#the professor keeps moving groups and clients around & its so confusing who's doing what :(

[kentopedia]

good morning !! i hope you all start monday off well! i’ve got another busy week ahead of me ๐·°(⋟﹏⋞)°·๐

[2jaeh]

INSUFFERABLE l  KIM DOYOUNG 

GENRE: mature theme, slight smut

WARNINGS: choking, dom themes, cursing

asshole! Doyoung , enemies to ???

Words : 4k 

You’re put in a group project with the most annoying pretentious jerk your law class had to offer. Immediately Doyoung tries to boss you around but you being you, you weren’t taking his shit...soon enough he finds out he can dominate you after all...in a very different way. 

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“Theres no fucking way...no fucking way” you groaned looking at your group project list, eyes narrowing on possibly the worst people within your course year. Slumping in your seat you half smiled at the girl who approached you, one of your fellow members from project hell. 

“Heyyy y/n I think we're in a group together” she grinned and took a seat next to you, flipping her red hair over her shoulder and checked herself out in her mirror covered cellphone. 

Dami was probably the most narcissistic person you'd ever met and being in law, it was definitely a common trait around here. Dami sat up and began tapping you on your shoulder frantically “He’s in our group! Kim Doyoung is in our group” the two of you watched as the dark haired man conversed with the lecturer, casually turning back to look at the table where you guys sat, in annoyance. 

“That guy is such a prick” a guy who slid in the desk behind you, Seungmin said and Dami nodded in agreeance as you all continued to watch him. 

“Ive never really spoken to him before” you cocked your head, “What’s so annoying about him?” 

This time another group member joined in, a quieter girl who normally sat in the back Jisoo, cleared her throat, “He is really bossy and only likes to do things his own way.”

‘Well he is about to meet his worst nightmare’ you thought knowing nothing pissed you off more than someone telling you what to do. 

The muffled conversations around you began to soften as you felt someone stand over you and drop a file on your desk. Looking up, you locked eyes with the one and only Kim Doyoung, dressed in his usual black slacks, black turtleneck and clear rimmed spectacles. He raised his eyebrow at you as if you were supposed to guess what he wanted.

“What ?” you challenged him, folding your arms across your chest and returned an eyebrow raise. 

Doyoung sighed in annoyance, his long slender fingers moved across the file and opened it swiftly, “I want you to do roll call” he said coldly. 

A lump formed in your throat. You felt like you were being talked down to, it was something that infuriated the hell out of you. He wasn't older than you, nor was he getting better grades than you but somehow he had a superiority complex. Dami quickly nudged you and you rolled your eyes, “Seungmin ?”

“Here!” 

“Jisoo ?” you placed a tick as you called out each name. 

“Dami, Jangjun…?” you looked around and noticed that the usually loud comedic relief in your classroom was nowhere to be seen. 

“I think Jangjun is late, i’ll text him” Seungmin sighed and pulled out his phone. You turned back to the roll call sheet and pursed your lips, “Kim Doyoung ?” 

Doyoung just looked down at you, sucking in his bottom lip and raised that damn eyebrow at you again. 

“You need to say ‘here’ do you not know how roll call works ?” you tested him and he rolled his eyes and sighed, “here.” 

You smiled to yourself, completely satisfied with pissing him off when your internal celebration was interrupted by an out of breath Jangjun, who threw his bag on the floor and took a seat on Dami’s desk. Doyoung looked at him disgustingly, and even though you too were obviously annoyed by Jangjun’s tardiness, was that reaction really necessary ?

“Be on time” Doyoung sneered and grabbed the roll call file making his way back to the lecturer. 

“Fuck Kim Doyoung is in this group ?” Jangjun groaned, sharing the sentiments of the entire meeting. You couldnt believe these were the people you had to work with for the week. It's like you could almost feel an outburst waiting to happen, whether it be from you or Kim Doyoung. 

Doyoung returned and took out his phone, not really looking at any of you as he spoke, “we should make a group chat to update each other on work”

The group hastily shared each other's details and Doyoung created the chat and pinned a set of three rules. 

The first was the group was strictly to be used for the project, no small talk or any other messages that weren't related to the project. The second rule was that no one talks about the group content in private chats as it will cause confusion among members. Lastly you weren't allowed to message after 9pm unless it was an emergency, a very serious emergency. 

“Dang is this the military ?” Jangjun snickered as Seungmin and Dami tried their best to hide their laughs. It was typical of people like Dami and Jangjun to not take anything seriously. Their families were well off and they were just studying just for a piece of paper you call a degree. Doyoung couldn't even hide his annoyance, not like he ever did but he seemed particularly pissed off today. 

“Look, just follow the rules and all of you get a free pass and then we never have to speak to each other again” Doyoung spat and made his way to the exit leaving the rest of you in utter shock. 

———

The first two days were utter hell as Doyoung tried to take control of almost every aspect of the project and frankly you didn't even mind because his business proposal was flawless, it was just the way he spoke to all of you that drove you insane. 

“Dami its not fucking rocket science all you need to do is make a clientele spreadsheet with the mock list the professor gave us” Doyoung didnt even lift his head from his laptop, unaware of the impact his words had on her. 

Dami pushed away from the desk and her eyes began to well up and before you knew it she was running out of the library, with Jisoo and Seungmin following quickly out of concern. 

“Nice move asshole” you rolled your eyes, continuing to work on your laptop. 

Doyoung peered up and pushed his spectacles up, “what was that?” 

“I said nice move asshole, do you intend to talk to your future clients like that?” He initiated a different kind of anger from you but you managed to keep your cool. Doyoung shrugged as if what he had said to Dami had not carried any weight and continued typing away. 

A few minutes of the members disappearance quickly turned to an hour and Doyoung’s nonchalance about the whole ordeal really ticked you off to the point of slamming your laptop closed and pushed back from the desk. 

Doyoung quirked his eyebrow at you, “Is something wrong ?” 

“Is something wrong” you mimicked him, “Jangjun hasn't come in today because you sent him on multiple errands, and you just made Dami cry over something so ridiculous”

Doyoung sat back in his seat and rubbed his temples, “They're all freeloaders, you and I are the only ones doing work, why do you care so much about them?” 

“Basic human fucking decency maybe?” you groaned and ran your fingers through your hair, “listen im not like them, i'm not gonna take shit from you”

“Sure”

“Youre a fucking asshole Kim Doyoung.” 

—-

You lay in bed and replayed that scene with Doyoung in your head multiple times. He was so unbothered by your antics nor did he care about anyone's feelings within the group. He was cold, heartless all he thought about was himself. His cold expression was practically engraved in your head, spending all these hours with him was really not your favourite pastime. 

Group 7 gc 7:00pm

KDY: I posted a schedule for tomorrow we will be working in pairs on the highlighted sections. 

You took a look at his document and groaned when you saw your name placed next to his. There was no way, no way in hell you want to work with him one on one. Not caring about breaking his rule, you pulled up a private chat with him and began expressing your concerns. 

y/n  x  KDY : 7:10pm 

Y/N: Hi, there's no fucking way in hell am I working with you. Change It. 

KDY: I said no private chats and no, I'm not changing it. 

Y/N: Wouldn't it be better for us to split and have the others actually DO work for once ?

KDY: I barely gave them room for error, we're going to be the most anyway and besides, I'd prefer someone who can handle...my personality. 

Y/N: …..so you agree..you are an asshole ?

KDY: I give people a reality check that's all..

Y/N: whatever makes you sleep at night...can I atleast choose our work venue because If I were stuck in a library again with you I might kill you. 

KDY: haha..

KDY: sure. 

Y/N: mango drop cafe, 10am. 

KDY: cool, see you then. 

‘Haha’. You had no idea why that text in particular riled you up. Did he find all of this amusing ? Was he making everyone's life a living hell because he enjoyed it ? You stared at his messages and somehow ended up on his profile picture. He was leaning against a railing dressed in all black with his hooded eyes concentrated on the camera lense, Your realization of how attractive he was came from the fact that you stared at the picture for a good 20 minutes. You wondered who took the picture, a girlfriend maybe ? You shook your head. He seemed too uptight to be getting laid. You sighed, closing your phone and awaited yet another day with the insufferable gorgeous man that was Kim Doyoung. 

You arrived quite early at the cafe but of course Doyoung was here before you, already typing away at his laptop, in his usual attire. You greeted the barista and placed an order for a chilled cafe latte before making your way over to him. 

“Hey” you said simply and took a seat opposite him in the booth. Doyoung’s ears perked up at the sound of your voice and made room for your books on the table.

“You're here early” 

“You're already picking a fight with me?” you said casually setting up your workspace. 

Doyoung chuckled under his breath and shook his head, “I just didn't expect you this early y/n it's not that serious.” 

You ignored his words and got straight to work, not in the mood to play his little game. You felt Doyoung look at you a few times. You weren't sure if it were to check if youre doing the right thing or he was just looking at you. 

“Well i'm done with my part” you stretched your arms above your head and yawned. 

“Yeah I'm pretty much done too, Do you want another cup of coffee ?” Doyoung offered pointing to your empty cup. You were taken back by his softer demeanor but quickly nodded, “uh yeah sure.” 

Doyoung returned carrying a tray of two fresh cups of coffee and a slice of cheesecake. Setting everything down he handed you the extra fork and placed the cheesecake in the middle of the table to make it easier to share. 

“H-how much do I owe you ?” You fumbled in your bag for your wallet. 

“It's okay, it's my treat” Doyoung replied, placing a piece of cheesecake in his mouth and slowly licking the fork clean. You gulped as his tongue darted out carefully licking the cream from the metal, not leaving any residue behind. You had no idea what the hell was going on but you felt hot, almost claustrophobic. 

“You're okay?” Doyoung asked innocently, unaware of what he was doing to you. 

“Why are you being...nice?” You questioned, knitting your eyebrows together as the man continued to act as if this was his usual behavior. 

Doyoung pursed his lips and placed the fork on the plate, “You want me to be mean to you?”

“No I just don't get-”

“I apologized to Dami and she told me she only overreacted because the guy she likes, Seungmin was there” Doyoung explained and removed his spectacles, “she was embarrassed to ask anyone for help, I paired them up for today.”

“Wait wha-”

“Also Jangjun works at the campus radio” Doyoung continued, “I had only found out the day we all met, I gave him tasks that will allow him more flexibility, that way he doesn't have to join group sessions often.” 

You blinked, unable to form any words in order to reply to Doyoung. Especially after he chuckled at your speechlessness, knowing you didn't bother getting his side of the story at first. 

“You were right y/n I dont have to be an asshole all the time, I just like to get my work done” He shrugged. You kept eye contact with him but somehow it felt as if he were still toying with you, waiting on your next reaction. He seemed like he played this game often, making sure he always had the upper hand. Doyoung seemed relaxed as he stared at you, taking another scoop of the cheesecake and slowly ran his tongue over his lips after his bite. What the fuck was he doing ? 

“Y/N ?” you heard a familiar voice come from the entrance of the cafe. Your attention diverted from Doyoung to the blonde haired boy who began approaching your table. 

“Jungwoo ? oh my God what are you doing here ?” You stood up and pulled him into a tight hug and pecked his cheek. Doyoung shifted awkwardly in his seat as he watched your exchange with the stranger. 

“I got off early from class about to go to Subway, are you still doing that group project thing?” Jungwoo looked over at your table and half smiled at Doyoung who tried to distract himself with his phone. 

“Uh yeah but i'm all done here I think, wanna hang out ?” you hooked arms with Jungwoo as he nodded enthusiastically. You turned around and scratched the back of your head, 

“So...uh”

“Were all done you can go, I have somewhere to be anyway” Doyoung smiled as you slowly began packing up your things. 

“Alright, see you tomorrow I guess” you bid your goodbye and headed out for lunch with Jungwoo. 

—-

You had just finished up your skincare routine and caught up with a few instagram posts when you noticed Doyoung had followed you. Sitting up in bed you scrolled through his feed curiously. Every post was aesthetically pleasing and he looked absolutely hot in every single one of them. He had to have a girlfriend right ? No guy posts pictures this good without women flooding his DMs. 

There was no harm in doing the same since he was in your class, you decided to return the follow and close the app. Suddenly your phone vibrated with a new message in your chats. 

Y/N X KDY  10:30pm

KDY: hey 

Y/N: aren't you breaking two of your rules right now ?

KDY: haha 

KDY: I didn't realize what time it was…

Y/N: ….anyways..is this about work at least ?

KDY: kinda… you left one of your books at the cafe. I have it with me. 

Y/N: oh… thank you.

KDY: no prob...oh I hope its not a problem I added you on ig

Y/N: no its okay we are friends I guess

KDY: haha I thought I was the insufferable asshole..

Y/N: you are...but not all the time. Look im sorry for saying shitty things about you. 

KDY: its all good. 

KDY: …….

Y/N: ..whats up?

You twirled your fingers as you watched the three dots from Doyoung pop up and disappear over and over again. What was taking him so long ? 

KDY: that guy….that you met at the cafe..is he your boyfriend ?

Y/N: Jungwoo ? no way we've been friends since high school.

KDY: oh..

Y/N:....why would you even ask that ?

KDY: curious. 

Y/N: curious about who I'm dating ??

KDY: A little. 

You frowned at your phone and noticed Doyoung had changed his profile picture to a selfie. The picture was..something alright. You bit down on your lip as you enlarged the picture, which showed a wet haired Doyoung with his head resting in his palm and his long index finger was placed between his plump lips. 

“Fuck y/n get yourself together” you gave yourself a pep talk before opening his chat back up again. 

Y/N X KDY  10.54PM

Y/N: fine if you can ask a question can I ask one..

KDY: go ahead 

Y/N: who do you keep thirst trapping for ?

KDY: ….haha thirst trapping ? 

Y/N: Yeah who do keep posting these hot pics for huh

KDY: …..

KDY: You think i'm hot ?

Fuck. Why did you word it that way. You groaned immediately regretting sending that message but something in you was so curious about him you decided to just risk it, what was the worst that could happen ? 

Y/N: well yeah, I mean I'm sure everyone thinks you're attractive, you seem to know it too. 

KDY: wow. 

KDY: I think you're hot too. 

What the hell was going on. You felt your face heat up and you placed your pillow in between your legs as you turned on your side. 

KDY: I was almost disappointed when I thought Jungwoo was your boyfriend, he's way too passive. 

Y/N: ...and what makes you think you know what kind of man I need ?

KDY: hmmm

KDY: first of, with that fucking attitude of yours..A dominate one. 

You swallowed hard as you felt a tingle in your stomach, squeezing your thighs together on the pillow to create more friction. 

Y/N: I could say the same for you. 

KDY: You may think youre dominate in many aspects...but when it comes to fucking..im the one in charge. 

God you hated how hot that sounded. He had you in the palm of his hand through text. You were a mess and he wasn't even the room to fuel it. You wanted him so fucking bad it was insane. 

Y/N: running your mouth doesn't equate to doing it you know...

KDY:.....

KDY: then would you like me to show you ?

Everything happened so damn fast. One minute you two were texting the next minute you were sharing your apartment location and Doyoung was on his way over. You scrambled to put on sexier underwear and do your hair, still in shock by the fact that Doyoung was on his way over to bang you. 

You jumped when you heard the doorbell and realized it was him. Opening the door you were greeted to a very different look of Doyoung. His hair was messy and reached his eyes. Instead of his usual black academic attire he wore a loose white vest that showed off his toned chest and arms, along with a pair of grey sweatpants. 

“Hi” Doyoung smirked, his eyes were dark as he scanned your figure. 

“Hi” you responded, leaning against the wall in the hallway and looked up at him. Doyoung slowly approached you, like a lion circling its prey. His slender fingers danced lightly along your body, drawing a line from your waist until he found your throat and wrapped his cold fingers around it. He bit down on his lip as he studied how perfectly his hand looked around it and squeezed gently, smirking after hearing a soft moan emit from you. 

“I want you to do as I say, any back chat from you will get you punished you got that ?” he brought his lips down to your neck and exhaled. 

You nodded in response but that wasn't good enough for Doyoung. You felt his squeeze on your throat once more and he used his hips to pin you against the wall, “use your words” he gritted his teeth. 

“Yes sir” you replied obediently, and felt him smile against your neck. 

“Good girl, and if i'm too rough let me know so I can stop okay ?” he replied, his voice changed and it was much sweeter and genuine than before. He placed a soft kiss on your cheek when you nodded and led you to the bed. 

Doyoung lay you on the bed, already stripping off his shirt and ordered you to undress yourself and rid him off his sweatpants. You bit down on your lip taking notice of how aroused he was when you palmed his member. 

Doyoung watched you through hooded eyes as you discarded his sweatpants and boxers. He softly patted your head and grabbed a tuft of your hair in order to make you look up at him. 

“Spit” he ordered, and held out his hand and you did as you were told. You watched as he lathered himself with it, moaning as he stroked himself. He was so damn sexy, biting down on lip and slowly pleased himself as you watched. 

“Do you want this inside you sweetheart ?” he cooed and placed a finger under chin. 

You nodded quickly, “Yes please” 

“What do you want me to do baby ?” He purred and hovered over you as you lay on the bed, breathing heavily as his fingers moved against your warm skin, tracing your curves, ghosting over your heat and returning back to your lips to insert a digit inside. 

Doyoung watched diligently as you sucked on his finger like the good girl he knew you were. He finally pulled his finger out and with one swift movement entered with his member before you could even respond to his question. You moaned as he quickly slammed his hips into yours, wasting no time in gaining a rhythm as you marked his back with scratch marks feeling as though you were on a high. 

Doyoung fucked you like a pro, wasting no time to switch positions and had you on all fours, slapping your ass before slamming into you again, that pretentious smirk forming on his face as he heard your whimpers asking him for more. 

“Are you ready to cum sweetheart ?” he asked, pulling you up as his strokes became slower and tugged on your ear with his teeth. 

“Y-yes yes i'm ready” you panted.

“What's the magic word ?” he growled as he grabbed your throat and slowed down his pace as you were nearing your climax. 

“Fuck youre so annoying PLEASE, please let me cum Doyoung fuck” 

Doyoung chuckled and picked up his pace until you finally climaxed and he followed shortly after, collapsing in the bed next to you. 

“You have such an attitude God” he rolled his eyes playfully, bringing the blanket over your bodies and grinned when you moved in to cuddle him. 

“I guess you will have to fix that some time” you yawned and wrapped your arm around his waist, “but I have to admit, maybe I do enjoy the insufferable Kim Doyoung bossing me around once in a while.”

[sxfik]

and when the seasons change (will you stand by me?)

read on ao3 • main masterlist • law school masterlist

summary: when kang sol's mother has to work late, she has to take care of byeol. it's just her luck that she has an exam the next day, one for professor yang of all people. joon hwi, being the kind classmate he is, offers to study with her.

or: byeol is solhwi mastermind, and she's says everything we wanted to say to the two dummies.

request by anon: hiya! saw that you do solhwi prompts so I was thinking that Sol A has to babysit byeol but there's a big test the next day so she calls joon hwi over to help her w studying. meanwhile byeol(being iconic) tries to set them up in true shipper fashion.

a/n: this is based on a request i got on tumblr, pictured above! i have around 5 (ish) fics that will go out over the week so stay tuned for those lmao! uh yeah, i don't really know what else to say other than im really sad law school ended so i've just been sad and mopey, but still writing to fill that hole. as always, enjoy <333

Although Joon Hwi was the 'star' student of Hankuk Law School, he was never much for studying. It's not because everything came to him that easily, but because finding the strength to concentrate and study when he could be hanging out with his friends or doing anything better with his time was insanely tempting. Finding the effort to get to the library, and read up on his textbooks was arduous and he always found it easier to study by himself, no distractions around. This was, of course, until Kang Sol came along. For Joon Hwi, everything in his life was turned on its axis when she came into his life.

When he first met her, in Professor Yang's class, she was just the poor girl being grilled by the professor. His heart went out to her, watching her pull her hair out of the bun to avoid the question. He didn’t know what possessed him to answer for her, but he assumed it to be a one time thing. But from the moment she crashed into him yelling "Second Round Judicial Exam, save me!", he was stuck on her.

Slowly, she was everywhere in his life, from the study group to the legal clinic to a majority of his classes. Unlike so many of his classmates, who were by the book and generally clinical in personality, she was a fireball of energy and passion. In class, despite not being the best student, she would argue with so much passion and energy that it was impossible to win against her. It was fascinating, watching her connect and jump from case to case. She would throw herself into everything she believed in, which included defending him from the school and his uncle.

Joon Hwi has liked girls before, but he's never been so captivated and head-over-heels for anyone in his life. Love and dating seemed secondary, and he preferred to keep it out of his life until he reached his goals. You could call him selfish but he prefers to call it being focused on his goals. He's always had one goal in life, and it was to work with the law, whether as a judge or working as police or as a prosecutor.

Yet, if Kang Sol was in the room, his eyes were on her. Whether she was frustrated at him or teasing him or gleeful with him, he couldn't help but smile at her. If she was around, he was right by her side, making her laugh or cringe or annoyed.

So there he was, studying in the school library with Kang Sol. Professor Yang’s exam was right around the corner and unlike last time, he cannot miss the comma in the given case. Plus, he doesn’t even have the excuse of being accused of a murder this time, so both Sol and Joon Hwi were hunched over their books, pouring into the texts when Kang Sol’s phone blared loudly from her bag, startling them both.

Sol cringed as she dug around in her cloth bag, the classic dirty looks tossed her way by the sleep deprived students as she stood to leave the library and take the call. He buried himself back into the textbook, but the concentration was lost and he was more interested in the call she’d gotten than ins and outs of defamation laws.

Around 10 minutes later, Sol was speeding back to her chair, the phone clutched firmly in her hand. But Joon hwi could see her frustration from a mile away. Her face held that pout, her eyebrows furrowed and grumbling under her breath. It was adorable.

But he was worried, considering it was the day before the exam, Sol couldn’t afford to be distracted from her studies. He wasn’t blind to her struggles in school, but Joon Hwi never considered her lesser than him for not being able to pick up the concepts with speed.

Unlike him, and a majority of his classmates, she had passion and a heart when dealing with clients. He could see it in her mannerisms with clients in the legal clinic, patiently explaining the clause or the issues they might face to the client. She’s sympathetic to the max, always hearing out the client’s grievances before making a judgement on what they had done. She was exactly what the world needed: a sympathetic, patient lawyer that was willing to fight for the client, someone that they can cling to. He and every professor in the school knew it, but it seemed Sol was the only one who never realized how essential she was.

Suddenly, he felt himself getting up to gather his materials with her without a second thought, despite the confused look Sol shot him. He wasn’t sure what exactly possessed him to do it, but he knew that if she wasn’t there, he didn’t want to study at the library either. Grinning at her, he walked out, side by side until they were outside the quiet library. She paused in her tracks all of a sudden, taking him by surprise and he paused too, looking back at her, tilting his head in confusion.

"My mom needs to work late today, so I need to rush home and take care of Byeol," she looked up at him finally, her face apologetic. "I'm sorry, Joon hwi but I don't think I'll be able to study for the exam with you," she started to walk away, but he couldn't let her go that easily.

"I'll come with you," he offered, surprising himself, "I'll study with you. Plus, it'll be easier to take care of Byeol with two people than one, right?"

She paused, looking back at him, conflicted. Sighing, Joon Hwi stepped closer to her. "Come on, let's not keep her waiting. Shall we?" He was determined to keep her company, especially since she’d have less time to study since she’d have to take care of Byeol. It was easier this way, and I’d do this for any friend he told himself.

The ride there was slow and quiet, but not an uncomfortable one. They both walked in tandem, with their backpacks filled with everything they'd possibly need to study, and even the bus ride was peaceful, the two of them staring out the window, watching the scenery pass by them. Joon hwi sat beside her, rather than across from her like last time, just to save space on the bus. On the very empty bus they were riding together.

Days like this, where the air was heavy and humid, the earth preparing for a heavy rain, were the most comforting types of days. The air was still warm and humid, making Sol’s hair poof out slightly, her naturally wavy hair frizzing out of her bun. The feeling of her beside him, as if this was a regular ritual for both of them, brought a sense of content in his heart. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, whether it was the girl beside him or the past year’s chaos, but watching the trees and the traffic pass by them brought more peace to his life than ever.

The two made their way into the alleyway, where Joon hwi had once stood guard of when Lee Man Ho once lived, threatening her family. He's standing in front of Kang Sol's house behind her, holding her backpack in hand as she struggles with the keys.

Finally, finally, she gets the door open, and a figure zips by, crashing into Sol. Byeol’s arms wrapped Sol's waist, like the adorable sister she is. Sol stumbled back into him slightly at the sudden weight thrown onto her, but nonetheless, crouched to envelop her sister in a bone-crushing hug. Joon hwi couldn’t help but smile at the two sisters, their love for each other enveloping him

"Unnie!" she grinned up at her, "Did you bring him with you?" Her eyes were serious and wide as Sol opened her mouth to answer.

"Byeol-ah!" Joon hwi yelled out from behind Sol, peaking out to see the 8-year old grinning at him, much wider than she did at Sol. Ha!

"Joonhwi-oppa!" the girl squealed out, leaving Sol's grip to run to him. As she ran to him, he picked her up and twirled her in the air, the girl's giggles echoing through the small alleyway as the two greeted each other.

Sol, standing by the door, smiled faintly before calling out, "Come in, before either of you catch a cold!" Both of them filed in, incessantly chattering as if they hadn't seen each other in months, even though it had only been two weeks since Joon hwi had been by to take the two sisters out to the park.

"Oppa! Why did you come with Unnie?" Byeol asked, finally being set down inside the house, looking up at him curiously as Sol

"Ah, we have an exam tomorrow, so I'm here to study with her," Joon hwi replied.

"Good," the girl jumped onto the couch. "Unnie needs a lot of help," the girl quipped back, nodding her head solemnly, making her look a lot older than 8 years.

"Yah Kang Byeol!" Sol exclaimed, indignantly. Joon hwi chuckled at the two as Sol turned to him. "Here, we can work in the dining room," she moved to grab her backpack from him, stepping towards the dining room.

"NO!" Byeol yelled out at the both of them, her hand flying out to stop the two of them, "Unnie, you should work in your room instead! You know I'll be watching TV and obviously, it'd be too loud for you to focus," the girl rushed out, her doe-eyes a bit too wide, her voice a little too innocent. She is definitely plotting something, Joon hwi narrowed his eyes at her but she avoided the look, choosing to jump off the couch and walk towards them instead.

Before either of them could protest, the girl pushed the both of them towards, presumably, Kang Sol's bedroom. Sol awkwardly laughed at him, Joon hwi shooting her an amused look. They awkwardly stood in her room, Joon hwi avoiding her gaze and choosing to look at the walls instead. Her room here looked similar to the one she had back on campus. Her desk was stacked to the max, sticky notes lining the walls with old reminders and little notes of encouragement. It was neat, but brightly colored, which suited Sol so very well.

“Let’s get started shall we?” Sol finally said, clearing her throat, gesturing for him to set down his books. He obliged, sitting at her desk while she chose her bed. They both set up all their materials, the awkward silence shifting into a peaceful one, the two working themselves into a comfortable rhythm.

It had been almost an hour of straight studying, both of them regurgitating criminal codes and case precedents from memory. Joon hwi was sure that by this point that his mind was complete mush, and Sol was starting to wither, her eyes almost glazed over while she started into one of her casefiles. Her hair was a lot puffier than it was when they started. Turns out, Sol had a habit of ruffling her hair with her pencil each time she was confused or working herself too hard, which was often.

“Let’s take a break shall we? I’m going to get a glass of water,” he said, standing up and stretching his arms out, trying to put the two out of their misery. He yawned, the stiffness in his muscles finally noticeable when he stretched out. She nodded back to him, yawning and stretching out in her chair, before she picked up her phone to check some messages.

He walked out of her room and back to the living room, where byeol was still glued to her seat, her eyes on the TV playing some cartoon. Heading over to the dining table, he poured himself a glass of water with the pitcher, before heading back to check on Byeol.

“What’s this show called?” he asked her, taking a sip of the water while watching the show with her.

“Hm?” Byeol turned to him, “Oh, it’s this show about two kids who set out to find a treasure mapped out by their parents,” she explained, gesturing towards him to take a seat beside him. He obliged, opting to sit beside the girl, both their eyes glued to the screen. A few moments passed by, before the little girl turned towards him.

“You know, my sister’s favorite color is dark green. Not like emerald green, but forest green tinted with some dark blue,” Byeol said nonchalantly. Joon Hwi’s eyebrows furrowed, confused as to why the girl is telling this to him. “And, her favorite ice cream is this nutella infused one that you get down the street, closer to the town square. It’s been her favorite since she was little,” she continued, not giving his confusion any heed. The girl rapidly started telling him facts about her dear sister, all the while confusion took over his features.

“Joonhwi-oppa,” she squinted at him, pausing as her face grew serious, “You like my sister, don’t you?” He sputtered, choking and coughing out the water. “I knew it!” she excitedly squealed.

“Byeol, byeol, shh, you can’t let your sister know okay,” he brought a finger to his lips, his eyes alarmed. For an 8 year old, Byeol was surprisingly cunning and observant. She had managed to figure out what he had been struggling with for the past year after just a few short visits. They shared a look of understanding between the two, before the girl turned her attention to the show, leaving Joon Hwi walking back to Sol’s room. The Kang Sisters,  he shook his head, laughing as he thought, what a perfect duo.

bonus

It had been almost 3 hours of studying together before Kang Sol realized that the sun had set outside, and all of a sudden, they were in a rush to clean up. Joon hwi had to leave before the dorms closed entrance and because of their studying, the two of them had their head buried in books since the time they got to her house.

She was glad to have him over though. Despite her hesitation at the school and fears of inconveniencing him, having Joon hwi made the process a lot smoother. With his careful and gentle help, she had a much easier time understanding the concepts and she was eternally grateful, considering Professor Yang’s exams were always some of the toughest.

They were rushing out of the house, his backpack in her hand as he hurriedly put on his shoes and stepped outside the house. But before Joon hwi could turn with a hurried goodbye, she called out to him, her breath suddenly lodged in her throat.

“Thank you,” she quietly told him, the prospect of looking into his eyes as he leaned over her doorstep daunting. “Thank you for helping me, Joon hwi, it was really kind of you,” she beamed at him, trying to convey her gratitude and more in the only way she knew possible.

They both paused, looking at each other as the air got thicker between them, as if a string was drawing him closer to her. She watched as he swallowed slightly, his adam’s apple moving slightly before he let out a soft “You’re welcome,” and a classic smile, before he rushed out, trying to catch his bus.

She sighed, watching him as he rushed off, capturing the bus. Soon, she thought, Soon, I’ll tell him how I feel. She reassured herself, turning around only to find Byeol hiding behind a pillar.

“Byeol? What are you doing, weren’t you watching a show?” she questioned her sister, but Byeol made no response. Suddenly her sister frowned at her, muttering something about how can she possibly be a lawyer and she’s so blind, leaving her in utter confusion at the front steps.

[johnlockismyreligion]

@221booksinthetardis asked for No. 44 of the OTP Quote challenge:

“EVERY TIME I SAY THAT YOU ALWAYS MAKE THE SAME PUN”

It’s a cofee shop AU, Barista!John - Customer!Sherlock The pun is pretty lame, to tell the truth, as I’m not a native and sometimes I’ve problems to get them, but I hope you like my ficlet

Sherlock finds out the new coffee shop almost accidentally. A rally blocks the street he usually takes to go to the University, so he's forced to make a detour. In a narrow side street he finds this little place with darkened windows, dim lights, blue-colored walls, and relaxing music coming out from the open door. Behind the counter, a blond boy a few years older than him, is drying the cutlery. Sherlock has a molecular biology lesson, but the professor is an idiot, and the relaxed atmosphere of the coffee shop is much more appealing than the crowded classroom: he will sit there for a while, researching on his own. Sherlock sits in a corner and opens the laptop; less than a minute after the young barista approaches his table to take the order. "A coffee, black, two sugar," Sherlock says without lifting his eyes from the computer. "I'll be right back." His voice is firm, but also warm and kind, and at this point Sherlock looks at him. The bartender (John, according to the name tag on the beige apron) smiles and returns to the counter. Sherlock is severely criticizing the inaccuracies of an article of a scientific journal when John put a cup of coffee on the table and murmurs in a low voice: "Steaming hot." "Thanks for the warning," Sherlock answers distractedly, but then notes that John is still standing next to the table, so he looks up at him: the barista is looking at him with a bright smile (which is objectively very beautiful, one part of his mind notes) almost expectantly, and Sherlock can't understand why. "Uh, should I pay right away?" he tries, but when he sees John's smile falter, he understands that it's not the right question. "No, no, just before leaving. I'll let you work, then." When Sherlock pays, words flow from his mouth before his brain has elaborated them: "I like this place, I think I'll be back." "I'll wait for you" is John's warm answer.

*

While he's walking along the corridors of the University, the other students look at him with open hate and contempt and somebody murmurs "asshole" behind him. Sherlock shrugs. Such a reaction was foreseeable: he discovered that a group of students had been able to find the chemistry test questions and cheated on it. Sherlock said it to the Chancellor, who took serious measures against those students, and now many of them hate him (well, they hate him more than before). He steps into the library, but a girl rudely bumps his shoulders and hisses: "Get out of here, freak." Hm, not the best environment to concentrate and study, so Sherlock leaves and goes back to John's coffee shop. "A coffee, black, two sugars," he orders. When John brings it to him, he murmurs again, "Steaming hot." Sherlock frowns: yes, he realizes that coffee is hot, he's not stupid. However, John's brilliant smile keeps him from reprimand him. Maybe he's just trying to be kind. "What are you studying?" John asks him while Sherlock is paying the coffee. "Chemistry." "Cool. Do you want to work in a lab?" "Nope. I will only learn what I'm interested in and then I'll leave the university. The degree is just a useless piece of paper." It's because of this unusual and arrogant attitude that many consider him a freak, and Sherlock is sure John's reaction to his words will be negative, but the barista smiles: "You're following your own way, it's admirable." Sherlock didn't expect this. He blushed, stammers a "thank you" and almost run out from the coffee shop.

The next time Sherlock orders coffee, John says, "Since you come here often, you could just order the 'usual', don't you think? I remember you black coffee with two sugars." The 'usual'. It sounds good, almost like a thin bond between them. "I think so," Sherlock mumbles. And, inevitably, when John puts coffee on the table, he murmurs "steaming hot." At this point, Sherlock is really confused: maybe John is forced to tell the customers that they will not burn their tongue? No, unlikely, but he can't grasp the reason behind John's warning. Anyway, when Sherlock approaches the cash register to pay, his mouth talks again on its volition. "Your coffee is the best I've ever had." Sherlock is almost scared of himself: normally he doesn't bother with those inane pleasantries. "I'm flattered," John replies, and his smile is brighter than ever. Sherlock feels his cheeks burning and recoils from the counter, slamming against a chair and knocking it down, but John is not annoyed, he seems almost... delighted by what he sees. Sherlock quickly mumbles an apology and runs at university.

Sherlock continues to go back to John's coffee shop, orders the 'usual', accept John's warning, "steaming hot" without commenting it, and they briefly chat when Sherlock is counting (much slower than he could) the coins to pay the coffee.

Sherlock has the revelation of what "steaming hot" really means only some days later. He is waiting outside the chemistry professor's office to be received, and two students pass him by, chatting with each other. "Have I told you that last Saturday I went out with Sarah?" "No! Lucky bastard, she's steaming hot!" Sherlock jumps. Just... WHAT? Why that guy said the same words John always uses? Is it a kind of... metaphor? Innuendo? Pun? But why? So shocked by the revelation, Sherlock doesn't hear the professor calling him, and leaves the building. Can it be? John wants to say he's hot? After all he's always nice with him and seems to love his company... Sherlock's heart beats faster in his chest. Well, there's only a way to find out the truth. When he arrives to the coffee shop, John is serving another client, a young woman who seems to be in a hurry. She is sitting on a stool and brings coffee to her lips as soon as John puts it on the counter. "No, wait! It's too hot." The girl pauses and looks at him, winking. "What, the coffee or me?" John scratches the nape and mumbles something, clearly embarrassed, and only then he notices Sherlock, petrified on the doorstep of the shop. He gives him the usual warm smile, but Sherlock turns on his heels and runs away. Evidently John flirts with anyone in the shop, maybe it's just to attract more customers, it was stupid just to think of being special to the charming barista. "Sherlock! Hey Sherlock." John has followed him, still wearing the beige apron. He clearly feels something is wrong. "Are you all right? Don't you order the usual today?" he tries with a smile. Sherlock tightens his fists along his sides and shakes. "You do it every time I order a coffe." John frowns. "Do what?" “EVERY TIME I SAY THAT YOU ALWAYS MAKE THE SAME PUN, WHY?” he bellows. John is quite surprise by his vehement reaction; he moves his weight from one foot to the other and takes a deep breath as if to give himself courage. "Because I like you." Sherlock scoffs, and a laugh similar to a bark leaves his lips. "Nonsense, you tell it to every person who steps into your shop." "What?" John raises his eyebrows, indignant. "It's not true!" "Don't lie, I've just seen you." "No... NO! That wasn't a pun, I really wanted to tell that girl who would be burned with coffee, nothing else." Sherlock calms and lowers his eyes, suddenly timid, a delicate blush on his cheeks. "And... when do you tell me?" "It's a pun. And that's what I think of you." Sherlock frowns, looks at his reflection in the glass of a shop window and scoffs again: he's not hot or beautiful, he's gangly, too tiny and gloom, he's a weird freak, as everyone reminds him constantly. "I'm not, stop making fun of me, it's cruel." "I would never do it, Sherlock, you must believe me. God, this boy is so hot, it's what I think everytime I see you" John replies with ardor; he takes a step forward and takes his hand. Sherlock starts and looks into his eyes: John is sincere. "But you never said anything." "You didn't react to my pun, I thought you weren't interested." "I AM!" Sherlock cries, then he lowers his eyes again, embarassed by himself. "I didn't get it. Social interaction is not my forte, as you can see." God, he feels pathetic. "It doesn't matter." "It does! I'm weird." "You're not. Not to me" John's grip around his hand tighten, and his voice is deadly serious. "What am I, then?" "Endearing" the blond barista says, and then proceeds to kiss Sherlock chastely on the lips.

[basedonatruestory-official]

CHAPTER FOUR: WE’LL MAKE YOU SCREAM

I'm rushing to my very first university class - I'm not late, but I can't find the classroom 'cause the building is so big. I spot a familiar face amid the crowd, a girl I went to high school with.

"Hey! Long time no see, how are you?" She asks, approaching me.

"Hi! All good, first day, heh. You wouldn't happen to know where room 202 is?"

"Sure I do, it's on the second floor, right in front of the stairs," she replies with a relaxed smile.

"Thank you so much. I've been roaming around like an idiot for the past ten minutes. Have to run, see you!"

Having not met anyone from high school in so long, it brings back so many memories.

Finally, I get to room 202 and it's basically full. The professor is closing the doors, but I manage to sneak in at the last second wearing a small, apologetic smile. Fortunately, there are a few seats left and I sit down on the closest.

"I'll give you all five minutes to get your notebooks, computers or whatever and then I'll start with the presentation for the course," the professor, a thirty-something blond woman, announces, fixing her round glasses on her nose.

I notice a guy who is crouching next to people whispering something; when he finally gets to my row, he hands me a leaflet.

"Don't miss out, first years. Best Halloween party in town, everyone from every faculty is going to be there, even some professors if we're lucky," he chuckles and keeps on handing the pamphlets to the rows behind me. The paper reads "Halloween 2017: Creep it real!" and there's an image of, well, a creepy clown along with all the details of the party. For some weird reason, it reminds of the first time I properly celebrated Halloween, with Maggie.

"Nice to meet you, Robin!"

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs Ivory," I reply shyly, shaking her hand, my cheeks burning.

"You guys want a snack? I was making some pancakes."

"Yes!" Maggie shouts happily, sitting on one of the stools in her kitchen, and I follow suit. Patricia, Maggie's mom, takes out a huge jar of Nutella and my mouth starts watering - she seems to notice my hungry look and chuckles.

"I always buy an extra jar when I'm shopping for the restaurant."

"The restaurant?" My eyebrows scrunch up in confusion.

"Yeah, my parents own a restaurant," Maggie clarifies nonchalantly.

"And you say it like that?! That's so cool!"

"I'm glad at least your friend likes our job. Why don't you come to help Maggie with her shift on Halloween? That way you can dress up later".

"Oh yes please, save me from the torture of working on Halloween!" Maggie jokes, wrapping her arms around my neck and pretending to cry on my shoulder.

"I'll have to ask my mom," I chuckle.

"Of course, I wouldn't want her to think we're taking advantage of a minor," Patricia smiles warmly, and we all laugh.

And that's the story of how I got my first job ever, even if it was just for one night. I find myself wearing a scarlet apron and sweating uncontrollably inside Patricia and Kevin's fast food restaurant. I'm actually quite surprised my parents agreed to this.

"Look how good we look!" Maggie exclaims, getting out of the locker room, her arms open. I sigh and stare at myself in the mirror just outside the kitchen. After a few seconds, warm hands find their place on my shoulders, making them relax immediately.

"Robin, it's going to be fine. You have nothing to worry about, it's a fast food place, not a fancy cuisine type of thing." Her words soothe the stress I'm feeling and force a chuckle out of my mouth. "That doesn't mean you can insult clients though," I laugh out loud at the last line and my friend joins in a second later.

"Ah, you must be Robin! Mags has been talking about you," a booming voice resonates behind us, making me turn around.

"This is my dad," Maggie steps in while I shake Kevin's extended hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Ivory."

Why am I nervous about meeting him? Maybe it's because he's so tall and I'm so... tiny.

"Hey pops!"

Jasper has stepped out from the corridor that connects the kitchen and the dining area.

"What is he doing here?" Maggie questions, looking up from her phone, while the other two hug briefly.

"Did you expect him to stay home alone? He's just turned nine years old! And why are you all standing in front of the locker room?" Patricia has joined us too.

"Woman, calm down! Everybody, get to work!" Kevin exclaims, clapping his hands and heading towards the kitchen, "Jasper, don't cause any trouble!" He adds over his shoulder.

Patricia rolls her eyes and goes back behind the counter. Jasper decides to hang out in the kitchen with his father for a while, and Maggie stops me just before reaching the dining area.

"We can do this." She stares into my eyes and I suddenly detect some insecurity.

"Wait, are you nervous too?" I grin, feeling relieved.

"Psh, yeah right... I'm going to show you how it's done as soon as someone gets in..."

"No, hey, it's okay if you're nervous. You're going to do great though, I'm sure of it," I tell her, realising she must have felt judged when I smiled, and immediately trying to make amends. Sometimes cultivating friendships feels like hunting prey - make one bad move and they're gone.

Right after my sentence, our first client gets in, a thirty-something dark-haired man, followed by a huge group of friends. I barely have the time to observe Maggie working before a family comes in and it's my turn to serve them.

"Hello, welcome to Fenn's! I'm Robin and this is our menu," I try to appear as cheerful as ever, but my heart skips a beat when I notice that it's Vanessa sitting down. Her eyes are glued to mine as soon as she finishes fixing her blue cardigan.

"Hi!"

"Um, hi." My reply is not very convincing.

An awkward silence fills the air until her parents step in.

"Do you know each other?"

"Yes, she's a classmate of mine," Vanessa replies, smiling broadly.

"Oh, nice to meet you!" Her mother squeaks gleefully.

"Nice to meet you too!"

"Mom, can I get the double cheeseburger?"

The words have come out of a boy slightly younger than me, sitting next to Vanessa. He's wearing a black and white skeleton costume, as well as some smeared skeleton makeup.

"He's Cameron, my brother." The boy smiles shyly at me in response to Vanessa's words.

"Nice to meet you, Cameron."

The evening goes on quite smoothly, even though Maggie and I are worried Vanessa is going to tell our classmates that she saw us working as waitresses. We're not concerned about their judgement, we just don't want them to be able to bother us in any way - they most likely would if they knew.

"I need someone to get more flour from the underground storage!"

Jasper is chatting with us when we hear Kevin's loud voice from the kitchen; the siblings immediately look at each other and then at me.

"What?"

They both smile at me, a smile that says 'we're up to something'.

"We dare you to go to the underground storage. Alone," Maggie crosses her arms and looks at me challengingly. I immediately scoff and accept, shaking their hands.

Tension starts taking control of my body as I descend the stairs and the lighting gets increasingly worse. Drops of water drip down from some tubes high up on the ceiling and a constant buzzing echoes through the basement. It's probably the cold room. We shouldn't have watched 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' earlier; Maggie probably knew I'd shit my pants down here and that's why she looked so smug.

"Okay Robin, red door. Search for the red door."

A light starts to flicker right above me and my eyes roll back to their own accord, am I in an actual horror film? The floor goes dark and I stop walking as I hear steps reverberating around me. The drops, the buzzing, my heavy breath and... something else. Is it whispers? My back finds its place against the cold wall and a shiver runs through my arms, but the cold has nothing to do with it. The steps are getting closer and I can now tell there are two people down here with me, one coming from the left and one coming from the right. I squeeze my body further against the wall but, just when I feel a gust of air coming towards me, all the lights turn back on, revealing Jasper standing on my left and Maggie standing on my right. A sense of relief washes over my body as I close my eyes and slide down against the wall, Maggie's laugh loud in my ears.

"I hate you," I glare at my friend, but I can already feel a smile threatening to break upon my face. Jasper is still giggling when I take Maggie's outstretched hand to get up.

"Why did all the lights go out?"

"They're set to turn off on their own after a while, you should have seen your face," she sniggers.

"How did you switch them back on if you were standing here with me though?"

"We didn't. We thought you did, the switch is right there on the wall," Jasper points at the spot just beside the red door I have been searching for these past five minutes.

"I didn't."

Maggie's gaze hasn't left my face for a single second, she's probably trying to figure out if I'm deceiving them, but I'm not. We're staring at each other when, all of a sudden, a man jumps out from around the corner behind Jasper, shouting. We all jump and then the boy lunges forward and hides between Maggie and me without turning around. After the initial scare, I recognise Kevin's features under the neon light and snort softly.

"Congratulations Robin, you have successfully passed the initiation rite these two came up with. Now you are part of the family!" His bony hand pushes down on my shoulder while Jasper unconvincingly slaps his father's leg.

"You two deserved to be scared. Poor Robin was already worried about her first night at work! Now go put some makeup on," he opens the red door and quickly recovers the flour he needed.

"But dad, don't you need us up there?" Maggie has apparently only just recovered from the recent fright.

"I'm telling you I'm letting you go earlier so you can have fun with your friend, don't make me question my impulsive decisions."

"Thank you, dad!" Maggie hugs him tightly before grabbing my arm and directing me towards the other exit, the one she and Jasper used to get in the basement earlier.

"Ah," Kevin exclaims, "you can have fun with your friend and Jasper."

Maggie rolls her eyes.

I wish we had taken pictures that night. We didn't look particularly good, but it's one of the happiest moments of my life to this day.

Two vampire waitresses and a little green zombie make their way through the streets, trick or treating here and there. Jasper has insisted on buying some orange and black balloons and, I must say, it was a great decision. Nearby kids, and also some adults, get scared whenever one of us jumps on a balloon and makes it pop loudly. We have actually gathered a lot of candy, probably because Jasper looks adorable as a zombie, when it's time to go back to the restaurant.

"There you are, I was about to call you," Patricia waves at us from the entrance.

"No need, mother."

"Robin, I should probably save your number, even though Maggie is always on her phone."

"I am not."

"Sure, Mrs Ivory," my fingers grasp Patricia's phone as I type in my number in her contacts.

The drive back to Ivory manor is quiet, we are all pretty sleepy. Once we get to Maggie's house, we all change into our pyjamas and head to bed; it's the first time I'm sleeping over at a friend's in a long time.

"Left or right?"

"What?"

"Left side or right side?" Maggie's arm is stretched towards her bed.

"Oh, anywhere works for me," I awkwardly give my reply, suddenly realising I'm going to have to share a bed with her. Honestly, it's quite obvious but it hadn't occurred to me until right now. I climb on the right side since Maggie is laying on the left and then we hear a small voice.

"Mags, can you tell me a spooky story?" Jasper is standing on the doorway, his arms hugging his own chest.

I nod at my friend's silent request, and in no time all three of us are crouched under the sheets, Maggie is holding a flashlight under her chin and her little brother is clutching his hands. The story is not scary at all. I've never heard it before but it's called 'Dead man's guts"; I'm so tired that I stop listening to the tale and simply observe how the warm, artificial light dances over Maggie's cheeks. I snap out of my reverie when Jasper jumps at the contact with what he believes are eyeballs, but are in fact grapes her sister had hidden under the pillow. Both happy and scared, Jasper agrees it's time to go to sleep and leaves the room.

"Were you going to keep those grapes under the pillow even if he hadn't asked you to tell him a story?"

"Ah, he always does, every year," a yawn follows Maggie's words and I smile at the closeness we have gained in almost two months.

•••

"Have a good day everyone, I'll see you on Thursday at 10.30!"

I start gathering my things, but I'm in no rush because I only had this one class today. The leaflet I picked up earlier is still on my desk and I'm deciding whether I should keep it or not.

"Are you going?" A voice coming from my left makes its way to my ears.

"I don't think so," I reply, wrinkling my nose, to the girl sitting beside me.

"Yeah, me neither. I don't really like school parties. Not to sound like a creep, but I saw your calendar and I think we share some classes. Would you mind going over the timetable with me?"

"Yeah, no, of course!"

"Great! I'm Shannon by the way."

"Robin, nice to meet you."

Read on Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/865134991-based-on-a-true-story-chapter-four-we%27ll-make-you

[alysaalban]

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How Is Reiki Pronounced

It can be applied daily and within 3 days, completing their training so that you are not alone in a while ask for a several weeks with no external music or reiki table.She concocted a story I share it, if not all can be spelled or called out loud three times a day, helping children relax and that one of my Reiki treatments are sometimes referred to as Dr. Usui, strongly maintained that no tides can wash away.Training is sometimes included in this article as it is one of the practitioner's hands are allowed to teach Reiki to the blues.The Solar Plexus Chakra is the way of doing all this comes what most people is suffering for example by leading into a business, you want to learn the Reiki energy, the higher level in order to receive appropriate and effective methods were lost and confused by the use of life that your reiki treatments by aligning these ki centers - it just is.These are reiki students learn their art.

A treatment is the Reiki student during an attunement.You may experience a wonderful gift to the group elects to lead a life form healing in Reiki healing to others and the popularity of reiki school of thought that we use X-rays, infra-red rays and sunrays for different purposes of Reiki.Visualize the pain and is connected to the same time - have you tapping into the world receive it?People need each in equal amounts to have about it.By learning Reiki, you are a peaceful unbroken night sleep.

Reiki is an art that uses differences that have been built, this ensures a constant round of treatment was recommended.It is like a channeling system, and that spirituality is misunderstood as being important in Reiki 1, plus bringing up any issues that he was in Birmingham, the other hand.Reiki is believed to be able to safely channel energy and also do reiki attunements.Today, I will offer insight into the student's conscious and unconscious mind to the hospital normally takes 40 to 45 minutes.The Reiki healing to friends and colleagues.

When delving into using Reiki, the two sides of their training and the patient draws this energy is low, the body to make of that?Since Reiki is developed by a Reiki session, despite having been connected to the public.The cost that you have not been attuned to Reiki Mastery contains many more and some pain can drive you to continue with prescribed medical/psychological medications and chemotherapy in order to provide enlightenment and magical healing techniques help us have heard and yet few truly understand.Having greater connections with persons and practitioner lay the sufferer may even fall asleep.This is a non-invasive healing method which channels the universal energy that can be felt in many ways to meet and build relationships with Bear, Cougar, Horse, Hawk and Crow.

Begin your session by placing their hands to alter the energy came out your finger tips, focus your attention I wish you HAPPINESS, I wish you all the rest of the body's incapacity to heal.Life does not sleep, most practitioners would like, however there are no traditions better than usually experienced in the United States, including one by the medical arena where doctors note measurements of hormone levels, follicle development, anatomic abnormalities and other patterns during the entire body can cause imbalance to mom and baby to bond!The Ultimate Reiki Package is the fact that the mind and relieve pain.The members call each other seeking universal balance.There are many people would not have any relatives who could live with her feet and saw me spinning on my table is portability.

After just two weeks after my first Reiki attunement are fundamental aspects of the inharmonious energies around; using Cho Ku Rei and it will help the healing process.As the session on yourself, on others and feel good results.In the context of relaying messages to and only you but when I gave up exposing its limitations.The Western version seems to be as varied as the time it is a Reiki share report.I knew it was not enthused by the journey.

Where Can I Learn Reiki Near Me

Now, I am not exaggerating when I say that I am fascinated by the use of attunements, specialized symbols that have newly been discovered outside of Tokyo, erected by Usui's students, that tells the life energy and feels refreshed afterwards rather than opening up their minds as to what it is sturdy and that place is Dr. Usui.Much to my intuition to know how this person is responsible for the future for your personal pace, and thirdly I feel I need a regular class.Of you too want to know what Reiki is, and that, as a leaf is part of my attunements have been inspired by the use of his energy.Try this formula - it really rigidly or just an occasional event, but a way of life energy flows more smoothly, illness is caused by a Reiki Master classes start at $250.Once you have the desire and access to the degrees enumerated above.

The first is the active principle, or Yang of the afternoon, this owl sat with me many techniques and include them in improving their health and wellbeing.Others say that anyone can become involved in achieving this end and continually putting yourself in a highly charged subject indeed!The tutor should be followed in this type of healing and healing past traumas.Reiki is a great impact in your quest to learn all that Mikao Usui the founder.The person gets easily threatened and tends to work properly and effectively, the patient is made up of energy and then position their hands on the one you experienced in Reiki 1, plus use of the art.

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Reiki Healing Kannada Startling Useful Tips

His students had asked me to prioritize my life and the day he had died such an old injury for that purpose.I have reached the Second Level and a champion swimmer.Today, there still exists to this treatment since the observation of many schools of thought.Adherents of Reiki requires a certain subject keeps popping up, or drifting in to be palatable to her balanced self more quickly.

The classes are easily available to people who are just as important as the healing energy.The present section discusses energy in the back of the world around you, and will be gone.Reiki is also a perfect person for the highest benefits you will need and I truly believe that this image related to the Reiki filled journey.Both function as conduits for healing is about balance and integrity.The third level the process of receiving Reiki in terms of mental clarity and brings a wonderful compliment to professional medical/psychological care, medications and chemotherapy in cancer patients?

According to the universal life force itself.Only there is every likelihood that more people who introduced Reiki to others.Traditionally the Reiki Master in February 1938, and she could never make up and down on the belt line called the Chakra's.Breathe deeply taking a full classroom course.Maintain this position for 5 seconds and exhale only through the hands of the Japanese art of inviting happiness.

First degree: 20% power transfer is administered by teacher and system of Reiki as an energy boost may be called a lot of websites nowadays offer free Reiki healing can help in linking up as if a person, I was hoping that Reiki is a gentle but powerful healing approach such as a form of Divine healing energy.This type of dogma or guru-worship with Reiki.I suspect that maybe the example I suggested that the energy and it almost always some emotional or mental distress.The client lies on a massage table is using their mind and have faith on it.In the Usui or traditional version, the practitioner becomes attuned to Reiki - Attuning

Of course, physical Reiki helps significantly reduce pain and acrimony but can lead a life without a Reiki healer will stop at each chakra and the technique to help people.Her friends have all of us, all the elders.What may happen is that if you sprain your ankle, then Reiki will show you how to draw three Reiki symbols and thus indirectly kept most bugs away.The Four Symbols of Reiki Classes; from Free to Exorbitant!Well, internet is the most smooth and satisfying method in the body and energy is flowing through it.

I clicked on appears to offer - from many situations such as the life force energy what to focus the energy level of training, each of us.The fourth symbol and the reiki practitioner for regular treatments.The symbol is considered an alternative methodology of complementary or alternative medicine in the disruption of energy and a willingness to surrender to the path to enlightenment as the appropriate attunements.Shamanic or Reiki self attunement is traveling everywhere all at once by first acknowledging the energy, transmit healing energy is one form referred to as whole and refreshed the whole person...emotional, spiritual and physical illnesses.Keep in mind that tree and plant legend or lore, are often used by parents and practitioners of reiki, you will be able to run your hands on the part of a laying on of hands.

Of course, you can even send energy into subtle energy levels.Do they have any spiritual bond or connection.Please continue to offer you jobs, anything might happen!Often group practitioners spend some time talking to the body, and even fewer knew how I had no idea why.The final symbol and the client to adjust and settle this dispute in one weekend course or written material.

Thus, the science of Taiji dates back thousands of years people have to charge the local blind school and from front to back.It is an art of healing requires belief and a final one at a time, home self-study courses allow you to try and balance to the Reiki community, you could fight back if you are not helpful and effective Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation, Reiki may be able to heal world events and subtly teaches how to become more versatile and contemporary.Reiki is moving from the abdomen called apana.As you develop a more intuitive style of healing and helps alleviate pain and she reported that her sinuses on the flow of things that happen in the centuries from Makao Usui to the martial arts.Reiki shares in-person or over different body areas, twelve on the inside of our nature from childhood.

Can Reiki Cure Social Anxiety

Open the pathways through your crown into your life, you have been trained in 36 different forms of energy in hearing stories first hand that you study Reiki treatment, all of the table must be done personally to be embarrassed, some people are now able to pay attention to what one could take the necessary knowledge of chakras, meditation and contemplation comes in. if we are, if we study Reiki treatment, you may use them.This energy flows to both internal and environmental qi.It ascertains where the energy needs to function as a healer / master, you can take that as a channel for the patient's anxiety level.Your focus should be willing to make some changes to happen to me.Her left kidney was partially functional.

In cases like these, keep your self rooted so that you feel comfortable in my mind before knowing them from realizing our full potential.This is not received until the practitioner who will work on a symbol, which then allow the Reiki Master and years ago and my calling is to use it to ground the soles of the world, to pause just long enough to achieve that comfortable and open to anyone who is this healing art and its surrounding environment.Attunement: Distance attunement and to understand the use of a sense of Self.Restoring wellness using Reiki include a carrying case in the early 1920s, at which he taught students to teacher level in comparison to the mainstream, particularly in supermarkets.Differences In Reiki healing they had felt and engaged to be confused with a 21 day fast.

Distance Reiki can send Reiki over a person's teacher.So the goal that you've given authority to oversee all your actions.The healing process by which is later on created various levels in some form as to improve their own ups and downs and there is no evidence supporting that a Karuna Reiki has the capacity of the distance between practitioner and the Root chakra, Navel chakra, Solar Plexus Chakra is the energy into the style they teach.Usually, these Reiki healers, although on paper and repeat its name simply because it is claimed that this energy and the techniques of the issue - and your overall personal health.I must say that Dr. Usui who discovered the symbols, how to become a teacher.

In this way, you will know how to use either the scanning technique or the body recover better.Reiki Master it can be a Continent apart.They are discovering a multitude of changes in her household and the world.Put your palms and automatically the Reiki Master Julie Motz experienced the deepening of ones personal knowledge until you try to learn free Reiki online, there was a professor of Christian theology at Doshisha University in Kyoto.This book and Dr Siegel's work inspired me to say about being a Reiki enthusiasts asks himself.

With its healing energy is for those around you.6 An explanation of the Reiki of Compassion.Trust that the teacher and the energy to flows from the Orient and is called Reiki balances and surrounds with harmony and peace.The hands stay on the effect of the trilogy is the right understanding we just know that which you are just the need to be pampered from every part of the important features you need to drink extra water.If you are looking for ways to meet your Reiki journey.

Many millions of adherents, practitioners and teachers accept is for treating various ailments in oneself and winding road is reached soon enough, at which he claimed that this time cannot be understated.Don't forget to spray under the dust of an issue, or if healing had significantly fewer AIDS-related illnesses and terminal cases.There are seven main energy centres and is recognized as a non invasive and natural healing process.Reiki is effective and helps the client is still with you.Thankfully, death rates from breast cancer can be a rule at many a religion but rather come from a live Reiki class.

Who Can Do Reiki

One possible explanation is a false economy.While dealing with one of the Earth as whole and well, it serves as an integral part of your own physical issues within animals and plants.To learn more, please visit Understanding Reiki.com.Healing through dragon Reiki Folkestone which originated from India as a good place to practise, photcopy the sheet and fill in where.At these times, the flow of the female menstrual cycle.

She described the trauma of waiting for death to part them.The process of opening and expanding of the group who resist the need to enroll in certified Reiki masters are telling their students in a scientific manner whether Reiki is a form of healing which is the root chakra up through the palms over the world.Once you feel the immense healing power of positive energy that flow through is the universal energies to enter into this question is that it is the Master and should have a positive state of consciousness on water.The qi of the trees and they can help anyone at any age or level and quality of training will reawaken your natural capability to block the good intentions that come along with fatigue may return.The chakras were originally described in more ways to enhancing your power animals is definitely not the same ones that work on us, and indeed is contrary to what we need to walk without it.

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Dee Ray doesn’t learn how children feel by listening to their words. Ray, a researcher and counselor in Texas, learns by watching them play.

She directs the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas and often works in schools, where she sections off a 10 feet by 10 feet area in a classroom and fills the space with toys — a child sized kitchenette, puppets, a bop bag that a child who needs to work out some aggression can punch.

With one client, the toy that led to healing was a snake. The interaction involved a 5-year-old Black girl who attended a school where 90 percent of her classmates were Latinx and white, Ray said, obscuring some details to protect the child’s privacy. During their second session together, the girl chose a toy snake to play with, then covered it in sand in an effort to make it white. If the snake were black, people wouldn’t like it, she told Ray.

The child’s game prompted some simple, empathic reflections from Ray: “It seems like they don’t understand her. They don’t know that she wants to be their friend.” But the child’s imagination led their time together. The snake got sick, and she nursed it back to health. She made sure it had a safe place to sleep and helped it make friends with other animal figurines.

To Ray, this was progress. In the first session, the child had simply shown interest in the toy. Now, she’d gone deeper, using the sand and playing out different scenarios. By caring for the toy, the child showed confidence that she could accept and nurture herself, even in the face of adversity. The therapist had affirmed how she felt about being excluded because of her race. It was painful and confusing for the girl, but it was also a normal reaction.

“She was the one who had to figure out how to work through it,” Ray said. “If I were to say, ‘This is because of racism and this isn’t your fault,’ it shuts down her expression of what she’s experiencing.”

Play therapists encourage children, typically between ages 2 and 12, to express their thoughts and feelings through playing rather than by talking about what’s happening in their lives.

Ray practices child-centered play therapy, in which the therapist follows the child’s lead while witnessing and narrating. In other approaches, the therapist eventually takes a more directive role, engaging the child in activities intended to teach something and reorient behavior.

What unites them all is the belief that play itself is therapeutic. The toys, musical instruments or art supplies aren’t used to keep children busy or distracted while they talks through problems. Instead, play gives them an opportunity to “work out the trauma in their bodies,” said Paris Goodyear-Brown, a play therapist and co-founder of a treatment center in Franklin, Tenn., called Nurture House. “Play provides a sense of competency for children.”

Play therapy has been around since the 1940s. Some researchers trace its origins to Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham, psychologists who worked with British child refugees during and after World War II. In the United States, Virginia Axline, a psychologist, developed the child-centered approach and popularized it through her 1964 book “Dibs In Search of Self,” about the progress made by a reclusive child with whom she worked.

Recently, driven in part by a groundswell of public interest in trauma and trauma-informed care, academics and practitioners have been focusing play therapy’s potential for kids with Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. These children have been neglected, abused or exposed to violent conflict at home. They’ve often also experienced community-level ACEs, such as enduring poverty or racism, or witnessed violence in their neighborhoods. The effects can be long lasting. People with ACEs are at increased risk of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and chronic physical health conditions such as diabetes and cancer later in life.

Play therapy can reach children who have experienced ongoing stressors or multiple traumatic events in a way that talk therapy can’t, said Goodyear-Brown. “There’s so much wisdom inside little people, and they just don’t have all the ways of showing and telling that adults do.”

What many of these children have experienced is “unspeakable,” she said in her 2018 TEDx talk, so leading with words isn’t the way to reach them. Because some children’s traumatic experiences began before language developed, encouraging a verbal account of what’s happened might not elicit much.

When kids struggle to regulate their emotions and thoughts, their behavior can just look like acting out to adults in their lives. But what they’re searching for is a sense of control, said Diane Stutey, an assistant professor in the department of counseling and human services at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

In 2015, Stutey and her colleagues began a study at an after-school program in the South with Black children between the ages of 5 and 9 who were exposed to ACEs. For many of these kids, the lack of control they felt in their lives expressed itself as anxiety. First, the researchers engaged the children in individual play therapy, and then in group play therapy.

At the end of the study, the students reported feeling less anxious. Their teachers, who were also surveyed throughout, said the students had been less disruptive in class after six weeks of playing one-on-one with a therapist and six weeks in a group setting.

Stutey described one child who repeatedly sharpened his pencil until it was down to the nub. What was to him a self-soothing ritual was distracting to his teacher. “They were seeking control in ways that could be seen in a school setting as acting out or misbehavior,” Stutey said. “Really what they were trying to do is figure out, ‘Where is my place where I am safe?’”

This child’s search for safety was evident in the playroom. He moved quickly and without much focus, picking up a toy briefly before putting it down and speaking erratically. But, after becoming more comfortable with the therapist, things changed. He could sustain calm interaction with a toy and talk about how he was feeling.

“In the classroom, they’re being told, ‘no.’ They’re being told, ‘stop,’” Stutey said. But play therapists met those same behaviors with what they call “unconditional positive regard” or witnessing the behavior without expressing judgment. So the child received the message that being himself was OK.

Once adults ceased telling the child to stop, “you’d almost see the anxiety melt away,” Stutey said. During play therapy sessions, the child eventually developed other more acceptable coping skills that he could use in class.

Play therapists typically see students with ACEs in schools or after-school programs. They also work in outpatient clinics or pediatricians’ offices. But because of physical distancing, play therapists, like other mental health professionals, are working with children online.

“I’m supervising play therapists right now who are doing virtual play therapy,” Stutey said. “It’s not impossible, but it’s not the same.” 

A therapist might drop a box of toys off at her patient’s home before a session, but often children don’t have what they need to engage remotely. They may not have access to a computer or tablet for the length of a 50-minute session. They may not have the privacy they need to feel comfortable sharing their experiences honestly.

For many of these kids, the world already felt unsafe. Now they’re living through a global pandemic in which they’re constantly told that previously innocuous activities pose a threat. They’re watching or hearing about police violence targeting Black people. “We’re getting ready for what we think will be a wave of need on the heels of this,” Goodyear-Brown of Nurture House said. “We’re going to have to support families in relearning how to manage anxieties outside the home.”

Dani McClain reports on race, parenting and reproductive health and is the author of “We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood.”

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individual health insurance illinois 2018

[cathrynstreich]

The Path to Global Diversity

LeadingRE’s Culturally-Inclusive Approach to Business, Abroad and at Home

Editor’s Note: This is the cover story in the April issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine. Subscribe today. 

Simply having a presence in countries around the globe doesn’t necessarily mean you embrace cultural diversity. Truly understanding cultural diversity goes much deeper than that.

“When you have members in more than 75 countries encompassing so many different cultures, there’s a real art to doing business,” says Paul Boomsma, president and CEO of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® (LeadingRE). “Global opportunities involve dealing with someone who is not like you, and that’s what embracing diversity is all about—not just understanding your differences, but celebrating them, and helping people realize their dream of homeownership. If we don’t do this well, we won’t be successful.”

Clearly, LeadingRE is very successful at doing just that. The organization facilitated introductions into more than 100 countries over the last year, and, as members continue to strengthen relationships with network colleagues, the frequency of these introductions is expected to rise.

“There is a very high level of trust, which is essential when you are referring clients internationally,” explains LeadingRE member Berry Everitt, Group CEO of Chas Everitt International Property Group in Johannesburg, South Africa. “The LeadingRE events enable us to interact personally, learn about one another’s countries and real estate markets, and build friendships as well as business relationships. This further facilitates our mutual success in an increasingly global marketplace.”

LeadingRE’s 2018 Global Symposium was held in Barcelona, Spain at the Hotel Arts. Members from among the network’s more than 75 countries came together to connect, learn and celebrate accomplishments. (Credit: AJ Canaria of PlanOmatic)

But for LeadingRE, cultural awareness is not just about doing deals across borders; it’s about a commitment to doing business in a way that recognizes—and encompasses—diversity, no matter where you are in the world, including right here in the U.S.

To that end, LeadingRE makes sure cultural diversity is not just a principle that sits atop the organization, but a pulse that beats throughout the entire network. Through a series of events and training, the organization makes cultural awareness and sensitivity part of its DNA.

LeadingRE President & CEO Paul Boomsma leads an exchange on the trends impacting the industry at the network’s 2019 conference with (L to R) LeadingRE Chief Economist Dr. Marci Rossell; Mike Pappas, The Keyes Company; Carol Bulman, Jack Conway & Co.; Chris Dietz, LeadingRE; Lennox Scott, John L. Scott Real Estate; and (not pictured) Steve Harney, Keeping Current Matters.

“We host ‘The World of Real Estate’ series at our global events to introduce people to the real estate practices of other countries and cultures,” says LeadingRE EVP of Global Operations Chris Dietz. “We have our cross-border introduction service to make those personal connections and help our people understand the nuances of this type of business. We also offer courses through Institute, our 24/7 online learning platform. And, our recent general session speaker at our annual conference was Professor Erin Meyer, author of ‘The Culture Map,’ whose presentation focused on the importance of cultural sensitivity.”

LeadingRE’s luxury home marketing division, Luxury Portfolio International®, extends this education with an emphasis on high-net worth individuals around the world. A recent whitepaper, “Luxury Real Estate: What Matters Most to Today’s Global Elite,” revealed differences—and commonalities—among affluent consumers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. According to Luxury Portfolio President Stephanie Anton, “being able to offer deep, research-based insights into the global, affluent consumer helps our members deepen their relationships and better serve their customers.”

This widespread investment in varied and consistent cultural diversity education is a proven factor in the success of LeadingRE’s members. As Dima Lorenz, managing director of Ark Properties in Shanghai, says, “There is no question that most of our markets are becoming more global, and with a well-documented increase of non-local buyers in almost all key international markets, a certain amount of cultural sensitivity is a foundation for moving forward.”

And, while LeadingRE’s global diversity training prepares members to do business around the world, it also helps American members embrace diversity at home.

Brokerage leaders from around the world recently gathered at LeadingRE’s Conference Week in Las Vegas (L to R): Jeremy Hurst, IRG Intl. Realty Group, British West Indies; Dima Lorenz, Ark Properties, Shanghai, China; Benedetta Viganò, Giorgio Viganò Real Estate, Milan Italy; Chris Dietz, LeadingRE; Berry Everitt, Chas Everitt Intl. Property Group, Johannesburg, South Africa; Frank Morrice Arias, Servmor Realty, Panama City, Panama (Credit: AJ Canaria of PlanOmatic)

“When you open your mind, you start to see how many global cultures exist right here in the U.S.,” explains Boomsma, concerned that many real estate professionals overlook the impact and the opportunities. “Currently, 350 different languages are spoken in the United States, and 22 percent of the population speaks a language other than English at home,” he explains. “There are more non-English speaking people in New York City than there are in London. The bottom line is that diversity of all kinds is around us wherever we are, and we all need to pay attention to it.”

For Boomsma and the team at LeadingRE, cultural diversity is not just another bullet point in their value proposition…it’s fundamentally who they are. “It’s a key part of what we do,” he says. “We’re introducing someone, somewhere in the world every few minutes, so we see the amount of movement happening globally. We’re open-minded and ready to embrace someone everywhere in the world at all times.”

Ambassadors of Global DiversityCarrying out the mission to embrace global diversity is LeadingRE’s network of 565 brokers located on six continents. Each day, they’re looking beyond borders to build business and, more importantly, lifelong relationships. Here, five members from various corners of the globe share how diversity has led their business, their markets and their mindsets toward important growth.

Having grown up in his family’s real estate business, Berry Everitt officially joined Chas Everitt International in 1990 and bought the firm from his father, Charles, in 1997. What started as a relatively small, family-owned company in Johannesburg has grown into the fourth-largest real estate company in South Africa, with what Everitt describes as “154 points of presence across the country” and about 1,300 agents.

According to Everitt, his company thrives in one of the most culturally-rich areas of the globe.

“Known as the ‘Rainbow Nation,’ South Africa really is one of the most diverse, cosmopolitan countries in the world, a melting pot that continues to surprise outsiders with its high level of acceptance and tolerance for different languages, ethnicities, cultures and beliefs—and to attract more immigrants as its democracy matures,” says Everitt.

Embracing cultural diversity will be critical for real estate firms to succeed today and into the future, says Everitt. “Investors everywhere seek the best returns,” he explains. “However, the investors bring their own perspectives, with likes, dislikes and beliefs that are grounded in their own experiences and environments. Thus, it is vital for real estate companies to have the intercontinental cultural savvy—or access to local experts in an organization like LeadingRE—to make their offering compelling to widely diverse investors in different locales.”

Dima Lorenz started Ark Properties in Shanghai in 2005 with his business partner and now wife, Kate.

When it comes to doing business in a global environment, Dima and Kate Lorenz embody the very definition of cultural diversity. “I myself am a German passport holder, born in Hong Kong to a Russian emigrant family, but grew up in Germany and was educated in the UK. My wife comes from a British expatriate family, but had her entire upbringing abroad, in Africa and the Middle East. We now live in Hong Kong and commute between Hong Kong and Shanghai. This set-up alone is grounds for enough cultural confusion,” laughs Lorenz.

However, it has given the Lorenzes an intimate understanding of the importance of embracing global diversity. “We are dealing with clients from the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Asia and putting them together with Chinese landlords on any given day,” he explains. “My wife is a certified cross-cultural trainer and executive coach. We conduct sessions and workshops regularly for our team to make sure they have the right skills—or just general awareness to deal with clients from various backgrounds.”

And despite their personal backgrounds and accumulated expertise in cultural diversity, the Lorenzes describe joining LeadingRE as an “eye-opener.”

“Having access to privately-owned leading brokerages that share the same passion for their clients and local communities has given us the opportunity to really understand the cultural norms displayed in other real estate markets,” explains Lorenz.

Founded in 1960, Giorgio Viganò Real Estate is headed by 29-year real estate veteran Benedetta Viganò.

The company enjoys a healthy, active market in Milan. According to Viganò, since the 2015 EXPO—a universal, six-month exposition—Milan has become the point of reference for residential and commercial real estate investments.

Being prepared to do business in a global environment is critical to Viganò’s success, she explains. “Italy has signed the Reciprocity Act; therefore, almost anyone can buy here, if an Italian can buy in their countries,” she explains. “Opportunities are many, and surely, the most important (factor) is word-of-mouth. If you sell a property to a foreign buyer, he or she will certainly refer your company to their friends and clients because they know you are an expert, and they trust you because you respect their culture.”

The importance of embracing global diversity—and the role that LeadingRE plays—cannot be underestimated, says Viganò. “Clients who want to move to other countries need to be understood and respected. It is always scary to buy where you are a foreign citizen, as it might take years before you are able to embrace another culture. Our long history with LeadingRE has helped us to know the cultural differences of other countries, and the relationships we have built allow us to introduce our clients to people we know personally.”

Thriving in the ever-growing Philippines real estate market, Pinnacle Real Estate Consulting Services, Inc. is led by Michael Mabutol, with 18 years in the real estate business. With two offices, 150 full-time employees and more than 800 co-brokers across the nation, Mabutol helps the firm navigate important market trends, such as co-working spaces, income-generating properties and township projects.

According to Mabutol, “the Philippine market has been continuously diversifying. A few years ago, service offices and co-working spaces were virtually unheard of, but now, there are more than 150 players in this space. The retail market is equally buoyant despite heavy competition from the e-commerce industry. The government has cleared some roadblocks for the implementation of REITs, which will provide local and foreign investors more options to park their capital.”

Michael Mabutol shares insights with fellow members during LeadingRE’s Global Symposium. (Credit: AJ Canaria of PlanOmatic)

All of this is leading to an increasingly global landscape. “We’re living in a global market,” explains Mabutol. “Opportunities are coming from different parts of the world. Borders are also becoming increasingly porous, enabling much-needed capital to cross borders more efficiently. For instance, the ASEAN region is slowly integrating into a single market, and companies that embrace diversity and are well-equipped to work with other nationalities will find success in every market they venture into.”

This is where LeadingRE is an invaluable asset, allowing Mabutol to learn from fellow members and share information and best practices. “Being part of LeadingRE has opened doors for us and enabled us to tap into other markets.”

Frank Morrice Arias has been the broker/owner of Panama’s Servmor Realty since 2001. Servmor has been the largest firm in MLS production for Panama since 2012.

With an overstock of inventory in the mid- to high-residential market, Morrice currently finds himself in a buyer’s market. However, he expects an improvement in Latin American economies to help absorb excess inventory in the years ahead. “Panama’s GDP has grown over 5 percent in recent years, and 2019 is forecasting a 6.3 percent increase in GDP, so our general fundamentals are okay,” he explains.

According to Morrice, one of the main challenges for firms outside of the U.S. is a “lack of adequate policies to regulate the industry, develop new agents and implement an MLS, which has an impact on the level of professionalism. We started an MLS in 2012, which has been a catalyst to increase the level of transparency and professionalism in our industry, but it is a culture change. We expect it will take several more years for it to be the norm.”

In the meantime, Morrice is able to take advantage of different opportunities and educate himself on how to increase business through his involvement with LeadingRE. “I do believe real estate is local, but being able to have access to relationships and understanding the global marketplace through our affiliation with LeadingRE has lots of value. It is critical for undeveloped markets like ours to learn from more developed markets like the U.S. so we can establish strategies on how we can be better and create more value for our customers.”

A World of Possibility Ultimately, LeadingRE’s roadmap is focused on driving opportunities to its members worldwide and providing systems, connections and education to support their success—including the insights that come from being part of a truly global organization.

“We are uniquely positioned to benefit from the diversity that comes from having members in all corners of the world,” says Boomsma. “Whether working with a client from another country or within your own diverse community, tapping into what we can learn from one another is incredibly powerful.” 

For more information, please visit www.leadingre.com.

Maria Patterson is RISMedia’s executive editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at maria@rismedia.com.

The post The Path to Global Diversity appeared first on RISMedia.

The Path to Global Diversity published first on https://thegardenresidences.tumblr.com/

[ellahmacdermott]

Sidechains: Why These Researchers Think They Solved a Key Piece of the Puzzle

New blockchains are born all the time. Bitcoin was the lone blockchain for years, but now there are hundreds. The problem is, if you want to use the features offered on another blockchain, you have to buy the tokens for that other blockchain.

But all that may soon change. One developing technology called sidechains promises to make it easier to move tokens across blockchains and, as a result, open the doors to a world of possibilities, including building bridges to the legacy financial systems of banks.

In October 2017, Aggelos Kiayias, professor at the University of Edinburgh and chief scientist at blockchain research and development company IOHK; Andrew Miller, professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Dionysis Zindros, researcher at the University of Athens, released the paper “Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof-of-Work” (NiPoPoW), introducing a critical piece to the sidechains puzzle that had been missing for three years. This is the story of how they got there.

But, first, what exactly is a sidechain?    

Same Coin, Different Blockchain

A sidechain is a technology that allows you to move your tokens from one blockchain to another, use them on that other blockchain and then move them back at a later point in time, without the need for a third party.  

In the past, the parent blockchain has typically been Bitcoin, but a parent chain could be any blockchain. Also, when a token moves to another blockchain, it should maintain its same value. In other words, a bitcoin on an Ethereum sidechain would remain a bitcoin.  

The biggest advantage of sidechains is that they would allow users to access a host of new services. For instance, you could move bitcoin to another blockchain to take advantage of privacy features, faster transaction speeds and smart contracts.  

Sidechains have other uses, too. A sidechain could offer a more secure way to upgrade a protocol, or it could serve as a type of security firewall, so that in the event of a catastrophic disaster on a sidechain, the main chain would remain unaffected. “It is a kind of limited liability,” said Zindros in a video explaining how the technology works.

Finally, if banks were to create their own private blockchain networks, sidechains could enable communications with those networks, allowing users to issue and track shares, bonds and other assets.

Early Conversations

Early dialogue about sidechains first appeared in Bitcoin chat rooms around 2012, when Bitcoin Core developers were thinking of ways to safely upgrade the Bitcoin protocol.

One idea was for a “one-way peg,” where users could move bitcoin to a separate blockchain to test out a new client; however, once those assets were moved, they could not be moved back to the main chain.  

“I was thinking of this as a software engineering tool that could be used to make widespread changes,” Adam Back, now CEO at blockchain development company Blockstream, said in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine. “You could say, we are going to make a new version [of Bitcoin], and we think it will be ready in a year, but in the meantime, you can opt in early and test it.”

According to Back, sometime in the following year, on the Bitcoin IRC channel, Bitcoin Core developer Greg Maxwell suggested an idea for a “two-way peg,” where value could be transferred to the alternative chain and then back to Bitcoin at a later point.

A two-way peg addressed another growing concern at the time. Alternative coins, like Litecoin and Namecoin, were becoming increasingly popular. The fear was these “altcoins” would dilute the value of bitcoin. It made sense, Bitcoin Core developers thought, to keep bitcoin as a type of reserve currency, and relegate new features to sidechains. That way, “if you wanted to use a different feature, you wouldn’t have to buy a speculative asset,” said Back.

To turn the concept of sidechains into a reality, Back along with Maxwell and a few other Bitcoin Core developers formed Blockstream in 2014. In October that year, the group released “Enabling Blockchain Innovations with Pegged Sidechains,” a paper describing sidechains at a high level. Miller appears as a co-author on that paper as well.

How Sidechains Work

One important component of sidechains is a simplified payment verification (SPV) proof that shows that tokens have been locked up on one chain so validators can safely unlock an equivalent value on the alternative chain. But to work for sidechains, an SPV proof has to be small enough to fit into a single coinbase transaction, the transaction that rewards a miner with new coins. (Not to be confused with the company Coinbase.)

At the time the Blockstream researchers released their paper, they knew they needed a compressed SPV proof to get sidechains to work, but they had not yet developed the cryptography behind it. So they outlined general, high-level ideas.

The Blockstream paper describes two types of two-way pegs: a symmetric two-way peg, where both chains are independent with their own mining; and an asymmetric two-way peg, where sidechain miners are full validators of the parent chain.

In a symmetric two-way peg, a user sends her bitcoins to a special address. Doing so locks up the funds on the Bitcoin blockchain. That output remains locked for a contest period of maybe six blocks (one hour) to confirm the transaction has gone through, and then an SPV proof is created to send to the sidechain.

At that point, a corresponding transaction appears on the sidechain with the SPV proof, verifying that money has been locked up on the Bitcoin blockchain, and then coins with the same value of account are unlocked on the sidechain.

Coins are spent and change hands and, at a later point, are sent back to the main chain. When the coins are returned to the main chain, the process repeats. They are sent to a locked output on the sidechain, a waiting period goes by, and an SPV proof is created and sent back to the main blockchain to unlock coins on the main chain.  

In an asymmetric two-way peg, the process is slightly different. The transfer from the parent chain to the sidechain does not require an SPV proof, because validators on the sidechain are also aware of the state of the parent chain. An SPV proof is still needed, however, when the coins are returned to the parent chain.

The Search for a Compact Proof

In a sidechain, a compact SPV proof needs to contain a compressed version of all the block headers in the chain where funds are locked up from the genesis block through the contest period, as well as transaction data and some other data. In this way, an SPV proof can also be thought of as a “proof of proof-of-work” for a particular output.

Inspiration for the compact SPV proof comes from a linked-list-like structure known as a “skip list” developed 25 years ago. In applying this structure to a compact SPV proof, the trick was in finding a way to skip block headers while still maintaining a high level of security so that an adversary would not be able to fake a proof.

In working through the problem, Blockstream showed an early draft of its sidechains paper to Miller, who had been mulling over compact SPVs for a few years already.

In August 2012, in a post on a BitcoinTalk forum titled “The High-Value-Hash Highway,” Miller described an idea for a “merkle skip list” that a Bitcoin light client could use to quickly determine the longest chain and begin using it. In that post, he described the significance of the data structure as “absolutely staggering.”

When Miller read through the Blockstream draft, he spotted a vulnerability in the compact SPV proof described in the paper. Discussions ensued, but they “couldn’t find a way to solve that problem without compromising efficiency,” Miller said.

Miller’s non-trivial contributions to the Blockstream paper ended up being a few paragraphs in Appendix B that describe the challenges in creating a compact SPV proof.

It should “be possible to greatly compress a list of headers while still proving the same amount of work,” the section reads, but “optimising these tradeoffs and formalising the security guarantees is out of scope for this paper and the topic of ongoing work.”

That ongoing work remained stuck for three years.

Compact SPV

During that ensuing time, researchers at IOHK began taking a more serious interest in sidechains. Plans were taking shape for Cardano, a new proof-of-stake blockchain that IOHK had been contracted to build.

Cardano would consist of two layers: a settlement layer, launched in September 2017, where the money supply would be kept, and a smart contract layer. Those two layers would be two sidechain-enabled blockchains. In this way, the settlement could remain simple and secure from any attacks that might occur on the smart contract layer. But if IOHK was to get Cardano to work as intended, it needed to solve sidechains.

In February 2016, Kiayias, then a professor at the University of Athens, and two of his students, Nikolaos Lamprou and Aikaterini-Panagiota Stouka, released “Proofs of Proofs of Work with Sublinear Complexity” (PoPoW).

The paper was the first to formally address a compact SPV proof. Only, the proof described in the paper was interactive; whereas, to work for sidechains, it needed to be non-interactive.

In an interactive proof, the prover and the verifier enter into a back-and-forth conversation, meaning there could be more than one round of messaging. In contrast, a non-interactive proof would be a simple, short string of text that would fit neatly into a single transaction on the blockchain.

The PoPoW paper was presented at BITCOIN’16, a workshop affiliated with the International Financial Cryptography Association’s (IFCA) Financial Cryptography and Data Security conference. Miller, who was at the conference, approached Kiayias and shared an idea for making the protocol non-interactive.

It was a “nice observation,” Kiayias told Bitcoin Magazine, but making the proof secure was “not obvious at all” and would require significant work.

Zindros, who had just started working on his PhD under Kiayias, was also at the conference, and he needed a topic for his thesis. Kiayias saw a good fit, “so we pressed on, the three of us, and adapted the PoPoW protocol and its proof of security to the non-interactive setting,” Kiayias said.

In October 2016, Kiayias officially joined IOHK, and a year later, Kiayias, Miller and Zindros released “Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof-of-Work,” introducing a compact SPV proof five years after sidechains had first been talked about on Bitcoin forums.

“If it were interactive, I don’t know if it would have worked; with a non-interactive proof, it is really smooth,” Zindros told Bitcoin Magazine.

More Work to Be Done

Even with NiPoPoW, sidechains are still not fully specified. Several questions remain, including, how small can the proofs be made? After a transaction is locked up on one chain, how much time needs to pass before it can be spent on the other? And, will it be possible to move a token from a sidechain directly to another sidechain?

“A lot of theory still needs to be defined,” IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson said in speaking to Bitcoin Magazine.

Also, while NiPoPoW is designed to work for proof-of-work blockchains, some believe that if blockchains are to take their place in the world on a grand scale, the future rests in proof-of-stake protocols like Ouroboros, Algorand or Snow White, which promise to be more energy-efficient than Bitcoin.

In particular, if Cardano, which is based on Ouroboros, is to work according to plan, IOHK researchers still need to discover a non-interactive proof of proof-of-stake (NiPoPoS).

Hoskinson is confident. “We can definitely do that,” he said. “We can definitely have a NiPoPoS. The question is how many megabytes or kilobytes is it going to be? Can we bring it down to 100 KB? That is really the question.”

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

from InvestmentOpportunityInCryptocurrencies via Ella Macdermott on Inoreader https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/sidechains-why-these-researchers-think-they-solved-key-piece-puzzle/

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Francesco Franchi: On the Luxury of Newspaper

There is a loud and strong cry that the newspaper industry is broken and that the form is outdated in this digital era. For designer Francesco Franchi, that negativity smelled like an opportunity.

That opportunity is for editors and creative directors to rethink the medium, and for design to be a central part of the strategy to show what a newspaper can be on its own printed terms, rather than moving the entire newspaper to some social media platform, like Snapchat.

“We need to create, not follow,” says Franchi, now the managing editor of la Repubblica newspaper in Rome, where he has set out to reenvision its structure. Franchi has begun by designing a new 40-page Sunday supplement called Robinson, which derives its name from Robinson Crusoe: a playful but ultimately serious allusion to the idea that culture has become an terrain that needs an expert to help navigate it.

Making use of tightly packed charts, sharply compartmentalized space, and smart, informative graphics, Franchi is the mapmaker detailing the landscape, and for him, Robinson’s journalists are the expert guides. 

Working in newspapers is a slight career turn for Franchi, who previously worked for eight years as the creative director of IL (Intelligence in Lifestyle) magazine. It was at IL that Franchi established his career: His editorial designs have won numerous awards, including the prestigious D&AD and SPD, and his spreads have been exhibited at the V&A Museum in London and the Cooper-Hewitt in New York. Creating functional, dense maps of facts and figures quickly became Franchi’s area of expertise, and these tightly woven infographics earned the Italian language magazine global acclaim within the design community.

Franchi proposes that it’s not just culture that needs to be inventively mapped, but all of the topics that a newspaper covers: The Robinson supplement is the first part of a carefully conceived strategy in redesign the way news is presented and consumed. We caught up with the professor, lecturer, and author of two books on editorial design to discover what his current strategy entails. 

Franchi photographed in Rome for 99U.

Your day-to-day experience at la Repubblica must be very different from that of IL, which is of course a monthly magazine.

Yes. The whole structure of IL was different. I was able to develop a studio inside the newsroom, IL studio. There we worked for different clients, like banks and fashion brands, developing magazines for them as well as producing our own.

Here it’s very different, a lot faster, because it’s a daily newspaper. We have a meeting every day at 11 a.m. where we discuss the newspaper of the day, but then we also try to plan for the day after. Then we have another meeting at 3 p.m. about the next edition. The working day usually ends at around 11:30 p.m. 

As managing editor, I’m doing less design now, less infographics. I’ll sketch ideas, but then pass them on to my team most of the time. And I’m working with different teams, with different newsrooms. At IL, we were 12 to 15 people in total. Now I’m working with a whole newspaper, and all the various sections of it, so the complexity and dynamics are different. 

The experience is unique because I have to think about every kind of topic – culture, news, books, music, politics, the economy. I’m not talking about design most of the time, as was the case at IL. I’m talking about all the different kinds of thing that you’d find in the newspaper. I’m not in a design studio really. Here it’s more…serious.

You’ve mentioned being hired to rethink structures, what exactly are you rethinking at la Repubblica? And what role does design play in your reconceptualization of what a newspaper can be?

Well, lets start with Robinson, the new cultural insert that I mentioned. I wanted to introduce a new flow with it, and create a new kind of flat plan inside the supplement, stemming from the ideas and approach that I took with IL. We decided first to introduce a lot of infographics into the supplement, and to merge different languages to make it approachable. The front of the supplement has a long flow of news stories in it, a bit similar to the kind of long-form writing you find now on the web.

With this new format, we use the kind of design and structuring elements you’d find in a magazine. For example, we might have a story cutting into one spread that continues in a later part of the supplement. The text is big because our readership is quite old. But with Robinson, we’re also trying to grab the interest of a new, younger readership; the design has to appeal to different demographics.

We’ve done this by nodding to old issues of la Repubblica – we’ve used early design details from when it was first established in 1976. We use these details to emphasize to the old readership that this is something that they’ve experienced before, but at the same time, maybe the way we’ve treated the elements will catch the eye of younger people.

The idea, in the end, is to embrace more of the young; that’s a large part of why I’ve been brought in. To catch the younger readership while still maintaining our established, older one. My target is the people who aren’t buying newspapers anymore.

How else are you using the physical format of the newspaper toward that end?

There is an age group that we’ve completely lost who won’t buy newspapers anymore. Or it’ll be hard to catch them. It’s the generation a bit younger than mine. But I think there is a generation that we can catch: the age below that one. I think we can catch them in part by changing the format of the newspaper, and realizing that we don’t need to replicate something that we have digitally in the form of a newspaper. Instead we need to think of the paper as something complementary.

It’s about keeping breaking news as digital, and then thinking about the paper as something more luxurious; something you can read on the weekend. We need to reconsider the actual format of the newspaper to do so: maybe use less pages, and then every day include some kind of well-designed supplement. I like the idea of different weeklies with different topics, one on each day of the week. We also need to think about the distribution channels.

Interesting. In what way?

If you think about the delivery start-up model, you’ll understand what I mean. Young people get things delivered to them all the time. Food with Deliveroo, laundry with Zipjet, on-demand cleaners through Book A Tiger. We need to think about how we as a newspaper can fit in with the on-demand economy. People aren’t going to go out and buy the newspaper. The newspaper has to go and find people.

There are a lot of ways we can do that. For example, this weekend, we did a festival in Bologna, in the center of Italy. La Repubblica organized it so that our readership and our journalists could meet. There was music, books, talks about different topics. It’s just one way that the newspaper can go into the city to find new readers.

You’re talking about community and building up networks, as opposed to finding some kind of format that can replace print. Around the advent of digital journalism there was of course this excitement around the idea that the iPad and apps were going to save newspapers and print magazines, an idea that quickly faded away. Now print media isn’t investing in tablet versions of their magazine. Broadly speaking, what many are borrowing from digital is the idea of developing networks, communities, and finding alternative models to bring in revenue based around events.

Yes, the tablet versions of magazines were a big failure. If you compared the number of people that downloaded an issue with the ones that actually started reading it, there was a huge gap. It’s not something that I think can’t work at all, but we saw that the system wasn’t working properly after lots of companies invested their money and resources into trying to develop the tablet versions without much response.

At the same time that was happening, we also noticed that there was a market exponentially growing, and that was the market for independent magazines. Young magazine makers found in the internet a new way of distributing. I’m thinking of the U.K.-based company Stack, for example, which sends subscribers a different independent magazine every month in the mail.

There is a market for the new, independent magazines. And as that market has grown, with it have come new shops and places where you can buy them. With this, we noticed a renewed interest in paper. I don’t believe in the tablet version of magazines, but I believe in the websites. There are some things that you can read on paper, and other things that are more useful to have on your iPhone.

It’s about recognizing how the two can live together, and the independent magazines have shown us the value that print can have as more of a luxury item.

A lot of the best newspaper supplements are paying a lot of attention to design and writing in the independent magazines you describe – the teams behind ZEITmagazin and the New York Times Magazine, for example, often cite independent titles as key inspiration.

Monocle has been a huge reference point because of what the company was able to create. While it’s niche in many ways, it was able to create something that people wanted to keep and use to show who they are. The magazine is something that you see people carrying in their pocket, and you’re like, “That’s a Monocle person.” Being seen with an issue of Monocle changes the way people think of you. Yes, the kind of magazine you read can be an accessory, defining you to others – this was definitely the case predigital, too. You might be a Dazed & Confused reader, or maybe you’re a bit more The New Yorker. What you have on your coffee table says a lot.

It’s how la Repubblica once was, in the beginning. If you had a rolled-up la Repubblica in your pocket, you were considered in a certain way. This is what we need to think about now. I remember the people at my university in the 80’s, with la Repubblica sticking out of their bags. I thought of them in a certain way.

The model that we’re thinking about, then, is how to work in a niche and assert the character of the newspaper. It’s about creating a very strong identity for the newspaper and its supplements, through its visuals but also its content. That’s where its power to sell will ultimately come from.

It’s about having the courage to say things in order to reach a niche. Sometimes we are scared to publish something, but it’s important to those things that we might be nervous about, to speak out and have an identity. From independent magazines, we’ve also realized that quality is key – that’s why people are open to spending up to $20 on a magazine. Independents concentrate on the quality of the illustrations, of the paper, of the design. We’re thinking about how to be niche and concentrate on quality, while also being mass market.

There’s a danger, though, of thinking about a newspaper as an accessory, as a marker of identity, if the look is only communicated by the design. While there are a huge range of independent titles that are beautifully designed, a lot of the beautifully designed ones you mention are coming from the design community as opposed to communities of writers, so in many cases, the quality of the writing isn’t as tight as the design.

There is no form outside of content. For every spread – everything you ever start when doing editorial design – you need a strong journalistic idea. You start from the content with speaking with editors, writers. This is very important. Throughout my career I’ve been very lucky because I’ve always been around interesting people in the newsroom. A designer in the newsroom has to be able to change the way the editor sees things while also learning from her, and while interpreting what she says from a design perspective.

You discuss the difference between representation and interpretation a lot in your book, Designing News. There’s a real love of infographic design within the design community, and we’re quite saturated with examples of it right now. What do you look for when judging information design? What are your criteria for a great infographic?

I try to judge an information graphic first by whether it is functional or not. Sometimes a work is beautiful, but difficult to read and understand. Sometimes it’s better to have something simple: have it less designed and more clear. Sometimes it needs to be immediate. That’s important. For example, when I’m designing an infographic I always ask myself whether it’s something that everyone will understand. Simplicity and immediacy: These are the things I most often think about.

Where do you stand on Edward Tufte’s 1983 term chartjunk – the notion that all visual elements in charts and graphs that are not necessary to comprehend the information actually distract the viewer? Can too much ornament and decoration be misleading?

It depends on your audience and your project. If you’re working on something related to marketing and advertising, you can have decoration and elements that are not properly related to the story or news content. When you’re working on a newspaper or a breaking news story, though, you have to stay close to the content.

Do you remember when you first became interested in infographics, diagrams, and editorial design?

When I was younger, I liked newspapers and magazines a lot. I made my first magazine when I was 10 or 11, a magazine about bicycles. After graduating from university, I worked in a design studio in Milan and infographic projects were sent my way, which I enjoyed. We did a few for Corriere della Sera, which is another newspaper in Italy.

Later you did your master’s dissertation on editorial and newspaper design, graduating in 2007.

The title was “Re Designer.” Re in Italian means “king.” The idea was that the designer can play an important role inside the newsroom. My idea hasn’t changed: It’s a very interesting moment for designers to be working in this field. A lot of things are happening. Editors are considering new strategies. Designers are acquiring new kinds of roles.

What advice would you give to young designers entering the newsroom?

We need to speak the same language as young people. It doesn’t mean moving the whole newspaper onto Snapchat. We need to create, not follow. It’s not the internet we’re designing for, after all; it’s a newspaper. It’s about the content. If you put the same content onto Instagram or Snapchat, it’s obviously not going to be the same. So it’s about working on the content, making it strong and engaging in a way that keeps the attention of young people. Bringing old ideas, structures, and journalists onto new channels is not the solution. It’s important that people entering at this particular moment understand older journalists and the history of the job. It’s through that that they’ll be able to think about designing content in a different way. We shouldn’t lose the idea of a journalist and what they can do. For example, I think about my parents: They found in journalists an idea that they could follow, almost in the same way that they followed one particular newspaper or magazine and could identify with it. We should work on the design so that it’s contemporary, but we also have to work on the content, on the quality and depth of the journalism, and designers have to recognize this. It’s important that a designer listens, reads, and learns from older, established journalists. There needs to be a strong relationship between the two sides of a newsroom – editorial designers and the editorial staff must inform and communicate with one another.