

“Uh, yeah” you spat with seriousness. “I mean come on. How many people did you kill?” You began to count on your fingers. “There’s Dean, Kevin, Naomi”. He interrupted you, “Ah, no. Kevin’s death was not by my hands”.

“But it was your fault. It was, so don’t even deny it”. You stared him down until he took responsibility with a nod of his head. You continued, “And not to mention kicking the Angels to earth and taking Castiel’s grace”.

He reached your side and proceeded to grab the arms of your chair, pulling and sliding it away from the table so you were facing him. Leaning close and keeping eye contact he sternly justified his actions. “I did that with the sole intention of fixing the broken ranks of Heaven. It was for the greater good of everyone”.

His close proximity made you feel defensive, leaning backwards slightly you warned him with a pointed finger. “If you dare touch me, I’ll be forced to stab you. Or worse, tie you up and read you Sam’s diary”.

He noticed your stiff demeanour and took a sidestep away, perching on the edge of the table with a smirk on his face. “Ha. We all know that you wouldn’t harm me. Last time you threatened me, you choked on that pie. Do you remember?”

You spat your reply at him. “I did not choke, Marv! Anyway, at least I didn’t alienate myself from my entire family by being a douchebag”. He chuckled before giving you a look of encouragement. “Come on. Is that really the best insult you’ve got?”

You shifted in your seat, feeling motivated. “No, it’s not. You’re a manipulative, deviant, self-serving asshole who creates chaos for your own gain. You make stupid decisions that get people… innocent people killed".

“Oh” he snided sarcastically. “Because you’re so sensible. What great decisions you make". Folding his arms, he continued. “In fact, I recall a time where Dumb and Dumber had to rescue you from a solo mission to kill the Alpha Vampire. I think there was over two hundred Vampires in that warehouse. It’s like you were asking to be killed".

Your eyes squinted with contempt. “Well, for your information, I had the Colt and the vamps only showed up after I got inside. And if I wanted to get myself killed, I’d be a Ghostfacers intern”.

His brows furrowed with confusion. “Who are the Ghostfacers?” You waved your hands dismissively. “Never mind about that. Look, you’re missing the point here. What we do, it’s for the good of others. What you do, is for the selfishness of your own gain”.

Metatron moved off the table and approached you again, entering your personal space. “Selfish? You think I’m selfish, do you?” You quickly reacted, using your right leg to push against his thigh.

He instantly grabbed your ankle and pulled both you and your chair forward, closing whatever distance remained between you. “Stop it” you warned, clutching at the arm rests and squirming your foot from his hold.

He released your ankle and moved closer, positioning his feet either side of yours to restrain them and clutching at your hands. You were now trapped in your chair, unable to free your hands and watched as he leant in close.

“I know that you like me, little Hunter. Would it be selfish if I kissed you right now? Or would it be for the good of both of us?” Your eyes grew wide, heartbeat increasing as he towered over you.

“Have you kissed an Angel before?” You stumbled over your words, unable to form a coherent sentence. “I, um. You... That’s” …

He teased you with a sneaky grin on his face. “I bet you’re curious, aren’t you?”  Just say the word, and I’ll leave you be”. He slowly inched his face closer to yours. Conflicting emotions were running through your mind.

One of God’s beloved creations was trying to kiss you. This was the most interest anyone had shown you in months, but on the other hand, this was Metatron. A power grabbing, narcissistic being that hurt the people closest to you.

Dean now strolled back into the room and saw Metatron leaning over you. He immediately thought that you were being harassed, so warned the scribe to back off. “Hey! You’d better move back now, unless you wanna stay in the dungeon until Cas gets here".

Metatron quickly stood up straight, raising his hands defensively and flashing Dean a look of innocence. “What? We were just talking”. Dean remained unconvinced. “If that was just talking, then I’m the queen of Sheba”.

You hastily rose from your chair, feeling concerned and a little bit angry. Looking Metatron dead in the eyes, you lifted your leg and kneed him in the balls. He immediately keeled over and winced in pain. "Ouch! That was so uncalled for". You moved past him and warned him in a calm and threatening tone. "Touch me again, and I will end you".

You walked past Dean, who was now looking at you, stunned and speechless. A sense of admiration prompted him to smirk. Looking over to Metatron, who was holding the table for balance, you flashed him your middle finger before leaving the room.

Dean grabbed a chair, spinning it round and sitting down opposite him. "Serves you right Dude. You were being an asshole". As he took a sip of his beer, Metatron sat on your chair and thought about what you said.

Was he really the villain? He just wanted to return Heaven to its former glory. Before God took off and the Angels became divided. He realized that now is the time to switch sides and step up to the plate.

It's a chance to stop a real evil; to stop the apocalypse and do his father proud.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

[aipoweredcustomerservice]

Your Customer Service Staff Has No Idea How Lucky They Are!

You've been so focused on your business that you forgot to see your employees. Is the position you made available enough to keep your employees happy for even satisfied? Is the position and not is your widget or product enough. Is it the tax on the planet and best-selling it make your staff jump for joy? Probably not. Many employees are arriving daily to accomplish a means to an end for eight hours and they don't really care what they sell. AI-powered customer service , of course, they don't care if they sell either. This is a bad scenario for retailers. Your widget better not have any competition or be able to sell itself otherwise, you better start to care about your employee's feelings and whether they like selling them.

So how do you motivate your entire sales team to sell more and drive more traffic to your business? Show them how to take advantage of you. Teach them how to use your widgets for their own personal and financial gain.

I guarantee no employer before you has ever taught their staff how to cut corners and take advantage of a system for their own personal gain. Yet that is exactly what you will be doing when you help create even their first customer relationship.

Now, this is a customer the employee can greet by name or wave to fondly from across the room indicating you will be assisting them momentarily even from a different department in the store.

This is cutting corners and yet the guest feels as though he/she is getting more customer service and anyone around them. This one customer service trick alone will save your employee hours over the course of a year! It saves hundreds of yards walked a year. Wouldn't you like your employees to have more energy for the things they like to do after work?

Knowing your customers by name does just that.

Employees can tell an entire store that the person who just walked in is their own personal customer with a simple wave.

There are so many nonverbal and verbal ways to communicate with good, regular customers, but this is only possible. Once you know the customer's name. It will save so much time, energy and stress your employees will be made.

It is also much more difficult to be rude or curt with someone who knows you by name. So your employees experience far fewer inpatient or unfriendly customers and for more customers who treat them with respect and even wish them happiness.

What a different experience the same store can be for the employee who has even one regular customer a day who they would know by name. Helping them find and choose things, learning their tastes and even personal details about their life, children and careers. This type of customer is like shopping with a friend and still getting paid. It's the closest thing to a stolen hour that they can get and the crazy thing is that only they can create this scenario. No one else can do it for them. How do you learn customer's names, you may ask? It's quite simple actually.

Here are two ways; get their names before they become customers or learn names while assisting customers who are coming in anyway.

Why assist nameless people who might be unfriendly when you can turn them into "friends of the business," who want and request you.

Why settle for the standard that has been set years ago when clearly times have changed?

Windows to new connections have been newly thrown open due to the internet and the ability to create connections has never before been this easy.

If your employees prefer not to engage people who they could be building relationships with then they are absolute fools!

You never know where a relationship may benefit you.

As an employer, you are now supplying them everything they need to make their eight hours into a powerhouse of opportunity and promise and their eight hour day will seem more like four hours so if they prefer the old-fashioned ways, then they are no smarter than someone standing in an outhouse with the Yellow Pages and a princess phone.

Each employee has the limitless possibility to open, create, benefit from and even profit from a relationship with multiple regular customers.

"Regular customer energy" is infectious as well. Your other clients will want to be called by name and given what seems to be superior and unique customer service treatment.

If you have an employee incentive program in place, even better! Start a rewards challenge involving introducing customers to the manager. The employee with the most introductions wins a prize. The employee wins the prize, gains customers and request plus now the customer is known by the manager of the store, making it all the more enticing to shop and refer friends.

The competitive "name that name." Challenge is actually a fantastic tool that your employees will benefit and use in every area of their life! (Free networking tool with this week's paycheck: Make sure they are writing customer's names down in a book. You don't want to remember someone one week but not the next.)

In my opinion, you are creating bad customer service by making your widget the focus of everyone's attention. Clue phone! It's not the best widget ever! The focus shouldn't even be the customer! The focus should be your employees, the conduit to the sale and how to make them happier to drive more traffic. They need to feel loved and appreciated at some point in the equation.

I assume, for example, that your managers are not telling them how great they are, maybe they are only pointing out your employee's flaws and mistakes. Maybe the customers are unappreciative or inpatient, maybe even rude. If your employee didn't really even love your widget in the first place but has too much personal debt or responsibility to look for other job opportunities. This is not the best equation to a purchase. In fact if this employee is frustrated enough. He may be displaying passive aggressive behaviors onto every customer experience and you don't even know it.

What's shocking is that you and you alone have the power to turn your black and white, cold, boring store into a virtual Candy-land of daily opportunity and excitement for your staff. You just choose not to because the old ways are much more comfortable.

Well "comfortable" is going to put you out of business my friend. Things are they really very different and you better get up to speed and start engaging your staff, and giving them the tools and structure that they are asking for or they will eventually go somewhere else but not before the unhappy and unsatisfied feelings seep through the cracks of every conversation that could have easily blossomed into repeat customers, but instead became a poor customer experience, complete with bad mouthing your store's reputation, bashing on the Internet and around town. Or worse, they say nothing and eventually you close your doors. Stop this vicious cycle and cater to the needs of your employees.

Their days don't need to be interminable until they move on. Make it fulfilling so they never want to leave!

It's not about your widget. It's not even about the customer! It's about the people who make you want the widget, buy the widget, take pictures and post about the widget and the experience buying the widget. It's the people who shake your hand when you enter the store and ask how your kids are. It's the people that customers want to thank and send holiday cards to, recommend to friends and for promotions, call with funny stories or questions because they know they are wanted and appreciated by these people, appreciated personally and not just for their wallets! It's about your employees. These are the people who personalize your business your brand and your widgets.

Employees: if you want to make your working life better, easier, more fun and more profitable than call your customers by name. The way to accomplish this is very easy. Mention your own name a few times or assist your customer with things not related to what you are selling.

Example; if customers are carrying bags, coats, umbrellas greet them and offer to put their items behind the counter or someplace safe. As they are handing their belongings to you asked for their name. (Don't be nervous! It's easy, and you are providing extra customer service they didn't know they needed or could possibly have.) Just say, "And your name? I'll put a little tag on it so everyone knows it's yours." Walla! With seems like extra effort on your part is actually the first step to creating your effortless workday and then workweek and ultimately career in a rewarding customer relations position. (Lucky dog!)

Now it is vitally important that at some point after getting your customer's name, you write it in a book that will become your regular customer's names book.

Do yourself a favor and purchase a standard composition book for customer's names. When you get a name put the date at the top of the page and jot down things like: weather conditions that day and a politically correct description of the customer plus her kids names or career... any little thing that she may have mentioned that will help jog your memory if you don't see her again for a few weeks.

Another way to get a customer's name is if they have children with them. Try keeping the kids entertained and or putting the stroller somewhere safe. You can introduce yourself and tell the mom or dad you are more than happy to help. Any time you are not busy. When they obviously appreciate you singing the A B Cs with Junior you can tell them that they can call the store at the time to let you know they are coming in and that way you can finish up with other clients Past to keep Junior company while year she shops.

They will be blown away by this extra customer service and thank you or need a few minutes to process amazing customer service for their first time. Customer service that they did not know they could have.

Keep it casual act as though it is no big deal to help keep their kids and occupied in this act will reward you, her and the store 10 times over!

At some point in offering your services to her, it will become comfortable ask for her name but... please make sure she gets your name! (Why? Because you never know!) This is your next regular customer, but it is even better now, through telling her "mom" friends about the store and you personally they were excited.

This is how you loo; ( Retail Example: mother with children distractedly trying to shop while kids are requiring her attention too - ask age appropriate questions of the kid(s) ("Hey does anyone know the ABC's?") then smile & say, "You shop, we'll follow." then immediately turn your attention back to the kids and ask your next question. "That was great! Does anyone here know what the Itsy Bitsy spider went up?"

She will smile and try this new idea out, thankful for the relief or say, "That's OK", uncomfortable with something new. Either way you did something new unrelated to selling and she now knows this is a shopping experience only you provide. If she excepts your Above & Beyond, expert customer service, you will now be someone she seeks out whenever she shops and will start coming to your store because of you!

When someone accepts your help, you just created an opportunity for a dialog and from there: a customer for life. You now have opportunities to get your name out there and make sure that the person knows the unique experience you bring to the table. A mom who accepts your help will remember you for life and tell friends... whether she buys something or not! You see when you work in retail you have more power over your paycheck than you think and what you have all around you is limitless opportunity to harness that power no matter what kind of products you sell!

When "your mom" customer is leaving the store now, make sure she knows you can always do this for her when you are here and not busy. (Tell her this whether she accepted your help today or not. This gives her something to think about if she didn't) this opens the door for three obvious questions: Who are you and when are you here? And when should I shop that you are not busy?

You just took a less than perfect situation for a mother and turned it, not only into an opportunity, but a scenario where she will ask for your name, the days that you work, plan to come back earlier and tell friends!)

When you tell her, "Feel free to call the store a few minutes before you get here so I can finish up with whomever I am working with. What is your name by the way?" - This no pressure customer service attitude has nothing to do with the clothes or widgets so she will happily tell you are name and be sure she gets yours.

If she seems really enthusiastic write your name on a piece of paper or store business card. When she reaches for the card, pull it back and say, "Oh, I should write the days I'm working days too."

In her head you have already moved her to the head of the line, in front of other customers when she calls to tell you of her eminent arrival, now you are pulling back the only piece of paper that has your name on it. The name she does not want to forget. People don't like having things taken away from them. So this will further solidify your name in her memory.

You made her life easier for no apparent reason and for no financial or emotional gain for yourself and you told her you will hurry others along in preparation for her arrival. Now that is customer service! She feels like a queen and you created that with the same exact amount of time and space that your coworkers would use to complain about something.