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flowerspecial · 5 years

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Enemy To Lover - High School Edition - Part 2

Obviously your friends would be sick and tired of the constant bickering between you two. Like seriously, you have spent so many years together, why can't you two just be freaking civil? It was one of your mutual friend’s birthdays, and you all decided that the best idea would be to throw an amazing surprise birthday party. You all assigned each other roles and tasks that you needed to do. Unfortunately, neither you nor JB could attend the designation of tasks, so you two ended up stuck together. Neither of you two were happy with this arrangement, and you were not afraid to let your feelings be apparent. But you knew that this wasn't about you, and you needed to suck it up for the sake of your friend. You would pick JB up from his house at the weekend. Annoyingly, you two also had the most difficult job, getting the food and alcohol for the party. Well you two had to walk around a supermarket deciding what food was best. “What about this? Everyone will love this.” “I don't like that.” “What the hell is your problem JB? Seriously, I get that we are different, but bloody hell you don't have to be in a sulk every time that you see me.” You would storm off away from him, leaving him stranded in the supermarket. There is just no need for toxic friendships like this. The next time that you saw JB was at the party. You noticed that he kept looking at you, but honestly you didn't let yourself dwell on it too much. You wanted to enjoy this party just as much as everyone else. However, JB managed to corner you in the kitchen while you were getting a drink. “We need to talk.” “JB, I really can't be bothered to talk to you right now. Let's just leave it okay? I get that we will never be friends, let's move on.” “I want to try and be friends.” “Why? Because you feel sorry for me? Or that you feel guilty that I stormed off the other day?” “Well yes, it might be some of that. But you know what they say, opposites attract.”

Mark

Sitting next to Mark wasn't all that bad, like his reputation told you, he generally preferred to stay to himself. Because you two kinda hated each other, it did mean that he wasn't willing to try and talk to you or anything. He would just have his head on his desk and go to sleep for the hour. “You know, if you actually listened in class, you might do better in the tests.” You would say to him. “Yeah, and if you actually focused on the work, instead of on me, you would also do better in the tests.” “If you two have not quite finished your conversation, you can finish tonight, in detention!” Your teacher would shout at the two of you. You had never had detention before, so you glared at the back of Mark’s head so ferociously, that if looks could kill, he would be a goner. After school finished, you would walk into the detention room to see Mark already sat there. You chose the seat in front of him, praying that you might actually get some of your school work done in the hour. It is not long before the detention supervisor leaves the room. “So why exactly do you hate me?” Mark asks you abruptly. “I don't hate you.” You try to argue back. “Well you could have fooled me, what have I ever done to annoy you?” “You misbehave in class, and you flirt with every person going. You don't care about your education or anyone else’s around you.” “When have I misbehaved in class? I fall asleep, yeah okay I do that. But I have never directly disrupted a class. As for the flirting, all I do is talk to people. It's not my fault that people in this school have spread so many rumours about me that no one actually knows the truth from the myth.” You just looked at him, shocked with his sudden outburst. “I was actually looking forward to sitting with you, I thought that you could help me. But if I bother you that much, I will ask the teacher to move me tomorrow.” With that, Mark walked out of detention.

Jackson

Honestly, prom is meant to be a fun time with your friends, but truly this was your idea of hell. After everyone had been assigned their dates, you all found a day when everyone was free and decided to go prom shopping. All of the couples were keen to take in each other’s opinions about what you should both wear. You and Jackson however, could not care less about what the other person is wearing. Therefore you looked around the shop by yourself and chose a dress that you thought was perfect for you. “Of course you are going to choose the sparkliest dress in here. God forbid if anyone else gets attention just for a second.” Jackson rolled his eyes as you walked out in your dress. “That's rich coming from you! You know it isn't a contest to see who can wear the most designers?” You sneered back at him. The constant bickering between you two was starting to wear thin on you, and somewhere along this process Jackson’s comments had gotten slightly harsher than ever before. “Just because you can't afford to wear the clothes that I can! Jealous much?” Wow, now that one really struck a nerve in you. “Fuck you Jackson! I don't need to take this kind of abuse from someone who I have no intention of ever speaking once I leave school. If you really don't like the way I dress, or the way I act, then fine. You win” You got dressed as quickly as you could, and left the changing rooms with the sparkly dress still hanging in the room. Jackson was waiting for you outside the changing rooms and he ran after you when you stormed off. “Wait, what do you mean I win?” Jackson grabbed your wrist to turn you towards him. “It means that you win Jackson. I don't want to play this game anymore. I can't spend my days with someone who constantly makes me feel like I’m mud on the sole of someone’s shoe. I’m not going to prom, find someone else to go with you.”

Jinyoung

If anyone asked you, you would not be able to tell them the last time you had been outside or taken a break from studying. These months were crucial for you to be able to get out of this town, and there was nothing that you were not willing to do in order to succeed. If you thought that you were hard on yourself before, boy were you kidding yourself. A mixture between wanting to succeed and immountable stress hung over you so much that you felt guilty when you didn't revise. You knew this was not a healthy way to live, heck you are doing AP Psychology for crying out loud, and your mental health was starting to deteriorate. It was one of those days when you did not have any extra curricular after school, so you decided to spend your evening studying in the library. You always preferred to sit in the corner of a library, as you didn't want to be disturbed by anything or anyone. You have felt on edge for some time, and will the university exams coming up in the next week, you were struggling to hold yourself together. As you attempted to complete a timed exam paper, there was a question that you were stuck on. In the grand scheme of things, that one question should not have bothered you so much. One question not understood in an entire exam paper is something to be proud of. However, your brain was fixated on that one question, and so you pushed out of your chair to try and find a book that could explain the answer. Your heart was fluttering so uncomfortably, and your breathing was ragged. You fell to the ground of the library in a slump and you struggled to focus on something. You felt someone try to position you so your head was between your knees. “Focus on your breathing okay? In through your nose, out through your mouth.” When you calmed down, you looked up to see who the person was that was helping you, and you were surprised to see Jinyoung sitting next to you. “You are the smartest person I know. Don't give yourself such a hard time.”

Youngjae

From the word go, you wanted to set ground rules for Youngjae. “Right, I actually need to do well in this presentation, I need to stabilise my grade. So I couldn't care less if you don't want to work with me, we are going to work together and we are going to do well. Okay?” You said to him as you sat down in your new seating position. “Who said I didn't want to work with you?” Youngjae asked, genuinely confused at your outburst. You look at him incredulously and ignore his question. For the rest of the lesson, you work in near silence, the only time you spoke was to tell Youngjae what tasks you were giving him and how long he had to do them. “I need you to have this done by the day after tomorrow at the latest. Here is my email, just send it to me when you have finished it. If you have any questions, ask someone else.” Before Youngjae could say anything, you gathered your belongings and walked out of the classroom. Not to sound cliche, but you always hated lunch time. Although you chose to be on your own, it was still never nice when it was made so apparent to you. In order to combat the twang of loneliness, you always played music through your headphones and did whatever homework was set. You looked around the lunch hall and someone caught your eyes. Youngjae was at the other side of the hall, with his friends. When he saw you he smiled and waved at you, earning his friends to turn around to see who he was looking at. You didn't think matters could get any worse, but Youngjae had decided to walk over to you and sit down opposite you. “Hey, why are you sitting on your own?” “Because I don't have anyone to sit with.” “Well… it's a good thing that I came then isn't it?” You couldn't work out if Youngjae was actually quite sweet, or so oblivious it was painful. It was clear he didn't notice the stares that he was getting by sitting next to you. Well, until one of the popular people stood behind him. “You don't wanna sit here Youngjae, you might catch something.”

Bambam

You were walking through the dining hall one lunch time, trying to find somewhere to eat. But because you weren't looking where you were going, you crashed into someone, spilling your food on them. “Are you actually kidding me? Do you know how much this shirt costs?” You didn't even need to look up to know who was speaking to you. Bambam was towering over you with steam coming out of his ears. “I am so sorry, I will pay you back! I can get it dry cleaned! Or I can get you a new one? How much is it?” “Oh yeah, like you can afford to get him a new shirt!” One of the girls behind Bambam sneered. “Yeah, aren't you the scholarship kid? You couldn't even afford to get in here, why would you be able to pay for his shirt?” You were fighting so hard to not let the tears fall that were pooling in your eyes. “I am really sorry, please just tell me how much it was and I will pay you back!” “It was $800, can you afford that?” The same girl as before piped up. “Yes, I will get the money!” Bambam had stayed silent throughout the entirety of his conversation, showing you that he clearly wasn't on your side. Before you embarrassed yourself further, you walked away from the group. You were determined to save up enough money to pay Bambam back, and you were not going to stop until you did. School became a living hell, Bambam’s group became your own personal group of tormentors, determined to show you that you don't belong at their school. You made sure to do longer shifts after school and during the weekends, meaning that on average you got about 4 hours of sleep. Life was not ideal for you, but you were determined to make it work. It took around a month for you to gather the money you owed Bambam. You saw him sitting with his friends in the dining hall, and you walked over to and slammed the money onto the table. “Here is the money that I owe you, now please, just leave me alone.”

Yugyeom

“I didn't know that you could play.” Yugyeom states very matter of factly. Seeing him walking towards you was making your heart rate begin to increase. “Oh I can't really, sorry I will get going now.” You gathered all of your belongings from the side of the piano and you tried to stand up from the seat. However, Yugyeom was too quick for you and pushed you back down. “Can you teach me how to do that?” “Why should I teach you?” “Why wouldn't you?” Yugyeom’s blatant disregard for his actions was making your blood boil. “Why should I help someone that has made my life here at school a living hell? Why should I help someone that when I see in the hallway, I will walk outside just to avoid. Why should I help someone who genuinely makes it his personal mission to destroy? “Look, it's not that big of a deal. The stuff that we do, it's just a joke!” “And the fact that you genuinely think that is what makes it worst of all.” This time, you managed to successfully climb out of the seat, and you stormed out of the room. A couple of days had passed, and Yugyeom was nowhere to be seen. You had expected that the tormenting would actually get worse, you practically gave him the green light after shouting at him the other day. But no, you hadn't seen him around school, and neither had any of his friends. You had a free period before lunch, which meant that you were able to spend longer than usual in the music room, which always put a smile on yourself. However, when you arrived, the lights were already on and you could hear someone playing on the piano. You peeped your head around the door to see the MIA boy sitting in the same spot which he was sat in a couple of days ago. You stood at the door for a few minutes, listening to Yugyeom playing the same section over and over again. “You know you have the wrong chord, right?” You asked him, causing Yugyeom to whip his head around to look at you. “I’m trying to do it from memory, I knew it sounded wrong but I didn't know why.”

#got7 #got7 imagines #got7 reactions #got7 scenarios #got7 blurbs

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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years

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Stark Spangled Banner Ch51: Captain America -Homecoming

Intro: The team at the compound begin their experiment with the Quantum Tunnel, but it doesn’t all go according to plan. But just as everything seems lost, Tony appears having rethought his initial stance, with a little surprise for Steve.

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist

(Special thanks to @the-omni-princess for fact checking my limited knowledge of the US education system!)

Bruce needed a day to calibrate the computer and systems to the right configuration to use with Scott’s Quantum Tunnel (which was, amusingly yet completely unsurprisingly in the back of his ugly brown van). Katie took the chance to head into the office to catch up and then inform Soraya she didn’t know how much she would be available in person over the coming week. It wasn’t an issue, the department was well structured and pretty much ran itself, plus she was capable of working from anywhere given the level of connectivity she had but still, she felt like she was abandoning her post. It was silly really, after Jamie she had been away for almost a year but this felt different.

They had another day before they were due to collect Emmy from the train station, her five day trip to Philly was drawing to a close and when they had spoken to her last night she had been equal parts excited to come home and fed up that it was ending. But she would be back at school soon, and she had an important few weeks coming up as she was studying for her end of year exams. Katie and Steve had agonised over whether her going to Philadelphia was such a good idea so close to her tests, but when they had seen her stressing out over revision Katie had told Steve how crappy she had found it, so they had agreed that a break would do her good. Plus, Emmy had said she had found the trip useful in that she had found out a lot more facts she would be able to use for her history paper. That, and she was a complete brainbox. Although she was only a freshman, she was taking APs in Human Geography and Psychology (having told her parents she wanted to be a Therapist) and was already being touted by her tutors as Harvard potential. But she was expressing an interest in going to the UK like Katie had done, which scared the shit out of Steve, his daughter being the other side of the Atlantic. But he knew he had to let her make her own decision. And they’d cross that bridge when they got there.

For the time being, the only bridge Steve wanted to cross was the one he and Natasha were currently planning on making to reach out to the remaining original Avengers, Thor and Clint.

“Thor should be easy, surely?” Nat asked, swinging her feet up onto the table as she sat back in her seat. She looked to Steve for confirmation, but instead he sighed and shook his head.

“Has Katie not told you?”

“Told me what?”

Steve scratched at his chin “He had a row with one of the Elders about 6 months back. From what Valkyrie told Katie, there was a bit of a disagreement over the rebuilding of their army and the elder took a shot at Thor, saying he wasn’t fit to lead any kind of battalion as he had failed to keep them safe from Thanos.”

“That’s harsh.” Nat frowned.

“Yeah, I know.” Steve said “I think it was more anger speaking than the guy actually thinking that, but it sent Thor into another downwards spiral and he’s ignored Katie’s attempts to reach out to him again so she’s given in.” “Ok, so, a little harder than we anticipated…” “Least we know where he is.” Steve sighed “Any luck on Barton?”

“Rhodey thinks he’s targeting a gang in Hong Kong.” Nat sighed, “But I won’t know for sure until he arrives.”

Steve, nodded “Ok, well when we find out where he is we can scramble a jet and…” “No.” Nat shook her head “Not we, me. I’ll go alone.” “Nat.” Steve frowned “Clint, he’s been leaving a trail of utter carnage behind him, I don’t think you-“

“He wouldn’t hurt me.” She shook her head.

“It’s not him I’m concerned about, more the people he’s taking on.” “I can handle myself” she said firmly, looking at him. Her eyes were sparkling with that Black Widow venom Steve had to admit he had missed over the past few years. He took a deep breath and against his better judgement conceded.

“Alright. We’ll do it your way.”

Natasha frowned, and smirked “really? That’s it, no argument?”

Steve raised an eyebrow “You want an argument?” “Not really” she shook her head, smiling.

He gave a chuckle and then they were cut off by an incoming call springing up in front of Natasha. She swiped to her right and the hologram form of Rocket appeared on the desk.

“Hey Nat.” he nodded, turning “Cap.” They both greeted him.

“We’re wrapping things up on that latest lead, then we have to nip to Contraxia as I need a few things…” he said, looking the red head “Should be with you day after tomorrow lunchtime, ish” “Rocket, you were close to Thor right?” Steve said, an idea coming to him.

“Kinda.” the animal spun to face him “why?” “We need him.” Steve said “He knows about the stones, but convincing him could be a bit of a task. So I was thinking maybe you could help and go with Katie to New Asgard.” The animal pondered for a while before he shrugged “I can try.”

“That’s all any of us can do.” Steve nodded.

The raccoon nodded again “Alright.” He turned to Nat. “We’ll see you soon.” and with that he disappeared.

Steve stayed at the compound until late afternoon, popping in to see how Bruce and Scott were getting on, before he made his way home. Katie and Jamie were already back and he could hear the two of them in the living room.

“Who’s that?” Jamie asked as he pointed to the photo in the album that his Mom had open on her lap.

“That’s your Uncle Sam…” she smiled at the photo of Steve and his best man at the reception of their wedding “You know you get your name from him, well one of them…”

“Where is he now?” Jamie asked.

“He err…he went away” Katie said, trying to figure out how to explain this “You know how daddy has told you about his friend, Uncle Bucky?” “Yeah.” “Well, a few years ago, before you were born, The Avengers, well they had a fight, with a nasty man, and your Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam, and one of our other friends, a lady called Wanda…they had to go away afterwards.”

“Was Uncle Tony in the fight?”

“Yeah, he was.” Katie nodded

“And Auntie Nat-Nat?”

“Yeah. And Thor. There was a lot of people involved?”

“Did you and daddy fight with the Avengers?” Jamie asked, his eyes wide.

At that point Katie looked up and saw Steve hovering in the door way. He swallowed and walked into the room.

“A long time ago buddy, yeah.” he said.

“Did you know Captain America?”

“I did yeah.” Steve nodded, kneeling down in front of his son “But he gave up fighting.” Jamie pondered something as Katie looked at her husband. “Not for much longer though…” she said, locking eyes with him.

Steve took a deep breath and swallowed once more. He wasn’t sure he’d ever hold that shield again.

“Maybe.” he said, shrugging, before he stood up and settled on the couch at the other side of his son.

Jamie made to turn the page in the album and the next photo was one of Steve’s favourites and one they had a large framed version of on the mantle piece. It showed him and Katie at their first dance, heads pressed together, huge smiles on their faces as he held her close.

“Momma you look pretty!” Jamie smiled and Katie dropped a kiss to his head.

“Thanks Baby.” “Your momma always looks pretty.” Steve smiled “She’s the most beautiful girl on the planet.” “Charmer.” Katie looked at him as he stretched his arm over the back of his son and pulled her in closer.

“Only for you.” he winked, dropping a kiss to her cheek.

****** Tony stood at the sink, rinsing down the dishes from dinner whilst Pepper settled Morgan down for the night. He’d spoken to Kiddo earlier, she’d told him they were running the first Time Travel trial the day after. He’d managed to push it out of his mind for most of the afternoon but now, as he stood alone, he kept thinking about it over and over again. He knew Bruce was clever, but this really wasn’t his area… but that wasn’t his concern.

What if something went wrong? Not his problem.

His grip on the attachment to the tap slipped and it jerked out of his hand, spraying water all over the place. With a sigh he turned it off and grabbed the tea towel, mopping up the water from around the sink and then the shelf which it had squirted all over. He glanced at the photos, and paused for a moment at the frame that was placed just to the right of the one which held a picture of his dad. He took a deep breath as he wiped the water off the faces- him and Peter Parker holding the fake Stark Internship Certificate upside down, each one pulling peace signs behind the other’s back. He swallowed.

“We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back.” Natasha said.

Tony looked around his kitchen, his stomach turning slightly. Yes, he had something to fight for, something personal, the kid. They all had something personal right? Natasha had Clint’s family, Rogers and Kiddo had Barnes, Wilson and Wanda… Scott had his girlfriend, or whatever. But he couldn’t risk it. He shouldn’t risk it….

“Or screw it up worse than he already has”

“I don’t think we would.” Steve shook his head.

But they were going to risk it. He knew that. And they could, probably would, fuck it up without him.

“Damned it Rogers.” he mumbled, placing the photo down and heading into the dining room.

Two hours later Pepper was out in the greenhouse as she often was later at night and Tony was talking to FRIDAY, with whom he had been brainstorming a number of ideas for the past hour and a half. He looked the holographic model in front of him and tapped at the pad on the table.

“Look at a mod inspiration, let’s see if it checks out.” He said, watching as the image changed in front of his eyes. “So…” he pressed a few keys again “run one last sim before we pack it in for the night.” he clapped his hands together and paced round the side of the table “this time, in the shape of a mobius strip, inverted, please.”

“Processing. “ FRIDAY replied as Tony crossed his arms and watched.

“Give me that Eigen value” he reached out to spin the image with his hand “That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp,” he grabbed the bottle on the side of the table to take a drink of the smoothie he had made, “that will take a second.”

“Just a moment.”

“And don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out,” he replaced the top on his drink and grabbing a blueberry from the packet he had been eating, “I’m just kinda…” he trailed off chewing the fruit, as he watched FRIDAY do her business.

“Model rendered.”

The red words “Model Successful…” with a rating of “99.987%” flashed in front of his eyes and Tony felt his mouth drop open, utterly bewildered by his discover. He fell back into his chair, looking up at it and his mouth flew to his hand. He’d figure it out. He, Tony Stark, had figured out how to do exactly what Lang had proposed. He’d sussed out how to safely travel time.

Despite himself, he felt a certain level of pride and smugness, and he threw his arms out to his side, “Shit!” he almost laughed out.

“Shit.” a voice spoke from behind him, followed by a giggle. He paused, and turned to see his daughter was sat on the bottom stair, grinning at him.

He held his finger to his lips and shook his head “What are you doing up, little miss?”

“Shit.” she repeated again.

“No, we don’t say that. Only Mommy says that word.” She coined it, it belongs to her.”

“Why you up?”

“Cause I got some important shit going on here,” Tony jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the hologram “What do you think?”

Morgan shot him a frown and he took a deep breath, when she pulled that face she looked ridiculously like her Auntie. ”No, I got something on my mind. I got..I got something on my mind.” he explained in a softer tone.

“Was it Juice Pops?” Morgan asked, hopefully.

“Sure was.” Tony said, looking at the other side of the room before he turned back to his daughter “That’s extortion. That’s a word. “ He stood up, “What kind you want?” he said, taking her hand and she stood up. “Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly was on-” he looked back to the model then turned towards the kitchen “-my mind.”

A little while and a juice pop later Morgan was back in bed, demanding a story.

“Once upon a time, Morgoona went to bed. The end.” Tony grinned.

“That is a horrible story.” Morgan looked at him with a glare.

“Come on, that’s your favorite story. I love you tons.” he said, making it clear that was the end of the conversation. He kissed her on the forehead.

“I love you 3000.”

“Wow.” he said, quietly as he smiled at her. His daughter had an ability, very like Kiddo, to say things that sideswiped him, and made his chest burst with love, and this was one of those moments. He contemplated that for a moment before he stood up and turned off her lamp “Three thousand, that’s crazy.”

He walked to the door, and closing it behind him, still grinning he told her “Go to bed, or I’ll sell all your toys, night night.”

By the time he reached the living room Pepper was back inside, sat on the couch reading a book.

“Not that it’s a competition-” Pepper looked up at him “-but she loves me three thousand.”

“Oh does she now?” Pepper smiled.

“You were somewhere on the low 6 to 900 range.” Pepper laughed and turned back to her book. Tony, still chewing on the juice pop stick looked back to where the model was still projecting over his table.

“What you reading…” he asked, although he wasn’t particularly interested. His mind was racing once more.

“Oh, it’s just a book on composting”.

“What’s new with composting?” his eyes were still on the image. “Interesting science…” she began, but he cut her off.

“I figured it out, by the way.” he looked back at her, removing the juice pop stick from his mouth.”

“And, you know, just so we’re talking about the same thing –“ Pepper looked up at him.

“Time travel.” he whispered.

“What?” she asked as Tony glanced back at the hologram, arms folded. “ Wow…” her gaze dropped down slightly “That’s amazing, and… terrifying.”

“That’s right.” he dropped down besides her, his left arm hanging over the back of the sofa.

“We got really lucky” Pepper said, stroking his arm.

“Yeah, I know.”

“A lot of people didn’t.”

“No, but I can’t help everybody.”

“Well, it sort a seems like you can” she pressed again.

“Not if I stop.” he shrugged, and Pepper gave a small huff of a laugh “I can put a pin in it right now, and stop.”

“Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my entire life.”

Tony gave a soft laugh and his right arm gently rubbed the hand that was laid over his left arm.

“Something tells me I should put it in a locked box and drop it at the bottom of the lake, go to bed.”

There was a pause, before Pepper looked at him again, her eyes soft and her face rearranged into a knowing expression.

“But would you be able to rest?”

He didn’t reply, he didn’t need to. They both knew the answer was no. *******

“Alright, Emmy, remember what I said?” Katie looked at her daughter who was sat on the couch in the living room of their old quarters.

“Yeah, I can’t leave here until someone comes to get us.” Emmy nodded

“No matter what…”

“Yeah mom, I got it. We’ll be fine, wont we Jamie?”

He nodded, grinning up at his mother “Yeah, fine.”

“Ok, love you both.“

With one last glance back at her kids, Katie made her way back to the hanger.

"Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby.” She heard Steve call out as he strode back towards the computer. Katie couldn’t help but admire his ass, he looked pretty good in a pair of black denims, light blue shirt as always tucked into his pants, belt circling his toned waist. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow with a smug smirk as he caught the expression on her face and she shrugged.

“Good, coz if we blow the grid, I don’t wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950s,” Bruce said through gritted teeth, jerking his thumb at Scott, only his comment wasn’t quite as quiet as he thought. Scott, who was stood in his suit, fiddling with something on his helmet heard perfectly.

“Excuse me?” Scott glared at Banner as Katie and Steve exchanged a glance. .

“He’s kidding!” Natasha said in an play-full voice, shaking her head as she tapped on the tablet she was holding which would be used to track Scott. She looked up with a smile, which Katie knew perfectly to be false and laughed “You can’t say things like that.” she said to Bruce.

“Yeah, sorry, it was…just a bad joke.” Bruce smiled as he looked at Scott. Scott nodded once as he walked back to the van.

“You were kidding right?” Katie looked at Bruce.

“I have no idea!” Bruce hissed. “We’re talking about time travel here, either it’s all a joke or none of it is!” He looked away from Katie and flashed Scott the thumbs up “We’re good.”

Steve crossed his arms and let out a breath as Scott pulled his helmet on. He gave Bruce a double thumbs up and Katie smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

“Alright Scott, we’re gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?” Bruce asked as he tapped at the keys on his desk with a pencil

“Perfectly not confusing.” Scott shrugged.

Ok so now Steve was nervous. He took a deep breath and looked at the man stood by the back of the van, his hands dropping to his hips.

“Good luck Scott. You’ve got this.” He refrained from adding I hope…

“You’re right. I do Captain America.” Scott said, proudly, as Bruce hit a button, sucking him into the tunnel.

“On the count of three-“ Bruce called, and Steve dropped his hands, his fists clenching, mouth open slightly as he watched . At the other side of Bruce, Katie and Nat shared a nervous glance “Three… two…one…” Steve breathed a sigh of relief as someone appeared but it was short lived as he realised the person in front of them could be no older than Emmy. Katie frowned as did Natasha, confusion etched across her face and next to them, Bruce adjusted his glasses.

"Guys, something doesn’t feel right.” The boy informed them nervously.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked, as Bruce set about pressing a load more buttons. “Hang on…”

“Is that Scott?” Katie’s eyes grew wide as she looked at Bruce, who ducked down to hit something on the console, her eyes locking with Steve who looked as utterly perplexed as she felt.

“Yes, it’s Scott!” the boy exclaimed.

Teenage Scott was sucked back into the tunnel, Natasha watching Bruce as he straightened up and the four of them looked back to the tunnel to see another person thrown out, this time an elderly man.

“Ow, my back!”

“What is this?” Steve asked

“Can I…I need a little space!” Bruce said, moving to his right.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Steve hastily moved out of the way and going to stand in between his wife and Natasha. “Can you bring him back?“

“I’m working on it…” Bruce hit one of the screens. Katie, Steve and Nat shared another panicked look as Old Scott was yanked back in only to this time reappear as…

"That’s a baby.” Steve deadpanned.

“It’s Scott!” Bruce defended.

“As a baby!” Katie snapped as the infant looked up at them wide eyed.

“He’ll grow!” Bruce said, attempting a joke.

“Bring Scott back!” Steve instructed sharply.

“Nat, when I say kill the power, kill the power!” Bruce called and Natasha ran off to the breaker at the side of the hanger.

Katie and Steve watched as Bruce jabbed more buttons, before he yelled out “Kill it!”

Natasha pulled the lever down and Bruce slapped a large red button. This time Scott Lang returned exactly as he had been before he left.

“Somebody peed my pants.” he said loudly, standing stiffly still “I don’t know if it was baby me,.or old me. Or, just… me-me.”

“Time travel!” Bruce beamed excitedly, throwing his hands out to the side as Katie, Steve and Natasha looked at him. “What? I, I see this as an absolute win.”

Steve simply stared at Bruce in silence for a moment, before he shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. He looked down at the floor before he walked off, Katie watching him as he left the hangar and stepped outside.

“I think we should take a break.” Katie took a deep breath. “Nat can you check the kids, I’m gonna…” she jerked her thumb after Steve and Nat nodded.

Steve stood outside by the large metal pillar at the side of the building, hands still on his hips as he stared at the floor. What was the point of being able to time travel if you couldn’t control it? The worse thing being that he wasn’t even sure if they would be able to perfect it with practice, and was he willing to keep risking Scott to do that? They had been so close, but Tony was right, it had clearly been a pipe dream.

“Hey.” Katie said, her hand gently falling to his elbow. “Honey, we knew it was a long shot…” “I know.” he sighed, looking at her “But I thought it might have worked, you know. That we might have had a chance to…”

He was cut off as a deafening noise rose in the distance. They both looked out over the compound to see a familiar Audi R8 speeding down the drive towards the hangar. Katie and Steve exchanged a glance as the car pulled up to where they were stood, but overshot their position slightly. Steve followed the car with his eyes as it backed up and Tony rolled down the window and looked at them both. Steve raised his eyebrows, looking away.

“Why the long face?” Tony asked, directing his question to Steve “Let me guess: He turned into a baby”

“Among other things, yeah.” Steve said, an edge of frustration in his voice as he looked back at Tony “What are you doing here?”

Tony opened the car door and climbed out, walking to the back, completely ignoring Steve’s question as he spoke.

“That’s the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might’ve wound up pushing time through Lang.” Tony looked at Steve “It’s tricky. Dangerous. Somebody shoulda cautioned you against it.”

“You did.” Steve deadpanned, not in the mood for a lecture.

“Oh, did I?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow and Katie felt a grin cross her face at her brother’s sarcasm “Thank God I’m here. Regardless, I fixed it” Steve raised his eyebrows as he glanced at his brother in law who held up his right hand which bore what looked like a watch of some description.

“A fully functioning Time-Space GPS.

At this Steve let out a genuine smile as he realised Tony was here to help. Tony returned it with one of his own

“I just want peace.” he made the sign with his fingers “Turns out, being angry and bitter is corrosive, and I hate it.

“Me too.” Steve nodded softly, recognizing this for what it was. An apology for the other day, and he was happy to provide his own.

“Guys, we got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities.” Tony urged softly, looking from Steve to Katie and back again “Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs”.

“So do we Tony.” Katie implored “Our kids…”

“Nothing we do can jeopardise them” Steve dropped his left arm round Katie “Any of them.”

“Yeah, and maybe not die trying will be nice.” Tony shrugged.

Steve smiled and held out his right hand “Sounds like a deal.”

Tony shook it, before he smiled cheekily and headed to the trunk. Steve looked at his wife and she shrugged, before the two of them followed him, Steve watching curiously. He lifted something out, turned it upside down to dislodge the teddy bear sat on it and Katie’s hand flew to her mouth as she saw it was Steve’s shield. Steve hesitated, taking a deep breath.

“Tony… I don’t know..” he swallowed, the nerve twitching in his jaw. He wasn’t worthy of that shield, not anymore.

“Why? He made it for you.” Tony held his gaze “Plus, honestly I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding” Steve looked at Katie, who was fighting back her tears and she gave him an encouraging nod. He lifted his arm and Tony slid the shield straps over his shirt and Steve looked down at it, taking a shaky breath. It felt like slipping into a familiar pair of sneakers. Tony looked at Katie who was wiping her eyes, and he gave her a smile which she returned.

“Thank you, Tony.” Steve looked up at his brother-in-law, his voice choked.

“Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn’t bring one for the whole team.” Tony hesitated for a moment “We are getting the whole team, yeah?

“We’re working on that right now.” Katie nodded, before she heard a yell behind her.

“Uncle Nee!” Jamie shot by her and launched at his uncle.

“Hey sport!” Tony grinned, picking him up “What you been up to?” “Me and Emmy were colouring and making dinosaur models.” “Wow!” Tony said, turning to Emmy who was walking towards them.

“Mom?” She said, her voice a whisper as she spotted what Steve was holding. “Dad’s…” “Yeah.” Katie smiled at her, dropping an arm round the teenager’s shoulders as she glanced at his shield. Never one to miss anything Jamie glanced at his Sister, then his dad and his eyes widened.

“Why you have shield like Captain America?” Jamie frowned as Steve ran his fingers over the edge of the Vibranium before looking at his son as Tony placed him on the floor, struggling to find the words to explain.

Tony clapped Steve on the shoulder “Alright, I’ll leave that one with you…time to go see what a mess of my compound Brucie has made.”

He walked passed Emmy, dropping an arm round her shoulders “Walk with me kid, tell me about Philly…” he shot a glance at Katie who smiled as he steered the teenager back to the compound whilst she began excitedly telling him about her trip. Steve turned to look Katie, his eyes glistening with emotion.

“Still suits you.” she smiled to him and he gave a little chuckle.

“Daddy!” Jamie insisted, tugging on his trousers, annoyed at his question being ignored.

“Sorry pal,” Steve crouched down, shield still on his arm. “I have a shield like Cap because I was Cap.”

Jamie frowned before his eyes grew wide. An older kid might have laughed and told his dad to stop being silly, but Steve had never lied to Jamie before and it would never have occurred to the 3 year old to ever think he would.

“You were Captain America?” Jamie frowned. “When you fighted with the Avengers?”

“Yeah” he sighed, running his hand through Jamie’s golden hair “I was.”

“Are you now?”

“I dunno.” Steve glanced back at his shield.

“I think you are” Jamie cocked his head to one side as his hand reached out to touch the shield. “Because Cap’s a hero and you’re my hero”

Katie saw Steve’s eyes water instantly as he pulled Jamie closer to him, dropping a kiss to the side of his head as the boy’s arms wound around his dad’s neck. He glanced up at Katie and she swallowed, leaning against the column to her left, wiping her eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had called any of the Avengers that, and to hear it from his son meant more to Steve than anything.

“Daddy?” Jamie mumbled against his dad’s shoulder, where his head lay.

“Yeah?”

“You got a helmet too?” Jamie pulled back to study his father’s face as Steve gave out a soft laugh

“Yeah buddy. I do.”

“And a uniform?”

“I have a few…”

“Can I see?”

Steve looked up at Katie and she smiled, nodding.

“Sure… come on.” Steve stood up, Jamie easily lifted in his free arm.

“You coming?” he stopped at his wife’s side as she reached up a hand to smooth down Jamie’s jumper which had ridden up slightly.

“I think this is a hero to son moment, don’t you?” she smiled, standing on her toes so she could give his lips a peck. “Besides, someone’s gotta stop Tony creating havoc in there.” “Good luck with that” he muttered, giving her another kiss before he carried Jamie into the compound, striding through the hangar doors and across to the corridor. Katie waited for a moment, composing herself before she headed back inside.

**** True to their word, Nebula and Rocket arrived the following lunch and it wasn’t long after that Katie and Rocket headed off to New Asgard, along with Banner. They knew Banner and Thor had shared a lot during the events leading up to Thanos attacking the Asgardian ship and Katie was hoping that together they stood a better chance of convincing the God to help. Katie sat in the passenger seat of the truck belonging to one of the Asgardians who had come to greet them. She couldn’t help but smile as they rolled past the sign at the side of the road WELCOME TO NEW ASGARD, PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY. They stopped at the small port, and Katie hopped out of the truck, thanking the man, whilst Bruce and Rocket climbed out of the back.

“Kind of a step down from a golden palace for an Avenger highness and whatnot.” Rocket mused, looking around.

“Hey, have a little compassion, pal.” Bruce said “First they’ve lost Asgard, then half the people. They’re probably just happy to have a home.”

Katie spotted Valkyrie who smiled at her, and then her face rearranged into surprise as she saw Bruce.

“You shouldn’t have come!” She warned as they approached her.

“Ah, Valkyrie! Great to see you, Angry Girl.” Bruce smiled.

“I think I liked you better either of the other ways.” she almost chuckled, taking in his appearance.

“This is Rocket.” Katie gestured to the raccoon.

“How you doin’?” He greeted her.

Valkyrie nodded at him before she turned to Katie “He won’t see you.

“Still that bad, huh?” Katie folded her arms.

“We only see him once a month, when he comes for... “ she looked over to the pile of kegs on the side of the port “… supplies.

“It’s that bad.” Bruce mumbled.

“Yeah.”

“We have to try.” Katie bit her lip, looking round before she turned to Bruce and Rocket, “Come on.” She led them down the side of the harbour and they walked up the small, cobbled street towards the fishing hut Thor was living in. She paused, and tried the handle. It opened and Rocket stepped in first. Instantly Katie was hit with a smell that made her nose wrinkle. It was a combination of dirty clothes, stale beer and old take-outs.

“What the… Woo!” Rocket grimaced “Something died in here.”

“Hello? Thor?” Bruce called.

Thor’s voice rumbled through to them from another room. “Are you here about the cable?”

They made their way into the main room and Thor, who was shirtless, having definitely put on more than a couple of pounds since Katie had last seen him, was walking across the room gesturing to the TV.

“The Cinemax ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports are all kind of fuzzy.” he grabbed a beer from the ice bucket and Katie looked at Bruce who was frowning. She gave him a sad nod.

“Thor?” He asked, his voice disbelieving.

Thor turned and took a moment to look at the three of them, before his face cracked into a smile

“Boys!” He laughed out “Little Stark! Oh my God! It’s so good to see you!”

He crossed towards Rocket, trying to hug him, his knuckles rubbing the raccoons head “Come here, you little rascal!”

“No, I’m good. I’m good. That’s not necessary.” Rocket groaned, wriggling away.

“Hulk, Little Stark, you know my friends, Miek, Korg, right?”

Miek and Korg were sat on a couch, the Rock creature in a Hawaiian shirt, play station controller in his hand playing what looked to Katie like Fortnite- one of Emmy’s favourites.

“Hey guys!” Korg raised his hand in greeting.

“Hey!” Bruce smiled. “Long time no see.”

“Beers in the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously.” Korg said cheerfully as he turned back to his game, growing suddenly serious. “Thor, he’s back. The kid on the TV that called me a dickhead again.”

“Noobmaster.” Thor growled out as he spun round. Miek threw a piece of pizza towards the TV in disgust, giving a little click.

“Yeah, Noobmaster69. Called me a dickhead.”

Thor stomped over to Korg, took his headphones and spoke loudly into the mic.

“Noobmaster? Yeah, it’s Thor again. You know, the God of Thunder? Listen, buddy. If you don’t log off this game immediately, I am gonna fly over to your house, come down to that basement you’re hiding in, rip off your arms and shove them up your butt! Oh, that’s right. Yes, go cry to your father, you little weasel!”

Katie and Rocket exchanged a look as Thor returned Korg’s head set, before she glanced up at Banner who was watching, a look of disbelief on his face and Katie couldn’t help but echo his feelings. Seeing their friend, their once mighty Avenger partner in such a state made her beyond sad.

“So you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things.” Thor asked, using Stormbreaker to open a bottle of beer. Bruce walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Buddy, you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine! Why, don’t I look all right?” Thor frowned.

“You look like melted ice cream.” Rocket crossed his arms, but despite his joke Katie could tell he was concerned.

Thor simply laughed and looked at them all. “So, what’s up?

“We need your help” Katie said gently “There might be a chance we could fix everything.”

“What, like the cable?” Thor burped “Cause that’s been driving me bananas for weeks.”

“Like Thanos.” Bruce spoke and Katie saw Thor’s smile slowly disappear. He put a shaky hand on Bruce’s shoulder and pointed at him.

“Don’t you say that name.”

Behind Thor Korg stood up, taking off his headphones. “Um, yeah. We don’t actually say that name in here.”

“Please take your hand off me” Bruce’s tone was quiet as he brushed away Thor’s grip on his shoulder. “Now, I know that… guy might scare you…”

“Why would, why would I be scared of that guy?” Thor scoffed, turning away. “I’m the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy? Nope. Didn’t think so. Korg, why don’t you, tell everybody who chopped Thanos’ big head off.”

“Umm… Stormbreaker?” Korg offered.

“No, who was swinging Stormbreaker?” Thor shot back.

“Thor.” Katie started gently “I get it, we all get it. You’re in a rough spot right now-”

“I’ve been there myself.” Bruce picked up from her “You wanna know who helped me out of it?”

“I don’t know…Natasha?” Thor snorted and Katie rolled her eyes.

“It was you. You helped me”.

Thor walked back over to Bruce and pointed out of the window with the hand holding his beer. “Why don’t you ask the Asgardians down there, how much my help was worth?” he dropped onto the chair “The ones that are left, anyway.”

“We think we can bring them back.” Katie looked at him.

“Little Stark, please stop. Stop, okay?” He pleaded, opening a packet of M&Ms. “I know you think I’m down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I’m fine, okay? We’re fine, aren’t we?”

He looked at Korg and Miek eating pizza and playing once more on the Playstation.

“Nah, all good here, mate!” Korg nodded.

Katie looked back at Thor as he stared up at her. “So, whatever it is that you’re offering, we’re not into it, don’t care, couldn’t care less. Goodbye.”

“We need you Thunder God.” she said gently. ”Please.”

Thor shook his head and ignored her.

“There’s beer on the ship.” Rocket said, crossing his arms.

Thor paused, and without looking up he spoke again, this time his words softer “What kind?”

Tags

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metryingtostudyandbeproductive · 5 years

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So, as I said on my main I'll try the whole 100 days of productivity, in hopes of being more productive and spending less time on social media. -> instead of reading y/n fanfictions I'll try posting and boasting about the things I have to do. Which will also help my family which is kinda tired of my constant complains lol.

Nevertheless the next couple of months are very important for my collage applications and therefore filled with a ton of schoolwork. 😁 this is going to be so much fun I can already see lol.

Now my plan for today was:

- revise and make notes for organic chemistry (I managed to do unorganic yesterday)

Which brings me to my first fail (this is so sad) I really tried and did the basics but didn't get to the important part.

- I was supposed to study the first half of my psychology material for my test on friday

Which was ok I did about a third, however I did that very thoroughly so I'm satisfied

- do the missed homework for maths -will do a couple of examples, still dreading it.

- finish the theoretical part of my psychology essay which is 20% and important and due in a month (I really procrastinated that one)- I'm currently working on that one and will make myself finish it.

- workout for about half an hour

- read the hichhiker's guide for a competition on saturday. (I already read it once, its not bad I just don't feel like reading it again ugh)

Will update before bed or tomorrow idk

Will also try working on better to do lists - like more realistic to my capabilities and tendency to be distracted

#100 days of productivity #productivity #study motivation #studyblr #studyspo #whatever

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theperksofbeingasadboi · 6 years

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Tired, Bored and Entirely Unmotivated. Sundays.

Current song I’m listening to: ‘Frankly, Mr Shankly’ By The Smiths

Don’t worry today isn’t going to be an incredibly deep post diving into the realm of hypothetical and touching of spiritual ideas, I can only muster up that kind of cringe at least once a week, so today will be a return to the usual shitposting format you have become accustomed to from me. Lets get started.

I’m in the kind of tired state today where my whole body feels sluggish and unresponsive, in the sense it takes a lot of willpower to force myself to go do anything, not quite lazy, I feel laziness applies more for when you don’t want to do anything and you’re content sitting on your ass all day. I don’t want to do that, it’s ruins my mood when I’ve not been productive but today is just one of those days where my body is fighting what my mind wants.

When I’m in this sort of mood I find it very hard to do anything stimulating; sit down to play the guitar, ugh I can’t be arsed, turn the Xbox on, why did I even turn it on, watch Netflix, I literally don’t want to watch anything. It results n just a perpetual state of boredom and frustration, thank God I’ve not seen many people today, I’d probably end up snapping at them.

I was somewhat productive though, I managed to get a fair amount of revision for my multiple choice test for my biological psychology module tomorrow. I’m really not sure how I’m feeling about it, like I did well on the practice questions, but will I retain that information come the actual test tomorrow. Lets hope, my grades have been fairly good so far and I’d like to keep it that way.

Not really got a whole lot more to talk about in truth, I almost skipped doing today but we can’t have that. I’ll have more to write about tomorrow.

Until next time,

Cheers

#depression #anxiety #mental health #daily blog

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studychina · 6 years

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Day 14-

So today was another strange one for me.

Last week I was approached by a psychology student who was recruiting westerners to participate in a study looking into ethnicities. They were going to use MEG scans and MRI scans to determine brain reactions and today was the day of my scans.

I was really apprehensive, however the promise of a MRI structural image of my brain tempted me.

Once there I had to participate in a range of experiments, initially I had to judge which ethnicity people belonged either white or Asian. The images flashed on the screen for a tenth of a second so you had to be really quick. I tried my hardest but I know I got a few wrong. This is all whilst being plugged into a MEG machine where you weren’t able to move and had to limit your blinking. I then went on to do the MRI where I had to lay on my back for 8 minutes and relax (I managed this one with ease 😂). Then we had to answer a few behavioural questionnaires. The whole process took a couple of hours but it was actually really interesting. I studied an additional psychology class during my first year so I had some basic knowledge involving experimental methods and it was interesting being the participant as opposed to the researcher.

We were also given 150RMB for our time- which is always a bonus. I shall upload the structural image when they send it to me.

After a late lunch I headed back to my dorm where I had to revise for a Chinese test we had this evening.

It did not go well 😂

I missed a couple of the words she read out at the beginning, however it was just practise and doesn’t count towards our final grade- thankfully.

I can’t believe I’m already half way through my Chinese classes- the time is moving far too quickly here. There’s so much to see and experience, I still can’t believe how fortunate I am to be here.

Before class I experimented with a popular Chinese dish this evening for dinner...

As you can see it is huge, so a couple of friends and I shared it. It was yummy, however after a while it got little too hot for my liking as my lips began to burn. Nevertheless, the food here continues to be miles above the Chinese takeaways we have at home and is definitely one of the things I’m going to miss most.

Oooo I almost forgot. I also managed to use the washing machine today which- if I do say so myself- was an accomplishment.

Anyhow, heading out to enjoy some more Chinese nightlife tonight. So shall write again tomorrow.

Goodnight from Beijing 🇨🇳

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baekbunniee · 7 years

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3/5 + Chanyeol (☁️🔥) haha i can’t wait to see what you’ll do with this

DRABBLE! 3/5 X CHANYEOL☁️🔥 (smut warning)Woo second Drabble! Hope you like it hun! -M(Also a little context before we begin, this is based at uni and I’m from the UK and in the UK when you go to uni you share an apartment complex with like 8 other random people so that’s kinda the situation here okay thanks bye)

Your eyes struggled to stay open as you flicked through the text book that layed open on the kitchen counter. The whole apartment complex had fallen asleep by now, and you probably should have aswell. By the numerous cups of coffee you had endulged in, trying to keep yourself from passing out, you should probably be bouncing off the walls by now. But the countless sleepless nights you were having, it seemed as if nothing would work.Your eyes looked up to the clock that hung above your shared fridge and felt your motivation plumet. A long exasperated groan left your mouth and you rested your head on the table, twiddling your blunt pencil between your fingers. It was currently 2:54AM and your psychology exam started in less than nine hours. You never usually left everything to the last minute. If this were a different exam at a different time, you would have probably been speaking this case study of the amygdala part of the brain controlling impulsive emotions. But now, wasn’t like that. Exam week had crawled up behind you on all fours, bearing its teeth and chasing you right down an ally to fail.

Revision cards seemed to cloud your vision and it probably didn’t help that you were resting your head on - what now - seemed like the most comfiest text book ever, that your breathing became slower and everything started to fade away.

“Y/n?”

Your head shot up stright away. Panic over came you as soon as your eyes had opened: was it morning already? Had you missed your exam? You weren’t ready yet, it couldn’t be morning already!

Your head scanned the room, spinning left to right, to gather your surroundings. Your cups of coffee was still there, your text book was opened on the exact same page as you had left it.

“It’s like three in the morning, what are you doing up?” The groggy voice spoke again and instantly, a wave of relief washed over you; you still had nine hours left. You relaxed back into your seat and looked up to see the voice who had woken you up.

You were met with heavy eyes and a very tall figure who wore a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a black hoodie. You recognised the guy as Chanyeol as he stood rubbing his face roughly with his hands. Chanyeol was one of your roomates that you’ve lived with for around eight or so months now. If you were honest, you never saw much of him as he was barely at the flat and you two studied completely different things, but everytime the two of you were both at the apartment at those rare moments, there was always sexual tension. Maybe it was just because from the very moment you found out you would be living with this man, your mind couldn’t help but wonder, but it was still there, and considering his cheekiness around you, you couldn’t help but believe it was two-sided.

Breaking your thought process, Chanyeol came to join you at the counter next to you and looked at your books. Honestly, this was probably the most awake you’d felt in a week. His strong manly scent washed over you, and you coudn’t help but stare at the forming stubble around his jaw.

“Psychology. I have a psychology exam tomorrow, so I’m revising.” You explained to him slowly and watched as a small smirk started to form on his lips.

“Didn’t look like you were revising to me.” Chanyeol looked at you and raised an eyebrow. You couldn’t deny how hot he looked right now and quickly looked away from him and back to your text book.

“Well I have been, just nothing seems to be working.” You gathered all of your revision cards and put them in a pile, but Chanyeol grabbed them as soon as you had placed them back down onto the counter, turning towards you and leaning an elbow on the surface.

“I’ll test you.” His voice was still croaky from his previous sleeping state, even though you probably didn’t sound much different. You were too tired to object or question him and watched as he flicked through the cards.

“Is the amygdala involved in the enhancement of all types of memory, or just emotional memory?… wait, what the fuck is an amygdala?” You couldn’t help but let out a small, tired laugh at how he mispronounced the part of the brain.

“It’s a part of the brain that controls emotions like fear and anger.” You explain to him and his frown just gets bigger. “It just effects emotional memory.” You say to move on with the cards. You watch as he flips the piece of paper over and smiles.

“You were right.” His hand comes up to ruffle your hair and you can already feel your cheeks heat up. At this rate, you’re unsure if this is going to help you, or make everything worse.

“Why are you helping me?” You ask him before he continues, because honestly you thought he would just nod, grab a glass of water then go back to his room.

“Because you were literally asleep in a pile of your own regret about leaving revision to the last minute?” He laughs and shakes his head. You could feel one of his large hands rest on your bare lower thigh, just above your knee. You swallowed, suddenly feeling a little exposed in your pajama shorts, but before you could say anything, he continued.

“Okay next one…” Chanyeol clears his throat with a strong cough, “How stable is activation in the amygdala and prefrontal cortext in adolesence?”

You mind instantly went blank. You were raking your brain, trying to picture what was on the back of that card. Your teeth began to grind and you began to look everywhere and anywhere. You mind was trying so hard to focus, until you could feel little circles begin to draw themselves on your leg.

Your heart began thudding and you desperately wanted to both get the answer right, and never let this end.

“The amygdala and prefrontal cortex both fluctuate their activation stability depending on the age and environment of the subject during the adolescence.” You were squeezing you eyes a shut as they would go, and let out a long breath right after you gave the answer. You opened your eyes to see Chanyeol looking at the back of the card, his smirk returning.

“See, you’re smarter than you think.” He moves his chair closer to you, causing his hand to slide further up your leg. You tuck a piece of hair behind your ear that had fell in front of your face when your eyes were closed and tried to just focus on revising. Now really wasn’t the time to be thinking about fucking your really hot roomate on the counter eight and a half hours before your exam.

“How about this one, name all six ways you can avoid triggering the amygdala.”

You looked up at him and your heart dropped. This was the goddamn question you could never answer, you could only ever get up to at most three, let alone six.

“Um…” You bit the inside of your cheek as you thought. “Attend meditation classes?” Chanyeol nodded and hummed, his hand beginning to stroke your leg back and fourth. You took a breath.

“You could… create lists for everything to increase the feeling of control and stability!”

He nodded again and you could see the corners of his mouth tug into a grin as he placed the cards down on the counter, and placed both of his legs on your thighs, looking right at you. “Good girl.”

Maybe it was just the coffee finally kicking in, or maybe it was the fact that he just called you a ‘good girl’, but you started to feel extremely awake right now.

“Keep going y/n, you still have four left.”

Your eyes scanned his face and you became desperate to impress him.

“Um, you could improve your diet by increasing your iron intake which would give you more rational thoughts during the day!”

“You’re really getting the hang of this now, aren’t you baby?” His hands pulled you closer to him by your thighs, slightly spreading them and resting them on his own. His hands traced closer and closer to your core until you could feel his thumb rub over your clit through the thin material of you shorts, making you gasp and involentarily buck your hips slightly, causing him to chuckle lowly. “Don’t get too distracted now, y/n, the more answers you get right, the more prizes you’ll get.”

You closed you eyes and bit your lip behind your hair, trying to hide your pleasure. His thumb continued to tease you as his other hand rubbed your leg comfortingly.

“Y-you could create rou-routines to decrease anxiety.” You instinctively grasped a hold of his shoulder as he sliped his hand underneath your shorts and felt his fingers against your bare core. He naturally kissed the side of your jaw when you leaned your head to the side.

“You’re doing great baby, only two more now.” He continued to leave wet and sloppy kisses all over your neck as he teased your entrance and clit with his long fingers.

You couldn’t focus and you have no idea why he thought you would be able to. But maybe it was the motication to finally feel his fingers stretch you and get you to your high that you were trying your oh-so hardest to recall all the information you read in the past six hours.

“Isn’t getting at least t-twelve h-hours sleep one of th-them?” You hands flew to his hair as you felt two of his fingers stretch you and curl upwards against your walls. “Fuck Chanyeol.” Chanyeol bit your earlobe and chuckled as he began to move his fingers.

“I must admit, hearing you same my name like that really turns me on princess, but I need to hear that one last answer come out of those pretty lips of yours first.” Chanyeol didn’t waste time to go back to your neck and move his fingers at a faster pace, making you slowly start to grind them against his hand.

“Um…” Your mind had gone totally blank. It wasn’t helping that Chanyeol had now used the other hand to abuse your clit as his fingers worked their magic. “Chany-yeol I really d-don’t know.” You rested your forehead on his shoulder as the force of his hand, now increasing it’s spead, made you move back and fourth against his legs.

“That’s not good enough y/n. Do you want to cum?” His agonisingly sexy voice was still croaky, which only made things harder for you.

“Yes! Yes Chanyeol please!” You were fully aware of how pathetic you sounded, but you were exhausted, sexually frustrated and blatantly didn’t know the answer.

“Then you better give me an answer.” You felt Chanyeol add another finger, stretching your walls around his fingers more, making you moans against his shoulder.

“Okay, okay! You c-coul… you c-could…” Your breath was becoming uncontrollable, and so was the rythm of his fingers. “ You could take an MRI scan to get a 3D perspective of the nerves in the amygdala to see if there has been any disruptions in the synapses.” You let out quite possibly the biggest breath of your life as Chanyeol hooked your legs and bent them at the knees so he could have a better angle.

“C’mon baby, you can let go now.” His teeth nibbled your ear and his stubble slightly scraped at your neck giving you the most euphoric feeling, and within a minute your whole body was shaking and you were clenching around his fingers as they roughly pounded into you, helping you ride out your high.

You were lefting, panting and more exhausted than you were before, if that were even possible. Chanyeol was back to stroking your legs and resting his head on his hand which was leaning on the counter.

“You think you’ll remember all that now?” Chanyeol smirked as he tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. You nodded lazily and looke up at him.

“Thanks for the help…” You thanked him because it was polite but it didn’t sound any less weird than you’d hoped.

Chanyeol stood up and ran a hand through his hair, smirking triumphantly. “Just wait until you pass that test.”

(This wasn’t quite as fluffy as I wanted it to be but it was sure smutty enough ;) it is just a drabble which is why I didn’t go full out fucking like rabbits smut but i hope you liked it anyway! Thanks for requesting, i had loads of fun writing this! - M)

#exo headcanons #exo drabble #exo smut #exo imagine #exo #exok #exom #chanyeol #chanyeol smut #chanyeol drabble #baekhyun #kpop #sehun #kai #baekhyun drabble #baekhyun headcanon

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procrastinatewithjess · 7 years

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13-03-18 Day 13/100 Today was hectic to say the least. I only had two lessons today (biology and chemistry) and then I was volunteering at a school all afternoon. I’m so glad that I understand all of the work that I’m doing at the moment so I can spend more time on revising work from the start of the year. We have just been given our internal exam timetables for after Easter so I am not going to have much time to relax over the holiday. I have psychology and biology tests tomorrow though so I’m going to do some more revision and then get some well earned sleep.

#100dop #a levels #100 days of productivity #alevelwork #work #homework #study notes #notes #study #studyblr #yellow #psychology #biology #chemistry #books #revision #exams #test

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mycosmicvoid · 4 years

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The Paranormal and Skepticism - as Discussed in Steve Volk’s “Fringeology”

I have sat and thought, since uploading my introduction post, about where I would even start. There's so much to touch on that I almost didn't want to approach it at all, but it only makes sense to start with a more general post. I want to start with the topic of “the paranormal” and the acceptance of such phenomena (in the sphere of this book, at least, considering the vastness of the topic). “Fringeology” was written and published in 2011 by Steve Volk, a writer with enough humility to subtitle his book, “How I tried to explain away the unexplainable and couldn’t.” He makes a good argument for the reasons why people can’t accept an opposing view to their own, and to put it plainly: why it’s really not so crazy to accept that paranormal phenomena exists, scientifically or otherwise (along with tons of other concepts to expand on separately). To begin, he offers a few quick examples of the connections between the paranormal, science and history- alchemy has led to modern chemistry, as Francis Aston used predictions from occultists to discover the isotope. Hans Berger invented the EEG originally wanting a mechanism for measuring psychic events. Plato told the story of Er, a soldier who died in battle, experienced the afterlife, and was revived days later, and President Lincoln dreamt/predicted his own death. Although these are just a few examples, they serve the argument that paranormal phenomena is present in situations, lives and even myths seemingly important enough for us to want to expand on. “…Taking the paranormal seriously means we gain a greater understanding of the world regardless of the outcome.”[1] An example of this would be the NDE: the Near Death Experience. It is a phenomenon that has been heavily associated with the paranormal, but is now a topic studied in our modern medical and psychological science. On the other end of the spectrum are committees and individuals dedicated solely to disproving paranormal and psychic phenomena. Volk mentions this one above all: CSICOP (The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal), founded by humanist philosopher Paul Kurtz in 1976, a committee Volk pegs as the foundation for the modern skeptical movement. However, they voted to discontinue further scientific investigations after the Mars Effect study (conducted by Michel and Francoise Gauquelin, proving that extremely talented athletes and sports champions were found to have Mars “around the Ascendant and Midheaven in their birth chart more frequently than chance would allow.”[2]). In fact, according to Volk, CSICOP changed their name in 2006 to CSI (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), so they no longer had to have the scientific method in question, which I find interesting and ironic for a committee with the mantra, “We can’t let the mystics rejoice.” Also mentioned is a good point made by Dr. David Jones, a man who believes that hard, rational thought traces the contours of the problem, not its answer. When you think about it, the main argument by skeptics (of anything, really) is the use of “logic.” As explained by Jones, “Logic is based on society’s current storehouse of accepted knowledge,”[1] which changes constantly. even though it’s an argument used all the time, the most obvious example of this is that “logically,” at one point, the whole world also agreed that the earth was flat. Specifics aside, I like the simple summary it ultimately comes to with Volk, which is basically that if “paranormal” refers to what is unexplained, then reality itself is paranormal. “The mystery of the world exists apart from our judgment of it.”[1] If you want to hang on to the concept of “logic,” even Volk elaborates on the fact that our version of logic does not equate to what is true, by explaining that our brain isn’t built to give us a true and accurate perception of reality. There is too much stimuli to assess, so the brain creates a model of the world that allows us to survive, comfortably so. It brings the “important” things to the forefront and suppresses anything else (like the paranormal, perhaps?), even though the image that this creates is wrong.

In fact, skeptics are so dedicated to disproving, that a popular tool used are psychological evaluations (the go-to explanation: if you believe, something is “wrong with you”). From what I’ve seen, they popularly come in the format of a questionnaire, one of the most famous being the Fantasy Prone Personality (FPP) test, proposed by Sheryl Wilson and Theodore Barber in 1981, “the debunker’s dream.” Fantasy Prone people are more likely to believe in something mainstream science rejects, and answering yes to 6 or more questions automatically makes you Fantasy Prone. With this logic, having one paranormal experience in your whole life can result in a 6+ “yes” response. Despite that being a main problem, Volk also mentions that your belief in your experiences aren’t always concrete- sometimes we have more vivid belief in certain things depending on what is happening in our lives at the very moment. Another famous psych-based test would be the Magical Ideation Scale, meant for “irrational thinking.” Apparently, people with confirming answers to a certain amount of the provided statements are more likely to develop a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, and people that are considered to have an “FPP” are more likely to have experienced childhood trauma. Although this is not unlikely, skeptics use these tools to prove that anyone with a sort of paranormal belief have them simply due to mental illness and trauma. From what I remember, Volk does not mention the condescending nature of these tests, but it’s something I noticed almost immediately. Imagine having to take one of these questionnaires given to you by your psychologist because you’ve discussed experiencing something paranormal, and the first thing you hear is that the test is to measure irrationality. This is just one of the many, many examples of reasons why experiencers have not and will not come forward. There is a sort of obsession with needing to be what we consider “logical” and “rational,” however, “Prosaic explanations aren’t always available - that is, unless we allow our commitment to the rational to make us downright irrational.”[1]

In an interview with Steve Volk given by Greg Newkirk (paranormal investigator and co-creator of the docu-series “Hellier”) on a temporarily posted live stream, Greg proposes that there should be a sort of Magical Ideation Scale for nonbelievers. Volk replies with nothing other than, “Absolutely.”[3] As i look back in my notes regarding his book, I realized that this idea was actually mentioned- Volk asks the question of why there aren’t comparative studies on “sane belief” and why people hold those opinions, and includes the viewpoint of skeptic Chris French, who believes there probably is a scale for nonbelievers, but being at the hard end of the skeptic spectrum is due to just being born not open to believing. According to Volk, French is a committed skeptic but believes we should continue to learn and revise our beliefs as we do so. Another interesting comment Newkirk has made in the past regarding the book was about the aforementioned perception of logic. Volk credits Edward de Bono as an “expert of creative thought” who argues that the West’s tradition of settling disagreements by argument is “over-reliance on logic”[1], while logic is more of a partner to free, associative thinking. Simplified by Newkirk, “The ‘wacky stuff’ is just a way of looking at the world differently,”[4] and in Volk’s eyes, “…What is today seen as wacky often leads to tomorrow’s progress.”[1] Volk isn’t afraid of being ignored or discredited due to the “wacky stuff”- in the Newkirk/Volk interview, Greg asks how skeptics have responded to “Fringeology.” Steve replies quick-wittedly, “They didn’t read it and hate it.”[3]

I wanted to explore the viewpoint of Volk and some of his examples regarding the paranormal generally, as I find it may be easier to begin with a sort of overview when discussing certain works and writers in this community- Nearly all of them have specific differentiating details regarding their own theories. I think it’s important that writers such as Volk explore the world of skepticism, as it is an obscure way of thinking in itself.

“The truth is, we don’t have to treat the paranormal the way we do. We don’t need to bathe in it with the believers, or strenuously deny its existence, like the skeptics. And we don’t need to turn the whole thing into a fight.”[1]

[1] Steve Volk, “Fringeology”

[2] The Astrology Podcast Episode 173 Outline

[3] Greg Newkirk live stream interview with Steve Volk for Patreon members (no longer available), 7/19/20

[4] Greg Newkirk live stream book club discussion of “Fringeology” chapters 1-4

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bookloverlolly · 7 years

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The Last Few Weeks

It has been a while, hasn't it? I've been really busy in these last two weeks. Content wise, we finished all of the structure and bonding in Chemistry, and we're now three lessons away from completing intro to organic chemistry. I was slightly familiar with the IUPAC system so it wasn't as hard to grasp. Physics is getting better- I figured out a method for a question to do with the kinetic energy of a wind turbine very quickly. We just started the materials section of mechanics so fingers crossed I did well on the assessment (more on this soon). Maths has been mostly made up of integration, which I liked because... well, algebra. We just started trigonometry this week, which is the last topic we need to cover by Christmas and we're going to go through the previous topics as well (which is why we're only doing trig). Finally, Psychology has been... a lot. We've covered all of the content, studies and most of the methods in cognitive psychology- now we're currently covering the key question about dementia. Social psychology is basically struggling to cram everything in before mocks as the supply was slow to teach- he would let one lesson be done over two and he didn't show up to one of them. This is worrying me a lot, but our teacher is back and she marked an eight mark question for me (she marks for Edexcel), but I only got three due to bad explanations of points (I'll post a picture of a before and after someday). Speaking of mocks- they're coming up soon. Mock week is running from the 14th of December until the 20th of December. The whole college goes off timetable (asides from extended BTECs and some other stuff), meaning we don't have to come in if we don't have an exam. My exam table is awful, but not for the reason you may think. I have my first exam, Chemistry, on the 14th but have Physics, Psychology and Maths on the 15th. I'd rather have exams throughout the week than this. I might come in on some of the other days though, just to do any outstanding revision notes or to read ahead. As for assessments this half term, I've had it easy. I had my Chemistry bonding and structure assessment last week and my momentum/F=ma/energy assessment yesterday. The bonding and structure assessment didn't go very well as I got a C- (29/41). I'll definitely be resitting it so I can get my A (all my others have been As, asides from the first assessment we did, which I resat and got an A in), and it'll be good practice before the mock. I haven't had a mark back from the Physics assessment, but she's almost finished them, meaning we might get them tomorrow or on Friday. My maths homework marks haven't been great. I got a C on my binomial homework and a D on my differentiation homework due to leaving them until last minute. I have my organic chemistry assessment next Friday, probably- this is coming from another student. I found out my grades for last half term's standardised assessments/grade averages (depends on the subject as Maths and Psychology were based on the one test we did for each, while Chemistry and Physics were based on an average of all of the tests). I got BBDB, with the D grade being in Physics. Chemistry being a B was surprising as I thought UAAA would have averaged to a C. Maths and Psychology were fine- I was one mark off an A in the latter because of the awful teaching, and therefore a lack of revision, for social psychology. My C in the structure and bonding assessment would be game over for an A average, but all grades on the system are based on the mocks for this half term. I've been talking to more people in my classes but haven't really talked to anyone extensively. It's a shame because there are some people I want to message and sit with and get to know more, but I'm too nervous. Oh well, at least there's been progress. This week has been good emotionally as I haven't really had an extreme low this week, unlike the last two. Oh, I also went to a psychology conference in Manchester two weeks ago. We got there an hour late but it was so interesting. The journey back was awful as my back hurt and I had no data left. I've been trying out some of the Oxford TSA questions as I wanted to see how I'd do... I went through a lot of them quickly, but only tried half of a specimen paper as I don't want to waste them all. This has given me a little bit of confidence. This will be helped by the tutoring experience I might pick up- hopefully I'll get to tutor individuals, but small groups are okay. I mainly hope to be looking at GCSE rather than primary, but I mostly hope I get to tutor in science. As for revision, I haven't done many revision notes, which I'm really going to fix now. Tomorrow will be the serious start of them as I need to finish homework tonight. If I can finish most of my notes before Christmas while answering questions to revise, I can spend the holidays making flashcards (which is much better than typing notes).

(Note: this was written on Thursday 30th of November, so don’t get confused by the other thing posted today)

#studyblr #a levels #maths #physics #chemistry #psychology #stress #experience

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pruuneconsultingltd · 5 years

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Innovation Inspiration

by Megan Schrader

Once upon a time, there existed a world not unlike our own. This world was filled with bright, unique individuals, each going about their business with imagination and drive. These individuals were very much like you and me, in all but a few small yet quite significant regards—for all of their ideas, their ingenuity, their passion, these creatures had never heard of a smart phone. They had never posted a picture on Instagram, or poked a friend on Facebook, or so much as sent an email. If they wished to talk to someone far away, they made a phone call. On a landline.

It was a dark time.

In reality, it has not been too long since the age of floppy discs or dial up, but it is obvious that much has changed since. For businesses, these developments have been even more marked. Companies that once prospered, such as Kodak and Blockbuster, ultimately failed in the midst of the recent digital revolution. Even those seemingly less oriented around technology suffered, with companies like Borders, Toys R Us and Clinton Cards all declaring bankruptcy in (relatively) recent years. The fall of so many big names throughout this period has sent a clear message to those left standing: keep up, or get out.

Adaptation is not always easy though. Like an author with writer’s block, an entrepreneur can quickly find their inspiration running dry. The market demands that companies innovate and grow, lest they be outperformed by their competitors. But when you have put years into your business, imagining and developing and testing products until you discovered one that you were proud of, it can sound unfeasible to innovate anymore. Surely there becomes a point at which a product can no longer be built upon.

Maybe you cannot tell how the market will evolve next. Maybe you cannot think of new features to integrate. Or maybe you do have new ideas in mind, but are finding it tough to unify them into a cohesive, practical, affordable product. Unfortunately, doing nothing is rarely an option when the market is in such flux, and to hesitate can mean to fall irreparably behind your competitors.

I can’t know where your business will find the inspiration to innovate. However, I can offer the advice that has worked for countless other businesses.

Procurement

If the word “procurement” is ringing a bell to you, it might be because I have blogged on this topic before. For those unfamiliar with that post, allow me to briefly recap.

Procurement is, in my own previous words, “a long-term plan that a business uses to attain the resources it requires in a sustainable and affordable way.” A company optimizes its agreements with suppliers, mitigating unnecessary costs and decreasing the risk for those involved. Often, a contract is signed to protect and enforce the terms of the agreement for an extended period, securing the company’s supply chain moving forward. Procurement is a vital process for any business to consider. But what does it have to do with innovation?

A lot, actually. Because procurement occurs at the beginning of the retail process, it is an ideal time to get creative. Once suppliers are contracted and advertising has begun, it can be expensive to revise a product and damaging to a business’s reputation. By making innovation a key goal of the procurement process, you can make the entire design phase more efficient. The actual process of integrating innovation into procurement can be a lot to manage, so if you are considering doing so, I would recommend visiting a consultant or other expert experienced in supply chain management.

As you might expect, the first step in creating an innovative new product is to have an idea. This idea in itself may not be creative, as it will primarily serve as the foundation for what’s to come, so do not stress if your idea does not seem special just yet. Once you have an idea for a product and an estimate for a budget, instead of immediately seeking suppliers, try to identify future consumers. Talk to those consumers, encourage them to share their thoughts on similar products, and figure out where they have been disappointed in the past. Through use, consumers will often discover mistakes or oversights that companies may never have thought to consider. People can struggle to travel to unfamiliar locations—why not integrate a map into the phone they already have on hand? Such a feature may not have been obvious to phone companies fifteen years ago, but the success of apps like Google Maps cannot be denied.

After determining the needs of your expected client base, these features can be presented to potential suppliers. Competition can be a driving force of innovation; if several suppliers are interested in doing business with you, each is motivated to figure out a way to provide cheaper, more efficient service. This can lead to unorthodox, outside-the-box ideas presenting themselves, including ones that might capture your interest. With this new information, reconsider your budget. Determine if you have accomplished all you hoped to.

At this point, you could set up a contract with the ideal supplier and move on in the procurement process. However, it can be worth repeating these steps a few times before finalizing your product. You never know what new ideas consumers or suppliers may offer. It pays to utilize all of the minds around you to ensure that your product is the best that it can be.

This can seem a daunting process to go through more than once. There is a certain appeal to sticking with what you are comfortable, not seeking the opinions or critiques of those around you. But innovative procurement can keep your business competitive, and can help you to reach new heights. Practice innovation in procurement not just once or twice, but several times per product, and for every product that you design.

The world continues to change all around us. Things will be built tomorrow that we cannot even fathom today. And as appealing as it is to stay within your comfort zone, the fact is that the market will not stand still. So don’t resist the changes around you. Embrace the fluctuations that define this era, and use them to find success.

Sources

Aaslaid, K. (2018). “50 Examples of Corporations that Failed to Innovate.” Valuer at https://valuer.ai/blog/50-examples-of-corporations-that-failed-to-innovate-and-missed-their-chance/.

Cassidy, F. (2018). “What is business innovation?” Raconteur at https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/business-innovation-guide.

Lindgardt, Z., Reeves, M., Stalk, G., and Deimler, M. S. (2009). “Business Model Innovation: When the Game Gets Tough, Change the Game.” The Boston Consulting Group at https://www.bcg.com/documents/file36456.pdf.

Pruune Consulting Ltd. At https://pruune.com/

Reh, F. J. (2019). “Easy Ways to Innovate in Business.” The Balance Careers at https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-innovate-in-business-2275738.

“Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR).” Enterprise Ireland at https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/About-Us/Services/Procurement/SBIR-Ireland-/.

Startupr Hong Kong Limited (2018). “4 Important Benefits of Innovation in Business.” The Startup at https://medium.com/swlh/4-important-benefits-of-innovation-in-business-64ed0d78d150.

“Use innovation to grow your business.” Info Entrepreneurs at

https://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/use-innovation-to-grow-your-business/

About the Author

Megan Schrader is a writer and content creator for Pruune. She graduated with honours from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, receiving her BSc in Psychology in 2018. Megan has since emigrated to Ireland and settled in Dublin, where she enjoys discovering the local culture. She is passionate about writing, art, coffee and all things psychology.

#Pruune #Consultation #Consultant #Procurement #Blog #Innovation #Creativity #Entrepreneur #SME #StartUp #Business #Dublin #DublinIreland

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ryanssecurityengineering · 5 years

Text

Week 7 Notes and Reflection

REFLECTION

Unfortunately I ran out of battery and lost the lectures notes for the second lecture. I had to reconstruct them using the class notes, Richard’s “slides” and what I remember. I’ll especially have to research more about Public Key Infrastructure later, it seems interesting!

Interesting lecture, I like how we found a mistake on the exam! I also liked the way Richard described Man in the middle attacks in Diffie-Hellman. There were lots of “homework” activities so I should do those!

I thought it was pretty insane you can write to memory using %n in printf! I wonder what the designers of printf were thinking?! They were like “o ye lets scan in some stuff using our printing function!!”

The extended lectures were cool - I found it weird that pressing that Command + S key on a Mac gives you root. There are so many interesting practical things with security... bug bounties, CTFs that you don’t really see in other areas of computing such as AI.

NOTES

Mid Term Exam

Question 5 Solution - Can’t brute force it by hand. The answer is F - type I /Type II error tradeoff.

Question 10 - The answer is D - easy to factorise a 64 bit number. Even 512 bit modulus is crackable. However even RSA is wrong for some reason.... All wrong!!

Proof of liveness - Like a replay attack, challenge response. Proof that there is someone there.

Richard expects you to go to all the lectures. Should have known Sun Tzu!

Diffie-Hellman - How do you set that shared secret up?

5^3^7 is the same as 5^7^3. Power raising is associative.

R -> 78125 -> S S-> 125 -> R

We don’t know R or S private key. Only the number they raised (5). Very difficult to solve the discrete log problem, to go backward to the private key.

When both sides receive their key, they both raise the value by their private key. Both becomes the same.

Forward Secrecy - protects the future messages.

Syria Castle - Defence in depth. The castle fell when the sieiging people forged a letter telling the castle people to surrender. Didn’t fall due to the defence of the castle.

CYBER LITERACY - VULNERABILITIES

A vulnerability is a weakness, and an exploit something that takes advantage of that.

Bug - software mistake. Sometimes bugs become vulnerability.

Types

Memory corruption - somehow the bad guy can change something in memory to allow the program to be under the control of the bad guy.

Buffer overflow

Stack and heap - FIFO temporary info about the functions are on the stack. Heap for allocated memory - dynamic memory allocation.

How functions are called in C - when control switches to another function, the function is frozen. Temporary info such as registers stored on stack. COMP1521 stuff.

Integer overflow - If you keep adding, it will go negative. This can cause it to maybe pass some tests.

Format String - Like Bird flu - Everyone has written buffer overflow bad code in the old days! Then people started patching it. Apparently they are coming back. C has crazy way of printing stuff using printf(). In the old days when you wanted to print hello world had to use printf(”%s\n”, “Hello World”). However no ever did that. Everyone just writes printf(”Hello World\n”). However someone might write name <- get user name. Then you want to print the name you write printf(name). E.g. my name is “%s Richard Buckland”. It will try and look lower down in the stack and print that out as the argument. %s will print out the contents of the stack until a null character. You can use %x to print out the next byte and print out hexadecimal versions of the stack. Printf(”%x %x %x %x”). Shows entire contents of stack. Could have passwords, return addresses. %n WRITES TO MEMORY. You can do arbitrary writes to memory.

Swiss Cheese - holes might line up! Holes overlapping and poke finger through. These sort of bugs are like that! Get lucky.

Stack Canary? Research that.

Shell Code - if you attacking a system, how nice it would be to get a private shell to come up and do whatever you want? Write some machine code that calls OS functions that makes shell pop up. This code is shell code. Put shell code into a buffer and run it.

Nop sleds - You can use buffer overflows to jump back to your buffer to run programs. However sometimes don’t know where in memory where the code is placed. Nice to have a bit of wiggle room. Just put lots of NOP operations - it will be like a slide into your code. Looking for NOP sleds - malware scanners. However whole lots of way to write NOP sleds without NOP.

If you find vulnerabilities, into will go into the National Vulnerability Database and CVN (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) and CNA (CVE Naming Authority).

Responsible disclosure - If you find a vulnerability, tell the vendor then CERT(eg CERT Australia). or you can sell it to the bad guys!

OWASP Top 10 list should know for top 10 vulnerabilities. Essentially the same every year!

BUG PUZZLES - Check slides

Example 1 - Integer overflow for the length. Get_user_length is UNSIGNED, but length is signed. Lots of implicit conversions between sign and unsigned. Then read will read the overflowed length value since read() takes in an unsigned length value, which might be bigger than 1024.

Example 2- Optimistic indenting

ASSETS

Security is to protect your assets. Sometimes we protect the wrong assets. Cold war - I wonder if the world will be here tomorrow? The most important asset is to protect mankind.

Door bell on the car - If you placed that in the car it went ding dong in his house. $5 car alarm first step into brilliance. What are you going to do when the ding dong happens? Might run down there and get killed!! The real asset is the window of the car, not the money! Leave the window open! Got wallet stolen, but got AIDS. Easy to protect the wrong thing.

At the uni’s security review was all machines. Uni assets are students, reputation, user data, staff. The trick is, what you should do is the assets - what are you trying to protect? Ask people - junior, senior people. Review the list of assets every year/month. Real weakness is something you don’t see - blind spot. Try and find the things you haven’t seen.

Strategies for Identifying the Assets

Regularly surveying the values of people of the involved in what you are protecting. Multiple pairs of eyes is a good asset.

Develop a sensible plan - well designed to tease this information out of them. Humans are generally poor at regurgitating everything they know, however they are generally very good critics.

Periodically revise current list of assets. Don't set and forget. Values and assets of an organisation can drift.

Examples

Team America

Richard's wallet vs Richard with AIDS

Car doorbell

Leave windows open?

Share registry - no more paper trails, everything is recorded electronically. Land title database was privatised. What are the risks?

Coke formula

Parliament - a collection of people that hold particular importance together.

Valuing the Assets - Defining what is important

Categorising types of assets

Tangible Assets: Those that are easily given a value

A gold chain valued at some relatively static amount

The jewellery in a jewellery store.

Intangible Assets: These cannot be easily and objectively be valued

Company secrets

Availability of services

Employee Morale & Security

Customer information

* Monetary + psychological/emotional costs

* Difficult <> Don't do

Examples:

Company secret - what is at stake?

QOS Guarantees

Strategies for assigning values to assets

Survey what many people think

no single person or group should be solely evaluating the assets&semi;

Examples of the information that should be gathered are as follows:

"How much money would you lose where this data center to go down for 24 hours?".

"How much will you lose if your company is disconnected to the internet for 3 hours?".

Examples

In assessing the value of a park

Picasso

Diffie-Hellman - Only provides confidentiality and integrity? Does not provide authentication.

Web of Trust (PgP) - Research this

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

SSL/TLS

Read Bruce Schneier's paper https://www.schneier.com/academic/paperfiles/paper-pki.pdf

passports (links photo with name, certified by office)

x509 certificates (links public key with domain (and maybe some other info))

padlock in your browser

look at some certs

CAs, root certificates, RAs, pay money to browser manufacturer??!! (check out your web browser)

conflicts of interest

most google search pages on SSL written by vendors

it was the blockchain of the 2000s

self signed, domain verification, organisational verification, extended verification. (ha!)

what if anything are the risks of self-signed?

safety vs identity

the green bar

session keys - the TLS handshake (4 keys)

why use session keys rather than using RSA for all?

wildcards

3 main certificate authorities: Symantec, Comodo, GoDaddy

homework : find examples of (serious) fraudulant certificates being issued

Certificates don’t protect against gooooogle.com

TLS handshake example

BUG BOUNTIES (From notes, I lost mine)

Crowd-Sourced Bug Bounty Websites

Public: Hackerone, bugcrowd

Private: Synack

Often have criteria of whats in/out of scope, as well as what kind of bugs they won’t accept. For example websites that they don’t want you touch

Tips

Learn web apps

Usea a wide scope → bigger net = more bugs

Look for software updates, or assets that have recently changed

Look for publicly disclosed reports → Can see prior bugs that have been found/exposed. If a bug has occurred once, theres a chance it will occur again

Pentesting (From notes, I lost mine)

Fuzzing

Automate process - a program that continually adds input

Some fuzzers are aware of input structure, and some even are away of program structure

Fuzzers aren't precise, but can test a large amount of inputs

Fuzzing software - afl (the way to go apparently)

Mutation strategies - bit flips, byte flips, arithmetic, havoc (combination

Use fuzzing to test your own software

Homework: Do the fuzzing tutorial

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zipgrowth · 6 years

Text

Using Neuroscience to Launch a Research-Informed School Schedule

It is 8 p.m. and Sam is sitting down for the first time in hours after a long day at school, which was followed by play practice; she is Liesel in the upcoming performance of “The Sound of Music.” After leaving school at 5 p.m., she had a two-hour soccer practice, a brief dinner with her family and a shower.

Finally settling in at her desk, she checks Schoology, her school’s learning management system, to see what homework she has for the six classes she will attend tomorrow. Because Sam has so many classes each day, she has a heavy homework load. Despite her knowledge of existing research about the cost transaction when switching between her academic assignments and an incoming text or Instagram message, she cannot resist social media breaks, which provide dopamine boosts. After all, she is a high school freshman.

Until recently, this late-night homework stress was a common experience for many of the high school students at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Md. Since 2011, St. Andrew's has been home to the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL), a research center that trains public, charter and private school teachers in mind, brain and education science. The CTTL ensures that 100 percent of the faculty and administration serving students in preK-12th grade at St. Andrew’s are trained in educational neuroscience.

Image Credit: Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning

Ironically, even with this innovative research center, our school was operating on an outdated daily schedule. Each class met four times per week for three 40-minute periods and one 80-minute period. A typical student schedule included six classes per day, all of which assigned daily homework. We knew we could make some changes to the schedule that would better support students.

In fall 2018, after 18 months of planning, we rolled out a new schedule, which was designed with a few goals in mind:

Lengthening all class periods to promote creative teaching and deeper learning

Decreasing the number of class periods per day, therefore reducing homework, cognitive overload and cognitive transitions, to promote focus and moderate the rushed tempo of school life.

Increasing time for students to meet with teachers and their peers during the school day for academic enrichment and healthy socialization.

Minimizing conflicts between class time and other school activities, including assemblies, field trips and athletics.

Elevating time for research-informed professional development and student passion and curiosity pursuit.

Bringing this to launch was not easy. In fact, a decade earlier, our school’s first effort to develop a new daily schedule failed. At the time, a dedicated team of teachers and administrators thought they had come up with the next frontier of school scheduling. The goal back then was to improve the school’s use of time for curricular and co-curricular programming, including arts and athletics. Unfortunately, when the time came to implement this new daily schedule, we couldn’t commit. It never launched.

What was different this time around? Our design was rooted in research.

Over the past seven years, as our implementation of educational neuroscience scaled, many of our teaching, learning and measurement practices changed. Teachers started to open and close their class periods with strategies that leveraged what we had learned about how providing students with novel experiences could boost engagement and memory retention. We explored ways to enhance the quality of homework, which included giving teachers the autonomy to not assign it. As we better understood the link between memory and cognition, and the inner workings of the brain’s architecture, we implemented new ways to care for the social-emotional development of our students. And sleep was acknowledged as vital to the health and well-being of our students—it was even starting to be considered a pedagogical strategy.

Since the CTTL launched, we have collectively evolved our understanding of research in the fields of neuro and cognitive science, behavior psychology and educational theory, and we have come to recognize the gaps between what the research suggests and daily life at our school.

Though we had changed many of our pedagogical practices, our schedule was still outdated. We wondered whether we could leverage research in educational neuroscience to transform it.

In 2017, the CTTL’s student research fellows began collecting qualitative and quantitative data by surveying the ultimate end users of our daily schedule, the students. Next, we took a design thinking approach to engage faculty and parents in the conversation and began logistical planning.

Two of the most intriguing pieces of data collected during student surveys related to class period length and homework. When we asked students about an optimal length of class, they came back with 60 to 65 minutes. When students were asked about a realistic amount of homework time that should be expected of them, we expected to receive most answers declaring “none,” but instead, students saw the value of about 90-minutes of quality homework that was assigned for one of three reasons: retrieval practice, to connect or extend prior learning or to be prepared for the next class period.

When we rolled out the new schedule at the start of the 2018-2019 school year, we recognized that even though we had done theoretical research, making actual changes in our school community would be a process, so we planned to iterate the schedule over the next three years based on feedback from the school community. Launching something imperfect when you already have something that is comfortable can be challenging, but it gave us an opportunity to model what we were already messaging to our students about “failing forward.”

Any change in a school’s daily schedule impacts the entire school community including students, teachers and families. For our teachers, it was an especially emotional transition. I had been at St. Andrew’s for 21 years, and like many of my veteran colleagues, I was quite comfortable with the schedule. Changes like longer, but fewer class periods and less homework required revising curriculum.

That’s one of the reasons why giving ourselves 18 months to transition felt important. As a research-informed school and faculty, we also recognized the importance of testing our ideas. One of the most enjoyable parts of our journey was when we piloted the new schedule for a week in February 2018, seven months before our permanent launch date. While this pilot highlighted some of the schedule’s flaws, it also assured those who were not yet on board that this was a good move. In fact, a few colleagues even suggested that we finish the year with the new schedule.

So, what were the big changes we made? In our new daily schedule, all periods are 65-minutes long and classes now meet three times per week. These changes were inspired by research on block scheduling and why longer teaching periods can lead to great teaching. Classes also rotate the time of the day that they meet, which reduces the homework load, and given what we now know about sleep’s role in memory, school never begins before 8:30 A.M.

On designated Wednesdays, classes begin at 9:20am following a curiosity, passion pursuit and well-being hour for students. During that time, teachers participate in professional development programming that so far this year included working with experts, such as Dr. Robert Dillon to envision how we use space at school and Efrat Furst to help us look at memory.

New schedule for the upper school at St. Andrew's, Image Credit: St. Andrew's

After recently passing the halfway point of the 2018-2019 school year, we’ve lived our new daily schedule for just about six months. The qualitative and quantitative data we’re collecting to make our first round of adjustments for next year has revealed some early successes.

St. Andrew's students building robots; Image credit: St. Andrew's

Most students say the homework load is more manageable and some say they’re going to bed earlier. Students are taking advantage of the curiosity, passions pursuit and well-being hour in a number of ways. Some are building robots, learning to code, getting support from peer tutors or doing homework that they otherwise would have stayed up later to complete—some are using the time to catch up on extra sleep. Teachers have reported that longer class periods are elevating the use of multiple modality instruction and allow now students time to go deeper into discussions and projects, or even begin homework during class time.

Launching something as ambitious as a new daily schedule also has its obstacles. Our teachers love their subjects, and some feel a loss of content coverage, especially in advanced placement (AP) courses due to the fact that there are less periods per week. This is something that will require further planning through summer grant work and professional development that St. Andrew’s provides its teachers.

In the last year, I have had the privilege to travel to public, charter and private schools and districts in seven states, two countries and the District of Columbia. I never heard anyone of them say “we love our daily schedule.” For many school leaders, leveraging research in the science of learning to rethink their daily schedule is truly the next frontier.

For St. Andrew’s, while we have launched and lived for a short time our new schedule, there is much work that remains to be done as we continue to collect feedback on what is going well and what needs improvement. It has not been easy. It has been emotional, and it is a process that makes school systems, administrators, teachers, students and parents think deeply about their priorities and what student-centered truly means. But it is worth it because we now know more about how the brain learns, works, thrives and changes, and we can use that understanding to create a daily schedule that allows each student to be more challenged, creative, healthy and engaged.

Using Neuroscience to Launch a Research-Informed School Schedule published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

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