#This is based roughly on a convo between my friend and i | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

not-just-any-fangirl · 7 years

Text

Of Piercings And Dreams

A/N: Based on my lovely convo with @constellunaa and @rivendell101! I’d write more but Tumblr is being a piece of shit and I’m one more lag from throwing my laptop out the window <3

A late night text from Natsu sends Lucy's mind down a oneway track to more-than-friendly places.

Pairing: Nalu, Fairy Tail

Word Count: 9707

Rating: M

Part: Part One, Part Two

Lucy jerked as she was torn from her laptop screen by her phone buzzing on her nightstand, eyes losing focus for a second as they left the brightness. Her screen read 3:14 AM and Lucy balked at the time, looking back at her screen to see she was on the eightieth chapter of a fanfic she had found at midnight and had decided to start against Levy’s warnings.

She looked back at her screen, still slightly shaken at having lost track of time so easily. It wasn’t her own fault though! The fic she had been reading was fixing all the plot holes and made the characters even more in character and Lucy’s fingers twitched to hit ‘next chapter’ before a second loud and grating buzz jarred her attention back to her phone.

She picked it up, confused and also a little pleased to see it was Natsu texting her.

Then she opened the message.

An image popped up, sending their previous conversation about whether or not animals were truly fit to rule the world scrolling upwards. Lucy blinked twice before typing her response.

Me - 3:16 AM: Natsu why did you send me a picture of a penis

Me - 3:17 AM: I don’t know if I WANT that to be your penis or not either but I’ll deal with that thought later

Lucy scrolled up again, eyeing the picture like one would a horrific car accident. Curious, but also hating yourself for being curious. It was a nice penis, considering the very few Lucy had experienced and could compare it to. It wasn’t discoloured or nightmare-fuel-looking, and the most prominent thing about the unexpected dick in front of her eyes was the small silver dumbbell through the underside of the head of it.

Natsu (red heart) - 3:17 AM: how sick would it be if I got my dick pierced like that???

Lucy sighed at her phone.

Me - 3:18 AM: Why are you looking at piercings at three in the morning

Lucy’s gaze flicked back up to the bottom half of the picture where the piercing was still visible, imaging Natsu grinning down at her as she ran her tongue over the bar and-

Bzz

Lucy squeaked loudly as she was torn from her impromptu fantasy, shame creeping up her face at imagining her best friend in such a non-best-friend way. She groaned loudly when she saw Natsu was trying to call her. Lucy hit answer, leveling Natsu her most unimpressed glare as his face popped onto her screen.

“Lushi!” Natsu cheered, eyes much too bright for someone that was awake at the same time as students either procrastinating or crying over their homework. Lucy had opted for the former. “So I was looking for a new tongue ring ‘cus my ball is boring now and then I got kinda distracted and stumbled on a thread about piercings and then saw this and it looks so fucking cool! Don’t you think it’d suit me, Luce?” Natsu rambled, grinning at Lucy. Lucy swallowed thickly, forbidding her tongue to let slip how much she thought it’d suit him.

“Don’t you think it’d be a bit painful? I mean, that is a pretty sensitive place to... you know...” Lucy trailed off and looking away from her screen.

“That’s why you’re coming with me, duh.” Natsu rolled his eyes at her apparent obliviousness.

“Uh, no I’m not,” Lucy said flatly. She smothered a grin at Natsu’s high whine, the screen in front of her blurring as Natsu flopped onto his back before focusing again. His bright pink hair splayed on the pillow in rosy spikes, the hint of black roots peeking out through the stark colour. A gold lip ring sat in the right corner of his mouth, metal slightly digging into his lower and drawing attention to how plump it was. Two single jewel piercings sat above his left eyebrow, one topaz and the other garnet, his right eyebrow unpierced but with a slight break two-thirds of the way outwards, a thin scar darker than his tawny brown skin breaking through the also pink-dyed hair. A second large scar stood out on the right side of his face, Lucy’s heart clenching slightly as it always did when she focused too much on the jagged burn scar stretching from his jaw diagonally up to just under the middle of his eye.

Lucy was grateful he never lost his smile after the accident on his final training run of his firefighting course, as selfish as it seemed considering his life had been on the line. Natsu without his smile just wouldn’t be Natsu though, and Lucy didn’t know what she would do if she lost any part of him.

“Please Lushi, I need you there with me!” He pressed, blinking his stupid big green eyes at her. Lucy pressed her lips together, determined not to give him and allow him to carry through with a frankly stupid late night -early morning?- idea. “You’ll be my bestfriend.”

“I am your bestfriend,” Lucy scoffed.

“Nu uh, Happy is! But if you go with me to Gajeel’s then you’ll definitely be my best bestfriend!” Natsu sang, wagging his eyebrows as if he was offering Lucy a years rent.

“If you think telling me I rank lower on your list than your cat is going to make me go with you more then you need sleep more than I do.” Lucy sniffed. Natsu pouted, narrowing his eyes at her through the screen.

“We both know we love Happy more than one another so don’t try and get out of this by bullshittin’ me,” he accused. Lucy blushed sharply at the talk of love, Natsu taking it as proof of his winning. Lucy mentally chastised herself, cursing her heart for jumping at the thought of him loving her. They were best friends, and in all five of the years that they had known each other he had never shown any interest in her or what she did romantically. At most he loved her like a sister, and Lucy had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying at that frankly depressing thought.

“Fine,” Lucy mumbled, unable to help her weary grin at Natsu’s loud whoop of victory.

“You’re a goddess Lucy!” Natsu said, Lucy blushing harder at his awed tone. She eyed her image in the top corner of the screen. Her hair was on it’s third day of not being washed and thrown up in a lazy bun, her pale skin makeup free and bags under her eyes from staring at a screen for several hours straight leaving her feeling spotty and gross. Goddess, ha.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucy waved off. She was stopped from bargaining to get back rubs out of him by Natsu sobering and speaking unexpectedly.

“I’m serious, Lucy. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Lucy blinked at him, shocked slightly at the almost confession. Natsu looked like he wanted to say more, but decided against it. “So how come you’re up anyway?” he asked, smile breaking across his face and dispelling the unexpected tension as quickly as it had come.

Lucy launched into a detailed description of the story she had been reading, eager to gush to Natsu about it. She rolled over, nestling her head into her pillow as she talked to Natsu. She smiled up at him when he asked questions despite having no clue what she was talking about, and Lucy’s heart sang as she looked at him. She waved her hand as she talked, distracted from Natsu’s face and the ungodly time just by simply talking with him, content for the moment with what she had, and convincing herself in the back of her head that she would always be content with just that.

Lucy blinked, panting as she looked up at Natsu.

“Just like that Luce, c’mon, keep doing it just like that.”

Lucy nodded, dragging her tongue along his shaft, holding his cock with one hand and resting her other on his bare thigh. His skin seemed to ripple under her touch, smooth and powerful and hers. She ran her tongue over the golden metal that pierced just under his head, mewling when Natsu tightened his grip on her hair, jerking against her tongue and lips as she played with his most sensitive areas.

“Fuck, you’re so amazing Lucy,” Natsu groaned, head tipping back and fingers biting into her scalp. Lucy hummed, swirling her tongue around his head with teasing laps. She grinned up at him, feeling the heat from his cock amplified by the metal resting against the flat of her tongue. His head throbbed lewdly in her mouth when she took him deeper, Natsu’s raspy groan making heat and wetness pool between her thighs.

He tasted of salt and musk, bitter on her tongue and almost searing as she took him further into her mouth. Heavy on her tongue, Lucy reveled in the feeling of him filling her mouth, piercing rubbing along her wet muscle as she massaged it and hollowed her cheeks on his thickness. Natsu groaned her name again, rocking up into her mouth. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, lifting her off his cock and guiding her by two fingers on her chin to him. His lips slated over hers hungrily, Lucy whimpering against him as she climbed into his lap, straddling him. She ground into his hips, burning pressure making her sigh with wanton pleasure as his cock pressed firmly against her mound and core.

“Natsu, I-” Lucy breathed against his lip, his piercing rubbing on her lip and sending shivers along her spine, fingers twisting in his hair at the base of his neck.

“Lucy, I’m gonna fuck you so hard,” Natsu groaned, hands slipping low and dragging over her skin, his fingers biting into her hips as he guided her grinding motions on his cock, throbbing against her lips and making Lucy cry out at the friction that made her toes curl. “I want you Lucy. You’re so perfect. Perfect for me in every way. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Lucy clawed at his back, sighing his name again as Natsu spoke against her neck, biting roughly at her skin afterwards. He kissed the mark in apology before sucking on it, ensuring a bruise to mare her skin. Claim her. Make her his.

Lucy raked her nails down his shoulder blades when he dragged one finger along her spine, teasing her and making her arch into him, mouth latched to her pulse as he tasted her again. He left trails from her neck to her jaw, a sensitive place just under her ear that made Lucy keen in his hold.

The taste of sea spray hung in the air, floating in from the open balcony doors overlooking the ocean, white curtains blowing in the breeze. Early morning light danced across the sheets behind them and made Natsu glow.

“Now Lucy,” Natsu growled, holding the back of her neck tightly as he ground her down on his hips roughly. Lucy sucked on his piercing on his lip, switching to the ball on his tongue when he thrust it into her mouth. The feeling of the scorching metal pressing on her tongue made lust flare through her bones, fire in her veins stealing thought from her mind as Natsu turned them over. Lucy laid out on the bed, arms thrown above her head as she panted and looked up at Natsu. He loomed over her, danger flashing in his dark and wolfish gaze, tongue swiping along his lower lip as he drew his eyes over her body, slow and greedy. Lucy felt his gaze as though he were touching her, arching into him and lifting her arms to him as she offered herself to him.

“Natsu, please,” Lucy begged, “I lo-”

“Lucy,” Natsu snarled, “I need you. Can’t you feel what your body does to me? When you make those slutty faces and sounds just by me touching you, I need to know what else I can take from you.”

Lucy saw stars from his words, desire catching in her throat and choking back her whine. She was pliant in his hands as he flipped her over, calloused pads of his fingers running along her shoulder as he gathered her hair to one side, revealing the side of her face to him.

“You’re so beautiful, Lucy. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you.” He sighed, breath coating her ear. He lifted her hips, Lucy’s hands tangling in her white sheets under her. “Fuck, Lucy, tell me you want me.”

“I want you,” Lucy breathed, “God, Natsu, I want you.”

“Tell me you want my cock,” Natsu growled, fisting at her hair. He gripped her ass with one hand, separating her curves so she was exposed more fully to him, his cock sliding along her soaked lips and between her ass in deep grinds.

“I want your cock inside me, please Natsu,” Lucy sobbed. She hugged his pillow to her, Natsu’s thick blanket soft against her skin. She loved his bed and how familiar everything about it was, how his smokey and spicy scent permeated everything and intoxicated her senses.

“Natsu!” Lucy cried, feeling blinding pressure push on her entrance, his head thick and his piercing rubbing on her clit sharply. He pushed in, slow as he stretched and filled her. “Natsu I love you!” she screamed, squeezing hard on his cock as she felt his piercing tease her inside, rubbing on her and creating extra friction and pleasure that made Lucy see fireworks behind her eyelids.

He thrust into her, hips slamming against hers like he hated her. He released her hair, gripping her hips with both hands, raising her higher and forcing her face into the sheets. The fabric swallowed her cries, body rubbing along the bed with each powerful movement of Natsu carving his cock into her core.

“You feel so good on my dick Lucy. So amazing, you take my dick like you were made for it. You were made for me Lucy. We were made for each other.”

Lucy wailed as Natsu’s cock ran over a spot deep inside her, his piercing massaging her like she’d never known, not from her hand or past boyfriends or even any toys she had played with. He was right, they were made for each other, Natsu everything Lucy had ever wanted and driving her wild as he fucked her hard into the pale cream silk sheets, flower petals scattered around her and low sensual music the backdrop floating through her head, over written by the sound of skin slapping skin and lewd grunts and groans and wails of sex.

“Natsu, kiss me, please, Natsu!” Lucy cried, forcing her eye open to look up at Natsu. He swore, voice so deep and hoarse it was no more than a rumble. He reached his hand under her head, thumb swiping across her lip as he pushed his palm between her cheek and the bed and lifted her face to claim her lips in an upside down kiss. Lucy’s back arched, Natsu cupping her jaw with one hand, thumb gentle as it stroked her cheekbone, his other hand softly caressing the front of her throat. His fingertips dug into her pulse when she groaned at the feeling of his hands on her skin, Natsu’s lips swallowing her sounds. His tongue pushed into her mouth easily, Lucy’s breath forced from her lungs with each rough thrust of his cock into her heat.

“Lucy,” Natsu snarled, Lucy’s hands tangling in the thin cotton sheets as he ravished her mouth and body with his own. Her breasts ached to be touched by him and her clit throbbed from neglect, but her body also begged her to keep his hands where they were. “Lucy, I’m gonna cum. You’re gonna make me cum, Lucy, fuck yes, so fucking good,” he breathed, kissing her again before she could respond. His tongue rubbed along hers, piercing addicting as it ran along the roof of her and clacked against her teeth as he tasted her, her nose brushing his chin.

Lucy lifted her arms, sobbing into Natsu as she tangled her hands in his hair and pulled harshly. Her hips rolled against his as best as they could in her awkward position, carpet digging into her knees almost painfully, large building blocks and stuffed animals shoved in the corner and leaving them with room to play themselves.

Lucy felt herself unravelling, his cock thick and filling her so full Lucy almost couldn’t breath. The stretch was delicious, her body only craving more with each rock and grind into her. His cock rubbed intoxicatingly on her walls, piercing sending jolts of pleasure each time she felt it press into her. The string pulled tight inside her was reaching the breaking point, Lucy’s eyes fluttering open as Natsu pulled back, his own emerald gaze piercing her through his heavy lashes.

Sunlight filtered through his hair, the scent of grass and pollen dancing around them making Lucy’s head spin at how lucky she was to have him as he took her in the middle of the clearing, camping gear forgotten by the stream.

“Make me cum, Lucy,” Natsu commanded. Lucy whined, Natsu’s grip tightening reflexively as her sound vibrated against his palm. She squeezed on him as tightly as she could, nails raking along his scalp as her body moved of it’s own violation. “Fuck, Lucy, cum with me. I wanna feel you cum on my dick, need to feel how good I fuck you. Show me how good I fuck your tight pussy, Lucy.”

Lucy unwound instantly, breath falling from her in a stuttering scream until her mouth was frozen open in a soundless cry, intense and overwhelming pleasure crashing over her as Natsu continued to pound his hips into hers. He stilled, snarling a single thing as he filled her with his cock and cum.

“Lucy, I love you!”

Lucy opened her eyes, rolling over and screaming into her pillow.

She was the worst. The absolute, most disgusting, worst person in the world. Her skin felt sweaty from her dream, slick heat pooled embarrassingly between her thighs, proof that her dream had actually happened. Or, well, that she had actually dreamed her dream. Either way, that wasn’t the part Lucy should be focusing on.

No, the part she should be focusing on would be that she had just had the most intense and wild sex dream of her life, and it had starred none other than her best friend.

She opened her eyes, glaring balefully at the clock beside her head, its red numbers mocking her. Her first day off in two weeks and now she had to sit around and contemplate what layer of hell she was going to be sent to when she finally died. Her body still ached at the phantom memory of Natsu inside her, fingers twitching as the stray thought to trail her fingers lower crossed her mind.

Nope.

Not happening.

Lucy could exercise some control, dammit .

She refused to sink to the level of masturbating to her best friend. Her stupid, sexy, model-hot, firefighting and animal shelter volunteering best friend. Who wanted a dick piercing.

Lucy’s libido was really fucking close to winning the longer she thought about Natsu.

Lucy knotted her hands in her hair and screamed into her pillow again.

She pushed herself from her bed, deciding a nice cold shower was what she needed, and then a cup of black coffee. She rubbed her face as she passed through her living room, flashes of Natsu’s sex flushed face and dark eyes and impish grin assaulting her closed eyes.

“Stupid Natsu,” Lucy growled to herself.

“Oi, what I’d do?”

Lucy screamed, tripping over the edge of her carpet as Natsu’s voice sounded from inside her apartment. She scrambled up, glaring at him and making him go pale from where he sat lounging on her couch. “Uh, yo?” he asked, hand still partially up in a meek wave.

“Why are you in here?” Lucy whined, trying to go for intimidating but her knee was kind of throbbing from where she fell and she hadn’t had any coffee yet and her hair could put a bird’s best to shame. The fear melted from Natsu’s gaze as he grinned at her, bright and innocent as if he hadn’t broken into her apartment at... Lucy didn’t actually know the time but she knew it was too early for this.

“I haven’t seen you for a week, Weirdo!” Natsu scoffed. He splayed out on her couch, swallowing hard as he looked away. “I’m allowed to miss my best friend.”

“While that is incredibly sweet we literally talked less than twelve hours ago,” Lucy chastised gently, her heart thumping fondly at how silly he was.

“Not in person, ” Natsu whined. His cheeks were slightly red as his gaze flicked to her before looking away. Lucy cocked her head at his strange behavior before looking down at herself.

And saw her tiny black thong peeking out from under her white sleep tank.

Lucy blushed hard, squeaking as she grabbed at the blanket under Natsu’s ass and dragged him to the floor as she yanked it out from under him.

“Why are you here?” Lucy whined again, part horrified and part annoyed. “And stop looking!”

“Not my fault you sleep in skimpy shit like that!” Natsu defended. He glared up at her from the floor, eyes trailing along her still bare legs before snapping up to her face in large circles. He seemed contrite enough at his wandering gaze so Lucy only made a high noise in the back of her throat and hit him in the face with a pillow. He fell to the floor with a low groan as Lucy huffed and marched towards her bathroom.

“I’m taking a shower and you better have my coffee ready when I’m out!”

She tightened the half-folded blanket on her hips, glowering as she slammed the bathroom door shut.

“Mraw.”

“Hello Happy,” Lucy sighed, banging her head on the door lightly. She looked down, smiling softly at the blue cat winding around her ankles. He headbutted her, meowing again. She sighed, stripping and leaving her clothes piled in the corner with her blanket. Lucy stepped into the shower and turned it on, biting her tongue as the cold water hit the top of her spine.

She ran her hands through her hair, allowing the water to trail down her body. She became aware of how close Natsu was to her, naked in the shower. Memories of her dream surfaced, Natsu's hot hands replacing the cool streams of water running along her skin. Between her breasts, along her stomach, dipping between her thighs...

“Mrooow.”

Lucy absolutely refused to get off in the shower thinking about Natsu when not only was he in her kitchen hopefully not burning her coffee but she also had his cat in the room with her.

She turned the knob as far left as she could, gritting her teeth as water that was one degree above ice washed over her. She could do this. No thinking bad fantasies. Lucy finished the rest of her shower quickly, focusing her thoughts on reading the back of her conditioner bottle rather than allowing them to wander.

She stepped out, grabbing towels and wrapping her body and hair in one each. Lucy smiled when she noticed Happy curled up on her clothes and blanket, content despite the threat of water so close to him. Lucy peeked her head out of the shower, glaring at Natsu's back as he fiddled in her kitchen as if she could mentally threaten to kill him if he thought of peeking. Not that Lucy had much of a leg to stand on, but details. Walking as quickly as she could without running, Lucy made her way back to her bedroom. She gathered her clothes, pausing as she tugged her jean shorts up when the bright blue fabric of her blanket caught her eye.

Her fists twisted in the fabric, teeth clenched around the pillow as she screamed his name. Natsu slammed into her, hand heavy on the back of her neck as he pushed her down into the sheets, skin burning against hers.

Lucy felt need build between her thighs at the dream-memory, quickly turning away and doing up the couple buttons left. Nope. Nuh uh. Lucy threw on her favourite top, the blue and white fabric tight and soft against her skin, ending just under her ribs. And well, if she forgot to put a bra on, who was she to be judged for rushing to make sure Natsu didn't burn her apartment down?

She hurried out of the room after ripping off her sheets and putting them in her dirty laundry pile, throwing her hair into a high ponytail as she made her way down the hall. The remnants of her unease drifted away with the smell of coffee and hazelnuts, Natsu waiting in her kitchen with two large cups in his hand and a bright smile on his face. Plue was jumping at him, paws pushing on his thigh as he yapped at Natsu. Happy called out as well from where he sat perched on top of her fridge.

“You always make it just how I love it,” Lucy smiled, taking the pink mug from him and inhaling deeply. Lucy took a sip, careful of the burning liquid but desperate for a caffeine fix. She moaned happily, basking in the nutty and sweet flavour on her tongue and the warmth travelling through her body. Looking up at Natsu, a different shiver of warmth trailed her spine at how close he was to her, Natsu’s grin fond as he looked at her over his own cup of black coffee with an almost lethal amount of sugar in it.

Deciding to take advantage of how oblivious Natsu could be, Lucy leaned into him. Her head tucked nicely under his chin, body pressed loosely to his as she rested her weight on him. “Whatcha doing, Weirdo?” Natsu asked, laughter in his voice. He held his coffee a safe distance away from both Lucy and Happy, his other hand resting on her head gently.

“Tired,” Lucy groaned into his shirt, nuzzling closer to him. She rested her coffee on the counter, uncaring of Happy sticking his muzzle or paw into her drink if it meant an excuse to get closer to Natsu. Natsu chuckled, wrapping his other arm around her as he continued to pet her head.

“So lazy. Lazy Lushi,” he teased, breath hot on her ear when he spoke. Lucy pouted, stepping on his toe slightly in retaliation. Natsu chuckled again, burrowing his nose into the hair by her temple. “Good thing today is Couch Day.”

Lucy cheered against his chest. She left her coffee on the counter, slinging both arms around Natsu’s neck. His chest shook against her as he scooped her up, walking back to the couch with Plue and Happy weaving between his steps. Lucy could sense his easy grin, toes curling in her thick socks as she took the few seconds to indulge herself in Natsu’s spiced hickory scent and the feel of his strong arms and torso against her body.

They fell onto the couch in a jumble, Lucy firmly on his lap as Natsu settled into the plush furniture with a grunt. “Our coffees,” Lucy whined, looking over Natsu’s shoulder at the pink and black mugs left on the counter. With a groan she pushed off Natsu. He moved to follow, falling back down with a sly grin when she leaned over him and pressed back his shoulder. She stuck her tongue out at him, padding back into the kitchen. Lucy returned quickly with their cups, stopping to grab her light cream blanket to throw over them. She handed Natsu his coffee, climbing back into his lap and cuddling against him, leaving Natsu to pull the blanket over them with a wry grin snuck at Lucy. She ignored how the way his eyebrow rose shifted the piercings in his skin, and how kissable his lip ring looked in the gentle mid-morning light that filtered in through Lucy’s thin curtains.

“One of your drama’s or that new wizard series?” Natsu asked, grabbing her remote from her coffee table and turning on her TV. Lucy shrugged, nuzzling deeper into Natsu and burying her nose in his neck. A shiver rolled through her as the thought of straddling and kissing his neck occurred to her, actions easy even if the fallout wouldn't be. Stupid Natsu and putting his dick in the forefront of her mind at three AM, now she was hyper aware of how close she was, sitting on his lap and a wiggle away from grinding down on him.

“You’ve wanted to watch that wizard show,” she mumbled. Natsu shivered slightly, and Lucy frowned. She knew she kept her apartment cold but she didn’t think it was that bad, especially because Natsu generally ran hot.

“Wizards and dragons!” Natsu sang, clicking play on the first episode of the series. Lucy giggled softly to herself at how eager Natsu was. She sighed, content again as she sat in Natsu’s lap and determined to stay that way, Happy and Plue curled around her feet on her couch.

Couch Days with Natsu were her favourite part of having days off. It was their own little pocket of the world, a place where Lucy and Natsu could just be Lucy and Natsu, and Lucy didn’t think she would trade that for anything .

Lucy groaned as she shouldered open her door, dropping her purse and laundry hamper beside her. Lucy was going to kill her stupid neighbour and their gackle of ten kids. Did Lucy look like she wanted to climb eight flights of stairs because there was no room in their dumb little community elevator? Honestly, what kind of person wanted that many children? Lucy could understand if she had been a foster home, but nope , her hoard of blond over blue children could all pass as fucking clones . And if Lucy had to have one more forced conversation about how the family was being forced to live in their vacation apartment while their home was under renovation Lucy was going to shove her last laundry packet into that stuck-up woman’s fat stupid gaping mo-

“Yo!”

“Natsu would you please either announce yourself when you break into my apartment or at least send me a text?”

Lucy lifted her head from where she had been banging it lightly on the door. Natsu was perched on her counter, legs swinging as he grinned at her.

“If you didn’t want me to come in then why’d you give me a key?” he asked. Lucy rolled her eyes at his smug eyebrow lift. Jackass.

“For emergencies .” Lucy complained. She shuffled her things into the entrance before closing the door, confusion making her tilt her head as she took in Natsu’s clothes. He still had his leather jacket and white pillowed scarf on, pale grey fabric of the sleeves and hood making his skin seem even richer and the colour of his hair more obvious. Usually he was the first to strip all unnecessary clothes and leave them scattered around Lucy’s apartment, and the sight of Natsu fully dressed to go out sent off warning alarms in Lucy’s head. “Why are you still wearing your shoes and jacket?” she asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Natsu beamed at her as he hopped off her counter, walking towards her. “My appointment at Blue Iron is in half an hour!” he said, grabbing Lucy’s laundry and placing it on the chair by her entrance closet.

“Wha- oh my God you were serious?” Lucy gaped. Natsu eyed her over critically, as if she might have a fever or had run head first into a telephone pole -which she had sadly seen Natsu do more than once.

“Duh, Weirdo. Did you snort some of that laundry powder again like when Happy knocked you over a year ago?” Natsu asked, resting a hand on her forehead. Lucy glared up at him, huffing as she rested her hands on her hips.

“Natsu as your best friend and apparently your damn brain I refuse to allow you to get your dick pierced.”

“But Lushi ,” Natsu whined, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her to his chest. He blinked large puppy-dog eyes at her, lower lip pushed out. “You said you would .”

Lucy held her resolve for all of two minutes before caving. She knew her face betrayed her by the way Natsu crowed in victory, crushing her and swinging her in a bear hug. Lucy groaned, limp in his arms as her feet swung a foot above the ground. “Okay, but when Gajeel starts laughing at you for crying I’m not stopping him.”

“Psh,” Natsu scoffed, looking down at her in offence, still holding her above the ground, “I ain’t gonna cry .”

“Natsu Dragneel you are having a needle put through your penis and then having a metal bar put into that hole. If you aren’t going to cry then my favourite colour is black.” Lucy said dryly. She couldn’t help but smile at Natsu’s pout, sighing heavily and pointedly until he put her down. “C’mon you dumb dragon, if we’re going to make your appointment then we should get going.”

Natsu cheered up instantly, grabbing her purse and hand as he dragged her out the door. “You’re the best Luce!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucy rolled her eyes, grinning at her flip-flop clad feet as she allowed Natsu to lead her back to the damn stairs. The walk down to Gajeel’s piercing and tattoo shop took about twenty minutes, Natsu filling the evening silence with idle chatter. About Happy, his and Gray’s -Natsu’s other best friend, even though Lucy knew he’d rather be pinned under a beam than admit- latest wrestling matches during down time at the station, his own random thoughts on what they saw as they passed. Lucy laughed along, arm slung through Natsu’s as they walked beside each other and throwing in her own stories or opinions. Natsu laughed loudly at her comment on a tree stump that looked less like foliage and more phallic, stopping in front of Gajeel’s shop. “You ready?” she asked.

Lucy grinned smugly at Natsu’s less than enthusiastic gulp, leading him into the shop and shaking her head at his sudden bravado when the tinkling bell chimed above their heads. Honestly, Lucy wouldn’t be surprised if he was going through with this just because Gray or his cousin had scoffed when Natsu mentioned it to them.

“So ya actually showed up, eh?” Gajeel rumbled, wiping his hands as he walked from behind the counter, markers and ink wells scattered on the glass top where Gajeel had been doodling designs.

Lucy smiled to herself, pleased at being right.

Natsu scoffed, puffing out his chest and walking with more of a cocky leen, Lucy completely unfooled as his arm tightened around hers. “I see ya brought Bunny Girl for emotional support,” Gajeel continued to drawl. Lucy rolled her eyes at the nickname. She gets drunk and gets one measly cute little bunny outline tattooed on her ribcage and suddenly it’s a nickname for life. “Wha’dya do, drag her out of her apartment?” Lucy pouted, looking down at her clothing. She thought it was cute and casual, an over sized t-shirt she had stolen from Natsu a couple years ago as payment for doing his laundry, black fabric soft and worn and red hockey team design faded with age, the front tucked into her high waisted shorts while the back trailed to just below the cuff of them. Her shoulders were exposed as the shirt hung loose, left one lower than the right.

“I’m here now and that’s what matters. So who’s doing Natsu’s piercing? I know Jet’s gotten pretty good-” Lucy brushed off, curious about who would be handling Natsu’s piercing.

“You crazy? Like I’d make any of my staff suffer by dealing with Strawberry’s junk here. Nah, I’m the one who’s handling Natsu’s appointment today.” Gajeel grunted, turning on his heel and walking to the back of the shop where the curtained off rooms offered some semblance of privacy. Lucy grinned at Gajeel’s back as they followed him. She knew him well by now, both from him being Levy’s fiance and being friends in their own right. He could bluff all he wanted, but Lucy knew Gajeel was doing this because he didn’t trust anyone else with his little cousin’s piercing. Why he had to be such a stubborn bastard about it was a thing that had eluded Lucy for years.

“You ready?” Lucy asked Natsu, pausing outside the curtain. His lips were pressed in a thin line, fingers tangling and playing with Lucy’s nervously where they held hands. He nodded, eyes pinched as he exhaled heavily through his nose. “Hey, just think about how cool it’ll look when it’s done,” Lucy said softly. Natsu’s gaze flicked to her, thankful as he gave her a tiny grin.

“You think it’ll look good on me?” he asked, voice a little higher than usual. Lucy gulped loudly, thoughts once more forced back to what Natsu’s dick would look like with a piercing, expanding to him naked and looming above her with a wicked grin, all danger and pink hair and dark skin and piercings and scars.

“Yeah,” Lucy rasped, throat suddenly dry. “I think it’ll look really good on you.”

Natsu flushed at her words, head ducking so his chin was tucked into his scarf slightly. “O-okay.”

Lucy nodded numbly, ushering Natsu into the room at Gajeel’s rough bark asking if Natsu was pussy-ing out.

“Remember, I’m right here,” Lucy whispered into his ear, squeezing his hand. Natsu gave her another small smile, more confident as he squeezed her back and settled into the black leather chair. Lucy perched on the stool beside his head, her knees just below his shoulders.

“Drop the pants, dipshit,” Gajeel grunted, fiddling with his plastic gloves and a sharp, thick looking needle. Lucy felt anxiety well in her throat for Natsu, no longer caring about the chance to sneak a completely platonic look at his dick -circumcised, Lucy’s subconscious was pleased to note- when faced with the reality that she was about to watch Gajeel put a fucking needle through it. Natsu made a low noise in his throat that reminded Lucy of a whine, doing as Gajeel said -if a little reluctantly and shaky. Natsu rapped his fingers on the chairs of the arm, tilted back slightly as his jeans and boxers were undone and open to reveal his length. Gajeel’s face twisted as he was forced to look at Natsu’s dick, but made no comment.

Lucy blinked when Natsu reached for her hand, giving him a gentle squeeze as they interlaced fingers. Natsu kept his gaze on his soon to be pierced dick, and Lucy rested a hand on the back of his neck, giving him a soft squeeze as she rubbed her thumb along his slightly clammy skin. She looked back at his limp length, Gajeel placing a pale blue piece of paper like on a bench of a doctors’ office on Natsu’s lap and swabbing the underside of his head with a q-tip .

“Oi,” Natsu called, flexing his grip on Lucy’s hand as he looked to Gajeel. “You have a fuck ton of these things- shut up I’ve overheard Luce’s convos with Levy I know way more ‘bout your dick than either of us are comfortable with but now you’re ‘bout to shove a fucking piece of metal through mine so fuck the pretenses is this gonna hurt like a bitch?”

Gajeel eyed him before snorting, gathering the needle and a clamp beside him. “The clamp’s gonna be more than a pinch and the actual needle’s gonna be a little bitch.”

Natsu grinned, a little forced but a little thankful, at Gajeel, letting out his breath through his nose before nodding. Gajeel grinned back, shifting his dick so Gajeel had better access to the underside of his head and began to gather the skin on either side of where the piercing would be. Natsu bared his teeth when the Gajeel clamped his skin but otherwise remained unaffected. Lucy continued to rub his neck with her thumb, biting her lip as she watched Gajeel gather the needle and place it beside his skin.

“Okay, Strawberry, three, two, o-”

Natsu whined as Gajeel punched the needle through him, skipping the last number. Natsu buried his head in Lucy’s lap, grip tight on her hand as he kept his lower body from moving. “Just breathe in and out and don’t pass out on me,” Gajeel grunted, less harsh and almost soothing. Natsu nodded his head, movement so small even Lucy almost missed it. She carded her hand through his hair, trying her best to soothe him and herself as she watched Gajeel line up the piercing with the end of the needle, pushing both metallic pieces through the hole until a little node was against Natsu’s skin, gold like the rest in his face.

“Just... one more... thing...” Gajeel mumbled to himself, focused as he wound the other ball onto the dumbbell and sealed off Natsu's piercing. He cleaned it with a fresh q-tip, the most professional Lucy had seen him all through the appointment. “There ya go, all pierced like a big boy. And ya didn't even cry in front of Bunny Girl!”

Natsu bared his teeth at Gajeel from where he twisted his head in Lucy's lap, either an attempt at a snarl or smile Lucy didn't think Natsu knew himself. She took the opportunity to check out Natsu’s new body jewelry. He was laid so the underside was to the ceiling, gold metal more obvious against his slightly reddened skin, but the hint of danger that his piercing gave his entire aura made Lucy bite her lip. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help but stare at it, her thighs clenching together as her body became more and more desperate to know what it felt like. In her hand, her mouth, her clit, her body...

“Oi Lucy, you want one for yourself?” Gajeel called, snapping Lucy from her highly inappropriate train of thought. She blushed under Gajeel’s knowing leer, lips pulled into an amused grin and his snakebites and centre lip ring making him seem more like a devil than his almost-red eyes and thick, black, mane of hair.

“What?” Natsu rasped, looking at Lucy. His eyes looked slightly glazed, distant as his gaze trained on her heated face.

“You ain't the only one to overhear their conversations, numbnuts,” Gajeel grinned, gloves thrown in the garbage and his body leaned back in his leather chair with his arms crossed over his broad chest smugly. “And I know how much Bunny Girl likes piercings .”

Lucy squeaked, playing with her earrings in her left ear, a dangly star and a crescent moon stud. She looked away, catching Natsu’s intense gaze, still far away as he looked at her direction. Lucy bit her tongue when he swallowed heavily, hand slipping from hers and resting on her thigh, palm on the inside and his thumb brushing the side of her knee. “Didn't know you liked that.”

Lucy inhaled, nodding. Natsu's grip tightened on her, hand creeping up so slowly Lucy was certain Natsu wasn't aware he was doing it. Time slowed around Lucy, something hot growing behind his fog that made Lucy feel like she was back in her dream.

“Fun little note, you can't have sex for a year.”

“ What?” Natsu snarled, whipping to face Gajeel.

Gajeel broke into gut-splitting laughter, almost falling out his seat. “Your fucking face!” Gajeel guwaffed, snorting as he continued to laugh. “Fucking shoulda caught that on camera! Nah, I'm just shittin’ on ya. But it's probably best if you keep Bunny Girl off your dick for four to six weeks, and ya won't be fully healed until four or six months so for fuck sakes wear a condom.”

Lucy squwaked, twisting away from Natsu and pouting when Gajeel grinned at her again. He lobbed a roll of gauze at Natsu, standing and stretching as he spoke. “Now wrap that shit so I'm not being forced to see it. You're gonna treat me to a steak sandwich for doing this, and I haven't had shit to eat today.”

Natsu grunted and rolled his eyes at his cousin, wrapping his new piercing with delicate hands. Once it was secured Natsu tucked it back into his jeans, pushing himself off the chair with a second grunt. Lucy followed after, steps faltering when she heard Natsu hiss in Gajeel's ear. “We ain't like that and you know it so stop it with that stupid shit.”

Lucy's heart sank to her stomach, but she forced the reality check down for a later time to cry about. She knew it, but she couldn't help the hurt at hearing Natsu confirm it. All her dreams were simply that, and the sooner she stopped whatever delusions like the one by the piercing chair had been the better their relationship would be.

“And you're buying me a milkshake for dragging me out of my apartment in my lazy clothes,” Lucy chimed, brushing past them with a forced grin and bounce in her step. She walked backwards for a bit, sticking her tongue out at Natsu's exasperated look.

Lucy had been raised on Jude’s ‘fake it until you make it’ approach to high society social interaction, and it was one of the only few things Lucy was grateful to her father for passing down to her. That and her ageless skin.

Not that she thought Natsu really cared about either of those things when faced with emptying his bank account for his cousin.

“Luce, come back to bed.”

Lucy looked up from her laptop, smiling as she let her gaze drag over Natsu, splayed in their bed and backlit from their tiny lamp that was still on. She stood up, closing her laptop before walking the three steps from her desk to their bed. Natsu shuffled over, leaving room for Lucy to fall into the sheets and snuggle into him. Their kiss was soft and slow, drawn out as though to reinforce that they had all the time in the world to be with one another.

“There's my girl,” Natsu sighed, lips warm as they brushed Lucy's. The kiss deepened, Lucy sighing happily as Natsu tucked her under him, holding himself above her on his forearms.

“I love you,” Lucy whispered, holding his face in her hands as she tangled her legs with his. She giggled at his bright grin, eyes soft and crinkled at the edges, piercings glinting in the light of the lamp.

“What brought that on, Weirdo?” Natsu hummed, peppering Lucy’s face with kisses and nuzzling any skin he could find but her lips. Lucy ran her hands through his hair, black roots longer now, a couple inches she would guess, which meant that she would have to dye his hair again on the weekend.

“I dunno. Just wanted to say it.” Lucy smiled, happiness sitting light in her chest and wiping all exhaustion the day had brought on her. “Because I can.”

“Yes you can,” Natsu chuckled. He caught her mouth in another sweet kiss, the weight of his body comforting as he settled further over her, the fingers on his right hand gently tracing her temple and brushing away golden strands of hair. “I love you too, Lucy.”

Lucy smiled as Natsu pressed another kiss to her, this one deeper and longer but still just as tender. She knew it was silly that she was so euphoric just from chaste kisses and cuddles under the blanket of night, but Lucy couldn’t find it in herself to banish the bubbly tingles that went from the tips of her toes and made her head light. Her nail raked along his scalp, rougher than before as the light feelings condensed into a low simmer in her gut, heat burning in her blood. Natsu remained silent, his wandering hands and the pressure of his tongue running along her lower lip and prodding at the seam of her mouth communicating his understanding of what Lucy wanted. His touch was burning and addictive as it slid under her shirt, fingers greedy and teasing as he cupped her breast and felt the weight of the large globe, no barrier between their skin as Lucy had discarded her bra hours ago.

Lucy hummed his name as he began to kiss along her neck, cool metal of his piercings a relief to her burning skin as they brushed against her. Natsu’s teeth drew a high noise from her throat as they dragged along her pulse, his touch rougher as he pinched one already stiff nipple, other hand cradling the back of her neck as he guided her to how he wanted her. Lucy’s arms snaked around his shoulders, holding onto him as he tasted her skin. Lucy dragged a thigh along the side of his body, moving upwards with slow and purposeful movements before sliding back down, her pointed foot teasing the inside of his own leg as she wrapped herself around him.

“And you call me the pervert,” Natsu chuckled darkly. He settled between her open thighs, Lucy chirping happily at the familiar weight and Natsu’s compliance to her silent wishes, both knowing the other so well words often were no longer needed.

“Because you are,” Lucy hummed happily, brushing the hair from his eyes. She loved how bright they were, his emotions always on his sleeve around her, even if his thoughts weren’t. Now was not one of those times, though, amused heat simmering in his heavy gaze, lips quirked as he looked down at Lucy’s own lightly flushed expression. “But so am I.”

Lucy tugged him down to a kiss sharply, demanding as she thrust her tongue into his mouth and along his, tasting him eagerly. She was done with slow and sweet, Lucy wanted to taste Natsu’s fire, burning and overwhelming and everything she craved. Words were nothing between them, Lucy and Natsu communicating through a trailed hand here and a catch of breath there, their clothes lost as easily as the passage of time around them.

A twinge of pressure and then Lucy’s breath was stolen at the sensation of being filled, Natsu thick and burning and focusing all of Lucy’s thoughts on him as his cock pressed into her. As slow as he kissed her he pushed in, Lucy moaning softly at the lights behind her eyes as his piercing rubbed at her favourite places, Natsu knowing her body better than he knew his own. They moved together, pieces of a puzzle that were always meant to fit in one seamless picture, neither fully complete without the other beside them.

Natsu kept his pace slow and deep as he rocked into her, new waves of pleasure washing over Lucy each time she lifted her hips to meet his, nails clawing at his back and leaving wakes of red behind.

“Fuck Lucy,” Natsu hissed, her hand fisting in his hair making his back arch in pleasure and his thrusts into her roughening at his own fog of lust. She tugged harder, desperate to hear more of his sounds. Lucy followed as he rolled on his side, dragging her with him, her leg curled over his hip and his grip biting into the flesh of her thigh.His other arm fit under her side, hand flat on her back and Lucy arching into his touch and crushing her chest to his. The agony of his touch was beautiful in that Lucy found herself craving more with every brush of his skin against hers and her mind driven wild with the one desperate need.

“Natsu,” Lucy whined against his lips, breath catching before another ‘I love you’ could fall from them, Natsu sealing her mouth with his in a forceful and demanding kiss. Lucy accepted his way of telling her that he felt all that she felt in the moment.

Lucy’s cries grew louder as Natsu’s grunts turned feral, teeth gentle as they latched at the sensitive skin just below her ear on her neck, soft tongue soon lavishing her neck with soothing and lewd licks, the feel of his metal piercing on his tongue making her toes curl as it pushed against her. Lucy tugged Natsu away from her neck, nibbling along his own pulse once it was revealed to her, tracing the way from his collarbone to his ear. Lucy gently tugged on his own double piercing, her lips curling in a soft smile at his low sound of pleasure.

“Do you know what you do to me Luce?” Natsu growled, his voice vibrating in his throat against Lucy’s lips as she trailed wet kisses along his dark skin. They rolled over again, Lucy beneath Natsu as he pinned her arms above her head, hands gentle but firm as they held her wrists to the pillows. Lucy panted up at Natsu, crashing his hips to hers as she tightened her legs around him, desperate to keep any part of their bodies touching that she could. “Fuckin’ drive me wild, Luce,” Natsu said, voice rough with lust and low, but he was so close to Lucy that she heard every word he was saying clearly. “You’re so perfect, Luce, so fuckin’ perfect.”

“I love you,” Lucy gasped, rolling her hips up to his and matching his fast and hard pace.

“God, I love you too Lucy. I love you so fucking much.” Natsu grunted, breath hot over her face and the heat was intoxicating as it consumed her fully. His grip tightened on her wrists, Lucy sighing in erotic pleasure at the tightness and the knowledge of the barely there bruises that would be leftover on her pale and creamy skin tomorrow and the tender kisses that Natsu would lavish her with when he saw them, a sly smirk and a dangerous twinkle in his eyes as he brushed his dry lips over the inside of her wrist.

Lucy’s words were lost in sobs and breathless screams as Natsu drove himself as deep and hard as he could, piercing massaging her spot inside that made her lose all grip on reality, body moving above hers hypnotic as his muscles contracted and stretched under taunt and sweat glistened skin. As he kissed her again Lucy broke, pushed too far to the edge for too long as she watched the man she loved move above her and return the burning passion with his emerald gaze that she knew was in her own.

“Lucy!” Natsu cried, burying his face in her shoulder and grip harsh on her wrists as he came, Lucy shuddering in pleasure as his cock throbbed and pulsed inside her. She felt him fill and coat her inside, inner muscles fluttering in the aftershocks of her orgams around his spent length. He dropped beside her, hands gentle as they released her wrists, tickling her own sticky and sweaty skin as they trailed from her wrists to rest on her ribs.

Lucy giggled again, meeting Natsu’s worn and dopey grin with a bright one of her own. She leaned towards him, brushing his nose with hers and drawing a scratchy chuckle from him at the motion. “I love you,” Natsu rumbled, and Lucy smiled again, unable or wanting to hold back her happiness at her place in their bed and his arms. She slung her leg over his hip as she pushed him onto his back, cuddling into his chest and leaving him stuffed inside her in a lazy desire of staying connected in a way that only he could be with her.

“I love you so much, Natsu,” Lucy mouthed against where his heartbeat thudded against her cheek. Natsu mumbled something that was lost to sleep, his arm snaking around her shoulder and pulling her tight to him, thumbs brushing her skin in soothing circles. Lucy smiled again as she drifted off, catching the final thing Natsu mumbled against her temple before she was lost to her dreams.

“I love you more, Weirdo.”

Lucy opened her eyes, staring up at the black ceiling above her. They drifted from the nothing above her to the clock beside her, desperate to stave off the rush of emotions swelling in her throat for a few seconds longer.

2:12 AM.

Tears broke the glaze that had stolen her vision and Lucy could only curl into herself, sobbing as pain crashed over her. The dream had been perfect , but that’s all it would ever be. A dream. Natsu would never love her or want her like that, she knew she would never mean that to him and the sooner she accepted it the sooner she would stop hurting. Lucy knew that she was important to Natsu, that she would never doubt, but she also needed to get it through her stupid, thick skull that she would never be his everything.

Not like he was to her.

All Lucy would do was ruin what she had with him if she kept allowing herself to want him like that, if she kept allowing herself to be in love with him rather than just loving him. Natsu was too important to lose, and Lucy would be damned if she let something as stupid as her own desires take him from her.

But in that moment, Lucy allowed herself to cry over things she knew would never be hers, and she mourned the loss of things that had only ever been a whisper of hope in the first place. The clock read a red, glaring 3:36 by the time Lucy cried herself to sleep again, still as far away from crushing out her feelings as she had been when she woke up.

#nalu #fairy tail #ftfanfics #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #gajeel redfox #nalu smut #just any writing #food tw #dick piercing #piercings #au #opad #ive spent over two hours trying to post this fucker

608 notes · View notes

takenews-blog1 · 6 years

Text

The difference between #good and bad #Facebooking

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/the-difference-between-good-and-bad-facebooking/

The difference between #good and bad #Facebooking

“Social media” is a slipshod time period that entangles enriching social interplay with senseless media consumption. It’s a double-edged sword whose sides aren’t correctly distinguished. Taken as a complete, we are able to’t resolve if it “brings the world nearer collectively” like Facebook’s new mission assertion says, or leaves us depressed and remoted. It does each, however our alternative and the tech giants’ accountability is to shift utilization towards “time effectively spent.”

Fortunately, Fb’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears able to embrace that accountability. “Time spent will not be a purpose by itself. We would like the time individuals spend on Fb to encourage significant social interactions,” he mentioned on its most up-to-date earnings name.

[Replace 12/15/17: Additional displaying Fb’s curiosity, at present it revealed its personal “Arduous Questions: Is Spending Time on Social Media Unhealthy for Us?” weblog submit with extra analysis to the identical conclusion because the science I cite beneath: it’s passive social media utilization that depresses us, so we have to have interaction.

Fb notes it’s pledged $1 million in the direction of youth expertise utilization and well-being analysis. It’s formally launching a Snooze function we noticed testing in September that permits you to disguise an individual, Web page or Group for 30 days in the event you want some peace. And it introduced it’ll host a summit subsequent yr for teachers and leaders to look at digital distraction, multi-tasking, and focus. However the submit solely suggests extremely oblique methods of addressing senseless consumption, relatively than any purposeful interventions.]

It’s not only a Fb challenge. Notification-spamming cellular app builders, video platforms like Netflix and YouTube and video video games from Sweet Crush to Name of Responsibility must get up to how their design decisions can squander our consideration and stifle our sanity. However Fb, with its ubiquity, roaring enterprise, idealistic management and alternative to advertise what’s optimistic about expertise is uniquely positioned to sound the alarm.

To vary conduct, we first must discover the analysis and measure the distinction between connection and distraction.

Late at night time or missing power or dropping focus, I and lots of others usually flip to Fb. Scrolling its countless feed can ship pleasant little doses of dopamine. A photograph of a buddy or a information hyperlink provides us the momentary sensation of carrying out one thing, even when it’s simply studying some tiny bit of knowledge, regardless of how irrelevant. We all know we may very well be preparing for mattress, or contacting somebody we care about or getting work finished, however nothing’s simpler than giving in to craving for an additional digital content material snack.

Fb is the proper entice for our consideration, particularly when our will is weak. Algorithmically sorted feeds deliver the perfect content material to you with no effort, a easy click on helps you to dole out a Like and it doesn’t matter what time of day or how a lot you browse, there’s at all times one thing new. There’s FarmVille and Watch movies and information Developments and Tales to imbibe.

Different platforms have completely different lures. Scanning smartphone alerts saves you from awkward real-life conditions, Netflix binges can final days and there’s at all times one other degree to beat or opponent to kill in cellular and console video games.

I do know that these prolonged consumption classes, significantly on Fb, don’t go away me feeling good or glad. My mind appears jumbled and overcrowded with information. My physique appears sapped of energy like I’m in a greasy fast-food coma. And the time I frittered away swimming pools in my abdomen as sinking remorse about what I might have finished. With the typical person spending round an hour a day on Fb’s merchandise, the implications stack up shortly.

However then again, there are the social interactions that remind us why Fb exists and why we come again so usually.

You share one thing that spurs a swath of jokey remark threads with mates or ship earnest condolences to a buddy who misplaced a beloved one. You geek out with fellow hobbyists or plan political motion in a Fb Group. You uncover an artwork gallery opening or get together down the road and invite friends to affix you, or see that an previous buddy is visiting city and attain out to catch up in individual. And thru Messenger, you may strike up a convo with somebody you may see is on-line, or chuckle concerning the world in a rollicking group chat.

Moments of this nature deepen bonds together with your quick circle, cement you into a bigger group, hold previous relationships from dying out, foster connections with these aligned by curiosity or circumstance and set off real-world meetups. They’re energetic, participatory and interesting. They aren’t isolating or misanthropic or a waste. They’re actually social, even with a display in between.

These two units of behaviors deserve distinction. Unhealthy versus good, passive versus energetic, depleting versus enriching. There are methods to make use of Fb and social media and different applied sciences that ask little of us however take a lot, and those who require power and spirit however pay it again with dividends.

Scientific analysis exhibits simply how contrasting their impacts could be. So once we speak about time spent, let’s make sure to differentiate. In any other case we throw the newborn out with the bathtub water, or let the rotten apples smash the bunch.

For years, Fb tried to focus on analysis displaying it introduced individuals out of filter bubbles and helped them rating jobs.

However now Zuckerberg himself is citing research displaying the extra combined influence of Fb, the place the impact is dependent upon how you utilize it, not simply how a lot. “Analysis exhibits that interacting with family and friends on social media tends to be extra significant and could be good for our well-being, and that’s time effectively spent. However once we simply passively eat content material, which may be much less true,” Zuckerberg mentioned on the Q3 name.

He could have been particularly referring to a 2015 examine by Kross and Verduyn that discovered that experiment contributors who used Fb actively for 10 minutes felt the identical or just a bit higher, however those that used it passively felt worse.

A examine discovered individuals spend extra time passively utilizing Fb than actively utilizing it

“Our experimental manipulation led individuals within the passive Fb utilization situation to really feel roughly 9% worse on the finish of the day in contrast with baseline. In Research 2, intense passive Fb utilization predicted a 5% lower in affective well-being over time” the examine exhibits. It additionally worryingly discovered that individuals spent considerably extra time passively Facebooking.

The core driver of this decline in well-being was envy and social comparability. Individuals felt that everybody else’s lives have been extra entertaining and glamorous than their very own, and that everybody else was care-free whereas they themselves have been wracked with stress and bother. “Frequently exposing oneself to optimistic details about others ought to elicit envy, an emotion linked to decrease well-being,” the authors wrote.

This was exacerbated by “success theater,” a time period popularized by The New York Occasions’ Jenna Wortham to explain how individuals solely present the perfect facet of themselves on social media, and conceal all of the warts of actual life. Individuals basically carry out their life as if it was theater, hoping to make a very good impression.

Success theater works, on social media or in any other case. A 2011 examine by Jordan et al. discovered that “individuals might imagine they’re extra alone of their emotional difficulties than they are surely.” That’s as a result of individuals underestimated destructive feelings and overestimated optimistic feelings of their friends.

A examine in 2013 by Krasnova et al. discovered that 20 % of envy-inducing conditions that experiment contributors skilled have been on Fb, and that “depth of passive following is prone to scale back customers’ life satisfaction within the long-run, because it triggers upward social comparability and invidious feelings.”

Passive Fb utilization results in envy, which ends up in declines in life satisfaction

Fb customers may even exhibit a “self-promotion – envy spiral” the place they more and more undertake narcissistic behaviors and glorify their lives in an try and compete with the remainder of their social graph. A longitudinal examine by Shakya and Christakis in 2017 with a bigger topic base than many different Fb well-being research discovered that plenty of Liking and hyperlink clicking led to declines in individuals’s psychological well being.

But when research checked out energetic Fb conduct, they discovered some indication of optimistic repercussions, as Jon Brooks found in a glance throughout Fb well-being analysis for NPR.

A 2012 paper by Deters et al. discovered that experimentally inducing elevated standing updating “decreased loneliness . . . as a result of contributors feeling extra related to their mates each day.” Sensible et al. present in 2010 that immediately speaking with mates on Fb led to contributors reporting nice feelings, however not when passively skimming via the location.

And to get right down to the nitty-gritty, Kraut et al. reported in 2015 that “Receiving focused, composed communication from robust ties was related to enhancements in well-being whereas viewing mates’ wide-audience broadcasts and receiving one-click suggestions weren’t.” Basically, energetic commenting by mates boosted individuals’s feelings whereas Liking didn’t.

The scientists aren’t the one ones satisfied Fb can have a destructive affect on our lives. Former workers and pundits are talking up, too.

We’ve reached the daybreak of an period of reckoning with the unintended penalties of expertise. The faux information scandals and Russian interference surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election have landed Fb, together with Twitter and Google, within the hotseats of congressional hearings. If ever there was a time for Fb to look nearer at what it truly is and what its influence could be, it’s now. Meaning enhancing election safety, preventing harassment, removing disinformation, but in addition reconsidering its design ethics.

Fb’s basic counsel Colin Stretch will get grilled by Congress over Russian interference into the presidential election by way of Fb

Ex-Facebookers aren’t shy to voice their views.

“The short-term, dopamine-driven suggestions loops we’ve created are destroying how society works,” mentioned former Fb VP of person development Chamath Palihapitiya. Employed in 2007 to assist Fb conquer the world, the founding companion of VC fund Social Capital appears to have had his conscience meet up with him. “I feel we have now created instruments which can be ripping aside the social material of how society works,” he says, asking leaders of the world to not feed the beast of optimizing engagement whereas forbidding his kids from utilizing these sorts of merchandise.

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 29: Chamath Palihapitiya of Social+Capital Partnership speaks onstage on the TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 at The Manhattan Heart on April 29, 2013 in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Brian Ach/Getty Pictures for TechCrunch)

[Update 12/15/17: Palihapitya softened his comments in a follow-up Facebook post noting that “For all the ensuing controversy, I genuinely believe that Facebook is a force for good in the world” before saying “the important thing is what we as an industry do now to ensure that our impact on society continues to be a positive one. Facebook has made tremendous strides in coming to terms with its unforeseen influence and, more so than any of its peers, the team there has taken real steps to course correct.”]

Fb’s first president, Sean Parker, remembers that “The thought course of that went into constructing these functions, Fb being the primary of them, . . . was all about: ‘How will we eat as a lot of your time and acutely aware consideration as attainable?’ ” Now he says “I don’t know if I actually understood the implications . . . It most likely interferes with productiveness in bizarre methods. God solely is aware of what it’s doing to our kids’s brains.” It’s telling that public figures with their social and monetary standing wrapped up in Fb are keen to criticize it so publicly.

“One motive I feel it’s significantly vital for us to speak about this now’s that we stands out as the final era that may keep in mind life earlier than” former Fb product supervisor and Like button co-creator Justin Rosenstein informed The Guardian. [Disclosure: Rosenstein is a friend of mine]

Now the co-founder of productiveness startup Asana, Rosenstein wrote on his Fb that whereas he’s grateful to have labored there and thinks it could actually foster compassion, “We technologists can take accountability for mindfully designing instruments that assist customers align their consideration with their intention.” Denoting the dualism of social media utilization, he says that “Once we do, expertise is a robust software for serving to us collaborate towards our highest targets; once we don’t, we relinquish management of ourselves, and probably our democracies,” and calls distractedness a “bug in our collective programming.”

Sean Parker

Even Snapchat has acknowledged the hazard of intermingling social and media evident in Fb’s Information Feed. Its newest replace separates mates from skilled content material publishers to create a extra overtly interactive wing of its app.

Maybe probably the most vocal critic of exploitative apps is Tristan Harris, the previous Google ethicist who has created a motion across the idea of “Time Effectively Spent.” That features designing “Do Not Disturb” expertise for rejecting notifications and staying cognizant of your social media conduct.

“This challenge of what Fb ought to do isn’t just about whether or not or not Fb causes individuals to remorse the time they spent, or that individuals are sad about spending a sure period of time on social media, or that it’s about distraction. None of these factor are what Time Effectively Spent is absolutely about,” Harris says. “The factor that’s so disconcerting proper now’s that the eye extraction enterprise mannequin implies that loneliness, due to the period of time individuals spend taking a look at screens, is nice for enterprise.”

Tristan Harris, chief of the Time Effectively Spent motion

The time for change is now as a result of issues are poised to worsen.

We’re shifting from text-based communication to visible communication with Fb’s adoption of the Snapchat Tales format throughout its apps. Whereas Tales have been designed to allow you to be uncooked and unpolished, past the highlights you submit to the everlasting Instagram feed, they’ve simply made signalling your standing and inducing envy a extra fixed recreation.

Augmented actuality and particularly digital actuality have the potential to inject expertise between us and the world round us. It is going to be even simpler to get misplaced in these applied sciences, abandoning actual life for a digital one, or use them as substitutes for human interplay, querying an eye-piece for instructions or suggestions as an alternative of asking a neighborhood.

And most significantly, the method of worldwide smartphone saturation provides everybody and countless distraction always. A damning Atlantic article blames smartphones for teenagers sleeping much less, getting their driver licenses later and even delaying intercourse. Our brains simply didn’t evolve to withstand a glowing, transferring display filled with random details and bottomless leisure. Everybody deserves the occasional second to show off their minds, bask in some guilty-pleasure leisure and revel in the brand new opiate of the plenty: our telephones. However with out mindfulness about once we’ve had sufficient, indulgence spills into habit.

The fracturing of consideration is the disaster of this era, and we’d like motion. However consideration is the middle of a brand new tragedy of the commons. There’s at all times another person keen to use it, main us down darkish and countless paths of passive consumption. That’s why Fb, as the largest participant within the consideration financial system, should step up.

I’ve questioned Fb and its VR division Oculus for years about analysis into well-being and web habit. It by no means had a lot to share, and even gave indications that it was taking the problem significantly.

For higher and worse, the corporate is populated by optimists who’re expert at seeing the best-case situations, however typically miss the worst. That’s led it to be caught off-guard by privateness mishaps, balancing censorship and security and thwarting abuse. Regardless of its huge attain and energy, the corporate wasn’t ready for concerted disinformation campaigns by Russian election meddlers.

I anxious it will take a psychological well being tragedy for Fb to get critical about investigating the sources of destructive feelings stemming from its service and constructing enhancements into the product. However just lately, Fb put me in contact with David Ginsberg, director of analysis for Fb, who’s been working to ramp up Fb’s response to the specter of passive misuse.

“The expertise is grappling with elementary questions on well-being and the function expertise performs in individuals’s lives,” Ginsberg tells me. “We would like Fb to be a spot that contributes to your life in a optimistic means. We notice we don’t have all of the solutions, however we’re investing in analysis, individuals and product growth to assist get it proper.”

Right here’s a video with a deeper have a look at Ginsberg’s staff:

It’s additionally confidence-inducing to listen to Zuckerberg say that he’s greater than keen to place person well-being forward of Fb’s enterprise priorities. “Defending our group is extra vital than maximizing our income,” he mentioned on the Q3 name. “It’s vital to do not forget that Fb is about bringing individuals nearer collectively and enabling significant social interactions; it’s not primarily about consuming content material passively.”

Fb has already begun to realign its product round bringing the world nearer collectively, and that features many options to stoke energetic participation.

Teams have been an enormous space of growth for Fb this yr, with it organizing a complete summit for Group admins the place it launched new options for locating, moderating and analyzing these area of interest boards. Whereas the Information Feed can really feel like a circus dominated by one-way broadcasts about surface-level themes and every day ephemera, Teams are extra like a café the place deeper dialogue on esoteric subjects can thrive.

Fb reordered the Information Feed to place “mates first,” preferencing unique content material sharing that may spark private interplay over copy-and-pasting articles. There’s now a purposeful method to solicit suggestions with a standing replace, which frequently result in vibrant remark sections of individuals sharing their favourite locations. These remark reels can morph into chat-like threads on desktop that stick with you for swifter replies as you browse the location. In truth, the entire design of remark threads has been refreshed to look extra like chat bubbles to catalyze extra back-and-forth.

Fb final yr launched a standalone Occasions app to assist individuals discover what’s happening offline and attend with mates. Now it’s rebranded it as Fb Native with the inclusion of eating places and landmarks with critiques from mates in hopes of serving to you leverage your group to get probably the most out of your metropolis. Simply at present, Fb was noticed increasing exams of an offline Meetup planning function for Teams.

Maybe most significantly for encouraging wholesome utilization, Fb Messenger now exhibits who’s energetic atop the house display to stimulate conversations. It’s been aggressively pushing video chat, which noticed twice as many classes in 2017 as 2016. New options for sharing location, planning and even taking part in multiplayer video games like Phrases with Associates discourage customers from zoning out. Instagram, too, has been pushing extra energetic communication via enhancements to direct messaging and a complete standalone app for the function.

Fb can also be adapting to its accountability for the welfare of its customers. Although controversial, it’s rolling out proactive detection synthetic intelligence to seek out customers displaying alerts of potential self hurt or suicide and notify mates or first-responders earlier than their content material is even reported. And the Group Assist product makes volunteering viral, so neighbors can supply or search help after pure disasters or different crises.

Zuckerberg’s acknowledged method to boosting Time Effectively Spent is way from game-changing. “When finished effectively, video brings us nearer collectively,” he mentioned on the Q3 name. Some will say it merely furthers Fb’s enterprise targets of driving extra profitable video advert views, however it’s additionally pragmatic. If video is the simplest method to waste time on Fb, and other people already spend hours a day on fully asocial tv, just a little effort might go a good distance.

“We’ve discovered that communities shaped round video like TV exhibits or sports activities create a higher sense of belonging than many different kinds of communities . . . However too usually proper now, watching video is only a passive consumption expertise,” Zuckerberg says. “So we’re going to focus our merchandise on all of the methods to construct group across the video that individuals share and watch. That’s one thing Fb can uniquely do.”

How that may occur isn’t precisely clear, however I’ve some concepts. Relatively than funding one-off Information Feed movies or asocial unique programming, Fb might funnel cash towards content material creators who make Reveals with thriller or subjective narratives that may develop surrounding communities the way in which Misplaced did. Fb might additionally develop its new Creator app for video makers to allow them to begin in-app fan golf equipment the place their prime followers can forge connections and cheer their favourite influencers on collectively.

Nonetheless, these approaches are all oblique. Fb has an opportunity to handle the issue head on by speaking with customers it thinks are caught in a rut.

In my least-healthy Fb conduct sample, I’ll browse for a half or complete hour, make a fast loop previous Twitter and e-mail, after which go proper again to Fb’s Information Feed. I’ve even caught myself reloading Fb whereas nonetheless on Fb, or closing the app on my telephone and staring on the house display like a zombie earlier than reopening Fb once more. There’s extra Fb might do to shake me out of those cycles.

Fb ought to have the ability to be taught via quantitative and qualitative analysis that this doesn’t make me really feel good. The identical goes for lengthy classes of lurking with out commenting or interacting a lot. An enormous step ahead for Ginsberg and Fb’s analysis staff can be determining how you can measure passive use, and establish flags that point out I might use some intervention.

What if when Fb noticed you mindlessly scrolling, it confirmed a giant field within the Information Feed suggesting you message your closest mates who’re at the moment on-line? Or it purposefully began surfacing energetic remark threads you may leap into, gave a immediate for one thing to share and even provided a reminder of how a lot time you’d spent shopping at present?

If Fb is keen to make this dedication to person well-being, not in phrases however in product modifications, it might begin an industry-wide pattern. Customers might develop to count on their apps to look out for his or her well-being relatively than exploit their consideration. Finally, tech firms that unabashedly abuse their customers might lose them.

That’s all only a dream for now, although. Probably the most we would count on is for Ginsberg’s staff to get extra funding, extra clout, extra buy-in from Fb’s numerous groups, and extra of a mandate to incite change. The options Fb proposes may at finest chip away on the downside relatively than deal with it in earnest.

Sadly, Fb’s enterprise mannequin is immediately tied to consideration. The extra time spent, effectively or not, the extra advert views it racks up and the extra money it makes. Whereas this mannequin lets Fb supply itself to customers without spending a dime, together with those that might by no means afford a subscription price, it strongly disincentivizes any giant scale modifications that might dramatically scale back common utilization time, even when it boosted satisfaction. “We’ve got to decouple consideration from revenue” Harris protests, however that’s a a lot greater process than including a number of benevolent pixels.

And so it’s possible us who should rescue our consideration and bend our conduct again towards what makes us really feel good long-term. Meaning commenting one thing private relatively than simply Liking, messaging mates relatively than spying on their profiles and being susceptible in what we share.

We don’t need to fake life is ideal, particularly to the detriment of our mates. The occasional crack within the veneer might help individuals see what’s actual about us. It would take braveness to personal our flaws, open up about what’s hurting, and admit once we need assistance. And it’ll take effort to forged off the idle inertia and concern of awkwardness that retains us from speaking.

We’re fated to spend an increasing number of time interacting via expertise. It’s our alternative whether or not we spend it purposefully.

#Facebook #FarmVille #However #like #Mark Zuckerberg #Netflix #photograph #Social Media #Tales #YouTube

0 notes

survivor-switzerland · 7 years

Text

EPISODE 8: I ASKED LIKE FOUR DUMB QUESTIONS - JEV

Rip Queen Renee

Renee if you're reading I'm deeply sorry for not being able to do anything or just me being a sissy on making a move. I really did want us to work together but I couldn't do much because I didn't have the numbers or the balls to save you.

Okay... Now it's time to get my shit together...

Sidenote: I've been addicted in sending gifs since we lost that challenge so whatever...

Anyway here's some refreshing tea. So yeah before the vote I was talking to Nick and I brought up the possible advantages that the remaining OG Matterhorn have and he said to me that he thinks Abel has it since he was quick to pin the idol on Daisy. Nick then said that if Daisy did have an idol then she would have used it to save her allies, BUT wait here's the most interesting part. After like hours I back read my convo with Nick because I was bored and I noticed that he removed the message where he specifically said Abel's name. That's alarming and I promise I am not making this shit up! I know he dropped Abel's name.

Also some other news I think this vote strengthened my bond with Brett maybe?? Idk if he was just telling me all this stuff to not let my emotions overturn my vote since he was telling me about how I'm his favorite takeaway from this season, how I'm so like his boi Keegan and how I'm so calm when playing the game.

Me? Being calm in this game? Does he even know how I have been this last day?! I was like this.

Now that we got this challenge, we ABSOLUTELY MUST WIN THIS CHALLENGE!!

I have a feeling I'm channeling Brittany for this challenge cause I have no clue about survivor players. I have barely watched any full seasons!!!! Oops !!! Google to the rescue!!!!

EPISODE 8

I went out on Day 19 of Tumblr Survivor: Myanmar. It is now Day 20 and I have officially surpassed my previous self in length of stay--just not quite in placement yet. What can I say? Trevor was super hard for double tribal councils. I still have to survive 3 more tribal councils to beat my placement.

I am now a part of two alliance chats--one of my choosing and one that I sort of got roped into. My first alliance is with Ashley Sarah, Ian, and the kidnapped Tyler who may or may not survive the next vote if we win. Then there's an alliance I've been thrown into with Dom (whom I adore), Nick, and Benjamin. If we lose this upcoming immunity challenge, I am going to be a fat cat desperately trying to squeeze through a fence. It's not going to be cute and I stand to lose the most.

The immunity challenge was Guess Who: Survivor Edition. I am very familiar with this challenge because in my last Survivor game (the Facebook main), I went out on a final 4 tiebreaker on this challenge. My opponent and I tied for the best average in the ORG's history, but since we had tied, it came down to time--mole style, and I was slower by a few minutes. Oh well. At least I won Player of the Season. Anyway, I volunteered to take the lead in this challenge. I did this for two reasons:

1. I'm easily the most methodical person (NOTE: not the smartest, but the most methodical) on this tribe of teenagers and Ashley Sarah.

2. I can't trust these goobers to play this smart and I don't want to go to tribal council.

Nick, Dom, and Benjamin were also available to do the challenge with me, but I made absolutely certain that I was in the driver's seat--it was a risk in terms of people perhaps perceiving me to be bossy or think I'm smarter than others, but when weighing that with the possibility of going to tribal council, I erred on the side of keeping everyone safe instead of just myself. We'll see if it was the right decision long-term.

Our team had great luck in the initial wearing down of the roughly 400 options. In the end, we nearly always floundered at picking the right person in the last 2-3 options. We were the worst. And I was fearful because if Monte Rosa had some good luck juju, we would be going to tribal council with me leading the march as the captain of the challenge. Yikes. Fortunately, we won by 3 questions, defeating Monte Rosa!

I'm definitely worried for Tyler's well-being. I don't see them voting out Logan because Logan collaborated with a lot of those goobers in the demise of Trent, Daisy, and Lily, so I can't see why they wouldn't continue to work with him. Hopefully they see Maximilian as an unfriendly, antisocial booger and send them to the curb, but that would just be wishful thinking, wouldn't it?

I'm so mad at myself, I asked like four dumb questions during the challenge and we pretty much lost because of that. Now I'm worried that I'm going to be in hot water with the rest of the tribe because they might blame the loss on me. 2/3 of the people who helped me with the challenge I am aligned with or have previously been aligned with so hopefully they don't blame me and I'll survive this vote. Wish me luck :(

So... Me, Luke and Zack are talking about the vote and we are all in agreement that we want to take out Max or Logan this round. Personally I feel like the smartest move would be to take out Logan as I worry he has quite strong social connections with a lot of people in the game, while Max is just kind of there and blends in with everyone, so not much of a threat to us right now.

I'm going to keep both options in mind for now, but if this round goes the way I want it to then Logan will be the one getting snuffed.

So I wake up at around 6AM to see that my tribe had already done the challenge lol and we ended up winning!! Woo amazing!!

So hopefully Tyler remains alive on the other tribe and a merge comes in after this round. I don't know what's gonna happen at Monte Rosa's tribal so I'm praying Tyler survives. I'm worried since the information I got from Renee (I MISS YOU!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!) is that Abel and Zack are close. Abel and Luke have been together from the beginning and they could very well include Jev because he's OG Matterhonr and Logan could stick with Luke. Hopefully Tyler uses his connection with Zack to survive. Ideally I'd like another OG Matterhorn to go but I don't see that happening.

Ciao!

[5/14/17, 11:42:04 PM] Abel: you’re a taurus

[5/14/17, 11:42:11 PM] Abel: i’m a leo

[5/14/17, 11:42:13 PM] Daisy (Bahamas Host): yeah!

[5/14/17, 11:42:15 PM] Daisy (Bahamas Host): oh cool!

[5/14/17, 11:42:33 PM] Abel: no not cool tf our signs hate each other!

AND WE DID HATE EACH OTHER

So after the first swap I was the king. I had my whole tribe eating out of the palm of my hands. They were sheep being led to slaughter. I was running the show I knew that much. And then suddenly everything changes. I picked Zack and allowed for his clique of home of sexuals to be on my tribe because I figured it would be safe. And while I do feel safe I'm not necessarily happy with this tribe. I'm back to being Zack and Jev's bitch and now they have Tyler so unless Luke has a change of heart it looks like Logan and Max are fucked. Max seems nice but idk much about them. Logan on the other hand is a gem and I feel so bad that he's in such a sticky situation. I honestly am not scared of Logan and his friends at the merge? Like I think I've built enough relationships in enough places that regardless of what happens at the merge that I'll be going pretty deep.

Whew that was close!!!! Thank the lord Brett and nick know their survivor players and guessing tips!!! Mvps!!!!

TRASH. ZACK AND JEV ARE TRASH. SO OUR IMMUNITY STREAK OF 1 HAS COME TO AN END BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO MESS AROUND DURING THE IMMUNITY CHALLENGE LIKE THE FUCKFACES THEY ARE AND NOW WE'RE GOING TO TRIBAL BC THEY WANTED TO THROW THE CHALLENGE AND KILL LOGAN

Okay so... apparently Luke and Zack have decided that the vote is going to be Logan tonight... without really consulting me?? Like I'm down to do it but I wish we were talking more about it rather than Zack just being like "Jev you do this, Luke you do this and such and such will do this" Like... does he not realise it could possibly go wrong?

The whole plan is for Me/Luke/Tyler/Abel to vote Logan while Zack throws a vote at Max just to be safe, but if Logan pulls out an idol then it could be a tie between Max and one of us if he's on to it at all. I'm just so STRESSED because I don't want this to bite any of the three of us in the ass.

At this point in the game, I know I've been super fortunate to have TC #8 be my first! And to be very honest you would think I would be upset that we lost but I'm really not.

From the start, Logan has always been nice to me to my face. But what he doesn't know is I know what's gone on before this game started. I know that he has a friend who I've once played with almost a year ago in another side org and he hates my guts. Logan wanted to vote me out the first second he got once we ended up together on original Monte Rosa. So I've just been WAITING for this moment to strike back before he's able to give me. The soul reason I even chose Logan over Ben in the tribe swap was because I wanted to vote him off the first second we lost an immunity just to retaliate. It's sad that I have to base this vote off of something that happened before this game started, but I have to protect myself at all costs. Not to mention he's in the same friend group as Dom and Nick! Which is just a nightmare waiting to happen if the 3 of them get back together. So I'm ready to get this tribal over with in all honesty because there's a new force to be reckoned with in Switzerland.

Hey so i just wanted to make a quick confessional. Nothing has happened for us but if we don't merge or swap after this, ian is probably going to be the one going. but i hope we merge wooo

This round has been by far the messiest to date, I've heard things about the possibilities of idols, ties and even rock draws and I don't think I've ever felt more paranoid in a game ever. I've ended up putting down Logan's name and I feel sO BAD ABOUT IT because now he's telling me how he really wants to survive this round because he got 13th in his original season and now I'm going to feel awful if he leaves.

Btw Logan, jsyk this really wasn't my idea and if you leave I am so so sorry that this is how it turned out for you. You deserved better.

#ihopeiseeyounever #confessionals

0 notes

russellthornton · 7 years

Text

People Who Talk Too Much: Why They Do It and How to Handle Them

Listening skills are great, polite, and all that good stuff. But how do you handle the people who talk too much? Here’s how to deal with them.

I’m a good listener, which is a gift and a curse. The gift is I can laser in on the thing everyone yearns for—attention and to be understood. The curse is that… I might end up listening to your endless monologue. Because there are some people who talk too much.

So even though I am a good listener, I don’t give all my time away to attention-craving vampires who want to suck my soul from my-

-wait… I might be exaggerating there, but there’s not much difference when you’re actually caught in a diatribe about the latest this, that, or whatever the hell it is that seems so important to you and therefore me by default…

…man

*wakes up

The mirror neurons, talking too much, and empathy

Let’s start again. Humans are unlike any other animal in how well we empathize with each other. We gain a strikingly accurate sense of how someone’s feeling, almost as if we were them. This seems to be due to the function of ‘mirror neurons’ in the brain.

The idea is, due to mirror neurons, I simply look at your facial expression and body language and roughly gauge what you likely experience as if I were you. So this allows for very intricate connections between people during an interaction *you’d think people would also be able to tell when they speak too long…*

Note: people with autism are more likely to be unsure of how to interpret what the other person might be feeling just by clocking their responses, though they may feel that person’s energies intensely.

But you could also just be a chatterbox who loves to talk, and talk, and talk… zzzzz.

Okay, but is a chatterbox such a bad thing?

I’m awake again… Often you don’t miss what you had until it’s gone. Chances are if someone likes talking with you, they like and trust you. So, getting paranoid about them and making them into ‘the bad person’ *like that grey donkey from Shrek* might not be such a great thing.

And people who talk too much, well, really, anyone can develop the habit of talking a lot. It feels good to be listened to! [Read: 10 ways to be a better listener]

Say you had a friend who was really chatty. Way more chatty than you naturally are. If you just stopped replying to them or started being rude, they might straight up get offended and stop hanging out with you. Later, you might end up realizing that despite the extreme talking in your ear, you actually really enjoyed being around them.

But sometimes people talk in a way that feels overbearing, as if they try to dominate or control you in some way. This type of relationship isn’t worth it and remove myself from those people or dealing with them leads to a 1000% improvement. The question is how do you deal with that person without it blowing up in your face? [Read: 13 creepy signs your friend is secretly an energy vampire]

The people who talk too much

Well, first we need to dive into the reasons why someone might chat LOAADSSS… you know like the saying says—seek to understand first, then to be understood.

#1 They may be a raving lunatic extrovert. This just is what it is. Introversion and extroversion, in the clinical psychology world, are social science based descriptions of personality. Some people like to talk, man. It amps them up, get them excited about life, and gives them energy.

Meanwhile, for others it becomes tiring if overdone. An extremely chatty person could be on the extreme end of extroversion. [Read: Introverts vs. extroverts: Which side are you on?]

#2 They may be narcissistic. To be honest, everyone likes to talk about themselves but most have enough common sense to limit it. If a person seems to make themselves the subject of every conversation they may just be self-indulgent. [Read: Conversational narcissist – Do you love talking and hate listening?]

#3 They may be very articulate. Being able to think and string accurate words quickly is a skill. It’s also a very powerful tool and potential weapon. When you know you express yourself exceedingly well, the question becomes ‘why not do that a lot and influence circumstances?’ Some people have this skill down pat.

#4 They may be insecure. Stillness, quiet, solitude, meditation, silence, arghhhh!! When you’re not talking or being exposed to stimulus, your thoughts and feelings quickly flood you. We often suppress negative feelings with food, entertainment, and other distractions.

Very talkative people tends to use talking as a way of pushing away their own thoughts and feelings. If the top issue for focus is always out there, then you don’t have to deal with the inside. [Read: How to stop being insecure: 15 steps to transform your life]

#5 They may have underdeveloped listening skills. A lot of people I’ve come across who talk overbearingly don’t like to listen. This isn’t to say that they aren’t astute observers of the world. They may just gain their information through gauging reactions and having verbal combat.

#6 They may be under stress. We live in an unprecedentedly busy world. There is so much noise and stimulus that we don’t always get time to even think and decompress our reality.

To top that, when you’re dealing with a lot of chaos and challenges, it can be a ton of mental data to break down and make sense of. And maybe your way of doing that is to talk it through.

#7 They may be nervous around you. Say you’ve got a crush on someone, admire them highly, or still developing your social skills. In these cases, you’re more likely to make social faux pas.

You feel a need to cover awkward silences with mindless chatter. In many ways, this is a sign of empathy. So, when somebody talks a lot when they you talk to you, take a step back and think about the effect you might have on them. [Read: How to tell if someone likes you – 15 weird and unlikely signs]

#8 They may be jealous of you. It’s like the envious father who bears down on the unusual child: ‘no, this is the way you’re supposed to look at things…’ That kind of assertion of the status quo can be an effort to minimize you as a threat or competition—to not change things. [Read: How to tell if someone is jealous of you]

#9 They may just not like you. Sometimes you just can’t bear to hear someone speak to you because you know you… won’t… like… what… they… say. One way of stopping this is to just speak first and forcefully, so the other person doesn’t get a chance to find their rhythm.

#10 They may want to hold power and control. When you speak, the most it gives you is more opportunity to influence a situation or person. This is especially true when people actively listen to you and respond affirmatively.

#11 They may have no respect for your opinions. If a person doesn’t respect you as a person they probably don’t care about what you’re up to or your personal development. You just become an object they talk at. Perhaps to satisfy their own ego. Or to use as a listening machine while they develop and sharpen their thoughts.

How to deal with people who talk too much

Now that we have why people who talk too much do, let’s look at different approaches to dealing with the overbearing chatterbox.

#1 Being disagreeable. Imagine a random talkative person engaging Obama without giving him the room to speak… If somebody values your thoughts, they want to hear your responses. When I’m repeatedly given no space to speak, I assume that person doesn’t value me enough for me to tolerate their company. Or that they dislike or feel threatened by me.

Depending on the context, I’m more likely to look away, show them I’ve lost interest, or just end the conversation abruptly. People encroach on your personal sense of boundaries bit by bit. It’s better to set boundaries early. [Read: How to say no – Stop pleasing people and feel awesome instead]

#2 Being distractingly non-serious. I don’t engage overbearing talkers in serious conversation. That only makes me invest more of my own energy into their frame. Example:

Them – ‘I wanted to talk to you about this thing.’ You – ‘Did you just call me a thing?’ Them – ‘No, what?’ You – ‘How dare you’ *leaves*?

Distraction technique complete.

#3 Assessing whether they talk a lot with everyone. This gives you an enormous amount of information. Usually they have a reputation for being a force of nature.

People often make jokes about them such as ‘oh wait, I have to prepare myself.’ Then you know it’s not you targeted specifically. Though you may still want to establish fine boundaries.

#4 Interrupting them. Even if someone has a reputation for being a talker, doesn’t mean the person isn’t aware that they’re overbearing. This is the old ‘give them an inch and they’ll take a mile’ principle. If you let them establish a relationship where they’re talking at you, it only grows into a habit. Don’t be afraid to interrupt. [Read: How to set boundaries – 10 crucial steps to feel more in control]

#5 Stopping them by paraphrasing. What happens is that they get into a stream of thought and the energy of what they’re saying makes them feel like they’re making all kinds of clever, rational, and important points.

But then they’re suddenly interrupted with a dissection of their last two sentences and errors reveal themselves… Paraphrasing or interpreting frequently makes the conversation clearer and more involving. [Read: 15 calm and firm ways to be the real alpha]

#6 Frequently asking what the focal point is. If there’s no problem or aim, then they just talk for talking’s sake. Remind them of this by bringing the convo back to a focal point. Then hone in on it ruthlessly, cutting off tangents. You’re not a wall. They need to learn respect for your time.

But on the flipside…

#7 Gaining info. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk noted how convos between him and Facebook founder Mark Zuckenberg are mostly himself talking and ‘Zuks’ listening.

Gary mused that this could be why Mark’s made so much more money. Listening’s an overrated skill. It teaches you what makes people tick and how to read what people want/will do in the future.

#8 Deciding if you’re compatible. Do you feel better or worse after interacting with this person? If it’s a constant negative, then perhaps find ways to distance yourself from them. There are cooler people to be around. [Read: Stop the craziness in life: How to deal with rude people]

#9 Showing empathy. Sometimes we just want to be understood. Most people don’t spill their life history to anyone who listens. They tend to choose people they like and trust. One of the five ‘love languages’ is ‘words of affirmation.’ If this is that person’s primary love language, then they may be just looking for some empathy. This can be particularly important after a traumatic or stressful experience.

Well I beat this one to death with a barrage of words. Sort of like people who talk too much, just with digital ink…

[Read: 8 signs you’re coming on way too strong]

It can be tricky to work out why someone chats so damn much. But your time and emotional health are important. So seek to understand and establish boundaries with people who talk too much.

The post People Who Talk Too Much: Why They Do It and How to Handle Them is the original content of LovePanky - Your Guide to Better Love and Relationships.

0 notes