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justanoutlawfic · 6 years ago

Text

You’ll Be In My Heart: Chapt. 3

Summary: Regina's always said she'd do anything to get her son back..but will that include marrying into the family she's despised for years?

Also on AO3

Regina had never been one for big white weddings. Her first had been a huge affair, mostly because of Cora and Daniel’s mother. She wore a dress that was carefully picked out and her father had practically drained his savings, all to give his little girl the wedding of her dreams…or his wife’s dreams. Sure, Regina wasn’t a brat about it. The wedding was beautiful and she knew she was blessed to have one so nice, she was especially lucky that her mother had blessed her marrying a teacher rather than a doctor or a lawyer like Cora had always dreamed for her. Still, it had been too hectic for her to enjoy. The dinner of salmon and fresh greens had looked delicious, but she barely had time to eat between the dances and thanking all the guests.

Still, her second wedding wasn’t exactly what she had planned either.

Robin had convinced her that the sooner they got everything done, the better. So, she had packed a bag that would last her until she could arrange with Mal to have her things shipped across the country and hastily typed an e-mail to her boss. She had worked at the muesem for 7 years and it felt so wrong to just up and leave with no notice, but she also knew it was her only shot at getting her son back.

Regina didn’t consider what she was doing was crazy until she was halfway to California, sitting first class besides Robin, a man she barely knew. She hadn’t stopped to consider that this was all some big trick. Though, what sense would that be? Flying her out first class, just to say “Gotchya!” seemed too low, even for the Locksley family. The diamond weighing down her left ring finger was another sign that it was all very real.

Still, she knew she could’ve thought it through more. If it had been for any other reason, maybe she would’ve. It was Henry, the son she hadn’t seen in 5 years. If there was even a small chance that she could get to see him for even five seconds, she’d do it.

A part of her wondered if she should’ve called Daniel. He had been Henry’s father, after all. Sure, he hadn’t been as hands on as Regina, but he clearly loved that little boy and losing him had taken a toll. At the same time, Regina knew that there wasn’t a role in his life for Henry the way things were. Robin was his father, for all intents and purposes. Bringing Daniel along would just confuse things. Besides, he had remarried, used a sperm donor with his second wife to have a child of their own. Regina could never understand how he could do that. Up until Robin knocked on her door, she never pictured having another child.

“Everyone grieves in different ways”, Regina remembered her therapist telling her when she had vented about it.

Regina looked over at Robin, taking him in. If she had to pick a husband for looks, she’d be lying if she said he wasn’t a candidate. He was truly handsome, with dreamy blue eyes and a smile that was probably responsible for global warming. It was his personality she was still iffy about. He seemed a lot better than the rest of the Locksley family that she had interacted with, but at the same time, what did that really say?

She didn’t pull herself out of her thoughts until they were landing in San Francisco. Robin had explained that he wanted to elope there and they could spend the night, before driving into Napa Valley the following day. She wanted more than anything to see Henry, but realized he was probably getting ready for bed, even with the time change factored in.

“Feeling jet lagged?” Robin asked as they walked from baggage claim to the carpark.

“Not really. I traveled a lot in college, so I’m used to bigger time changes.”

“Anywhere fun?”

“Barcelona was probably my favorite, though Tokyo was beautiful.”

“I went there just last month for business.”

Regina tilted her head. “You travel often?”

“I try not to, with Henry and all. Ever since my dad got sick, the board’s been working to find a replacement for him but it’s not easy.”

“You have no interest in taking over the family business?”

“God, no. I mean, I love working for it. It’s great, but I could never be in charge.” He paused. “I looked into some museums, along with the local colleges. If you still want to work that is.”

Regina folded her arms over her chest. defensively “Why wouldn’t I want to work? It’s not like I’m doing this for your money.”

“I just figured you’d want to reunite with Henry for a bit first is all.”

Regina frowned. Why did she always assume the worst?

Because you don’t trust this family and for good reason, she thought to herself.

“Even so, he’s in school. I’m sure I’ll want to look for a job, even if it’s just part time. I was a stay at home mom the first year, it’s just not for me.”

“I understand.” They approached a silver four door Audi and he removed his keys, clicking the unlock button. “I couldn’t do it either.”

Regina settled in on the leather seat, trying her best to become comfortable. “What’s he like…Henry?”

“Like I said earlier, he’s super smart. He’s reading at a 5th grade level, despite only being in 2nd grade, is doing math at a 3rd grader level and spelling tests…” He gave a flip of his hand as they pulled out of the carpark. “Never misses a word.”

Regina squirmed in her seat, hoping her face wasn’t too green with envy. That should’ve been her singing Henry’s praises. Heaven knows she had done it enough when he was learning how to walk and the ABC song. She knew she couldn’t be bitter, she had 5 years to catch up on.

“He has a kitten, Socks. Begged for one for over a year, finally figured he was responsible enough for one.”

“And how much work do you do?”

A smile tugged on Robin’s lips. “Just change the litterbox, he’ll feed him and refill his water.”

“Suppose that’s not the worst.”

“You’re not the one cleaning cat poop.”

“Not yet,” she corrected.

“Ah, yes. Someone to share the duties with. That’s a perk.” He glanced over at her before returning his eyes to the road. “I do have a housekeeper that comes 5 days a week.”

“You can get rid of her, I don’t mind cleaning and cooking.”

“It’s a big house. I’d want to keep her at least a few days. At least for the cleaning.”

Regina sighed, knowing it was best not to argue over that. “Who’s he staying with? A nanny?”

“No, my sister and her husband. They adore him.”

“Does he have a nanny?”

“Yes. She picks him up from school and watches him when I have meetings, but she’s been prepped for a decrease in her schedule. Ashley will work with you as needed. Same with our housekeeper, Johanna.”

“And your father?”

“Mary Margaret and David live with him at the estate, there’s also a fulltime nurse there to care for him. You won’t see him, unless you want to.”

“I think I’ve seen enough of Leopold Locksley to last me a lifetime.”

Robin nodded, clearly not feeling the need to argue. Regina found herself a bit confused at that. She wasn’t exactly close with Cora, but outside her sister, she was the only one that was allowed to say anything about her. Every family was different, she supposed. Besides…she was about to become a Locksley, wasn’t she?

Eventually, Robin pulled up in front of their hotel. He grabbed their bags from the trunk and lead them inside, checking them in.

“I got us a suite, two bedrooms,” he explained.

Regina wanted to argue that it wasn’t worth the money, but then remembered who she was talking to. “Sounds nice.”

As the bellman arrived to take their bags, they were approached by a tall man with thinning grey hair. Robin introduced him as the man that would be officiating them, a younger woman with him as a witness. They went into the business center of the hotel and were given the certificate. Robin signed it with ease, before handing the pen to Regina. It felt heavy in her hands, as she stared at the words in front of her.

Just seven hours ago, she had been home, in cozy clothes. Now she stood in the business center of a nice hotel, with three strangers by her side and she was marrying one of them. Her mother didn’t know what she was doing, hell even her friends didn’t know. They were going to say that it was crazy.

Regina’s mind flashed to Henry. The little boy she had been forced to give up, after loving for so long. The son that had never left her heart. Her mind floated to the blanket that was in her bag, the one the social worker had removed him from when she ripped him from Regina’s arms. Regina had slept with it for months, even long after it lost Henry’s scent. She had tried to replace it, but no amount of baby detergent did the trick.

She had a chance of seeing that sweet baby again, and she was going to grab it by the throat.

With a flourish, Regina signed her name to the certificate, legally binding her to Robin Locksley. She should’ve felt more nervous, but she also knew she hadn’t been more confident of anything in her life.

#you'll be in my heart verse #outlaw queen #outlaw queen au #regal believer #regal believer au

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bokunoheroimagines · 6 years ago

Note

OOOHHHH I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING REALLY CUTE!!!!! okay so Todoroki and/or bakugou has a crush on a student transfer from america and they have a language class (english) that they suck at so they ask her to help tutor them and she agrees but asks if they can help her with math or whatever (you can choose) and it ends up with them having super fluffy study dates

((it’s long, so it’s under a cut))

Todoroki hated asking for help, especially on schoolwork, but something had to be done. As it stood, he was just failing English. He’d mulled over the options for awhile before settling on the perfect tutor. Not Yaoyorozu; effective as she was, she’d get swept away in the excitement of being a hostess. Not Midoriya either, Todoroki had seen his English grade and it was only a step up. And Iida, while reliable, did so well in English that Todoroki felt a bit embarrassed to ask him. So then that left you, Class 1A’s most recent addition from America. You left a little earlier than everyone else usually, you hadn’t yet moved into the dorms and were staying with a host family. And this, of course, left Todoroki racing to find you before you went home one day, and he found you at the shoe lockers.

You had just slipped on your shoes when he came into view, clearly out of breath. “[Name]. Good.” You reached into your bag to offer him some water, but he waved it away. “Sorry for keeping you, but I have a favor to ask of you.”

You straightened up considerably, eyes wide at how absolutely disheveled he looked. Had he run through the whole school? “Yes, anything!” You seemed nervous, suddenly, but Todoroki forged ahead.

“Well I. I’m failing English right now, and you speak English. So—”

“You want teacher?” You weren’t perfectly fluent, it seemed, since that sentence was a little choppy, but Todoroki nodded anyway. You just grinned at him, so dazzling he almost had to avert his eyes, and spoke again. “Okay. Can you help me with history then? I’m not good at it.”

That was something he could do. Behind Yaoyorozu, he had the top history score in class. You settled on Friday afternoon at your place, shook on it (which felt foreign and weird), and parted ways for the day.

It hadn’t occurred to Todoroki that you would want to walk with him to your house, but when you waited for him and asked if he was ready to go, he immediately felt his hands clam up. Still, he kept an even pace, listening to you chatter about your host family. It seems you would have the house to yourselves that afternoon.

“Todoroki, how do you call that in English?” You were pointing at a cat on a fence, leading along two tabby kittens.

“Ah, a ‘cat.’”

“And her babies?”

Crap. The only reason Todoroki remembered “cat” was because of the training with the Pussycats. “Uh… ‘kocat?”

You made an “eeeeeeh” noise, like the buzzer of a game show. “No! A baby cat is a ‘kitten’. How do you call their colors?”

Todoroki didn’t think the lessons would start right now! “Well… that one is ‘black,’ I think,” you nodded and he felt a wave of relief, “the other one… ‘yellow?’”

You shook your head. “No, he is ‘orange.’ They look close though. ‘Yellow’ is…” you trotted off the path for a second and came back with a pale flower from the side of the road, “like this! Do you know all the color names, Todoroki?” He nodded. The class might be doing the most rudimentary English course possible, but he could at least name the basic colors. “Good! What are they learning you right now?”

Right, you weren’t in the English courses. The administration had thought it would be smartest to have you improve on your Japanese rather than learn a language you already knew. “Descriptions, I think. Present Mic just shouts the whole time, so it’s hard to tell.”

You snickered a bit at that, probably having heard Mic from where you sat practicing Japanese. “I can do that!” You pulled a house key out of your bag and trotted up to a porch, ushering Todoroki inside. “Make yourself at home! Want a drink?”

“Water, please.” Todoroki busied himself with glancing around the room. It was well-kept and modest, with a TV and a couch and all of the appropriate furnishings of a living room. He wouldn’t admit it, but he felt a bit relieved that you were living somewhere nice.

“If you can say in English, I will give it to you.”

Crap. What was the word for water again? It started with a ‘W,’ right? “‘…Can I have waiter, please?’” Yeah, that sounded right.

“It’s ‘water.’ A ‘waiter’ is a server at a restaurant.” Oh. How embarrassing. “But you were close, so okay. Do you want ice?”

“ ‘Yes, ice is good.’ “

You were beaming.

And so with a vocabulary list of adjectives in front of you, you began your lesson. “So, let’s begin with an easy one. Describe yourself with as many words as you can think.”

How was that an easy one? What was Todoroki even like? Who was he? He couldn’t tell you in Japanese, let alone English!

But you stared at him expectantly, so he had to dredge up something. “I am… uh, tall,” you nodded, “smart, I guess… strong?” Todoroki couldn’t think of any other English words that would fit. But you seemed satisfied, so he let himself rest.

“Okay, now… Bakugou!”

“Loud and annoying.”

“Aizawa?”

“Sleepy, fast.”

“Fast?”

“I fought him for the final exam. He’s fast.”

You nodded, and continued with your questioning. You went through a good portion of the class, correcting Todoroki where needed, until you reached the end.

“Midoriya?”

“Kind, strong, a good friend. What did you call him earlier?”

“‘A little dorky?”

“Yes.”

You giggled, and moved to the final classmate.

“Okay, how about me?”

Todoroki felt his mouth dry up. You were staring at him so earnestly, having long since drained your water and swirling the ice cubes in the glass. He had to say something innocuous, something neutral, but true.

“Um… Smart, nice, helpful, pretty, hard work.” He followed up his more flirtatious statement far too quickly, you definitely noticed. He glanced at your glass, then at your face, turned to the kitchen with a blush.

“Well I don’t know about all that, but thank you. Do you feel better about English for now?”

He nodded, thankful that you seemed to brush it off.

“That’s good! But it’s important to practice a lot. Come next Friday, do it again?”

You seemed bashful about asking, but Todoroki decided not to point it out. “ ‘I will be here.’ ”

Your grin reached from ear to ear.

#bnha imagines #todoroki shouto #I FINISHED IT AAAAAAAAA

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artistic-arborealist · 7 years ago

Text

Chatlog between artistic-arborealist and bloodiedwater

[Takes place sometime shortly after this post.

IC private, posted under the cut.]

bloodiedwater

hey

I-

I kind of

appreciate?

your optimism and spirit-upness?

and that's nice or something I guess.

I just thought maybe I could talk to you some more since you

Whatever

Never mind it's not very important

Um but. Thank you for your responses to me? I know I can sometimes be brusque and I'm sorry or whatever?

Are you ignoring me.

Um.

Oh my god this was such a bad idea.

Anyway whatever it's not very important to me.

artistic-arborealist

Well, I'm glad I could ~help a little~, then!

Even if it doesn't address the ~root of the problem~.

And I can definitely talk!

It was a ~good idea~!

Sorry, I just got out of work!

(Spring-pet pic offer is still open, if you want! And I'm ~right by the lab~!)

bloodiedwater

a. spring pet. pic.

what is. a spring pet. pic

Is it where you take a picture of your pet, that you got for spring.

I don't like pets. I thought I mentioned that earlier.

artistic-arborealist

Oh, sorry! So I work in pharmaceutical engineering! Basically we make pets better satisfy spring-instincts!

So I work with a large amount of ~large-eyed puppies and kittens~!

bloodiedwater

wow that's nice huh

artistic-arborealist

But you definitely don't have to look at them!

bloodiedwater

stop being so----!!!

aaaaa!

if you want to show me them--!

I don;t even like animals that much

Oh my god I can't believe I freaked out about this

Sorry

I am making such a mess out of this!

Are you mad at me?

artistic-arborealist

You're fine! And I am ~not mad~!

bloodiedwater

This is so stupid. I'm sorry for being so weird about stupid animal pictures

Of course you are oh my god oh my god oh my god

WHY DO YOU HATE ME

...okay forget about all that

bloodiedwater

sorry

I am not very good at, stopping to think before i send messages

I bet I sent you too many. and now I'm sending you more.

this is why I don't message people very much. oh my god

ARE YOU MAD AT ME?

artistic-arborealist

It sounds like you're having a really hard day.

And no, I'm ~really not mad~!

You really don't have to like animals! They're just my go-to for sad people in the spring, because I am ~not actually that great at being comforting~!

bloodiedwater

I'm not even having that bad--! a day!

I just! am bad at interacting with people okay???

artistic-arborealist

Well, I suck at being comforting, so ~we're even~!

~So there~!

bloodiedwater

If you WANT to send me some PICTURES OF SPRING ANIMALS THEN YOU CAN, OKAY?

You didn't win! I won!

^witness: me making a joke

I was playing along with your joke

at least I think it was a joke.

maybe it wasn't?

artistic-arborealist

It was ~joking~, yes!

"Oh gee, your sad, and that's ~bad~!" (It's me, I'm the ~bad at comforting person~.)

bloodiedwater

huh?

in my language you can't possess sadness

Well, you can, just not like how you phrased it...

usually we'd put a copula there?

inflected for the second person?

artistic-arborealist

Oh my gosh, I left off the verb, sorry! That ~should be~ "you are sad" not "you sad"!

But wait, it's being translated as ~possessive~???

~Translation project~, why!!!

bloodiedwater

dang

sorry

do you want me to not correct you

I can do that

I guess

sorry

artistic-arborealist

It's ~not your fault~!

bloodiedwater

I'm not really sorry but I'm apologizing anyway.

Well that's true. It's totally your fault,

so I shouldn't apologize for it,

I'm glad we're square on that.

artistic-arborealist

I blame the translation project!

My country's translation project is a ~moldy potato~!

bloodiedwater

Oh. Okay.

Is that why you're so weird.

Always with the tildes.

Do you mean to sound. So optimistic. And enthusiastic.

Since.

That is a main quality of the you who inhabits a minuscule portion of my mind.

And it would be too bad, if it was just, you know.

The translation project

Since they aren't bad qualities. At all.

I mean in some cases they would be bad.

Really bad.

artistic-arborealist

I am using, "I'm happy to be having a conversation with you" punctuation!

bloodiedwater

But in the cases you are in now they are not, in whole, bad traits

What kind of punctuation am I using.

artistic-arborealist

And I do my best to be ~optimistic~!

So, most people in other languages seem to be using ~neutral punctuation~! It makes everyone sound like they're writing for an academic essay, a little!

bloodiedwater

oh.

does it hurt you?

to try so hard to be optimistic?

are you upset?

artistic-arborealist

["Does it hurt," wonders Arbor.]

[They would have completely denied it, before...]

I don't think it ~hurts me to try~?

But I feel bad for failing, sometimes? Since I've been a ~bit of a downer lately~.

bloodiedwater

Oh.

It's okay to be sad.

You seem kind of down.

It's okay to be sad around other people

even if they feel sadder afterwards.

because.

Yeah.

artistic-arborealist

~Thank you~

I've been moping, and lots of people keep telling me that they're totally fine, and I'm not ~bringing them down at all~.

And I can tell they're lying to make me feel better.

Everyone else has moved on, but it still hurts for me.

And I don't want to remind them of it again, because it had ~hurt them too~.

bloodiedwater

Wow

That sucks.

Um. How do you know they are lying to you.

Um. Also. Fuck them

Not really

But

Fuck them

Mope when you want to mope

It's okay

When other people mope it's okay

Even if it makes you sadder, it is ok when other people mope

Instead of being freaking beams of sunshine. That you suspect. Are breaking down inside.

artistic-arborealist

So it's possible I'm just reading too much into normal topic changes, since I feel bad?

So that is actually ~really validating~ coming from you.

I mean, I've had the "It's ~alright to cry~," talk from my family

But they're my family, they're obliged tell me that.

bloodiedwater

no they aren't

they are just... saying nice things to you because.

they think it's okay. for you to cry.

but. it is nice that you find talking to me pleasant. for some. reason.

>So it's possible I'm just reading too much into normal topic changes, since I feel bad? huh?

artistic-arborealist

So, I know that ~intellectually~ but it still helps to hear it from a non-family person!

(And why wouldn't I find talking to you pleasant?)

Oh, that was in reply to "~how do [I] know they're lying~".

bloodiedwater

Lots of people don't

Or so I hear

Like talking

To me

I mean

Since I talk

Sort of funny

And

Maybe not about

Very interesting

Things

Yeah

Sorry

also since I get

Really insecure about things

like this actually

I get really worried that people are mad at me even when they're not mad at me!

And I don't worry enough that people are mad at me when they are mad at me and everything blows up in my face and it is so awful!!!

Oh my god

I'm really nervous about talking to you actually

Or, I was

I mean

I am not

Great at talking to new people

Yeah

But

Yeah

I am really glad

That you seem to

That you've said that you enjoy talking to me?

And I guess I'll take you on your word?

and because you haven't blocked me?

Anyway. You were saying. Something.

About

How you were mourning or something

Oh god I am so bad this

Whole

Reciprocal

Conversation

Thing

["why aren't they responding," thinks bida frantically. "why aren't they responding. did I text them to much. are they mad at me. did they get hit by a locomotive vehicle."]

["what if texting me made them get run over by a locomotive vehicle?"]

artistic-arborealist

I think you talk fine and also about interesting things?

~Math is very interesting~!

[Meanwhile, Arbor is reading downward, and oblivious to the internal conflict occurring elsewhere.]

bloodiedwater

that is

a very nice

thing to say

appreciate

that

you said

though I don't

know if you really

mean it

or are just being

reassuring

in some generic way

because i do

talk funny

and that's just. the truth.

I need to

go to my job. which I have.

would it be okay if we talked again later?

I hope you're not mad at me?

I don't understand why you leave such long absences in between your messages!!

artistic-arborealist

I think you talk in a way that's understandable, and straightforward, and conveys information, which is ~generally what talking is for~?

But it is definitely okay to talk later!

bloodiedwater

I am

Really surprised

I don't

think most people

Understand

When I talk

I think

They think

It is funny

But thank

you.

And. ok

good bye

<3 ?

artistic-arborealist

~You're welcome~!

And I hope your ~day at work goes well~!

(And that one day the world stops being ~stupid~ and you get to go do math work, too!)

#amenta rp #ooc #chatlog

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khirsahle · 7 years ago

Text

30 questions

Tagged by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

1) Nicknames - Hmm, not really. My name doesn’t lend itself to nicknames, alas. In school, I was often called “Kitty” or “Kitten”, but if someone tried that now, I wouldn’t be so amused.

2.) Gender - Cis Female

3.) Star sign - Scorpio and proud, muthafucka!

4.) Height - 5′5″ - You know how when you’re young, doctors will sometimes guess how tall you’ll be? My doctor was convinced I’d be over 6′0′‘. Nooope. That skipped me.

5.) Time – Currently 6:39 PM

6.) Birthday - I’m a Scorpio.

7.) Favourite band – I...do not have one. I have bands I love to listen to, but not a single favorite.

8.) Favourite solo artist – Vienna Teng is pretty high up there, so sure, let’s go with that.

9.) Song stuck in my head – Call Me Maybe, and it is ALL LadySass’s fault. Ever since she started writing Cullen Me Maybe, that is all I can hear. I’m cursed.

10.) Last movie you watched – It. I went with the boy and some close friends. So, look. I hate It (the book). Massive massive hate. Not only is the structure absolutely ridiculous (seriously, his editor should have known better), but the sexism is just off the charts. But while I hate the book, I can’t seem to quit King. He’s one of the major influences on my own writing. So I went to see the movie, and hey. It was decent. Not great, but they fixed some of the things I hated most even if they totally forgot Mike was even there and went schlocky horror instead of suspense.

I’m just saying, if they had gone pure kids on bikes horror genre, it would have been a good movie. As it was...eh! It was okay! Too many jump-scares and not enough actual scares.

11.) Last show you watched – The Good Place. I love it so much.

12.) When did I create my blog – ...*shrugs*. Right before I posted Lonely Ghosts.

13.) What do I post – Mostly fic-related, plus reblogs. I’m not much of a discourse-poster, as I tend to prefer sticking to the outer rings of fandom whenever there’s a fight.

14) Last thing I googled – Beat the bushes. I said this today to someone at work and they stared at me like I was INSANE. I hadn’t realized it wasn’t a term everyone knew. (She’d heard of “beat around the bush”, but not “beat the bushes”.) Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure the two come from the same source and yet mean opposite things.

15.) Do you have other blogs – Nah. That seems like a lot of work keeping them separate.

17.) Why did you choose your url – *laughs* Because someone already took “Khirsah” (JERK!) and I’m bad at French.

18.) Following – 55

19.) Followers – 2,455. I keep thinking I should do a giveaway at 2,500. That seems like a good time to do something.

20.) Favourite colours – Torquoise, robin’s egg blue, etc.

21.) Average hours of sleep – Around 7. I cannot function on 6, though I function just fine on 4.

22.) Lucky number – 33, 24, 27, 16. 0/00. Funny story. I am kidnapped and taken on cruises about once a year. I know, wah wah wah, but see, I am 1) allergic to the sun and 2) TERRIFIED OF MARINE LIFE. So I can neither sit on the beach OR go into the ocean. I usually just sit under an umbrella or in the cabana, editing/working. But anyway, the future in-laws always give us money for gambling. I? Am also not a gambler, but I play along every year and play Roulette whenever the family goes down to the casino. Because whatever, it is easy and doesn’t involve math.

Turns out, my apathy breeds insane luck.

I always play those numbers, plus sometimes a few others that I like the looks of at any given moment. And so far, I always come away with multiples of my initial money. Like, sometimes around 5-7x the amount. Any time I actually start to care, I totally do terribly. But when I don’t give any fucks? By the end of the trip, I’m always up by quite a bit.

Once, this man--who was losing heavily, which is usually my cue to leave, as I REALLY HATE watching people lose their money, omg, it makes me so uncomfortable--kept talking about his “system”. “You’ve gotta have a system!” he kept saying, playing Roulette what I assume is the correct way. He kept losing and losing, and I kept winning and winning. Finally he turned to me and begged me to tell him my system.

“...I just pick numbers I like,” I said. “I really don’t know what else to tell you.”

He was...less than impressed. And left almost immediately after. But hey, lucky 33, 24, 27, 16, and 0/00, amirite? (Gambling is the worst.)

23.) Instruments I played – Voice and fiddle, neither well

24.) What am I wearing – Today I went with a cranberry-colored A-line dress with a sweetheart cut-out and swiss dot-style mesh collar. Hair up in a bun, with my black frame glasses and wingtip eyeliner. A necklace that says “There They’re Their. Idiot.”

25.) How many blankets I sleep with – One sheet and one fuzzy aquamarine blanket. The boy has his own sheet and blanket. I do not share.

26.) Dream job – Already pretty much there, actually. God, sometimes I want to punch me. I’m sorry. If it helps, I’d also love to be a Young Adult author.

27.) Dream trip – Antarctica!!

28.) Favourite food – I love chicken satay to an unhealthy degree. I’m also a huge fan of Israeli couscous.

29.) Nationality – United States. Southern United States. (But I don’t really have an accent unless I get REALLY excited or REALLY mad. Then the drawl is unleashed as the claws extend.)

30.) Favourite song – My Medea by Vienna Teng

I tag anyone! Anyone including @ardatli @delazeur @sasskarian @pluckyredhead I don’t want you to feel pressured, though, so only answer if you want.

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unifiedsocialblog · 6 years ago

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How to Use Twitter Analytics: The Complete Guide for Marketers

There’s no sense tweeting into the void when you can take advantage free and easy Twitter analytics tools.

Whether you’re developing a social media strategy or running a marketing campaign, Twitter analytics can help you support your ideas or refine your approach. In a Twittersphere filled with upward of 500 million tweets a day, knowing how to translate Twitter analytics into actionable Twitter insights is key to standing out and reaching a wider audience.

In this complete guide, find out why you should be using Twitter analytics, which stats to track, and what tools to track them with.

Bonus: Download the free strategy guide that reveals how Hootsuite grew our Twitter following to over 8 million users and learn how you can put the tactics to work for your business.

Key benefits of using Twitter Analytics

In case the benefits of digging into Twitter metrics aren’t obvious, here are a few reasons you should get tracking.

Learn about your audience

Know thy audience should be one of the first rules in the playbook of every social media marketer. An appreciation of demographic variables such age, gender, household income, language, and geography goes a long way to crafting content that will connect.

With any platform, it’s good to start by familiarizing yourself with overall audience demographics. Doing so will help you understand where sites like Twitter fit into your larger social media marketing strategy.

For instance, knowing that 73 percent of Twitter users are also on Instagram might convince a brand to get on both platforms. But it should also prompt them to stop cross-posting the same message on all channels (tsk, tsk!).

After forming a basic overview of Twitter’s demographics, you can use these insights to benchmark against your own audience figures. For example, 57 percent of global Twitter users are men. If 65 percent of your audience is men, the gender split is more meaningful when compared with the global or national average.

You’ll find follower information in Twitter’s Audience Insights dashboard. In addition to core demographic categories, Twitter allows brands to target audiences based on interests, what device they use, behaviour, and keywords. Audience info can also be used to find other followers of relevant accounts who may be interested in what you have going on.

Find out what content resonates

Twitter may have boosted its character limit to 280, but the platform still recommends that brands keep tweets short and sweet. Twitter data also shows that people are three times more likely to engage with tweets that contain videos and photos. So, including visuals tends to be a good rule of thumb on the platform.

Beyond best practices, however, Twitter analytics tools will help determine what kind of content your audience really likes. Say you’re a pet clothing brand. Maybe your cute photos of puppies and kittens always perform well, but felines consistently edge out canines when it comes to engagement. This might mean you have more cat people followers and should up your kitty content.

Post at optimal times

Once you’ve released a tweet into the Twittersphere, it typically has about a 24-minute half-life, finds Wiselytics. That’s four times shorter than the average post on Facebook. This means tweeting at the right time can often be the difference between a viral post and a flop.

As we explain in our blog post on the best times to post on each social network, there’s no consensus on the most optimal time tweet. In Hootsuite’s case, posts made around 3 p.m., Monday to Friday tend to perform best with our B2B Twitter audience.

But your own specific audience geography data will help inform your Tweeting schedule. If most of your followers are in Japan, then you may want to think twice about posting at 3 p.m. eastern standard time. Twitter’s official partner Union Metrics will also analyze your stats and tell you what time has worked best for your tweets in the past, so you can make sure you’re posting when your followers are actually online.

In terms of cadence, we recommend tweeting at least once a day to attract and engage followers. As a general rule, maintaining a consistent frequency establishes a predictable rhythm for your followers. If you do experiment with frequency, be sure to track Twitter analytics (especially follower count) to see how your followers react.

See if your ads are working

If you’re putting your money where your tweets are, then you’re going to want to know if it’s paying off.

Whether you’re running Twitter Ad Campaigns or boosting a few tweets in Promote Mode, comparing the results with organic posts will help you understanding how much bang you’re getting for your buck. Cost per result metrics and conversion trackers will also help with that (find more on these stats below).

Replicate success

Twitter’s Analytics Dashboard provides a pretty good overview of what’s working and what isn’t. Your top tweets will tell you what you’ve been doing right, so look for the commonalities between them.

Meanwhile, use your worst performing tweets as examples to learn from by trying to pinpoint what went wrong. You can use these findings when crafting your next tweet, creating a brand’s social media guidebook, or developing a campaign strategy.

10 Twitter Metrics That Matter to Marketers

Knowing how to use Twitter analytics effectively will help you make the most of them.

Best Twitter account metrics to track

Displayed monthly from your Twitter analytics dashboard, these account metrics provide a snapshot of standout activity.

1. Top tweet

What it measures: The tweet that earned the most impressions for a given month. Why it matters: Since this tweet reached your largest audience, it’s a good example of what you’re doing right. That could be tweeting at the right time of day, hashtag use, content that resonated, or all of the above. You may want to consider Quick Promoting this tweet as well.

2. New followers

What it measures: The number of new account followers in a particular month. Why it matters: Very often followers are people who have seen your content and want to see more of it. A follow is a longer-term engagement than a favourite or retweet, so if you see your follower count climbing, it’s a good overall sign. If it’s fallen, on the other hand, take note of potential causes and try to correct them.

3. Top follower

What it measures: The top follower of the month, with the highest number of their own followers. Why it matters: Your top followers hold the greatest potential to broaden the exposure of your tweets through retweets and favourites. They are also good connections to have when it comes to finding influencers.

4. Top mention

What it measures: A tweet with the most impressions in which another Twitter user has tagged your username. Why it matters: This Twitter user obviously has a noteworthy amount of social clout, so consider reaching out to them or keep them in mind for the next time you’re running an influencer campaign.

Best Tweet metrics to track

After a high-level analysis of your account’s performance, these are the analytics you should focus on to drill down on individual tweets.

5. Engagements

What it measures: anything a Twitter user has clicked on from your tweet, including photos, videos, links, avatar, username retweets, replies, likes, and expansion. Why it matters: These clicks mean that, after seeing your tweet, someone wanted to learn more about your brand or engage more with your content. If one of your objectives is to drive traffic to your website, keep an eye on this stat and use it to determine how well your call-to-actions are performing.

Bonus: Download the free strategy guide that reveals how Hootsuite grew our Twitter following to over 8 million users and learn how you can put the tactics to work for your business.

Get the free guide right now!

6. Engagement rate

What it measures: the number of engagements divided by the number of impressions a tweet receives. Why it matters: When comparing tweets, this metric provides a more balanced view on engagement. Looking at engagement figures alone can be misleading without factoring in how many people have seen each tweet. For example, a tweet with four engagements may seem low compared to one with 100, but if only five people saw the first tweet and a million people saw the second… the math does itself.

7. Twitter reach percentage

What it measures: How many of your followers saw any given tweet. You can calculate this by dividing tweet impressions by your total followers. Why it matters: This pretty much comes down to timing. Knowing how many of your followers are seeing your tweets is a good indicator of whether or not you’re tweeting at the right times.

Best Twitter ad metrics to track

As with Tweets, impressions and engagement rates are stats to track with your Twitter ads. But there are also a few other KPIs and customizable variables to take into account as well.

8. Results

What it measures: Results are the desired actions tied to your ad’s customizable objective. Twitter ad results can track a range of objectives, including impressions, followers, engagements, video views, website clicks and conversions, and more. Why it matters: This is the essential metric for determining whether or not your ad is delivering on the desired outcome of your Twitter campaign. Your results rate or engagement rate is the number of impressions your ad receives divided by the number of results.

9. Cost per result (CPR)

What it measures: An average of how much you’re paying for each action users take after seeing your ad. Why it matters: Each campaign objective is tied to a billable action that’s only charged when the action occurs. For example, if your campaign objective is video views, you’ll only be charged when someone views your video. Tracking CPR will help you manage your budget and factor into your return on investment (ROI) calculations.

10. Key conversions

What it measures: As Twitter explains, “Conversion tracking starts where Twitter stops.” Conversions allow you to track what actions people take after seeing your Twitter ad on your website and across devices. Why it matters: This figure will provide you with a more holistic view on the path users take from your Twitter ad to your site. From your ads dashboard, you’ll be able to drill down into post-engagement and post-view conversions, transaction values and total sales. It’s where you’ll mostly clearly see where your tweets deliver on ROI.

You can monitor these analytics from your Twitter campaign dashboard. For more on how to set up Twitter ads, read the complete guide for businesses on Twitter.

Twitter analytics tools

Now that you know which analytics to track, here’s the lowdown on the tools and interfaces you’ll use to track them.

Twitter Analytics

Twitter has several easy-to-navigate dashboards for tracking account, tweet, and ad performance metrics.

Image via Twitter.

How to use it:

1. Account Home: Click on your avatar and select Analytics to monitor your month-by-month Twitter account highlights. You can also get here by logging in at analytics.twitter.com.

2. Tweet Activity Dashboard: Navigate to this section via the upper left Tweets tab, or by selecting View all Tweet activity under your Top Tweet of the month. From here you can track tweet analytics, customize date ranges, and export data.

3. Audience Insight Dashboard: Click on the Audiences tab to learn about your followers. Here’s where you can gather intel on your audience’s interests, gender, geography, and more. You can also add comparison audiences to see how your followers compare to other users.

4. Ad Campaign Dashboard: To obtain access to a campaign dashboard, you’ll need to first Quick Promote a tweet, start a campaign or login to your Ads account. From here you can track the results of your campaigns with customizable filters and metrics (which can be saved for future use). After analyzing these results, you may adjust your campaign structure by pushing out the end date or increasing the budget, for example.

Hootsuite Analytics

With Hootsuite Analytics, Hootsuite Professional users can analyze Twitter metrics and generate customizable reports.

How to use it:

1. Analytics Overview: Login to Hootsuite and click on Analytics in the left sidebar. From the Overview tab you’ll see an aggregate snapshot of your social profiles.

2. Select Settings: Make sure you select the Twitter icon in the upper left corner. If you manage multiple Twitter accounts, select the correct one. Then, customize the date range you want to analyze.

3. Main Metrics: Above the fold you can track tweets, followers, engagement, and traffic. The + or – number compares your custom date range with the previous or custom period and helps to measure account growth and identify trends.

4. Additional Insights: Scroll down to find more detailed analytics, including Inbound Messages by Sentiment and Engagement by Posted Tweets. You’ll also find engagement and traffic data displayed in handy charts and graphs.

Learn how to get even more out of Hootsuite with free social media training from Hootsuite Academy.

TweetReach

TweetReach is a great tool to estimate and benchmark against competitors. Its snapshot reports track estimated reach, impressions, and other analytics based on username searches. Reports rely on social intelligence from Union Metrics (Twitter’s official partner), so you know it’s legit.

How to use it:

For a free TweetReach analytics report, simply enter the hashtag, username, or keyword you’d like to track, authorize the app, and you’re ready to go.

If you’re still looking to add a few more tools to the kit, our list of 40 Twitter tools for marketers should have you covered for your next Twitter analytics report.

Gain insight into your Twitter performance—and the performance of all your other social media platforms—with Hootsuite Analytics. Try it free today.

Learn More

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fesahaawit · 7 years ago

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Big Family Minimalism

This is a guest post from my friend Jillian. It dawned on me, recently, that I don’t think I’ve ever had a guest post about family. Jillian is changing that in a BIG and meaningful way.

I never searched out minimalism. Rather, I stumbled upon it first as a type of survival tool. Our story is a bit of a winding and twisting journey. But our minimalism story starts 3.5 years ago, while I was sitting in a job interview and honestly killing it. The interviewers were over the moon happy to hire me on the spot, but I was distracted. I was trying to hold focus on the interview, but my phone was exploding with text messages and missed calls.

See, while I was interviewing my heart out, a 5-year-old boy with big hazel eyes had just been dropped off at our house by a social worker. He had been in foster care for a while and had disrupted from the last 5 homes. (This happens when foster parents or the birth family aren’t able to meet the child’s needs and a new family has to be found.) The social worker was rather confident we couldn’t handle him either. I have soft eyes and a sweet smile that hides the depth of my love, tenacity, and gumption. She mentioned, almost offhandedly, he also had two little sisters. No other family had been able to keep them together and the “state” didn’t want to attempt to place them together again. I just smiled my sweet smile and said, “Well, we aren’t every other family. When you are ready, we are ready for anything.”

It was lie. No one is ever fully ready. His little sisters moved in a few months later. I quit my job. I lived at the end of my rope for the next year.

Having four little kids at home is a lot (6, 5, 2 and 1). Just that alone. But it wasn’t just that. There were 12 appointments a week of various meetings, therapies, and with professionals. There were difficult visits with birth parents. There were court dates and a rotating door of overworked social workers. There were lawyers, judges, and court-appointed advocates. There was the uncertainty of not knowing what the future held for these kids I loved so much.

Plus, there were these sweet kids. They had seen so much trauma and neglect in their short lives that every behaviour was broken. I had the skill, knowledge, tools, and love that was needed. But I was exhausted. Like lay on the floor at night after I tucked them in and cry silent, hot tears exhausted. Until their nightmares started. Every one-to-two hours during the night for 3 years.

It’s all too much. A life at the end of our rope.

We were all at the ends of our rope. While it was challenging to be the ringleader of this circus, it wasn’t any easier for my kids. The two-year-old had lived with 5 different families before us. She called me and her birth mom, mama. They had to be dragged to appointments and meeting after meeting. They had their own trauma and no skills or words to express what they were feeling.

Just getting them ready for the twice-weekly visits with birth parents would nearly break us. They were excited, terrified, overwhelmed, full of dread, happy, conflicted: all at the same time. So they hit each other, melted down, took off their clothes, bit each other, screamed, hid and lost their coats. It was like dressing a whole litter of pissed off kittens into costumes and taking their picture. I would arrive to drop the kids off at the visit only to be criticized, belittled or ignored by the birth family. I would smile my sweet smile then go cry alone in my mini-van.

The foster care process isn’t easy or fun for anyone—not foster parents, not kids and not birth families. They lived in a constant state of anxiety not knowing if they would be with us for the next birthday, or at Christmas, or when school starts. No one knew.

So minimalism found us.

I imagine most people start with minimalism with their stuff. Decluttering and all. Maybe they read an awesome blog, or hear a podcast, and think “I SHOULD get rid of some of this stuff!”

I needed it in every area of my life, all at once. I dubbed 2015 the year of “Easier, not harder”. That was my only litmus test. Is this easier or harder?

I stopped wearing color because I didn’t have the time or skill to coordinate outfits.

I said no, and opted out of most of my commitments that were, in fact, optional.

I pulled my kids from sports.

I ate the same breakfast every single day.

I told all my kids teachers we weren’t doing any homework. ANY. No signing reading charts, no math worksheets, no flashcards. We aren’t doing it. I’m not signing it. Honestly, I’m not even going to look at it. I was so thankful for what the teachers were doing at school, but I couldn’t add “teacher” to my list of things to squeeze into our evenings.

I had to set boundaries with professionals. “No, I can’t change our appointment time every single week. Either keep our set time, or we skip it.” With 12 appointments on the calendar, having them all shift by 30 minutes or 2 hours IS a big deal.

I had to learn minimalism in my relationships. Most people were incredibly supportive, encouraging, and really understood the importance of what we were doing. And some people . . . didn’t. I didn’t have any leftover emotional energy to hear, “Why are you doing this? Why don’t you just give them back? The system is so broken, you shouldn’t have to put up with this. It’s fine if you want those kids in your family, but even if you adopt them, it doesn’t mean they are part of our family.”

I started owning the fact that I live in a real human body that needs food, water, exercise, and sleep. I started to accommodate those seemingly unreasonable demands of my non-robot body.

Bit by bit, we were doing better. Not just surviving with our nose barely above the waves, but almost flourishing.

Then in the same week in June 2015: We were officially asked to adopt our kids, and we found out we were pregnant.

Enter minimalism, level ninja.

I’ll admit, I had a bit of a mommy meltdown when I found out we were pregnant. Sure, we had spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on fertility treatments over the years. Sure, we had tried for 7 years. But now? Adding a baby definitely didn’t fall into my “easier, not harder” motto.

We had been shopping for a bigger house. We were a family of 6 in 1,650 cozy square feet. A bigger house seemed to make sense. Every single person who came to our house echoed the words, “So when are you moving to a bigger place?” like it was the chorus line in a Disney movie.

But the saying “a baby changes everything” is true.

Turns out, we didn’t want more and bigger. Our entire life already felt “more and bigger”. We wanted less. Actually, we all needed less.

Less clutter. Less cleaning. Less overwhelm. Less hectic. Less appointments.

We needed margin for the right kind of more. More engagement. More quiet. More stories and cuddles. More adventure. More travel. More time in the garden. More focused time. More creativity.

More stuff and more space weren’t going to give us any of that.

We donated 50% of the kid’s toys, and decided to only keep 3 out at a time to play with. And I saw the kids settle in. Instead of the anxiety, overwhelm, fighting, and frustration they felt when confronted with a massive heap of toys, they just played. Slowly, carefully, thoughtfully with one toy. There was no cleaning up, correcting, and prompting at the end of the night. Each child set one toy on a shelf and it was over. That one simple change freed up a mountain of emotional and relational energy.

I made it a mission to touch every item in our house. I would ask a few questions. Is this a “hard-working” item, or is it “lazy”? Because we didn’t have space for lazy items. Our home couldn’t be a storage unit for barely used items. I would ask, “If I didn’t already own this and saw it at a yard sale for $5 would I buy it instantly, and with joy?” Because if it doesn’t add $5 of value, it doesn’t deserve a place in our home.

Minimalism is an act of faith at first. We paired our life down—appointments, relationships, classes, sports, commitments, stuff—with no guarantee of a better outcome. There was no promise in writing that what we would gain would be better than what we were letting go of.

You pull your kid from a sport and just hope. Hope that the extra two hours a week somehow adds as much value as the sport was adding. It takes a bit a faith to hold space. To create margin and not rush to fill it up again.

We got rid of “perfectly good” toys. (Ok, and a crap ton of McDonald’s happy meal toys.) It’s an act of faith to say, “We are going to donate all these ‘perfectly good’ toys that at one point we actually spent money on,” and just hope that “less is more”.

To the parents.

I kind of just want to give you a hug, at this point. I’ve raised six kids (my oldest passed away). I have to say that motherhood, in the thick of it, is the hardest and most beautiful part of my life. It has been my defining work.

So, if you feel like your kids will kick, scream, and cry themselves into a puddle, if there were less toys, less classes, less sports, less commitments. Remember this: If you are maxed out, they are maxed out.

My very normal kids hate picking up toys. Actually, I think they hated it even more than I did. They hated being corralled into the van. They hated the rush and my grumpy “Where in the world are your shoes!? Why are they in the bathtub? Can anyone answer me this!?! WAIT!?! Why are you covered in purple paint? OMG, I don’t even care. Come on. We are SO late. Please, please, please just put your shoes on.”

Despite what it seems, minimalism is a perfect fit for families. Here is how we started this journey with the toys. (Because no one likes living in a house that looks like a daycare crossed paths with a tornado!) I had this conversation with my four kids who at the time were 3-8:

“I think I haven’t been doing a good job. I think maybe I’ve made it too hard for you guys to pick up your room. The job is simply too hard. And that’s my fault. So here’s what we will do. You pick up as many toys as you can handle. Then I will come clean up the rest. I’ll put them away on this special toy shelf. Anything you can take care of, just pick up and you can keep that in your room. The only rule is, only keep as much as you can handle. If it gets to be too much for you to take care of on your own, I’ll come put it away.”

They managed to clean/organize about 5 toys. All the rest I took out of their room and put on a “toy shelf” that they could swap toys (if their room was clean).

It also made it simple to see what toys we could sneak away in the dark of night. If they hadn’t picked the toy off toy shelf in a few months, obviously it wasn’t a high-value toy. (If your 4-year-old willingly parts with toys, I salute you, dear Jedi Master! We are SO not there yet!)

For parents who are terrified to start, this is about an easy of a sell as you can get. And my kids loved it. No shame, no blame. Just me making their life easier. No more cleaning, no more tears over not being able to organize their room.

Big family minimalism.

When you walk into our home, “minimalism” might not be your first thought. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is white (even stuff that was white when we bought it!). There is a pile of shoes and coats and winter boots by the door. It’s loud with laughing, playing, and often someone is crying. I’m probably making chocolate chips pancakes. I’ll make you a cup of tea, but a toddler will interrupt our conversation every 90 seconds.

But if you look closely, you’ll see a family flourishing with less. Happy, healthy and whole. Our days are full of reading, writing, folding laundry, hiking, gardening, and travel. We eat real food, at a table. We have adventures on the weekend and a game night each Friday. We get enough sleep and have real conversations.

Sometimes I let myself wonder what our alternate life would look like. What path our three adopted kids might have taken if they didn’t end up together with us? But I don’t stay there long. Because my 90 seconds is up and a 4-year-old is peppering me with questions again (that I have already answered 12 times today).

Jillian drinks tea daily and writes about intentional lifestyle design, mini-retirements and creating financial freedom over at Montana Money Adventures. She lives in Montana, right by Glacier National Park, with her husband, 5 kids, and dog: cheesy taco.

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awriterstransition · 7 years ago

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Phobias Part 3 (Major Fetish Bondage)

If you find any of the sections of stories I write interesting, I’ve tagged every story with “Isen” so if you search for Isen’s name you get every part I wrote. If you have any questions about my stories, or want to tell me anything, go ahead and send me a message.

Phobias Part 3

Class started with no absences and homework completed, though instead of grading it personally I thought it would be best to understand the faults of the students, to see what they were capable, by simply allowing them to grade it themselves, so they could ask questions. Thankfully I had the workbook so I could know the answers, and most of this was test for them because I knew Mincridarins had a difficult time leaning because of their lack of a regulated education. Education was seen as a reward that you earned, such as proving yourself capable in magic, at which point you’d go to the Royal School Magic. Then there was also the fact that when you became a soldier for the military, they were given basic education such as reading, writing and basic math, but not much else. So as I walking around the class room looking at the papers, and I could tell that most had a problem but some weren’t as impaired as others… It was strange to see someone talk so normally but know they can’t read, write or understand basic math. I personally understood why they didn’t, but even at points my mind was screaming “what the hell is going on?!” But I swallowed my belittling words, and did what I could to explain and teach, and I was barely into the homework answers when I started to realize why teachers on earth found their job so frustrating sometimes, because some students just didn’t seem to understand the material no matter how it was explained. One of the few things that seemed to help was by describing basic math equations as arrows in a quiver, when you used arrows you lost them. The Mincridarins understood this weapon loss, because you couldn’t use a bow with an empty quiver, so they understood what zero meant as well. Thwap, “MMMMMmmm.” I protested, holding back a slur of improper and informal words, stomping my foot on the ground to one release anger, and two also distract my mind from the pain. “I told you not to slouch.” Master Raven simply corrected and I just glared at him feeling my rear, avoiding eye contact with my students because I could hear their surprise, and I felt their gaze on my back. I broke the chalk I was using in my grasp, just wanting to protest but with it broken I switched to teaching basic grammar and “English”. See because of the portals effects I learned how to speak the Mincridarn language, read and write it, so when they spoke I heard English, but in actuality they were speaking their own personal language, and my mind was auto translating, thinking that their language was English. So when I was talking about “English, my explanations were already being translated so they understood; so when I explained grammar, what I said and wrote made sense grammatically for their language. Thwap, “FFFFFFFudge.” I protested again getting another strike on my rear that stung like no tomorrow, and at this point I had snapped my last piece of chalk. “Leave right now, Master Raven I need chalk and your actions have just broken my last piece.” I grumbled in anger, pointing at the door. “Just send one of your students.” Master Raven simply countered and I just snarled. “My students are actually trying to learn! You are the one that is impeding that, so you will leave right now or I will have the guards escort you out. I’m done playing this game!” Master Raven looked at the class, and he grumbled in annoyance. “Just try and be a good Kitten while I’m gone.” Master Raven stated as he walked past me, and out of the room, arms crossed, he looked like he was taking the high road, by understanding his faults and walking away, even though a slave just talked back to him. The fact that others believed he was taking the high road was infuriating, but I let it go, because it made him leave the room with his damn riding crop. So at least he wouldn’t spank me for a bit. When I knew Master Raven was gone I looked back at the class and saw their surprised expressions, I just turned around to avoid it and continued to teach my lessons. When it was done I handed out worksheets I had preprinted from the day before. These were left in the desk based on my instructions. It was a large stack because with Ink as the only medium for writing I knew they’d make mistakes. So once the paper was handed out the students went and started to do their work while I sat at the desk, my rump bruised but bearable. Though with the class distracted I looked at my cuffs wondering what to do, so with magic I tried to unlock them, the cuffs were unbearably annoying and took up so much of my attention a student had come up to my desk, to get my attention. “Mr. Dale, how do you do this problem?” A bulky moose asked shyly wearing dirty and worn down clothing. He smelled of musk and sweat, it was apparent that he hadn’t bathed recently, but by looking at his clothing I could tell he was some kind of worker or farmer, most likely intense labor. I looked down at the offered paper, and looked at the ink splotches that passed barely as writing, it was hard to make out anything he had written; I personally doubt he could read his own hand writing. “Well if you had seven arrows, and you went to a fletcher to buy three more, how many arrows would you have?” “I know that sir, but what’s the answer?” “I’m not telling you that, you can’t learn if I just tell you everything.” I simply countered and this just made the male more frustrated, agitated and is body grew tense. “That’s not what I mean.” The large male simply protested and I looked at him thinking about his questions and then it clicked. “You don’t know how to write the answer?” I asked softly and the male nodded timidly, a normal shyness covering his entire body, his entire form uneasy and shifting uncomfortably as he stood in front of me. I could see it in his eyes that he was doing his best and he didn’t want to be judged, so I just did my best to comfort him with a smile. “Go sit down, I’ll help you.” I simply instructed and the moose walked away, as I got up from my desk and I went to the board, using what little chalk I had, I quickly called everyone’s attention forward. “Everyone Dorin Tall, brought up something I forgot to mention. For every single one of your answers I want you to spell out your answer and write the number. Before you get upset, I’m going to write down the numbers and how you spell them.” I quickly stated seeing some annoyance building but they calmed down quickly and I did as I said and wrote down the number zero through twenty. It was by then that Master Raven returned with a box of chalk and set it down on my desk, I sat down before he could do anything else to me. Though one by one the class started to hand in their worksheets and I started to grade them, trying to read their chicken scratch, chicken scratching being quite literal at one point because one of my students was a hen. Though I wasn’t terrible, I knew they need a break and their minds needed to settle, so as I was grading I put on a small action flick, and they ate a small meal I had told them they could bring. Once I was finished, I personally went to the bathroom, allowing them to get a bit farther into the movie before I came back after reliving myself. I waited for the action to calm down before pausing the movie, the rest of the class was dedicated to questions on the movie, and personal exposure. I had to lie about most of my exposure and why I had come back from Earth, but they seemed to buy my simple answers. That was when a guard came in with their homework. I had met with the ambassador and she delegated the work I needed done to make the classes homework. I gave this to them, it was a large binder for each of them, full of practice writing sheets. They were bothered by the idea of doing so much but I explained to them that I wasn’t going to have them do it all but to just start practicing with three pages then do some basic math, which was included in the flap inside. With that answer they were happy, and they bid me a good day and Master Raven as well. When all of the students left. The Ambassador came into the room just as I was straightening up my desk to leave with Master Raven. “So how were they Isen?” “It’s going to be a challenge Ambassador, some of these students aren’t even capable of basic math.” “I understand, but when do you think they maybe on par with what you’ve seen in the New York Sanctuary?” “Shuu.” I breathed, I felt like a teacher because for once I had forgotten that my job was a transition aid not teacher. I wasn’t supposed to be teaching them so thoroughly I was just supposed to help them fit into Earth culture, but it felt wrong to leave such unintelligent Mincridarins and Adestrians on Earth, not to be mean but it would simply be hard for them to adapt. “I’ve never done this, but maybe a couple months of intense teaching.” “That’s wonderful to hear normally it would take half a year for standard citizens to be prepared. If you can make them past the exam in a few months that would be amazing.” The ambassador applauded with a happy and bright smile. “But wait, that depends on how things go, I don’t know how fast they will learn.” I simply protested not enjoying the excitement, because I didn’t want to raise the ambassador’s hope to much. “If you really want to help these students, I’m going to need computers, and small bits of Earth technology like phones and remotes. Right now I’m just teaching them the basics of English, Math, and some basic science and geography. The sanctuary is built with schools tailored to Mincridarn culture but even if they transfer it could be hard for them.” I explained and the Ambassador lost her energy and went deep into thought. “Earth technology is expensive, and it’s prone to breaking, we can’t spend money on every single item you may need knowing it was going to break after being used once.” “As your transition Aid, that is what I need. I don’t need a mass set of computer I could just use a few that I can have students switch out on, so they can get them familiar with it. Human technology is the one thing I’m worried about most of all, because if a Mincridarn can’t understand how to use a phone or a computer their already far behind. That kind of knowledge will be imperative to fitting in.” I explained and the Ambassador sighed. “It’ll be a few weeks, but I’ll see what I can do, I might be able to get three computers but not much more than that. Getting a few TV remotes might be easy enough, phones might be tricky but I’ll see what I can do.” “IF that is all, I have to get back to work.” “Yes Ambassador, thank you for your time.” I finished and with that the Ambassador left, and I finished packing up my things. “You weren’t doing a bad job Isen, I can see why you were treated so highly by Mincridarins in the New York sanctuary. You are patient in dealing with the lack of intelligence, you understand how to translate things that might hard to understand otherwise.” “I’m a Transition Aid, it’s kind of my job.” “But it’s more than that isn’t it, why do you care so much about Mincridarins?” Master Raven questioned coming closer to me and holding the chain attached to my cuffs down on the table, forcing me to remain seated as he looked down at me, and I looked at him. “I’m a writer, I want know everything I can about your people. Out of all human existence you would be out first true Alien contact, why wouldn’t I want to be a part of that? I want to understand your culture, your people, and your world, even if everything about Mincridarins are intimidating and frightening.” I explained and Master Raven let go of the chain. “You really are the Angle of New York?” “What?” “That’s your nickname amongst those in the New York Sanctuary, it was the head line of a newspaper in your world, which kind of just stuck.” “I was in a newspaper?” I asked because I had never gotten a newspaper delivered to my apartment or in my mail before, at least while I lived in the sanctuary, hardly saw Mincridarins reading newspapers anyways, Most of the time when Newspapers were being read it was because they were human owned. “Mincridarn owned.” Master Raven added and then I nodded in understanding, knowing why I had never heard of it. “That makes sense, that’s probably why I’ve never heard of it. Not like many Mincridarins can read anyways.” “Let’s get you home, we have plenty to talk about.” Master Raven simply stated and he started to walk to the door, standing tall, his Riding crop in his right hand, but shifted to his back hand. With nothing much else to do I picked up my Lap top bag before following Master Raven out of the room. I followed behind the bulky male, because as long as I could see the riding crop he couldn’t spank me with it. The walk back to the Spotted King Brothel was long and quite, nothing spoken between us, which I didn’t mind, it gave me time to look around the city and enjoy the beautiful scenery. After the long scenic walk under the glowing leaves we made our way into the main level of the Brothel on Master Raven’s command. His slaves glanced at me but they didn’t say anything, they just remained at their stations doing their chores. Master Raven took me to the VIP area and forced me to sit on the familiar bench, then took a seat right next to me. Master Raven snapped his fingers and summoned a slave who soon brought him a mug of ale, but before the slave left he took hold of the females arm and she jumped in fear, and looked back at Master Raven. “Sir?” “You forgot to bring a cup of water for the kitten.” Master Raven explained sharply and he let the female go and right in front of me took up the ridding crop and caned her with the long flexible length across the rear. She cried out in pain and when Master Raven was done she walked away in tears holding the wooden tray in her hands firmly, any harder and the tray may have shattered. My heart sank watching the female get beaten, and I wanted to protest and I looked at Master Raven about to, but cut myself short, I remembered the first rule. To never challenge him in front of his slaves. Thinking about all those strong willed Mincridarins I had called friends in the Sanctuary City, I thought of them as the female. Turned into nothing, and those thoughts just hurt to think about, and I turned away until the female returned and put a cup of water on the table. I thanked her, and she returned the simple thanks before leaving quietly. Master Raven drank from his mug and I looked at my water and shifted the cup in my hands, because when I saw the water I thought of the abuse the female had just received and it I couldn’t make myself drink it. “Master Raven what am I doing here?” I asked just to break the conversation, and to keep my thoughts off the female. “Are you looking for a Mate?” Master Raven asked simply and I looked at him in confusion. “No, I’m not.” “Well it’s about time you started to speak with other nobles and try and find one.” “What? No sir, I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to become someone’s mate, at least for now.” “Was I asking for your permission?” Master Raven stiffly countered and I looked at him. “I said no.” “And Right now I don’t care, this is part of your training. You are twenty one and a noble, to be left without a mate at this age would shame your family name.” Master Raven explained growing annoyed by my refusal and complaints. “I’m not going to join with someone.” “Did I ever say Join?!” Master Raven asked slamming his mug down on the table glaring down at me, and I flinched under his gaze. But I couldn’t fold not yet. “I’m not ready regardless I don’t care what you say, I’m not ready, you’re still training me out of my damn fears…” I said shaking my chained hands in his face. “I’ve barely settled into my new life because you keep on dumping things on me. Next year the Ambassador already signed me up for classes in the Royal School of Magic. I have to train citizens for their transition to Earth. I’m not doing it, I’m not going to let someone like you be my match maker when you hardly know anything about me!” And I had plenty more to say about this topic, but I was shut up by Master Raven who suddenly roared in anger. “Shut up, you say another word and I lock a muzzle around your head!” Master Raven countered glaring down at me and under his gaze I fell silent, tears came down from my eyes. I hated this, because I had no choice in the matter, I barely had time to think anymore or do anything I wanted, everything was constantly moving, I had only been here for barely a week and I was already being pushed to look for a mate, raped, beaten, and abused. The only freedom I had was in my classroom, my room wasn’t even safe from Master Raven because he could come and go as he pleased. “What? You going to cry like a cub because you’re not getting your way? I’m simply relaying information the Ambassador gave to me.” Master Raven mocked pulling on my cheek as if I was being a cub, before he pushed my head away. So I just reacted, I slammed the table to the side and just bolted for the door. At this point Master Raven quickly realized what was happening. “Dammit! Everyone, catch him.” Master Raven called out and before I could get to the door the two large bucks stood in my way, and before I could react I was knocked to the ground, and restrained by a set of slaves who pinned my arms behind my back by sliding a broom stick across my elbows and behind my back. I couldn’t move my arms forward but the most I could was just move them up and down. A pair of slaves grabbed the broomstick, one hand on either side of my elbows, picked me up and then forced me to my knees where they then forced my head into the ground. They leaned their shoulders into my back to further contain me and make sure I wasn’t going anywhere. I saw Master Raven’s feet come in front of me, and I looked up at him sadly. “For someone who grew up around Mincridarins you’re pretty pathetic.” “Why don’t-“ But before I could finish the two slaves lifted me up slightly and slammed my muzzle shut on the ground. “Thank you.” Master Raven smirked as he stood above me with his arms crossed, and with the pain in my jaw as a deterrent I remained silent as Master Raven knelt down in front of me. “My duty is to train you, to make you capable of living on your own, life isn’t fair you will always be burdened by tasks. You can’t live how you want, not anymore. But as long as you wear that collar you remain my responsibility, so I can’t have you running off again. The last time you did you caused mayhem that was barely halted, though I admit that was mostly might fault. IF you run away again not only will you cause Mayhem for the Ambassador, but you will also ruin my name as a Master. Because I can’t let those I’m training run away. Your lucky I won’t punish you for what you said earlier in the day, and watching you teach those Mincridarins has put me in a good mood. You can either one bend over that bar stool.” Master Raven stated pointing to a simple barstool nearby. “And take my beatings, at which point you’ll be free to go and do as you please. Or you can stay like this and I can drag you around just so I can personally make sure you don’t go anywhere. Make your choice or I’ll choose for you.” Master Raven explained, and I softly cried, I felt trapped and cornered; I couldn’t look up at Master Raven. I couldn’t get away, he made sure of that, it was his way or nothing at all. “Use me.” Mark called out in my mind, and then it clicked and simple memories started to come in my head of Lynn making my room… They weren’t my memories but The Mark’s memories, he was just as sentient as I was, he could remember things as well, and these where his memories while I was unconscious. “Mark Protect Isen, you are the only I can truly trust. You are bound to him, please protect him for me while I’m gone.” Lynn said slightly distorted, as he kissed my forehead. “Master Raven is good natured and I trust him, but Isen and Master Raven are opposites, almost completely, their ideals are different they’ll clash and one of them will get hurt… IF it comes to that make sure it’s Master Raven.” Lynn finished and the memory dissipated and when everyone was distracted I tested my simple spell, and it worked, with that spell working I cut the palm of my hand so I could draw out my soul sword. “3.2.1-“ “Exist, mark of the gray god.” Master Raven flinched at my words and I soon felt cuffs fall away, that was the only time I needed before I took control of the entire brothel with my magic. Restraining everyone against the wall. Master Raven grunted as he was bound in black chains, on the lower end of the bar. “What? How did you do that? Those cuffs were made to resist magic.” “Master Raven, do you really think Lynn would trust you enough with my personal safety? He gave me this Soul Sword for a reason. He gave me this soul sword so I’ll be safe even when he wasn’t around. He personally made sure the one spell that I used to help summon my soul sword was usable. With Mark, I don’t need know how to pick locks, he did it for me. Mark takes care of the things I don’t know what to do. It took me until now to realize as long as I have Mark, I’ll be fine.” “You’re being a cub if you think you can rely on that to solve all your problems. As you already know, my slaves just detained you, and what if those cuffs restricted all magic. Those cuffs were only gave you the ability to use certain spells, if didn’t allow you to use those what then? I was trying to help you so you could rely on yourself, not on some stupid soul sword.” Master Raven grunted as he tried to resist the black chains that bound him. “Master Raven, you’ve never once trained me, you abused me in so many ways. You manipulate, you don’t train.” “How words are defined depends on the person speaking them, you say I manipulate you but what about this morning in front of the spider. You gave into me completely you weren’t happy about it but you still did it. You agreed for me to train to be better than your fears.” “You chained me up in front my class, teased me in the bath and when I didn’t do as you wanted you got angry at me. IF the guard wasn’t there this morning you would have beaten me in front of all those people. Unlike you Master Raven I know that training doesn’t require abuse, I know how to train without abusing the other person mentally or physically. But that’s your job is, so it’s either your way or nothing at all. That is how you train slaves, I’m not a fucking slave. I only wear this damn collar because I have too, if it was just a stupid pendent you’d have no right to treat me as a slave in public. Lynn made this because he knew the laws, he knew that no one would steal it if it was a slave’s collar! I’m a guest in your house and you treat me like any other slave, there are moments where you’re better but those are moments. You still can’t separate your duty for your job.” I explained and Master Raven ceased to struggling and just looked at me, annoyed but not angry. “Fine then how would you train yourself because it’s not like I have a choice in the matter?” Master Raven asked and his words were simple enough to confuse me. “It’s not about the training, it’s how you stack it, and you dropped too much on someone’s shoulders. Do you realize how hard it’s for me to function with these cuffs on, how frightening how little control I have in these? Lynn hardly ever bound me with cuffs or rope because he knew I was scared of it, you took the one option of me getting free and tossed it down the toilet. You forced me to submit to wearing the cuffs. You threw me to the wolves, you bound me and then abused me when I was exposed and couldn’t defend myself. I’ve tried so hard to obey your rules Master Raven but at points do your realize how much I want to kick you in the balls? To shut you up personally? But no, it’s not only the fact that you forced me to be exposed in front of others, and obey you or risk getting beaten, but you also drop the bombshell of having me need a mate, because it looks good for the family name.” “It’s too much, I can barely function. Do you think it’s easy for me to teach a class of unintelligent Mincridarins about human culture? I’ve never once taught anyone in this proper setting. I know if I went to a proper teacher for help they’d chew me out for all the faults I was making. I have to think of how to teach my students in the long run, how well will they adapt and learn what they need, so they can move on? I’ve barely been here a fucking week and I have to deal with making a long term teaching schedule but I also have to deal with the bomb shell of being the Gray Gate, and learning to adapt to my own gift. I learned all of that fucking yesterday, yesterday, and now you want me to look for a mate. Are you insane? I don’t have the time and energy, I barely I have time for myself anymore.” I explained panting as I finished my aggressively spoken explanation, though when I was done I looked at their surprised gazes and soon realized they weren’t on me, they were gazing upon the person behind me.

#Master Raven/Isen #Part 47

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fesahaawit · 7 years ago

Text

Big Family Minimalism

This is a guest post from my friend Jillian. It dawned on me, recently, that I don’t think I’ve ever had a guest post about family. Jillian is changing that in a BIG and meaningful way.

It was lie. No one is ever fully ready. His little sisters moved in a few months later. I quit my job. I lived at the end of my rope for the next year.

It’s all too much. A life at the end of our rope.

So minimalism found us.

I imagine most people start with minimalism with their stuff. Decluttering and all. Maybe they need an awesome blog, or hear a podcast, and think “I SHOULD get rid of some of this stuff!”

I needed it in every area of my life, all at once. I dubbed 2015 the year of “Easier, not harder”. That was my only litmus test. Is this easier or harder?

I stopped wearing color because I didn’t have the time or skill to coordinate outfits.

I said no, and opted out of most of my commitments that were, in fact, optional.

I pulled my kids from sports.

I ate the same breakfast every single day.

I started owning the fact that I live in a real human body that needs food, water, exercise, and sleep. I started to accommodate those seemingly unreasonable demands of my non-robot body.

Bit by bit, we were doing better. Not just surviving with our nose barely above the waves, but almost flourishing.

Then in the same week in June 2015: We were officially asked to adopt our kids, and we found out we were pregnant.

Enter minimalism, level ninja.

But the saying “a baby changes everything” is true.

Turns out, we didn’t want more and bigger. Our entire life already felt “more and bigger”. We wanted less. Actually, we all needed less.

Less clutter. Less cleaning. Less overwhelm. Less hectic. Less appointments.

We needed margin for the right kind of more. More engagement. More quiet. More stories and cuddles. More adventure. More travel. More time in the garden. More focused time. More creativity.

More stuff and more space weren’t going to give us any of that.

We donated 50% of the kid’s toys, and decided to only keep 3 out at a time to play with. And I saw the kids settle in. Instead of the anxiety, overwhelm, fighting, and frustration they felt when confronted with a massive heap of toys, they just played. Slowly, carefully, thoughtfully with one toy. There was no cleaning up, correcting, and promoting at the end of the night. Each child set one toy on a shelf and it was over. That one simple change freed up a mountain of emotional and relational energy.

To the parents.

They managed to clean/organize about 5 toys. All the rest I took out of their room and put on a “toy shelf” that they could swap toys (if their room was clean).

Big family minimalism.

Big Family Minimalism posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

0 notes

fesahaawit · 7 years ago

Text

Big Family Minimalism

This is a guest post from my friend Jillian. It dawned on me, recently, that I don’t think I’ve ever had a guest post about family. Jillian is changing that in a BIG and meaningful way.

It was lie. No one is ever fully ready. His little sisters moved in a few months later. I quit my job. I lived at the end of my rope for the next year.

It’s all too much. A life at the end of our rope.

So minimalism found us.

I imagine most people start with minimalism with their stuff. Decluttering and all. Maybe they need an awesome blog, or hear a podcast, and think “I SHOULD get rid of some of this stuff!”

I needed it in every area of my life, all at once. I dubbed 2015 the year of “Easier, not harder”. That was my only litmus test. Is this easier or harder?

I stopped wearing color because I didn’t have the time or skill to coordinate outfits.

I said no, and opted out of most of my commitments that were, in fact, optional.

I pulled my kids from sports.

I ate the same breakfast every single day.

I started owning the fact that I live in a real human body that needs food, water, exercise, and sleep. I started to accommodate those seemingly unreasonable demands of my non-robot body.

Bit by bit, we were doing better. Not just surviving with our nose barely above the waves, but almost flourishing.

Then in the same week in June 2015: We were officially asked to adopt our kids, and we found out we were pregnant.

Enter minimalism, level ninja.

But the saying “a baby changes everything” is true.

Turns out, we didn’t want more and bigger. Our entire life already felt “more and bigger”. We wanted less. Actually, we all needed less.

Less clutter. Less cleaning. Less overwhelm. Less hectic. Less appointments.

We needed margin for the right kind of more. More engagement. More quiet. More stories and cuddles. More adventure. More travel. More time in the garden. More focused time. More creativity.

More stuff and more space weren’t going to give us any of that.

We donated 50% of the kid’s toys, and decided to only keep 3 out at a time to play with. And I saw the kids settle in. Instead of the anxiety, overwhelm, fighting, and frustration they felt when confronted with a massive heap of toys, they just played. Slowly, carefully, thoughtfully with one toy. There was no cleaning up, correcting, and promoting at the end of the night. Each child set one toy on a shelf and it was over. That one simple change freed up a mountain of emotional and relational energy.

To the parents.

They managed to clean/organize about 5 toys. All the rest I took out of their room and put on a “toy shelf” that they could swap toys (if their room was clean).

Big family minimalism.

Big Family Minimalism posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

0 notes

fesahaawit · 7 years ago

Text

Big Family Minimalism

This is a guest post from my friend Jillian. It dawned on me, recently, that I don’t think I’ve ever had a guest post about family. Jillian is changing that in a BIG and meaningful way.

It was lie. No one is ever fully ready. His little sisters moved in a few months later. I quit my job. I lived at the end of my rope for the next year.

It’s all too much. A life at the end of our rope.

So minimalism found us.

I imagine most people start with minimalism with their stuff. Decluttering and all. Maybe they need an awesome blog, or hear a podcast, and think “I SHOULD get rid of some of this stuff!”

I needed it in every area of my life, all at once. I dubbed 2015 the year of “Easier, not harder”. That was my only litmus test. Is this easier or harder?

I stopped wearing color because I didn’t have the time or skill to coordinate outfits.

I said no, and opted out of most of my commitments that were, in fact, optional.

I pulled my kids from sports.

I ate the same breakfast every single day.

I started owning the fact that I live in a real human body that needs food, water, exercise, and sleep. I started to accommodate those seemingly unreasonable demands of my non-robot body.

Bit by bit, we were doing better. Not just surviving with our nose barely above the waves, but almost flourishing.

Then in the same week in June 2015: We were officially asked to adopt our kids, and we found out we were pregnant.

Enter minimalism, level ninja.

But the saying “a baby changes everything” is true.

Turns out, we didn’t want more and bigger. Our entire life already felt “more and bigger”. We wanted less. Actually, we all needed less.

Less clutter. Less cleaning. Less overwhelm. Less hectic. Less appointments.

We needed margin for the right kind of more. More engagement. More quiet. More stories and cuddles. More adventure. More travel. More time in the garden. More focused time. More creativity.

More stuff and more space weren’t going to give us any of that.

We donated 50% of the kid’s toys, and decided to only keep 3 out at a time to play with. And I saw the kids settle in. Instead of the anxiety, overwhelm, fighting, and frustration they felt when confronted with a massive heap of toys, they just played. Slowly, carefully, thoughtfully with one toy. There was no cleaning up, correcting, and promoting at the end of the night. Each child set one toy on a shelf and it was over. That one simple change freed up a mountain of emotional and relational energy.

To the parents.

They managed to clean/organize about 5 toys. All the rest I took out of their room and put on a “toy shelf” that they could swap toys (if their room was clean).

Big family minimalism.

Big Family Minimalism posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

0 notes