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sm-entertain-me · 5 years

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Finish Line (M)

Requested by @jaeyongsslut: Can I request Racer Jaehyun smut?Dom Jaehyun please!! If you can add this tying him up and fucking yourself on him , or you can write as you want. I really like your scenarios. 💞💞😗

Contains: Jung Jaehyun x (f) reader, adult language, mentions of alcohol, consumption of alcohol, smut, sexual themes, fingering, unprotected sex, creampie, marking kink, restriction kink? (Is that a real thing? Idk), dom!Jaehyun, sub!reader, racer!au

Synopsis: Taeil was one of the best racers you had ever seen and you were lucky enough to be one of his closest friends. So when he gets invited to one of the biggest racing events in history, it's hard to resist. Little did you know that there would be something at the party the night before that would be even harder to resist.

(A/N: Y’all, I am so sorry that I couldn’t write this in time for Jaehyunnie’s birthday, but alas, here it is! And it’s hella long for exposition purposes. Forgive me for I have sinned.)

Tonight was the night before the 23rd Annual Drag Racing Competition, one of the biggest racing competitions to ever grace the country. Racers from all over the world would come to this event just to see the races, let alone be in them. It was stiff competition and the times you had to make in order to qualify were anything but easy. So when you got the news that Taeil had finally been invited to the race, something he has been working on for a solid three years of his career, you were so excited for him. You had supported him from the very beginning and had even spent a couple of your paychecks go cover for damages or spare parts for Taeil's dream to become a reality.

But tonight was the night everyone was allowed to let loose and enjoy themselves, the racers and their respective guests being invited to a formal soiree where drinks flowed by the cask full, women prowled the crowds to hopefully land a rich and talented racer, and inhibitions being lowered. Taeil was among the few that couldn't manage his liquor too well and you had been assigned to be his caretaker, really regretting how much of a lightweight he was and wanting to punch the bartender for allowing Taeil to have so many drinks at a time. However, it really wasn't your place to dictate Taeil's drinking, no matter how hard he could go.

As you were trying to make your exit, holding Taeil up by his upper body while his arm lay lazily around the back of your neck, you felt the weight of Taeil's body subside a little bit. You looked at the right of you and leaned forward to look past Taeil's collapsing body, coming face to face with someone you felt like you had seen before. He had a chiseled jaw that was made by the gods themselves, soft brown eyes that seemed to sparkle at you, and cheeks that contained deep indents whenever he smiled.

You looked at him and noticed that he was helping you with Taeil, taking Taeil's other arm and wrapping it around his neck to take at least half of the weight off of your shoulders. "Oh, thank you. You don't have to do that," You commented as you continued dragging Taeil out by his neck, drowning out the mindless blubbering of your drunken adversary. The man offered a cool smirk as he walked out with you, taking a sharp turn to go towards the elevators since he assumed you were taking him back to his room, "Don’t worry babygirl, Taeil needs all the help he can get. I'm Jaehyun by the way."

"Y/N," You responded as you tried to keep Taeil up on your shoulder, him leaning towards you to whisper into your collarbone something that was anything but comprehensible. Jaehyun chuckled lightly as he watched the arrow on the elevator fall down to your floor number, "I know, Taeil hasn't shut up about you. After seeing you in that dress, I understand why." You could feel your cheeks heating up gradually from Jaehyun's unabashed flirting style, getting straight to the point as to what he was trying to get out of you tonight. You can't say you didn't feel the least bit attracted to him yourself. He wore a black suit with a long black tie and a white undershirt that seemed to cling to his sculpted abdomen, showing off the peaks of his abs whenever he would move or do anything minuscule. If he stretched a little bit more, you were sure his shirt would pop open and reveal those delicious abs of his...

"Hey Y/N. You wanna get on or not?" Jaehyun's voice called out from the depths of your naughty thoughts, causing you to snap out of it and look forward at the open doors of the elevator. Taeil chuckled into your ear at Jaehyun’s comment, leaning against you so that his nose was touching your cheek, “Yeah, you getting on or not?” You shot Taeil a sideways glare that caused him to straighten up as best as he could, knowing how you get when you get irritated because he had gotten on your nerves a couple times before. Quickly, you pushed Taeil’s back so that all three of you could get on the elevator, feeling Jaehyun’s eyes piercing into your head as you remained in the silent elevator, save for the annoying elevator music that didn’t make the situation any better.

A couple minutes had passed since all of you were crammed into the elevator shaft, you shifting uncomfortably from the intensity of Jaehyun’s gaze wandering every curve of your body, ultimately undressing you with his eyes. To make the best of the situation, you decided to have a little conversation with Jaehyun to distract yourself from being subjected to his mental fantasies whenever he looked at you. “So, Jaehyun... How long have you been racing?” You asked as you looked up at the ceiling, trying to admire the tile so you didn’t have to make eye contact with him. He was a very intimidating man and you were anything but. Jaehyun chuckled a little as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, fixing a strand of hair that tickled the top of his eyebrow, “A couple years now. I love the thrill of racing, having everyone scream your name as you cross the finish line...” Jaehyun bit his lip slightly as his eyes shifted to you in the reflection, eyes darkening as he gazed upon your face, “Tell me, would you even consider racing? You look like you could use a good thrill.”

You would’ve answered Jaehyun’s question had Taeil not butted in with his alcohol filled confidence, “Oh Y/N loves thrills, and I’m not talking about racing.” “Shut up!” You chided at Taeil as you smacked him across the chest, causing him to frown at you and stick his tongue out like a child who had just been denied getting his favorite sweet. Huffing at how childish he was being, you rested your hand on your hip and prayed to the elevator gods to hurry up and open the doors so you could take Taeil to his room and then go to yours to get ready for tomorrow. You had promised Taeil that you would accompany him to the track if he got you breakfast, and you weren’t one to turn down free food.

After what seemed like an eternity, the elevator doors finally opened and you were finally granted your much needed freedom from the confines of that damned elevator. It felt nice to not have Jaehyun’s eyes boring into your soul as you tried to breathe normally, him probably picking up on the way your breathing had increased whenever you felt him looking at you, him watching the vein in your neck begin to pulse wildly against your skin. He knew exactly what effect he held over you, and he was just waiting for the right moment to expose it.

It took a long time with Taeil stumbling along the walls of the narrow hallway, him cursing loudly and you having to force your hand over his mouth to get him to shut up since it was at that hour where people were turning in for the night... But you finally managed to get him in front of his room thanks to Jaehyun basically yanking him along the hallway whenever you gave him some directions to get to the right room. Somehow, Taeil managed to get the door opened to his room and bid the two of you goodnight, closing the door shortly before your heard a loud thud that you assumed was Taeil passing out on the ground. It wasn’t any of your business, the boy needs to take the edge off of such an important day ahead of him tomorrow. Now you were stuck with Jaehyun.

“So I guess this is goodnight, I’ll see you at the race tomorrow, yeah?” Jaehyun questioned as he leaned his body on the wall of the hallway, smiling kindly at you in hopes that he would be getting a yes out of you to seeing him again. You didn’t know if it was the alcohol in your system or if it had a delayed effect or something, but you found yourself ignoring how intimidating Jaehyun was just a few moments ago in that elevator. Your body acted on its own as you stepped forward lightly, reaching up and slipping your hands underneath the lapel of Jaehyun’s suit jacket, a cocky smile playing across your face, “How about I see you in your room tonight?” And that’s all she wrote.

It was all a blur as Jaehyun hauled you off to his room and you weren’t sure how you got there, but all you could do now is slip your tongue into his mouth and taste the subtle hint of alcohol on his lips, relishing in the taste of him as he had you pinned down underneath him on the bed. He made sure to keep a firm grip on your wrists as he pressed himself in between your thighs, groaning against your lips when you dragged your leg up the length of his massive calves. Every so often, Jaehyun would grind down against you in order to feel your wetness spilling out of your weeping entrance, coating the front of his pants nicely. “Baby, you’re so wet for me,” Jaehyun moaned as he leaned forward and pressed his plump lips against your neck, allowing the vibrations to pulse through your body until they met in your pussy. All you could do was hum in response as you snaked your fingers up through his hair, tugging playfully at the soft tresses that enveloped the tips. Fuck, Jaehyun was everything you had ever wanted.

As Jaehyun worked on marking the delicious column of your neck, determined on coloring it with reds and purples, he made sure to allow his fingers to slip in between your thighs and delve into your now soiled panties. He didn’t need to ask if you were wet enough since he felt it from the way your arousal leaked out onto his slacks, but he just enjoyed playing with you, toying with you to see what would make you crack. You whimpered lightly as Jaehyun plunged his index finger inside of your pulsating walls, causing Jaehyun to slip the furthest his finger would go as a silencing mechanism, “Shh, shh, shh baby, you gotta keep quiet for me. Otherwise, I’ll give you something to scream about.” Although you wanted nothing more than to make Jaehyun have you screaming his name to the high heavens, you decided to keep quiet for his benefit.

Jaehyun was ruthless on the skin of your neck as he would often drag his teeth against the skin, nipping on top of the veins that would poke out from your rapid heartbeat, but not after he would give you soft kisses and kitten licks to combat the oh so sweet pain he delivered to you. It took all you had not to scream in pleasure from the way his fingers were fucking you open, dragging against the most pleasurable spots deep within as he would give his expert fingers a slight curve to find even more. “Goddamn,” You groaned out as you arched your head backwards, pressing further into the pillows behind you. Jaehyun chuckled into your neck as he pulled off of the skin with a sickening pop, looking down at you with hunger in his eyes after seeing how flustered you were getting from his simple yet determined touches, “Don’t cum yet, we’re just getting started.”

You had to work hard to contain your excitement as Jaehyun got off of you and made a B-line for his drawer, coming back with two black scarves. There was a simple racing emblem on both of them, but you had a feeling you wouldn’t be using them as rally scarves. Jaehyun smirked as he saw the excitement building in your eyes, looking down at his hand and then back at you, “Here, let’s try something new. Get up.” You did as you were told, standing up on the side of the bed and waiting for another order from Jaehyun, eagerly pressing your thighs together to get rid of the throbbing that just wouldn’t die down.

Jaehyun stalked toward you with such grace that you had forgotten what he was capable of as he wrapped his hand around your throat, applying some pressure as he molded his lips against you for one final and extremely passionate kiss, grabbing your hands and placing the scarves there. As he pulled away, he kept his hand on your throat, smirking at how innocent you looked when all he could think about was how your face looked a couple minutes ago when he was spreading you open with his fingers, “I’m usually always the dom, but I’m going to let you take control. You’ve been so good keeping quiet for me so consider this a reward.” Nodding at Jaehyun’s request, you watched as he stripped from his clothes and walked over to the bed, laying down and looking up at you to slip the scarves around his wrists and keep him bound for whatever you wanted to do to him. Instead of you being his for the night, he was yours for the taking.

When the restraints were in place, you decided to give an agonizingly long striptease for Jaehyun, slipping your hands down the curves of your waist and gripping the bottom of your short dress to pull it over your head, keeping a firm gaze with Jaehyun as he bit down harshly on his lip that was already red from all the intense making out you two have been doing. “Fuck, Y/N, just get over here,” Jaehyun growled as he watched you slip your hands behind you to remove your bra, groaning instantly at the sight of your breasts coming free from the confines of your lacy bra. All you saw was Jaehyun pulling his head up to look at the ceiling, and the instinctive twitch of his fully hard cock that had the tip oozing with pre cum. The sight alone was enough to make you crumble right then and there, but you managed to pull yourself together in order for you to do what the both of you wanted.

You slowly made your way over to Jaehyun, taking on his dominant persona as you threw your leg over his waist, sitting right above the tip of his monstrous cock. Jaehyun looked up at you with a darkened gaze, narrowing his vision right on your face as he begged you with his eyes to sit on his cock without giving you the satisfaction of hearing him beg. A smirk found its way on your face as you wrapped your hand around the thickness of his cock, giving him a few pumps as he cursed lightly to himself, watching as your thumb swiped over the tip in order to spread his cum all over the shaft for more lubrication because by the look of the length he possessed, you were going to need all the help you could get.

“Oh god,” Jaehyun groaned out as you sunk down around his length, his eyes nearly rolling to the back of his head as he felt you clench around him. “You’re so fucking tight.” You smiled at him with evil intentions as you leaned back to grab onto his thighs, Jaehyun’s eyes trailing all over your body as your breasts were arched up to the ceiling and just low enough to see as they bounced whenever you rocked along his waist. You quickly picked up your pace as you craved more of his cock, digging your nails into his thighs the faster you went. It felt so good and you were pretty sure Jaehyun’s cock was made for you as it never failed to curve up against your most desirable spots. But your pace wasn’t enough for him as he tried to buck his hips up into you, trying to urge you as best as he could. One particular stroke of his cock hit a spot that had you seeing stars and you realized that if you wanted to cum, he had to do that again and again. In order to do that, he had to be untied.

You granted Jaehyun the use of his hands and he immediately took over, wrapping his arms around your waist and holding you firmly in place as he buried his face in your breasts and bucked into you from below. “Oh fuck!” You cried out as Jaehyun found your nipple, taking it into his mouth and rolling his tongue over the sensitive bud, picking up his pace beneath you once he realized he had you right where he wanted. He made it his mission to get you to cum hard around him, working your nipple raw with ecstasy. The more he made you moan, the harder he pumped into you from below. Jaehyun’s grip around your waist wasn’t letting up as he pulled your hips in time with his strokes from beneath, combining to form a dangerous product that had you digging your nails into his forearms and sending you crashing down hard.

Jaehyun cursed loudly as you came around his cock, losing himself completely in the way that your walls clenched around him to pull him deeper inside of you. “Fuck you’re clenching! Y/N, I’m gonna...” Jaehyun started as he fucked his way deeper into you, his grip getting so hard that it would cause bruises when he finally released his hot seed into you, filling you up so much that you could feel it running out of you and pooling onto Jaehyun’s groin. The warmth of his cum caused you to immediately become tired, falling forward and allowing your head to line up with the crook of his neck. He chuckled lightly as you breathed heavily against his neck, Jaehyun’s hand coming up to run his fingers through your hair lightly in order to coax you into a more relaxed state, making it really for you to yawn into his ear.

“Hey,” Jaehyun called out to you as he felt your breathing starting to slow down, indicative of you wanting to sleep. You picked your head up lightly to look at him, offering a warm smile, “Yeah?” Jaehyun could’t help himself from pressing a chaste kiss on your lips, “Let’s get you cleaned up and you can sleep here tonight. I’ll even get you breakfast like Taeil promised, but you gotta promise you’ll be rooting for me on the track tomorrow.” You smiled at Jaehyun’s offer, tracing a small figure eight into his defined pectoral muscle to emphasize your playful nature, “I like my eggs scrambled.”

#jung jaehyun #jaehyun smut #jaehyun fanfiction #nct #nct fanfiction #nct smut #nct 127 #nct 127 smut #nct 127 fanfiction #nct u #nct u fanfiction #nct u smut #kpop #kpop smut #kpop fanfiction #재현

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3000yearmonarch-archived · 5 years

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All Hallow’s Theme: A Midnight Mystery

Participant: Pascale Devan Pokémon: Mawile (Dior), Pyroar (Tyson), Aegislash (Ansel), Bisharp (Jeanne) Category: Stage Decorating Music: Caplet- Masque of the Red Death

A few minutes before she was scheduled to take the stage, and Pascale was hurrying to put the final touches on her Pokémon’s costumes. Using a stiff brush, she was busy lightly applying a chartreuse hue to the coat her Pyroar, Tyson. Touches of gel had already been spread randomly across the fur, giving him a wet, matted appearance, and his face-especially around his eyes and mouth-were reddened with dye. As she worked, she tried to coach him.

“Remember-make sure you’re kind of shuffling about. Maybe shake every so often. You’re supposed to be sick, so if I don’t have you doing anything I want you to be laying down.” The Pokémon grunted.

There was a tug on her cloak, drawing the former monarch’s attention away. At her side was Dior, her Mawile, excited to show off to her trainer. Scraps of fur-like fabric dangled from the ‘teeth’ of her horn, and black make-up gave her face a gaunt and sunken-in look. But most significantly, she wore the ribcage of a plastic human skeleton around her torso- a bit big, but that only made her look even thinner. Pascale couldn’t help but grin as she looked over her, reaching out a hand to stroke her head.

“Well aren’t you the cutest Famine I’ve ever seen? Yes you are! And here come the other horsemen!”

Behind Dior, her Bisharp (Jeanne) and Aegislash (Ansel), hurried over. Jeanne’s armor was grimy and dusty, with fake scars and holes marring the normally pristine surface. Some places even looked dented. All of her blades, especially the one on her head, were red with fake blood. She walked with a staggering limp, and a pole attached to her back held a tattered, bloody pennant above her head.

Meanwhile, a black veil draped down from Ansel’s pommel to cover his eyes and handle, while his blade appeared rusted by age. His shield had been completely painted over to depict a skull on a black background.

Pascale admired all of them with unfamiliar anxiety. The centuries had taught her how to fake confidence, how to look like she had everything under control…but of all things, it was a showcase that was making her uneasy. Why was she so nervous? She didn’t have much time to think on it, as she was given a one-minute warning that her music would start soon. A quick glance in the mirror revealed her own costume-a heavy velvet cloak, the color of blood, so long that it trailed behind her as she walked. The sleeves nearly touched the ground. But the most important part was the mask sitting on the counter.

It was a white half-mask with gold trim. Evenly spaced across the bottom, a number of large, square beads dangled, somewhat resembling teeth. Although only dotted with a few splatters of red paint, bright red rhinestone decorated the cheekbone one side, with lines of smaller rhinestones dropping below it. Hopefully, if it could catch the right light under her heavy hood, like might create the illusion of blood dripping down as she worked.

No more time to adjust anything, however; a cue sounded, and the first notes of her music began to play. Pascale and her four Pokémon made their way onto the stage.

Her plan was a rather…grandiose one, if she were to be honest with herself, made more demanding by the fact that she didn’t know the full extent of her materials. And now that she saw what she had, her opinion was…mixed. All of it was ideal, but it wasn’t quite enough. She was going to have to get creative.

A deep breath. Start with the table. She turned to her Pokémon.

“Dior, Jeanne…could you give me a hand moving everything to one table? We’re going to need the space.” As the two Pokémon began to move the supplies, Pascale cut out a few lengths of the white and black fabrics she’d been given and addressed her Aegislash. “Ansel, I’m going to have you do some…distressing. Put this silk through Hell-have Tyson help you out, too. We’ll need a lot of damage.” The sword stared down at the fabric, then nodded, carrying it over to an empty spot on the stage and calling over the last member of the team. There, the two Pokémon took turns shredding the silk, Tyson using claws and fangs to tear jagged gashes while Ansel used Shadow Claw and Slash to make long tatters and cut uneven ends.

While her Pokémon went about their work, Pascale flagged down her assigned servant. She thought about writing down a list for them, but that might not be acceptable. They’d have to work from memory.

“Okay, I need…chairs. Maybe three? And a couple of wine glasses, too-one less than the chairs. If you could get some silverware and plates, those would be great, but they aren’t the most important thing. Start with those.”

Jeanne and Dior had finished clearing one of the tables by the time she finished giving orders. With their help, she carried it to the center of the stage, then grabbed one of the pieces of fabric her other Pokémon had finished tearing up and threw it over the table. It was a touch small, and didn’t cover it perfectly, revealing the very modern-looking furniture underneath, but it would have to do. Besides, she needed to get her Pokémon working; they only had so much time.

“Okay Dior, we’ve got to be careful with this one, but this stage is too pristine. Think you can make some rubble? I need at least two big columns, like the ones we had-I mean, saw-at the old castle. And Jeanne, once she has those up, you need to give them a touch of…former glory. Nice, but not too nice.” Her Pokémon were on it immediately. Using Rock Tomb, her Mawile summoned two towering pillars of stone towards the back of the stage, which her Bisharp began to shape and shine with a careful combination of Knock Off and Rock Polish.

Things were shaping up nicely. Oh, and look, there was the servant!

“Excellent! Set them on the table in the center there-I’ll arrange them in a minute. Ansel?” From the other side of the stage, the ripping stopped. Ansel looked to her. “Take four of the longer pieces of the black fabric, and I need you to hang them from the lighting-there, there, there, and there.” As instructed, the Aegislash floated towards the top of the stage and up into the rigging for the lights. He draped two of the long cuts of fabric over the rigging on each side of the stage (one near the front and one near the back) so that they hung down like dilapidated banners, torn and tattered with time.

Tyson, meanwhile, laid down on the stage on his side, breathing heavily to pretend to be sick as his trainer had told him earlier. He even let his tongue loll out, unprompted.

Pascale took to setting the table while all of this was happening, with one chair at each end and one in the center, facing the audience. She moved the chair that was stage left so that it was pushed outwards and away from the table. The wine glasses were set in front of two of the seats, one upright and one fallen on its side. Things were coming together nicely. With Dior having nothing to do, Pascale set her to work as she began to drag the fake skeleton to one of the seats with a wine glass.

“While Jeanne is finishing up, take some of those Chesnaught vines and spread them around-wrap them around the pillars, put them under the table, scatter them across the floor, you know what I mean. And Jeanne, you’re going to do the same with those fake cobwebs when you’re done. Ansel, you hang a few up there, too.”

The skeleton was place so that it was hunched over the table, face against the fabric. Under the table, any outwards so that it looked like they had fallen from the middle chair, she bunched up several of the branches into something…vaguely human shaped. Taking one of the skull props, she brought it over to Tyson on the floor and held it near his mouth.

“Hey buddy, care to eat a man?” The Pyroar eyed the skull, then his trainer, confused. Shoot. How could she be clearer? Grimacing, and hoping the audience and judge wouldn’t notice, she mouthed her command to him: “Crunch.” The Pokémon complied, leaving deep fang marks in the stryofoam. Not wanting to let anyone linger on it too long, she hurried to place it on the table as a centerpiece.

With time beginning to run short, Pascale glanced around to check their progress. It looked nice, but not opulent enough. This was a castle, and even in ruin, it needed to give some hint of its former glory. But what…? Inspiration came, and she called the servant over.

“I need you to go look in the mansion for two large paintings-I’m sure I’ve seen a few around. Portraits, ideally, and the more of a dark, gothic vibe the better.”

“Madame, I don’t think you should-“ But Pascale cut him off.

“Please! Ursula said ‘anything’ in the mansion, right? And I’m not going to damage them, I promise! Hurry” The servant gave her a concerned look, then scurried off to fulfill her request.

There wasn’t much time left. Pascale grabbed two more pieces of the tattered black fabric and draped them over the skeleton and the ‘body’ under the table. Bodies were placed, banners were up, columns looked like they’d seen better days…and there was the servant, looking rushed and slightly disheveled and carrying a painting under each arm. She took them from him quickly, and with Dior’s help hung one (crooked) on one column. The other was rested on its side on the floor, at the foot of the second column.

“Okay, last step! Let’s set some atmosphere! Dior, what’s the midnight mystery without a little low-layin fog?” The Mawile nodded, and summoned an eerie (if slightly glittery) mist with her Misty Terrain attack. It hung close to the ground, wisping out at the edge of the stage. Then she called over her Pyroar.

“Tyson, we need a little mood lighting for this dinner, if you’d be so kind.” This order wasn’t nearly as enigmatic. Tyson’s mane glowed, and as he roared, a number of Will-O-Wisps appeared and scattered about the stage. The stage lights were set low, allowing the fire to be the primary illumination.

Just in time; the buzzer sounded not a second later. Pascale breathed a sigh of relief, and took a seat in the final chair-a prop in her own scene.

There was a bright flash and a peel of thunder as, for the presentation, Dior momentarily illuminated the stage with a surge from a Thunder Fang in a pre-planned reveal. In its absence, it served to make the stage look that much darker (and the flames that much brights), but the afterimages were hopefully still embedded in her viewer’s minds:

Two stone columns near the back of the stage served to imply the walls of a castle or manor, worn and misshapen with time and wrapped in vines. Branches were scattered about the floor. Portraits of the ‘former owners’ were in disarray, while tattered black banners hung beside cobwebs from a high ceiling. In the center of it all was a table, covered in a torn white tablecloth and with a broken skull as its centerpiece. Three human figures, draped in cloth, sat there-or, rather, had been sitting there.

One was hunched over the table, clutching a wine glass in a skeletal hand. To their right-in the center-the chair was empty, with a toppled wine glass on the table before it. The chair’s former resident lay a crumbled heap under the table. And in the third seat (furthest stage right), the figure sat tall, hands folded on the table before them but seemingly unfazed by the scene at the rest of the table.

Another burst of light from a Thunder Fang, and in the near-darkness that followed, the the figure slowly rose to their feet, turned, and walked offstage.

#allhallows2k18 #allhallows2k18theme #this is not my best writing and I hope it makes sense but we're going for it

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ozsaill · 6 years

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Holiday gifts that cruisers want

As avowed minimalists, this feels slightly awkward putting a post of holiday gifts together. But the reality is that there are useful needs to meet in a life afloat. This peek into what works hopefully aids those anticipating a similar path: a personal look what’s worked for us, and what’s on our wish list, as idea fodder for gifts to the the sailors in your life. It’s organized into four angles:

Best additions to Totem this year

Wish list: functional gifts

Wish list: what the crew really wants!

Especially for kids

I. Best additions to Totem this year

This is a shortlist of items that had the biggest positive impact on board in the last year. Some are practical, some are just for fun / quality of life, a few are a bit of both.

Paddleboard – finally got one on board after The Great Kayak Debacle of 2016. Weighing pros/cons, we picked the durability of a fixed board over a space-saving inflatable. A shorter (10’) Jimmy Styx model (year-end closeout!) is right-sized for our humans and has provided hours of fun and fitness. Siobhan paddles in front of Totem, photo at top.

Underwater dome lens – talk about bang for the buck. Only $50 to get some of my favoritest pictures ever. Just fit the GoPro inside and swim! It’s so flippin’ cool to have split images with above/below water…like this one showing Totem floating in crystal Bahamian water while a nurse shark dozes on the sand below.

Pic made possible with a dome port lens over GoPro. Me on deck, Jamie in the water; Staniel Cay, Bahamas.

Winches – Jamie likes to fondle our new Andersen stainless steel winches. No, seriously. Aside from the fact they are incredibly sexy mirror-finish stainless, the engineering of these makes them a better mousetrap, starting with guts that require less maintenance. Ribs on the drum don’t need as many wraps for sufficient friction, and they’re kinder to lines than conventional drum texturing. Jamie is all the warm fuzzies from that ribbed drum. I kinda want to get a lascivious picture of him with one.

Mantus scuba– we used to wish for dive gear on Totem, but it never made sense; a mix of upfront cost, equipment x 5 crew, limited space, and just not being die-hard divers. But we do really like getting underwater…a lot! Adding a pair of Mantus tanks has been perfect. Good fun for more marine exploring beyond our freediving skills, plus peace of mind as added safety equipment (invaluable if an anchor fouled below freediving depth / hang time capability).

Kids dive with Mantus scuba. There’s that dome port lens again too!

ACR ResQLink+. This personal locater beacon (PLB) was added to our safety kit for taking off to the Bahamas and beyond. My worst nightmare is losing on-watch crew overboard; I still worry when Jamie’s on watch and I’m “sleeping” off watch – these help me actually relax, knowing he’s basically attached to an EPIRB.

Drone – we picked up a Phantom 3 pro during the post-holiday-sales last year. I know, have been lame about sharing the footage (will provide room & board on Totem for anyone who can train us up!) but – WOW. The images are amazing! I love the bird’s eye view it offers of our life afloat! New Years Resolution: learn editing and share some videos. I’m not kidding about hosting someone who can school us! (Aline are you reading?! )

Culebra, Puerto Rico

Dinghy. When our trusty Avon finally gave up (well, it was 19 years old) in Thailand, the Highfield we replaced it with was… suboptimal. Not big enough, didn’t ride as well. A dinghy is one of the most frequently used bits of gear on board so we felt the gap. The 10.5’ AB (aluminum, double floor, bow locker) we picked up at Tradewind Yachting Services in Nanny Cay in September is AWESOME.

TOTEM shirts! New earlier this year, we adore these super-soft, organic cotton shirts and LOVE seeing people wear them. If you order Totem gear (Ts, caps and a hemp market bag too), send us a picture!

Show your (neutral, water-based) colors with a yummy soft Totem Tshirt!

II. Wish list: practical

The next set… well, they aren’t exactly sexy holiday gifts. But the way our family looks at the world is in more practical term (I just realized how crazy that probably sounds to a lot of readers- yes, chucking convention to live on a boat with no fixed address is very practical. Really!): these are the practical wish-list expenditures. Right now we’re saving all our pennies to transit the Panama Canal but; some of these we expect (chaps, shade) others are less likely.

Dinghy chaps. Fabric covers fitted to the hypalon tubes extend their life by preventing chafe and reducing UV exposure. These are labor intensive and custom made, haven’t rationalized this expense just yet.

Outboard. Dinghy theme lately? Our outboard has been struggling for over a year, something that dependably gets a full load on a plane would be sweet. This 15hp Yamaha would do us right.

Repaint Totem’s hull. It’s so beat up, the guys working in the shipyard in Grenada were laughing at us—all in good fun—and asking if they could give her a makeover! Hey, there’s a dugout canoe associated with almost every ding, those are good memories…OK yeah it would be nice to have a pretty boat again.

Cockpit shade. We have an AWESOME, pretty new (2016) bimini frame (thank you to the great guys at TurboXS!)…but it still lacks the whole fabric-shade-that-attaches-to-it part. It will be really nice to get the last mile of this addition completed.

Sailrite. We’ve gone back and forth on these durable sewing machines. Cons: machines need to be used to stay workable; they are heavy, and they take up a chunk of storage. But in the Pro column: Jamie could do a lot with one, like dinghy chaps and cockpit shade! He’s a sailmaker, used to be a hands-on in the pit guy and knows his way around a pro machine. Our M.O. to date: Jamie fixes other cruiser’s Sailrites that have stopped working after languishing in a locker by bartering for usage to get a project done.

Making our dodger soft sides in Jacksonville: thanks Patty!

Countertops. The formica installed in Thailand, unfortunately, is not good. It’s a long story. But the formica is nearly worn through, the trim wasn’t done right, and a bunch of other stuff. For the Someday files. Solid surfacing would be so dreamy!

Solid state external drives. The movable parts on hard drives, in computers and external drives, have shorter lifespans with the small constant motions of a boat. SSDs would be less prone to failure. The multiple of expense is unfortunate (and almost rationalized by failed drives!). The only downside: external SSDs are mostly small, so you’d need a bunch to accomodate all the photo and video files a family accumulates. Sample: this Samsung 2TB drive, ~$800.

III. Wish list: just for fun

What’s your heart’s desire? I asked everyone on board to contribute their “wish” gift idea for something they have zero need for, but a dose of desire. This turned out to be difficult: we are pretty good at being satisfied with what we have instead of craving what the boat next door has! But there are some great ways to be indulgent on board. The top five are our personal picks, the rest are from family brainstorming.

Niall: PADI dive certification. (shhh: I think we figured out how to do this affordably enough in Bonaire next month! He doesn’t read the blog – don’t spill the beans anyone!!)

Mairen: horseback riding. (still with the experiences. C’mon Mairen it’s about Stuff! She never got beyond “more art supplies then?”)

Siobhan: a puppy. KIDDING. Except she wasn’t. Her BATNA wish is to have any book she wants for a year. Qualified with “you know I use the library mostly.” People, she reads a LOT. Thank goodness for ebook loans from our hometown library!

Jamie: Code zero with a continuous line furler on a sprit. Because the sailmaker’s boat is a little bit like the cobblerss kids… often wanting. Here’s why Jamie thinks this is a winner sail for cruisers.

Behan: fancypants freediving fins, and lessons to go with them. (As long as we’re daydreaming, I’d learn from supermama and freediving champion Ashley Chapman at Evolve Freediving, with a whole- family lesson!)

More Totem crew wish-list picks that may generate ideas for giftees on your list:

Water-friendly drone. We’re having so much fun with the ‘regular’ drone, imagine one that lands on the water, or follows behind the dinghy – saltwater spray be damned?! This very cool looking Splash Drone 3 lands on the water and floats. Whoa. Or the QuadH2O: double whoa.

Mini home theater projector. We watched movies outside on the Delos deck once upon a time; I harbor dreams of hosting anchorage movie nights with a film displayed on a sail “screen.” One that’s bright enough, not to big, and doesn’t draw too much power, decent speakers…or 3 out of 4. Like this maybe (and wow, that’s a good price!)?

New computer. OK, not family but Jamie. The Toughbook that is our navigation computer doubles as his personal machine, but doesn’t play well with Windows 10. Newer models do. Still a big fan of Toughbooks for their durability on board.

Camera equipment. Better underwater shots with an Olympus Tough: the GoPro is awesome for environmental shots, but fails on macro, and those are fun to take underwater. Above sea level, I traded in all my Nikon gear to migrate towards Sony’s mirrorless a7 series, and will always be drooling over lenses.

A dozen Luci lights. We have one and it’s fantastic: indulgent wish list version,- how cool would a strand of them be hung tiki-light style around the cockpit?!

IV. Just for kids

The genesis of this year’s list is a question fom one of our coaching clients. Less than a year from taking off cruising and looking for Christmas gift ideas for their four children, they had this assignment for our kids: “What is 1-2 things do they wished they had or have had on the boat, and what are their favorite 3 things/toys they cannot live without?” Simplifying slightly I asked our kids what things on the boat were most important to them. Turns out phrasing matters. Answer #1: friends. Their friend showed up a few minutes later; asked the same questions she looked at me as if to say “duh” and said – “My family, of course.” It took a lot of prompting to come up with Things You Put Under a Christmas tree. But we got there, and this is good!

Quality snorkeling gear: mask, snorkel, fins…also good rashguard and wetsuits. Shorties are great for extending in-water time! Many cruisers (and most boat kids) spend a lot of time in the water; get good stuff that won’t fall apart, it’s harder after you leave. The kids really like the masks they got from Divers Direct in Florida this year, and they’re very reasonably priced (holiday sale: $40?!).

Beach fun: boogie boards and beach bocce are our favorites.

Fishing kit. Get kids their own tackle box, handline, a net to grab stuff that goes overboard; even a Hawaiian sling spear if they can handle it.

Field guides. Not kid books, but GOOD field guides. Identification of underwater life was a big hit from the time we started cruising with littles. Region-specific matters, I believe: the Gottshall two-book set is amazing for Pacific Mexico; DeLoach guides rule for the Caribbean: one for Reef Fish, one for Coral, one for, well, everything else (Reef Creatures).

Scooters. Bikes are impractical; kids like wheels and folding scooters fit. Utility varies by cruising grounds (not a lot of roads in some oceanic regions!), but these are great get-around fun.

Arts & crafts. I’m not very crafty, so packaged kits like Klutz are perfect for me. Getting good materials will serve you later: these watercolors are richly pigmented and last a long time. Oragami, beading, or whatever! There are lists for this in Voyaging with Kids.

Chocolate. Yes this was on their list. Clearly these are my children.

Board games, cards. Our current favorite is Dread Pirate (thank you Sallianne and Doug!). Try cooperative games! Family Pastimes games got us started… Pandemic is the classic. This post about games cruisers play lists a number of other favorites on board.

Legos. Our lego days are over, but the kids know these are huge for the younger set.

Totem and Utopia, rafted up for Thanksgiving last week: because 1) better with friends and 2) drones rock!

Want more ideas?

Here are the Christmas gift posts from the last few years. They’re all aimed at cruisers, but each with a slightly different take:

Gifts that give a little more (2016). Focusing on sourcing gifts that contribute in some way to a greater good than just the Thing.

Gifts under $50 for sailors (2015). Keeping the costs contained! OK, there was one item over $50.

Gifts for cruisers (2014). Tried & true: fun, functional gifts that cruisers can use.

from Sailing Totem http://ift.tt/2hURhhS via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Sailing Totem

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neptunecreek · 7 years

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Trainer’s Notebook: Just A Few Participatory Facilitation Techniques

Recently, a colleague asked me a wonderful question: How did you learn to become a good facilitator and trainer? Did you read books, take classes, or have a coach? I answered yes to all, but more importantly I think these two methods helped me the most:

Carve out time for reflection after each training and do an after-action review with yourself. Evaluate your content, facilitation, and logistical skills against participant evaluations. If time is available, also do a plus/delta exercise with participants as a close out to the session. Measure, evaluate, reflect, and improve.

Be a participant in other people’s training sessions. Conferences are a great opportunity to take workshops and observe the facilitator’s techniques. Many of us do this and take content notes, but it is also great to take notes about instructional design and facilitation techniques. I typically draw a vertical line down my notebook page, and label each column “Content” and “Instructional Process” to capture both types of notes. I also pick one thing that I learned in terms of facilitation and commit to trying it out as soon as possible.

At the beginning of the summer, I taught a master class and workshops with colleague Tharum Bunn from Cambodia at the IFC/Asia. I also had an opportunity to attend a couple of sessions that used participatory facilitation techniques. Here’s what I learned.

Spectragram

I was asked to facilitate a small group in a participatory session called “Digital Forum,” designed for peer sharing by Marco Kuntz and Mike Johnson. The session kicked off with a Spectragram exercise involving the full group. I learned this technique from Alan Gunn from Aspiration over ten years ago at 2007 Penguin Day.

The way Spectragrams worked in those days is that the facilitator identified a couple of provocative questions related to the topic being discussed and had people line up as to whether they agree or disagree with the statement. It is a useful method for getting participants to express a point of view, engage in debate, listen to others and hear another person’s different point of view. For training where you are focusing on a skill, it allows for folks to express their opinions (negative or positive) and not have debate get in the way of the instructional flow later on. My colleague, Dirk Slater, has written about how he applies the Spectragram technique in his technology/activist trainings. Others have also documented and used the technique or taught others how to do it.

If you are new to participatory facilitation techniques, use the Spectagram as an opener and use it to better understand skill levels in the room. Next, try provocative statements. To prepare, come up with statements based on a participant assessment, interviews, or survey and that are related to your training topic. The statements should express a point of view.

A more participatory approach, and one that Alan Gunn uses, is to crowdsource provocative questions from participants. Have them self-organized into small groups of three or four people and use sticky notes to come up with some statements. Participants volunteer their question for the Spectragram. As the facilitator, you have give clear instructions to people and keep time.

At the Digital Forum Session at the IFCAsia, we did the Spectagram twice to help to identify different skill levels of participants and their organizations capacity levels.

Four Corners/Brainstorm Small Group Facilitation

The meat of the session was done in small group work using a technique called “Four Corners” where participants go to four different corners of the room to focus on a specific sub-topic. There are different approaches to assigning people to groups and facilitating small group discussions, but it is used to have the same facilitation method for each.

In the Digital Forum, the session organizations recruited people with both subject matter expertise and facilitation experience. We were assigned a topic, but we also also used the same brainstorming and synthesis techniques in each corner.

The topics

1. Social Media (Facilitator: Beth Kanter) 2. New Audiences and Acquisition (Facilitator: Christoffer Holm – Amnesty International) 3. Digital Fundraising (technology, skills and staffing) (Facilitator: Meredith and Martin – Homemade Digital) 4. Content (Facilitator: Kavita and Michael – GlobalGiving)

We had roughly 40 minutes for the small group sessions. We did a classic brainstorming/SWOT analysis exercise related to our topics.

Each facilitator’s “corner” has two pieces of flip chart paper on the wall which was divided into a two x two grid and a stack of colored sticky notes. We were asked to brainstorm ideas in each category, jotting down notes on the post it notes and adding to the wall.

a) Green: Great things you’ve heard of, or done yourself b) Blue: Things you’ve heard of, or done yourself – that failed c) Pink: Name all the things getting in the way of (topic) d) Yellow: Name all the things that you can do to get over those things standing in the way

As with most brainstorming techniques, you get participants to generate as many ideas of possible and categorize the ideas into different clusters or themes. As a facilitator, there are different ways to do this and they work best depending on the size of the group. The final task was to do a synthesis, using this fill-in-the-blanks:

The closing part of the session was used for each group to give brief report out and Q/A.

This approach to brainstorming and synthesis is based on Design Thinking methods. Here are few nonprofit toolkits that can help you adapt this exercise to your nonprofit.

Round Robin Brainstorming

Michael Gale and Kavita Mathew from Global Giving hosted several sessions on Crowdfunding, including a lunch and learn on Crowdfunding in Asia. It is always a challenge to deliver an informative and participatory session in less than 60 minutes, but this session succeeded in doing so.

Since it was a lunch session, we were seated in a private area of the restaurant in rounds of about 6-8 people. We ate lunch first. Then Michael and Kavita gave a brief overview of crowdfunding in Asia. The next, they gave each table a sheet of paper and we were asked to brainstorm challenges to crowdfunding and identify what we thought the was the biggest challenge. We were given approximately 10 minutes.

Next, the facilitators collected each table’s paper and give it to another table. Next, we were asked to brainstorm ideas to address the challenge. We were given ten minutes. Finally, each table reported out on the challenge and their ideas for another ten minutes. This was followed by group discussion and Q/A.

This design reminded me of a brainstorming technique from Luma Institute called “Round Robin,” which is inspired by a game played by Surrealists called “Exisquite Corpse.” All participants are giving a piece of paper to write down an idea for a campaign or strategy, they pass the paper to another in the room who writes down the reason’s why the idea won’t work, and the paper if passed to a third person to revise the idea. Usually this generates many ideas and variations on ideas and you spend the next time identifying the best ideas and fleshing them out. Here is a simple step-by-step template to follow if you want to try it at your organization.

Does your nonprofit uses participatory design and facilitation at meetings or for trainings? Share in the comments.

from Beth’s Blog http://ift.tt/2vG5zsC

#Beth’s Blog

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