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erisgregory · 4 years

Note

Possible Sterek prompt if you’d like: Derek is the new guy (school, work, where ever). Stiles always whisper inappropriate things to his friend about him (“god, I want to climb him like a tree,” etc.) Stiles tries to befriend Derek but Derek acts so weird around him and he doesn’t understand why. If only stiles knew Derek has werewolf hearing...

Thank you so much for this prompt. I did make a couple of changes but I hope you can still enjoy it.

Talkin’ Dirty

Rated E

“No, Scotty, you don’t understand this man’s ass, I swear to god. I keep picturing him in lacy thongs. I’m sorry but it’s true, no I just… gotta go!” Stiles hung up on Scott as fast as he could as soon as he heard Erica’s heels on the tile outside his office.

He’d only been there two weeks so he didn’t want to be caught using the phone for personal calls while he was on the clock, but Scott had called to remind him of their standing “date” for X-box and trash talk which they maintained even though Stiles had moved to New York and Scott was still in Beacon Hills. It was hard but they were managing and Scott was going to come up for the weekend sometime soon, so at least there was that.

Still, he didn’t need to be on the phone and he knew it. So he hoped they weren’t actually monitoring his calls or something.

Stiles was hired as Derek Hale’s personal assistant and he had a desk in the outer office where he greeted clients for Derek and answered the phone. He handled scheduling for the most part, though Erica had a lot of input for a receptionist. Stiles had learned to listen to her though because she used to have his job and now she was overseeing both Laura and Derek’s clients. It wasn’t exactly streamlined yet, but he thought he was beginning to understand how things worked at Hale Investing.

“Stiliinski.” Erica greeted him as she came into the room, shutting the door behind her. “I wanted to let you know that Derek’s one o’clock is an essential client. He’s been with Derek since the beginning, and he’s used to special treatment.” She handed over a bottle of whiskey the likes of which Stiles had never seen. This was no Jim Beam like he was used to. This was the good stuff.

“The glasses are in the cabinet.” She pointed to the cabinet under the window and Stiles nodded.

“Gotcha.” He told her. She smirked at him and then left.

There was time enough for him to have a quick bite at his desk and then Derek’s special client was there, a Mr. Argent. Stiles poured the whiskey and pretended to know how to schmooze a client and finally, Derek rescued him and took Mr. Argent back.

The rest of the day was mostly typing letters and emails, so he texted Scott and when the office closed, Stiles stayed to finish since he was something of a slow typer still. He was already better, but not quite up to speed yet. Some days he wondered why he’d even thought to take this job. Really it was all Cora’s doing. She attended night classes with Stiles and insisted her brother needed someone like him around. And the pay couldn’t be beaten, so Stiles had jumped at the chance.

The fact that Derek Hale had turned out to be the hottest man Stiles had ever seen including porn might have also had something to do with why he ended up taking the job. He’d told Scott that first day that he wanted to climb the man like a tree.

He wanted to do dirty unspeakable things to Derek, and he told them all to Scott who was long-suffering but had to put up with it because he’d told Stiles all sorts of stuff about Kira that Stiles had never wanted to know.

“I can never tell if I want to eat his ass or suck his dick more,” Stiles told Scott the next day on his lunch break. “Because that ass definitely deserves to be worshipped, but the idea of getting down on my knees for him really does it for me.”

Scott was loudly objecting but Stiles pressed on. “His ass is obscene and I can only imagine how great his dick is, but Scott, I gotta send you a picture of this guy. He’s like model hot. Like movie star hot. Porn hot. Like a god walking among men in a business suit and tie. I can’t take it. I’ve jerked off so many times this week I’m afraid it’ll fall off if I keep going.

“Stiles.” Derek’s voice came over the intercom and it sounded strained.

“Sorry, it’s the boss!” He told Scott as he hung up. He still had fifteen minutes left on his lunch break, but Derek sounded like he really needed something so Stiles quickly folded up the rest of his lunch and stashed it away.

“Yes, Mr. Hale?” He asked as he pushed the intercom button.

“Could you come here please?” Derek asked.

“Sure.” Stiles dusted off his hands and went to the door that separated him from Derek. It was a massive mahogany thing. Stiles could never hear anything that went on inside Derek’s office it was so thick. It was a little on the heavy side too so he pulled it open slowly and stepped into Derek’s office.

“What can I do for you?” Stiles asked.

Derek was looking down at the paper in his hands as Stiles stepped up closer to his massive desk.

“I need you to go over these letters. They’re good, but a little too formal for these particular clients. See if you can make them sound a little more natural for me.” he said, his voice a little more on the stern side than Stiles was used to.

“You got it, boss,” Stiles said and he reached for the papers.

Derek didn’t look up even as he passed the paper to Stiles. He’d been like that from the beginning. No matter how friendly Stiles tried to be, Derek was distant. That shouldn’t have made him sexier, but he was a mystery and there was nothing sexier to Stiles than a mystery.

The next day Stiles brought coffee for Derek, black with two sugars, the way he liked, and Derek just motioned for him to set it on the desk. Stiles did, but then he leaned his hip on Derek’s desk and took a sip of his own coffee. The phone lines didn’t go live for another ten minutes and he wanted to try and break through Derek’s tough exterior. They could at least be friends, right?

“So, it’s starting to get pretty cold out there, huh?” Stiles asked in his most easy-going tone.

Derek just grunted. So the weather was a no go.

“Yeah, I had to buy a big coat because while it does get cold where I’m from, it doesn’t get down to freezing like this very often.” He continued.

Derek finally looked up from his laptop. “Is there something you need?” He asked shortly.

“Uh, no, no, just making small talk I guess,” Stiles admitted. He chuckled but Derek was already back to work so Stiles slipped out and headed to his own desk. Well, there was always lunch, he thought.

Scott was busy at lunch so Stiles called Lydia. She was in between classes at MIT and dying for all of the latest gossip from back home. Stiles relayed what he could from Scott and then dove into catching her up on all his drama. Like how hot his boss was and how unfair it was that he apparently wanted nothing to do with Stiles.

“No, he’s hotter than that. I swear. Jordan Parrish in uniform is hot, I’ll give you that, but this guy is dirty hot. Like dress him up in a maid’s costume and bend him over the dining table hot. Or give him clandestine blow jobs under his desk at work hot. He’s going to be the death of me, I can barely focus on my work just knowing he’s right behind that big door of his. All alone. And no one is worshipping that body of his for him. I could be doing that, Lyds. I want to be doing that.” Stiles rambled on for another five minutes before Lydia had to go.

When Derek came out his face was flushed and when Stiles asked if he wanted something from the deli he didn’t answer at all. Not even his usual grunt! Stiles was exasperated but determined. He was going to make Derek his friend one way or another. And then if they just happened to turn into friends that had benefits that would be cool. Or if Derek were to then fall for him the way he was doing with Derek, even better. So what if Derek was his boss?

Two days later Stiles was heading home at the same moment Derek was and they found themselves reaching the elevator at the same moment it pinged open. There was no one currently in it and Stiles wanted to fist bump the universe because Derek would be his captive audience for twenty floors!

But then Derek gaped at him and turned on his heel and headed back to the office. He must have just remembered that he forgot something. Stiles got on the elevator and thought about holding it a minute to see if Derek came back, but then gave in and let the door close. He went home, his head buzzing with ways to break the ice with Derek.

Stiles started being better at anticipating Derek’s needs. First, it was coffee every morning, which Derek finally started thanking him for. Next, he installed Grammarly on his laptop so he would be a better letter and email writer. Then came lunch runs and asking Derek every day about the clients that were expected in. Derek seemed to take all of this in stride, still avoiding looking Stiles directly in the eye. Sometimes he would get clumsy and spill his coffee on his tie and Stiles always had a spare for him. That usually happened at lunch so Stiles would sometimes just check on him once he was off the phone.

On Friday he went to check on Derek after lunch and found him pacing by his window. He was out of breath and red all the way up to his ears. Stiles was afraid he was having some sort of heart event and begged him to sit and drink some water.

Still, Derek kept his distance no matter how hard Stiles tried. Erica had taken to laughing at his antics as if they were hopeless and stupid, which made Stiles try all the harder.

Saturday Scott flew in for his weekend visit. It was amazing. They played X-box and drank energy drinks and ate too much Chinese food. Then on Sunday, they did the tourist shit that Scott wanted and they ended up eating hot dogs in Central Park for dinner. It was perfect. Stiles could hardly let go of him at the airport before work on Monday. They stood holding each other for the longest time.

Once he was back at work, Stiles felt like all the wind was taken out of his sails. He missed Scott terribly. It wasn’t just Scott either, he missed home, missed his dad, and having Scott visit helped but also didn’t in a weird way.

Stiles was so out of it he didn’t even notice Derek standing awkwardly in front of his desk until he cleared his throat.

He startled and flailed a moment before gaining his composure. “Oh my god, you can’t just sneak up on people! You scared me to death!” Stiles told him.

Derek was looking at him funny. It was sort of a pinched look, almost as if he smelled something bad. Stiles resolved to check his pits after Derek left, though he was sure he’d used deodorant after his shower that morning.

Still, Derek didn’t talk. “Is there something I can help you with?” Stiles asked as gently as possible. He didn’t know why, but he felt it was important not to spook Derek any more than he obviously already had. For some reason.

At last, Derek seemed to shake himself.

“No. No. It’s fine. I um,” Derek swallowed and looked around. “Did you grab coffee this morning?” He asked and he looked so uncomfortable at having to ask that Stiles actually felt bad. He hadn’t grabbed their coffees, he’d forgotten!

“No, I’m so sorry. I had uh, a friend visit me from back home and he had an early morning flight so I guess it just sort of slipped my mind. I’m so sorry, I can go back out right now.” Stiles made to stand up but Derek motioned for him to sit.

“I’ll be alright.” He said, and he sounded so dejected that Stiles wanted to crawl under his table and die. This was no way to get Derek to like him. Get him used to morning coffee and then just take it away? Now he’d be back to drinking the swill they had in the breakroom.

He wanted to say something else, but Derek was already closing the door behind him, literally shutting the conversation off. Stiles decided then and there that he would make it up to Derek one way or another.

At lunch Stiles asked for Derek’s order, bringing it to him with a smile that Derek didn’t return. It’s not that he was being unfriendly per se, but he just seemed so unapproachable. He had no idea how Erica did it. They were clearly on good terms and he’d often seen Erica smiling as she left the inner office.

He sat back at his desk and looked down at his sandwich dejectedly. Thankfully Scott called and that was the perfect distraction.

“You see, I have to make a plan now. Nothing I’ve tried so far has worked and the more he plays hard to get the more I want him. I just want to know him. I want to be his friend.” Stiles complained.

“You want more than that though, right? I mean I have been actually listening to you the past few weeks. Maybe you’re taking the wrong tack here.” Scott was right, Stiles thought. Probably. Though if he did the wrong thing it could spell disaster, so he needed to be careful.

“I just want to ride him into the sunset, you know? I need it. I need his dick, Scott. You have no idea what it’s like seeing him every day and smelling his fantastic cologne and sharing space with him. I’m dying a slow and painful death. Death by blue balls.” Stiles whined.

“Don’t lie, I can practically hear the lie over the phone. You like him. Like really like him. You want to date him.” Scott said with a laugh.

“That’s mean. Of course, I like him. Of course, I want to date him. I want it all. The whole thing. The flowers and dinners and making out and wild monkey sex. All of it.” Stiles admitted.

“And love.” Scott prompted.

Stiles sighed. “And love. Yeah. I feel like he’s already broken my heart though so maybe this whole thing is pointless. He doesn’t even hardly look at me.”

“Why don’t you ask him out? Just be direct. Unless, are there any rules about dating in your office?” Scott wondered.

“No, I don’t think so, but he’s my boss! He could fire me. He could write me up for sexual harassment. And all I wanted was to marry him and his fine ass and have his babies and--”

“You realize you can’t actually have his babies right? You’d need a woman for that.” Scott was too practical. Didn’t he know how bad off Stiles was right now? How far gone he was?

“Scott…”

“If you’re not willing to be direct about it, then I guess you’re back to square one,” Scott said.

“Square one. Yeah, sounds about right. Okay, gotta go, time to get back to work, and back to fantasizing about pleasing my future husband to be.” Stiles said his goodbyes and hung up.

He was just pulling up his latest email for Derek when the intercom buzzed.

“Mr. Stilinski, I need to see you in my office. Now.” Derek said and he didn’t sound very happy.

Stiles swallowed a lump of fear that had gathered in his throat and headed for his office. He pushed the door open and stepped in. Derek motioned for him to close the door so he did and it felt very final. Was he being fired? He wasn’t sure what he’d done, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

“Please, sit,” Derek said, gesturing to the chair across his desk.

“I’d rather stand if that’s okay,” Stiles answered on instinct.

“It is not. I need to talk to you and I don’t want to crane my neck up while I do so.” Derek pointed at the chair and Stiles sat even though he felt like he might shake right off the edge and onto the floor. He had no idea what had him in trouble.

“Who is this friend who visited you this weekend?” Derek asked, staring straight at Stiles.

Stiles felt his mouth fall open. “What? Why are you asking?”

“I have a very good reason for asking, which I will explain, but I want an answer first,” Derek said.

Stiles couldn’t really argue with that. “That’s Scott, my best friend from back home.” He said, wringing his hands in his lap. This was the longest Derek had ever looked him in the eye and it was unnerving.

“Huh. The one you talk to during lunch, right?” Derek leaned back in his chair, seemed to think better of it, and leaned forward on to his desk instead.

“Why is that important?” Stiles asked, curious, and afraid of the answer. Then he realized there was no way Derek should know that Stiles spent his lunch break on the phone with someone. They must have the phones tapped or something! But then Derek said the last thing Stiles was expecting.

“Because you came in today smelling like an alpha werewolf and I had to know who he was and if he might be a threat to you,” Derek said plainly.

“What?” Stiles felt like the room was tilting off-axis.

Derek grinned then and flashed blue eyes at Stiles and Stiles almost fell off his seat. “Holy god!” He flailed a bit before regaining his composure.

“So you’re a, yeah, and that means, oh my god. You’ve been listening to me this whole time!”

“A werewolf. And yes, I have. Which is what we really need to talk about next.” Derek said seriously.

Stiles could feel it coming. He was getting fired. If he was lucky. If not he was being brought up on sexual harassment charges, which he totally deserved oh god. He deflated and tried to disappear into the leather of his seat.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and Derek called for the person to enter. It was Erica and she was grinning at Stiles. “So it’s all out in the open now huh? Finally.” She heaved a long-suffering sigh. Then Erica sat on the corner of the desk and slid a paper in front of Stiles.

“We need you to read through this and if you agree, to sign it,” Derek said rather gently Stiles thought, considering the situation.

Stiles slid it closer and read the title, Consensual Relationship Agreement. His eyes shot up to Derek’s, shocked. “You want me to sign this?” He asked confused. There was something in his chest though, something that felt a little bit like hope.

Derek smiled then and Stiles just about died looking at his perfectly white teeth. Why were his teeth so cute? “Only if you’re interested in dating me.” He said plainly.

“Only if I’m interested in dating you? Hell yes!” Stiles practically clapped his hands together in happiness.

He ran his eyes through the agreement which was simple and straightforward. “Somebody give me a pen already!” He demanded.

Erica and Derek both laughed and Derek handed over a pen. He signed it with a flourish and then grinned at Derek, his heart feeling like it might just burst. He couldn’t believe things were going this way.

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” Erica said as she walked to the door. “Just remember, werewolf hearing, it’s all around.” She laughed and tapped her ear with her long red fingernail and then she was gone.

“Hey!” Stiles turned back to Derek and he could feel his cheeks were burning. He was probably all splotchy red at this point. “Can I ask who all is… uh…”

“Wolfy?” Derek supplied and it surprised a laugh out of Stiles.

“Yeah.”

“Erica, Laura, Boyd, Isaac, Jess, Sam, and Cora.” Derek rattled the names off and then stood.

“Wow. So a whole pack. Let me guess, Laura is the alpha?” Stiles wondered.

Derek nodded. “She is. But I don’t particularly want to talk about my sister or my pack right now.” He said, and his voice had taken on an edge that was doing things to Stiles’ insides.

“No?”

“No.”

He came around the desk and stood next to Stiles’ chair looking down at him, his arms crossed.

“What, uh, did you want to talk about then?” Stiles asked. If his voice shook just the tiniest bit then he couldn’t really be blamed for it, could he?

“We could talk about lacy thongs or you climbing me like a tree, but I prefer to discuss whether you prefer to eat my ass or suck my dick more,” Derek said all of this with a straight face that left Stiles gaping once more.

“No fair! I had no idea you could hear me saying those things!”

Derek had the nerve to laugh then, and Stiles wanted to pout, but suddenly Derek was pulling him up out of the chair by his tie and crushing their lips together. The kiss was electric and Stiles could feel it all the way to his toes. My god, the man was talented with his tongue and not at all afraid to use his teeth to drive Stiles mad.

He pulled back and looked into Stiles’ eyes. “I really ought to make you wait until at the very least we’ve had one date, but you’ve been driving me crazy for weeks.”

Stiles had his hands up around Derek’s broad shoulders holding him close. “I don’t care about dates right now. We can worry about that later.”

Derek nodded. “Okay, yeah. Agreed.” He bent to kiss Stiles once more, biting along his lower lip and tangling their tongues together until Stiles could no longer breathe.

When they finally parted Derek asked, “What do you want? Right now. I’ll do anything. Just use that sinful tongue of yours to tell me what it is you want.”

It was obvious to Stiles that he was blushing, and why he should blush now after having said all of those things to Scott, Stiles didn’t know, but he wanted to give Derek what he wanted too so he said, “I want to suck your cock and then I want you to bend me over your desk and fuck me. Hard.” Saying it directly to Derek’s face was different than saying it behind his back, but it was also empowering. Derek’s cheeks pinked up too so he’d have to remember how much Derek liked dirty talk.

“Do it,” Derek said simply.

Stiles dropped slowly to his knees and began unfastening Derek’s belt, then his fly, and then he was pushing Derek’s pants down until they pooled around his ankles. He wore black boxer briefs and he was already hard, the tip just edging out of the top of his underwear. Stiles�� mouth watered and he leaned forward to suckle at it, teasing Derek until Derek’s legs trembled.

Derek was the one who shoved his briefs down out of the way. Then he slid his hands into Stiles’ hair and guided him down over his cock. He set a pace for Stiles, which Stiles loved. He’d imagined Derek like this, forceful but gentle at the same time. He knew what he wanted and he knew how to get it, but he was careful with Stiles too.

“God, your mouth. It should be illegal.” Derek moaned above him and Stiles worked his tongue up the underside of him, lapping at the head and tonguing the slit before sucking him back down. He couldn’t take all of Derek, but he almost could and he knew how to swallow around him to make it really good. Before long Derek was wrenching him off, panting, sweat gathered at his temples and he just looked wrecked.

“I’m gonna come if you keep that up and I believe you wanted me to fuck you over my desk.”

“Oh yeah, yeah.” Stiles agreed. He probably looked as wrecked as Derek. His jaw was already sore and he’s knees were protesting, but other than that he felt amazing.

“Lock the door,” Derek commanded softly as he began stripping out of his suit.

“Jesus,” Stiles said, watching him without shame as he headed to the door.

“Derek will do.”

“Did you just make a joke?” Stiles asked with a laugh, but he did lock the door. Then he began stripping out of his shirt and tie and finally his shoes and pants and it was Derek’s turn to stare.

It made Stiles feel a little self-conscious until Derek came over and pulled him close and whispered, “You’re gorgeous.”

He lifted Stiles so that Stiles had to wrap his legs around Derek and hold on to his neck. He was taken and deposited on the edge of the desk and Derek cupped his face between his hands. “Do I have to do the bending you over part, or can we do it like this, so I can see you?”

“Like this. Like this.” Stiles nodded enthusiastically and pulled Derek in for another kiss.

Derek had to lean over the desk and fumble around but he found a packet of lube and a condom he’d been carrying around and shyly showed Stiles what he had. It was such a soft side of him that Stiles couldn’t even make fun, he just kissed Derek again.

It took a little time to stretch Stiles, he’d been without any lovers for a while, but it had been a particularly long time since he’d had a man in his bed. Metaphorically speaking anyway. So Derek took his time, building up to three fingers and twisting them just so until Stiles was a writhing mess begging to be fucked.

“Please, Derek, please, I need you now!” He cried.

Ever the gentleman, Derek took pity on him and removed his fingers. For a moment he mourned their loss, feeling empty and wanting more, but then Derek was there pressing into him slowly and oh it was so so good.

“Fuck, Derek,” Stiles sighed and he wriggled around to get his legs around Derek as he continued to sink into him.

“Stiles,” Derek grunted but he was all the way in and holding still, letting Stiles get accustomed to his size.

“Come on, come on.” Stiles huffed, not needing the extra time to adjust. He wanted Derek to move already.

“You’re just as bossy as I imagined,” Derek observed.

Stiles huffed a laugh. “Hey, you imagined this?” He asked, curious to know the answer.

“Hell yeah, you gave me plenty to think about every day,” Derek admitted with a grin. Then he pulled back and snapped his hips effectively shutting Stiles up.

Derek was powerful and Stiles could tell he held back just a little, keeping his pace even and steady even as Stiles pleaded for harder and faster. He was gentle when Stiles wanted him rough, it was something they could work on though, Stiles decided.

When they could no longer maintain a kiss, they panted into each other’s mouths, moaning and crying out, heedless of who might be hearing them. Stiles had never felt so good in his life, he was certain. Derek knew just how to angle himself to bump into Stiles’ prostate every time and when he began jerking Stiles off it was a counterpoint to his hips causing Stiles to completely lose control and come before he even realized that’s what was happening. He was flying high as he felt Derek’s hips finally stutter and lose pace. Derek’s eyes flashed and for a moment Stiles was sure he saw fangs, but then Derek was crushing their lips together and coming with a shudder.

He eased Stiles’ legs down and then slowly pulled out, wrapping the condom in a tissue before tossing it in the trash. Stiles felt shaky and unable to move so Derek helped him dress with soft touches and even softer kisses.

Before Stiles could even work himself up into nervousness about what it all meant Derek pulled him in close and asked, “Will you go to dinner with me, tonight?”

“Yes,” Stiles whispered. “I would love that.”

Getting to know Derek was so much more fun than even Stiles could have imagined. He was witty and charming if a bit on the pessimistic side. He could be jealous, but he admitted when he was in the wrong, and he gave of himself freely. He was a wonder in Stiles’ life and Stiles could only hope that Derek felt the same way.

They said I love you only two weeks later and both acknowledged that it was way too soon, but they couldn’t help it. Stiles had never truly been in love and Derek had never loved someone with such freedom and trust so it was all very new. Work maybe suffered in the beginning, but they promised each other to keep taking it a day at a time.

When things got too hectic or they’d been short with each other, they always found a way to take it back to the beginning when Derek couldn’t believe what he was hearing and Stiles felt like he might die if he couldn’t have Derek. It worked for them and they were ridiculously happy.

The End

#sterek #sterek fic #teen wolf fic #prompts are open!#fanficmakesmehappy

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arthur36domingo · 8 years

Text

5 Retro Games that Made Us Better People

You’re having an average morning at the office, when suddenly word ripples out from the corner suite: the boss is going to visit a major potential client this afternoon, and she wants the latest version of the demo ready to show off. A wave of adrenaline sweeps the room—this is all hands on deck.

The copywriter and designers launch into vetting every scrap of text and making sure every element on the screen will be pixel-perfect. Their actions come naturally; there is no fumbling, no time to second-guess. Meanwhile the developers and project manager scramble furiously to make sure every last tweak is going to fit—if something in the code breaks now, there might not be enough time to push through a fix. An exhilarating (if unexpected) test of your team’s abilities is now underway.

A lesser version of yourself might hyperventilate in this situation, but you’re so immersed in the task at hand you hardly have time to reflect on this. If you came up for air now, you might even realize you’re thrilled—it’s as though you’ve been preparing for this kind of challenge your whole life.

In a way, maybe you have been. Do you think all those old games you grew up playing had anything to do with it?

Perhaps you have fond memories of looking over a parent’s shoulder while they played solitaire, instilling an early appreciation for sequencing and spotting patterns. Or maybe anytime you think about strategic ways to keep your project’s options open, it all comes back to those kitchen-table games of poker with your cousins.

Did you surmount your first failure to negotiate a grand bargain after a botched transaction involving Park Place and a get-out-of-jail-free card? Did you learn about admitting you need help from the time you had to wake up that one kid at the slumber party who knew how to wall-jump in Super Metroid?

Maybe you took down enough bosses in Zelda with just a single a heart remaining that you’ll forever know how to keep your cool in dicy situations. Or maybe all those late nights playing Contra at your friend’s house taught you the value of leaving a few power-ups for your teammate to grab.

Whatever your games of choice were back then, we think it all might’ve factored in over the years to help shape the collaborator you’ve since become. Here’s a look at some of the games that taught us a thing or two about teamwork in the days before gamers wore headsets.

1 Chrono Trigger

This Super Nintendo classic centers on a plucky band of six (or seven—we’ll get to that) friends who represent different epochs of human progress, all united around their modest shared goal of averting an apocalypse.

Besides their disparate strengths, the characters all showcase unique styles of communication: The cursed frog (birthname: Glenn) speaks at times like a character from Chaucer, while cavegirl Ayla’s diction is still more . . . primitive. Spikey-haired swordsman Crono hardly speaks at all throughout the game.

But despite their many dissimilarities, the team does its best work together, with three-character ensembles uniting to cast spells that combine their best traits—for instance blending Crono’s lightning magic with the fire of Lucca (the prodigious inventor) and water magic from Marle (the crossbow-toting princess).

Along the way, the time-traveling team has opportunities to help right each other’s wrongs—stopping a horrible accident from befalling Lucca’s mother, for instance, or helping Glenn lay to rest the ghost of a slain knight. In a true testament to the game’s collaborative spirit, you can even forgive and recruit Magus, the shadow wizard who earlier in the game had seemed the middle ages’ main fount of evil.

Chrono Trigger remains a beautiful gamerly encapsulation of the power of working with a team, however wonky or arcane your colleagues and their strengths may seem.

2 Starcraft

The ne plus ultra of real-time strategy, Starcraft is a game where no one unit can single-handedly win a match, but the most skilled players make certain that every humble drone they spawn or probe they assemble counts for something.

As with Chrono Trigger (albeit here on a galactic scale) the single-player campaigns in Starcraft often center on peculiar alliances of disparate forces: the scrappy human space explorers (Terrans, to use the game’s parlance) teaming with the noble but sometimes conceited Protoss aliens, for instance, to halt the advance of the prolific, bug-like Zerg.

Connecting online or via local-area networks (remember LAN parties?) also made for fun hours battling alongside friends. Such endeavors found you delegating some tasks (mine your own minerals and explore the map as you can) while intersecting on shared goals (let’s position some siege tanks and templars over the cliff above the opponent’s expansion). And in the true spirit of teamwork, a team with human medics could even heal an ally’s alien hydralisks!

For anyone whose job involves managing a complex and growing team in an uncertain and rapidly evolving environment, Starcraft might just feel familiar.

3 Rummikub

You might remember this tile-based classic from summer nights with your grandparents; it fits somewhere between gin rummy and Scrabble in the taxonomy of games.

As a pastime where you not only build numeric patterns of your own but also break apart and reassemble combinations played by others, your every incremental step toward victory in Rummikub might also provide the breakthrough someone else needs in order to win. In other words, to inch toward success, you can’t help but nudge others closer to winning, as well—how’s that for built-in collaboration?

As an occasional bonus, trying to combo your way to victory through a dramatic (if not convoluted) series of moves in a crowded late-game board occasionally just fizzles and goes awry. The solution? Other players have to help you puzzle the board back to its original state.

4 The Adventures of Lolo

The NES Lolo series proved unique in an era of games like Mario and Tetris that tend to reward sharp reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

Lolo’s gameplay revolves around recognizing patterns and devising the best sequence for the adorable blue protagonist (the third installment also features his pink counterpart, Lala) to navigate obstacles like rivers and mazes, as well as a slew of quirky enemies. As a result, quick thumbs proved a secondary asset in Lolo, next to patience and a willingness to experiment.

Consequently, a few people could easily sit around the screen, passing the controller and plotting different solutions to each level (as your humble blogger did with his mom and brother in the bygone era of brick-and-mortar video stores).

There are many doors into the thriving world of collaborative puzzle games (consider tabletop gems like Forbidden Island) but for a certain set of people whose work all hinges on planning things in the right order, the sound of a Lolo-esque treasure chest springing open will forever play in their minds as they close in on their final task each day.

5 Magic: The Gathering

As digital games grow ever more popular, paper Magic might just endure (the strategy trading-card game is nearly twenty-five years old now) partly because it can provide something of a respite for people whose careers involve looking at screens all day.

As a recruiter for a tech company in San Francisco, Kevin Ligutom weeds through massive stacks of resumes just to pluck out a small handful of winning candidates. Along the way, he sifts through a variety of metrics and has to know which numbers matter and which ones are just noise. In the end, he has to communicate these results to hiring managers, lawyers, and H.R.

While Kevin is often at the hub of a wheel with many spokes, one thing that helps is his longtime hobby: slinging cards in Legacy, Magic’s highly competitive equivalent of Formula One racing. Experienced Legacy players know hundreds of cards purely by memory, and are comfortable sifting through reams of data about everything from popular tournament-winning decks to lethal new uses for long-out-of-print cards.

In other words, Kevin says, his hobby is a lot like his job: “I need to be able to tell management how long it will take to fill a given role. Part of that is giving them both metrics and my analysis of those numbers based on my experience. Magic got me really comfortable with that kind of thinking.”

Whatever your assignment might be today, we hope you have fun—and maybe even make a game out of it.

The post 5 Retro Games that Made Us Better People appeared first on Grammarly Blog.

from Grammarly Blog https://www.grammarly.com/blog/retro-games-for-writing/

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ber39james · 8 years

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5 Retro Games that Made Us Better People

In a way, maybe you have been. Do you think all those old games you grew up playing had anything to do with it?

1 Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger remains a beautiful gamerly encapsulation of the power of working with a team, however wonky or arcane your colleagues and their strengths may seem.

2 Starcraft

For anyone whose job involves managing a complex and growing team in an uncertain and rapidly evolving environment, Starcraft might just feel familiar.

3 Rummikub

You might remember this tile-based classic from summer nights with your grandparents; it fits somewhere between gin rummy and Scrabble in the taxonomy of games.

4 The Adventures of Lolo

The NES Lolo series proved unique in an era of games like Mario and Tetris that tend to reward sharp reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

5 Magic: The Gathering

Whatever your assignment might be today, we hope you have fun—and maybe even make a game out of it.

The post 5 Retro Games that Made Us Better People appeared first on Grammarly Blog.

from Grammarly Blog https://www.grammarly.com/blog/retro-games-for-writing/

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sandralmuller · 6 years

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How to be a more confident writer

Are you a confident writer?

Does the thought of publishing your writing online make you tremble?

Do you wonder how you can be a more confident writer?

Does the thought of having your words out there in the world for anyone to read make you feel anxious?

You’re not alone. Read on.

Barriers to building confidence as a writer

Plenty of people are apprehensive about posting their work for varied reasons. Some are nervous about sharing a deeply personal story that could identify others and then worrying about the consequence. Some are scared of attracting trolls and cyber bullies. Others are worried their writing is not good enough and will be ridiculed. You might be comparing your first draft to someone’s else’s highly edited and polished result and feel inadequate as a result of the comparison.

But, if you’re looking for a hug and someone to say ‘there, there, everything’s going to be OK’ you’ve come to the wrong blog.

I’m not here to invalidate your reasons. They’re your reasons. You get to keep them for as long as you want to be bound by them.

What the confident writer knows

Confidence is not ‘They will like me’. Confidence instead is ‘I’ll be fine if they don’t’

Whatever your reasons for feeling apprehensive about publishing your work online, here are some truths to help you become a confident writer.

Call yourself a writer

Let it roll off your tongue. I am a writer.

What comes up for you? What monkey chatter is going on in your brain? Acknowledge it, then move past it.

Mindset is one of the biggest barriers to building confidence as a writer. Get comfortable calling yourself a writer #writing #writingtip #amwriting #writingtips Click To Tweet

Mindset is one of the biggest barriers to building confidence as a writer. The more comfortable you become calling yourself a writer without the negative monkey chatter, the easier it will become to hit publish.

Practice practice practice

No one gets good at something by just thinking about doing it. And no one ever lucks out with divine intervention. Experts are made, not born.

The more your practice, logic follows that the better you’ll become. So, write write write and watch your writing and confidence improve.

The more you publish and put your work out there, the easier it will become.

No one is reading you anyway

There, I said it. Post away. Chances are, very few eyes are reading the work you publish online anyway.

It can take a long time to build an audience where people are regularly reading your work. So, if you’re in the early stages of your online writing journey, very few people will be reading your work.

No one is judging you

When was the last time you critically analysed someone’s work online?

Did you break it down line-by-line and dispute the writer’s opinion?

Did you leave a harsh comment?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

No one has time to judge your writing. Set it free.

Outsource editing and proofreading

Let’s get practical.

If one of the reasons you’re reluctant to publish is because you’re worried about publishing content with typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, hire a professional editor or proofreader to go over your work.

An editor will look at your work from a structural perspective and suggest changes to the text to make it flow better. They will help improve your writing by editing your content to bring greater clarity and brevity.

A proofreader will fix typos and spelling or grammar mistakes in the final draft before publication. They won’t suggest edits to the structure or changing your content other than to fix errors.

If you can’t afford to hire an editor or proofreader, find a copy buddy, someone you can swap work with and edit and proofread each other’s work. A second set of eyes on your week could give you the confidence you need to hit publish without the cringe factor.

Use online tools to help improve your spelling and grammar

Working as an SEO copywriter, I build the cost of an external proofreader into my final drafts.

But what about the initial draft I send a client?

I use Grammarly, a tool that’s like MS Word’s Spelling and Grammar tool on steroids. Try out the free online version, install the browser extension so it works within your browser, or pay for a full subscription and get the MS Word add-on.

Grammarly is a fantastic tool. Sure, we often argue about the placement of commas or whether a split infinitive is OK, but if you apply common sense and don’t take all of Grammarly’s advice literally, you’ll end up with a draft that is well-polished and hopefully free from major errors.

Using Grammarly on those early drafts gives me the confidence to send my client my copywriting work before a proofreader has done their magic and without stressing about mistakes that distract from the content.

Another excellent tool is Hemmingway. While it doesn’t proofread your work like Grammarly, it highlights words you could delete, identifies sentences written in the passive voice and shows you which sentences are too long. It gives you a reading grade score, too. I aim for content at Grade 8 level or lower.

Be a good reader

To be a good writer, you must be a good reader #amreading #amwriting #writingtips #writingtip Click To Tweet

One of the best ways to improve your writing ability and therefore your writing confidence is to read widely and prolifically.

You will learn what you like and if you probe a little deeper, figure out why. Reading widely can also help develop your own voice so that you sound distinct from others writing in the same industry as you.

Let go and hit publish

Is it time to get over yourself?

Hit publish. What’s the worst thing that will happen? Tell me in the comments below. I’d love to know what holds you back from publishing your content.

How to be a more confident writer was originally published on The Smarter Writer

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