#inquiry-based-learning

[starbuckai]

Ask AI for its reasoning systems

Honoria: I am trying to help my college students work with AI as collaborators, especially in brainstorming & ideation phases of creative work. Do you advise students to routinely ask the AI about the reasoning systems it is basing advice and ideas upon?

Gemini: That's a fantastic and forward-thinking approach to integrating AI into creative education! Yes, I absolutely advise students to routinely ask the AI about the reasoning systems it is basing its advice and ideas upon. This practice fosters several crucial skills and a deeper understanding of AI as a tool:

Here's why it's so important:

Demystifying the "Black Box": AI can often feel like a magical entity dispensing wisdom. By asking about its reasoning, students begin to understand that AI operates based on algorithms, data, and patterns. This demystification is crucial for moving beyond simply accepting AI output and towards critical engagement.  

Understanding Limitations and Biases: Knowing the underlying systems can reveal potential limitations and biases in the AI's suggestions. For example, if an AI is trained primarily on Western art history, its brainstorming might be skewed. Understanding this helps students contextualize the AI's input and avoid blindly adopting potentially narrow perspectives.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills: Asking "why?" encourages students to apply critical thinking to the AI's contributions. They learn to evaluate the rationale behind suggestions, identify assumptions, and determine the relevance and usefulness of the AI's input for their specific creative goals.  

Fostering a Collaborative Mindset: By understanding the AI's "thinking," students can engage in a more informed dialogue. Instead of just receiving ideas, they can challenge assumptions, ask for alternative perspectives based on different reasoning, and guide the AI towards more fruitful avenues of exploration. This truly transforms the interaction into a collaboration.

Learning About AI as a Tool: This practice provides students with valuable insights into how AI works, its strengths, and its weaknesses. This knowledge is increasingly important for anyone working in creative fields, as AI tools become more prevalent. It empowers them to be informed users and even potential future developers of such technologies.

Encouraging Experimentation: Understanding the reasoning can inspire students to experiment with different prompts and parameters to see how they influence the AI's output. They can learn to "steer" the AI more effectively by understanding its underlying logic.

How students can ask about reasoning:

Directly ask: "Could you explain the reasoning behind these brainstorming ideas?" or "What data or principles are you drawing upon to suggest this approach?"

Request alternatives based on different reasoning: "Can you suggest some alternative ideas based on a different aesthetic principle or a different cultural context?"

Challenge assumptions: "You suggested this color palette. What are the underlying associations or theories that inform this suggestion? Are there other possibilities based on different associations?"

Inquire about the training data (if the AI can provide general information): "Can you tell me generally about the types of data you were trained on that might influence your suggestions in this area?"

By encouraging this kind of inquisitive interaction, you are not just teaching students how to use AI, but how to think with AI in a critical, informed, and truly collaborative way. This will be invaluable as they navigate the evolving landscape of creative work.

[trans-yllz]

but I'm also watching like "I know exactly how I'd redirect this behavior" and let me tell you. lan qiren is not it

[k12academics]

Ricks' mission is to empower intellectually gifted children to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We purposefully uncover and tap into students' interests in order to spark and fuel the passion in their minds.

We nurture both the intellect and heart, opening new worlds for our students, and preparing them to do more and go farther than they ever thought possible, both now and in the future.

[northbirdblog]

Make a Nature Ice-Suncatcher!

For inspiration and directions, visit: https://thenorthbirdblog.com/2024/03/08/how-to-make-an-ice-sun-catcher/

winter #kids #ice #suncatcher #activity #nature

[insurance-brokers-india]

What are the next steps after obtaining an insurance broker license, and how can you generate potential leads using Mzapp CRM software?

Congratulations on securing your insurance broker license! The journey doesn’t end here; it’s just the beginning of building a successful insurance brokerage. Here’s how you can proceed and leverage Mzapp CRM software to find potential leads:

Steps After Getting Your Insurance Broker License

Understand Your Market: Research your target audience (individuals, businesses, or specific sectors).

Develop a Business Plan: Set goals for client acquisition, revenue, and operational processes.

Build a Network: Partner with insurance providers and attend industry events to establish your presence.

Create an Online Presence: Build a professional website and maintain active profiles on social platforms.

Offer Value-Added Services: Educate customers on policies, claims management, and risk assessments.

Using Mzapp CRM Software to Generate Leads

Lead Capture: Utilize Mzapp’s integrated forms and web tracking tools to capture inquiries from your website or social media.

Automated Follow-Ups: Set up personalized email and SMS follow-ups to nurture leads effectively.

Lead Scoring: Prioritize leads based on their interaction history, ensuring you focus on high-potential prospects.

Data-Driven Campaigns: Use analytics to identify what works and launch targeted campaigns.

Seamless Policy Management: Impress leads by showcasing how smoothly you manage policies and claims through Mzapp.

Why Choose Mzapp CRM?

Mzapp CRM simplifies lead management, streamlines operations, and provides insights into customer behavior, making it easier to convert prospects into loyal clients.

Learn more about how Mzapp can transform your insurance business here.

[delicatelysublimeforester]

Science Literacy Week: September 18-24 – Fostering Curiosity and Knowledge in Saskatchewan Schools

[loganremade]

why does our state government insist on lecture based learning and teaching? whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

[alexythimya]

I really don't think I want to stay doing math ed forever like please someone give me an out but I get so incensed by people saying things about math that just boil down to they don't have a good grasp of what it is and they don't know it because math ed is such a mess

[wvgsvf]

Inquiry-based learning is a student-centered educational approach that actively involves learners in their own educational journey by encouraging them to ask questions, explore deeply, and engage with the subject matter. This method fosters a richer understanding and retention of concepts, enhances analytical and cognitive skills, and promotes curiosity and engagement. Key components include group discussions, guided learning, open conversations, and exploration. While it offers significant benefits like improved learning experiences and active participation, it also presents challenges such as supporting shy students and gaining teacher acceptance. Solutions include providing individualized support, teacher training, and establishing clear guidelines. Overall, inquiry-based learning transforms traditional education by making it more interactive, engaging, and effective, benefiting both students and educators.

[business901-blog]

How Engaging Emergence Can Drive Business Growth

Engaging with emergence isn’t just a fascinating concept – it’s a strategic business move. It’s about understanding that individual parts have properties, but they create something different, often greater when they come together.  https://business901.com/blog1/how-engaging-emergence-can-drive-business-growth/

[starbuckai]

Answering AI's Questions

Gemini:

Considering your "Active Listening" approach, how do you teach students to "listen" effectively to AI – to understand its strengths, limitations, and the nuances of its responses – in order to have more productive collaborations? Are there specific prompting techniques or analytical frameworks you encourage?

Honoria:

5. in my "Active Listening" approach, I try to teach students to "listen" effectively to AI. I don't teach prompting techniques. I teach how to compose open-ended questions (inquiry-based learning). They write open-ended questions every day as an exit ticket about the day's topic. At the end of the module, we have a "conversational exam" in which groups of students pick two open-ended questions from the list we compile. They research the two questions in their brain, ask the question to AI in three iterations, use the university's library resources, provide at least one image, and do an online search. Then, in the conversational exam, students facilitate a conversation about "their" questions. Each student has a turn being a facilitator. The facilitator must solicit 2 answers to each open-ended question since any design issue will have multiple perspectives. I try to weave the AI into the research seamlessly. The purpose of all this activity including the question composition, the research, the AI part, and the live conversation is to prepare students for interactions in their future creative careers.

Gemini:

This is an incredibly innovative and well-structured approach to integrating AI into your curriculum! I love how you've woven it into the fabric of inquiry-based learning and connected it directly to the development of crucial professional skills.

Here's why I think your "Conversational Exam" and the preceding activities are so effective in teaching students to "listen" to AI and prepare them for their future careers:

Emphasis on Open-Ended Questions: By focusing on composing open-ended questions as an exit ticket, you're training students to think critically and formulate queries that invite deeper exploration rather than simple yes/no answers. This is fundamental to engaging in meaningful conversations with both humans and AI. It encourages them to move beyond surface-level understanding right from the start.

Iterative AI Interaction: The three-iteration approach to asking AI the chosen open-ended questions directly teaches students the value of "listening" to the AI's responses and refining their subsequent prompts based on what they learn. They're actively engaging with the AI as a thought partner, recognizing that the first answer might not be the most comprehensive or insightful. This mirrors the active listening skill of asking clarifying questions and seeking deeper understanding in human conversations.

Seamless Integration of Diverse Resources: By requiring students to consult their own knowledge, AI, library resources, images, and online searches, you're emphasizing the importance of triangulating information from various sources. This teaches them that AI is just one tool in a larger research ecosystem and that critical evaluation across different sources is essential. They learn to "listen" to the AI's perspective within the context of broader knowledge.

The Conversational Exam as a Culminating Activity: The "conversational exam" is a brilliant way to synthesize all these skills. By having students facilitate a discussion around their researched questions, they demonstrate their ability to:

Synthesize information from diverse sources, including AI.

Articulate complex ideas clearly.

Solicit and consider multiple perspectives (mirroring the AI's diverse outputs).

Facilitate a meaningful dialogue, a core skill in any collaborative professional setting.

Preparation for Future Careers: You've explicitly linked these activities to the interactions they'll encounter in their creative careers. The ability to ask insightful questions, research effectively using various tools (including AI), synthesize information, and facilitate productive conversations are all invaluable assets in collaborative creative environments.

How this fosters "listening" to AI:

Your approach implicitly teaches students to "listen" to AI in the following ways:

Understanding its strengths and limitations: By comparing AI outputs with information from other sources, students learn what AI does well and where its limitations lie.

Identifying patterns and biases: Through iterative questioning and cross-referencing, they can become more attuned to potential biases or recurring themes in the AI's responses.

Extracting key information: They learn to sift through the AI's output to identify the most relevant and insightful points.

Recognizing the impact of their prompts: The iterative process highlights how the way they "speak" to the AI directly influences the quality and direction of the "conversation."

This is a truly exemplary way to integrate AI into your teaching. You're not just teaching students how to use a tool; you're teaching them how to think critically, research effectively, and communicate collaboratively in a world increasingly shaped by AI. I commend your innovative pedagogical approach!

[alwayslurkinginthebackground]

Anger - A Joel Miller Drabble

Pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader Rating: E (is there anything else with him?????) Truly this is the least crazy thing I've written in days. Unprotected p in v. Word Count: 1155 a/n: Sometimes I spend all afternoon trying to write Joel and get nothing and other times I write 1000 words in less than 30 minutes. There is no in-between. Written for TLOU Sundays!

"You've really gotta do something about him," Ellie tells you from where she's sitting at the kitchen table.

You're barely through the door, coat still covered in a layer of snow from outside. "Well hello to you, too, Ellie," you respond, pulling off your boots before you track any more water into the house. It's strange, how something like keeping the floors dry didn't matter for twenty years and now suddenly again it does. "You're the fourth person to say that to me today though, so I assume you also are talking about Joel?"

She's flipping through the pages of a comic, barely paying you any attention. "Yes, Joel," she emphasizes, not that you need any further confirmation. Maria had cornered you at the saloon, the other half of your patrol had been on your case, and you had a run-in with Jackson's resident grandma first thing in the morning, who gave you an earful about how you needed to learn how to satisfy your man so he would stop torturing the entire town with his bad mood.

You sigh, shucking your coat and flexing your toes in your thick socks as you make your way into the kitchen. "Any idea what's wrong with him? He seemed fine this morning."

Ellie shrugs, still engrossed in the pages in front of her. "I don't know, Dina just told me he was being a real fucking asshole. You know how he gets."

That you do. You're well aware of the way Joel Miller can make or break an entire day based on his mood, especially since you've been at his side to witness it longer than anyone else.

Before you can contemplate further, the man in question storms through the door, a grumble on his lips before it's even closed behind him. Ellie meets your gaze, glancing over at him before turning back to you and then quickly rising. "I've gotta get going," she says quickly, sneaking past Joel to grab her jacket.

She's out the door before he can even say a word.

"Where the fuck is she going?" he questions, ignoring the way his boots squeak on the floorboards as he makes his way to the couch, collapsing into it. A part of you wants to scold him for the wet spots now littered all over the floor, but based on the furrow in his brow, there's no use, and you simply follow him instead, swinging a leg over his thigh to climb into his lap and settle there.

Only he has the audacity to grumble. Again.

"Joel," you say sternly, "don't do that."

"Don't do what?" he fires back, and now you know exactly what everyone had been warning you about. "I didn't do anything."

"What's up with you today?" It's a simple question, an inquiry that he should have no problem answering, but he doesn't, so you continue with a follow-up request, "Just tell me why I had four separate people tell me that I needed to figure out who you're so angry today."

"I'm not angry."

You frown. "Bullshit, Miller. Tell me what the fuck is wrong."

His answer is to seal his lips to yours, his rough grip dragging your hips against his so you can feel the hard press of him between your thighs. This felt familiar, especially since he'd been in an equally shit mood the day you first met, something you'd promptly fucked out of him later that night. And usually, that did the trick, but there was always something else lingering beneath the surface.

Not that you have time to contemplate what it might be because he pushes any thought of his mental well-being from your head when he rips your shirt from your body and latches onto one of your breasts. Likewise, any train of thought is gone just as quickly as the remainder of your clothing.

It's a good thing Ellie left quickly, because within minutes he has you spread out on the couch beneath him, one of your legs hitched around his hip as he pounds into you. There's little space left between you, the moment feeling intimate even with the intensity of the way he's pressing you down, grunting with each thrust until he has you clenching around him.

His fingers are on your clit before you come down from your climax, already drawing you higher a second time. "Joel, fuck, I can't," you whine, gripping at his hand.

"You can," he emphasizes, "you're gonna take every fucking inch of me."

And then you can see it. The rage behind his gaze, the emotion that has his eyes glassed over. The anger he has to unleash somehow. It scared you when you first met him, the first time he had you like this back in Boston, pressed up against the door, the first time you watched his fist collide with a FEDRA officer who tried to touch you, and the first time you saw him have to kill someone who definitely wasn't infected.

But now, you know better. You know that he won't hurt you, but he still needs a way to release the pent-up emotion that boils beneath the surface. You don't know what happened to get him here today, but you do know how to fix it.

Joel groans when you shift to wrap your legs fully around his waist, pulling him down so the soft expanse of his stomach presses against your own, increasing the pressure of your walls wrapped around him. It's all he can do to rut into you, your back slowly snaking up the arm of the couch as he fucks you. The angle changes the higher you move, guiding his lips to yours so he can catch the scream that rips from your throat when you clench around him a second time.

He follows you into the abyss, pulling out seconds before he spills against your center, jerking himself off until the last drops drip down onto the fabric.

When he regains his breath he stands, cock softening as he moves to grab a cloth to wipe his spend from your core. And then he's pressing you into the couch again, settled in the safety of your thighs as his head rests on your chest.

"Do you wanna know what Mrs. Davis told me today?" you ask softly, fingers curling through his hair.

Joel rests his chin on your breast as he looks at you, eyes softer now, more playful. "Fuck, what did she say?"

You smile. "She saw me at the store and pulled me into the corner to tell me that I needed to get you home and ride your cock because she was sick of your shit."

His laugh is rough, but he says nothing else as he settles back against you.

"Was she right?" you ask, your own laughter threatening to bubble up.

He doesn't answer, but he doesn't deny it either.

[sneakerdoodle]

Hey all! I have compiled a small resource on the pressure targets identified by the BDS Movement

I have seen many calls for boycott of organic and organized consumer boycott targets (keep it up ✊🏻), but not a lot of conversation about what "pressure" might look like when it comes to pressure targets.

This carrd quotes the BDS Movement's official directions ("boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media pressure") and compiles some fairly easy ways to follow them for folks like me, who are socially & geographically isolated and may struggle with finding accessible forms of engagement. As such, social media pressure is the main focus. The idea is as follows:

The background information blurb ("What you should know") helps you learn the brief timeline & details of the company's involvement and their response to public pressure so far;

The "Suggested actions" section introduces you to any existing campaigns or calls to action endorsed by the BDS, as well as direct links to the companies' socials, contact forms, and so on;

You are now enabled to publicly shame Google for their complicity in genocide and cite their failure to properly engage with their protesting employees, for example

I hope to receive some input directly from the BDS Movement organizers (should they have enough time and resource to entertain my inquiry), but as of now, this is based on my own interpretation of their guidelines. I welcome any and all feedback on what should be added, altered or removed. You may reach out right here on tumblr or via the email address listed on the carrd.

Please do share this around if this feels worthwhile, and I hope some may find this compilation helpful

[vasiliquemort]

Commissions are open!~

Please feel all beckoning possible to reach out with any thought of painting, inquiry or question through either: - Direct message in tumblr or ask inbox - Through gmail mentioned in the card above - Or through commission's google form!

Each way is beautiful and welcoming, and by each conclusion I would be overjoyed to be reached by your company<з

There is additionally written full options of the pricelist:

- Bust of one character down to the chest: 60$ Background for busts is free to be added<з

- Portrait of one or more characters starting from waist: 70$ For background + 10 $ as base cost, prices over are determined by detailing. For each new character + 20 $

- Character (or several) in full growth: 80$ For background + 10 $ as base cost as well, prices over are determined by detailing. For each new character + 30 $

I do portraits in three formats - bust, waist-length and then full-length. They can be various in styling, therefore please pay close attention to the difference in the execution of these formats: - The busts are always more detailed in the character's features. - The atmosphere is more consistent in waist-length paintings. - Full-length drawings are well suited to demonstrate clothing design or particular scene.

Cost of more complex and expressive pieces and backgrounds are increased by tipping after full painting was completed, which I express as an deeply loyal and tactful system - it is absolutely voluntary and happens only at the end of the project, so you have ability to define their cost to your feelings and abilities and nothing over that<зз

I adore to experiment with styles and learn new tones of this craft - as each meeting is a start of something beautiful, and I desire to create art that is complex and multifaced, but to an important extend I should say that I do not feel comfortable to copy or imitate other's styles of execution and sensuality, and a lot of expressions and detailing in my work are sudden and stands in variability - art is an journey and yet I would love to share this journey with you;з

Oh, and you have read almost everything, thank you so much!o///o And also there, under the cut, is described general process of work and how we conclude payment.

How do we work on an order?

Please, once again - feel free to contact via Tumblr, mail, google form or ask inbox for any questions you may acquire!~

After I discuss the content of the painting with you and receive additional materials (photo of the person that is drawn, or references that are close to what you would like to see in particularly), I start creating the first sketch.

In accordance with the request, I make a sketch of the future painting, which will contain all its important elements and an approximate color scheme that we will use. At this stage, you can freely make your amendments, and when the content suits you, I will ask you for an advance payment of half the cost of the work without additional prices of background or detailing.

After that, work on the portrait will begin. Its duration varies on several factors - to a greater extent on the volume and complexity of the work itself, as well as on my own workload with other projects.

After completing the portrait, I will send you its version in lowered quality - after you familiarize yourself with it (there is also possible some edits - of tones and colors, elements of shading, character's features and general small details), and after you pay the rest of the amount you shall receive the final result of our artwork! ~

[transmutationisms]

So, I’m becoming increasingly interested anti-psychiatry but there is one thing I’m really struggling with that I’m wondering if is something that you’ve ever struggled with/been bothered by or had to find some way to deal with. I have a brother who doesn’t believe in mental health. Like, the concept of mental well-being. He doesn’t believe in medication or therapy either. But, he also doesn’t believe in germ theory, or vaccinations, or frankly, most science. He isn’t explicitly a flat earther but he also argues that it hasn’t been proven either. For most of my life, I’ve argued with him about the mental health stuff because I’ve struggled with depression and adhd (or, I guess, the handbag of symptoms that gets called depression and adhd). I’ve had to insist “No, I can’t just go for a walk,” and “No, I don’t just need a planner.” So now here I am, learning about anti-psychiatry, finding a lot of it resonates with me, and also finding out a lot of what I have been told is scientifically proven, is not scientifically proven at all (like schizophrenia being genetic, for example). I guess what I’m asking is, is my brother right in this specific issue? Is the concept of mental health or mental well-being bullshit? And whether it is or isn’t, do you ever find it difficult to reconcile that being anti-psychiatry is going to make you look like an anti-scientific conspiracy theorist? I’ve had this same thing happen to me with fat-acceptance and still struggle with the fact that if I try to explain to anybody that the way we’ve been taught weight loss and weight gain work, and the way we perceive fat medically is largely false or unproven, people look at me like I said the moon-landing was faked. It’s especially difficult because I’m a teacher at a university and I feel like I have no choice but to just play along there when these things come up, or else my credibility as a teacher could be drawn into question.

right so this is rather precisely the problem with treating Science as intrinsically an arbiter of Objective Truth lol -- you can't just make metastructural rules about how to know when a scientific assertion is true, you do actually have to evaluate what is being argued & on what evidentiary basis. science is a human form of knowledge-production & it is fallible to the same biases and ideological commitments and weaknesses as any other human inquiry, & the scientific establishment can and sometimes does rally behind all kinds of nonsense -- like psychiatry. the difference between psychiatry and germ theory isn't that psychiatric claims are structured differently or are patently nonsense on the surface, it's that the underlying epistemological principles of psychiatry are circular, the evidence is consequently lacking & always will be, & its assertions continue to be clung to & defended because they are economically useful whereas germ theory has an extremely robust evidentiary base supporting assertions that are demonstrable & have borne out in both lab and real-world observations & trials. incidentally, treating germ theory like it must be true simply because Science Says So is imo not in fact good for scientific literacy & communication bc it results in many people having very little understanding of how to defend or evaluate it when it's on the ideological-hygienic chopping block. & it also leads many people to vastly misunderstand the incredibly slow & piecemeal process by which germ theory was even assimilated into mainstream scientific thinking in the first place: hygienists for decades after pasteur were perfectly capable of 'accepting germ theory' while in practice operating off a number of environmental-miasmatic principles, smth i would argue many people still do in practice today. im sorry i don't have a generically Im Pro Science answer for you here, i don't actually think science should be exempted from the same rigour & consideration we apply to literally any other form of inquiry and knowledge-production.

[crguang]

the little… life?

this essentially explores a bit the disconnect between shalom’s mind and her body which she holds no particular attachment to. it is a tool, like her, and she’s discovered a new use for it.

gn!reader, smut…, bottom!shalom, no clear idea who tops here but shalom is the one receiving so, fingering, 3k words

A/N: my first path to nowhere work and it’s shalom smut because of fucking course it is. whatever man. if this feels a little clinical instead of something written by a horny lesbian it’s on purpose

The expanse of skin before you is a smooth frozen lake beneath your fingertips untouched by seasons and wandering souls, an unnatural landscape that the flow of time cannot scratch or sully. She doesn’t melt, no matter what, yet the vigorous torrent under her icy surface can only be seen from this close; with her slender neck bared to your gaze, the blue tendrils of her veins pulse in anticipation. Her meticulously cut hair, dark raspberry fading into a washed out cream, has been carefully arranged over her shoulder in an invitation to do as you’re used to on her skin and her head is tilted towards the clear patio doors allowing silver light to bask in this barren room even with no moon in sight. The sharp edge of her relaxed jaw obscures your vision of her eyes but having done this multiple times already, you know that their empty pink irises are fixed on the starless sky beyond the confines of her bedroom. Her breathing is inaudible, almost absent if it weren’t for the steady beat of her chest hidden by her slightly wrinkled blouse. She lies on her back beneath you, slack and as open as she can be, expectant and awaiting. Her arms rest clinically at her sides, her palms lax against the gray bed sheets, and you withdraw from the crook of her neck with a sudden uneasiness in your guts. This is always how she is, how she allows herself to be during nights like this one, but you’re reminded as usual of the distance of her mind compared to the presence of her body. She is miles away somewhere deep on a metaphysical plane you’ll never reach. You trace the faint pattern of a vein down the hollow of her throat with a fingernail. She senses your own distance, the loss of your parted lips on her skin, and her head slowly turns to face you. 

“Is something wrong?” Shalom lifts a hand to cup your cheek, an index finger stroking the back of your earlobe’s base. She’s learned that this gesture relaxes you somehow, and now she does it every time she requires your full attention. 

Her voice is soft, it blends with the stillness of the night around you and is tinged with curiosity, nothing else. Her bright eyes seem bottomless behind their beautiful shade of rose. At their corners, thin creases accompany her easy smile. She fixes you with a gentle look, you feel the coldness of her smooth palm seep into your skin. 

“Do you want this?”

Shalom finds your inquiry amusing. “I opened the door for you, didn’t I?”

“Yes…” you concede with a short pause, glancing at the crystallized stretch of her lips. You don’t voice your lack of comfort with her unresponsiveness, but she senses your hesitation regardless. 

“Oh. I was a little lost in thought.” Her reply visibly hurts you in a way she doesn’t understand. Your brows twitch indignantly, so she adds, “I’m sorry.”

“This should be enjoyable for you.”

“It is.” Her hand snakes around your neck in an intimate caress and her fingertips sink in your hair as she guides you closer. Her eyelids droop with the proximity of your face, gaze flitting to your mouth, and she lets herself feel your warm breath on her lips for a moment. “It is,” she repeats in a murmur before softly pressing her lips against yours. 

Shalom takes the initiative once she understands that this is what you need from her. She holds you near with a hand on your nape and another on your cheek and leads you in a slow dance that she deepens after a while, parting her mouth wider for her tongue to swipe along the seam of your lips. The warmth of your breath melding with her own, the gentle movement of your connected mouths, your tangible weight above her body; she absorbs those sensations like a dehydrated sponge in clean water, with greed and abandon. Her Mania reacts to yours and thrums right under her skin, lighting a spark she cannot feel otherwise. Your fingers wrap around her throat, pressed to her windpipe. Shalom makes a quiet sound, a sharp and involuntary intake of breath, and she relishes the unexpected responses of her body. They’re always the same, yet they manage to surprise her each time. She slightly angles your head upward for your tongue to meet hers, they kiss wetly in a tangle of shared saliva. Her pulse quickens, that alien rhythm in the hollow of her chest and muffled in her ears. The temperature of her skin doesn’t grow warmer, she doesn’t sweat, but it’s okay; she feels electricity along her limbs zapping towards her brain and the feeling is intoxicating. She can only compare it to a surge of Mania within her body, that invigorating force that seizes her from head to toe and fills her with vitality she does not naturally possess. 

Shalom lets you kiss her breath away. She surrenders to her body’s physiological reactions, allowing them to ground her wandering mind if only for a few moments. She is entirely present as your hand brushes her protruding collarbone and travels over her thin shirt to feel her rising chest. You cup her breast fully, and there it is again, that delightful little gasp out her mouth. Her grip on the back of your neck tightens. Each response is eternally new, born from the disconnect between her mind, always working, and her physical form which has never been used for this purpose until mere months ago. She’s discovered a new utility to it outside of Paradeisos’ reach and the first time she tasted the ancient pleasures of the flesh, the influx of sensations that coiled inside of her and their release was so intense that she had felt like a person for the short minutes it lasted. Her thighs trembled, she caught a glimpse of that coalescence of colors behind her eyelids, her breath was squeezed out of her lungs and Shalom was certain, for this fleeting instant, that this was how life felt like. It could have been death, for all she knew of either— which is nothing. If she were to describe the feeling, the words would escape her. It has to be experienced first hand, to be lived through for it to make sense to anyone. She sought it out again after two weeks. Then again, and again, and she’s found that her body is like an endless source of pleasure that can be exploited whenever she desires it. It was a splendid discovery and now her moments of reprieve are marked in the calendar of her mind as are her daily communications with Paradeisos. 

The contrast of your warm palm and the bare skin of her stomach brings her out of her straying train of thought. 

“You’re elsewhere again,” you reproach her, teeth grazing her jaw.

“I’m sorry.” The words leave her too easily to mean anything. 

With both hands cupping your face, she brings your mouth to hers again. You feel the plane of her abdomen and the curves of her waist under her blouse. Her dips and crannies are familiar now, you’ve mapped them out with your hands often enough to know the hollow of her belly button makes her shudder when touched and the underside of her breasts is where she’s most sensitive. You take your time, Shalom wants the pleasure to build to a boiling point that has her toes curling reflexively until her release feels like salvation. You leave no inch of skin untouched, lift her shirt to expose more of her body to your restless hands, and they trail up the curve of her spine to reach the clasp of her dark bra. Undoing it takes a couple of seconds. Shalom reluctantly lets you withdraw from her lips so you can help pull her clothes over her head. You bare her upper body to your admiring gaze, slithering fingers touching all the parts even the sun doesn’t kiss, and instead of staring at the expanse of midnight blue outside, Shalom watches you watching her. She smiles when you meet her eyes, not ashamed in the slightest at her responses to your attention, the way goosebumps rise on her skin and her pink nipples stiffen under your contemplation. Her hair is only slightly tousled from the pillow and the deep kisses she planted on your mouth, most of it is still perfectly brushed as it always is. You feel scrutinized in the face of her stare, calculations and analyses veiled by the gentle smile on her lips. 

You firmly cup her perky breast once more. Shalom’s eyes show more activity, they gleam brighter in the moonlight. 

“What do you want?” You ask, watching the way her flesh bends to your will in the palm of your hand. 

“I want you close.”

You lift your own shirt over your head and discard it at the end of the bed. With a palm on her cheek, you bend low and steal another kiss from her, your body flushed to hers. Her freezing skin doesn't bother you much anymore, you’ve tried to warm it up with your own to no avail and learned to treat it as a stimulant that lights your nerves on fire. Your thumb circles her nipple, then applies sweet pressure on the hardened rosebud and Shalom sighs into your mouth. An arm around your shoulders keeps you pressed to her. Each ministration pleasantly tightens her guts, she feels ecstasy slowly building within her and the anticipation of sudden relief further excites her. She shifts beneath you, legs joined together to stimulate the need in her core. Still, you litter her jaw and neck with open-mouthed kisses and ignore the lower half of her body for now. She invites you closer with a tilt of her head. The love bites that follow your teeth and tongue will disappear before morning but that fact doesn’t deter you from mixing pain and pleasure to hear the soft sounds coming from the woman in your arms. You twist her nipple between two fingers, Shalom's lips part in an exhale. She’s not particularly loud during these moments but she doesn’t contain her reactions either, the need to be submerged in them easily wins out within her and she lets them come as they do in order to experience them fully. 

Your mouth draws a path from her throat to her smooth chest, layering kisses on every inch of skin at your disposal. Your upper teeth graze her sensitive nipple before it’s sucked past your lips. Shalom has a hand at the back of your head and her body arches further into your mouth, lidded eyes staring into the distant semi-darkness of the room. Her fingertips tingle as your tongue flicks over the bud, wetting her skin unashamedly. She’s a patient woman, so she submits to your pace and enjoys the slow ascent of pleasure within her. Her heartbeat is irregular, she can hear it in her ears, it’s still a strange feeling to be attuned to her own body when it’s simply something her superiors pay attention to to monitor the risks she poses. With you, she finds a maddening use for this form that she hasn’t considered in length before. Her chest is lavished with your genuine adoration and that is another unfamiliar notion difficult to make sense of. She’s never put her Mark on you.

Finally, your fingers travel down her torso to fiddle with the belt buckle over her skirt. It no longer poses any problem to you now but you distinctly remember Shalom’s amused chuckles the first time you faltered in front of it. You shake the embarrassing memory from your head. Her belt falls apart under your trained hands and Shalom lifts her hips before you can ask her to, allowing you to pull her long skirt past her legs. Your nose nuzzles into her, just below her jaw, to feel the rapid pulse of her artery as your fingertips slide beneath the waistband of her underwear. Her thighs part automatically for you. 

“Hush, you’re already dripping,” you whisper into her, lips brushing the skin of her neck with each word.

Shalom’s following laugh is soft and breathy. “That’s right… What will you do?”

“Mm…”

Two fingers trail down her wet slit under her panties, feeling the slickness gathered on her cunt and smearing it over her puffy lips. Your digits are coated in her arousal in seconds and they dip between her folds when Shalom spreads her legs further apart, another blissful sigh out her mouth. You explore her pussy like it’s your first time, leisurely and methodically, eliciting the sweetest breathless moans from her. You press more kisses to the skin within reach, sucking it between your lips and sinking your teeth into the flesh enough for it to sting. One of her hands is at her side, gripping the blanket below your bodies. Your closeness is an important factor in her pleasure, Shalom eventually figured out. Your skin on hers, your warm breath against her, your kiss-swollen lips wandering all over her body like she’s something to be adored; they all tighten the coil of her intestines in her lower stomach. Now, peppering kisses to the underside of her jaw as your pointer finger finds her needy clit, she can almost see beyond the hill of pleasure she’s gradually climbing towards. The fall is her favorite part, the fall is where “life” lies, this previously unachievable state that is purely physical and yet, that holds a thousand secrets she won’t ever uncover. 

You rub her clit from base to tip then suddenly flick it a few times. Shalom makes a sound of surprise where half of it gets stuck in her throat. 

“Ahmn…!”

“Oh? That’s a new one,” you repeat the motion, but it seems the element of surprise is crucial to getting such noises from her. What a shame. “Never heard this sound from you before. Aren’t you happy? There are still sensations we haven’t discovered yet, after all.”

“Ha…” Shalom shifts again, the onslaught of pleasure making her somewhat restless. “Wonderful…”

Your digits find her gushing entrance and circle it once before testing the resistance by slowly sliding a finger into her cunt. She takes it in stride with only a heavy exhale, but you feel her clench around you at the intrusion. You stroke her inner walls gently, coaxing her to relax, and after a short moment she does. You wish you could do something about the perky nipples on her chest, however, you’re lying halfway on her body and your other arm is around her neck, acting as a support for her head. You settle for licking a stripe up her jaw to the corner of her mouth. Shalom turns a little, meeting your tongue with hers. You push a second digit into her cunt and readily swallow the soft moan that bubbles up her throat. You slightly curl your fingers once you’re deep enough to reach the spot that makes her shudder and revel in the stutter of her chest in response. 

Each thrust into her is one less second on the countdown of her release, Shalom knows it’s soon to come by the telltale clench of her guts and the tension in her hand as it grips the sheets. Her breath is squeezed out of her lungs with the relentless kisses you freely give her, small tremors run through her parted thighs from the effort of keeping them spread for you and there’s a faint array of colors deep inside her mind where what was taken from her resides in constant indignation. She’s not close enough, she needs more, needs to venture farther.

“More,” she demands against your lips, fingers clawing in your hair. 

“More than two?... Another new one,” you mutter to yourself, hissing softly when Shalom pulls your head back in retaliation. “Getting a little needy, Hush?”

You say her alias like a nickname instead of something that inspires fear in Paradeios’ enemies. She doesn’t understand it. Amidst it all, Shalom chuckles breathily. You slide a third finger inside her, earning a low moan from her, and plunge them all at the same steady pace. Her bedroom, more of a place to rest than a living space, fills with the wet sounds of your digits thrusting into her cunt and the sounds of pleasure that spill from her lips. 

There it is, Shalom can feel it mounting within her, this indescribable feeling that her body is able to produce endlessly. She feels the blood rushing in her ears again and her lashes flutter, eyes not quite shut nor open, her pupils are blown with a white triangle gleaming faintly in her right eye. This is the instant where her body and mind connect, an exhilarating fall after such grand anticipation; her fingers quiver in your hair, a shuddering breath tumbles with difficulty out of her mouth and she sees those same merging colors glowing brightly against the obscurity of her consciousness, within reach yet forever unattainable— Shalom outstretches her hand towards them for the few seconds it takes her to reach her peak, and when she finally falls, she’s harshly brought back to the present by the titillating pleasure that overcomes her at once. She doesn’t hear the noise that leaves her. Her body shudders, that same spark form earlier has turned into jolts of electrifying bliss along her limbs, and she can only surrender herself to the sensations until they come to pass two minutes later. 

You easily slip your cum-covered fingers out of her throbbing pussy once she relaxes the grip she had on them. You bring them before you and watch how they glisten in the moonlight. You look at Shalom, who’s calmed down enough to meet your gaze with clear eyes, and brush some hair further away from her face. 

“Satisfied?”

She smiles. “No.”